Oh really? I thought they looked a bit retro. They were onscreen for such a short time. Haven't seen Picard Season three since it premiered and would not have even guessed.
Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x01 – “Kids These Days”
- Thread starter Commander Richard
- Start date
And those writers already said what it was.
An event that caused every active Dilithium driven reactor in the galaxy to explode.
Which killed everyone on starships, space stations, or facilities with Dilithium controlled reactors. And destroyed any planet with a ship, space station, or facility on or near it because those types of reactors cooking off cause giant subspace shockwaves.
Has that changed?
I think everyone in this thread is aware of what happened on Discovery.
I mean... Maybe?
Prodigy and Lower Decks did a bunch of time travel since then so it's possible how far reaching the psychic baby scream was has changed.
It hasn't
Because the dumped the show off P+ and erased any records of its existence. Not saying it’s right or anything. But I get why.
Yet they've mentioned characters from the the show.
Then how come they had a live-action version of one of the characters enrolled at the Academy this week?
And referenced two PRO characters directly by name?
Let me get this out of the way: I don't really like the look of the Athena. Frankly, none of the 32nd century Starfleet ships have looked good to me. This might seem like a small thing to others, but this is a big point with me. A ship is as much a character as the characters themselves. She's a home for the crew. She carries them, and us, to the adventures we watch. She's a place where our imaginations are given flight. There is a connection between us, the crew, and the ship that is unspoken... and there are many people who know what I'm talking about. With most of the other shows (the exceptions being DISCO, PICARD, and this one), I can feel that connection with the ship almost immediately. I don't here. Having that connection to the hero ship is important with a series... at least, to me. (It wasn't until the Athena that I realized why there was something subconscious that never allowed me to feel connected with DISCO... it was the Discovery itself. I never really liked the look of the ship, but didn't realize how much that stayed with me until now.) I just can't figure out why a ship's saucer section needs to have basically a hollowed out circle in its center like the Discovery. It just looks ridiculous. Even if you want to say it's to help for the spore drive for the Discovery, why would the Athena have it? It makes no sense.
The beginnning felt more like a STAR WARS introduction than STAR TREK. I'm not saying this is good or bad. It just felt that way.
The background of Caleb's story: there have been some cases about felony murder charges that have come out in the last couple years, so this was clearly taking on that subject. We can't say for sure if her charge was justified or not because we don't know how involved she was in the crime Braka did, since the details are still unknown. But if the crime could not have been commited without her providing the means for Braka to do it, then I have to say she did deserve the charge. (As with others who have had it.)
Caleb's deal that Ake gave him, prison or Starfleet Academy, was basically how Cooper Hawkes in SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND was brought in. It's a trope used multiple times in various shows, so it's not exactly interesting. What DOES make it a little more interesting is that seemed to be a caveat for Ake to accept the job as Chancellor for the Academy. Which actually makes her more interesting than Caleb, to be honest.
Captain Ake is the most interesting character so far, in no small way due to Holly Hunter herself. Ake is quirky, which makes me think this is a Lanthanite trait, since Pelia is also quite quirky. (Which plays to Carol Kane's strengths, and why I love her character so much.) I like that, and look forward to seeing more of what Hunter does with Ake. Having said that... I'm not a fan of the idea of the captain curled up in the captain's chair while reading a book. It just didn't look professional. (The curled up part, not the book reading.) This is something that always bothered me about DISCO: the Starfleet officers there could hardly be looked at as 'professional'. (In that show's case, it was the constant shrink sessions and the breakdowns in the middle of emergencies/ticking clock.) I was hoping this show would divorce itself from that lack of professionalism, but I guess it might rear its ugly head here. Time will tell.
The Doctor - Robert Picardo still does a great job as The Doctor. Almost 25 years after VOY ended, and he seems to have slipped back into that character easily. I am surprised, and a little irritated, that he STILL does not have a name.
Lura Thok - I have heard some of Gina Yashere on Sirius XM (on the Netflix comedy channel), and I never really found her that funny. She reminds me of Leslie Jones: that kind of shouty comedy just doesn't work for me. I can see WHY Gina was cast as Thok, given her shouty nature (based on what I have heard from her on that Netflix channel). Seems like the writers were trying to mix the loud aspect of Klingons with the discipline of the Jem'Hadar. It's an odd mix, to be honest. Though the scene when she 'thanks' Jay-den by knocking him across the room did give me a chuckle. (I wasn't sure what to expect with a Jem'Hadar/Klingon hybrid, but I guess I was thinking it would be a bit more subdued than what we get here.) I am curious to see how she develops this season, though.
