Starfleet Academy Official Trailer

[eschaton]

Hard disagree. The morphing effects for Odo mostly looked pretty great.

I don't think they aged particularly well, but regardless, it was a very expensive digital effect for a mid-90s TV show, which is why they minimized Odo's shapeshifting considerably in the later seasons. Odo actually referenced that in some of the late episodes - that he he couldn't even remember the last time he had shifted.

Huh? Quasi is shown to assume other people’s appearance twice in the movie. Plus, there’s that scene where he turns himself into this tentacle being in that tunnel chase scene.

His skill as a shapeshifter is used for a bunch of dumb gags, not really anything plot relevant.

Well, the idea could be that she doesn’t have any “powers”. Kasquian holographic lifeforms could be bound to one appearance only.

I suppose this could be the case, but it seems like a pretty boring solution, TBH. Why have her be a holographic character versus say a synth in that case?

 

[Zombie Cheerleader]

I suppose this could be the case, but it seems like a pretty boring solution, TBH. Why have her be a holographic character versus say a synth in that case?

If she was a synth, folks would argue the opposite.

 

[fireproof78]

If she was a synth, folks would argue the opposite.

So, what you're saying is we should argue more?

 

[eschaton]

Rewatched the trailer again, trying to figure out what it is that people don't like about it, and I think I uncovered another thing: These characters are not nerds.

• Caleb feels very "jock coded." Not a bad dude, but not particularly bookish, and just kinda thrown into things.
• Tarima's a hot girl. Can't say much more from the tiny bit we see.
• Darem's just presented as a spoiled rich kid.
• Genesis seems like a...tryhard. Maybe closer to what's expected from Starfleet Academy. Though we really just get a few second impression here.
• SAM is certainly awkward, which goes closest to the nerd stereotype, but I'm not quite getting the big brain vibe from her performance.
• Jay-Den feels like a Klingon stereotype (though I get that he'll be playing against type as the show goes on).

All of these are very surface observations. However, in general it feels like these characters were constructed to be relatable to normies, not relatable to nerds. Since Trekkies are nerds, seeing the Academy full of normies might feel off-putting on a very visceral level.

 

[fireproof78]

Rewatched the trailer again, trying to figure out what it is that people don't like about it, and I think I uncovered another thing: These characters are not nerds.

• Caleb feels very "jock coded." Not a bad dude, but not particularly bookish, and just kinda thrown into things.
• Tarima's a hot girl. Can't say much more from the tiny bit we see.
• Darem's just presented as a spoiled rich kid.
• Genesis seems like a...tryhard. Maybe closer to what's expected from Starfleet Academy. Though we really just get a few second impression here.
• SAM is certainly awkward, which goes closest to the nerd stereotype, but I'm not quite getting the big brain vibe from her performance.
• Jay-Den feels like a Klingon stereotype (though I get that he'll be playing against type as the show goes on).

All of these are very surface observations. However, in general it feels like these characters were constructed to be relatable to normies, not relatable to nerds. Since Trekkies are nerds, seeing the Academy full of normies might feel off-putting on a very visceral level.

As observations go it's not a bad one.

I guess I want more normies to like Star Trek.

 

[Steve Roby]

Needs to go back to the basics of telling good science fiction stories.

I've been reading Harlan Ellison short stories off and on over lately, and I am now reading what I've been missing on TV.

Ellison wrote a lot of good stories, but one thing he didn't write a lot of was space based adventure stories in the future, aside from the Kyben stories and a few others. I can't think offhand of anything he wrote that would be a feasible influence for something like a Starfleet Academy TV series, and I've read at least a couple dozen of his books. Heck, a space academy series is more of a 1950ish science fiction kind of idea -- see Robert A. Heinlein's Space Cadet or Carey Rockwell's Tom Corbett, Space Cadet novels.

 

[bdub76]

Ellison wrote a lot of good stories, but one thing he didn't write a lot of was space based adventure stories in the future, aside from the Kyben stories and a few others. I can't think offhand of anything he wrote that would be a feasible influence for something like a Starfleet Academy TV series, and I've read at least a couple dozen of his books. Heck, a space academy series is more of a 1950ish science fiction kind of idea -- see Robert A. Heinlein's Space Cadet or Carey Rockwell's Tom Corbett, Space Cadet novels.

He did write good science fiction in general and a lot of other genres too.

I'm not saying to adapt his stuff to Star Trek. What I am saying is that he wrote good science fiction stories, something that has been lacking in Star Trek in general. The writing hasn't been all that great.

Star Trek needs to tell good enough stories to draw an audience.

But television writing overall has been in decline recently. I only have to look at shows produced even five years ago, and they were better in general.

