The next show to join the Star Trek Universe on Paramount+ is Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. The first season began production in Toronto, Canada in August, and filming is still ongoing. The cast and crew includes several Star Trek veterans, two of whom were at Creation’s ST-NJ Star Trek convention over the weekend: Next Generation’s Jonathan Frakes, and Lower Decks’ Tawny Newsome. Both spoke briefly about working on the new series.
Frakes talks directing Maslany for Academy
Jonathan Frakes broke a bit of news at the at the convention being held at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey. During a panel with his TNG co-star Brent Spiner, Frakes told the audience:
“I am going to go do the new Star Trek called Starfleet Academy. It’s starring Holly Hunter, Academy Award-winner, and Paul Giamatti. Featuring one of our family members, Robert Picardo. [Tatiana Maslany] I have her in my episode. She is fabulous. I think Mary Wiseman too… Oded Fehr, who I love.”
Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany was only recently announced as having a recurring role in the YA-focused series.
Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner at ST-NJ (Photo: TrekMovie)
Frakes didn’t have more to say about Academy at ST-NJ, but he did talk a bit about it in his October TrekMovie All Access Star Trek podcast interview. At the time he wasn’t yet sure if he was going to direct an episode of Academy, but he reveal he had already seen scripts:
“I got some copies of the Starfleet Academy scripts, which are, by the way, spectacular. Action-packed and funny. I haven’t been on the set, but I understand the set is the most magnificent Star Trek set yet.”
He also offered a tidbit about Paul Giamatti, who is playing the villain for the first season. “He’s got a fabulous part,” he said, but but wary to add more, noting his past transgressions have landed him in trouble when he inadvertently revealed spoilers.
As a side note, Brent Spiner didn’t have any Trek projects to tease, but he did mention he’s just shot another episode of Night Court. Earlier this year Spiner reprised his role as Bob Wheeler on the revamped version of the original sitcom that ran from 1984-1992.
Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner at ST-NJ (Photo: TrekMovie)
Newsome on writing for “powerhouse” cast, and how Trek is “buoyant”
During the audience Q&A portion of a Lower Decks panel, Tawny Newsome (Beckett Mariner) was asked about transitioning to becoming a writer for Academy and what she thinks are the “key ingredients” that make Star Trek work. She began by talking about her experience on the new show:
“I’m still humbled by the privilege of the amount of access that my friends at [Alex Kurtzman’s production company] Secret Hideout have truly given me. I actually just came from the set of Starfleet Academy. I was watching them film the episode that I wrote. It is SO amazing to see something that you wrote being produced on that grand scale. Seeing such incredible actors! I mean, Holly Hunter, Paul Giamatti are just insane, powerhouse actors. Not to mention our beloved Bob Picardo, Tig Notaro, who we have all grown to know and love. Putting pen to page for people like that is such a privilege.”
She then turned to the question by showing how much of a superfan she is:
“But to answer your question—obviously, so much has been said about the optimism of a world that can just be better in almost every way, in every facet of your life, however that touches your life. That is the main thread for me with Star Trek. Star Trek is just like, “Us, if…” Us, if we got past scarcity. Us, if we got past all these things that are kind of holding us back. And so the hope, the positivity, those are the most important things. And then my other sneaky thing is that I think that Star Trek is the most buoyant franchise in the world, meaning that it can handle a variety of different genres, tones, paces—way more than any other franchise. Like you watch an episode all about the perils of war, like “Sacrifice of Angels” in Deep Space Nine, and then you watch the frickin’ Rumpelstiltskin episode [“If Wishes Were Horses”]. Not only is that the same franchise, it’s the same show. How? And it’s beloved. I think our strength is in our versatility. I think no other franchise can come close to that.”
Gabrielle Ruiz, Dawnn Lewis, Tawny Newsome, and Eugene Cordero at ST-NJ 2024 (Photo: TrekMovie.com)
Celia reached out to Academy cast member
Academy came up again over the weekend, surprisingly during a Strange New Worlds panel. Actress Jess Bush (Christine Chapel) talked about how important it has been for her to become so close with the Star Trek “family,” and she was “excited” for Academy, because they now have “some new folks to welcome.” Actress Celia Rose Gooding (Uhura) jumped in:
“I’ve already sent a welcome text to someone in Starfleet Academy who I see a lot of myself in. So I sent her a text and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m Celia. Here’s my number. If you ever need another Black queer person to talk to. I’m here for you. I don’t have a lot of advice, but I’m happy to hold space for whatever feelings you have.’ And so we have been texting.”
Based on Celia’s description of the actress, it appears she was reaching out to Kerrice Brooks, who was one of the first to be cast as one of the cadets for the new series.
Christina Chong, Jess Bush, and Celia Rose Gooding at ST-NJ 2024 (Photo: TrekMovie.com)
Keep up with all the news and reviews from the new Star Trek Universe on TV at TrekMovie.com.
Casting gets better every time. I hated She-Hulk, but I’m a *huge* fan of Maslany. So great that she’s joining the fam.
I appreciate that Tawny Newsome is a ‘superfan’, but I disagree with her comment about Star Trek being able to be many different genres.
Yes, I agree that individual episodes did cover different styles and genres, but the core concept of all the golden era shows did not divert from the base genre that is considered to be Star Trek. You can have a goofy and cringe worthy Ferengi episode, but the core of the show is still not a comedy. Star Trek should try hard at being Star Trek, that’s what keeps me watching it. I don’t watch other shows based on other genres and expect them to be like Star Trek. Why is Star Trek expected to be like everything else the market is already saturated with?
She’s 1000% correct. I’m completely agnostic on the format for any Trek show. It could center on one character or dozens of characters. It could be heavily serialized or be completely an anthology, with zero returning characters from week to week. It could be a sitcom, a political thriller, a mystery series, a musical, a legal drama, a show about a suburban family, a variety show, a talkshow, a sketch comedy show, public access, a vlog, or be made up entirely Federation Council C-SPAN. The more different each Trek show is from previous Trek shows, the better. As far as I’m concerned, Trek is a philosophy, not a genre or format. As long as it’s about a diverse group of seemingly implacable foes learning to communicate in order to solve problems in a post-artificial economy in which everyone’s needs for survival are met without means testing, then I’m happy.
Here are shows I’d like to see:
* following people traveling in space in a profession other than Starfleet: artists, actors, musicians, journalists, politicians, doctors, etc.
* a show similar to TNG’s “First Contact,” in which a planet learns about the existence of aliens and that the UFP exists.
* a show that takes place in the 2160s, as the UFP is just being formed, the people forming the government hire historian(s) to consult on the project, which allows that story to parallel with the unification of Earth after First Contact, in both timelines, we see the effects of the decisions made by the new government on the general public. ENT or First Contact characters could be in it.
* an Earth-based series at any point in Trek history.
* a show set on a colony.
* West Wing: Rom
I’d also be interested in spinoffs such as:
* Wesley and Kore as Travelers
* Rios, Teresa, Ricardo, and Guinan fighting for medical equality in the 2020s.
* Jurati’s adventures over the course of the 400 years where she crafts her own version of the Borg collective while staying out of history’s way, waiting to emerge and reintegrate with the rest of the galaxy.
* Literally anyone on La Sirena, working for the Fenris Rangers, similar to the fanfilm series Star Trek: Aurora. I suppose Worf and Elnor are free agents and have familiarity with the ship. If it’s the two of them, it could be a way for Worf to come to terms with his previous hate for Romulans, through training Elnor. I would have originally preferred Seven and Raffi, but they appear to be occupied with the Enterprise
Where exactly are you getting Elnor from? Last time we saw him, he was a cadet in Starfleet Academy.
West Wing: Rom. Yes. I’m in.
I think the fact that Star Trek can bend to be a comedy, ultra serious cerebral drama, high octane action adventure, and high-concept sci-fi showcase means that creatives can run with that for more than just one-offs. I’m not convinced there’s any tone or genre guardrails they have to stay inside.
To my mind a show or movie needs to spend some time on one or some but not all of those tried and true Trek tenets like idealism/optimism, curiosity and space exploration, allegorical storytelling (often commenting on recent human history), exploring the human condition, and solving problems through cooperation and building understanding. The movies by nature are less inclined to dig into much of this, but most still tick off a box or two.
Lower Decks did a lot for Trek to prove it can exist in a heightened reality and indulge comedy more than just here and there. It has heart and indulges in Trek cornerstones every week.
The “tone” or “guardrails” of Star Trek as you put it is simple – intelligent science fiction.
We have not had that in Star Trek for almost 20 years now.
Everything since Berman has been awful , BUT with a new Trek origin movie on the horizon, a 4th Kelvin movie and this new academy show I am optimistic we may yet get some intelligent science fiction. The track record since 2005 suggests not, but I am nothing if not optimistic!
many praise parts of Disc, ‘picard’, most of SNW, LDs and ‘prodigy’ so it not all been awful since 2005.
To channel Mark Twain in TNG: this increasingly hypothetical “many” would not be me.
The best of DISC was in its first and second season. There was plenty to criticize (the overuse of the mirror universe, the Klingon makeup, etc.) but there was a kernel of a promising show there. For the first time in the history of the franchise, I thought that main characters, like Landry, were seriously in jeopardy and could be killed off in a normal episode. It lost all coherence after the ridiculous time jump.
SNW has some good episodes, sure, but in general, they’re showing Pike and Spock beclowning themselves. The trailer for next season praises more of the same.
I do appreciate that many like Lower Decks; I think it’s trivial pursuit for Trekkies, but this is an old debate by now.
Prodigy does indeed have some heart, but it’s ultimately a kid’s show and is not going to be the subject of exhibits in the Smithsonian.
The forays into the young adult genre and a live-action comedy show that they’re doubling down on the ridiculous bits, not the parts of NuTrek that showed promise. There are arguments for and against Legacy — good ones against, in fact — but ultimately Chabon and Matalas produced the only consistently excellent Star Trek in more than 15 years.
If the Kelvin films meet your criteria for what constitutes intelligent science fiction then I’m at a loss as to what failed to make the grade from the Kurtzman Era.
Lower Decks is exactly the genre that turns me off when it comes to Star Trek. Plenty of other shows out there to get my comedy fix. Not many new shows out there to get my serious science fiction fix that is Star Trek.
But there aren’t many shows out there to get a *Star Trek comedy* fix either, let alone a sci-fi comedy fix. I’m sorry it turns you off, but there’s been nothing like it before.
There’s plenty of dour and dystopian sci-fi now, and even taking out the comedic episodes we’ve gotten at least 500 hours of serious Trek up to this point. Discovery is not a comedy. Picard is not a comedy. SNW only dabbles. Prodigy is mostly lighthearted and has some broad characters for comic relief, but it’s not a comedy. One or two Star Trek comedies to every eleven dramas is a nice bone to throw to those of us who might need it.
Have you watched TOS? That set the template for everything that followed. They did comedy, spy stories, westerns, war drama, horror, romance, monster of the week…it was very much an anthology show with continuing characters in the range of stories it told, and that was by design.
TOS rarely every strayed from its core premise and was a fairly consistent show. Having romantic, espionage, war, horror, and monster plots were just part of the mission of the Enterprise each week. I mean, light-hearted moments don’t make an episode a comedy, unless you are speaking of Spock’s Brain. That one did make me laugh. They certainly never did a silly show breaking musical either (ok the space hippies, but that was one scene).
SNW on the other hand has been all over the place and isn’t consistent about much. It is Akiva’s Variety Hour and Tawny Newsome plans on turning Star Trek into a live action sit-com which is why I disagree with her comments. In my opinion, Star Trek absolutely should not try to be every genre. It should do what it does best. Be a science fiction show about an evolved humanity.
I would love for Star Trek to return to being the science fiction show it was with TOS and the Berman era without all of these gimmicks trying to be like other shows from other genres. That’s all I am saying.
Exactly: there’s a difference between comic relief and a comedy. No one would call Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet a comedy, but both had comic relief moments.
Fully agreed. The gimmicks are the signs of a decaying franchise with writers and producers who have no idea what *really* made it work.
Let’s not forget that “core premise” could still handle an alien house cat that shapeshifts into a supermodel, an Abraham Lincoln that floats around in space, and a Brechtian OK corral standoff. ;-)
The most ridiculous episodes (from the 60s, 90s, and now) aren’t always my favorites, but that sense of imaginative play helped create a show that could really go where none had gone before. And hey, some of ‘em are classics.
I would also like to see some more cerebral stories in the current shows than we’ve gotten for the most part. But cerebral ain’t the same thing as tonally uniform, and we just don’t know enough about Academy to assume it’s a goof fest.
But the argument against that will always be that the Berman Era withered on the vine and died with the whimper that was $67 million in ww box office for Nemesis and barely 3 million viewers for Enterprise (and that was with its critical fortunes having turned around).
The reason for ST09 and Discovery being so different was because more of the same lasted for 18 years, but there were heavily diminishing returns for the last 7 or so. I know all the mitigating circumstances from tired scripts to crappy networks and can argue for them to a point, but in the face of cold hard facts, sometimes you just need a Come to Jesus moment to realize things have to change to survive.
But maybe I’m just projecting what I’m going through as a Democrat steeling myself for four years of alternatively fighting from a disadvantage and feeling exhausted. But after constantly supporting and even admiring the well-meaning but charisma-challenged bureaucrat types that rise to the top but lose elections, I am fully committed to pivoting to a simple message, only leaders with charisma for days, and appeal that goes straight for the working class before anything else. If that’s a Bernie Sanders type (just younger and better prepared, please), so be it. That may seem off topic, but it was my most recent Come to Jesus moment.
Don’t worry. We will survive. Now is certainly the time for Star Trek to return to showing that humanity can change for the better like the Roddenberry and Berman years showed us.
Star Trek is best when it is has a consistent tone and genre type, like we saw with the Berman era. You can have light-hearted episodes or very serious ones, however the changes were slight so the episodes didn’t become farcical or turn into parody. This gives the universe a sense of realism, hence people love it so much.
Heavy deviation never works, as we have seen numerous times with the Kurtzman era. The Kelvin films get somewhat of a pass as JJ correctly set the films in their own universe, therefore not polluting the main timeline.
So excited. Super excited. Did I mention I’m excited?
I’m excited to see how SFA turns out too.
That’s the first I’m hearing of Tig being part of the show. That’s another plus!
Her character was an example of comic relief done right.