Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x03 – “Vitus Reflux”

[Tuskin38]

That ensures I won't watch it.

Oh grow up
(unless this is a joke, then I apologise)

 

[Char Kais]

I’m not the only one.

There are some very good and perspicacious observations in this Reddit post:

What frustrates me about the Alex Kurtzman era of Star Trek is not that it’s “different,” and not that it supposedly isn’t “for me.” That response is a deflection. Star Trek has always reinvented itself, often radically, and longtime fans accepted those changes because the writing respected the intelligence of the audience and the internal logic of the universe. The problem with modern Trek is not evolution, it’s erosion. Under Kurtzman, the franchise has steadily abandoned coherent plotting, disciplined characterization, and the professional tone that once defined Starfleet as an institution. In their place is a style of writing driven by contemporary Hollywood instincts: constant emotional signaling, accelerated pacing, blunt dialogue, and stories built for short attention spans rather than deliberate thought.

A common rebuttal going around here is that “people hated TNG, DS9, or Voyager at the beginning too,” so current criticism should be dismissed as the same cycle repeating, and I find that argument to be disingenuous at best, and harmful to all Trek fans at worst. Most of the previous Trek criticism was about adjustment to new formats, new captains, or tonal shifts within a shared foundation of competent writing and internal consistency. Those shows were criticized, but they were still clearly Star Trek. The core values, institutional logic, and narrative discipline were intact even when execution wobbled. What’s being criticized now is the consistent absence of those foundations.

The over-arching tonal shift in the Trek universe is just as damaging. Classic Trek imagined a future of abundance, institutional competence, and moral confidence, where scarcity was largely solved and conflict arose from ideas, ethics, and the unknown. Modern Trek repeatedly reintroduces scarcity, dysfunction, and despair as default conditions. Starfleet is portrayed less as an aspirational institution and more as a chaotic workplace barely holding itself together. Darkness is not inherently sophisticated, but modern Trek often treats it as such, confusing cynicism with depth.

So no, this is not about refusing change. It is about refusing to pretend that incoherence is depth, that quips equal personality, that speed equals intensity, or that branding alone preserves meaning. Star Trek did not lose relevance because fans demanded too much. It lost its way because it stopped believing that careful writing, tonal discipline, and respect for the audience were worth defending.

Are We All Too Cynical for Star Trek?

The franchise’s evolution since the 1960s reflects disconcerting trends in American society.

www.thebulwark.com

 

[Charles Phipps]

There are some very good and perspicacious observations in this Reddit post:

Are We All Too Cynical for Star Trek?

The franchise’s evolution since the 1960s reflects disconcerting trends in American society.

www.thebulwark.com

On my end, I think it's incredibly overblown and dismissive of the good of Nu Trek.

I really enjoyed 2/3 Kelvinverse movies.

I loved Lower Decks and SNW 1&2

I liked Picard 1 and 3.

DISCO had many good individual episodes.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I vaguely remember that he stepped forward to protest when T'Pring chose Kirk as her champion instead of him, but I can't swear he had a line.

"No! I am to be the one. It was agreed."

 

[Firebird]

And, honestly, is it just me or does it seem like, nine times out of ten, when somebody complains that a new Trek isn't Trek enough, what they actually mean is "it's not like TNG"? As though TNG is somehow the gold standard to which old Treks, past and present, must be compared.

Don't get me wrong. I watched TNG religiously (and have written more than my fair share of TNG novels and short stories), but it's just one variation of Trek out of many. It doesn't define the franchise for all time.

Trek is a bigger umbrella than that, IMO.

That's the bummer to me. I grew up with TNG and loved it then, as I do now. But in retrospect, outside of a handful of legit classic episodes, TNG is the most beige show in the franchise in terms of writing. It remains comfort viewing because the majority of the episodes don't really challenge the viewer in any way. TNG is the original "just vibes" type of show.

 

[Charles Phipps]

"No! I am to be the one. It was agreed."

Decades later, I still think female Vulcans suffer Pon'Far too and that's why she was a crazy sociopath.

Strange New Worlds canonizing she was normally quite likable is a thing I was glad of.

 

[Tuskin38]

Decades later, I still think female Vulcans suffer Pon'Far too

Happens to T'Pol in ENT

 

[Charles Phipps]

Happens to T'Pol in ENT

Wow, my brain had a moment of temporal parasites.

 

[Sim]

There are some very good and perspicacious observations in this Reddit post:

Are We All Too Cynical for Star Trek?

The franchise’s evolution since the 1960s reflects disconcerting trends in American society.

www.thebulwark.com

As a German, I'm familiar with that mindset. German conservatism feels like that since 1918 at least, that no less than the entire Western civilization is on sharp decline and just a tiny step ahead of complete downfall:

Ever since Oswald Spengler wrote "Der Untergang des Abendlandes" ("The Decline of the West") in 1918.

Ever since then, this feeling is the background noise of any new development that ever reaches Germany, or whenever our economy meets the slightest trouble, and when the tiniest pebble appears in the way of societal development, people pull that notion out of their playbook to prove that anything that's new is a potentially existential threat that will drag us all down into the abyss, and everything was so much better in the past. Not just technically, but also spiritually and intellectually.

Considering we've been just half a step away from the abyss at least 5 times in the past 30 years alone, we're still doing surprisingly well.

