Jonathan Frakes, who has become synonymous with the Star Trek franchise for his multifaceted contributions, has shared his thoughts on fans’ review-bombing of the recently released Starfleet Academy series. The seasoned actor and filmmaker opened up about how the hate towards Star Trek projects has grown tenfold with each passing installment, irrespective of their critical reception.
Star Trek’s Jonathan Frakes says hate against Starfleet Academy ‘surprises’ him
In a recent interview with IGN, the Starfleet Academy director revealed that the trolling and review bombing of Star Trek shows felt more “painful” than ever. Despite considering himself an “eternal optimist,” Frakes hasn’t been able to muster the immense hate that the newer Star Trek entities have received.
“I was prepared because when Next Gen came out almost 40 years ago, we were trolled,” he said, laughing. “Nobody wanted us. And this was pre-internet. 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.”
Notably, the supposed review bombing of Starfleet Academy is evidenced by the show’s contrasting audience and critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes. While the series has a staggering Tomatometer score of 88% on the website, its Popcornmeter rating falls in the middling sector of the spectrum at 51%. Similarly, over Metacritic, professional reviewers have given Starfleet Academy a favorable rating of 66. However, the user score, aggregated on a 10-point scale, stands at a lowly 1.6.
While Frakes may not be satisfied with Star Trek fans’ review of Starfleet Academy, he seems to have thoroughly enjoyed directing the series. “It was literally the biggest Star Trek set ever, and so that was a pretty daunting and funny way to shoot,” he noted. “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was already a well-oiled machine.”
Starfleet Academy will complete airing its debut season on March 12 and has already wrapped filming on Season 2.
