Star Trek: The "Undeveloped" Country ( .... "sorry")!!

It has been more than seventeen years since the final episode of Star Trek: Voyager aired way back in May 23, 2001. Little did faithful Trekkies know at that time that the series finale of that third spinoff show would in effect be the last genuine Star Trek aired to date.

The J.J. Abrams produced and directed feature films that recast the original series roles for a new generation came to be known as the Kelvin Timeline, but more than anything else Chris Pine's version of Captain Kirk has led us down a primrose path where the Federation exists in a blockbuster film franchise that mostly blows things up, including the Enterprise in each outing to date. Thankfully the three films may be blessedly over and done with.

Adding insult to injury each subsequent Trek-related show has somehow managed to avoid being much like Star Trek at all, despite pitching their series as prequels to the classic show? Enterprise starring Scott Bakula originally premiered in September 2001, shortly after Voyager's swansong and it looked nothing like any Trek featuring William Shatner and company. Last year saw the debut of the highly divisive Discovery, which saw more core Trek fans abandoning this latest series (trapped behind a pay wall via CBS All Access) and instead found something much more palatable to them with the Fox Network series The Orville.

Discovery's currently airing second season features well known lore characters Christopher Pike, Spock, Number One and I was left wondering why has every studio tasked with creating a prequel series set prior to the original voyage of James T. Kirk's Enterprise preferred to avoid just telling the fanbase the adventures of Spock's years serving alongside Pike in the first place?

I think that the answer to that question lies hidden in the stars.  (ps: By the way, my favorite Trek spinoff was Deep Space Nine.)