More than 30 years ago, Star Trek: The Next Generation finished its seven-year run with the excellent finale “All Good Things…” That episode was a perfect ending for the crew of the Enterprise-D. After that, the Star Trek movies and shows started to lose their way. Sadly, the days of great Star Trek seem to be behind us, with Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation standing as the last of the good stuff.

New Star Trek shows are at best a mixed bag. Some fans say Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is almost perfect, but others think it’s just not the same. The new shows try to be funny and modern, but nearly ever joke falls flat. Some episodes feel awkward or even cringy, especially when they try to do musicals or silly stories. These episodes are less about exploring space and more about being goofy. 

Strange New Worlds is ending with its fifth season, and the last season will only have six episodes For me that’s 5 seasons too many. Strange New Worlds will end with 46 episodes, fewer than any of the classic series aired by the end of their second seasons, but this show never really lived up to the classic Star Trek. The old shows had big ideas and serious stories. They made you think about what it means to be human. The new shows, even Strange New Worlds, spend too much time on jokes and gimmicks.

For example, Strange New Worlds has done episodes where the crew sings or gets stuck in a fairy tale world. These episodes are fun for some, but for others, they make Star Trek feel like a cartoon instead of a serious sci-fi show. Even the best episodes of Strange New Worlds, like “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” where Number One gives a speech about Starfleet, or “Lost in Translation,” where Uhura faces a strange problem, don’t make up for all the silliness.

The old shows, like The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, had more episodes each season. This gave the writers room to try new things and still tell deep, meaningful stories. If an episode was silly, it didn’t matter as much because there were plenty of serious ones too. The new shows don’t have that luxury. When two out of every ten episodes are comedies, the show starts to feel unbalanced.

The truth is, Star Trek used to be about big ideas and smart storytelling. Shows like The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine had stories that made you think. The new shows, Discovery, Lower Decks, Picard, and Strange New Worlds, are more about jokes, profanity, and flashy effects. They might ocassionally be fun to watch when you turn off your brain, but they don’t have the same heart as the classics. They’re uneven and often awkward and try too hard to be modern and funny, and end up feeling cringe. For many fans, myself incluuded, Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation were the last of the great Star Trek, and everything since has been a letdown.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 streams on Paramount+ on July 17, 2025, but don’t expect it to bring back the magic of the old days.

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