By Chris Snellgrove | Published
In Star Trek II: The Wrath of KhanKirk quotes famously A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” He quotes the novel again in the final scene as a way of mourning Spock, who had given him a copy of Charles Dickens’ novel. I’ve been thinking about these scenes lately as I process my feelings about death altogether: Starfleet Academyi Adoption spinoff that was canceled shortly after the end of season 1.
That season inadvertently paid homage to Dickens as “A Tale of Two Star Treks.” Part of the series focuses on vulgar banter, teen hijinks, and teen humor so stupid it makes you lose your brain cells. The other half focuses on interesting casts, deep story cuts, and engaging (if uninspired) sci-fi melodrama. Interestingly, these two versions of the show were split in the middle. The first half was an hour of dumb teenage comedy, and the second half was NuTrek’s best attempt at classic Star Trek. The only logical conclusion is that Paramount had no faith in their audience, waiting to give us traditional Trek storytelling until it was too late.
A Tale of Two Star Treks
Obviously, taste is subjective, but most of the fans I talked to agree with that Starfleet Academy it was much better in the second half of Season 1. Critical reviews generally echoed this sentiment, with various reviewers complaining about which episodes felt like classic Star Trek. Even online fandom generally agrees with this view. Although it was very critical Starfleet Academy in online places like r/startrek, fans of the game have repeatedly suggested that, like The Next Generation, Deep Space Nineagain Voyagereveryone should give this new show time to find its legs.
What makes the second half of Season 1 better, though? Some fans liked the increased callbacks to the old Trek, including the final arc involving the Omega molecule. Some fans liked the benefits of the characters’ ongoing projects, such as Caleb finally meeting his mother. But my opinion that the game is getting better is very simple: reduce the kid jokes. Suddenly, the cadets were not only talking in Zoomer catchphrases and engaging in various prank battles. The digital director wasn’t cracking jokes about boners, and we didn’t have scenes with half the older actors laughing at the exploding fish. Just like that, Star Trek suddenly started taking itself seriously again.
Paramount Is Sick Of Star Trek’s Core Audience
While Star Trek has had its moments of intensity over the years (like all those people who came in Home of the Journey), has often been a very serious franchise. Obviously, it doesn’t have all the classy, tone-deaf humor that ruined the first half Starfleet Academy‘s first season. Removing all of the novelty humor (well, remove the space purge) from the show is a big part of what made it feel like classic Trek, and therefore, appealed to traditional fans. This leads to an obvious question: if preparing your new expensive spinoff was so easy, why include comics in the first place?
My guess is that Paramount didn’t have enough faith in it Starfleet Academy. Maybe management was afraid that this premise was too different, or maybe they knew how much other NuTrek shows had bucked traditional belief. For whatever reason, the network didn’t think fans of shows like TNG and DS9 would show up Starfleet Academyso they decided that the first half of Season 1 appealed to a larger audience (the younger, the better). So, all the dumb jokes and kid jokes were an attempt to give the spinoff a mainstream appeal. It didn’t feel like Star Trek because it wasn’t like that Star Trek: was a comedy for teenagers in space.
Paramount’s plan was famous in their faces
If this was Paramount’s plan, it backfired spectacularly. As usual, young viewers didn’t flock to the latest show in a franchise that started when their grandparents were young. Meanwhile, attempts to navigate around everyone but the old fans managed to (shocked here) chase away the old fans. That’s why Starfleet Academy canceled: the network drove away the core audience while failing to secure a new one, leaving the series with a handful of diehards tuning in each week.
With the SFA dead, Alex Kurtzman’s contract expiring, and Paramount set to buy Warner Bros, one thing is clear: the future of Star Trek will be very different from the NuTrek era. Whatever the future of the franchise looks like, we can only hope that the writers stop trying to appeal to everyone but the fans. Reduce the mass market appeal, reduce the good characters, and for the love of God, hire some writers who know something about sci-fi. By focusing on well-written sci-fi drama and colorful characters, Paramount can finally recap what it did. The Original Series again The Next Generation very good from the start.
