But That's Not REAL Star Trek! 7 Reviews That Judged Star Trek Too Quickly

Everyone has, and is entitled to have, their opinions when it comes to television series. To be honest, if they didn't - sites like this one may struggle to find an audience. The ongoing discourse about the merits of one show or another, or one version of a show or another, fuel the fire for news to continue.

However, Star Trek is an interesting beast. The Original Series aired from '66-'69 and in that time, a very loyal and passionate fanbase quickly grew. It grew so much, in fact, that when a new incarnation of Star Trek was announced not all of them were on board from the beginning. The Next Generation did not come with a ready-made set of viewers, wishing for it to succeed.

The same is true of Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, all of which aired before the dawn of such sites as Twitter and Facebook. The Animated Series seemed to escape much of the stronger opinions, though admittedly that one was seen as season four of the original season.

The initial reviews of Picard were mixed. 'This isn't Star Trek' seems to be the most common complaint, one echoed by many fans of old. While this article is not suggesting those fans do not have the right to feel that way, let us look at some other early reviews of Star Trek series throughout the years for a bit of historical context.

Starting at the beginning, let us look at the criticism leveled against Star Trek by none other than the host of the Twilight Zone, Rod Serling. Says Serling:

"Star Trek was again a very inconsistent show which at times sparkled with true ingenuity and pure science fiction approaches. At other times it was more carnival-like, and very much more the creature of television than the creature of a legitimate literary form."

This review is mixed, to be fair. It is not what many would call a glowing recommendation of Roddenberry's work, delivered by a pillar of the Sci-Fi community. The Twilight Zone predates Star Trek by several years, so with little argument it could be said that Serling's voice would carry a lot of weight.

Let's look at the review itself.

Is Star Trek inconsistent? Well to be fair, the third season had a lot of duds in it - a consequence of budget and behind the scenes issues. Is it carnival-like? It certainly has its moments. Bread and Circuses and Plato's Stepchildren both went into extremely bizarre directions, while let's not forget Spock's Brain.

However, despite the constraints of budget, the Original Series gave The City on the Edge of Forever, Space Seed, Amok Time and Let That Be Your Last Battlefield to the world. Roddenberry, while perhaps inconsistant as Serling claimed, had moments of pure brilliance along the way.

The stage was set for early reviews to be proved wrong.