You might recall that last year we heard news of a new Star Trek documentary series - The Center Seat - which curiously excluded recent entries like Discovery and Picard.

Seemingly it would be a love letter to real Star Trek fans of old. Its director was implicitly quite scathing of the newer titles.

Space.com: Are you pleased with the direction of the newer "Star Trek: Discovery" series and animated shows, and if handed the keys to the franchise where would you take it?

Volk-Weiss: Here's my positive answer. I'm very pleased with "Star Trek: Lower Decks," and I'll leave it at that.

It took some time to turn up in Australia - also very much like sci-fi of old - but we chanced upon it while trawling through Binge and hit play.

Not as advertised.

Accuracy

Prior to watching we had seen criticisms of its accuracy and were referred to a meticulously detailed critique of the first episode.

Which we read in its entirety.

It gets a lot wrong so we weren't unprepared for errors.

But we were still shocked.

Eg. the infamous Ronald D Moore claiming that he had written the first female captain into Star Trek in the character of alternate timeline captain of the Enterprise-C Rachel Garrett .

Wait a sec? Wasn't the first in Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country?

Indeed she was and there had also been two in previous episodes of The Next Generation.

The Center Seat tells us:

In the rush, the writers managed to smuggle in some "Star Trek" firsts.

Rachel Garrett: How's my ship?

Rachel Garrett was breaking new ground as "Star Trek's" first female captain.

Ronald D Moore: In the script, it wasn't a woman. I remember thinking at the time, "it's weird that I'm the one doing this. How is this the first time this has been done?" We'll make it one for the history books. I wanted her to be every bit as brave and heroic. She had to be worthy of picard and kirk.

Captain, I would be lying to you if I told you there was a chance in hell of coming out of this alive.

Captain Garrett broke through "Star Trek's" glass ceiling, but, unfortunately, also broke her head.

Intent

While the promotional material made this documentary seem like a love letter to Star Trek fans of old, the reality is more like a desperate plea for love from a former partner.

One of the main and oft revisited themes is that there was a lot of opposition to earlier series, but they were great and generally loved.

Opposition to those earlier series is not comparable to the likes of Discovery and Picard.

Prior to these series, Star Trek had clearly defined values and also a decidedly optimistic tone.

Star Trek isn't Star Trek without them.

Meanwhile The Orville lacks the Star Trek name but has both of those important qualities. That's why it's regarded by many as the new Star Trek.

Should You Watch It?

There won't be many times that we'd expect to say this, but definitely not.

Unless you've completely run out of other things to watch and are eg. in danger of going properly mad from boredom.

The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek is available to stream on Binge and Foxtel Now.

[ Main Image: The Center Seat. Credit: Nacelle Company via YouTube. ]

References

FactTrek.com (January 5, 2022). The Off-Center Seat: 55 Years of Myth Making.

Hanson, Dana (May 1, 2021). Star Trek: Every Female Captain (So Far). ScreenRant.

Nacelle Company (October 6, 2021). The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek (Official Trailer). YouTube.

SubsLikeScript.com. The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek (2021): Season 1, Episode 5 - Queue for Q - Full Transcript. (viewed March 1, 2022).