Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's Nahla Ake Controversy Is Actually Genius

One of the latest flashpoints in Star Trek fandom centers on Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter), the chancellor and captain in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, who puts her feet up in the captain's chair and walks around barefoot. Some viewers objected to the series' younger, teen-centric focus and to an Academy show instead of a continuation of Picard, and a small, informal gesture like this was taken by some as disrespectful to the chair's legacy.

That response overlooks how different Star Trek captains have always been. Picard was drastically different from Kirk, Sisko and Janeway differed from each other and from their predecessors, and even the Kelvin timeline Kirk is a distinct interpretation. The chair Nahla sits in isn’t one any previous captain used, so a relaxed posture does not, by itself, negate franchise tradition.

Hunter described her choice as embracing the opposite of rigidity: "I thought was really fantastic.

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