The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s first season was a big one for many reasons, including that it was directed by Captain William Riker himself, Jonathan Frakes. Ahead of next week’s finale, we were able to talk to Frakes about the big reunion between Caleb (Sandro Rosta) and his mom Anisha (Tatiana Maslany), how he directs such a storied franchise, how he deals with fan community hate, and more.
I liked the last episode more than any other in the season, despite it being maybe the least Star Trek one?
Previous one was ridiculous. Oh, these “kids” are traumatised by a bad experience? Let’s fix that with theatre! All together, 'cause of course everyone can heal with the same “therapy”.
I still hope this series can turn out to be good, after all TNG itself didn’t start out great. But it seems they want to bash you over the head with emotions and ideas, rather than make you feel and develop them yourself.
And this is why conservatives bitching about wokeness bother me. I can’t say things I don’t like about the show without it being dismissed as one of them.
I honestly think writers and show runners do it on purpose. They can’t write for shit, so they use bait, and when someone takes said bait, they use it to dismiss all criticism.
See Lord of the Rings, The Witcher, Star Wars, Dr. Who, Wheel of Time, Halo, Velma, Resident Evil et al. Rinse and repeat, over and over.
I think Strange New Worlds found its feet and has a good thing going. I hope Starfleet Academy will as well. I think the weaknesses of the first season have been foot-finding for the most part.
It’s clear they’re going for a younger demographic and I think there’s a bit of “hello fellow kids” and some misguided writing, but I’m generally willing to put up with it.
I’m not a huge fan of the touchy-feely more-talk-than-action thing in Discovery / SNW / Academy… but… eh, I can deal with it. It’s not all bad, it’s just a lot.
But Star Trek to me has never been hard sci-fi. They’ve not been afraid to be political, and I respect and appreciate that, even when it’s a bit ham-handed sometimes. They do sometimes have some good ideas and give things to think about, but mostly we get the standard tropes of the alien-of-the-week causes some problem that has a solution we’ve never seen before and will never see again. And that’s annoying, but it’s fine for entertainment.
I am entertained. And so I cannot complain too much.
A couple of these eps have been JUST so much about the people/social and I don’t care about them THAT much, but I do care about them enough to root for them in action scenes. heh.
I think overall the series is pretty good. Very dark. But that’s just the current way of things. I did like the bright Orville better, but there really are some pretty visuals in here, so… fine. heh
…one example of how Trek is not hard sci-fi: In the most recent ep, there was a series of things surrounding some planets. It was described and depicted as a “ring” when space is three dimensional and it should obviously be a sphere. But that’s hard to depict, explain, think about for most people, so they collapse everything to 2D and… it’s… it’s fine. It’s really, just fine. Annoying but fine.
I liked the last episode more than any other in the season, despite it being maybe the least Star Trek one?
Previous one was ridiculous. Oh, these “kids” are traumatised by a bad experience? Let’s fix that with theatre! All together, 'cause of course everyone can heal with the same “therapy”.
I still hope this series can turn out to be good, after all TNG itself didn’t start out great. But it seems they want to bash you over the head with emotions and ideas, rather than make you feel and develop them yourself.
As someone who desperately wanted to go to Starfleet Academy most of his life: These are not the elite kids I thought would be in it.
“I swallowed my comm badge” is something a toddler would say, not a Starfleet Cadet.
Worth remembering that this is a Star Fleet rebuilding itself from the ashes, not the Star Fleet of old
I get that, but if they’ve got cadets who swallow their comm badges they’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel
That’s not an opinion you actually hold. You’re obviously saying that to generate “hate clicks.”
And this is why conservatives bitching about wokeness bother me. I can’t say things I don’t like about the show without it being dismissed as one of them.
I honestly think writers and show runners do it on purpose. They can’t write for shit, so they use bait, and when someone takes said bait, they use it to dismiss all criticism.
See Lord of the Rings, The Witcher, Star Wars, Dr. Who, Wheel of Time, Halo, Velma, Resident Evil et al. Rinse and repeat, over and over.
Known many theater kids? It’s pretty spot on actually. Entertainers in general usually use their gifts as escapism or as a safe emotional outlet.
If only Starfleet Academy was a theater school
OP pointed out that not all therapies work for all people, and you disagreed by pointing out that some therapies work for some people.
Value.
I think Strange New Worlds found its feet and has a good thing going. I hope Starfleet Academy will as well. I think the weaknesses of the first season have been foot-finding for the most part.
It’s clear they’re going for a younger demographic and I think there’s a bit of “hello fellow kids” and some misguided writing, but I’m generally willing to put up with it.
I’m not a huge fan of the touchy-feely more-talk-than-action thing in Discovery / SNW / Academy… but… eh, I can deal with it. It’s not all bad, it’s just a lot.
But Star Trek to me has never been hard sci-fi. They’ve not been afraid to be political, and I respect and appreciate that, even when it’s a bit ham-handed sometimes. They do sometimes have some good ideas and give things to think about, but mostly we get the standard tropes of the alien-of-the-week causes some problem that has a solution we’ve never seen before and will never see again. And that’s annoying, but it’s fine for entertainment.
I am entertained. And so I cannot complain too much.
A couple of these eps have been JUST so much about the people/social and I don’t care about them THAT much, but I do care about them enough to root for them in action scenes. heh.
I think overall the series is pretty good. Very dark. But that’s just the current way of things. I did like the bright Orville better, but there really are some pretty visuals in here, so… fine. heh
…one example of how Trek is not hard sci-fi: In the most recent ep, there was a series of things surrounding some planets. It was described and depicted as a “ring” when space is three dimensional and it should obviously be a sphere. But that’s hard to depict, explain, think about for most people, so they collapse everything to 2D and… it’s… it’s fine. It’s really, just fine. Annoying but fine.
The ring was shown as 2D on the 2D display, and as a 3D structure in the exterior shots
SNW didn’t find its footing, it was good from the start IMO. It’s touchy-feely but in a less banal way.
I’m being patient, but it’s harder to justify bad episodes when a season’s just 10 of them, than when we had 20+.