Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek, Starfleet Academy

Starfleet Academy: Brooks & Diané on Backlash, Embracing Series Legacy

Starfleet Academy stars Kerrice Brooks & Karim Diané discuss the pushback the "Star Trek" series received from some, the show's end, and more.

Fan accessibility has dramatically changed since the days of Star Trek: The Original Series, since it's the first time for so many to be exposed to the powerful potential of science fiction. Gene Roddenberry used the series' platform to promote progressive ideals of a unified space vessel, the U.S.S. Enterprise, and to show how Earth, with individual bridge crew representing each continent and one Vulcan-human, can come together for the common cause of exploration while battling social issues like prejudice and inequality. With each new generation afterward, new Star Trek shows were created to confront the existing issues of the times. While most of the messages were positive and fans remained loyal, the pushback never ceased. Now, in the 21st century, instead of just pushing back against traditionalist network executives, there are those disillusioned about the way sci-fi culture is today, and it goes far beyond the letters they would send to the studio, but the cast and crew who are readily available on social media, like many of the actors of Starfleet Academy. At the Trek Talks to benefit the Hollywood Food Coalition, host and star of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Cirroc Lofton, who appeared in a guest starring role in the Gaia Violo, Alex Kurtzman, and Noga Landau series, late in season one spoke with Kerrice Brooks (SAM) and Karim Diané (Jay-Den Kraag) about the pushback they've received about their characters, Starfleet Academy's cancellation with a season to still run, how it's affected their social media and fan interaction.

Starfleet Academy Stars Kerrice Brooks and Karim Diané on Social Media Pushback, Inspiration & More

Before landing the role of the Kasqian, Series Acclimation Mil (SAM), Brooks already had their own experience with social media. "I'm not online much, because I've had my own relationship with social media since my dance career before acting," she told Lofton. "I feel like I know there's no such thing as a perfect show, and I know that there are things that I won't be able to understand, that the older Trekkies feel, but all I saw was negativity, if I'm being honest, and that also kept me off, especially off of Instagram. I don't have Facebook. TikTok is just funny, but the ones where I think Gen Z isn't so active, all I saw was the hate for our show and for our characters, and that kept me off. That's why I'm excited to go to the conventions, and hopefully they don't hate on it in person. Hopefully, I get to talk to people who, I don't know, have something nice." The actress adds that if fans have a problem with the show, they should have an actual conversation about it, rather than it being merely about "DEI."

Brooks referenced the series' fifth episode "Series Acclimation Mil," in which Lofton guest-starred, which celebrated the legacy of Avery Brooks' Benjamin Sisko from DS9, "The state of the world right now, hate is in power… It sucks to even admit that, because I think that, like Avery said at the end of the episode, or MLK kept saying, 'Only love can drive out hate … As dark as the room is, as soon as you turn on one single flashlight, there's light in the room.' So it doesn't matter how much love you have, even if it doesn't measure up to the amount of hate in the world, it's like, if we could turn on, I don't know, one flashlight in the country, in society right now … The way people are reacting to these trailers and to our show, even is an indication of a bigger thing than the show potentially being 'bad,' or whatever. It's bigger than that, and the cancellation of it is bigger than the cancellation of just a 'bad show,' too."

Diané's approach is one of redirection, "That's why I'm on my social media spreading love, like even the negative comments that creep into my page, I'll always respond with even love or like a little wink… I've never responded to negativity with any kind of negativity, or I won't respond. But love drives in love and out hate, but also love attracts love. Since I am so active on social media, Kerrice, there is so much — like so many people love this freaking show, like hardcore. I definitely see the negativity, but I also see a lot of positive — it's mostly positivity on my social media channels, to be honest with you. My online life is completely transformed since the show dropped… I looked at my stats one day, and it was like 5 million people within 30 days had come to my page just to show love."

Lofton chimed in on his experience when DS9 premiered in 1993 as the first franchise series, set on a space station, rather than the space-faring Enterprise. "We got hate in the beginning when we were doing our show, and they kept calling us a dark show … They're like, Oh, this is not a spaceship. It doesn't travel. It's a space station. It's a different thing. There's always going to be criticism, is what I'm trying to say. And you rise past your criticism by focusing on the love and standing positive. Because what ends up happening is Star Trek fans are relentless. If they love, and they stay, and they feel the love, and they love something, they can bring something back from the dead."

When it was revealed that Diané's Jay-Den was a gay Klingon, the actor responded that the series decision was on brand for the franchise. "Star Trek has always ruffled feathers, is what I'm understanding. Like from day one, from the very first episode, you know, the point of Star Trek is to ruffle feathers, is to stretch people's minds and make space for everyone. Every single human being on this planet has a seat at this Star Trek table." Upon parsing through the more positive than negative responses across all walks of life, one stood out to the actor more than the rest.

"There's one specific message that I can't get out of my head. This teacher who wrote me and said … that one of his students watches Starfleet Academy, and that he's never felt himself represented on TV before, because he is tall and he has a large stature, and he's dark-skinned and he's Black, and people expect him to be this, like, rough and tough kind of guy, but he's not," Diané recalled. "He's a really sweet young queer kid. I'm excited by what we're all doing by introducing these different characters; it's really like opening up the room for more people to come in and feel included." As far as cancellation goes, Brooks said that none of the cast was at fault, and it wasn't a "bad show," but "sometimes shit doesn't work out." Diané remained grateful to have made two seasons when "a lot of shows don't even make it to the pilot."

For more, including how Brooks and Diané are grateful for being the Star Trek family, getting to sit on the shoulders of greats who have also been in the franchise, and more, you can check out the video.

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