Sept. 8 gave "Star Trek" fans reason to celebrate, marking the 50th anniversary of the original series. The latest franchise news, however, will make more Trekkies cry than cheer.

CBS has delayed the premiere of "Star Trek: Discovery" by several months, pushing it from early 2017 to May 2017.

(Update: CBS has since moved the premiere date again, and the show is now slated to premiere in fall 2017.)

While the announcement comes as blow to fans -- no one likes waiting longer than anticipated for a TV series -- CBS isn't moving its debut to torture us. There is a logical and necessary reason behind the move: to make the series better.

Executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Bryan Fuller revealed in a joint statement that they'd revisited the project's needs with their partners at CBS before kicking off production. Given the scale of the undertaking and the sci-fi series' long history, they wanted more time to bring forth their vision. Evidently, they made a compelling case.

"Bringing 'Star Trek' back to television carries a responsibility and mission: to connect fans and newcomers alike to the series that has fed our imaginations since childhood," said Kurtzman and Fuller. "We aim to dream big and deliver ... and these extra few months will help us achieve a vision we can all be proud of."

A longer wait may be rough on fans, but as the duo pointed out, "'Star Trek' deserves the very best." If a few more months is what it takes to do the franchise justice, most fans would probably agree they should have that time.

The newest take on the old series and beloved franchise will hit CBS' streaming service, CBS All Access in fall 2017, following the premiere on the network itself.

[via: StarTrek.com]