 

[cooleddie74]

He used up all his SAG Card privileges and dialogue in The Great Escape.

 

[Mudd]

I was slow to warm to TNG too.

"Measure of a Man," in season two, was the the ep that finally won me over.

(Thank you, Melinda Snodgrass.)

Torme's work in the first year - "The Big Goodbye" and "Conspiracy" - persuaded me that, even if the show never got to be anything like the Star Trek I'd always been a fan of, it might be pretty cool anyway.

 

[Sim]

That's the bummer to me. I grew up with TNG and loved it then, as I do now. But in retrospect, outside of a handful of legit classic episodes, TNG is the most beige show in the franchise in terms of writing. It remains comfort viewing because the majority of the episodes don't really challenge the viewer in any way. TNG is the original "just vibes" type of show.

In my opinion, each of the first three shows added something significant to the franchise: TOS laid the groundwork for many concepts that were a given later, and it had the amazing chemistry of Kirk/Spock/Bones, who were more than the sum of their parts.

TNG had the "cuddly 90s living room feeling", but also some of the greatest standalone stories, many of which were great classic SF stuff.

DS9 had the greatest character development, the greatest world building portrayal of alien races, and great story arcs.

This is why I think these three shows are the gold standard. Each of them took what came before, and went a step further. Only later, starting with VOY, there were steps back or rehashes without redeeming originality, imo.

TNG was just the right show after TOS, imo.

 

[Mr Awe]

Finally got to this series. Wasn't really in a rush to see it. Gave it a 7, which is what I'd give the previous two episodes as well. It's just mindless entertainment basically. A few laughs. Too much teenage angst stuff.

I do love, love, absolutely love Holly Hunter and her character! Picardo is a bright spot as well. Those two save this series from being a D or lower. But there's really just not much to this show.

I'll continue to watch for the time being. It's a change from the dreary news.

Clearly they wanted to ditch the previous Trek continuity, or at least the details. If they wanted to do that, should've just created an entirely new universe to play in. But I'm not interested at all in the timeframe they're in.

 

[fireproof78]

As a German, I'm familiar with that mindset. German conservatism feels like that since 1918 at least, that no less than the entire Western civilization is on sharp decline and just a tiny step ahead of complete downfall:

Ever since Oswald Spengler wrote "Der Untergang des Abendlandes" ("The Decline of the West") in 1918.

Ever since then, this feeling is the background noise of any new development that ever reaches Germany, or whenever our economy meets the slightest trouble, and when the tiniest pebble appears in the way of societal development, people pull that notion out of their playbook to prove that anything that's new is a potentially existential threat that will drag us all down into the abyss, and everything was so much better in the past. Not just technically, but also spiritually and intellectually.

Considering we've been just half a step away from the abyss at least 5 times in the past 30 years alone, we're still doing surprisingly well.

This.

Whenever I hear the sky is falling type news I just shake my head. I've heard it since I was a child, that barcodes were the mark of the beast, that a new ice she was coming, then Australia was doomed because of the ozone whole, Freon and Y2K! If you truly believe civilization is ending what are you doing about it?

"Oh, we need Star Trek to save us!" No we don't. We need people to live out the values that Star Trek supposedly espoused and now supposedly lacks. If you didn't learn with 5 shows, what makes new ones more likely to succeed?

 

[Greg Cox]

Torme's work in the first year - "The Big Goodbye" and "Conspiracy" - persuaded me that, even if the show never got to be anything like the Star Trek I'd always been a fan of, it might be pretty cool anyway.

"The Big Goodbye" is probably my favorite first-season episode, although I'm not 100% sure I caught it the first-time around. 1987 was a tumultuous year for me (moving across country, starting a new job) so my TV viewing was spottier than I would have liked, although I still made an effort the watch the "new" Trek show when I could.

 

[Greg Cox]

so it's not as if Vulcans are poster children for being calm, collected hippies.

To be fair, that's how Surak was portrayed in "The Savage Curtain," only few years after "Amok Time" and "Journey to Babel," so that may have contributed to the idea that we're supposed to admire the Vulcans, instead of regarding them as stuck-up extremists.

 

[Mudd]

"The Big Goodbye" is probably my favorite first-season episode, although I'm not 100% sure I caught it the first-time around. 1987 was a tumultuous year for me (moving across country, starting a new job) so my TV viewing was spottier than I would have liked, although I still made an effort the watch the "new" Trek show when I could.

I remember it being the first one I enjoyed from beginning to end, and thinking that it was the first time they didn't seem to be looking over their shoulders at TOS for cues. It was a show that didn't fit the original Star Trek's format.

And then had to hear the haters at conventions dismiss it as "a rip-off of 'Piece of the Action'" because, you know, wardrobe.

To be fair, that's how Surak was portrayed in "The Savage Curtain," only few years after "Amok Time" and "Journey to Babel," so that may have contributed to the idea that we're supposed to admire the Vulcans, instead of regarding them as extremists.

Except that, to go all in-universe (which I cordially dislike, at best), we never saw Surak or Kahless or Lincoln - just what Spock and Kirk imagined those people to be like. Spock's got an idealized notion of Surak? No way!

 

[The Salt Umpire]

Oh grow up
(unless this is a joke, then I apologise)

I found it really off-putting. Guess Vulcans found human insults acceptable. Wife and I are watching. She likes it more than I. I'm trying to like it, but stuff is missing that would increase my interest.