Just got ordered to series. Guess we were gonna get that no matter what. It skews more teenage and soapy, so I'm thinking like a CW show. Plot description- “Starfleet Academy will introduce us to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they will discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself.” No word on its position in the timeline. https://www.darkhorizons.com/paramount-orders-starfleet-academy-series/
Ah, fuck. Those crazy sons of bitches finally did it. Here's hoping it's actually good. But it's not a very appealing concept.
https://gizmodo.com/star-trek-starfleet-academy-tv-series-greenlit-1850283054 Co-showrunners and executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau made a cutesy announcement for the upcoming show: “Admission is now open to Starfleet Academy! Explore the galaxy! Captain your destiny! For the first time in over a century, our campus will be re-opened to admit individuals a minimum of 16 Earth years (or species equivalent) who dream of exceeding their physical, mental and spiritual limits, who value friendship, camaraderie, honor and devotion to a cause greater than themselves. The coursework will be rigorous, the instructors among the brightest lights in their respective fields, and those accepted will live and study side-by-side with the most diverse population of students ever admitted. Today we encourage all who share our dreams, goals and values to join a new generation of visionary cadets as they take their first steps toward creating a bright future for us all. Apply today!Ex Astris, Scientia!”
Maybe? They could be talking about dropping the minimum enrollment age to 16 for the first time in a century. I'd always thought it was the equivalent of a university before this, with Wesley being a special exception.
The storyline in the old Starfleet Academy video game was actually pretty good, but that had the benefit of having the cadets solve a mystery/stop a conspiracy alongside Kirk and Co. If this is Tilly, they need to make her older and wiser because she was still basically a cadet in attitude even when she left Discovery.
Preview: I will watch if there are tits. I won't be watching any other Trek after Picard. If you want me to give Trek 90210 a chance, I want tits. Tits and ass. And no shortage of smooth, muscular pecs, tight abs and firm butt shots for the ladies (AND anyone ELSE who likes man bits - sorry!). I'd even welcome the occasional flaccid penis. F-bombs and teen angst won't cut it. Let's R18 the shit out of this premise. I want moistness.
For all the doomsayers on this, let's not forget that Lower Decks didn't seem like a particularly great idea on paper either when that was launched and that most of us have been overall disappointed with Picard until this season. Honestly, why not have a show aimed at the teens for after they age out of Prodigy? If there had been a series like that when I was a kid, I would've become a fan sooner. Speaking of LD, Tawny Newsome is apparently going to be writing for the Academy series, so maybe it'll balance out any possible CW stink: https://twitter.com/TrondyNewman/status/1641514936210952192?t=Tj9sx06VJOBXPypXMidg8A&s=19
The "first class in 100 years" in some of the commentary suggests Discovery era - if so I want that Orion (Harrel, I think) from the Tilly episode to be one of the leads. I was really impressed with that one.
Let's just go over this for a minute here. They link to a story from 2018. Harve Bennett had the idea as far back as Star Trek 5 so more like for decades. You think Kurzman knows or cares about that? Probably not. Let's continue. Ugh, another Wesley Crusher. Let the memes begin. How much you wanna bet that they all talk like Gen Zers? Yeah sure except for the sixteen year old wonder kid who's probably a mixed race non binary with pink/purple hair with some sort of handicap, but that handicap helps them do super human things. There will probably be one white guy, but he'll be the butt of all jokes and the women have to help him do menial tasks. It's Star Trek, it's already pretty damn diverse. Oh, right that type of diversity. Insert more ham-fisted modern politics that doesn't age well like the ICE subplot from Picard season two. Now I know nothing of this show runner from Nancy Drew and CW has had at least two shows that were pretty decent The 100 and Gotham and a Starfleet Academy show could work, but call me highly skeptical. Red Squad would have been ideal, but that ship has sailed. If Kurtzman and Goldsman keeps their hands off it, it might stand a chance. Most fans were looking for a series set in the 25th century. I mean they finally got the look and feel down with Picard season three. Why they don't just give Seven or Shaw their own show and let Matalis be the show runner is beyond me I always wanted an academy series either with Kirk, Spock and McCoy or a series set right after TUC and have the TOS cast show up for cameos. Obviously it's too late for that. So what do you do? Well, you could treat it like Top Gun or the original concept for Enterprise For All Mankind, but in space. Mix that with Hogwarts and the X-Men and you could make an interesting show that's not just Saved By the Bell or 90210 in space. If Tilly is one of the instructors though then god help us. I just hope it's not like most of the other crap that CW has shitted out for the past twenty years. I also hope they do away with the mystery box formula and just do what DS9 did with story arcs and stand alone episodes mixed together. I guess we'll see.
