“I think our show is very much in the tradition of all of Star Trek.”
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s cancellation continues to be celebrated by so-called fans who don’t have a clue what the philosophy of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (IDIC) means to true Trekkies around the world, not to mention the 60-year-old franchise. And now The Doctor himself, Robert Picardo, is providing his postmortem. The SFA actor reacted to the series’ cancellation by saying (per ScreenRant):
“We got some sad news this week and that is that our show is not being extended beyond the second season. I think our show is very much in the tradition of all of Star Trek. It is very diverse and inclusive, and I think some of those values are not, how should I put it, are not as popular in the present political and cultural climate in America. Which is unusual because those are the core values of Star Trek. That’s always what [Gene] Roddenberry valued the most, was diversity. He said it in many quotes."
Fortunately, Starfleet Academy’s second season of 10 episodes has already wrapped filming. Plus, the CBS Studios confirmed that the show's sophomore year will be streamed on Paramount+, despite SFA’s cancellation. Picardo continued by saying:
“But now it seems that the pendulum is swinging a little the other way and our show is not picked up. There will be no new Star Trek for a while and then Star Trek will come back. But I hope that it does come back with the same core values that it’s always embodied and have always been really essential to Roddenberry’s optimistic vision of humanity’s future in space.”
I hardly think Trekkies have seen the last of The Doctor, who has been a mainstay in the beloved sci-fi franchise since Star Trek: Voyager debuted in 1995. I, for one, loved seeing Picardo reprise his role in the must-see animated series Prodigy, which reunited the beloved EMH with fellow voyagers — pun logically intended — Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Chakotay (Robert Beltran).
I also believe many of Starfleet Academy’s most unique characters like Klingon Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diane), Tarima Sadal (Zoe Steiner), and Khionian cadet Darem Reymi (George Hawkins) will show up again in other iterations of Star Trek.
Are you sad to see Starfleet Academy go the way of Old Yeller? Or are you one of the close-minded, who actually thinks the series deserves to be canceled because the creator (Gaia Violo) and showrunners (Alex Kurtzman, Noga Landau) dared to go where no Star Trek had boldly gone before?
Isn't that the whole point of Roddenberry's unique vision of the future? Share your thoughts and comments with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!