Five to Stream Up

Hulu began streaming all five live-action incarnations of Star Trek today. You can watch The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise free through March 31st.

Also today on its Tumblr blog Hulu launched a March Madness bracket showdown
to supposedly determine Star Trek’s “Greatest Character of All Time”. While I realize that Hulu is just having fun, it’s put up an awfully shallow field. Never mind that Q is the only adversary listed; there are absences from the core cast of every series, including (well, not including) Uhura, Sulu, Chekhov, and McCoy. And somebody somewhere must be upset that no-one from Enterprise appears. The number of extant brackets would have to double to add characters, yes, but coming up with another sixteen names wouldn’t be difficult. Although more characters may not have changed matchups in the final rounds, especially if the presumptive favorites were seeded properly, fans are gonna ask where Bones is.

You can check out Hulu’s preface, bracket overview, and the categories open for voting so far to decide for yourself whether participation strikes you as fun or legitimizing a hopelessly flawed tournament. My knock on Star Trek Madness aside, Hulu is a great way to catch up on current and classic television.


Related: Eau de Kirk • 7 for 007 • What’s Future Is Prologue