
The cancellation of “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” was inevitable.
When White House Chief Nazi Stephen Miller took time out of his busy schedule of harassing immigrants to blast the show in January, he was telling David Ellison, owner of Paramount, to eliminate this “woke” garbage.
Ellison readily gutted CBS News to appease Miller’s boss, Geriatric Joffrey, so that he wouldn’t object to any of their multi-billion dollar mergers.
This show didn’t stand a chance.
Miller’s objection was a siren call for the incels to review bomb the fledgling show about a group of racially diverse young people coming into their own in Starfleet.
Even “Project Hail Mary” writer Andy Weir felt the need to get his digs in, suggesting that everything after “Enterprise” should be eliminated from continuity.
He’s just a wee bitter, as Paramount passed on his premise for a “Star Trek” project, so, as he said here, “Fuck ’em.”
One headline announcing SFA’s cancellation referred to the show as “divisive”.
I had to laugh.
EVERY “Star Trek” spinoff has been considered divisive.
You want to hear about divisive?
Ask the cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” about the hate they received when the show debuted.
The press derided the show.
The original cast feared they were being replaced and were frosty.
Trekkies were skeptical to hostile.
Mind you, this was all long before the Internet and the great cesspool we refer to as “social media.”
Wil Wheaton’s memoir “Still Just a Geek” is a great read that captures some of the resentment the new cast faced. Oh, and it’s not like they’ve forgotten about those days. Jonathan Frakes still sounds as if he has PTSD from the abuse he endured.
Every single “Star Trek” show has faced this kind of reception.
The show with the Black commander?
The show with the female captain?
The show with a Black female commander?
Every single “Trek” show has faced multiple battles: find space for itself in a crowded, messy television landscape; win over “Trek” fans who adore previous incarnations; and prove somehow that their story is a worthy continuance and not erasure.
Today, of course, TNG is easily the most beloved incarnation of “Trek” ever. The cast is pretty much universally adored.
TNG needed three full seasons to win over Trekkies. (I know. I was there at the conventions.)
SFA had one season – and a mere ten episodes.
Apparently a gay Klingon was too much for some folks to bear.
In the last decade, we’ve been blessed with great “Trek,” including “Discovery,” “Prodigy” (which my nephews loved), “Picard,” the hilarious “Lower Decks,” “Strange New Worlds,” and the standalone film “Section 31.” They all pushed Gene Roddenberry’s vision forward.
For the first time in a decade, there is no new “Star Trek” anything in production.
We still have two seasons of “Strange New Worlds,” a mere 16 episodes, and one season of “Academy,” ten episodes, left – that’s assuming Paramount doesn’t bury them for the tax breaks, and knowing Paramount, I wouldn’t put it past them.
But this is not the end of “Star Trek.”
Under Ellison, Paramount will no doubt reboot original “Trek” with a new Kirk, Spock, and Uhura, to boldly go where we’ve all gone before.
Get your DVDs. Streamers cannot be trusted.