• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x08 – “The Life of the Stars”

Rate the episode...

  • 10 - Excellent!

    Votes: 28 22.6%

  • 9

    Votes: 35 28.2%

  • 8

    Votes: 17 13.7%

  • 7

    Votes: 11 8.9%

  • 6

    Votes: 5 4.0%

  • 5

    Votes: 8 6.5%

  • 4

    Votes: 3 2.4%

  • 3

    Votes: 2 1.6%

  • 2

    Votes: 6 4.8%

  • 1 - Terrible.

    Votes: 9 7.3%
  • Total voters
    124
I'm out of sync with you lot on this one, and for the first time too, and gave it a 9.
I can't work out why, because I can see the shortcomings you've all raised.

- I love this cast. Nu-Trek has always scored heavily on the casting of every series it's done. OR the actors are that good at inhabiting the roles.
- Bella Shepherd and/or Genesis has some incredible moments where the others are performing or contributing and she just smiles and glows her happiness for them. It was fairly blatant, but if you did miss it the first time, go look for it again.
- I'm always Silly For Tilly.
- I think the resolution in "fixing" Sam was clever, but I now want to see if she is written differently for the remainder of the show. I think Kerrice is more than capable of carrying that, even if there's subtlety. I hope the writers are astute enough.
- For the first time I looked at Tarima and wondered if the character could have been written as the new Dax.
- I liked the little homecoming for Sam at the end, it was a connect to her walk-through-popular-girl scenes in 1.05
- I would have liked the Doctor to have been more explicitly grieving for his Voyager and Protostar family. Though I understand why his holographic ones would be more real and immediate to him.
- I find the Kask difficult to interpret, they are wildly contrary, but maybe they should be.
- I am probably not listening enough, but I thought Kask was a planet where organic life ha existed, and the organic creators had left, leaving the enslaved photonics behind.

Also, I am happy to have an episode about feelings and aftermath as it'll be driving all the Brads, Codys and Jarrods nuts in their Trek Incel groups on Facebook.
 
As others have said the transfer of Tarima to starfleet academy does not make much sense, especially since it seems they didnt even ask what she wants. There are non combat roles and even if it happens that some non combat role personel get sent to the frontline a lot dont. Also a human can overextend and hurt themselves as well if they want to go over their actual abilities, she can also choose/learn not to use her human+ powers and be just as useful.

The Kasq photonics would not consider the doctor "ancient", the 800 years among organics is valid as exceptional though.

Also you would think that normalizing alcohol in "tough situations" would be something you would consider not doing if you want to be a "good example for the future" show, but the last one is a minor nitpick.
 
More for my timeline - Huzzah

1x01 - Day 1
1x02 - Day 2 (but hints at minor jump early in the episode between room assignments and then Caleb/Darem objecting to theirs)
1x03 - Day 22 (episode takes place over avout 4 days)
1x04 - Day 29+ (its 3 days into the deep space mission)
1x05 - Day 89 to 96
1x06 - X
1x07 - Day X + 32
1x08 - Day 209+ (episode takes place over a fortnight)
 
Last edited:
I use a feeling the next couple of episodes will show how much the group has grown and healed.
It’s gonna be another crisis and they need to be better than during the bridge simulation at the start of this one.
I am confident they will come into their own though and be stronger for it.

I need to read up on that play.
 
Another inconsistency is that the doctor manages to handle his feelings and trauma "just fine"(in the way that it does not glitch him out) without growing up even though he should be a lot less advanced

But I shall excuse that like the silliness of Jay-den helping Sam with her research in episode 5
where you for example get a moment of classmates helping each other even if it should not really work if you think about it
 
Ingrid said:
Another inconsistency is that the doctor manages to handle his feelings and trauma "just fine"(in the way that it does not glitch him out) without growing up even though he should be a lot less advanced
Click to expand...

I think the difference is that the Doctor was never programmed to emulate feelings and developed them along the way whilst SAM was planned to emulate a seventeen year old and their feelings but missed the previous seventeen years worth of foundation.

Ingrid said:
But I shall excuse that like the silliness of Jay-den helping Sam with her research in episode 5
where you for example get a moment of classmates helping each other even if it should not really work if you think about it
Click to expand...

Maybe SAM could have done the work on her own. But that rather misses the point of the friends reaching out and supporting her with research.
 
Ingrid said:
As others have said the transfer of Tarima to starfleet academy does not make much sense, especially since it seems they didnt even ask what she wants. There are non combat roles and even if it happens that some non combat role personel get sent to the frontline a lot dont. Also a human can overextend and hurt themselves as well if they want to go over their actual abilities, she can also choose/learn not to use her human+ powers and be just as useful.

The Kasq photonics would not consider the doctor "ancient", the 800 years among organics is valid as exceptional though.

Also you would think that normalizing alcohol in "tough situations" would be something you would consider not doing if you want to be a "good example for the future" show, but the last one is a minor nitpick.
Click to expand...
The episode made it seem like the war college was disbanded.

CT_Phipps said:
My review both positive and negative.

This episode is...I don't want to say it because I've never been one of those fans.