And I've had to go back to watching independent films to find anything new. A decade plus of MCU has really hurt cinema. I can't even find any good comedies anymore.

 

[Danja]

The presumably AI photo of MU T'Pol makes her look extremely malnourished. Jolene Blalock is a slim woman, yes, but she's not that slim.

It's not that far off:

 

[Lord Garth]

Rewatched the trailer again, trying to figure out what it is that people don't like about it, and I think I uncovered another thing: These characters are not nerds.

• Caleb feels very "jock coded." Not a bad dude, but not particularly bookish, and just kinda thrown into things.
• Tarima's a hot girl. Can't say much more from the tiny bit we see.
• Darem's just presented as a spoiled rich kid.
• Genesis seems like a...tryhard. Maybe closer to what's expected from Starfleet Academy. Though we really just get a few second impression here.
• SAM is certainly awkward, which goes closest to the nerd stereotype, but I'm not quite getting the big brain vibe from her performance.
• Jay-Den feels like a Klingon stereotype (though I get that he'll be playing against type as the show goes on).

All of these are very surface observations. However, in general it feels like these characters were constructed to be relatable to normies, not relatable to nerds. Since Trekkies are nerds, seeing the Academy full of normies might feel off-putting on a very visceral level.

So, if I were to compare these characters to characters from The Breakfast Club, then:

Caleb = Andrew
Jay-Den = Bender
Genesis = Claire

Sam could be Allison, but I'm not seeing it.
Darem might be Brian, but that's probably forcing it.

Tarima has no Breakfast Club analogue, so I'd have to look at another movie.

And because I'm talking about The Breakfast Club, I have to include this:

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[Fateor]

Rewatched the trailer again, trying to figure out what it is that people don't like about it, and I think I uncovered another thing: These characters are not nerds.

• Caleb feels very "jock coded." Not a bad dude, but not particularly bookish, and just kinda thrown into things.
• Tarima's a hot girl. Can't say much more from the tiny bit we see.
• Darem's just presented as a spoiled rich kid.
• Genesis seems like a...tryhard. Maybe closer to what's expected from Starfleet Academy. Though we really just get a few second impression here.
• SAM is certainly awkward, which goes closest to the nerd stereotype, but I'm not quite getting the big brain vibe from her performance.
• Jay-Den feels like a Klingon stereotype (though I get that he'll be playing against type as the show goes on).

All of these are very surface observations. However, in general it feels like these characters were constructed to be relatable to normies, not relatable to nerds. Since Trekkies are nerds, seeing the Academy full of normies might feel off-putting on a very visceral level.

They don't have to be nerds, but they should be the "best of the best".

Like, even Locarno as bad as he was, was so smart and charismatic that he was capable of becoming a serious threat.

 

[Lord Garth]

When I think back to anything SFA-related from past series and movies:

• Saavik's Kobayashi Maru training in TWOK was good.
• "Coming of Age" (TNG) was good.
• "The First Duty" (TNG) was excellent. Arguably a Top 10 TNG Episode.
• The minor SFA subplot in "Homefront" & "Paradise Lost" (DS9) worked fine.
• "Valiant" (DS9) was okay, not as good as any of the above, but not bad.
• The Academy Scenes from Star Trek (2009) were fine for what they were.
• The cadet subplot in "All Is Possible" (DSC) worked as well.

So, that's quite a cross-section, including from New Trek, and the Starfleet Academy material worked in all of them. Even more cause to be optimistic.

 

[Fateor]

The cadet subplot in "All Is Possible" (DSC) worked as well.

You mean the episode where their grand accomplishment was scaling a fifty-foot hill on a planet that had an anti-starfleet energy field on it?

 

[Lord Garth]

You mean the episode where their grand accomplishment was scaling a fifty-foot hill on a planet that had an anti-starfleet energy field on it?

Work with me here. The point is they came together, learned how to aside their differences, and accomplished something through teamwork. I know we don't agree about DSC, but that's not the point. Whatever we disagreed about before, it's fine. It's cool now. It's water under the bridge. It doesn't matter anymore. We can let bygones be bygones.

My main point is the Starfleet Academy concept can work. So, we'll see if SFA can pull it off or not. That's what I'm trying to get at.

 

[fireproof78]

When I think back to anything SFA-related from past series and movies:

• Saavik's Kobayashi Maru training in TWOK was good.
• "Coming of Age" (TNG) was good.
• "The First Duty" (TNG) was excellent. Arguably a Top 10 TNG Episode.
• The minor SFA subplot in "Homefront" & "Paradise Lost" (DS9) worked fine.
• "Valiant" (DS9) was okay, not as good as any of the above, but not bad.
• The Academy Scenes from Star Trek (2009) were fine for what they were.
• The cadet subplot in "All Is Possible" (DSC) worked as well.

