'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' Showrunners Reveal How The Captain Sisko Cameo Was Created
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau have revealed how they included a cameo of Benjamin Sisko at the end of the show’s most recent episode.
At the conclusion of the episode, the voice of Benjamin Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, is heard. He says:
Divine laws are simpler than human ones, which is why it takes a lifetime to be able to understand them. Only love can understand them. Only love can interpret these words as they were meant to be interpreted.
According to SlashFilm’s Devin Meenan who spoke with Kurtzman and Landau, the show used an excerpt from one of Brooks’ spoken word albums, Here..., that was released back in 2007.
Landau explained, “We realized this is the perfect encapsulation of what we’re trying to say in the episode, and [Brooks] was incredibly generous, he let us use it.”
Kurtzman added, “We crafted a love letter for [Avery Brooks] and we left it on his door in the hopes that he’d contribute somehow and that’s how it all came to be.”
The cameo is not surprising. Landau revealed in a separate interview with Trek Movie back in January that the point of all the cameos and references to older Star Trek shows is an attempt to try to lure in older viewers to the show.
Trek Movie asked, “How do you calibrate doing a new show and trying to bring in this new, younger audience—it’s a different vibe, but obviously you’re still trying to retain old fans like me. How do you find that balance of making sure that you can hold on to everybody?”
Landau answered in part, “But I think, in the show itself, there’s so many Easter eggs to Trek. One of the ones that really stands out to the fans is Harry Kim being an admiral on the Wall of Heroes. Our atrium is named Sato Atrium. We have Uhura Pavilion. We have so many honors to the people who came before us. And episode 5 is essentially a love letter to Deep Space Nine.”
When did they switch from "To boldly go where no man has gone before!" To easter eggs, call backs, member berries, and writer service (like fan service, but strictly for the writers and their small cultural cohort)?
I've spoken multiple times about Hollywood's creative bankruptcy, but this is a whole 'nother level.
It's creative cowardice.
They're terrified of trying something new, because, when that gets rejected, THEY get rejected.
It's also a gross misunderstanding of fandom. THEY are fans of how a property makes them FEEL, and so it must never change and constantly recycle the safe and familiar. WE are fans of how a property makes us THINK, and so it must challenge us with new and different circumstances.
The Force Awakens is a great example. They wanted to feel Rebels vs Empire, little ship blows up big ship. We wanted to see and ponder a universe where good has returned, the Jedi are ascendant, and what new challenges awaited in that galaxy far far away.
"Love letter", my shiny metal ass. I still want that hour of my life back after wasting it watching the pilot.