Plenty of so-called fans continue to bombard Star Trek: Starfleet Academy with their harsh critiques of the streaming series, including disparaging remarks about the franchise’s first gay Klingon and female Jem’Hadar. So, those who think they can do better, The Doctor himself, Robert Picardo, is encouraging you to put your money where your mouth is and pitch Star Trek ideas to Paramount Skydance.
While appearing on the red carpet at this year’s Saturn Awards, Picardo said in an interview with ScreenRant: “I see fans who say, ‘We own the IP. We own the property because we've watched it for so many years.’ Which is kind of not really true. The property is kind of owned by the studio, and the studio decides to invest in a particular pitch and a writer.”
Picardo continued by challenging these so-called Star Trek fans by saying:
“And if you can do better, then I encourage any Star Trek fan that has a vision for Star Trek in the future — by golly, come to Hollywood, go in and pitch CBS Paramount with your vision for Star Trek, and definitely write a part for me. That's all. That's my best advice.”
I, for one, hope these so-called fans keep their ideas to themselves. After all, if someone doesn’t understand the importance of the Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (IDIC) philosophy to Star Trek, they don’t have any business writing for the franchise.
Without IDIC, true Trekkies would never have known beloved characters like Mr. Spock, Hikaru Sulu, and Nyota Uhura, let alone Starfleet Academy’s cool Klingon cadet, Jay-Den Kraag, or the fabulous female Jem’Hadar, Lura Thok, who serves as cadet master and first officer of the USS Athena.
Share your thoughts about Starfleet Academy and the state of Star Trek with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages. And the season 1 finale of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy drops Thursday, March 12, on Paramount+.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!