One of the things that’s always set Star Trek aside from other science-fiction franchises is that it, for the most part, depicts a functional utopia. More recent series like Picard have pushed back on this idealistic ideation a bit—at least in part to create a reality closer to our own, the better to reflect back upon it—but the traditional portrayal of the Federation is as a post-scarcity socialist society where pretty much all needs are met, by default, and the predatory burdens of capitalist existence have largely been alleviated.
Anyway: Star Trek gots NFTs now!
This is per a new article posted right up on StarTrek.com today, announcing that Paramount is launching “Season 0" of its new Star Trek-themed NFT collection, which will allow nerdy saps savvy consumers the chance to drop $250 real human dollars on a pack of algorithmically generated starships, later this week. (Well, okay: They’ll actually drop their money on a token that serves as a receipt for said spaceships; it’s April 2022, you understand NFTs about as well as you’re going to at this point, right?) A subsequent “Season 1" will allow those same collectors to pick up crew for their little ships, while “Season 2" will then allow those crews and ships to team up in a “play to earn” scheme populated by only the most invested of chumps no, wait, we did actually mean chumps that time.
And while all NFT projects from big-name, beloved entities are a bummer—hey, Kevin Smith—there’s something especially dispiriting about Trek getting into this market. For one thing, it’s been literally announced as a wedge franchise for a whole bunch of other Paramount-branded NFTs (including Nickelodeon, which is just a grotesque idea). Beyond that, though, it’s just such a colossal mis-match with the inherent spirit of the series to have its identity rendered into so much gold-pressed latinum. Anyway, congratulations to all involved!