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From controversial streaming movies to major corporate shakeups, 2025 was a turbulent year for the Star Trek franchise. Join us as we count down the ten worst moments that left fans disappointed.
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00:00Star Trek had an interesting year in 2025. Among losses and confusion there were moments of joy and
00:06levity. There were ups, there were downs, there were those glasses of Guinness. This year has
00:12been a ride. Much of the conversation around Star Trek focused on the uncertainty over the
00:16Paramount and Skydance merger which finally concluded in August after, let me just check
00:21my notes here, 84 years of preamble. The deal is done, the new bosses are in place and Trek was
00:27suddenly in an even less certain position. Arguments raged online over the inclusion of inclusion
00:34while diversity seemed to just as suddenly get the backs up of a very vocal group of people
00:39on social media. Star Trek has never been political, some people shouted. Biel and Lukai would like
00:44a word. In a year that has grown increasingly menacing as the evenings have grown shorter,
00:51there is still Star Trek to guide us back to the light. There may have been a few bumps
00:55in the year but this isn't our first list like this. Trek's part of the furniture but who hasn't
00:59wanted to change the lamps from time to time? None of this is to say that there haven't been
01:03quite a few examples of fun and upbeat things in the final frontier this year. We even saw some Trek
01:08royalty return to the franchise while others made surprise appearances to stoke some very excited fires.
01:14There will be a list breaking down the best moments of the year. This is not that list.
01:19With massive thanks to Brandon Meese with whom I collaborated on this article,
01:24I am Sean Ferrick for Trek Culture and here are the 10 worst Star Trek moments in 2025.
01:31Number 10. Chaos, but to whose benefit?
01:35She may be a bad bitch but Michelle Yeoh's ex-Emperor Georgiou walked a very fine line of being just,
01:41well, bad in January of 2025. Star Trek section 31 arrived at the end of the first month of the
01:48year and
01:49kicked things off with a whimper, earning the ire of many Trek fans along the way. No project is
01:54entirely without merit and it is clear that, while the result may have been a bit of a flop,
01:59this streaming movie had a long and storied history. It began as a series and then, with the arrival of
02:05a certain gold statuette, evolved into a standalone story. The trailer dropped in 2024, leaving people
02:12a little bit confused. Was this Star Trek or was this Guardians of the Galaxy? As it turned out,
02:17it wanted to be a little bit of both and ended up being a lot of neither. Some of the
02:22humour managed
02:23to land and Omari Hardwick and Rob Kaczynski's Alok Sahar and Zef managed to steal the screen for the
02:28time given, but the film suffered from pacing issues, mixed tones and an overall toothless feel.
02:34The time setting did little to help, teasing the audience with a lost era but delivering something
02:39closer to Lost in Headlights. Quippy dialogue is fun and welcome, but here it felt included for quip's
02:46sake, leaving character building on the floor for someone else to tidy up. The entire affair came
02:51and went without much fanfare, despite decent viewership numbers on Paramount+. Later in the year,
02:57Paramount's new head of streaming, Cindy Holland, seemingly killed any hopes of a sequel,
03:04ensuring that the audience understood that streaming movies are not a priority for her.
03:10However, considering how much rage bait this straight-to-streaming release generated both
03:15before and after it arrived, one has to wonder, what was the point after all?
03:20Number 9. Money doesn't exist in the 24th century?
03:23Money may not exist in the 24th century, despite literally dozens of examples where it does,
03:29but that cannot be said of the 21st. Paramount and Skydance finally completed the merger this year to form
03:35Paramount, a Skydance corporation, in a deal that numbers in the billions. One may assume,
03:41with all of that bread, things would move quickly forward. Well, they did, and they didn't. New CEO
03:47of Paramount, David Ellison, is certainly making his presence felt at the company and in the industry.
03:53He arrived with a mission to bump up the company's theatrical releases, now more on this later,
03:59which was not good news for Section 31 fans. Might this mean an influx of cash for Secret Hideout to
04:05channel into the Star Trek universe, though? It is more than possible, though recent developments
04:09have suggested that money is focused elsewhere. Rather than consolidate their position at the
04:15company and begin to build, the new leadership almost immediately launched a bid to purchase
04:19Warner Brothers, swooping in after a successful bid by Netflix. This bid initially included money
04:25from several Middle Eastern countries, along with President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner,
04:30though his support has now been withdrawn, which afforded Ellison $108.4 billion to offer. This
04:39hostile bid has at present seemingly been stopped, with Warner Brothers urging its shareholders to
04:44stick with Netflix. However, it is unlikely that this will be the last attempt to gain a huge hold
04:49over the entertainment industry, so it remains to be seen what this ultra-capitalistic mindset may bring
04:55to the Star Trek universe. Number 8. A bit of bioessentialism on a Thursday.