So, that's quite a cross-section, including from New Trek, and the Starfleet Academy material worked in all of them. Even more cause to be optimistic.

Indeed, yes, though I would put the 2009 cadet scenes higher, as well Finnegan reference from "Shore Leave."

Plus the myriad of novels, comics, action figures and the like and Academy is ripe for interesting possibilities.

 

[Lord Garth]

Indeed, yes, though I would put the 2009 cadet scenes higher

I wasn't ranking, I was listing everything in order of release.

 

[fireproof78]

I wasn't ranking, I was listing everything in order of release.

My apologies, I wasn't reading the list as a ranking, but perhaps misread the "for what they were" has regarding them differently.

 

[Michael]

The presumably AI photo of MU T'Pol

Just for the sake of factuality: This is a piece of human-made 3D fan art created in Poser by an artist named “Mark@poser” in 2009. Here’s the original.

 

[Rahul]

Rewatched the trailer again, trying to figure out what it is that people don't like about it, and I think I uncovered another thing: These characters are not nerds.

• Caleb feels very "jock coded." Not a bad dude, but not particularly bookish, and just kinda thrown into things.
• Tarima's a hot girl. Can't say much more from the tiny bit we see.
• Darem's just presented as a spoiled rich kid.
• Genesis seems like a...tryhard. Maybe closer to what's expected from Starfleet Academy. Though we really just get a few second impression here.
• SAM is certainly awkward, which goes closest to the nerd stereotype, but I'm not quite getting the big brain vibe from her performance.
• Jay-Den feels like a Klingon stereotype (though I get that he'll be playing against type as the show goes on).

All of these are very surface observations. However, in general it feels like these characters were constructed to be relatable to normies, not relatable to nerds. Since Trekkies are nerds, seeing the Academy full of normies might feel off-putting on a very visceral level.

I think that's overthinking it - our previous connections with the Academy were also more "Top gun" than "Hogwarts" - Nic Locarno, red squad, JJs 2009 movie.

It's another thing: These characters are a complete blank slate at the moment. I actually was surprised you were able to make such a list. These characterisations certainly didn't come from the trailer.

The trailer is basically just "Caleb & a bunch of other kids". Plus the teachers. And Caleb was not convincing.

For ME, it was basically: 1st trailer: No kids got characterisations. Current trailer: Main kid got characterisation (but not great).
Which also means - a 3rd trailer (or pilot episode) could easily turn the opinion again, if we get to know the other kids better & like them.

 

[Michael]

His skill as a shapeshifter is used for a bunch of dumb gags, not really anything plot relevant.

I don’t disagree. But your original claim was that Quasi “never used their special powers once in the movie”, which is not true.

Why have her be a holographic character versus say a synth in that case?

Well, creating a built-in connection between her and the Doctor could be one reason. Other than that we’ll just have to wait and see, I guess. Personally I think making her a holographic lifeform makes her automatically much more interesting than making her another robot. If the writers are clever they’ll manage to find an interesting angle on the concept that wouldn’t work as well with a nuts and bolts synth.

 

[Jayson Poorknees]

Rewatched the trailer again, trying to figure out what it is that people don't like about it, and I think I uncovered another thing: These characters are not nerds.

• Caleb feels very "jock coded." Not a bad dude, but not particularly bookish, and just kinda thrown into things.
• Tarima's a hot girl. Can't say much more from the tiny bit we see.
• Darem's just presented as a spoiled rich kid.
• Genesis seems like a...tryhard. Maybe closer to what's expected from Starfleet Academy. Though we really just get a few second impression here.
• SAM is certainly awkward, which goes closest to the nerd stereotype, but I'm not quite getting the big brain vibe from her performance.
• Jay-Den feels like a Klingon stereotype (though I get that he'll be playing against type as the show goes on).

All of these are very surface observations. However, in general it feels like these characters were constructed to be relatable to normies, not relatable to nerds. Since Trekkies are nerds, seeing the Academy full of normies might feel off-putting on a very visceral level.

I think it's more about them feeling like Gen Z kids in space. They likely will be written using all the modern Gen Z slang as well because modern Trek feels like they think that if they write characters with any level of earnestness and even acknowledges that the show is set in the future and not 2025 with more fancy tech then young people won't watch.

My guess is it will feel like a feel good teen melodrama only it will not have the usually bad boy or bad girl in the group that makes those kind of shows function. Luke Perry on 90210,Spike and Angel on Buffy and later Faith. Saved by Bell had Zach Morris. Smallville had Lex Luthor. Dawson's Creek had Pacey and Jen.