News Season 2 will be the last (show cancelled)

[BillJ]

The only two things I felt through a vast majority of DISCO was boredom and annoyance.

Once I was there, after watching "Unification III", I knew it was simply time to move onto other things. Much like the back half of the Berman run, I know I'll eventually watch the rest, might even enjoy it to some degree, but it simply wasn't what I was looking for. Much like the back half of Berman's run.

 

[Ragitsu]

Intelligent is in the eye of the beholder.

As is everything else, apparently, judging by some of the SA defenses.

 

[The Salt Umpire]

I definitely can't describe DISCO or the Kelvin films as 'intelligent'.

I'll give DISCO credit for trying to be intelligent scifi, but the writers just weren't skilled enough to pull it off. Cheap gimmicks to try to evoke emotion rather than feel earned (like Airiam's death), the endless shrink sessions during critical moments (like Stamets in "Face the Strange"), telling rather than showing the audience the crew backing the captain, etc. Too many things to list, but it certainly was not what I'd consider intelligent scifi.

The Kelvin films... there is nothing intelligent about them. Even BEYOND, the only one of those films that I even liked, was less intelligent and more action and stakes. But with the nature of movies being the primary goal is getting seats in the theater, they at least have an excuse for not being intelligent. The first two films were simply bad. (Though I will say the first 15 minutes or so of '09 was actually really good.)

There's a reason Mad Magazine called the 2013 film Star Blecch: Into Dumbness. It wasn't just you. All of the Kelvin films were a One & Done with me as far as rewatching them.

https://maditsmadfunny.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Blecch_Into_Dumbness

 

[BillJ]

As is everything else, apparently, judging by some of the SA defenses.

Everything exists on a spectrum and from one end of it to the other, there will be people who support it. Since it is entertainment, I'd rather give it the benefit of the doubt versus writing it off entirely.

 

[cooleddie74]

What "defenses"? Some of us liked it. I expected it to be pretty damn bad and was so happy that I ended up enjoying most of it.

I don't need a "defense." It's subjective entertainment and it largely worked, for me anyways. Which is all I care about. I couldn't stand a lot of early DSC and find Season 2 of PIC to be the worst season of Star Trek yet produced, but I know some fans love those. I don't feel they're "defending" those seasons to spite me. The day I ascribe those motivations to the rest of the fandom is the day I'm too paranoid for my own good.

 

[BillJ]

What "defenses"? Some of us liked it. I expected it to be pretty damn bad and was so happy that I ended up enjoying most of it.

For me, it was so close to being something really interesting. Most of it comes down to the cadets being paper thin characters. Especially Jayden Kragg.

I see it as an interesting failure, which honestly, puts it ahead of most of the other CBS live-action fare.

 

[Firebird]

My biggest problem with Starfleet Academy honestly was I didn't find it intelligent story telling. Many times I felt like a show like South Park or Family Guy were more intelligent. I couldn't even figure out the point of many of the episodes. And it didn't even seem like the writers knew the show's own internal continuity. At times it seemed like characters reverted back to how they were in previous episodes. Not that I really cared about the characters. I didn't relate to them at all and realized they could all be assimilated by the Borg and I wouldn't care one way or another. I found none of them to be likable. And obviously I struggled with it to the point that finally I just stopped.

All I'm going to say to this is I believe we watched two entirely different shows and I don't agree with any of this.

 

[cooleddie74]

I've cringed at the concept of a teenage "Academy series" since the early days of the idea, and the fact I really liked SFA thoroughly surprised and pleased me. It had the fingerprints of a flaming diaper all over it, and I'm glad I was wrong about it.

 

[Firebird]

I've cringed at the concept of a teenage "Academy series" since the early days of the idea, and the fact I really liked SFA thoroughly surprised and pleased me. It had the fingerprints of a flaming diaper all over it, and I'm glad I was wrong about it.

Same here. Especially after the mostly disappointing third season of SNW and the wet fart that was Section 31, I was going into Academy with an all-time low expectation, and hot damn was I pleasantly surprised and satisfied with the result.

Is it a show for everyone? No. Does it need to be for everyone? Also, no. Did it fail? Depends on what metric we're using. Is it the antichrist some on the internet keep making it out to be? Of fucking course, it isn't.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

I've cringed at the concept of a teenage "Academy series" since the early days of the idea, and the fact I really liked SFA thoroughly surprised and pleased me. It had the fingerprints of a flaming diaper all over it, and I'm glad I was wrong about it.

I was in the exact some boat, I bristled with the expectation that the show would just be a teen drama with a thin wrapper of something familiar (like I found Superman and Lois to be) but I was slowly pulled towards a more neutral stance with the announcement the Doctor, Admiral Vance and Jett Reno would be main cast members. The preview scene they released was just pure Star Trek so my fears were mostly allayed and then when the actual show came out I found it immensely enjoyable and it joined the pantheon of loved shows.

 

[cooleddie74]

Paul Giamatti helped elevate the series to something a little higher, and he and Holly Hunter should be commended for committing so fully to their respective roles and apparently loving every minute of them. Few people in Trek can scenery chew like Giamatti.

 

[Turtletrekker]

The first season of Academy was one of the strongest opening seasons in the history of the franchise.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yep, it was definitely an above average freshman year for a Trek series.

 

[Set Harth]

Is it the antichrist some on the internet keep making it out to be? Of fucking course, it isn't.

The antichrist is supposed to be persuasive.

 

[Turtletrekker]

As is everything else, apparently, judging by some of the SA defenses.

Ah, irony...

 

[BillJ]

...like I found Superman and Lois to be...

I tend to think that Superman & Lois is the far superior show. Luckily, I have more than one free hour in any given week.

The first season of Academy was one of the strongest opening seasons in the history of the franchise.

I definitely wouldn't go that far. Maybe one of the Kurtzman-era's strongest first seasons? Behind both Lower Decks and Prodigy.

 

[cooleddie74]

To me SNW and PRO had incredible first seasons, but SFA would fall third. I definitely liked it more than the first seasons of DSC and PIC.

 

[Noname Given]

Yeah, when you think about it the Xindi probe attack on Earth that kills 7 million innocent people and cuts a trench of destruction from Florida south to Venezuela is one of the most un-Gene Roddenberry ideas Trek could have had. Gene would have vetoed the idea were he still alive and in a position of authority in 2003. But it adds risk and some much needed dramatic stakes to a show that's Season 2 had gotten kind of stale and inconsistent in quality and seemed to be creatively adrift without real focus.

But by the end Earth is saved, most of the NX-01 crew makes it home alive and the path to both the Federation and the Star Trek we'd known and loved was still set. ENT got pretty dark in Season 3, but by the conclusion of the Xindi Arc we were headed right into TOS worldbuilding and more positivity about humanity and the known galaxy in-general. The Earth-Romulan War was still on the horizon but for the moment things were looking up.

Actually I don't agree. In TOS you have the NOMAD Probe (TOS S2 The Changeling)that ended the Melurian civilization; and the TOS S2 The Doomsday Machine which ended who knows how many worlds?

My point? Even for GR, as long as the threat was external and not perpetrated by Starfleet or rogue aspects of the Earth Federation government, that's okay.

It's when the above is not the case that GR supposedly had a problem; and even he sometimes had a story/script that was an exception to that rule.

The most 'Un-GR' Trek franchise series was the later seasons of DS9.

 

[Mudd]

I enjoyed this season more than most of DS9
or Voyager, and all of Picard.

 

[BillJ]

...Picard.

Picard was such a slog. Overall, probably the worst Trek series.