So there’s a lot to be said about the current Viacom/CBS merger, but the idea of naming themselves ViacomCBS takes only a little bit of thunder out of the announcement. For Trekkies though this could mean something big since Star Trek has been so greatly divided for a while now thanks to CBS holding the TV rights and Viacom dealing with the movies. The disconnect was enough to make Trekkies want to shout every curse word they knew in every conceivable language (trust me, hearing someone swear in Klingon is not pretty), as they tried to figure out where the continuity had gone in their favorite pop culture show. But now that Viacom and CBS will be merging things might finally even out as a sense of continuity could finally begin to emerge between the TV shows and the movies. Of course the movies have to continue first for this to work, as the fourth Star Trek movie has been tabled at this time according to Ryan Scott from MovieWeb. Plus, there’s the idea that Quentin Tarantino might still be coming out with a rated R Star Trek that could switch the game up a bit.
Whether that’s going to happen or not is still up in the air as well considering that Quentin is thinking of folding up his director’s chair after his next movie, or so the rumors go. Right now the future of Star Trek seems to be in question at least as far as the movies go, since it would seem that there’s always going to be at least one or two TV shows that will continue onward. Trekkie fans tend to be at least a little more forgiving than Star Wars fans when the story they love gets messed with in such a big way, but they definitely don’t forget that things have been going off the rails for a while when it comes to the movies. After all, Into Darkness was kind of flop, as was Beyond. Though to be honest hearing the Beastie Boys being called ‘classical’ and then being used to disrupt a type of hive mind was kind of hilarious since it not only worked, but it did so in epic fashion. Who knew that ‘classical’ music would prove so useful in the future?
In any case it seems as though Trekkies can breathe a little easier since this merger might make it possible for directors to begin talking just a little bit more and for producers to come up with an idea of how to really pull the whole Star Trek universe together again so that there’s less overlap and more unity among the shows and the movies. If anything the one big gripe with this franchise is that it hasn’t been that unified in quite some time even though there’s been entirely new direction that it’s managed to go in and as a result a lot of potential that’s been wasted thus far. The TV shows used to be the best thing running about it as the movies have been kind of up and down for years, even with the almighty William Shatner, who could do no wrong for many Trekkies for so long. With Chris Pine at the helm in the movies and various captains in the TV shows it does seem as though things should be able to even out and create a timeline that, thanks to the rebooted Star Trek, could come up with a great deal of story lines that could be redone and reworked in a way that will appease the longtime Trekkies and satisfy those that are still coming to the franchise. If ViacomCBS, oy what a name, can pull this franchise out of the drain where it’s been resting for a while it might be enough to make it into the powerhouse it’s been in the past.
Even the most hardcore Trekkies should be able to admit this: Star Trek has been faltering for a while now. It’s still retained a lot of its popularity and it’s still been one of the greatest stories ever written, but due to the lack continuity, the many different shows that have aired and the general chaos that’s been going on with the story lines, things just haven’t been the same in a long time. Even with old shows and movies things weren’t perfect, but at the very least they didn’t often blur the show and the movies together in a way that made it unbearable to watch. This merger is a chance for things to be righted finally, to bring everything back to an even keel and revive a franchise that’s never gone away but has been languishing for long enough. How that’s going to come about is yet to be seen, but it’s for certain that eventually the ship will be righted and headed towards the next star.
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