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this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
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It's part of a general problem where old trek is basically competence porn (everyone is ridiculously competent at their jobs) while in new Trek everyone kinda acts like a teenager. Maybe it's a desperate attempt to appeal to a younger audience (I don't think that actually works tho), but it certainly doesn't appeal to fans of older Trek.
It definitely breaks immersion to have characters that have serious jobs acting like teenagers.
This is literally about people who don’t know how to do the job, being taught how to do the job.
That's when I cashed in my mental chips.
How old do you have to be to stop swallowing your comm badge? Aren't they all adults in the show?
I thought the captain was the one that supposed to teach them how to do the job? Why is she acting like a teenager? How are they supposed to learn how to stop acting like teenagers and take their jobs seriously if the captain is acting this way too?
Yeah it's just a show, but characters in a show should be acting as if the world they're in is real. It breaks immersion when they don't.
There's a general fear of being genuine with characters in a lot of shows and movies, and it's gotten really old. It's really cringey at this point.
It would be nice to have a show about people on a spaceship acting like people that are really on a spaceship that have serious jobs. It's boring to have yet another show where it's just people acting like youtube influencers on some spaceship sets. People that actually like vapid youtube influencers will only just watch clips from these shows, so what's the point of trying to appeal to that crowd?
Do you think she's acting like a teenager in a substantive way, or just in her style?
I like her irreverent attitude and I don't consider that childish. She doesn't act impulsively, thoughtlessly, or disrespectfully. She takes her job seriously. She intentionally goes against the grain of traditional military stuffiness because she is decidedly not trying to train a military.
The underlying military culture of classic Trek made sense at the time, but we can do better. I'm actually optimistic about SFA and that's almost entirely thanks to Hunter's portrayal of Ake.
It's not just military captains that are responsible for the lives of those onboard their ship. That's true for the captain of any ship. Even on a cruise ship. Read about the Costa Concordia. Captain didn't take the job seriously bent the rules and a bunch of people died. That captain sounded like he'd be a fun guy to go have a beer with at a bar or whatever, but he had no business being the captain of a ship.
And this is my point. You want a show with a bunch of people that seem like they'd be fun to hang out with. I want a show about people that are actually good at their jobs. Sure they aren't really on a spaceship, so none of it really matters. But it's more interesting to me to see someone commanding a ship that's actually acting like someone commanding a ship. otherwise it's just actors on a spaceship set being quirky. The responsibilities of command the ethical dilemmas that come with that, that's interesting. A captain is someone the crew should respect, not someone they want to hang out with because she's like your quirky aunt.
Besides that, isn't she supposed to be training these people? What happens when these cadets finish their training and get assigned to a captain that's not a quirky auntie type? In real life the drill sergeants that train people are the most hard ass people around so when people complete training they're ready for anything.
And I'm pretty sure people in the federation aren't required to be in starfleet. It's something like a combo between NASA and the military both of which demand a high degree of discipline. Even in a utopian future there will be jobs that it's dangerous to have people that fuck around doing those jobs. Physics can be harsh and I think the vacuum of space will kill people even in a utopian future. Just that in a utopian future people will volunteer for those jobs knowing the risks and knowing they will need to be disciplined when doing the dangerous work.
I agree with what you're saying; I just don't see it in Ake's behavior (perhaps because I am a few episodes behind).
I haven't seen her behave irresponsibly or take the safety of her students lightly. Lounging and going barefoot are not safety issues, unless you consider all forms of unconventionality to be unprofessional, and all forms of unprofessionalism to be irresponsible.
What I see in Ake is someone who takes her job seriously, and is conscientious about what deserves her care and attention -- and what doesn't.
It's a morale issue, which a competent captain would be aware of. Crew members see that and think "if the captain doesn't give a shit, why should I?" Crew starts blowing off their duties which would ultimately result in a safety issue.
There's a reason why people in positions of responsibility behave the way they do when in front of others. I'm sure Picard lounged around in his quarters reading books or whatever, but when called to the bridge he'd put on his game face and behave in a way that commands respect in front of the crew. It's part of the job of being captain.
Now is about authenticity though. When I was young being an adult was all about being buttoned down and having no emotions, and definitely never openly being queer. If we genuinely believe that we’ve made any progress as a society by unmasking, then obviously a far future utopia should at least meet the low watermark we have set in learning to accept ourselves and each other.
Making a show about that would be genuine. Making a show about spaceship needs to portray a functioning spaceship. If it doesn't care about the functioning of the spaceship, it's just some actors on a set. Why bother with the spaceship set at all if everyone has to accept everything about everyone, even if it negatively impacts their ability to do their job?
One of the most interesting episodes of TNG was when Jellico was temporarily assigned as Captain of the Enterprise. He had a real hard ass leadership style, Riker didn't like it and was confined to quarters, nobody liked him. Given it's Star Trek, you assume that it's going to turn out he was evil. But nope, he accomplished the mission Picard came back and resumed being captain. Leaving the audience with the question, was Jellico the asshole, or was Riker the asshole.
There were a few episodes where Data was in command and he wasn't respected because he's an android.
The thing about having a show about a future where everyone is accepting of one another and there is no interpersonal conflict is that is boring as hell. Considering the responsibilities of command, having interpersonal conflicts makes things interesting. Having a captain that acts like a teenager and everyone is cool with it, and the audience need to be cool with it because that's just how things are in the future is incredibly boring.
And the show may take place in the future, but the audience lives in the present day. The ship needs to function in a way that someone grounded in how ships function in the present day, otherwise how are we supposed to know when the captain has crossed the line and when the captain is doing things that are normal for a captain to do?