There’s a new Star Trek series set to debut in 2017 and they will be boldly going to a network that no one has ever heard of before…
CBS announced this week that there will be a brand new Star Trek series headed our way in January 2017 headed up by Alex Kurtzman, who played a hand in the rebooted Star Trek universe headed up by JJ Abrams.
Now here’s the good news — the Star Trek series will debut on CBS with the full support of the network behind it and while there’s not much information available, we do know it will be a completely new show although details are sketchy at best at this point.
“The brand-new Star Trek will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966.”
Now here’s the rub.
CBS will debut the new Star Trek series on network TV to give you a taste but if you want to continue watching, that’s going to require a $5.99 monthly subscription fee to the new CBS All-Access streaming service.
You haven’t heard of CBS All-Access?
Don’t feel too bad because no one has but CBS is betting that Trekkies from all over will be willing to part with their hard earned money to see the new series when it debuts in 2017.
Unfortunately, CBS is woefully behind the times in developing their own streaming app with plenty of others already charging anywhere between $10 and $20 a month for a jam packed slate of shows and original programming that’s already available. Netflix has House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, a pair of Marvel series with more to come and a huge bunch of original comedies as well.
Hulu has developed and/or saved a couple of popular shows plus adding in originals like Stephen King’s 11.22.63 that debuts next year plus a ton of programming that lands on the streaming service within hours of airing on network TV.
HBO and Showtime even got into the streaming business for people who didn’t want to buy an entire cable package and now they can have access to a massive back library plus first run originals like Game of Thrones, Homeland, and dozens more.
But for $6 a month you’ll get a new Star Trek and some reruns of The Big Bang Theory (I think).
Maybe CBS All-Access will get beefed up enough to go toe-to-toe with Netflix or Hulu eventually but if the only tease is a new Star Trek series after the last few Star Trek TV series were pretty awful, that’s not much of an incentive to plunk down another $6 a month for a streaming service. The ball is in your court, CBS.
Do better or this new Star Trek series will be stuck in a never ending loop playing Kobayashi Maru and we all know how that turns out.
