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Spoilers Niners might wanna watch SFA E5

This was the first and probably the only episode of SFA I’ll watch in its entirety due to the DS9 connection. As overly dramatic as it sounds, I honestly found it hard to sit through and could only handle it in 10 to 15-minute bursts before turning it off for a while (I found the pilot similarly rough to watch and only made it to the halfway mark).

I prefer my sci-fi to have a bit more meat to it. I don't mind the occasional bit of vapid trash in other media I consume, but not Star Trek.

The DS9-related stuff didn't do anything for me. I found the holo-recording of Jake a bit jarring and weirdly referential.

Anyway, pretty inconsequential stuff. Although ... with Benny's typewriter inexplicably present in the museum, maybe there's an argument to be made this ill-conceived 32nd century era is one of many alternate realities the transcended Benny-Sisko is creating / exploring!
 
Was there some reason they weren't allowed to use Avery Brook's likeness in this episode!? Anytime "The Sisko" was shown his face was in shadow or in the children's book it was from behind.

I think it would have been cool if somehow this episode INVOLVED the Prophets - maybe SAM could have visited a REAL Orb in a museum and had a vision of a Prophet appearing as Jake and telling her that Sisko returned but lived in secret of Bajor and the Bajoran Kai and the Bajoran government helped him live in SECRET with his family...

I am curious if that DS9 uniform was screen worn, and if amy of the props were ACTUAL props from the show.

I bet they didn't want to pay Brooks for the use of his image. So they just got his permission to use of an old audio recording from another project that they tacked on to the end of the episode. 😂

See the DS9 bits and hearing the theme music just reinforced for me that today's Trek is nowhere near as good. I don't think Trek is ever gonna get back Its mojo. Tbh.
 
I bet they didn't want to pay Brooks for the use of his image. So they just got his permission to use of an old audio recording from another project that they tacked on to the end of the episode. 😂

Or, more likely, Brooks simply did not give them permission to use his likeness.
 
I am a huge DS9 fan. It’s my favorite Trek series. With that said, I really have no interest in seeing this episode (or any SFA for that matter), because I simply don’t need a tribute in the fashion that this is. I’m glad they got Lofton back for a cameo, and if there’s a YouTube video with just his scene, I might watch that. But CBSTrek is just not my bag anymore.
 
Maybe David Zappone actually owns all the HD footage of Sisko, and he refused?

I don't think there was a perfect solution on how to depict Sisko. Old footage would have been dated. New images of Brooks might not have been suitable.

I do wish that his features were rendered in the children's book SAM flipped through.
 
Did Tawnee Newsome Mary Sue her way into DS9 lore?
No matter what anyone wants to call it, it's shameless self-insertion that is not, amazingly, the worst thing about the episode. Modern creators like Newsome are incredibly narcissistic.
I'm in a unique spot. I always liked DS9 but not to the point where I considered myself a Niner. But after having reviewed four seasons in a Re-Watch Thread, now I'm a Niner.

And I was a huge Discovery Fan (yeah, yeah, I know, like I've said before: we're going to agree to disagree), but that hasn't transferred over to SNW, S31, or SFA.

So, now I'm a Niner with a mixed opinion of SFA. What I think of this particular SFA episode will be interesting. I haven't gotten around to putting it on yet.

All I can say is: I hope Sisko eventually returned -- to his own time -- and didn't abandon Kassidy or their baby. If they do that, we're good. I'll binge the rest of the season at the end. If they don't do that... well, it's been a nice up-and-down five-episode ride for Starfleet Academy and I.

Simple as that.
Well, as I'm sure you know, your ride is over. This was nothing more than an obviously desperate attempt to get buzz about a show that is hardly watched by anyone and made by a production team that's on its way out.
I watched it. It stunk. Sorry. The DS9 parts were ok but not enough to save this silly goofy stinker for me. DS9 deserved a better tribute. Whatever... 😏
No need to apologize. Newsome said in an interview that she felt it was wrong that no other series have touched on the ending of DS9 and showed us where the characters are now. Her arrogance clouds her from seeing that the reason no other film or series followed those elements up is because they knew they couldn't do them justice. Newsome and Kurtzman don't care at all and feel that they are creating Trek superior to all that's come before.
It really was just poorly written.

