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

[eschaton]

One niggle I had with the episode: The conclusion of SAM's plot suggests the reason she was dying is because as a holographic being without a childhood, she didn't have the resilience needed to prosper. Yet the Doctor also didn't have a childhood. And while he's a fucked-up mess, he did muddle through things.

I think this could've been addressed with just a few lines of dialogue between him and Ake. It's a shame it was left unsaid.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

I noticed Tilly is now a full lieutenant

 

[SG-17]

I'm sure the Producers would like that also, but a pre-established seasonal budget will do that.

Vasquez Rocks being the ultimate Star Trek budget saver.

I'd kill for TV to go back to reusing sets and filming in Vancouver forests and LA deserts if it meant we got longer seasons, yearly.

Bonus points for referencing "Blink of an Eye," one of VOY's best episodes.

One of my favorite episodes of Star Trek overall.

 

[David cgc]

Yet the Doctor also didn't have a childhood. And while he's a fucked-up mess, he did muddle through things.

He also experienced a total system collapse from psychological overwhelm that required a radical refactoring. Maybe two, if we allow that the mobile emitter gave his program some 29th century software updates and didn't just carry him around as-is.

 

[Ingrid]

One niggle I had with the episode: The conclusion of SAM's plot suggests the reason she was dying is because as a holographic being without a childhood, she didn't have the resilience needed to prosper. Yet the Doctor also didn't have a childhood. And while he's a fucked-up mess, he did muddle through things.

I think this could've been addressed with just a few lines of dialogue between him and Ake. It's a shame it was left unsaid.

The Doctors mobile emiter is also at least 200 years older(from the future) tech than Sams so his hardware isnt as up to date
(Not even counting that one year on the fotonics home planet is more than 800 years so you would think they would have developed something more advanced)

 

[Tuskin38]

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?

They explained it in the episode, they wanted to put her in a less stressful environment.

Jayden absolutely faked the flu and good on him.

I don't think it was faked.

Oh, NOW they remember Betazoids are telepaths.

They never forgot.

The episode made it seem like the war college was disbanded.

It didn't.


The Doctor quotes the play in his Log at the start of the episode, which is odd considering he hadn't even read it yet until the shuttle ride. Unless the narration is meant to be from later in the episode, but it's not framed that way.

 

[Visitor1982]

Well, last week's episode was boring in a bad way, this one was boring in a good way.

The scene with the doctor telling about his holo family on Voyager made me cry.

It's so much easier to care about characters that you have known for 30 years and watched in over 175 episodes... It's sad those days are gone.

A 9 for me.

 

[StarTrek1701]

Warp flight scenes used to be relaxing in old Trek eps.
Nu Trek warp slide effects out the windows is just too bright, flashy and busy.

 

[Fateor]

I'll start with the bad, because most of the bad was at the beginning. The episode was completely ill-conceived on a base level. First, the inclusion of Tilly was random, almost feeling like they felt they had to have her appear once, so they chose this episode. What's particularly jarring here is that Tilly is now a drama teacher - something which in no way comports with the (thin) resume we know about her after five years of Discovery. This is a new Tilly, because it's not really Tilly, it's Mary Wiseman, teaching kids about the healing power of theatre, something that Wiseman (as a thespian) obviously cares about.

Yeah... I got that same feeling...

The whole play scenario is also just ill conceived. First, it kind of stretches credulity because Starfleet Academy is supposed to be space college, not space high school, and you don't have gen-ed requirements in the fine arts by that age. Though admittedly, considering how much community theatre was on TNG, maybe there's just so much down time that this stuff is considered more essential in the future. But the bigger issue is that most viewers (myself included) know nothing about Our Town, meaning the metaphor this episode is meant to hinge on will fall flat for most of the audience. This is is the writers writing for the industry - for writers and actors - waxing poetic about the depth and healing power of drama. This whole side of the episode probably seemed brilliant to them, but flies over our heads.

It would have worked better if they created the bones of some play supposedly from the 25th+ century's, that way they could explain it to the audience instead of just expecting them to understand.

 

[CT_Phipps]

An add-on from me - Derem's expression when talking about the forced / expected marriage elements of the play. George did it well.

Also - why is Tarima's uniform a crew-neck. Have they made a special uniform for shock-collar wearers.

It's a longstanding Betazoid tradition to have special uniforms.

 

[fireproof78]

The whole play scenario is also just ill conceived. First, it kind of stretches credulity because Starfleet Academy is supposed to be space college, not space high school, and you don't have gen-ed requirements in the fine arts by that age

Incorrect, at least in my recent experience with dealing with college degrees.

 

[Discovery McDiscoveryFace]

Why not just reset her and have just the new memories of her as a child with the Doctor? That would create a more consistent set of memories that give her a continuous life from birth to now being 17 and going off to SFA.

Send her back to college with amnesia and a set of friends who know and love her but that she hasn't met. Yep that'll go fine.

 

[BigJake]

9/10.

