Starfleet Academy Secret Is A Starfleet Show That’s A Little Bit Different
By Chris Snellgrove | Published
Starfleet Academy is the latest Star Trek show, and one of its biggest hallmarks is diversity. This includes showing characters from very different backgrounds (a human thief, a child-like hologram, a sensitive princess, a fighting Klingon, etc), full of different genders (gay, straight, and bi? Oh my!). There is also diversity in age: the show focuses on both young actors and their older teachers, with Chancellor Ake alone being several centuries older than his younger students.
However, calling them diverse is a lie. Starfleet Academy it is confidential at least most diverse Star Trek series ever made. That’s because it has one feature that effectively eliminates all the diversity of its characters’ backgrounds and genders. Namely, that every unknown character is written as a boring old person.
An Old Trope in Star Trek
From the days of The Original SeriesStar Trek has an unofficial rule: each show must include an outside character that helps the audience learn more about their personality. Spock’s emotionless Vulcan ways are contrasted with McCoy’s fiery passion, for example, and Spock ends up giving up his life after learning the value of Kirk’s relentless drive (there’s no such thing as a no-win situation). After Spock died thwarting the invincibility scenario, Kirk declared, “Of all the souls I’ve ever met, his was the most human.”
This was literally untrue, of course: not only did Spock remain fully green-blooded, but his decision to save the ship was based on his impeccable Vulcan mentality (the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the individual). But her death helped Kirk find joy in life and rededicate himself to new beginnings. In this way, Spock started an old trope in Star Trek: the alien who helps others learn more about their humanity.
Trek Trope: The Next Generation
Later Star Trek shows adopted this trope to good effect: it’s on The Next GenerationThe android Data had a dream of becoming more human, and his quest helped everyone learn more about the power and promise of his human journey. Opened Deep Space NineOdo was a reformer who could not seem like a strict person, but his efforts to understand everyone helped everyone to find new ideas in what they took for granted. Neelix helped Voyager’s human crew find joy in the small things, while T’Pol helped the Enterprise crew learn from the mistakes of their species as they began exploring strange, new worlds for the first time.
NuTrek participates in this trope: in AdoptionSaru teaches the crew how to adapt to any situation, and Michael Burnham’s Vulcan upbringing helped him discover (for better or worse) the value of his emotions. Picard he also became involved with various aliens, from the android Soji to his positronic father, Data. Data Recovery hailed the return of TNG’s beloved alien, once again Strange New Worlds brought things full circle by putting Spock front and center.
Starfleet Academy Is Too Human For Its Own Good
Starfleet Academy is often praised for its diversity, and the characters are really unlike anything we’ve seen in other Star Trek series. Eight of the 12 main characters are foreign, and more than half of them are women. The show also puts men and women of color front and center: the holographic SAM is the show’s main link between the two. Voyager again Deep Space Nineand Jay-Den Kraag shows us a strange new world of Klingon culture. Caleb, on the other hand, is the main character of the show, and he often bridges the gap between the dramatic and the comical aspects of the show.
However, once you get past the various archetypes and occasional forehead bread, a surprising truth emerges: almost all of the anonymous characters are written as human. Darem is meant to be an alien (he’s a Khionian, b*tch!), but he’s just written as a cocky guy, which is why he and would-be Alpha Caleb always butt heads. SAM is an emissary of a holographic race who knows nothing about humanity, but is written regularly and mysteriously as a teenager.
The same goes for Genesis, an alien who’s so human he likes to chew bubblegum and wax philosophical about Daddy’s stories. Chancellor Ake is a Lanthanite that is almost half a millennium old, but he is inseparable from the mysterious mother of wine. On paper, the Klingon Jay-Den would be the most outlandish of all because he’s from a race of warriors, but by making him a soft-spoken, funny pacifist who makes nasty eyes in his brain, Starfleet Academy made him the most human Klingon we’ve ever seen (yes, even more than Alexander).
They’re Only Human
Humanizing all these aliens by design, of course: Starfleet Academy is designed to appeal to a younger audience, so this is a way to ensure that these young characters are sympathetic despite their immigrant heritage. No matter what strange planet they come from, all of these 32nd century cadets use slang and references that are very familiar to 21st century youth. In this way, Paramount hopes to retain the old guard of Star Trek fans while appealing to Zoomers and even Generation Alpha.
Time will tell if Starfleet Academy manages to protect the (ahem) “next generation” of Star Trek fans, but they’re already alienating older fans by exploiting the (ironically enough) lack of truly unknown characters. No outsider can help actors and viewers appreciate their personalities; instead, every alien is written as a person with a pin on his shoulder and a mouth like a sailor. Sure, this makes the latest Star Trek series feel like another popular drama series, but it also diminishes the new show by removing one of the franchise’s most unique sci-fi elements.
When is a Star Trek Show Not a Star Trek Show?
That leads to serious philosophical questions, like “When is a Star Trek show not a Star Trek game?” Paramount is gambling that stripping away the authority of everything known in the name of mass appeal is the way forward, but it’s a path that has driven fans away in droves. Now, the studio is about to learn the answer to “when is a Star Trek fan no longer a Star Trek fan?”
Simple: if they unsubscribe from Paramount+, the worst streaming platform the galaxy has ever seen.
