A Star Trek can take a while

I was fully on board for the 21st century reboot of the Star Trek movies, and enjoy the three films we got with dubious enthusiasm (especially the Khan one). They're clumsy in weirdly avoidable ways, but were exceptionally cast, had fantastic production design and were never afraid to dip into the wider Trek saga for extra pathos, even as they boldly went forward.

The films didn't set the box office universe on fire, but did okay, and there is almost constant talk of further adventures. Usually it's when one of the main cast have a new movie out and some intrepid entertainment journo brings it up again, but they all seem reasonably keen.

There was no way the Tarantino one was ever happening, though. Dream on, McCoy.

And while the rumours seem to have as much substance as a fart in the vacuum of space, I don't mind waiting for the next one, even if it takers 20 years, because the very best Star Trek always has a few light years under its belt.

When it's an older crew manning their stations on the bridge, there is warmth in the years they have together, in that shared experience. Towards the end of the third and final (so far) Star Trek movie in that new universe, young Spock finds an image from an impossible universe, and it's one where he has grown old and closer to the best goddamn friends in the galaxy. Age hasn't wearied them, it's only brought them together, because they're always stronger together

It all went down like that in the recent Picard series, where the only moments that rang false were the  ones that had the crew needlessly arguing again, generating fake conflict - Riker and Picard are too old to bicker about tactics, they choose a path and they stick with it. Getting to see that crew operating again as a gestalt entity is just a lovely sight. 

Bringing back the full cast of the most recent cinematic crew of the USS Enterprise is tragically impossible after the loss of Anton Yelchin, but the casting was such a joy, and all the rest can come back in 10 or 20 years and inhabit the roles all over again.

Maybe it is a bit bizarre that the Star Trek's mightiest efforts were all told when the crew were 50+, whether it's the original crew, or the next generation. That's when they're at their best, when they go into battle against the Klingons or the Borg or whoever threatens the rest of the galaxy, with clear eyed wisdom.