I'm docking this a single point because the issue of post-Miyazaki trauma seems to come back to the fore a bit randomly. Other than that, there isn't much that I can fault.

I'm the target demographic for this in that -- in addition to enjoying this show overall -- I'm also simultaneously a Tilly fan, a theater kid, a DISCO fan, a SAM fan, a Robert Picardo fan, and a fan of the pioneering TNG episode "Family." (I also fondly remember "Real Life" from VOY, one of the best Doctor-specific outings of that show, and was glad to see it get a shout-out here.) As "trauma" episodes go, this is a near-perfectly overlapping Venn diagram of all those interests.

The engagement with the theatre and the specific play they use is surprisingly sophisticated and involving. I like its use as an overall framing device that eventually brings Tarima and SAM's recovery stories together. The excursion to KASQ is nifty, and it's satisfying to see The Doctor hauled out of his shell to finally be able to forge the connection with SAM that she has so desperately needed.

When the Miyazaki happened, I would've happily wagered that dealing with its aftermath would be used to bring Tilly into the picture. And we get Tilly at her best: fun and whimsical but with a tough, no-nonsense core that makes it eminently believable that she would be brought in to accomplish what conventional therapy could not. (Having seen her in DISCO deepens the appreciation of where this comes from, but she also works well as a stand-alone character.)

The scene where a drunken Tarima comes close to sexually assaulting Caleb (and then transitions to verbally abusing him) is tough to watch and incredibly sad. But I admire the inclusion of genuinely difficult, out-of-control moments like that. They make the resolution feel that much stronger.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Send her back to college with amnesia and a set of friends who know and love her but that she hasn't met. Yep that'll go fine.

Could add interesting drama.

 

[eschaton]

Incorrect, at least in my recent experience with dealing with college degrees.

I absolutely had gen-ed requirements in college, but they were along the lines of 2 lit courses, 2 science courses, 1 math course, etc. Nothing related to fine arts in and of itself. Anyway, Tilly's statement made it seem like this was a normal/required part of the course curriculum of third years. Which is...weird? Usually you get those out of the way early, before you pick your concentration. But again, Starfleet holding the fine arts in higher regard than we do is fine - it's nice worldbuilding.

OTOH, the amount of kids in the class (just the six mains plus a few we see in the background) is pretty strange. The class seems to have actually dropped in size since the beginning of the season. Dropouts? Regardless, it really stretches credulity that this is an entire year of cadets - especially since we canonically know that Tilly is working with a cohort of older students already.

 

[fireproof78]

absolutely had gen-ed requirements in college, but they were along the lines of 2 lit courses, 2 science courses, 1 math course, etc. Nothing related to fine arts in and of itself.

As I said, odd to me because I'm working with two college students who say this is a requirement to have fine arts of some kind.

But, I also took several arts and humanities classes as well in undergrad.

 

[Fateor]

I absolutely had gen-ed requirements in college, but they were along the lines of 2 lit courses, 2 science courses, 1 math course, etc. Nothing related to fine arts in and of itself. Anyway, Tilly's statement made it seem like this was a normal/required part of the course curriculum of third years. Which is...weird? Usually you get those out of the way early, before you pick your concentration. But again, Starfleet holding the fine arts in higher regard than we do is fine - it's nice worldbuilding.

OTOH, the amount of kids in the class (just the six mains plus a few we see in the background) is pretty strange. The class seems to have actually dropped in size since the beginning of the season. Dropouts? Regardless, it really stretches credulity that this is an entire year of cadets - especially since we canonically know that Tilly is working with a cohort of older students already.

Realistically speaking acting should be a required part of the Starfleet curriculum given the sheer number of away missions that require infiltrating pre-warp civilizations.

 

[Moopsy]

I absolutely had gen-ed requirements in college, but they were along the lines of 2 lit courses, 2 science courses, 1 math course, etc. Nothing related to fine arts in and of itself.

In the early 1980s I had to take a course in music/drama/art (I chose "Introduction to Art History") in college even though I was a math major.

 

[Mr Awe]

Ugh, that was really bad. 5. If you love melodrama, angst, and relationship crisis, you'll like this episode.

I will grant them that they tried to do more than just that basic, low bar teen angst stuff. They tried to making about accepting your life's journey but they couldn't pull it off. I get the sense the writer knew it wasn't working and shoehorned the play into it trying to siphon some of its mojo to make the point. But it didn't work.

The young lady who plays the Betazoid wasn't up to the task. Not a great actress.

I'll try to find a few bright spots in this steaming pile. Holly Hunter as always is great and elevates the material. SAM is a great character. I really like her attitude and outlook. I hope she isn't too changed by her newfound childhood.

From all reporting, sounds like it's two seasons and done for SFA. Hopefully Paramount goes elsewhere for future ST productions after the current contract expires.

 

[Mr Awe]

So, what this canonically establishes is that B'elanna in her attempt to teach the Doctor about life gave him existential lifelong trauma.

Ooops!