I get why people are excited, on multiple levels. I even share some of that excitement--with trepidation born of my disappointment in other Goldsman and Kurtzman projects. Because Pike does represent the best of the Federation, he does embody what I think has been missing from the grimdark self-seriousness of Discovery, and I totally get the desire to return to that.
But something is bothering me, has been bothering me, since Pike (and Spock) first showed up. And that's this: that what originally felt like a bone thrown to the segment of fandom that wants to see old characters turn up overlaps with a virulent strain of bigotry I see every day online. Headline after headline crows that "fan demand" has brought Pike, Spock, and Number One to the screen on their own show. Fan after fan has posted about how great it is that we're finally getting back to what Star Trek is about. Post after post mentions how the viewer "couldn't get into Discovery until Pike."
Now, that's all well and good--we relate to what we relate to, and it's very true that Pike is a different side of Trek than we've seen lately. So that sentiment isn't off base. What I think is off base is the fact that the Powers that Be chose to represent What's Good About Star Trek by first bringing in a trio of white characters to embody true Starfleet values and then giving them their own show. There's an excusable version of this where you justify it via the original characters all being (or passing as) white, and Pike as an established captain of the Enterprise is going to have a certain standing and philosophy, so none of this is inherently rooted in bigotry, just as appreciating the characters or the new show is not.
However, and it's a big but in my opinion, it's an unfortunate move in a franchise that, of late, has done a much better job than previously about creating and casting characters of color and other minority groups. The move to give the three white guys their own show is not, in my opinion, inherently racist. But it does dovetail unfortunately with a vociferous group in fandom that hates Discovery and cannot give any name to their disgust other than "SJW propaganda" and "forced diversity," whatever that means. Speaking as someone who also dislikes Discovery, the only thing I do appreciate about it is the casting and characters. But when an opinion I see spouted literally every day on internet groups, that Star Trek has gotten "too diverse," or that the ONLY thing DISCO is here for is to cram minorities down our throats, the announcement that a trio of white throwback characters is getting a new show getting greeted with applause and acclaim feels like a vindication for that ugly segment of the population.
I don't know what exactly the solution is, not that I have any say in this. I don't think there's anything wrong with Strange New Worlds as a show, and I actually look forward to seeing what they do because again, I'm here for the optimism, not the teenage diary platitudes about how dark the world is. But I wish I could see this development as something other than a bowing down to the backlash against the noble but behind-the-times efforts Trek has been making of late. It feels, in a way, like going backwards.
I'm still waiting to go where no one has gone before, and that doesn't seem like what they're going for, here.
