The year that broke: 16 ways 2016 let us down

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http://www.avclub.com/article/year-b...us-down-247405

16. Star Trek

2016 was Star Trek’s 50th anniversary, so it was filled with retrospectives, re-releases, a solid new entry, and a fantastic Leonard Nimoy documentary. Fans of the Federation and Ferengi alike were also given something new to look forward to, as CBS followed up on its promise of a new Star Trek series with some actual development news. Unfortunately, reports of Bryan Fuller’s involvement on the new show (he was announced as showrunner back in February) were intertwined with law-bulletin items about CBS and Paramount’s copyright infringement lawsuit against some fan filmmakers.

This wasn’t just any fan-made film, though. Axanar raised over a million dollars from crowdfunding campaigns, and boasted some of the most faithful (read: professional) depictions of the source material yet. So there was some concern on the plaintiffs’ behalf that the production had ventured boldly out of mere homage and into commerce. Things get even nerdier when the defendants, the makers of Axanar, asked CBS and Paramount to define Star Trek—and the plaintiffs responded in full. Of course, by fretting over money, the studios were behaving in a decidedly un-Picard way, which is when the Klingons got involved. An amicus brief, a J.J. Abrams intervention, and 10 fan film commandments later, and the thing is still no closer to being resolved than when CBS and Paramount enumerated the elements of Star Trek.

But surely, Star Trek: Discovery would be enough to swing things back in CBS and Paramount’s favor, especially now that fans had glimpsed the new ship and caught wind of Fuller’s proposed serialized storytelling? They might have, if Fuller hadn’t spent the better part of the year backing out of the project. Yes, he’s busy with American Gods, but for the former Voyager and Deep Space Nine writer to walk away from a chance to really put his mark on the franchise is disappointing, if not a cause for concern. And that was after CBS pushed back Discovery’s launch. The foundation Fuller’s already laid includes a more inclusive starship bridge, as well as Michelle Yeoh and Doug Jones in the cast, so there’s still plenty of reason to hope. But it’s also safe to say the bloom might already be off the rose. [Danette Chavez]