Star Trek Officially Confirms It Now Follows One of the Oldest Star Wars Rules

Star Trek and Star Wars are two distinctly different versions of grand sci-fi universes… until they aren’t. For all the differences between the works of Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas, there are inevitably times when their two unique imaginations bent toward the identical notions. Now Star Trek is bringing one of those shared pieces of lore into focus, via the new series Starfleet Academy.

Now it’s established that both Star Trek and Star Wars follow the very same rules about how to distinguish between the good guys and bad guys during battle.

Starfleet Academy Reveals Star Trek Is Now Playing By Star Wars Rules

The Season Finale of Starfleet Academy, “Rubincon”, has premiered on Paramount+, and it was quite a thrilling finale, indeed. The penultimate episode set very high stakes as seasonal villain Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti) finally put action behind his many machinations during the season, holding the Federation hostage with a doomsday weapon (the Omega molecule). He eventually captures his old nemesis, Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) and Anisha Mir (Tatiana Maslany), a former criminal and the missing mother of cadet Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta).

In classic Star Trek fashion, Braka puts the Federation on trial. Braka’s goal is to defame the Federation in favor of convincing his allies to form their own cabal of non-member worlds. The proceedings get personal when Braka reveals his own backstory, including the destruction of his homeworld. Braka believes that the Federation destroyed his world, describing the “red hellfire” he remembers raining down on the planet; however, Caleb and Ake counter with the argument that Federation weaponry hasn’t been red for hundreds of years, and that blue and green-colored weapons are what they use now. That discrepancy leads to the further reveal that Braka’s own father destroyed his homeworld, causing the raider to lose face in front of his would-be cabal.

Is Star Trek Formally Adopting Star Wars Battle Rules?

As any longtime Star Trek fan knows, the “rules” regarding Star Trek weaponry have been wildly inconsistent. The Original Series had to make do with whatever color the special effects department of the 1960s and 1970s came up with for space battle sequences. When The Next Generation premiered, the Enterprise’s phasers were retconned to a consistent orange/red color, with Photon torpedoes being distinctly red. The subsequent series, like Deep Space Nine and Voyager, would both stray from that color scheme at times. Meanwhile, the weaponry of Star Trek villains like Klingons and Romulans was typically depicted as being green; Cardassian weaponry is yellow, while other colors like shades of purple or teal are used for less common or obscure villains like the Dominion or Xindi.

A quick look back at any of Starfleet Academy’s space battle sequences confirms it’s true: green is the color the good guys blast with, while enemies like Klingons are now shooting red. A lot of fans may not have clocked the change until it was pointed out in “Rubincon”, but here we are. At least fans of both franchises will have an easier time keeping track of the action.

Why This Color-Coded Weapons Change Makes Sense for Starfleet Academy

Starfleet Academy is a sort of soft-reboot of Star Trek, set further along the official timeline than any other series before it (the 32nd century). The entire series is built on the time travel lore of Star Trek: Discovery, wherein a ship from an era just before The Original Series (23rd century) has to bring the classic ideals of Starfleet to a future where an event called “The Burn” destroyed every ship’s warp core and prevented warp speed travel for 120 years. Starfleet Academy is all about Starfleet trying to rebuild and re-explore a galaxy where many worlds and systems have been left isolated and alone for decades, and the network of cooperative worlds in the Federation is much smaller.

With that much time having passed, and the Federation rebuilding itself from the ground up, it’s at least plausible (if not still silly) that the kinds of mutations being used by the Federation or its enemies have evolved. Behind the scenes, red is the typical color for bad guys in sci-fi (not just Star Wars), while colors like blue, green, or gold/orange typically get associated with the good guys. Aligning the Star Trek franchise with those visual expectations may help to make newcomer fans feel like the series is more accessible.

Starfleet Academy Season 1 is now streaming on Paramount+. Discuss the show with us over on the ComicBook Forum!

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