How Gene Roddenberry Would React To Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, According To His Son

Since 2017, the streaming service Paramount+ (originally called CBS All Access) has debuted the following "Star Trek" shows, all under the watchful eye of executive producer Alex Kurtzman: "Star Trek: Discovery," "Short Treks," "Star Trek: Picard," "Star Trek: Lower Decks," "Star Trek: Prodigy," and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." There was even a brief period when all of those shows were in production simultaneously. As of this writing, a TV movie called "Section 31" is due in the early months of 2025, and "Starfleet Academy" is in production. That's more trekking than we had in the 1990s.

Of course, the franchise has scaled back in recent years. All of the above series, save "Strange New Worlds," have come to an end, and it seems that the franchise aims to be a lot more modest going forward.

As the sole survivor, "Strange New Worlds" is one of the better choices to carry the torch for the property. Unlike most of the other recent "Star Trek" series, "Strange New Worlds" boasted an episodic structure, concluding its dramas at the end of each hour. The episodic, non-serialized narrative revealed that "Star Trek" has always thrived better in miniature. "Strange New Worlds" also connects to the original "Star Trek" in myriad palpable ways; not only is it set on the original U.S.S. Enterprise, it also boasts younger versions of several familiar characters, including Spock (Ethan Peck), Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), Number One (Rebecca Romijn), Captain Pike (Anson Mount), and several others.

Rod Roddenberry, the son of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, loves "Strange New Worlds." Specifically, he enjoys its lighter, almost comedic tone, as well how much it has managed to forge its own identity despite being based in legacy and nostalgia. In a 2022 interview with ScreenRant, Rod said that his father would've been proud of the show.

Deep-cut Trekkies know that Gene Roddenberry, back when he was working on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in the late 1980s, was infamously strict. He had a long litany of rules that writers had to follow, often to the writers' consternation. Infamously, Roddenberry forbade stories of interpersonal conflict in between Starfleet officers. He liked the idea that everyone would naturally work well together in the future. Writers, however, knew that interpersonal conflict was one of the easiest ways to manufacture drama and story. Roddenberry died in 1991, and his strict mandates passed into the hands of executive producer Rick Berman, who also made sure the franchise's many writers had limits.

The point is: Roddenberry held "Star Trek" to some pretty high standards.

These days, Rod Roddenberry serves as a producer of the new "Star Trek" shows, and he gets an exclusive first look at all the new series. No one, though, seems on hand to retain Roddenberry's strictness, something I'm sure the writers appreciate. With that exclusive access, Rod said the following about his father's potential view on "Strange New Worlds":

"I think he'd be very proud of it. I think something that surprised me a bit is the uniqueness of each episode of 'Strange New Worlds.' I'm impressed that they're doing that. It kind of shocked me at first, because we've got some comedic episodes [...] or at least, certainly some comedic moments. And these things I would initially say when reading scripts that I don't know how this is going to play out. I don't know how the audience is going to receive this. But they've nailed it. And fans are going crazy for it." 

Rod added that he was proud of the creators and thrilled that the show is successful. "Star Trek" debuted nearly 60 years ago, and it's still going strong. And it's nice that there's a Roddenberry around to give it a thumbs up.