Two Star Trek shows of the modern era faced exactly the same criticism when they started, but ultimately succeeded with completely opposite solutions. Star Trek: Discovery faced the challenge of competing for attention with prestige television shows that often eschewed values like hope and optimism. In response, Star Trek: Discovery tried taking a realistic approach to the Star Trek: The Original Series era. Discovery season 1 focused on Michael Burnham's (Sonequa Martin-Green) mutinous part in igniting the Klingon-Federation War, and also took the USS Discovery crew to the fascist nightmare of Star Trek's Mirror Universe. Discovery season 2 featured Starfleet's morally gray covert ops division, Section 31.
Star Trek: Picard reintroduced Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) long after the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Audiences had been assured — or perhaps warned — that Picard was not going to be a continuation of TNG, but a character study of Admiral Picard in his twilight years. We were instead treated to a bleak take on Star Trek, where Earth was no longer Star Trek's paradise. Star Trek: Picard's version of Starfleet was selfish, insular, and corrupted from within. Commander Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) dealt with family estrangement and substance abuse. Xenophobia against Romulans and ex-Borg ran rampant. Something was off in these Star Trek shows.
Star Trek: Discovery & Star Trek: Picard Were Both Criticized For Being Too Dark
Star Trek Needs To Be Optimistic, So Discovery And Picard Needed To Change
Both Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard were criticized for being too dark, and with good reason. Star Trek: Discovery season 1 went all-in on extrapolating just how brutal Star Trek's Mirror Universe and Klingon War storylines could realistically be. While Star Trek: Discovery grappled with how to be Star Trek amid the popularity of grittier television shows, Picard contended with inevitable comparisons to Star Trek: The Next Generation. To differentiate itself from TNG, Star Trek: Picard steeped itself in despair. Neither show shied away from graphic depictions of murder, torture, sexual assault, animal cruelty, war crimes, or Star Trek's first f-bombs — just to name a few.
Criticisms of the tone in both Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard were valid. Streaming allowed Star Trek to take a gloves-off approach to topics that had previously only been alluded to, in the name of realism. Earlier iterations of the franchise weren't often as explicit as Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard were in their first seasons. This new Star Trek had all the right superficial ingredients: starships, familiar aliens, moral quandaries, and complex questions; but both new Star Trek shows seemed to be missing Gene Roddenberry's optimism that had always been integral to Star Trek. Fortunately, that would change, but in very different ways.
Star Trek: Picard Became Lighter By Bringing Back The Original TNG Cast In Season 3
Embracing Nostalgia Made Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Feel Like A Homecoming
Star Trek: Picard season 3 became lighter with a Star Trek: The Next Generation original cast reunion. Embracing the theme of family, Admiral Picard took action to secure the fate of his USS Enterprise family as well as his own son with Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers). Captain Worf (Michael Dorn) fit right in as a wise mentor to Commander Raffi Musiker. Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Data (Brent Spiner) were all back. The USS Enterprise-D itself even returned, courtesy of Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), as the last piece of the Star Trek: The Next Generation puzzle.
The highest IMDB audience rating of Star Trek: Picard season 1 went to episode 7, "Nepenthe", which featured Riker and Troi, suggesting that fans did want a continuation of Star Trek: The Next Generation after all.
The palpable shift in tone for Star Trek: Picard season 3 came from showrunner Terry Matalas leaning into what Star Trek: Picard should have been all along. Instead of trying to differentiate Star Trek: Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Picard season 3 became the TNG sequel that fans had expected from day one.Star Trek: Picard didn't lose sight of the fact that it was a new show, with new antagonistic characters Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick) and Changeling Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer) earning their spotlights. Picard's look towards the past with the old TNG cast, however, finally made Picard season 3 feel triumphant and optimistic.
Discovery Became Lighter By Doubling Down On Its New Cast
Star Trek: Discovery Found Optimism In The Voices Of Its 32nd Century Future
Star Trek: Discovery became lighter by setting its sights on the future — in more ways than one. After Commander Michael Burnham deliberately led the USS Discovery into the 32nd century to thwart rogue A.I. Control, Discovery's new characters took center stage alongside Burnham.Star Trek: Discovery's love stories multiplied; the pairings of Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) and Burnham, Ni'Var President T'Rina (Tara Roslin) and Captain Saru (Doug Jones), and Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio) and Gray Tal (Ian Alexander) all mattered. Even Disco crew members like Lt. Commander Kayla Detmer (Emily Coutts) and Lt. Commander Joann Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo) became more well-developed, as Burnham got to know them better.
Star Trek: Discovery was always Michael Burnham's personal story.
With that focus on additional voices came a shift in tone for Star Trek: Discovery that represented Discovery's core values of communication and empathy. Because Star Trek: Discovery was always Michael Burnham's personal story, Burnham's perspective dictated the tone. After 2 seasons plagued with self-doubt, Burnham's promotion to Captain reflected her steadfast belief in Starfleet's ability to connect with people. Not so coincidentally, Captain Burnham's command in Discovery season 4 is also when Star Trek: Discovery really began to shine. Although Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Discovery both struggled with darker tones, both shows ultimately succeeded with their opposite embraces of the past and the future of Star Trek.
