By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 28 seconds ago

The second scene of Starfleet Academy’s latest episode attempted to honor Star Trek: The Next Generation by having the holographic Doctor quote Aaron Satie, the famous in-universe judge that Picard quoted during “The Drumhead.” Presumably, this bit of nostalgia was meant to honor the Golden Age of Star Trek, thus reassuring skeptical fans that this wildly different spinoff hasn’t forgotten its creative roots.

Unfortunately, they failed. Not only does the Doctor omit a huge chunk of the quote, but he later insults a student in a way that shows he doesn’t actually believe any of the words he’s saying.

First, some context: in the TNG episode “The Drumhead,” an admiral is brought onboard to help the Enterprise investigate whether an explosion was the result of sabotage. She is the daughter of a famous Starfleet judge, and she is so determined to follow in her famous father’s footsteps that she is suspicious of everyone, eventually going so far as to publicly put Captain Picard on the stand for questioning. There, Picard shames and humbles her by quoting her father (Judge Aaron Satie), claiming these are “some words I’ve known since I was a schoolboy.”

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The words in question are as follows:

“With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.” – Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation

Picard went on to note that Judge Satie’s words functioned “as wisdom and warning” because “the first time any man’s freedom is trodden on, we are all damaged.” He was basically calling out Admiral Satie for turning an unnecessary investigation (it turns out the explosion was an accident) into a drumhead trial where she could needlessly try to punish innocent people, including a young ensign who turned out to secretly have Romulan parentage.

In the most recent episode of Starfleet Academy, the Doctor is in charge of hosting a debate competition named after the late, great Judge Aaron Satie, and he quotes the same words to his students that Picard once quoted to Satie’s own daughter. There’s just one problem: he omits a large part of the quote. In the episode as originally released on Paramount+, he goes from saying the word “forbidden” to the word “us,” leaving out the phrase “the first freedom denied” and the word “chains.”

“With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, us all.” – The Doctor on Starfleet Academy

Most Starfleet Academy fans who noticed this error assumed that it was a sound editing error, mostly because it seems like there was a pause where the word “chains” could be said before the word “us.” Such an editing mistake would be a major screw-up on the producers’ fault because it ruins what is supposed to be this big, fan service nod to Star Trek: The Next Generation. Plus, with how expensive NuTrek is (Discovery and Strange New Worlds episodes each cost between $7-$10 million to produce), it’s wild to think such a blatant sound error got past the editors of Paramount+’s biggest new show.

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Of course, even if the error was just omitting the word “chains,” that means the Doctor still screwed up the quote. Even if he had said “chains,” he would have still left out another part of the quote: “the first freedom denied.” That may sound like nitpicking, but why would the Starfleet Academy writers go out of their way to quote one of the most famous lines and scenes in Star Trek: The Next Generation if they are just going to screw it up?

Judging from the rest of the scene, however, I may be giving those writers too much credit. At one point, to shock the class (and, presumably, the audience), the Doctor declares that “speech and debate is not for the chickensh*t,” causing a bespectacled student (seriously, why do so many people in the 32nd century still wear glasses?) to ask if the haughty hologram is allowed to talk like that. 

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At this, the Doctor wheels on the poor kid, telling him that “I have existed longer than your entire lineage… I have earned the right to speak as I see fit. One day, you too may earn that same privilege.” When the cadet groans, the Doctor wraps up their sidebar conversation by saying, “But alas, that day is not today.” 

It’s meant to be a funny moment, par for the course in a show that can never go very long without dropping a clunky punchline. But in trying to make the audience laugh (and justify the Doctor’s weirdly archaic vulgarity), the Starfleet Academy writers reveal that they don’t understand (or maybe just don’t care) anything about the iconic words he was just quoting.

You see, the quote emphasizes how societies lose their essential freedoms when “the first speech” is “censured” and how this is “the first link” in a chain that binds us all. But in trying to make an example of the cadet who asked about his vulgar language, the Doctor tells him that speaking however one “sees fit” is a right the Doctor “earned” through old age. It’s a “privilege” that the young man “may earn” only with the passage of time.

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So, what is it, Doc? Do you believe, as Judge Satie said, that all speech should be protected because as soon as we prevent someone from speaking their mind, we collectively imprison everyone’s thoughts and feelings? Or do you believe that only older people get to speak their mind and that these young whipper snappers need to shut up and earn the right to speak as they see fit?

Again, this may seem like nitpicking, but this scene is practically a microcosm of everything wrong with Starfleet Academy. It sabotages a beloved legacy character (The Doctor) by turning him into a foul-mouthed hypocrite who can’t keep up with what he said only moments ago. This all happened because the writers screwed up an homage to Star Trek: The Next Generation, completely ruining an iconic quote while demonstrating their ignorance as to what it even means.

As a fan of the franchise since the ‘80s (yes, Next Generation was my first series), I really want to like Starfleet Academy, and I guess I should be grateful the writers are trying so hard to jam in references from that era of the franchise. But what’s the point if they are going to screw up an important quote like this from beginning to end? Sorry, Paramount: this is a Star Trek show in name only, and older fans are beyond sick of you trying to sell us a generic sci-fi comedy that only makes gestures towards better series that the writers (if there are any) can never (and apparently will never) truly understand.