Braka - I love Paul Giamatti. He's a fantastic actor, and he (along with Hunter) were the reasons I was even REMOTELY interested in the series. You can tell he is having fun playing Braka. But we don't really get much depth with him here. I'm hoping we get more as the season progresses, but the writing was, so far, not up to his level.
Caleb - There is something about him that just irritates me. I suppose that is on purpose, given what his character must have gone through in those 15 years. While he attempts to come across as sympathetic, it just isn't working.
Genesis - Her first scene with Sam was just... cringeworthy. But considering this show is geared more toward a young crowd, it fits and is par for the course with such writing. I did like how she was trying to get the other cadets in line and she was taking steps to get the situation solved. She exuded some good professionalism there, and her being the daughter of a Starfleet admiral is likely the reason. I hope we see more of that with her character than the teen drama stuff.
Sam - Her first scene with Genesis was cringeworthy. She fits the socially awkward character we have seen in virtually every teen show so exactly, it feels like there is nothing else about her. Take out the scene of her lighting the ship and you'd forget she was even a hologram. I guess that is a good thing, to forget that aspect about her so you'd think she was a real person. I'm hoping we get more during the season, because at least the fact she is a hologram SHOULD be an interesting story and character choice.
Jay-den - It is refreshing to see a Klingon that wants to be something outside the soldier that we usually see. This is the most quiet and subdued Klingon we have ever seen, so he definitely is a different Klingon than what the franchise has given us. I was actually expecting this quietness to belong more to Thok, given she is half Jem'Hadar. His quoting Worf from "The Outcast" was an obvious easter egg. Let's see what they do with him.
Reymi - He starts off as a dislikeable character... and he pretty much stays that way until the end of the episode. Obviously, the series will be trying to redeem him to be someone you want to root for. And obviously, they will make it seem like they succeeded by the end of the series, however long that is. His ability to be outside in space with no suit... lifted straight from FARSCAPE. (Except Luxans can be in a vacuum for 15 minutes.) Oh... his "I'm Khionian, bitch" line? (Shakes head.)
The wall of past Starfleet names: this was the PERFECT opportunity to have it contain entire ideas for stories. A wall with mostly new names (or even only half of them being new) would prompt the question: WHY are they on this wall of heroes? WHAT made them so heroic? HOW did they make a difference? That's a goldmine for new stories to EXPAND the universe. Instead, we get a wall made up almost entirely of names from the 22nd - 24th centuries. So Starfleet only had heroic people in its first 250 years of existing, and nobody from the other 800 years did anything of note? That is just ridiculous, and only makes the universe feel SMALLER. This isn't a wall celebrating Starfleet. It's a wall for the producers to just congratulate the viewer for watching the various shows/movies and the producers themselves for knowing who they are. (And the reason this is just them being self-congratulatory and not truly having any meaning? Examples: Peter Preston, Dorian Collins, and Riley A. Shepard are listed. Preston was killed in TWOK... Collins and Shepard were the cadets from Red Squad who were in DS9's "VALIANT". The only wall anyone from Red Squad in that episode should be on is a Wall of Arrogant Idiots.) I'm fine with some easter eggs and nods, but at least have some depth or meaning to them. (But this era just can't help itself.)
Overall, I feel like each of the cadets are the same exact kind of archetypes seen on so many, if not all, teen dramas: the socially awkward one (Sam), the silent one (Jay-den), the arrogant jerk (Reymi), the smart ass (Caleb), and the serious student (Genesis). There's nothing new at all about that part of the series, and it does nothing to interest me.
What DOES have potential is the background stuff: rebuilding the Federation. (Which is ALSO lifted straight out of other stuff, most notably ANDROMEDA.) It's really the only aspect of the 32nd century that held ANY kind of interest to me when it first appeared in DISCO... and that was squandered badly there. I just never cared about it due to how it was handled. (Particularly the cause, and how the rebuilding of the Federation took a backseat.) At least here, it seems like there is a chance it can be mildly interesting.
Some of the dialogue is just... not good. (The aforementioned, "I'm Khionian, bitch", as an example.) Obviously, it's geared for a younger audience. I am not that demographic. (And even when I WAS in that demographic, teen dramas and the like was just simply not my thing.)
The effects were good, which is really par for the course with the live action shows now.
