(Image credit: Paramount)

It didn’t take long for fans to figure out that the fourth season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" was going to be unlike any season of " Star Trek " before it. The entire season was one giant gimmick, and that gimmick was shoving "Trek" into as many genres as possible and often directly adapting classic films from those genres.

You could argue that an entire season of gimmick episodes is a bold risk: putting the characters in fun, wacky situations to see how they react. It could be interesting, but the season we got never made the most of the concept. It was all so safe and paint-by-numbers, and, most importantly, it didn't have anything profound or interesting to say.

That should trouble any Trekkie.…