I could honestly probably get along with plenty of the weird silly ideas, but writing has just gotten so unbelievably awful that I these ideas are never going to pan out well.
"It really was just poorly written" is the perfect inscription on the tombstone of Abrams and Kurtz Dreks.
Was there some reason they weren't allowed to use Avery Brook's likeness in this episode!? Anytime "The Sisko" was shown his face was in shadow or in the children's book it was from behind.

I think it would have been cool if somehow this episode INVOLVED the Prophets - maybe SAM could have visited a REAL Orb in a museum and had a vision of a Prophet appearing as Jake and telling her that Sisko returned but lived in secret of Bajor and the Bajoran Kai and the Bajoran government helped him live in SECRET with his family...

I am curious if that DS9 uniform was screen worn, and if amy of the props were ACTUAL props from the show.
Your ides are far more creative and respectful of DS9 than the SA people are capable of.
I just watched it. I'll cut-and-paste what I already said over in the SFA Forum:

The story with the adults didn't do it for me. The story with the kids, I'm not the audience for.

The DS9 elements, I liked SAM's research into Sisko, and her learning about him and DS9. The scenes with Jake were great. But, and it's a big but, I'm not thrilled with the idea that Sisko never returned. And I don't like that Anslem was never published.
I've never been a huge fan of what Sisko did after he returned in novels and comics, but I was always happy that he did return as he promised. It doesn't bother me in this series, which I consider an alternate universe anyway, but it's repellent that this is being passed of as "what became of Ben Sisko" which is, it turns out, nothing.
That was horrible.

They IMPLICITLY went against Avery Brooks wish.
Original ending of DS9, Sisko went away to the Celestial Temple, Never to return. Avery Brooks Vetoed this idea. He knew he was a role model for people, and DID NOT want to be a dead beat dad to his wife and unborn daughter, so they had the Hopeful ending of I'll be back in a year, or Yesterday line.
YET 27 years latter.. No. Never returned. Deadbeat dad.
WHY? Made Kirk an Absentee Father ( Not a dead beat, he knew of the kid, but "respected" Carols wishes) Made Picard another Absentee Father, because Beverly was a NSFW word and didn't tell him. NOW THIS? WTH?? This is so Crap of writing!!
Brooks allegedly had input on this episode, but I doubt it's as much as Newsome and the crew are making it out to be. Brooks moved on from DS9 when he finished filming his final scene in "What We Leave Behind." He cares about the series and the work he did, but I doubt he cares what an ill-conceived and poorly-made series has to say about his character. I think he supported Cirroc Lofton in his desire to appear on the show and that's it. They're close and he wouldn't ruin the chance for Lofton.
This was the first and probably the only episode of SFA I’ll watch in its entirety due to the DS9 connection. As overly dramatic as it sounds, I honestly found it hard to sit through and could only handle it in 10 to 15-minute bursts before turning it off for a while (I found the pilot similarly rough to watch and only made it to the halfway mark).

I prefer my sci-fi to have a bit more meat to it. I don't mind the occasional bit of vapid trash in other media I consume, but not Star Trek.
"Vapid trash" is one of the most accurate descriptions of Abrams/Kurtz Drek I've ever seen.
The DS9-related stuff didn't do anything for me. I found the holo-recording of Jake a bit jarring and weirdly referential.

