Posted in: Audio Dramas, Movies, Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek

Star Trek Message Might Not Be What Ellison's Paramount Wants: Russ

Tim Russ (Voyager) has some thoughts on why Paramount isn't making Star Trek a priority, from budget concerns to David Ellison's politics.

It's not far-fetched to say that the future of Star Trek might be bleaker than imagined without any new shows or films on the horizon. While we have three seasons of the franchise to go, it's hard not to read the room, the lack of confidence in Skydance's David Ellison and his ownership of Paramount, since there's literally no series to follow the two seasons of Strange New Worlds and the second and final season of Starfleet Academy. The Original Series star William Shatner had already addressed rumors about his alleged involvement in the franchise's future, telling rumormongers and haters of the current Trek to "Get a Life." Now, Tim Russ, who's been involved with the franchise since The Next Generation, and best known for his role as the Vulcan, Tuvok, on Voyager, Picard, and most recently, Star Trek: Khan audio drama, spoke with Trek Culture to speculate about the current state of the franchise.

Tim Russ Believes Star Trek's Current State Might Be Due to Budget or David Ellison's Politics

"I don't know why they decided to pull the plug on it. It could be budgetary, it could be that they're planning something else, it could be that the guy who just took over all of that doesn't like the 'woke' message. . . . So, it's possible that they don't like the message anymore," Russ said. Budget seems plausible since it was a constant issue for the series ever since TOS, as season three's budget was slashed considerably, and the series had to cut corners while quality suffered, resulting in its eventual cancellation, which was something NBC wanted to do the previous season before a fan-driven campaign helped save the show, but delayed the inevitable with the budgetary sabotage.

Russ also brings up Ellison's affiliation with President Donald Trump and a chief complaint among critics that Star Trek has gone "woke," a nonsensical argument that veterans like Russ and Shatner contests the franchise has always been since its inception with the latter, citing NBC affiliates in the South boycotting the TOS season three episode "Plato's Stepchilden" that featured the first US prime time TV's interracial kiss. "It isn't so much a question of it just going woke, it's just a question of who took over and doesn't like it. That's the difference. And I got a feeling, I honestly do think that might have been a factor," Russ explained. For more, you can check out the entire interview in the video.

@trekculture Check out Seán's EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Star Trek Voyager's Tim Russ OUT NOW!!! 📹 Watch the video version NOW on the TrekCulture YouTube channel – link in bio 📹 🎧Full interview on the TrekCulture podcast – available wherever you get your podcasts! 🎧 #StarTrek #StarTrekVoyager #StarfleetAcademy ♬ original sound – TrekCulture

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