‘Star Trek’ Returning to TV

Star Trek returns to television in January 2017, just after the 50th anniversary of its original debut.

Alex Kurtzman will try his hand at exploring strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where only weird fanfiction has gone before.

If this article reads a bit more fever-pitched than normal, consider that I am actively trying to suppress girlish squeals of utter delight. The next evolution of the Star Trek film and television dynasty will start 2017 at Warp 10, thus rendering the entirety of 2016 television hopelessly inconsequential.

Helming the series will be one Alex Kurtzman, the producer you can thank for Fringe and blame for Limitless. His resume is equal parts meaty and hopeless cheese — a filmographic sandwich of apprehension as to how this new incarnation of a beloved franchise will look when we finally get a chance to see it.

CBS will air the premiere, and the rest of the episodes will be made available through the network’s digital subscription video on demand and live streaming service, CBS All Access. While you’re waiting, the $5.99 monthly service currently has all previous Star Trek series available to watch, or re-watch, if you’re already cool enough to have seen them the first time around.

Kurtzman isn’t new to the license; he produced both the 2009 Star Trek film reboot and its sequel in 2013. He’s also pretty familiar with reboots, as executive producer on the relatively well-received Hawaii Five-0 revival.

More than ever, television is shifting into digital on-demand exclusive content, and if this show can stand up beside its forebears, CBS will be delivering a science fiction sucker punch that could make even Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who pale in comparison.

We’ll keep an eye on this for you. Oh, who am I kidding? I’ll be badgering everyone about this for a long, long time. For the rest of the Trekkies out there, it’s time to load up on cynicism and prophesies of doom for the franchise. In the words of James Tiberius Kirk, “We have them right where they want us.”

Nate Church is @Get2Church on Twitter, and he can’t become a wildly overhyped internet celebrity without your help. Follow, then retweet and favorite everything he says. It’s the Right Thing To Do™!