Spoiler Alert
These days, the handlers of Gene Roddenberry’s creation, Star Trek, are no longer bound to his original vision. With Starfleet Academy, the franchise leans into new themes and familiar narrative shapes, recycling tropes that are usually left unspoken. After all, humanity has always been about boldly going somewhere new. This time, though, it might just be back to school. Whether the writers should lean into that idea is debatable. There are elements here that work, and others that stumble. Everything hinges on where the focus ultimately lands.
After finding Star Trek: Discovery very much not my cup of tea, I missed one important detail. The Federation is rebuilding. Following The Burn, when most of the galaxy’s dilithium was rendered inert, interstellar travel collapsed. Worlds became isolated. New wars erupted over developing new alternative power sources, or the promise of something better from individuals who try to deliver hope.
Demilitarized zones are expanding and for better or worse, these badlands is where the action is at! And that’s where the rebel rouser Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti) thrives. He would’ve fit right in with the Maquis, if they are still around. But inthe past, he’s no different in comparison to Vincent Schiavelli’s Peddler from The Next Generation episode, “The Arsenal of Freedom.” They are the kind of individuals (hologram or not) who knows exactly what your life is worth in credits.
Brooke Palmer/Paramount+
Braka helped Caleb and his mother, Anisha Mir (Zuleikha Robinson), survive in this harsher world. When the Federation finally arrives to round up the pirate and anyone associated with him, that’s when things go from bad to worse. In a kangaroo court presided over by Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter), Braka is sentenced to prison, Anisha to rehab, and the boy to foster care. The kid runs. That anxiety becomes the emotional spine of the series. Fifteen years later, Caleb (Sandro Rosta) is a capable young adult. He’s reckless, daring, and a vagabond who wants one thing: to find his mother.
As for the judge, guilt has caught up with her. She’s retired, but when she learns Caleb has been captured and imprisoned, she pays him a visit and offers him a second chance. Whether that’s driven by compassion or self-absolution is left deliberately murky. It’s a very Admiral Janeway move. Anyone who remembers what she did for Tom Paris will catch the implication. Some of these past nods works, and others are unneeded.
And as the new appointed headmaster of Hogwarts, er, Starfleet Academy, Ake has the influence to pull strings. With Boothby gone and no friendly gardener dispensing wisdom, the DOTs, those house-elf stand-ins, aren’t much help. Her hope is that discipline will come from the instructors instead. The concept works at first, but once Caleb befriends the Klingon Jay-Den (Kerrice Brooks), the hologram Sam (also Brooks), the Khionian Darem (George Hawkins), and Dar-Sha Genesis (Bella Shepard), the shape of a high-school-style drama becomes obvious. Some of these species may be unfamiliar to older fans who checked out of the Kurtzman-led era, but that ends up mattering less than expected.
What does matter is the shaky fact-checking. A species introduced in
Prodigy appears here, despite originating in the Delta Quadrant and having no business at the Academy. Rok-Tahk was soulful and intimate in animation. Here, a Brikar is reduced to a brutish stereotype, stripping away the nuance that made the species memorable in the first place.
Naturally, every school drama needs its archetypes. Enter the rich kid and the overachiever. Genesis, the daughter of a high-ranking officer, wants to escape that shadow, echoing Beckett Mariner’s frustration in Lower Decks as Captain Freeman’s daughter. That parallel is no accident. Tawny Newsome’s presence as writer and producer makes the influence clear. Her insistence to have the series she started in has narrative weight shows it was never just irreverent fluff.
With such a crowded plate, it’s hard not to wonder if this series is Saved by the Bell in space. Add Tarima (Zoë Steiner), the daughter of Betazed’s chancellor, and the ensemble grows even larger. Her purpose is to exist like Padmé’s from Star Wars, where she sets aside her personal life for duty to Naboo. She is unreachable because her heart is already committed to a cause. She’s like Gwyn from Prodigy, where she wants to escape the shadow of the Diviner and what that legacy means. She prefers a future that makes her world safe.
The first two episodes cram in a lot. There’s a lot to take in before this wayward group arrives from deep space to Earth so they can get schooled. The second episode improves thanks to one returning character and a continuation from the last live-action series. Robert Picardo as the Doctor is genuinely welcome. His comedic timing is distinct, gentler than McCoy’s sharp barbs, but no less effective. Still, there’s a lingering plot hole. In Voyager, he used a mobile emitter from centuries in the future. It’s easy to assume he’s upgraded because that century has passed. But does he keep the original? A single line could have addressed this, especially since the show acknowledges his aging by revealing he incorporated a new subroutine to the emitter that keeps him around. In addition to improved processing power, has he grown? Apparently, not by much.
Building on Voyager’s “Author, Author,” holographic beings now appear to have full autonomy. The Doctor’s new struggle concerns staying relevant, anmd his attempts to convince cadets that opera is a healthy emotional outlet is mostly ignored. In one moment, the contrast is clever through some creative cinematography, but the point is missed. Sam idolizes the Doctor as a symbol of new life, not as a musician, and that misunderstanding feels intentional, if underdeveloped.
As for who’s holding the Federation together, Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) seems to be the steady voice. A carryover from Discovery, he’s one of the few characters I respect. Even though I’ll always remember this actor as Ardeth Bay from The Mummy, his steadfast nature is perfect. His grace makes him an ideal representative of this cosmic United Nations. And what what he proposes is to locate The Federation off planet. His speech to President Sadal sets up the friction, but it was Ake’s words which looks for hope. She said, “What if by re-examining the past, we become something entirely new? Should Betazed rejoin, the Federation shall rebuild its new seat of government not in Paris where it once stood … but on Betazed.”
The second episode clearly aims create a new direction, set far beyond the eras defined by The Original Series, The Next Generation, or Deep Space Nine. Those shows explored different stages of how intergalactic diplomacy works, from establishment to maintenance to negotiation. At the very least, Starfleet Academy shows how governing a massive body of worlds should work.
While there’s a strong backbone to the world bu9ilding, the main focus that’s very youth orientated won’t win everyone over. The poster-child design is hard to miss, and we don’t need another series that’s very hunk-and-babe oriented. What the franchise truly needs is a sharper engagement with modern issues on a geo-cosmic scale. Rebuilding the Federation after The Burn is a promising idea, but until future episodes show that process in action, the series must balance between offering a continuation for fans (whether they like the Kurtzman-led era Trek or not) and welcoming new ones.
Star Trek Starfleet Academy Trailer
