An animated Strange New Worlds show will (probably) never happen

More than anything else, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” exists as an enjoyable experiment in the genre. Unlike many “Star Trek” series in the streaming era, “Strange New Worlds” is presented in an episodic format, with each week’s story ending at the end of the hour. The show’s creators have made the most of this format, trying to move across as many genres and subgenres as possible in each 10-episode season. One episode might be an intense personal drama about the lingering impulses toward violence after suffering from wartime PTSD, while the next is a lighthearted, satirical murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie. “Strange New Worlds” has more live-action and comedy episodes than any other “Star Trek” show to date, having made a musical episode and a semi-animated crossover with “Star Trek: Lower Decks.”

In fact, we already know that Season 4 of the series will include a special episode Muppet versions of the “Strange New World” characters.. Clearly, this show isn’t afraid to push the boundaries of whimsy (although… I probably found my limit in this regard during the third season).

However, it looks like one of the silliest ideas for an episode of Strange New Worlds may never materialize. talking to SFX MagazineStrange New Worlds co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman spoke about his work on the series, suggesting that there’s almost nothing off the table regarding the pilot format. However, while the “Lower Decks” crossover included an animated segment, Goldsman once had a more expansive idea to write a fully animated episode. More specifically, he came up with the idea for a “Strange New Worlds” episode animated in the style of “Star Trek: The Animated Series” from the 1970s. Goldsman didn’t go into detail further, but it’s certainly an interesting and ambitious prospect.

Many Trekkies will be able to Tell you all about “Star Trek: The Animated Series” Which ran for two seasons in 1973 and 1974. Most of the cast of “Star Trek: The Original Series” has been brought back (Although Walter Koenig as Chekov is disappointingly absent) and just followed the USS Enterprise on its usual adventures. However, thanks to the medium of animation, the aliens and stories in the series can be a bit more bizarre. The “Animated Series” was produced by Filmation, the studio that would go on to produce “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.” After remaining obscure for years, it’s now more accessible on Paramount+.

The creators of the new “Star Trek” shows are clearly familiar with “The Animated Series,” having already produced a series of animated shorts in its style under the “Very Short Treks” banner. However, Goldsman wanted to take things a step further and make a full one-hour episode of “Strange New Worlds” in the same style. He touched on this when SFX Magazine asked about the popular genre experience on the show. As he explained:

“There were some (genres) that we couldn’t figure out. Every year we said ‘Let’s do a Western!’ I don’t think that would break the show at all, I don’t think we knew how to do it. We really wanted to do a TAS episode, and for a variety of reasons we couldn’t get there. We haven’t done a live-action animated episode, and I don’t think we will. Whether that would break the show or not, no I know. Maybe not. It’s hard to know what might break it.”

It is worth noting that the “Star Trek” series actually contains a few Western episodes. Their ranks include “Spectre of the Gun” from “Star Trek: The Original Series” and “A Fistful of Data” from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” However, based on Goldsman’s comments, it appears that a full animated episode of “Strange New Worlds” is off the table, at least for now. It will probably be very difficult and/or time consuming. There are still more seasons of the series to come, so never say die.

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” is currently streaming on Paramount+.