News Starfleet Academy Coming to P+

[Ray Hardgrit]

I've been really negative toward the whole concept of a Starfleet Academy movie or series from the start, but I've been thinking about their idea of making the whole academy a ship and it actually solves my biggest problem with the concept. It also adds the big problem of putting every kid in Starfleet in jeopardy every week or so, but ignoring that for a moment...

My main problem with the idea of a Starfleet Academy series is that there's nothing built into the concept to generate science fiction adventure stories. It's about people training so they can go do sci-fi stuff after the series has ended. But sticking the cadets out in the field, encountering Star Trek situations for real, means that the series can actually tell Trek stories without contriving an Earth-bound source of weirdness or sending the characters off in consistently doomed shuttle missions.

So I'm actually a lot more positive about that side of it now.

 

[Danja]

I think it's important to remember that VFX shots in preliminary trailers often is not final and it's possible that we'll see tweaks to it.

It would also explain the writers and producers inserting themselves into it.

I've been really negative toward the whole concept of a Starfleet Academy movie or series from the start, but I've been thinking about their idea of making the whole academy a ship and it actually solves my biggest problem with the concept. It also adds the big problem of putting every kid in Starfleet in jeopardy every week or so, but ignoring that for a moment...

My main problem with the idea of a Starfleet Academy series is that there's nothing built into the concept to generate science fiction adventure stories. It's about people training so they can go do sci-fi stuff after the series has ended. But sticking the cadets out in the field, encountering Star Trek situations for real, means that the series can actually tell Trek stories without contriving an Earth-bound source of weirdness or sending the characters off in consistently doomed shuttle missions.

So I'm actually a lot more positive about that side of it now.

It's the 32nd century version of a training ship.

 

[Tuskin38]

‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ Showunners Talk 32nd Century Setting And How The Ship Is Part Of The School

Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau revealed details at SDCC.

trekmovie.com

"Why is there a ship that’s landing in San Francisco? And the answer is, the school is a ship! And the ship is part of the campus in San Francisco. So they go to class in San Francisco. They go to class in the ship. And because resources are lighter in the 32nd Century, think of it like a teaching hospital. The ship gets to deploy with the fleet, in real-life situations, so they can learn in the field. So this is not just theoretical classrooms.”

 

[eschaton]

I've been really negative toward the whole concept of a Starfleet Academy movie or series from the start, but I've been thinking about their idea of making the whole academy a ship and it actually solves my biggest problem with the concept. It also adds the big problem of putting every kid in Starfleet in jeopardy every week or so, but ignoring that for a moment...

My main problem with the idea of a Starfleet Academy series is that there's nothing built into the concept to generate science fiction adventure stories. It's about people training so they can go do sci-fi stuff after the series has ended. But sticking the cadets out in the field, encountering Star Trek situations for real, means that the series can actually tell Trek stories without contriving an Earth-bound source of weirdness or sending the characters off in consistently doomed shuttle missions.

So I'm actually a lot more positive about that side of it now.

I think the only reason to do Starfleet Academy is if they lean into what makes it different - which will be the Academy itself and the coming-of-age stories.

To provide an analogue here, while adding the Defiant to DS9 in Season 3 was a needed upgrade from the runabouts, very few of the best episodes even in the later seasons centered around the Defiant unless it was a big action set piece. Indeed, the number of "go out and explore" missions fell by the wayside over time, though that was probably in part due to the Dominion War.

It also stretches credulity a bit to me to have a ship staffed by cadets deployed on important missions (the whole purpose of the episode Valiant was to show cadets weren't ready for prime time). That said, I guess the command crew are all going to be the instructors, so maybe this will be more like a (non-comedic) Lower Decks. Which might explain why Tawny Newsome was helpful in the writer's room.

Regardless, the last thing that Star Trek needs right now is multiple shows with identical formats, as we'll still have two seasons of SNW in the can by the time Starfleet Academy premiers.

 

[Farscape One]

I do think the fact that so many of the names are recognizable from Starfleet of the 22 - 24th centuries is TOO small universe syndrome. It's basically saying Starfleet had almost no noteworthy officers for over 600 years, which is just completely absurd. Having more new names would lead to questions and stories that could have been explored. Doing this kind of feels like, for lack of a better term, 'Trekkie training' and teaching the audience about the franchise rather than expanding the franchise.

Which wasn't that supposed to be the point of moving to the 32nd century, anyway?



Side note: Garak, truthfully, should not be there. And I say this as a MASSIVE Garak fan. One of his very core traits was his love of Cardassia... it just doesn't really fit here. Plus, if they are going to put him up there... why is his first name missing? Should be Anbassador Elim Garak. (Unless... it's a different person who just happened to be named 'Garak'. Which I want to believe is what that is, but gven the amount of recognizable names there already, that's likely not the case.)

 

[Tosk]

Plus, if they are going to put him up there... why is his first name missing? Should be Anbassador Elim Garak.

Spock is also listed only as Ambassador Spock, so Garak is in good company.

 

[Farscape One]

Spock is also listed only as Ambassador Spock, so Garak is in good company.

