The USS Enterprise is a character. The reboots don’t get that.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: this piece is loaded with spoilers on all things Star Trek, including (but not limited to) the original series and the first three reboot films. Beware.

The Star Trek franchise, after decades of TV episodes and movies, is full of tragic moments. A true Trek fan will not easily forget the death of Commodore Decker in the 1967 Original Series episode “The Doomsday Machine,” or the loss of Lieutenant Tasha Yar in the 1988 Next Generation episode “Skin of Evil.” Any self-respectin...