I don’t know if Hogan was worried about how interracial couples are still considered taboo and not wanting his daughter to be caught in the figurative or literal crossfire, or if he really was the racist he was depicted as. The only complaint I’ve heard from a black wrestler was how he screwed over Booker T when it came to the title that one time. I was more disappointed when he turned evil and ruined his character, because that I actually saw in action and can confirm. Although in hindsight it may have been more honest than the American Made “say your prayers, take your vitamins, believe in yourself, and believe in the Man Upstairs” (God) persona that fueled Hulkamania. Naturally that doesn’t protect him from what he said, and I only know of one clip that sounds like he’s saying it, but I’m not aware of what his response was to the controversy. It’s like that line from Transformers: Beast Wars: “Tell my tale, tell it truly, the ill deeds along with the good, and let me be judged accordingly. The rest is silence.”
Yes, I have seen the trailer. No, I’m not impressed.
While I do question some of the critiques, many born from just past experience with Kurtzman “Trek” (for example the main cast is actually not as female dominant as I’ve seen claimed, but having seen Memory Alpha’s preview report as of this writing, and the trailer, I do agree with “pretty boy Klingon” and why the hell is there a female Jem’ Hadar when they’re a clone race that serves as the army for the Founders that never had a female because they don’t reproduce?), it’s those same experiences that make me apprehensive. No, I’m not fixing that run-on sentence. I’m not sure where to divide it to make sense. My apologies.
Anyway, not having Paramount Plus means I haven’t suffered through most of Kurtzman “Trek”. I did watch the pilot episode of Discovery on CBS, but I wasn’t impressed. Everything I’ve heard since has made me even less impressed not only about that show but the entire Kurtzman era. I wonder if that’s why I never went back for more Prodigy, either? So I have about as much interest in Kurtzman’s Starfleet Academy as I do the rest of his alternate universe. In other words, none.
Before this nonsense clogs up the wi-fi, however, I would push you towards a most likely better, but sadly all too short, better take. I haven’t read IDW’s version, but it’s set in the movie timeline so I don’t care. Instead we’re going back to 1996. For a time, Marvel had been coordinating with Paramount to form the imprint Paramount Comics. While not exclusively Star Trek based, the majority of its comics were Star Trek, the second time Marvel technically had the Star Trek licence before losing it to DC Comics for decades. The titles included:
Star Trek Unlimited: For some reason the original series and The Next Generation shared a double-sized comic, with only one actual crossover between the two.
Star Trek: Early Voyages: A better take on the Christopher Pike years aboard the Enterprise than anything I’ve seen or heard about Strange New Worlds.
Plus miniseries like Untold Voyages, set between movies, a couple of one-shots, and separate ongoings for Deep Space Nine and Voyager. I wouldn’t expect them to share a title, but combining both TV Enterprises makes for questions in my comic box lineup.
And of course for this article, Starfleet Academy. Set during the 24th century, it was a way for Nog to remain part of the franchise when his character left Deep Space Nine to join Starfleet. I reviewed these comics during a “Yesterday’s” Comic re-read, but this is a full series overview, and why these are better to track down than anything Kurtzman is going to toss out, given his history with “Trek” branded shows that don’t feel like Star Trek.
Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter (or possibly multiple chapter for this one) of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
Only one chapter this time. In the previous chapter we saw Striker trying to stop a train while their escape was being put together.
I have to wonder if I’d be complaining about the length so much if I were enjoying the book more. I had no trouble with Death & Return Of Superman or Batman: Knightfall, while one of my first books as a kid was about as long as the Op-Center novels. On the other hand, while an improvement over the first book, Mirror Image still suffers many of the same flaws, and it comes down to the useless trivia. The characters are less annoying compared to the first book (except for Paul Hood and Squires, who were both some of the good characters and possibly the only ones from the series cast). There’s just information that I don’t care about and serve no actual purpose to the story outside of blending history with the Op-Center universe. From what little I know of books like The DaVinci Code, this is a good way to screw people up in the real world, being clueless about history and accepting the altered events for drama as not only book canon but historical facts. Seeing movies that have caused trouble by doing that, I’m not convinced it’s a good idea.
Still, we have a little over 20 chapters left to go over, which even if we get more short chapter combinations will take awhile, so let’s get it over with.
Chapter 55: Tuesday, 3:25 PM, St. Petersburg, Russia
Of course the first step is to find a writer who believes in platonic relationships. These days that’s getting more difficult. By the way, this is an old video. The live training happened years ago.
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