YouTube Preview - Starfleet Academy

[EddMarkStarr]

My information is that Episode One is available to everyone on YouTube - give it a try.

 

[unloadonme]

"The uploader has not made this video available in your country"

 

[EddMarkStarr]

"The uploader has not made this video available in your country"

Oops - I was afraid of this. Regional restrictions have not been dropped.
But the Big News is the show is bombing even in markets with full access!

You can't give Star Trek away!!!

 

[rareboy]

^ We watched it.

It was fine although a lot of the pretextual stuff is wobbly and I couldn't understand why any of the main character 'students' needed to be learning anything at the Academy.

Holly Hunter was a weird choice for the Admiral.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

^ We watched it.

It was fine although a lot of the pretextual stuff is wobbly and I couldn't understand why any of the main character 'students' needed to be learning anything at the Academy.

Holly Hunter was a weird choice for the Admiral.

It wasn't as bad as I expected. The overall story would have benefited from less drama (over-the-top ship destruction and teen feelings), but there's a lack of focus in the first episode to establish the purpose of an "Academy" setup like a high school from the 20th century. In my future, Starfleet officers are built on individual instruction - classrooms are sooo 19th century!

As the decades roll along I find myself weak and weary over the complete lack of original thinking behind movies and television.

Can we pleease reach beyond "Space Academy" from 1977 - Saturday morning television when Jimmy Carter was president is Not the standard.

 

[rareboy]

I think that the unoriginality of it was what struck me most. It is overenthusiastically pretty and optimistic with a trope set of predicatable characters with personal
dramas and truamas...now to be led by a fairly hapless schoolmarm who looks out of place in an outsized chair in an outsized ship that would be right at home as a Carnival cruise
scow.

It looks like it has been made by CBS/Paramount as a kind of soother blanket for Gen Z.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

The only online enthusiasm is coming from the cast. I'm not paying to watch any more - Done!

 

[rareboy]

We get it in our package, so will probably sit through more episodes and hope the characters develop beyond Degrassi tropes.

 

[rareboy]

Well...a month later and I find myself reminding fellow boomers that note every Star Trek series is directed at us or even Gen X.

It has settled into its character tropes:

1. the prettiest boy and girl are the romantic core
2. the sensitive but angry outsider
3. the bubbly chunky girl
4. the smooth girl who might be the love interest but is generally smarter than the boys.
5. the jerk who sometimes shows sensitivity
6. the bullying teacher who secretly loves her students

And all of this played out earthbound in a 2026 campus setting with some weird fantasy insides.

I don't hate it as much as a lot of grumpy older viewers but I don't love it either and can't see it progressing beyond the sophomoric shenanigans (their word)
being played out in junior college.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Well...a month later and I find myself reminding fellow boomers that note every Star Trek series is directed at us or even Gen X.

It has settled into its character tropes:

1. the prettiest boy and girl are the romantic core
2. the sensitive but angry outsider
3. the bubbly chunky girl
4. the smooth girl who might be the love interest but is generally smarter than the boys.
5. the jerk who sometimes shows sensitivity
6. the bullying teacher who secretly loves her students

And all of this played out earthbound in a 2026 campus setting with some weird fantasy insides.

I don't hate it as much as a lot of grumpy older viewers but I don't love it either and can't see it progressing beyond the sophomoric shenanigans (their word)
being played out in junior college.

Enough content has aired that an idea occurred to me just the other day.

What if Starfleet Academy followed the old "Dobie Gillis" (1959) formula - where Holly Hunter as Nahla Ake acted more like a college chancellor and introduced each episode with a "lesson of the day".
By stating the goal assigned to the cadets right up front, the audience gets to watch problem solving among the cadets, together or alone.
Each episode ends with Nahla Ake evaluating the cadets, success or failure, and the show takes on a fascinating journey in growth and development.

It may sound boring but my story path shows cadets interacting as future officers and professional relationships form as the series moves along.

 

[rareboy]

^ To some degree they are doing exactly what you say, only the lesson is often introduced by one of the 'professors' at the outset.

And the thing that is currently missing is the development of the professional relationships that could one day allow some of these characters to appear in future series....at the moment they seem to be fixated on 'personal growth' and emotional issues. The first episode had some of the elements of the profeesional collaboration that we need more of.

But again, we are viewing the series through the lens of previous Star Trek series and movies while this series is clearly targeting new, young viewers who will more closely identify with the drama of high school seniors.

The first time they do a high school musical show, I will scream.

 

[smokeshadow]

^^Oh, I don't know, RAreboy. . .I thought the SNW musical episode was fairly good. Especially the opening number and the finale

 

[rareboy]

It is likely why they were cancelled

 

[smokeshadow]

It is likely why they were cancelled

SNW was only planned to run 5 seasons; so, I'm not sure if that counts as being "cancelled"

 

[rareboy]

Actually my partner tells me that it is to return but no announced date...maybe they will be looking for ways to incorporate some characters fromSFA.

 

[rareboy]

Ok. So they are actually allowing Jay Den the Klingon with the bad prosthetics to come out in an easy way without a lot of drama.

Even better, he has fallen for one of the War College lads Kyle...and Darem is jealous...

https://parade.com/news/star-trek-star-says-he-was-scared-to-play-his-groundbreaking-role-heres-why

There have been homos on ST in the past, but this is canonically different because it is a young male Klingon stepping outside the warrior stereotype of the last 60 years.

Not eveyone is happy...and I don't mean the homophobe stans of ST foaming at the mouth in their basement digs...some think this character hurts the homo community by reinforcing stereotypes of us as nurturers and feminine.

Nothing will please everyone...but as agonizing as it is to watch the storylines play out...we still plan to keep watching to the end of the season.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

^ To some degree they are doing exactly what you say, only the lesson is often introduced by one of the 'professors' at the outset.

And the thing that is currently missing is the development of the professional relationships that could one day allow some of these characters to appear in future series....at the moment they seem to be fixated on 'personal growth' and emotional issues. The first episode had some of the elements of the profeesional collaboration that we need more of.

But again, we are viewing the series through the lens of previous Star Trek series and movies while this series is clearly targeting new, young viewers who will more closely identify with the drama of high school seniors.

The first time they do a high school musical show, I will scream.

Everything I've seen so far tells the story of a Paramount Studio desperate for more "Star Trek" and not so much "Academy".

The emphasis should be learning and development - not conflict and colorful characters.

 

[rareboy]

^ Exactly. And they are failing their Gen ZZ audience by their myopic vision and stifling storylines.

I find the whole thing claustrophobic and self-limiting and suspect that this series will come to a swift close if they don't get all these characters into some real action and into space real soon.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

I've always wanted a series set on the resort planet Risa, where the United Federation of Planets hosts an entertainment complex that features an Earth Pavilion, completely staffed by young humans, and we get to experience the interactions of the Pavilion staff with the intergalactic resort guests.

 

[rareboy]

Jesus wept.

I just see today that they wrapped shooting the second season.

I thought for sure it would get shelved after one round.