05:00Star Trek Strange New Worlds' third season was quite the mixed affair, arriving after a lengthy
05:06hiatus between the second and third years. The Writers Guild of America Strike in 2023 pushed all
05:12production back, giving fans a two-year gap between the cliffhanger and its resolution. Was the wait worth
05:17it? The season was mostly impressive, with some true standout moments along the way, while the second and
05:24penultimate episodes were particular highlights, the same cannot be said for the seventh and eighth ones.
05:29What is Starfleet and Four and a Half Vulcans were ill-judged affairs, though the latter was
05:34the more egregious by far. The former's greatest struggle was the uncertain tone of what exactly it
05:39was trying to do. Presented as an in-universe documentary about the famous spacefaring organisation,
05:45it instead devolved into a one-man hit piece. A wildly fence-sitting statement about Starfleet's
05:50involvement in alien conflicts, and a horrendous revelation about Spock's childhood. Had that
05:56been the worst of the season, the overall score for season three would be higher, but then came
06:01Four and a Half Vulcans. Unfortunately, the comedy intended to fill this episode's runtime instead
06:08focused on one-dimensional portrayals of Star Trek's oldest alien races, jokes about smells and
06:14insinuation of mind-meld coercion, consent be damned. By far the worst part of all was, one week after
06:21revealing that as a child Spock attempted to cut the humanity out of himself with a knife, this episode
06:28spent much of its runtime depicting Vulcans who openly mocked and belittled him for being half-human.
06:34It was an offensive, upsetting episode that leaned into frat-style humour rather than any serious
06:40exploration of a new Vulcan identity. Rather than any of the above, or lest we even discuss the
06:46hairstyle changes, let us instead remember Patton Oswalt's Doug, even if he was, in fact, too slow.
06:53Number 7. Renewal and Loss
06:55Nothing can last forever and this year the inevitable news came through. Star Trek Strange New Worlds is
07:02coming to an end. While it isn't all bad news, as there are still two more seasons to come, many
07:07eyebrows
07:07hit the hairlines with the timing of the announcement. Just before the media circuit for
07:12season 3 began, the renewal and end date were both released. This then left the conversation in an
07:19odd place. While Hegemony Part 2 kicked the season off with a bang, the questions were still focusing
07:24on how everyone felt about the news. Many diplomatic answers were given, most focusing on the 5 year
07:30mission aspect. By the time it ends, Strange New Worlds will have had 5 seasons. Added to this unusually
07:36timed announcement was the news that the final season would have a shorter run, delivering 6 episodes
07:42rather than the usual 10 per season. This means that by the time it finishes, Strange New Worlds
07:47will have had one of the shortest runs of any Trek series, with Prodigy, Picard and the Animated
07:52Series just edging it out. Though a proposed Star Trek Year 1 series, following Kirk in his early command
07:59of the Enterprise, has been touted, there is, as of recording, no confirmation of this. The show is
08:05wrapping production, again as of recording, so an announcement would surely have to come soon.
08:10Otherwise, are the sets to be struck and destroyed thus creating more budgetary issues for a new show
08:16set on the same ship to deal with? They were quick to announce Strange New Worlds' ending, but they are
08:21being anything but when it comes to the future of that time period. Number 6. Prodigious shafting
08:28Another year, another loss, and Star Trek Prodigy is about to vanish once again from streaming services.
