With Alex Kurtzman in charge of the television “Star Trek” universe, we’ve seen quite a few changes with more to come. One branch of it is to bring about a cartoon aimed at a younger generation, and the producer is sharing how “Star Wars” shaped the idea for him to go that route. Over the years Kurtzman shares that “we are definitely seeing just metric proof that the fan base is growing, and it’s growing younger, and yet, we’re keeping our current fans, and that’s great.” However, there seems to be a firm cutoff on that.
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With ‘Star Trek: Discovery‘ targeting an older audience and ‘Star Trek: Picard‘ obviously capitalizing on the nostalgia of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ fans, you may wonder what that plan could consist of. It was easy to miss or forget that there is an upcoming animated series coming to Nickelodeon, and that is where Kurtman plans on capturing this younger audience:
” [W]hat I can tell you is that Trek, in general, finds people when they’re about between nine and twelve. It’s never reached younger than that. It’s never tried to. And to me, that’s a hugely missed opportunity, especially because what you’re really trying to do is influence hearts and minds with really positive messages about who we can be as a species and as people and what our future is. So why not start young, you know? And not for a cynical reason. Not because you know, hey, let some more toys. Because if you really want Star Trek to reach people, then you’ve got to start young.
And this is where I guess the Star Wars influence on me really mattered because as a kid at four years old, I could imagine myself starting up with a twin suns of Tattooine and wondering what my life was. Trek didn’t give me that same thing. It gave me Wesley Crusher, it gave me different characters, but again, those are older characters.”
There you have it, Kurtzman believes that “Star Trek” and science fiction shows like “Star Wars” in general are a drug and that we have to hook kids while they’re young. Joking aside, it is easy to see how “Star Wars” has always been more open to a younger generation while “Star Trek” hasn’t been and this new animated feature could change that.
Are you excited for the future of the “Star Trek” franchise under Alex Kurtzman’s guiding hand or are you not enjoying ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ so far and worried as to the direction it is heading? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: Deadline
