10 Ways The Streaming Era Has Improved Star Trek
Since Star Trek switched over to streaming, many things have improved for this long-running franchise
Once Star Trek went digital, the franchise was changed forever. Those of us old enough to remember terrestrial broadcasting feel the frustration of having to wait for re-runs and international distribution dates before we could catch our favourite episodes again.
Streaming has changed how audiences interact with media. Gone is the appointment television format that marked so much of Star Trek's early success, and challenges. The Friday night 'death slot' spelled doom for The Original Series, so one wonders what would have happened if such a thing didn't exist.
Star Trek: Discovery was the first of the iterations to premiere entirely on digital and since then, Star Trek has never looked back. Here, we will look at some of the biggest bonuses to come from this new age of internet content, and how it has benefitted our favourite property.
10. Star Trek: Enterprise
When Star Trek: Enterprise debuted in 2001, the world was a very different place. Though at that time, audiences were still used to the broadcasting methods that had been in place from The Original Series to Voyager, the format was beginning to feel stale.
The show arrived on-screens barely a month after the September 11th attacks, offering Roddenberry's bright and rosy vision for the future. It was simply the wrong tool at the wrong time, so the ratings were never where they needed to be. Like The Original Series before it, it faced cancellation, rebirth, and final death - all within four seasons. When These Are The Voyages went out, that was it for Star Trek. The curtain lowered, the franchise was dormant.
The success of Star Trek in 2009 helped to breathe enough life back into the franchise to inspire a new movie series, and eventually a new streaming series, Star Trek: Discovery. However, Enterprise was a happy benefactor of this - it finally found its audience when it arrived on streaming platforms. Audiences began to enjoy it in a way that they simply hadn't been able to in the early '00s.
Starfleet's first crew may have taken a long road to get there, but they've finally found their home.