By Drew Dietsch
| Published
I’m done with modern Star Trek. The franchise holds no appeal for me anymore as it barely exists as a shadow of its former greatness. Even after enjoying some time with Strange New Worlds, the tone of the entire approach has worn thin with me. Only Lower Decks managed to keep that vibe alive, and with it gone, so ends my time with Star Trek.
A strong reminder and piece of vindication for my disengagement with currently-produced Star Trek is the very existence of Starfleet Academy has me yawning with disinterest. The show is a husk of an attempt to get far enough into the franchise’s timeline to act as another restart/reboot/reset that doesn’t hold any appeal for what I enjoy about the potential of Star Trek.
However, Starfleet Academy did get me reenergized for another franchise’s attempt to update itself for a younger, modern audience by zipping into the future: Batman Beyond. Now there’s the way you do it.
Batman Beyond Is the Exact Approach That Works
Batman Beyond was an original animated series that was not basing its take on any specific comic book version of Batman. It was a sequel series to Batman: The Animated Series and was allowed to craft its own continuity with carry-over characters. At the same time, it introduced wholly new characters that fans grew to love.
What Batman Beyond got so right was that it felt continuous with the previous show that people responded to while staking out its own unique energy. This is a big reason why Star Trek: The Next Generation kept audiences around: it was tonally continuous with Star Trek while figuring out how to do its own thing. Even though it wasn’t always directly referencing the original series, it managed to feel in conversation with Star Trek, or at least on the same spiritual wavelength.
That’s where Batman Beyond excelled. It’s a show that provides exactly what it says: it’s another take on Batman stories but in a way you haven’t seen before.
Capturing New, Young Viewers Is the Goal
Part of the reason Batman Beyond got made is that the studio believed they could capture a larger demographic of young viewers if the protagonist of the show was younger. I guarantee that they had some kind of viewer metrics and data to refer to in order to make the argument that they wanted younger viewers to stick with more Batman programming.
It’s pretty obvious Starfleet Academy is a similar stab at grabbing more young viewers. It would not surprise me in the least if the slugs at Paramount are sweating over graphs showing that Star Trek is aging out of its audience. “Quick! Get some pretty kids that will work for cheap and maybe we can save the ship!”
Maybe they will! Maybe Starfleet Academy is going to usher in a brand new generation of Star Trek fans and it will be the foundation of an entire new direction for the storied franchise. I won’t place any bets on that outcome but I can give it the benefit of possibility.
Look, I don’t give a tribble’s nipple if you are excited for Starfleet Academy. Hell yeah, watch what you want. I hope you’ll show the same grace towards my viewing abstinence. But, Starfleet Academy does have me wondering: what the hell is taking so long for a new, bigger Batman Beyond?
Show ‘Em How It’s Done, Terry
Whether it’s as a feature film or a series, the time is ripe for Batman Beyond to do what I doubt Starfleet Academy will achieve: craft a compelling future continuation of its franchise that attracts a large and fresh audience. I’d love to see an animated Batman Beyond movie given the kind of artistic freedom and flair as those Spider-Verse flicks. A live-action movie wouldn’t be my strongest desire, but I’m sure there’s a great one to be made from the material. If not an animated feature, a live-action series seems like the second-best direction to go. Make it one of those prestige DCU series on HBO Max and you’d have my attention.
It’s a touch amazing and deflating to see something like Starfleet Academy wheeze itself into existence before a proper Batman Beyond revival. Maybe Starfleet Academy will have an entire run on streaming before we see Terry McGuinness suit up again. I don’t like that future.
