Entertainment
Star Trek Producers Were Warned About Starfleet Academy Over 60 Years Ago
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Ever since Starfleet Academy was canceled, the discourse around the show has grown more intense. Vicious battle lines have been drawn between two groups: the older fans who wanted the show to be more like Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the younger fans who praised the franchise for trying something new. Many of that second group have grown particularly shrill, blaming small-minded haters for why their favorite new sci-fi show got canceled. The first group, however, maintains that they just wanted a Star Trek show and not a teenage drama that just happens to be set in space.
What may surprise you, though, is that network executives warned Star Trek about creating a Starfleet Academy-style show over 60 years ago. When NBC was determining which episodes of The Original Series should air first, execs decided they didn’t like “Charlie X” because it focused on an adolescent boy with superpowers. As written in These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One, those executives thought this made the show seem like nothing more than a teenage melodrama set in space. They decided against showing “Charlie X” as the first episode, but thanks to its low postproduction costs (everything took place aboard the Enterprise), it ended up being the second episode ever.
Teen Drama In Space
In retrospect, “Charlie X” was a solid episode. Sure, it felt a bit more like The Twilight Zone instead of Star Trek, but Robert Walker did a great job as the titular Charlie. Plus, this episode was basically a one-off, and no other Original Series episode would channel those same “teen drama” vibes. However, 60 years later, Alex Kurtzman and the other architects of NuTrek ignored what those NBC executives said way back when and decided to give us the ultimate sci-fi teen drama show: Starfleet Academy.
Since Starfleet Academy’s cancellation, there has been endless discourse over why the show got canceled. Everyone knows it got the ax because it didn’t get enough viewers to justify its exorbitant production costs, but why did fans avoid this new show in a way they didn’t avoid, say, Picard or Strange New Worlds? For many fans of old-school Trek, the reason they hated SFA was that it looked like a teen drama in space. Ever since the first previews hit, that’s exactly what these fans dreaded the new show would be, and it justified those fears at every turn.
Star Trek Meets Dawson’s Creek
In-between delivering some life-and-death Star Trek misadventures, Starfleet Academy focused on wacky teen hijinks at every turn. This included prank wars with fellow students, silly love triangles (will the gay Klingon end up with the twink thug or the bisexual disaster?), bar fights, and multiple arcs (for Caleb, SAM, and Genesis) about everyone’s respective mommy and daddy issues. It was what all the skeptics feared: a CW-style teen melodrama that just happened to have the Star Trek name attached to it.
Given its sudden cancellation, it’s reasonable to assume that most fans rejected the new show (there are unconfirmed reports that it averaged only 40,000 viewers per episode). They rejected it because it didn’t feel like Star Trek in the way that Strange New Worlds (itself a direct prequel to The Original Series) or even Picard did. In this way, the fandom validated what those NBC executives tried warning Trek producers about 60 years ago: that this new sci-fi venture needed to be more than a reskinned version of a teenybopper soap opera.
Modern franchise producers like Alex Kurtzman have learned their lesson. Starfleet Academy is clearly not what the fandom wants. Paramount has seemingly learned this lesson as well, and they are preparing to effectively relaunch the entire franchise with a brand new Star Trek movie that ditches the Kelvinverse continuity. At this point, nobody knows exactly what the movie will be about. But based on the new Star Trek spinoff’s failure, it’s a surefire bet that it won’t focus on teen melodrama in space!
Entertainment
The 34-inch ultrawide Asus Rog Strix OLED gaming monitor is back at its lowest price ever — save $250 at Amazon
SAVE $250: The 34-inch ultrawide Asus Rog Strix OLED curved gaming monitor (XG34WCDG) is on sale at Amazon for $749, down from the normal price of $999. That’s a 25% discount that matches the lowest we’ve ever seen at Amazon.
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Some of us spend plenty of time in front of the gaming monitor. That’s espeically true for anyone who works from home on the same monitor used for gaming. If you’ve toyed with the idea of getting a top-tier curved gaming monitor but have felt meh about the prices, there’s a special deal in store today.
As of April 28, the 34-inch ultrawide Asus Rog Strix OLED curved gaming monitor (XG34WCDG) is on sale at Amazon for $749, marked down from the standard price of $999. That works out to a 25% discount, shaving $250 off the price. It also matches the lowest we’ve ever seen at Amazon.