Anyway, pretty inconsequential stuff. Although ... with Benny's typewriter inexplicably present in the museum, maybe there's an argument to be made this ill-conceived 32nd century era is one of many alternate realities the transcended Benny-Sisko is creating / exploring!
I read somewhere that SNW somehow "confirms" that Benny was real. Sounds like a typically awful take on something from actual Star Trek from people who don't know or understand it.
I bet they didn't want to pay Brooks for the use of his image. So they just got his permission to use of an old audio recording from another project that they tacked on to the end of the episode. 😂

See the DS9 bits and hearing the theme music just reinforced for me that today's Trek is nowhere near as good. I don't think Trek is ever gonna get back Its mojo. Tbh.
I don't even consider it Trek, and I agree with you. The substantive, creative, iconic, truly inspiring and meaningful Star Trek is gone for good. The only way it might return is if Paramount puts a moratorium on Trek after the Kurtz stuff is done and then gets people who know Trek to advise how to continue while also ignoring everything that's come since 2009.
 
matter what anyone wants to call it, it's shameless self-insertion that is not, amazingly, the worst thing about the episode. Modern creators like Newsome are incredibly narcissistic.
Which was not her point. She did not write the part for herself.
 
Damn.. don’t feed the Matalas fanbros for a couple of years and they get downright cranky
StarMan and Riley are far from Matalas Fanbros. As for myself... I wouldn't have been the audience for Starfleet Academy regardless of whether or not Picard Season 3 existed. Not everything is about Terry Matalas. I gave Starfleet Academy a grace period, since I am a Discovery Fan, but it's not for me. I'm not going to try to force it if it isn't.

And for the past 25 years, I hoped that Sisko would've eventually returned, whether it was on-camera or not. Again, that has nothing to do with Terry Matalas. This has to do with I agree with Avery Brooks not wanting Sisko to abandon his wife and baby.

As far as For All Mankind and Pluribus being better than New Trek... the former is made by Ron Moore and the latter is made by Vince Gilligan. They're better creators than Alex Kurtzman. I have a hard time imagining how anyone could tell me otherwise with a straight face. And the premises for both have kept me interested and have left me wanting more. Whereas with Starfleet Academy, I wouldn't have watched any of it at all if "Star Trek" hadn't been in the title and there wasn't the Discovery connection.

"Context Is for Kings" is what got me hooked on Discovery in the first place. That was the episode that truly got me back into Star Trek again for the first time since DS9 ended. "The Vulcan Hello" got me interested but it was "Context Is for Kings" that officially hooked me. I see no trace of what "Context Is for Kings" was in Starfleet Academy or Strange New Worlds whatsoever.

That's not to say there aren't some things I like about Starfleet Academy, but it's not enough overall to make me want to keep watching in the long run.
 
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I'm not thrilled with the idea that Sisko never returned. And I don't like that Anslem was never published.
That pissed me off enormously, especially since it flew in the face of Avery Brooks' specific request. Fuck that. Seriously.

The rest of the episode was dopey. I tried to get on board. I did. I only watched the pilot of SFA so far, but I dug it well enough. SAM, unfortunately, is only 33.3 percent charming and 66.6 percent annoying and she leaned too hard into the latter this episode.

Her "quest" made no sense. She visited a museum. She got drunk. And then she was like, "Man, I did all this work looking into Sisko." Um, did you??

Whatever she learned about Sisko (still unclear about that!) really had no direct relevance to her own situation whatsoever except for the very forced way she (and the episode) tried to make forced parallels to the two characters both being "emissaries", although in completely different circumstances and contexts.

It wasn't really "about" anything, except fan service. And fan service for Sisko I can get behind, but this was just frustrating and ultimately empty and the fact that they made Sisko never return is seriously insulting to the character and actor alike.

And I also hated that Anslem was never published. Uh, why??

Oh, and the B story was absolutely unwatchable. Bleh.

This episode kinda dulled (if not outright killed) my desire to continue with the show. Which I did have after the pilot. Now.....hmmm....maybe I'll just skip it entirely.
 
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telling her that Sisko returned but lived in secret of Bajor and the Bajoran Kai and the Bajoran government helped him live in SECRET with his family...
That's honestly where I thought the episode was heading. That Sisko did return, but only revealed himself to his family and not the galaxy at large. That he lived his life as a humble family man on Bajor before eventually returning to the Celestial Temple (if ever.) That would have been infinitely more satisfying.

Also, the lack of any reference to his kid with Kasidy was jarring and inexplicable.
 
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