08:34This time it's Netflix is giving it up, removing it from their streaming service on December 31st,
08:402025. This means that Prodigy will be solely available on physical media, making it the only
08:46iteration of Star Trek not available to stream. This is another blow to a show that has suffered
08:52so many setbacks in its short lifespan. Its initial release was marred by a confusing message about where
08:59and who it was for. Though the show was anything but, it never truly lost the Nickelodeon shaped
09:05millstone around its neck. To this day, people still refer to it as The Kids Show, despite it
09:11being accessible to all. The news that it is now leaving streaming seems to be another nail in the
09:17coffin for a third season, which is beyond shameful. Prodigy did something important for the universe,
09:23which was to offer an entry point for newcomers without speaking down to them. While Star Trek
09:28Scouts has its Kids Show moniker on its sleeve, it is aimed at preschoolers. Prodigy was for everyone,
09:34successfully blending legacy Trek with new ideas and new civilizations. If this is the end of the road for
09:40this animated series, it will still have delivered two of the strongest seasons in Trek's long history,
09:46both of which are available to purchase. If that is the only way that they can now be seen, then
09:51we
09:51implore you to pick them up, you won't regret it. Number 5, bye bye bye for... The Enterprise A has
09:59seemingly been decommissioned, though this time there is no one to tell the bosses to go to hell. In the
10:06push
10:06for more theatrical content, Ellison's company has given the keys to a new film to Jonathan Goldstein
10:12and John Francis Daly, one that is predicted not to have any ties to the Kelvin universe at all.
10:18To be clear, the news of a new film is positive, and I am already excited to see what the
10:24men behind
10:25Spider-Man Homecoming and Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves can bring to Star Trek. The bittersweet
10:30side of this is that Paramount has reportedly moved on from the Kelvin universe, finally killing the
10:36hopes of those waiting with bated breath for a fourth adventure. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana
10:42and Simon Pegg have all made statements over the years about their wish to return, with several
10:48potential sequel ideas pitched along the way. Pine felt that the film should be smaller in scope, while
10:54Quinto was seemingly just as keen to put the ears and wig back on. JJ Abrams and Justin Lin delivered
10:59three
10:59fun exciting films between 2009 and 2016. If that's the end of that particular timeline, a certain
11:08temporal agent Beetlejuicean notwithstanding, then these films can at least be praised for keeping the
11:13universe alive between shows. The Enterprise A may have hung up her nacelles for the moment, but let's
11:20never say never. As Spock himself said while standing on another Enterprise A, I've been dead once before,
11:26so too has Trek. Death is never the end. Number 4. That's not very Star Trek now is it?
11:33After the completion of the Paramount and Skydance merger, the future of Star Trek was thrown into
11:38further uncertainty with a rash of layoffs of the company. While that is sometimes nothing to consider
11:43when one looks to the future of Trek content, at least in the creative process, these layoffs seem to
11:48have come with a particular slant. Ahead of the merger, Skydance vowed to abandon all DEI initiatives at
11:55Paramount, removing any references to them from its internal messaging, websites and training materials.
12:01This, along with a lawsuit settled with President Trump, secured the go-ahead from FCC chairman Brendan
12:07Carr. Star Trek has promoted diversity, equity and inclusion from its earliest days. This pledge by the
12:14new owners of Trek to excise DEI initiatives from within its own company frightened many Trek fans,
12:20while drawing support from some conservative viewers and an army of right wing bots online.
12:25Robert Picardo, our favourite emergency medical hologram, took to social media to assure fans that
12:31DEI isn't going anywhere when it comes to Star Trek. As he stated on X, formerly known as Twitter,
12:36for Star Trek, DEI is in its DNA. It was woke in 1966, but 1966 was a long time ago.
12:45If our concept of
12:46diversity has changed a lot in 60 years, who's to say what it will look like 800 years from now?
12:51While there will always be those people who support a homogenous uniformity in the shows they watch,
12:57at least from within Star Trek it looks as though there is still hope to be found.
13:07What is Starfleet is a frustrating episode of Star Trek. The conceit is a good one,
13:12an in-universe documentary examining the fundamentals of Starfleet sounds fascinating,
13:18and frankly some of Starfleet's core tenants could do with a little challenge from time to time.
13:23The inspiration for this episode seems to have come from other franchises like Stargate SG-1,
13:27Babylon 5 and even MASH. Having the documentary made by a young filmmaker was also an interesting
13:33approach, as some wide-eyed naivety could help to skew the programme in a certain way. Instead,
13:39this shortened episode served to splice interviews with clearly disingenuous filmmaking,
13:45designed to be edgy and serving mediocrity. The framing story of the Enterprise's intervention or
13:50lack thereof in a clearly one-sided war parallels certain countries' lack of action in certain ongoing
13:57conflicts in 2025. The conflict between the Lutani and Khazar easily evokes images of Russia's
14:04invasion of Ukraine or Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza. Rather than attempting to offer a positive,
14:10hopeful future or even to show the crew agonising over the conflict ahead of them,
14:14the episode instead focuses on the abuse of a Jikaru. This was a clear symbol for weapons of mass
14:20destruction, further muddying the message. Pike elects to help the creature die rather than be used as a
14:26weapon of war, despite having previously been ordered to transport it to Lutani 7 for their
14:31use in their war. Why was Starfleet involved at all? Once involved, why did Starfleet agree to transport
14:37weapons? In the end, and echoing Picard's actions in symbiosis nearly 40 years earlier, Pike simply
14:43takes away the weapon without any offer or commitment to help in the long run. If Star Trek is to
14:49present a
14:49utopian future, one where Starfleet at least attempts to do the right thing, even without always achieving
14:55it, then what is Starfleet is a very good question indeed. Number 2. Insert audience groan here.
