Author Andy Weir, writer of the hit science fiction novel Project Hail Mary, which is currently playing in theaters as a movie starring Ryan Gosling, took a blowtorch to Paramount+’s super woke Star Trek shows and lamented that they are horrible. If you haven’t seen Project Hail Mary, you need to go see it and support it. It’s a masterpiece of a film with zero political agenda. It’s the kind of film Hollywood used to produce years ago. It’ll tug at your heartstrings.
The bestselling author sat down for a conversation with controversial YouTube podcaster and movie reviewer Critical Drinker, where he revealed he pitched Paramount+ an idea he had for a Star Trek series, but the streaming platform basically told him to take a hike. Boy, I bet they are kicking themselves in the backside for that now.
Critical Drinker, whose real name is Will Jordan, praised Project Hail Mary as one of the best legitimate science fiction movies to come out in a long time. He then contrasted the film’s success with the horrifically bad ratings most of Paramount+’s Trek series have earned.
“Yeah, I saw a… I forgot who it was — I wish I could remember who it was who said it, some analyst — he said something like: ‘All modern science fiction TV shows and movies have drawn heavy influence from the original Star Trek — except for the current batch of Star Trek shows,’” Weir responded to Jordan.
Jordan laughed at the comment, as he had heavily criticized what he not-so-affectionately calls “NuTrek” slop that Paramount producer Alex Kurtzman has put out.
“I’m Gen X, so my sci-fi was like original series Star Trek reruns and Lost in Space reruns,” Weir explained. “And there wasn’t really much in the way of [new] sci-fi airing — where people are off in space doing cool things — until we got to Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Star Trek: The Next Generation ranks as one of my favorite sci-fi series of all time. The show has infinite rewatch value and captures the spirit of space exploration that the original series established, along with its deep dive into what makes us human and how certain values transcend space and time.
Later in the interview, Weir expressed pleasure after learning that the latest entry in the franchise, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, had already faced cancellation before its second season, which producers had already filmed and even aired. “It’s gone, baby! It’s all gone!” he exclaimed.
Jordan responded that when Paramount finally starts producing actual Star Trek shows, they should pretend the previous material, starting with 2005’s Enterprise and onward, doesn’t exist and should “de-canonize” it all. However, Weir didn’t agree with that.
“Okay, you’re a little more severe than I am,” Weir responded. “I’ll give you my opinion and I’m just a consumer. I like Strange New Worlds. I think it’s pretty good. I didn’t hate Enterprise. I thought it was kind of weird. Lower Decks I thought was entertaining and fun. All the others, they can go.”
He then revealed that he pitched a Trek series to Paramount.
“I pitched a Star Trek show to Paramount and I met in Zoom with the showrunners from all the shows and spent a lot of time talking to [executive producer Alex Kurtzman]. I don’t like a lot of the new Trek. He, as a person, is a really nice guy. But at the same time, those shows are s**t. He is a nice guy. But they didn’t accept my pitch so, you know, f**k ’em,” he told Jordan.
Given the success of Project Hail Mary, both the book and the movie, I’d say Paramount made the loss their own.
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