Starfleet Academy, as with every new entry to the Star Trek canon—particularly those who had been hated upon launch solely to eventually become diehard favorites of the fandom—courts its justifiable share of controversy when it comes to its method to the broader sequence. A few of this is in its nature as a successor to Star Trek: Discovery, a sequence that weathered its personal justifiable share of controversies over the years. A few of this is the intention of the present itself, which often appears to enjoyment of its younger grownup perspective, permitting it the probability to bite its proverbial thumb at the franchise’s authority, virtually engaging detractors into an argument.
However a few of it is as a result of folks are very silly, and generally, when these silly folks simply occur to have the ear of the Trump administration and right-wing grifts are extra culturally lucrative than ever, even the most minor and shocking of flashpoints can grow to be the newest volley in the tradition struggle.
Such has been the case since Starfleet Academy‘s first two episodes aired late last week, when, above all the noise of the execs and cons mentioned about its premiere, one grievance rose above all thanks to it being platformed by none aside from White Home advisor and noted ghoul Stephen Miller. The problem Miller seemingly took umbrage to? There’s some gosh-darned glasses on this Star Trek present.
The foofaraw started when Miller took to Twitter to quote-tweet a clip of the sequence from an account named “Finish Wokeness” (seemingly factor for him to do), which featured a scene from the premiere of Holly Hunter’s captain, Nahla Ake, sporting a pair of thickly rimmed spectacles as she talks to her first officer, Lura Thok (Gina Yashere), and one other member of the academy’s senior workers, Lieutenant Rourke (Tricia Black).
Miller was initially imprecise about simply what had aggravated him notably about the scene—maybe the dialogue, maybe that it featured a number of girls speaking amongst themselves, who can say—however he described it as tragic, imploring that Paramount, now owned by Trump ally David Ellison, ought to “save” the franchise by relinquishing all inventive management to William Shatner.
😳 😱
I’m so on the identical web page with you @StephenM!
The truth that they’ve not remedy Hyperopia by the 32rd Century is an abysmal oversight on the writers!😤Additionally @paramountplus wants to up the finances as a result of I’m certain {that a} effectively oiled group like Starfleet in the distant… https://t.co/96MtYUGGWf
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) January 19, 2026
Shatner’s social media account (it’s lengthy been debated over who precisely runs the account for the actor) replied to Miller in flip and seemingly revealed Miller’s supposed tragedy was Hunter’s selection of eyewear. “The truth that they’ve not remedy Hyperopia by the 32rd Century is an abysmal oversight on the writers,” Shatner’s submit learn partly. “Additionally Paramount wants to up the finances as a result of I’m certain {that a} effectively oiled group like Starfleet in the distant future might afford multiple pair of glasses for at the very least this hyperopic bridge crew.”
It appears Miller ignored that Shatner’s submit was clearly dripping with sarcasm, as he each reposted it and then directly responded with one other quote tweet lambasting Kirk’s death in Generations as the downfall of all Star Trek. However he didn’t dispute Shatner’s insinuation that the so-called “wokeness” on show was to do with the existence of glasses in 32nd-century society.
Clearly, to anybody who’s truly watched and engaged with Star Trek at any level in the final 60 years, a part of the purpose for Shatner’s sarcasm is that Kirk himself is simply one in all a number of characters which were depicted throughout reams of Star Trek materials as sporting glasses. Though numerous therapies for impaired imaginative and prescient exist in Star Trek‘s technological future, glasses had been nonetheless worn in the twenty third century—an Enterprise transporter technician is seen sporting them in the authentic present’s pilot episode “The Cage” (and seen once more when the pilot’s footage was repurposed for the two-parter “The Menagerie”), as are a number of different members of the Enterprise crew in The Animated Sequence.
Kirk himself famously wears studying glasses in The Wrath of Khan, citing that he was personally allergic to Retinax V, a commonplace medical drug used to appropriate imaginative and prescient. Extra just lately, prior to Starfleet Academy giving them to Captain Ake, Jean-Luc Picard wore studying glasses in Picard‘s third season, and Discovery gave us David Cronenberg’s Kovich, who wore glasses as a trend assertion quite than out of necessity, which may be the case for Ake (though we do see her sporting them to learn too). Different eyewear has additionally been seen all through the franchise, from sun shades to, after all, Geordi LaForge’s visor in The Subsequent Era.
However none of this is the precise level of the right-wing grift, similar to it’s by no means the level at any time when one in all these specific controversies bubbles up to the floor of popular culture toxicity. We’ve seen this cycle throughout numerous movies and TV exhibits which have gained the ire of being declared “woke” by their detractors, a feigned shock designed to generate a cycle of concern and social media chatter amongst their acolytes. The purpose isn’t a lack of information or data, or that their minds will probably be modified in the event that they get a fandom wikia web page shoved of their ignorant faces. It’s in the posting, the technology of that hate and a focus, before they transfer on to no matter the subsequent controversy will be, like the vultures they are.
Stephen Miller in all probability doesn’t truly care about somebody sporting glasses in Star Trek. He seems to have moved on, his Twitter—the place he’s now busy seemingly nodding towards one other Star franchise, invoking The Mandalorian‘s “this is the approach” slogan over a plan by Tennessee Republicans to persecute immigrants. Possibly he’ll come again to whine about one thing else Starfleet Academy does in the future. Nevertheless it gained’t be the present that’s the level; it’ll be as a result of it’s simply one thing he and his ilk in right-wing circles can strive to flip into one other spherical of synthetic backlash amongst the slings and arrows of the tradition struggle.
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