J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies made Starfleet Academy truly important in a way that the franchise had previously failed to do. The prestigious educational establishment will take center stage in the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series, but the institution had largely been side-lined until J.J. Abrams’ 2009 movie. With one or two notable exceptions, Star Trek‘s regular or recurring characters have long since graduated from Starfleet Academy before their story truly begins.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will be all about the adventures of the young cadets, with serving officers playing minor roles as educators or visiting lecturers. However, the planned Star Trek: Discovery spinoff isn’t the first property to depict the trials and tribulations of Starfleet Academy’s student body. Over a decade earlier, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek began at Starfleet Academy, focusing on the student days of its most legendary graduates.

Starfleet Academy Wasn’t Really Important Until J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek

Prior to Star Trek (2009), Starfleet Academy was an Earthbound location that various Trek shows returned to in a handful of episodes. One of the most notable of these was the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The First Duty”, which focused on Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) and his role in the Nova Squadron cover-up. Generally though, Star Trek would avoid returning to Starfleet Academy, given that the main cast had all graduated and had no real reason to return. J.J. Abrams changed this by using Starfleet Academy as a location to establish the character of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and the fellow students that would eventually make up the crew of the USS Enterprise.

Star Trek (2009) established Starfleet Academy as a tangible location in the Star Trek universe. Viewers had heard multiple stories from the likes of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) about their misadventures at the Academy. However, as a location that was rarely visited, it was often hard to relate to Star Trek characters’ Starfleet Academy origins. Wesley Crusher and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s Nog (Aron Eisenberg) helped to give viewers a greater understanding of the Academy. However, it wasn’t until theatergoers saw the early experiences of Kirk and his crew that fans began to truly understand the importance of Starfleet Academy as a proving ground.

Abrams Star Trek Finally Did A Canceled TOS Movie Story

J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek finally realized an idea first pitched by Harve Bennett and David Loughrey for a potential sixth Trek movie. It was an idea that Bennett had held on to for some time, but began to gain traction following the critical and commercial failure of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Envisioned as a way to cut costs with a younger cast, Star Trek: The First Adventure a.k.a. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy bears striking similarities to the Chris Pine movie. Like Star Trek (2009), Bennett and Loughrey’s movie would have seen Kirk come of age, moving past the folly of youth to become a great leader.

In the book Charting the Undiscovered Country: The Making of Trek VI, Loughery described the central dynamic of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s Kirk and Spock as “rivals” that “end up as friends.” It’s a description that may as well describe the dynamic between Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto’s own versions of the iconic Star Trek characters. Not only did J.J. Abrams return to this story for his 2009 movie, the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery will presumably introduce their own Kirk and Spock; two students that began as rivals before becoming one of the most unbeatable partnerships in Starfleet history.