THE CRITICAL DRINKER: Starfleet Academy — This Show Is Pure Torture.

The Drinker asks:

Oh, Star Trek, my old friend. What have they done to you? You know, I remember when Star Trek was a serious show made by serious people with a passion for science and technology and a desire to broaden human horizons. How times have changed after the indignities of Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds. I honestly thought we’d seen an end of the brain dead, cringe-inducing, hyper-identity politics-driven garbage wearing the Star Trek brand like a skin suit, but apparently not. Is this like some kind of humiliation ritual at this point? Do they hate their own franchise?

Yes, and like Kathleen Kennedy and Star Wars, the producers hate the franchise’s core fans even more.

On the bright side though, Starfleet Academy is singlehandedly bringing together a divided nation — I was not expecting to see the words “I am so on the same page” with Trump advisor Stephen Miller coming from the X account of William Shatner, but that’s where we are at the beginning of 2026 AD: