So, without meaning to, I begin a rewatch of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and originally, this post was going to be about that, but I want to put a little bit of a spin on it, especially given what's happened with Starfleet Academy. Now, granted, I know Star Trek in general is up in the air given the current merger between Paramount and the WB, but let's assume that the franchise returns to both big and small screens over the course of the next few years. I do think Trek has a problem; they're going to have to sit down and really think about it-- and no, it's not the alleged wokeness of it all.
I don't think that Nu-Trek has figured out how to write for the streaming era quite yet. The striking thing about watching the first two seasons of Deep Space Nine is the amount of character work the writers get to do, because of the amount of time they have to work with, episode-wise. You can do more-- you can, as the kids say, 'cook' when you've got 20-26 episodes to work with. It allows you build out your characters more and actually develop evolution and story arcs in the way an 8-12 episode order, which is more common in the streaming era doesn't allow for.
Kira alone evolves over the course of the first two seasons-- 'Past Prologue', 'Battle Lines',' 'Progress', 'Duet', 'Sanctuary', 'Crossover', 'The Collaborator', 'Second Skin'-- that's nine episodes centered around Kira's character in the first two seasons and doesn't include the pilot ('Emissary') or the first season finale/second season premiere, which is essentially a four-episode arc ('In The Hands Of The Prophets', 'The Homecoming', 'The Circle', 'The Siege)'.
The crazy part is that you could break down most of the other cast members the same way-- I'd say there might be some overlap between Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton) and Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) as there aren't many truly 'Jake-centered' episodes in the early going, but really and truly, they all get their moments. And again, why? Because the structure and length of the season allowed the writers to give them that.
Contrast that with the first season of Starfleet Academy and indeed all of Nu-Trek to some degree or another. The structural limitations that these shows have mean that we're given glimpses of really interesting things that feel half-formed because they seem to be unable to really have the time to develop and round out the characters the way they used to be able to. Whether this is a product of newer writers to the Trek universe or the change in structure, I don't know-- but for all the complaining about Starfleet Academy, if you scrape aside the 'but it's woke' bullshit, this is what the heart of a lot of the criticism gets at. There's no time to get to know these characters. There are way too many 'CW High School Show' tropes being thrown around and not enough competence porn.
But that's kind of unfair to the writers as well. Honestly, my boldest take on Starfleet Academy is that 'Come Let's Away' (Episode 6) should have been the pilot. We should have been dropped right into that situation, because it told us SO MUCH about the universe the show currently occupies. This isn't the Federation the way it used to be-- it's a vulnerable Federation, a rising/returning power in the Quadrant, and there are forces that don't want to see it return. That would have been one hell of a way to introduce us to these characters and how they react to danger, loss, and work together as a team. Everything could have flowed from that moment-- it's legitimately one of the strongest episodes of the season, and they buried it in episode six.
'Vox In Excelso' was another excellent moment that didn't quite stick the landing, because again, you have one episode to build around. Why not make it an arc over multiple episodes? Why not allow us to explore Jay-Den's character more? It's a fascinating episode, primarily because the idea that the Klingons are a dead end as a culture has been kicking around in multiple iterations of Trek dating back to the Original Series movies-- their fate here is a logical endpoint, but what DOES THAT MEAN. SHOW US. EXPLORE IT A BIT-- but how can you really do that in a 12-episode season?
Another example of weird writing choices was the character arc of Phillipa Georgiou in Star Trek Discovery-- the character builds up to a point where she's forced to admit that she's changed and maybe isn't the brutal Terran from the Mirror Universe she used to be and then gets sent back in time via The Guardian of Forever to save her life and then appears in the Section 31 movie as a completely different character. So annoying-- and what a waste of potential that movie was as well. Honestly, probably far worse than anything Starfleet Academy has offered so far.
(The Burn was... an interesting choice, but I think better ones were available in Trek canon if you dug a little bit. Omega particles, for instance.)
What I am curious about with Nu-Trek is the thought process behind some of their decisions-- like, I don't know if the plan was always to send Discovery to the future, but it felt like a brilliant, game-changing choice for that show. In Starfleet Academy, Sam's character gets flipped on a dime in order to repair her injury, and it brings added context to The Doctor that would have been amazing to explore. (The choice to make it the original Doctor and not the one that left the Delta Quadrant planet to go home hundreds of years in the future was an interesting one as well.) Despite the frustration with the writing on Nu-Trek and the difficulty diagnosing what, if anything, is wrong with it, I will give them credit: they take big swings —sometimes those work. Sometimes they don't, but I like the flashes of ambition we see from time to time with Nu-Trek.
I think going forward, I like the idea of adopting what James Gunn is (reportedly) doing for the DC Universe: if the script isn't right, don't make it. I'd love to see any of the following:
Star Trek United, but with a clear planned three-season arc (similar to Andor.) Have a complete story laid out and ready to go. It's a great pitch and would allow you to give Enterprise a better capstone while also exploring something we don't really see in Star Trek-- the political side/machinations of how the Federation actually works.
A better Section 31 movie: The Hunt for Red October is just sitting there waiting to be tweaked, and if done right, it would be perfect. Keep Rachel Garrett, by all means. Ditch the weird kitschy technicolor crap and just tell a spy story, preferably involving Romulans. (What's The Tomed Incident? No one really knows what drives the Romulans into their period of isolation, which only ends at the time of TNG? There's a story here, I just know it.)
There are other pitches out there that you can dig up-- a fascinating one that I see a lot is 'a planet discovering warp drive and then getting admitted to the Federation' like an inverse First Contact story. I do think there is something to the notion that competence porn is resonating with viewers right now, and it's always been a key and underrated component of Trek-- it's a group of really smart people solving problems and doing it well. Whatever you do, whatever story you tell, if you find that at its core, you're going to be in a good place.
I'll keep picking my way through Deep Space Nine until Strange New Worlds drops again in July. But as this post was supposed to be about Deep Space Nine, I suppose I should talk about it...
Season One gets a lot of crap in some quarters, mainly for 'Move Along Home.' I honestly don't think it's that bad of an episode-- 'Dax' is a solid courtroom drama, which is always good at, but honestly, even if it was nice to see Q ('Q-Less') and Lwaxana Troi ('The Forsaken') again, 'Duet' is just an incredible episode and leads directly into a really strong arc of episodes about the ongoing mess on post-Occupation Bajor. What's crazy about 'Duet' is that it was obviously meant to be a bottle episode-- light on the special effects for budgetary reasons and writing just holy shit, it sings. The performances —Harris Yulin as Marritza going eyeball to eyeball with Nana Visitor as Kira — are absolutely electric. Easily a top episode of Star Trek altogether-- if it's not on a list, your list is wrong.
Season Two finds more of a groove, I think, and introduces The Maquis, which is a nice 'shades of grey' aspect to the Federation that we get to explore over the course of the next few seasons. The Mirror Universe and more Bajoran political twists and turns keep it entertaining, but the introduction of the Jem'Hadar in the final episode really begins Deep Space Nine's incredible run.
Onwards to Season 3! (And maybe more thoughts about the future of Star Trek, so stay tuned.)