Xuenou > Television > Strange New Worlds Is Star Trek's Highest Rated Show Or Movie Ever On RT
Strange New Worlds Is Star Trek's Highest Rated Show Or Movie Ever On RT
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds now has the highest Rotten Tomatoes rating of any film or television series in Star Trek's franchise history.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is now the highest-rated film or television series in the long-running science-fiction franchise’s history according to the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Announced in 2020 as a spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery, the new show centers on Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the crew of the USS Enterprise five years prior to Star Trek: The Original Series where James T. Kirk would helm the famed star ship. Strange New Worlds is the sixth new series following writer-producer Alex Kurtzman’s rebranding of the Star Trek franchise, which began in 2017 with the debut of Star Trek: Discovery.

Strange New Worlds is the latest television series in Star Trek‘s storied franchise history. Originally created in 1965 by Gene Roddenberry, The Original Series spawned eight live-action television shows, three animated television shows, thirteen films, and a litany of other media such as books and video games. The projects tell a continuing story that all exist within the same universe, including the J.J. Abrams-produced films which spawned a separate timeline based on the destruction of the USS Kelvin and the death of Kirk’s father. The franchise has seen its ups-and-downs, but with Strange New Worlds scoring the highest Rotten Tomatoes rating yet, Star Trek fans may be in for one of the best Star Trek entries since The Next Generation.

According to the most recent ratings on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Strange New Worlds has garnered a franchise high score of 98%. Although only one episode of the series has been released so far, critics based their reviews on the first five episodes of the season. The show’s rating is higher than any film or television series within the entirety of the franchise. The new series sits right above Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek reboot film and the Star Trek: The Animated Series which both hold a 94% Fresh rating. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier holds the franchise’s all-time low rating at 22%, while Star Trek: Enterprise holds an all-time low score for Star Trek television series at 55%.

Although Kurtzman’s new endeavor to introduce new fans to a fresh-faced Star Trek franchise has resulted in relatively high ratings by critics, older fans have not been as pleased with the new projects. Star Trek‘s other current live-action series, Discovery and Picard, both hold favorable Rotten Tomatoes critics ratings of 86%, while the show’s audience rating sit at an abysmal 36% and 41% respectively. The new series have been heavily criticized for straying from the episodic structure of past series, injecting a much darker tone, and favoring action and melodrama over the thoughtfulness and debate the pre-Kurtzman programs were known for. Strange New Worlds aims to bring a lighter mood to the franchise along with an episodic structure, with each episode featuring a self-contained story. After the first episode, the new series sits at an 86% audience rating, a number that will most likely fluctuate for the remainder of the season.

Despite older fans pushing back against Star Trek‘s new feel, CBS has kept their faith with the producer. The company has recently renewed their contract with Kurtzman for an additional five years. Along with the deal, multiple new series are planned, including one based on the mirror universe’s Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) and her time working with Starfleet’s intelligence and defense organization Section 31. If Strange New Worlds episode 1 is any indication of the rest of the season, the show is shaping up to be one of the best in the franchise.