Paramount’s Star Trek headache is its damned flaw

“My goal is that he should be there Star Trek said David Stapf, president of CBS TV Studios. Delivery time In 2018, when it was The return of Captain Jean-Luc Picard for new Star Trek The series was a glimmer in the mind’s eye. Five years and a name change later, Paramount+ made it happen for a while — and with its own arrogance, promptly ruined it.

Paramount+, née CBS All Access, did not Best launches From striving to become the ultimate online home for Star Trek content. But today, attempts at a broadcast device have reached a level Shattered, messy conclusion With the controversial removal Star Trek: Miracle. This time last year, the series was the bold precursor to trying to somehow bring the venerable sci-fi franchise to new audiences. Star Trek It hadn’t been attempted in years, and it was the latest in what is now an entire fleet Star Trek appears on the platform. In one quick move — not only is the renewal back for a second season, however complete erasure From this series off its platform — the studio’s stratospheric rise seemed to have collapsed all around it.

Of course, the only reason why Paramount’s decision was so shocking and infuriating a trip Fans, is that they’ve spent these past five years awkwardly plastering everyone’s so-called home Star Trek together on a series of re-acquisitions. classic Star Trek Used to stream around the world on various platforms, including Netflix at its peak, before then, piece by piece, Paramount took every title back to secure it on its own service – at a time when such a service wasn’t really far off US shores (until Right now, Paramount+ is available in less than 30 countries around the world).

like Star Trek As a franchise it started to expand again with the launch of Discovery and other new series, the studio’s reach beyond America has seen the likes of Picard And lower floors It moved to other streaming platforms out there for a season or two, only to be picked up again as Paramount+ slowly makes its way around the world. until launch Strange new worlds Watch this, as have the international fans He waited for months After the American audience watched the series, it remained restricted to the aforementioned show.

The first familiar error with similarities with miracle The situation Paramount finds itself in this week came only a few years ago: days before its premiere Star Trek: DiscoveryThe fourth season of Paramount announced sudden removal The show has been completely removed from Netflix globally, leaving fans expecting to see a new season in the same week in the dark even when Paramount+ hits their region. After that, it took a little over a week of fan backlash and Discovery cast and crew for both Paramount’s Partially undo the decision. but with miracleThings aren’t that easy — and there’s no real way to take back what Paramount did anytime soon.

But if this is the end of Paramount’s attempts to make itself its sole venue Star Trek Flowing, the signs were on the wall for a while that the house of signs had been built on poor earth. from Random loop removals To the infringement of curtailment of privilege –Discovery Forever is set to expire next year, and Picard Looks like it’s over too, just leaving now Strange new worlds And lower floors As a current series, and back catalog aside – it’s been clear for a while that Paramount’s understanding of the franchise it’s done so much to keep has faded in the worst ways in recent years. The slam dunk comes only amid a series of industry reckonings with the cost of these walled gardens, as the services that have sprung up alongside Paramount+ slowly lose their grip on the content they’ve chased and appropriated for the past half-decade, and it doesn’t bother much when it’s not a personal goal. As with great series like Star Trek It is now, in part thanks to this rise in the broadcast age.

Paramount+ might want to try calling itself a home Star Trek For another long time – but after today, that won’t really be the case, and fans won’t really be involved in whatever the launcher has planned. a tripfuture, knowing that they could close in the blink of an eye and the need for a tax break. For five years, he made Paramount Star Trek Its guiding, streaming light is the franchise’s dream that propelled Paramount’s walled digital garden into what it is today. Now, those stars are starting to twinkle, and the studio only has itself to blame.

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