I’m of the opinion that too much of a good thing can spoil the enjoyment, but I’d make an exception for Star Trek. Mike McMahan, the creator of Lower Decks, is of a similar school of thought, and he sees Captain America as the perfect blueprint for keeping Trek on our screens.
It’d actually be pretty simple for Star Trek to have a slew of new movies hitting the cinematic conveyor belt. All the Star Trek timeline needs is a range of different projects across a variety of tones and styles to keep things fresh. You know, just how they do it at Marvel?
McMahan told ComicBook.com: “There are cool ways to make Star Trek movies that aren’t quite like the Marvel system… but I would love a world where there’s Star Trek movies all the time… and you don’t know which crew it’s going to be about or if it’s going to be a comedy or suspense or a drama. I loved Captain America: The Winter Soldier, that it went from [Captain America: The First Avenger] being a period piece superhero movie, to being a spy thriller.”
The tonal pivot of The Winter Soldier is arguably one of the most successful moves the MCU has ever made, and the surprisingly satisfying switch-up is a large part of the reason that film will go down as one of the best movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That shift perfectly tracked with the Marvel character‘s development and helped audiences follow Cap’s transition into the modern world.
McMahan isn’t just piggybacking on Marvel’s success, though. He has ideas of his own: “I have an idea for an animated Lower Decks movie. I have ideas for live-action Lower Decks movies. And I have ideas for brand new, totally original Star Trek movies that don’t tie into anything we’ve seen before.”
“I think Star Trek is an amazing genre to think about. I love the idea of not micro but small-budget Star Trek movies, where you get the bigness of a movie set, but you get to tell a Star Trek story that drives across a moment instead of a thing that has to be dealt with, like a Khan,” he added.
Honestly, just give McMahan the keys to the USS Enterprise right now. On the basis of Lower Decks, it’s clear he has a great handle on what makes a strong Star Trek character, and the way the show ties into other Star Trek series from the past emphasizes just how passionate and knowledgeable McMahan is when it comes to the franchise.
He’s basically a massive nerd, and that’s something we can respect here at The Digital Fix. And he’s on the right track with his talk of more unique, smaller-scale Star Trek stories, too. It’s one of the reasons I was so excited about Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek movie, and I’m still upset we’ll never get to see that Earthbound, period-piece version of Star Trek 4.
Still, at least we have the Star Trek Legacy release date and the Star Trek Discovery season 5 release date to look forward to. You can also dive into our list of the best Star Trek captains while we’re on the topic of great leaders, and you can also start thinking about upcoming Marvel movies like Captain America 4 and Deadpool 3.