But it is 50% "Do not want" and 50% "Really good Episode."

No points for guessing which parts I disliked and which parts I liked. However, here's my comments for Parts 1 and Parts 2.

Part 1:

1. Why is Tarima transferring? Is the War College too aggressive? Are they teaching them to be Sith there? If she's not there to study what she wants, why doesn't she go back to Betazed?
2. I literally forget her brother is a character in this show.
3. The show itself says that Caleb and Genesis have better chemistry than Caleb and Tarima.
4. Oh, NOW they remember Betazoids are telepaths.
5. I'm sad that Caleb not wanting to take advantage of a drunk Tarima is impressive but it's rare in shows. Even then, she assumes it's because she's a mutant.
6. This show would make more sense if I had any familiarity with Our Town. Or if we did more than just it.
7. I agree with the posters who say Tarima and Genesis ALSO make a better couple.
8. Jayden absolutely faked the flu and good on him.
9. I approve of Tilly returning and wish she was regular cast. I love Tilly and I hate that she's a Lieutenant teaching versus a captain. We deserved Captain Killy.
10. Weird that a planet of telepaths and empaths don't have therapists.

Part 2:
1. Wow, they canonized SF Debris' joke that Belenna inflicted existential trauma on the doctor by killing his child that he clearly did not consider a simulation but a real person.
2. Lots of good references to other VOY shows.
3. I wish Ake had co-parented her.
4. I like the implications that the Makers live on a cube. Are they related to the Borg? Maybe, maybe not.
5. The best acting of the episode by far.

Additional

1. Tilly looming over Tarima is hilarious. This is not meant as an insult but the wildly different heights of the actors is kind of unique in the television I watch.
Click to expand...
On point 5, this has been done in media so many times is basically a trope at this point.

I'm not sure what Tilly has done to earn a promotion like that.
 
tenmei said:
Maybe SAM could have done the work on her own. But that rather misses the point of the friends reaching out and supporting her with research.
Click to expand...
Yes that is exactly the reason why I excuse it although it could have been handled a bit better, instead of him giving her pure information it could be clarifying why something is important or what something means to organics because he sees her struggling with it.
 
Elaise said:
The episode made it seem like the war college was disbanded.
Click to expand...

It did? When? They referenced Chancellor Kelrec being part of the decision to move Tarima from the WC to the Academy and cited the reason for this being that they felt she would be better suited to a career in research and science rather than "military".

If the WC was disbanded, presumably they would have folded into the Academy without the big drama about Tarima transferring in.

If anything, the episode is explicit about the War College continuing to exist
 
Not a big fan of this one. I don’t understand why this particular episode of Voyager carried so much gravitas for The Doctor. I get that, as a hologram, 800 years can feel like yesterday—but there’s never been any hint that it was such a tremendous loss for him. Maybe it’s because of the “reset policy” common in the Berman-era Trek, where episodes tended to return characters to baseline afterward, but having all of his pain and suffering over 800 years attributed solely to the loss of his daughter felt like a stretch. Personally, I would have liked to hear what he’d been up to over those centuries and see how multiple losses might have shaped his behavior.

As for Tilly, she didn’t really do anything for me in this episode either. And that’s not to say I’m one of those Tilly haters—she can be annoying, but she’s a fun addition to the universe. I would have liked it if she were at least a lieutenant commander by now. And while we’re at it, I didn’t really understand why she was portrayed as being so close to Nahla. Hasn’t it only been a handful of years since her time on Discovery and her Academy days? It feels like there’s a lack of backstory to explain the depth of their connection.

All in all, this one gets a 6 from me.
 
Uncle Sock said:
As for Tilly, she didn’t really do anything for me in this episode either. And that’s not to say I’m one of those Tilly haters—she can be annoying, but she’s a fun addition to the universe. I would have liked it if she were at least a lieutenant commander by now. And while we’re at it, I didn’t really understand why she was portrayed as being so close to Nahla. Hasn’t it only been a handful of years since her time on Discovery and her Academy days? It feels like there’s a lack of backstory to explain the depth of their connection.
Click to expand...

I mean, technically, Ake has been Tilly's Commanding Officer for seven months. I thought the "Trek in the City" scene was fun, but do agree, there's some missing backstory.
 
Could just be a inconsistency, or war college or whatever :shrug:
See the prison but not a prison thing from the start of the series :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Commander Richard
  • Poll
Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x06 – “Come, Let’s Away”
38 39 40
Replies
798
Views
27K
Fateor
F
Commander Richard
  • Poll
Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x04 – “Vox in Excelso”
30 31 32
Replies
623
Views
24K
Ar-Pharazon
Ar-Pharazon
Commander Richard
  • Poll
Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x07 – “Ko‘Zeine”
22 23 24
Replies
472
Views
15K
Turtletrekker
Turtletrekker
Commander Richard
  • Poll
Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x03 – “Vitus Reflux”
31 32 33
Replies
640
Views
23K
MikeS
M
Commander Richard
  • Poll
Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x05 – “Series Acclimation Mil”
50 51 52
Replies
1K
Views
39K
Jellico
Jellico
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top