It was nice to see the author of the piece dive in to the fact that the various Paramount subsidiaries don’t always share the same goals or agree with the decisions of the others.
Is it even worth watching as a trekki? 🤔
It’s a slow burn introduction to Trek. The show starts off having not much to do with Trek, as the crew itself has nothing to do with the Federation or Starfleet, but they go through a process of learning what Starfleet is, and they try their best to aspire to its ideals so they might be accepted to the academy when they reach the Federation. Ideas (e.g., prime directive, augments, temporal directives) are introduced one at a time with explanations. It’s not meant to “just” be a kids’ show, it’s meant to be a kids’ introduction to Trek. And as a fan of Trek, I think also a good introduction for a non-fan who might feel lost by how vast the Trek universe is. It’s not about politics or diplomacy, but it carries the same spirit of unity, optimism, and the hope for the best of humanity that underlies Trek.
It’s great for what it is, but it’s fundamentally a kids show. It’s nicely animated, well acted and a lot more palatable to an adult audience than most but it doesn’t scratch that Trek itch for me beyond using the IP. It’s very much an action adventure cartoon. If that should good to you, then yeah go for it!
If it doesn’t, you still might want to make an exception if you’re really invested in Voyager. Characters from it aren’t just cameos, so you’ll get a lot more out of it if you’d really love to see Janeway again.