But Spock was in Starfleet for decades before he became an ambassador, so that makes sense. Garak was never in Starfleet... he wasn't even a Federation citizen. (Nog likely became a Federation citizen once he joined Starfleet.)

 

[ToddCam]

Maybe when Garak was on those missions on Defiant he was listed as part of the crew as "Ambassador Garak". It doesn't explain the lack of given name, but it could be how he is listed as serving on a Starfleet vessel/facility, assuming an affiliation with Starfleet is necessary.

That said, I find it hard to worry about such things. The wall of names feels like it probably won't really be explained to make any actual sense, and can be more-or-less ignored. And if some writer or other wants to feature Nog as a captain, they can. Canon is not a suicide pact.

 

[Tosk]

But Spock was in Starfleet for decades before he became an ambassador, so that makes sense. Garak was never in Starfleet... he wasn't even a Federation citizen. (Nog likely became a Federation citizen once he joined Starfleet.)

My response was in relation to you asking why Garak had no other name listed.

 

[Enterprise1701]

I do think the fact that so many of the names are recognizable from Starfleet of the 22 - 24th centuries is TOO small universe syndrome. It's basically saying Starfleet had almost no noteworthy officers for over 600 years, which is just completely absurd. Having more new names would lead to questions and stories that could have been explored. Doing this kind of feels like, for lack of a better term, 'Trekkie training' and teaching the audience about the franchise rather than expanding the franchise.

Which wasn't that supposed to be the point of moving to the 32nd century, anyway?

On a similar note, I'm really afraid the chancellor-captain being a pseudo-immortal Lanthanite is going to be an excuse to do cringeworthy references to 20th/21st century Earth culture which should not matter to 32nd century people nearly as much as post-TNG centuries do.

 

[fireproof78]

That's why TNG never quoted Shakespeare's works. That's 800 years out of date.

 

[Nerys Myk]

On a similar note, I'm really afraid the chancellor-captain being a pseudo-immortal Lanthanite is going to be an excuse to do cringeworthy references to 20th/21st century Earth culture which should not matter to 32nd century people nearly as much as post-TNG centuries do.

She's 400 hundred years old not 1000. The cringe worthy references will be to the 28th Century

 

[Tosk]

She's 400 hundred years old not 1000. The cringe worthy references will be to the 22nd-24th Centuries

She's not old enough for that either.

Edit: Boooo! You beat me with your edit.

 

[Nerys Myk]

She's not old enough for that either.

Edit: Boooo! You beat me with your edit.

 

[Farscape One]

My response was in relation to you asking why Garak had no other name listed.

Ah, okay. My mistake, then.

Regarding that... Spock apparently does have a first name, just unpronouncable to humans. (I believe he said this in "THIS SIDE OF PARADISE".) That does beg the question: what about other species? Vulcans obviously would be able to. In this case, since it was never said or listed on screen, I can see that happening. Elim was mentioned multiple times on DS9. (First learned in season 2's "THE WIRE".)

 

[eschaton]

That's why TNG never quoted Shakespeare's works. That's 800 years out of date.

Berman Trek studiously refused to reference anything not in the public domain when it came to copyright. It let up a little bit when we got to VOY with Tom's love of the 1950s, or the movie nights on ENT, but still, in general, they were raving classicists.

There were little flashes of "future history" peppered within TNG - places things that happened in the 21st and 22nd century were referenced, even though it wasn't story relevant. Some of it (like Irish reunification) has been rendered impossible now. Still, I always loved these as a kid, and now as an adult writer I realize this is the "iceberg" model of worldbulding - letting someone know just hints about the wider world, so they can imagine what's going on beneath.

Modern Trek has, unfortunately, avoided this, which has led to it feeling smaller and more stagey. The only things worth mentioning appear to be things we already know about. I honestly don't get what's driving it, but maybe it's the modern minimalist idea regarding screenplays - that every line of dialogue needs to further plot and character.

 

[Turtletrekker]

She's 400 hundred years old not 1000. The cringe worthy references will be to the 28th Century

But she is old enough to have been a time agent during the Temporal Cold War and to have travelled to other eras.

 

[Danja]

Modern Trek has, unfortunately, avoided this, which has led to it feeling smaller and more stagey. The only things worth mentioning appear to be things we already know about. I honestly don't get what's driving it, but maybe it's the modern minimalist idea regarding screenplays - that every line of dialogue needs to further plot and character.

When seasons are only ten episodes long, you have to make EVERY word count.

 

[Nerys Myk]

But she is old enough to have been a time agent during the Temporal Cold War and to have travelled to other eras.

I heard she spent time in 20th Century Arizona and 19th Century New Zealand.

 

[eschaton]

When seasons are only ten episodes long, you have to make EVERY word count.

I'm not sure I quite agree with that.

I do think it's likely true that modern series have shorter scripts than Berman Trek. Bigger budgets mean more space for VFX and action, and the more of either is in an episode, the less talking there's going to be. Not to mention the modern "TV as movie" paradigm raises the importance of things like cinematography over scriptwork.

Lower Decks is obviously a big exception here, but given the episodes are a half hour, I'd guess it pretty much evens out.