We Don’t Need Star Trek 4 Anymore
Star Trek fans were recently treated to some downright bizarre news: even though Paramount recently announced plans to make yet another Star Trek prequel movie, the studio is still actively developing a sequel to Star Trek: Beyond. This would give audiences one last chance to see Chris Pine’s Kirk and Zachary Quinto’s Spock on the big screen, and many fans would give up their favorite tribble to see that. But we’ve got a tough love message those fans need to hear: Star Trek 4 is a terrible idea, and it should be canceled because the franchise doesn’t need it anymore.
These Movies Already Did Their Job
One of the simpler reasons we think Paramount needs to ditch plans for Star Trek 4 is that this particular arm of the franchise has already done its job. Star Trek (2009) was designed to rejuvenate the franchise and bring in new fans after Star Trek: Enterprise aired its last episode, and it did such a great job that we’re now swimming in new Trek shows. Why, then, do we need to return to this prequel universe, especially when Paramount is clearly focusing on other projects like the recently announced new prequel film?
The Cast Has Gotten Too Old For This
While different fans had different reactions to the newer Star Trek cast, we thought they did a great job giving us younger versions of our favorite characters. Chris Pine’s Kirk, for example, was wonderfully youthful and mischievous, and Zachary Quinto’s Spock had an unexpectedly edgy sexiness to him. Now, though, we don’t need Star Trek 4 for the simple reason that the cast has gotten too old.
Chris Pine Is 43 And Shatner Was Dealing With Middle-Age
Before you throw a tricorder at us for saying that, consider this: Chris Pine is currently 43 years old and hasn’t even seen a script for Star Trek 4. By the time such a movie comes out at this rate, the actor would likely be at least 48 years years old, which was how old William Shatner was when Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out. That movie basically kicked off a multi-film arc of Captain Kirk dealing with middle age, and, quite frankly, it would be downright weird to see the younger version of Kirk now being old enough to have his own midlife crisis.
Star Trek 4 Will Confuse New Fans
As we noted before, Star Trek (2009) was designed to bring new audiences into the growing Trek fandom, and it did a great job of doing so. However, Star Trek 4 will likely do the opposite and drive potential fans away because the whole thing seems confusing. Simply put, it will be difficult for most newcomers (and plenty of veteran fans) to keep track of one Star Trek prequel film set in a different time period from its newly-announced prequel film, which itself is set in a different time period than the prequel settings of three different Trek shows.
The Time Has Passed
In its own way, Star Trek has already become much more confusing than Marvel when it comes to crunchy questions like which series a new fan should start watching first. Can you imagine explaining to a would-be fan that Star Trek 4 is a prequel of The Original Series, but everyone is now older than those actors were and this movie has nothing at all to do with the other films or TV shows?
If Paramount wants to bring new fans in yet again, the time has come to streamline this firehose of content, and that starts by putting Star Trek 4 out of its misery and finally canceling it.
