“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” will end with its upcoming second season, Variety has learned exclusively.
Well, I’ll be damned. The hate campaigners seem to have won, despite solid signs that the show was actually doing quite well with the target group — internationally, if less so in the US?
This is very sad news, the show seemed to go from strength to strength in its first season.
Well, damn.
There’s inevitably (and understandably) going to be a lot of speculation about what, exactly, led to this decision, but…in the absence of any further information, I’m just going to be bummed about it.
Here’s the first (big FWIW/grain of salt/etc) thing on the decision that’s I’ve seen (besides the TrekMovie article note that ‘it’s no secret that the show didn’t Nielsen chart’). From author Mike Chen on Bluesky.
From the few insiders I know, viewership was actually above expectations and this was more of a “future of the franchise” corporate decision. I’m expecting Trek to be in flux as there are SO MANY variables. Everything from tech stocks to Iran to midterms is impacting Paramount.
Leaving the link to his post here for reference but he has his posts hidden unless you’re logged into Bluesky.
A more measured take VS than I can manage at present.
My partner commented “It wouldn’t take much with the Ellisons” when I said it was reportedly canceled but, I have been hoping that there just might be more sophistication in the analysis of the show’s potential in a bigger, broader streamer.
My own thoughts go to women like my mother-in-law now in her 90s, or the superfan Bjo Trimble, who watched and supported Star Trek and other science fiction media, decade after decade, without seeing many women like themselves in principle roles.
They weren’t watching because of their husbands or kids, they were enjoying science fiction for themselves and their views, and all the related licensed media and merchandise they bought produced exactly the same advertising and other revenue.
Yet, entitled middle aged guys — who aren’t even in the key youth demographic anymore — want to define the franchise and seem to be being listened to.
Older person that I am, I recall the boys in the neighborhood would take their toys and wouldn’t join imaginative play unless they got to be the hero. I guess they never changed.
”…the show failed to find its significant audience.”
Put a show on a streamer that is targeting a completely different audience, and let the entitled vocal fans run wild with unchecked brigading, and then be surprised by low “crowdsourced” ratings.
Sigh.
This is depressing, if accurate, in that it may also be a signal that the new owner is looking for a new production company to manage the franchise just when things had finally and consistently stabilized with Secret Hideout.
I’m not hopeful for an SNW continuation in a Year One show, or Tawny’s project either.
It does seem like Paramount+ has a problem with drawing younger people - stuff aimed at younger demographics doesn’t seem to last long (with the exception of Spongebob). I always thought SFA’s success was a bit of a long shot for that reason.
And ironically, merging with HBO Max might actually help with that, but it won’t come soon enough.
Prodigy was amazing though.
Did a single person hear about it before the cancellation notice? Well, no. But it’s still somehow our fault that it was cancelled, and not their fault for utterly failing to promote it in any way.
Random reactions:
- Disappointed but not surprised.
- Even though the article leaves this an open question, I will be surprised if Kurtzman returns after this.
- At least they didn’t memory hole S2 as a tax write off.
- I wonder if they will attempt (and be allowed to attempt) to rework the S2 ‘cliffhanger-ish/lite’ ending into something else, or if it’s just impractical to rework a “part 1 of 2” episode into a 1 episode contained story.
…and nothing of value was lost.
Ellison death-to-woke is underway.
Next up: Rambo reboot
I am genuinely happy to hear that Alex Kurtzman is leaving the Star Trek franchise, fuck that guy.
Oh man this is really sad. I liked SFA way more than I thought I would. The cast was top notch, and they had some good stories. Genuinely sad to see this one go.
Does that mean we’re not even going to get a nice ending for season 2?
Hopefully they had enough of a sense it was coming to wrap things up.
Unfortunately, they did a cliffhanger.
Now you have to wonder if they can untangle it into one coherent finale episode, and if Paramount will even give them the approval to untangle it in the first place.
I’d rather have a cliffhanger and a glimmer of hope it could be resolved in a future movie.
I’m always concerned that having an unresolved cliffhanger has the opposite impact.
It discourages new viewers from trying a show and undermines the case for a movie.
A Firefly to Serendipity outcome is vanishingly rare.
And unlike Farscape, the production company partner can’t get the IP back and make a limited series or streaming movie to resolve it.
