Imagine having the opportunity to join one of the most famous and influential sci-fi franchises. Well, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy star Karim Diane no longer needs to imagine, as his role of Klingon cadet Jay-Den Kragg has his social media accounts blowing up brighter than a sun going supernova.
Diane recently told ScreenRant: "My DMs are crazy. My social media platforms, they're going crazy. There are so many people that are engaging and freaking out about the most minor details that I didn't even notice. [They’re] kind of being revealed to me by reading the comments and watching all the reaction videos. So I definitely feel like this show is touching who it's supposed to."
The young actor seems both pleased and a bit bemused over fans' reactions to the show and his character, but viewer adoration and noticing specific details are certainly nothing new! Trekkers and Trekkies are gonna Trek, right? If that weren't the case, the franchise would have died out long ago, but why is this youthful perspective so important?
It's easy to understand why Diane is gratified to see the messages he receives on his social media regarding the youthful view of the Star Trek timeline after The Burn. It's a world like no other Starfleet cadets have experienced, and, in many ways, today's young people are inheriting a broken legacy as well: war, weak leadership, environmental problems, and financial instability.
Those reaching out to Diane are probably doing so because, for once, the story of the future is being told by those just like them, and they're realizing that maybe within it, they can find answers.
No matter our favorite series or characters, finding solutions to life's problems through Star Trek is nothing new. As far back as The Original Series, the franchise's writers gave us futuristic problems and possible ways to solve them in the present.
From The Next Generation to Enterprise and Discovery, finding solutions to problems both small and universal gave viewers of all kinds a jumping-off place, and Starfleet Academy is no different, judging by all the messages Diane receives on social media.
To critics and those who only know Star Trek on its surface, Starfleet Academy looks like Friends in space, but that type of comparison isn't, to coin a phrase, logical. The characters on Friends were in their 30s, and the adult world they stepped into after college was quite comfortable and not at all like the world the young adults on Starfleet Academy face.
No rent-controlled comfort and cozy coffee shops where the couch is always open for you and your buddies here: it's uncertain, it's frightening, but the cadets have hope, and that's why glimpsing into the future and its issues through the eyes of those inheriting it matters so much.
Have you freaked out over Starfleet Academy on social media? If so, why? Share your thoughts and comments with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.