Short Treks is the latest effort to milk some more blood from Star Trek. That sounds super odd from a series that has brought us most of the All Access Shows and that darling Enterprise TV theme. But, here we are now. We live in an era where Federation officers drop F-Bombs and Tarantino can’t get a Gangster Planet movie. What is going on?
Out of the Short Treks presented, the only one that gets close to the idea of what makes Trek work is The Brightest Star. This episode is about Saru and his life in a society that hasn’t discovered Warp drive. As his people evade a predatory species, he yearns to be up in the stars. It’s super fascinating and gets at the heart of the Roddenberry spirit that should be in all Short Treks.
The DVD comes with nearly one hour of special features examining the making of Short Treks. I like the novelty and the ideas at play here. It’s just that so much of the material presented feels inconsequential. Animation is neat, but it’s been done before. We’ve seen young Spock. Why should we care now? That’s something this DVD left me asking.
