Star Trek criticism prompts author to defend Alex Kurtzman: 'You owe him an apology'

This famed crime novelist didn’t take kindly to the Project Hail Mary author’s criticism.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s cancellation affected much more than just the cast and crew who worked so hard on the streaming series. The fandom was deeply affected and is now splintered by haters and loyal supporters of creator Gene Roddenberry’s sci-fi franchise. However, even Project Hail Mary author and self-proclaimed Trekkie, Andy Weir offered his opinion when he recently said, “Those shows are s**t,” when referring to some of the newer Trek entries.

And in response, famed crime novelist Don Winslow (The Cartel, The Power of the Dog) issued his own point of view on the matter in response to Weir’s critical words. Winslow tagged Weir and wrote in a post on his X account: “Congrats on the success of Project Hail Mary +The Martian. I'm a real fan."

Winslow continued by writing:

"But when you have your moment don't use it to crap on other writers work. For the record, @Alex_Kurtzman is a visionary writer+creator+producer & you owe him an apology... writer to writer.”

Weir, who grew up as a Star Trek fan, called out Kurtzman (executive producer and Starfleet Academy co-showunner) after pitching a Trek tale to Paramount, which wasn’t approved. “He [Kurtzman] is a nice guy, but they didn’t accept my pitch. So, you know, f**k ’em [laughs].”

It’s wonderful that Winslow is defending Kurtzman, but the reactions of these two authors are but a microcosm of the splintering that is happening within the Star Trek fandom at this very moment.

There are a large number of closed-minded and hateful “fans” who simply don’t see the value in Trek shows, like Starfleet Academy, which took bold swings and tried to propel the franchise forward with Roddenberry’s vision and IDIC in mind.

Then there are others like me who love aspects of ALL iterations of Star Trek from The Original Series to Lower Decks to Starfleet Academy and who understand, as Captain Kirk (William Shatner) once said in The Original Series, “If change is inevitable, predictable, beneficial, doesn’t logic demand that you be a part of it?”

Share your thoughts and comments on the state of Star Trek today via the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.

Live long and prosper, Trekkies!