15:03It is of course that time of year again where we bemoan the lack of Star Trek legacy, which at
15:09this
15:09point feels farther than ever from being greenlit. The upcoming debut of Starfleet Academy, combined with
15:15the news of Strange New Worlds as ending with no confirmed sequel series in sight, feels as though
15:21this era of Trek may be coming to an end. That is not to say that Starfleet Academy won't blow
15:26everyone out of the water, more on this now in the next entry, but this remains an uncertain time for
15:31Star Trek's future. Confirming development on Legacy would go quite a long way toward allaying fears, even
15:38if there were no other plans in the air. The more time that passes, Star Trek Picard came to an
15:42end almost
15:43three years ago, makes the arrival of Legacy or a series following the adventures of Captain Seven and the
15:48crew of the Enterprise G less likely. Salaries, set construction, show running, writing, these things take
15:55time to figure out. At the time of recording there could already be plans in the background, yet another year
16:00passes without any news one way or the other. Perhaps a statement confirming that it isn't happening would
16:06help in its own way, like a splash of cold water. It may never have been on the cards outside
16:11of a discussion that
16:12Jerry Ryan had with Paramount after Picard ended. If that is the case, then we are simply glum about another
16:18year
16:18without Star Trek Legacy. Number one, One Breen Hill meets Star Trek 90210. Full disclosure, I quite like this poster
16:28for Star Trek Starfleet Academy. As the show is seemingly aimed at a teen to young adult audience, this poster
16:34feels both
16:35earnest and tongue in cheek at the same time, deliberately evoking memories of other teen dramas
16:40like Beverly Hills 90210 and One Tree Hill. However, some of the worst moments for Star Trek in 2025 have
16:49come not from the franchise itself, but the discussions surrounding it. When this poster was debuted, it
16:55sparked a flood of complaints with increasingly nasty comments about the tone and feel of the show.
17:00These were built on the ongoing and tiring tirades against a show that hasn't even aired yet, with
17:06anonymous ranters doing their best to make those who are excited feel ashamed. This mirrors the same
17:12kinds of behaviour that were seen before Section 31 was released. Whether that ended up appealing to
17:16the masses or not, some were never intending to give it a try regardless. We are seeing this again and
17:22again with this year being particularly bad for it. There is not one thing in the world that can or
17:28should
17:28force a person to enjoy something, nor has anyone the right to tell someone they are wrong for
17:33disliking it. In an increasingly weaponised space, as social media has become, it would do well however
17:40to remember that Star Trek is for everyone and its appeal won't always be universal. So as not to end
17:46this list on a downer, it should also be noted that, as always, the community contains some of the best,
17:52friendliest, most loving and caring people in existence. Perhaps Star Trek may change in shape
17:58and form as time goes on, but good people are good people and there are a lot of them out
18:02there.
18:03Some of them even wear Trek culture t-shirts. That's everything for our list today folks,
18:07thank you so so much. What would you add or take away from this list? Let us know in the
18:12comments below.
18:13Thank you so much again to Brandon who helped me break all of these together and make sure that we
18:18vaguely
18:18knew what we were saying. Please make sure that you're subscribed to the channel and thank you
18:22everyone who does. Please make sure you follow us on the various socials, we're at TrekCulture or
18:26at TrekCultureYT on Instagram. I am at Sean Ferrick and I am hoping that you have a peaceful and safe
18:33end of 2025. It's not all doom and gloom, we have a list on the best moments of 2025 as
18:40well. So remember,
18:42for every down there's always an up. You look after yourselves, you deserve it. Give yourself a hug
18:48from me. Live long and prosper folks. Thanks.
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