Star Trek usually brings out the best in its fans with the concepts of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (IDIC), tolerance, and diversity. Each series exemplifies these ideas, including the latest installment, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which, unfortunately, is now canceled. Star Trek icon Jonathan Frakes, who directed episode 9, "300th Night," recently addressed the show's demise.
Frakes spoke about Starfleet Academy's cancellation and the show's trolls while promoting this year's upcoming PurpleStride walk to fight pancreatic cancer, saying via TrekMovie.com: “Yeah, isn’t that unfortunate? And that’s how [Alex] Kurtzman felt. I got a call from Alex and Noga [Landau], who was his co-showrunner on Starfleet Academy."
Frakes continued by saying:
"They were calling people to let them know that the show was kind of ‘on ice,’ I think was the phrase they used. And it was what you just said [critiques coming from people who hadn’t watched the show], they couldn’t not mention as a factor, the trolls.”
It's amazing that, in this day and age, some people have nothing better to do than hide behind a computer screen and lambast a series based on a blurb they read on social media.
It seems that since Starfleet Academy aired, places like Facebook, X, and other social media sites have turned into wailing walls for those who never even watched Starfleet Academy. Some of the complaints came from the Klingon character of Jay-Den Kraag discovering his sexuality, which some internet trolls picked up and ran with like Kruge tried to with Genesis in The Search for Spock.
While the cast and crew did their best to defend each other and the series, I believe the weaponization of social media and the current social climate caused Paramount Skydance and CBS Studios to get cold feet regarding Starfleet Academy.
Maybe one day, social media hate will collapse under its own weight and pave the way for a more inclusive future. Now, share your thoughts and comments on the matter via the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.
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