Jonathan Frakes Claims Negative Reactions To 'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' Are "Dimensionally More Painful"

Mar 06, 2026

Jonathan Frakes, believes that negative reactions to Star Trek: Starfleet Academy are “dimensionally more painful” than those of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Frakes, who played William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation and directed an episode of Starfleet Academy, spoke to IGN about negative reactions to both series.

First, he noted he was prepared for negative reactions to Starfleet Academy because of his experience with The Next Generation. He said, “I was prepared because when Next Gen came out almost 40 years ago, we were trolled. Nobody wanted us. And this was pre-internet.”

He then claimed, “But it’s still dimensionally more painful [today]… and the trolls are hiding, and the trolls are hating. … It's the first rule of the Constitution. I guess they're entitled to their opinion, but it surprises me how aggressively ‘anti’ they are with each new iteration of the show.”

“And it continues to surprise me, and I try not to let it upset me,” he concluded.

Of note, he did not explain why it is “dimensionally more painful” today than it was during The Next Generation, only that it is.

The series has been lampooned for discarding the pursuit of truth in favor of pushing blatant woke propaganda.

Pop culture pundit Gary Buechler aka Nerdrotic stated, “Long gone are the days of a show that explored issues through allegorical science fiction while never talking down to its audience, while also being entertaining and engaging with episodes like “The City on the Edge of Forever,” “The Best of Both Worlds,” “The Inner Light,” “In the Pale Moonlight,” “The Measure of Man,” “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” “Balance of Terror,” “Duet,” “Space Seed,” “Chain of Command.” All featuring characters that in some cases are so iconic people could name them on site without having watched a single episode of Star Trek.”

“Alex Kurtzman commenced to buggering Gene Roddenberry and Rick Berman’s optimistic vision of a united future by turning it into a dark, nihilistic vision of the future filled with excessive violence including, but not limited to widespread death, torture, and cannibalism or more accurately sentient consumption,” he noted. “Then, of course, there’s all the modern vernacular, foul language, cringe dialogue, insufferable girl bosses, and character assassination like making Picard a sad and broken old man and then killing Picard only to resurrect his consciousness in an exact copy of his 94 year-old body.”

As for Starfleet Academy, he shared how it has all the hallmarks of Kurtzman Trek and that it is a “Star Trek show made for people who don’t know anything about Star Trek for people who don’t like Star Trek.”

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