New ‘Star Trek’ spinoff goes two-on-two about the destruction of a beloved alien race
Author: Chris Snelgrove Published
When longtime Star Trek fans begin to question whether the latest spin-off starfleet academywill destroy the team, and young fans call us alarmists. After all, Star Trek has changed a lot in the past 60 years, so the fact that the new show has a different setting (the titular academy) and a different target audience (the coveted 18-24-year-old demographic) doesn’t mean it’s going to be bad. However, now that the show has completely destroyed two of the series’ most iconic aliens (Beta Zords and Klingons) in its first four episodes, it’s fair to say that skeptical older fans have completely Rehabilitated.
it all started with starfleet academyIn the second episode (“Beta Testing”), our heroes attempt to lure the Betazed back to the Federation. This includes attracting the planet’s president, Emerin Sadal, who is deaf and mute and relies on lip-reading and sign language (as well as some nifty translator robots) to communicate. After generously offering to make Beta Zedd his new home at Starfleet Academy, he decided to reunite with the Federation, while his two children remained; one at the Academy and one at the War College.
Goodbye, Betazoid abilities.
Despite the writing decision to make the leader of Betazord a Trump-like figure with an empire hidden behind psychic walls, the president seems to be an affable character, and deaf actor Anthony Natale does an excellent job of bringing him to life. The problem, however, is that Betazoids (first introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation) is always completely telepathic. Theoretically, the President wouldn’t need to rely on lip-reading and sign language, since he (like Luwaxana Troy and other pureblood Betazois) should be able to read almost anyone’s mind.
However, starfleet academy The Betazed are portrayed as a race of empaths who can only read emotions, not thoughts. This is more in line with the capabilities of Deanna Troi, who served as a shipboard advisor aboard Enterprise-D and Enterprise-E. She is limited to reading the emotions of others (which Picard often uses for tactical purposes), as she is only half a Betazord, while some other Betazords have limited abilities (most notably Lon Suder) Voyager), next generation It’s made clear that the vast majority of these aliens have telepathic abilities similar to Professor X’s.
Therefore, it is obvious starfleet academy Just changed a major aspect of one of Star Trek’s most famous aliens, nerfing their collective telepathic abilities for no apparent reason. Some fans have wildly tried to come up with theories as to how this happened, such as everyone losing some of their psychic powers as a result of creating and maintaining powerful psychic walls. But the episode doesn’t even mention that, making it seem like the writers just did a massive retcon that completely changed what makes Betazord special.
Klingons are now mute and sterilized
in episode four starfleet academy (“Vox in Excelso”), the writers also made a huge change to the Klingons: We find out that the Burn (the event that rendered nearly all dilithium in the galaxy inert) destroyed the Klingon homeworld and much of their empire, as those worlds relied on dilithium reactors to power them. The combustion caused these reactors to explode, destroying the entire planet (plus the combustion causing the starships to explode), leaving the Klingons as a race facing extinction.
There are a lot of problems with this from a lore perspective; as I’ve written in more detail, the dilithium reactor should never have exploded in the first place. The only reason starships explode is because of the use of dilithium to keep matter and antimatter (important for warp travel) separated. Upon contact, the ship explodes immediately.
Putting aside the lack of explanation for this storyline, it’s the lazy writing that makes the Klingons look so stupid. Even if we accept that dilithium can be used as an energy source, there are safer sources, such as fusion, that do not rely on increasingly scarce resources (remember, the galaxy ran out of dilithium in about 15-20 years) forward burn). It seems that the screenwriter just wants to echo Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Countrythe Klingons’ energy satellite Praxis exploded because these aggressive aliens failed to take adequate safety precautions, leading to a future simulation of the Chernobyl disaster.
Star Trek’s most famous race rots in hell
in other words, starfleet academy Decided to turn Star Trek’s most famous alien race into idiots who failed to learn the lessons of 800 years ago and became homeless and nearly extinct because of their ignorance. On top of that, their culture believed that the only way to reach the Klingon paradise was to die in battle. Killing off the vast majority of these warriors outside of combat means that, from a Klingon perspective, the writers just sent most of these aliens to Hell!
Now, the most prominent representative of this race is Jay-Den. starfleet academyof Klingon cadets. However, due to the show’s insistence on making every character quirky and special, he’s definitely United Nations-Like the Klingons, prefer pacifism and healing to fighting and conquest. He’s soft-hearted, soft-spoken, and (according to the latest episode) possibly gay, making him unlike any other Klingon on Star Trek.
The softer side of Klingons?
In and of itself, this is not a problem; both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine There are many great stories surrounding Worf, a Klingon raised by humans who never felt like he fit in with the rest of this warrior culture. Of course, these stories often rely on contrasting Worf with other Klingons, such as his brother or Gawron, both of whom embody the alien race’s values.
starfleet academy Just unceremoniously killing off most of the Klingons in the galaxy, it changed their culture (they were now a nomadic family, each with two fathers), made them look like complete fools, and left as their symbolic representative a man who was the opposite of traditional Klingons in every way. Jay-Den is an interesting character in some ways, and played by a talented actor (Karim Diane), but the problem is that he’s a bit like KINO; that is, a Klingon in name only.
star trek name
that’s the problem starfleet academy In short: This is a Star Trek show in name only. They brought in Betazord just to take away their signature abilities, they brought in Klingons just to kill off most of these warriors and replace them with a stuttering soyboy medical student. Which obviously begs the question: Why try to make a Star Trek franchise at all if you’re going to ruin everything about it?
If the writers needed empaths instead of telepaths to tell a story, they might invent a new race instead of relying on Betazords. If the writers needed to establish a nomadic people among the frustrating diaspora, they could have created a new people instead of destroying the Klingons. In the end, if they just wanted to tell a silly comedy show about space cadets that occasionally devolves into superficial melodrama, they could Made something other than a Star Trek show.
Paramount sinks with ship
starfleet academy is a beautiful series filled with talented actors, and some of the creators behind it (especially Tawny Newsome) are equally talented. But the show keeps destroying old legends while destroying traditional characters so Paramount can create a series that might be called “This Is Not Your Dad’s Hogwarts.” Of course, they own the intellectual property, so these executives have every right to change everything that makes Star Trek special.
But now that the new series has completely fallen off the Paramount+ streaming charts, executives may finally learn a lesson worthy of their on-screen trainees: When you destroy everything your fans love, don’t be surprised when they hate what you created!
