Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock and William Shatner as Captain Kirk. Photo: NBC/Wikimedia Commons
It's been over 10 years since Star Trek: Enterprise closed off its final episodes on CBS, and it's been nearly 50 years since the series first started. Now, with enough fan demand and some appropriate timing, Star Trek is coming back for a new series in January 2017.The network is looking for a writer, but at the moment it'll be produced by Alex Kurtzman, who co-wrote and produced the 2009 Star Trek movie. The series will focus primarily on the signature features fans will recognize from the original 60s Star Trek: exploration of new worlds, alien civilizations, and galactic politicking.CBS is wagering that the series will bring traction to its proprietary streaming platform: CBS All Access.CBS All Access offers more than 7,500 episodes from past CBS shows as well as access to your local CBS live broadcast in select markets for $6 a month.Star Trek will be its first foray into original programming, and it's going to be a hard sell: CBS All Access will be the only way to access the show. A "preview broadcast" of the premiere will air on the network, after which fans will be directed to watch via All Access.CBS isn't shying away from the fact that this is a play to push viewers onto the CBS All Access service. Marc DeBevoise, general manager of CBS Digital Media, noted in a press release that putting the series online was an opportunity to "accelerate" the service's growth. CBS is also offering a free one-week trial of the service.