Chances are, if the old (minded) people hate it, and everyone else does not, it’s got something going for it.
Generational gatekeeping and petty jealousy aside, ST:SA is a good show (so far). It is different, aimed at a different group of viewers that have experienced a different set of life circumstances and thus, have different likes and different things that appeal to them.
The operative word here is “different”. Being different creates pause, it creates apprehension. In some people it creates fear, as if somehow its existence will negate the existence of something like Star Trek: The Original Series (I’m looking at you, Ghostbusters “fans”). It’s ok, grumpy gatekeeper, until you finally pass away Paramount will continue to find ways to get you to drop duckets on the same 79 episodes.
People that portend to like Star Trek: The Next Generation and toss their ill intent on anything after clearly are the most confounding. TNG challenged EVERYTHING, and to sit there and shadow anything that came after is just you being ridiculous. Simply stated, you are not a Star Trek fan, your pining for something else and should immediately leave the viewing room and go watch the DVD collection and leave the rest of us alone.
In other words- there is a difference between being a fan, and being a nostalgic gatekeeper, or just simply being a jerk.
Now, let’s be a bit real- is Starfleet Academy perfect? It is as perfect as any Star Trek series before it, and pointing out all the paper mache boulders, miscued scene starts, phallic stalactites or character dialogue mistakes is simply petty.
Is it, at its core, true to the belief that Gene Roddenberry infused into his visions? In its own way, absolutely. A different way, a rebuilding, new start kind of way.
That’s what makes it good. It approaches that from a direction Star Trek has thus far failed to appreciate- far from the polished, post war rigidity that bore out the original series and it’s cultural conflict with a military industrial complex trying to influence world politics with force.
It’s been 4 generations since The Cage, and instead of hippie rebellion against military colonialism, we have generations being mined for their very souls, capitalism in it’s worst incarnation and a generation so ignorant of it’s own failures that it threatens the very freedoms that they themselves told us 60 years before were most important.
That Starfleet Academy starts by separating a mother and child is no accident- it is the statement of what we are capable of right now, in this culture, in this moment. It is Star Trek being pure Star Trek, engaging the worst of today through the lens of tomorrow.
The people that don’t like it now, just like the people that didn’t like it then, are the people that see themselves in the criticism, the people that don’t want to face that they could be a part of the problem. That’s why Star Trek struggled to find an audience in its original run- it asked people to be honest with themselves, and A LOT of people had problems with that. Hence 3 years and out. Hence why it took another 10 years for the franchise to find a true fan base strong enough to warrant Paramount to make the first movie.
It wasn’t the poor sets, It wasn’t the at times flabby dialogue- it was because in it’s most powerful moments, it openly challenged the status quo, and the status quo was like, “nope”.
This show is not meant for me. This show is for the younger generations growing up today, looking for storytelling that is real, connected to how they feel, what they experience, and not judged for what the likes of a 93 year old man disconnected from reality thinks it should be.
That said- shame on Shatner for passing judgement. For someone whose career foundation is based on storytelling that challenged norms and raced for a better tomorrow, it is immensely disappointing. I have no doubt and truly believe that Kirk’s ultimate response would be
“Well, if that’s what the kids are in to, who am I to disagree?”