Asus meant business when designing the Rog Strix. For starers, it has a 34-inch OLED display with 3440 x 1440 resolution. Additional bragging rights come from the 175Hz refresh rate and 0.03 millisecond response time. Asus also added its Extreme Low Motion Blur (ELMB) technology to this model which is said to reduce motion blur and any ghosting effect.
The ASUS TUF Gaming F16 gaming laptop is down to a record-low price at Amazon — now $400 off
Combating a typical problem with gaming monitors, the Asus Rog is designed to detect when you’re away and automatically switch to a black screen when you’re gone, helping reduce the risk of burn-in. Asus also upped the cooling game on the Rog Strix with integrating a custom heatsink and internal airflow system.
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On top of the excellent stats, the Asus Rog comes with an ergonomic and adjustable stand. It can swivel, tilt, and adjust in height to match your exact preferences. You can also wall-mount the Asus Rog instead, if that’s a better fit for your space.
While it’s still at an all-time low price, give yourself the upgrade you deserve to the 34-inch ultrawide Asus Rog Strix OLED curved gaming monitor. It’s $250 off at Amazon for a limited time only.
Entertainment
New Samsung Galaxy smart glasses reportedly leaked
Like Apple and Google, Samsung is working on launching its first pair of smart glasses, and a new leak claims to provide a clear look at the design, price, and launch timeline.
Android Headlines published two new images of the Galaxy Smart Glasses, and the site says, “The design in the images you see is based on real-life pictures of a testing unit of these smart glasses.”
If this leak is correct, the Galaxy smart glasses will feature two 12MP cameras but no display. Android Headlines reports that the glasses, codenamed Jinju, will be announced in 2026 with a price between $379 and $449 in the United States.
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Unlike augmented reality glasses, which include a heads-up or built-in display, the Jinju smart glasses would feature dual 12MP cameras for content creation and AI features. Android Headlines reports that the Samsung Galaxy smart glasses will feature heavy Gemini integration, which is no surprise.
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Google announced its own upcoming AI smart glasses at Google I/O in 2025, and teased the new products in a blog post late last year. Both Google and Samsung’s glasses will run on the new Android XR platform, which also powers the Samsung Galaxy XR headset. Hopefully, we’ll learn more about Google’s glasses at the upcoming Google I/O 2026 event.
Android Headlines also claims that Samsung is working on a second pair of display smart glasses under the codename Haean, which will be announced in 2027 and cost up to $900. We’ve known about the Haean glasses since 2025, when the project first leaked. Jinju and Haean are the names of historic locations in South Korea and translate roughly to “pearl” (Jinju) and “coast” (Haean).
Based on these descriptions, the upcoming Samsung glasses would compete directly with Meta Ray-Ban and Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses, as well as the upcoming Google Android glasses. While the $799 Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses use a monocular waveguide display, the Samsung Haean glasses will reportedly use a micro-OLED display, per Android Headlines.
For fans of augmented reality and smart glasses, 2026 is shaping up to be a big year.
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Entertainment
Snap up the best deals on Monster portable speakers
SAVE UP TO 50%: As of April 28, get the Monster Cube 1 Portable Bluetooth Speaker for $19.98, down from its usual price of $39. That’s a discount of 50%. Alternatively, get the Monster Ripple Portable Bluetooth Shower Speaker for $24.97, down from its usual price of $39.99. That’s a discount of 38%.
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The warm weather and sunny days of summer are almost upon us, and if you plan on spending a lot of time outside, no doubt you’ll want to take your favorite music with you to share it. Or maybe you just want a way to listen to your tunes in the shower. That’s where a portable speaker comes in handy. Right now, Monster has you covered right now with two deals you won’t want to miss.
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The Monster Cube 1 is a waterproof option that’s perfect for listening at home, on the go, or anywhere you want to have some kicking tunes. It’s a compact speaker with 12W output that’s lightweight and portable. It boasts 20 hours of battery on a single charge, and it provides plenty of loud, satisfying audio no matter where you end up: camping, a pool party, or hanging out in the living room where you want to have portable audio.
Alternatively, the Monster Ripple is a circular shower speaker built to let you listen while scrubbing up for the day. With waterproof IPX8 protection, it’s a round, compact spaker with a 15W driver that can fill the entire room, not just the shower, with satisfying sound. It also has a lanyard to secure the speaker to wherever you want it in the shower to avoid any drops or accidents.
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If you’re ready to pick up a speaker for less right now, don’t sleep on these Monster deals, which will keep you tuned in throughout the season and longer with their portability and waterproof features.
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