Mark has covered a lot of it, he and I had discussed it at length, and so will probably go over a lot of the same ground. But did he have any Aliens references? No. Would such a reference even be welcome in a Star Trek: Starfleet Academy context? I guess we'll find out!
I'm not as cranky about Trek as I am about some things, but I do occasionally let myself mourn the fundamentally Maritime, pseudo-military vibe of the older shows. Starfleet Academy takes place in a Federation refounded; it's possible the naval heritage of the organization wouldn't even parse. I think the U.S.S. Athena is a beautiful ship, the hook is good, and if they can get out of their own way they might be able to find the show before their wicked paymasters get cold feet.
It's possible you haven't gone back and watched "Good Trek" in a while, especially at the beginning of those shows, where nobody - from the actors to the writers to the showrunners to I assume craft services has any idea what they're doing. A lot of the coffee was diluted shoe polish and Uncrustables were the norm. Star Trek gets good. Or… Well, I don't know what to say about Strange New Worlds, which started good and then got increasingly dumb. I didn't know what was going on with Discovery by the end either, and I loved the first two seasons. Lower Decks is legit, though. The challenge for any show, though I think Trek is particularly scourged as a result, is that the modern television apparatus barely has time for anything to catalyze. These shows are about testing the relationships between crewmembers and quiet, silly, even ordinary moments build those. Like… whisky, say, there are some things you can't speed-run.
The idea that they need to ensnare the youth linguistically, and will do so if they lowkenuinely rizz them with skibidi toilets, is one of the wackiest possible positions. When Lt. Ellen Ripley suggests to the remainder of the Colonial Marines that Newt managed to survive with no weapons and no training, PFC Hudson suggests that - given this rousing success - they should place this child at the very apex of the command structure. Perhaps Paramount should do that here; let babies write it. At least that would explain why it sounds like it does. If somebody asks, you can show them a picture of a baby on a typewriter, and they'll be like, "Ohhhh. Well, yeah."
The fundamental assertion of these techniques is to imply that Star Trek is not interesting and must be remedied in some way. Except... lots of people came to Star Trek when they were young. The wessels, the danger, a unified humanity… it's interesting to live space-wise inside of a bullet and manage the challenges it might offer. In my experience the Vile Young, the demon weasels they're trying to lure, are less likely to go in for shit if they think you want them to. There's nothing they hate more than these waxy entreaties. I have to leave things on the counter for a week sometimes to secure their precious interest, and when they ask me about it, I need to act as bored as possible even though it's my favorite fucking thing!
When I say it's a wacky position, it's bigger than Trek. It's very corporate, very consumer, and fundamentally mired in market segmentation fantasies to suggest that there's no way to tell a human story that people might connect with if you aren't constantly engaging in these transparent, mercenary gestures. Star Trek is a vision of the future. I think it requires vision to tell it.
(CW)TB out.
