While there's no one specifically to blame for the current state of Star Trek, it'd be easy to think that the aspects that made older Star Trek series great are gone from modern sci-fi forever...if not for the writing of Andy Weir. A few months back, Weir revealed on the Critical Drinker podcast that he'd pitched a Star Trek show to Alex Kurtzman, which he ultimately passed on. The worlds predicted in The Martian and Project Hail Mary work as almost a precursor to that vision of Earth. They don't rise to the occasion, they sink to the level of their training, and much like the characters in Star Trek, they're just two guys doing their jobs. Andy Weir's work emphasizes exploration, communication, and humanity's capacity to work together, not just among themselves, but even with other species, which are all hallmarks of classic Star Trek.