Marvel's "The Runaways" is a good guide to how to do a teen soap adventure. It felt like Freddy 3: Dream Warriors. New Mutants tried to be Dream Warriors, and failed; Runaways got it right. If this is a Starfleet Runaways, I'll be happy.
Sure it was. I was thinking while reading that and thought “Nope”, then the next post Diacanu posted “Nope”. So, he read my mind before I even thought it, and responded in the affirmative.
Also, I'm so over the "We want Star Trek Legacy RIGHT NOW DAMNIT !" attitude from so many who want a white male lead so fucking badly to continue living in their nostalgia and who have forgotten that it was the nonstop cribbing off TNG that ran the franchise into the ground the first damn time. Even if you brats do get your fucking way like obnoxious Synder Bros, it's not something that's gonna get a greenlight immediately. It's been what, a month since that campaign began? Calm your man-tits.
When Voyager ended I wanted to jump ahead another 100 years. B and B didn’t do that so we got Enterprise instead. Now that we’re finally getting the 25th century, I think it would be wise to stay there. My idea was to go to another galaxy, maybe have a few new colonies to focus on as well as a new ship to service those colonies. Make it more like TOS with a little bit of DS9 like story telling. Discovery didn’t deliver the post TNG era very well.
The great thing about modern Trek is that they aren't all set in one decade or another--SNW is in the 2250s, the animated shows are set in the 2380s, PIC in 2401. I just think everyone screaming like banshees over an idea that was already in the works for months before anyone thought PIC would turn out to be popular on the basis of memberberries is getting ahead of themselves. Apparently Legacy is getting pitched but yes, those things take time and they don't need to sleep on other projects in the meantime.
Remember, Starfleet Academy was talked about since Discovery started 6 years ago. Section 31 since Discovery season 2, and Mirror-Georgiou, and that's still being batted around. It could be awhile.
Obviously, any premise can be executed well or poorly. And as someone who has watched more than his fair share of CW programming, I'd be good with a soapy, teen drama that happened to be set at Starfleet Academy and was relatively light on the sci-fi. That showed a different side of Starfleet, the Federation, Earth and humanity than we've been allowed to see in the structure of Captain/First Officer/Security Chief/Chief Engineer/Doctor that most shows have featured, along with the makeup of 3-4 Americans (or near enough), 1-2 non-Americans, 1-2 subdued Spock-esque outsider/commentator on humanity and 1-2 angry aliens. They don't have to use the same formula from TOS/TNG. There are different ways to tell stories now. Like I would love it if it were an interconnected anthology.
The problem is that they already have three strikes against them (A) They want to set it in the Discovery timeline, (B) They want to crib from CW. That indicates that they want to play it safe and that they're creatively bankrupt, and (C) Kurtzman's track record isn't that good. Never mind the fact that a lot of fans are already adverse to an academy series in the first place.
Kurtzman has a better track record than anyone who's ever been in charge of Star Trek. How many different Trek series aired in 2022? And they're still planning to make more? Come on, man. A lot of fans were against TNG in the first place. Fuck'em, they can enjoy their reruns and leave the rest of us in peace.