By Chris Snellgrove | Published
right now, Starfleet Academy it is in a very strange place. The show was canceled almost immediately after the end of Season 1, and the most likely reason was that it didn’t have enough viewers to justify a renewal. Well, Season 2 is already filming, which means we are (unless the network Batgirls the thing) who may have seen some of the adventures of these controversial cadets. That said, Paramount can’t really say anything specific about why the show ended for fear of letting the audience down even more. For that same reason, no force in Star Trek can say anything remotely critical about it.
Or can they? Recently, Strange New Worlds Showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso gave an interview explaining what fans can look forward to in the fourth season of the show. This really affects the development of the characters and how much work went into a scary muppet episode. However, they also went out of their way to emphasize that this season will not have its own “Big Bad”. Goldsman explained that this doesn’t mean anything like Gorn or Vezda, but these guys are never Big Bads in the traditional sense of the word. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but this sounds like an entirely different confirmation: that SNW will happen nothing like Starfleet Academy!
Worse or Just a Big Bite?
In a recent interview no A polygon, Strange New Worlds Producer Akiva Goldsman said that Strange New Worlds Season 4 will have more episodes, The Original Series conversational style. That means there is no “Big Bad” whose story would take multiple episodes to finish, like Gorn in the first two seasons and Vezda in Season 3. However, these guys weren’t Big Bads as we know the name. The Gorn made a few scary appearances in Season 1 and was part of the cliffhanger for Season 2, but it wasn’t an ongoing thing. Similarly, Vezda appeared in only two episodes of Season 3, where she showed the ability to have different bodies.
Both Gorn and Vezda are bad guys to watch. Like, the Gorn are presented as Star Trek’s version of the xenomorphs, and they’re scary because they’re unknown. Vezda, on the other hand, does not really have a face, having to take on the bodies of others to give himself the proper physical form. The term “Big Bad” was coined by the writers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to refer to the main villain of each season. Big Bads include demons like Mayor Wilkins, former allies like Angelus and Dark Willow, occasional gods like Glory, and so on. These villains often have part of the season to develop and act as the main characters for our heroes to keep coming out.
Star Trek’s Latest Big Bad
What does this have to do with it? Starfleet Academy? Strange New Worlds I didn’t have it Buffy-style Big Bads: Gorn and Vezda were minor parts of their respective seasons, and not really villains for our heroes to outrun. The Gorn do not speak, and the Vezda can jump into the bodies of others to express mysterious threatening visions of evil. But there it was the latest Star Trek show with a larger-than-life villain whose big personality dominates the entire season. In Starfleet AcademyPaul Giamatti’s Nus Braka appears in half of Season 1, including an explosive entrance in the first episode and a very memorable bow in the final episode.
Nus Braka cast a long shadow above Starfleet AcademyThe entire first season. He is part of Caleb’s dark origin story and has a huge impact on the cadet’s development. He outwits the cadets and their mentors, managing to blow up a Starfleet ship and steal the secret research he used to threaten the entire Federation. While I personally think Giamatti gave a great performance, the truth remains that if you don’t do it like his character, you probably won’t like this game because you’re in it a lot.
Big Bads? Zero. The Muppets? One
That brings us back to Akiva Goldsman’s comment on A polygon about Strange New Worlds Season 4 doesn’t have a Big Bad. Because the show was never really worth it, Buffy-style Big Bads, my opinion is that the runner was quietly distancing himself from his sport Starfleet Academy. His comment is a way of saying that SNW didn’t go in for a single villain, so you don’t have to worry about an overused enemy chasing you down. That, of course, is part of the show’s episodic charm: like previous shows like The Original Series again The Next Generationit’s over various news means that even if you hate one episode, you might love the next.
So, call me a conspiracy theorist if you must (just don’t pretend I’m wearing one of those neck bugs from “Conspiracy”), but Akiva Goldsman’s comments about Big Bads Strange New Worlds Season 4 seems to be a coded way of saying “don’t worry, it won’t be like that Starfleet Academy.” That may upset some fans who would prefer unity between the games and the racers. But for anyone who hated SFA (especially if they hated because of Nus Braka), this may be enough confirmation that they sing Strange New Worlds when it premieres July 23 on Paramount+.