My final thoughts: the pilot was not great, but it wasn't terrible, either. It was better than SECTION 31... a very low bar to clear, but I kept my expectations low so it would be that much harder to be disappointed. Is it better than DISCO's pilot, which I feel is the worst pilot in the franchise? DISCO at least didn't have the teen drama in it, but ACADEMY is supposed to be that, so in that regard it succeeded. DISCO didn't even have most of the cast OR the ship itself in its first two episodes, so at least ACADEMY definitely succeeded there. So the short answer: yes, I think overall, this was a better pilot than DISCO. Will I stick around for the season? Yes, for two reasons. First, the pilot was fine enough for me to stick around. Second, I wanted to give this show a fair shot, so that means the full first season. I did that with STARGATE UNIVERSE, and I was rewarded with the back end of the first season finally finding itself and season 2 being REALLY good.
My score: I'll give it a 5.5, which in here would round up to a 6.
The beginnning felt more like a STAR WARS introduction than STAR TREK. I'm not saying this is good or bad. It just felt that way.
The background of Caleb's story: there have been some cases about felony murder charges that have come out in the last couple years, so this was clearly taking on that subject. We can't say for sure if her charge was justified or not because we don't know how involved she was in the crime Braka did, since the details are still unknown. But if the crime could not have been commited without her providing the means for Braka to do it, then I have to say she did deserve the charge. (As with others who have had it.)
Caleb's deal that Ake gave him, prison or Starfleet Academy, was basically how Cooper Hawkes in SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND was brought in. It's a trope used multiple times in various shows, so it's not exactly interesting. What DOES make it a little more interesting is that seemed to be a caveat for Ake to accept the job as Chancellor for the Academy. Which actually makes her more interesting than Caleb, to be honest.
Captain Ake is the most interesting character so far, in no small way due to Holly Hunter herself. Ake is quirky, which makes me think this is a Lanthanite trait, since Pelia is also quite quirky. (Which plays to Carol Kane's strengths, and why I love her character so much.) I like that, and look forward to seeing more of what Hunter does with Ake. Having said that... I'm not a fan of the idea of the captain curled up in the captain's chair while reading a book. It just didn't look professional. (The curled up part, not the book reading.) This is something that always bothered me about DISCO: the Starfleet officers there could hardly be looked at as 'professional'. (In that show's case, it was the constant shrink sessions and the breakdowns in the middle of emergencies/ticking clock.) I was hoping this show would divorce itself from that lack of professionalism, but I guess it might rear its ugly head here. Time will tell.
The Doctor - Robert Picardo still does a great job as The Doctor. Almost 25 years after VOY ended, and he seems to have slipped back into that character easily. I am surprised, and a little irritated, that he STILL does not have a name.
Lura Thok - I have heard some of Gina Yashere on Sirius XM (on the Netflix comedy channel), and I never really found her that funny. She reminds me of Leslie Jones: that kind of shouty comedy just doesn't work for me. I can see WHY Gina was cast as Thok, given her shouty nature (based on what I have heard from her on that Netflix channel). Seems like the writers were trying to mix the loud aspect of Klingons with the discipline of the Jem'Hadar. It's an odd mix, to be honest. Though the scene when she 'thanks' Jay-den by knocking him across the room did give me a chuckle. (I wasn't sure what to expect with a Jem'Hadar/Klingon hybrid, but I guess I was thinking it would be a bit more subdued than what we get here.) I am curious to see how she develops this season, though.
Braka - I love Paul Giamatti. He's a fantastic actor, and he (along with Hunter) were the reasons I was even REMOTELY interested in the series. You can tell he is having fun playing Braka. But we don't really get much depth with him here. I'm hoping we get more as the season progresses, but the writing was, so far, not up to his level.
Caleb - There is something about him that just irritates me. I suppose that is on purpose, given what his character must have gone through in those 15 years. While he attempts to come across as sympathetic, it just isn't working.
Genesis - Her first scene with Sam was just... cringeworthy. But considering this show is geared more toward a young crowd, it fits and is par for the course with such writing. I did like how she was trying to get the other cadets in line and she was taking steps to get the situation solved. She exuded some good professionalism there, and her being the daughter of a Starfleet admiral is likely the reason. I hope we see more of that with her character than the teen drama stuff.
Sam - Her first scene with Genesis was cringeworthy. She fits the socially awkward character we have seen in virtually every teen show so exactly, it feels like there is nothing else about her. Take out the scene of her lighting the ship and you'd forget she was even a hologram. I guess that is a good thing, to forget that aspect about her so you'd think she was a real person. I'm hoping we get more during the season, because at least the fact she is a hologram SHOULD be an interesting story and character choice.
Jay-den - It is refreshing to see a Klingon that wants to be something outside the soldier that we usually see. This is the most quiet and subdued Klingon we have ever seen, so he definitely is a different Klingon than what the franchise has given us. I was actually expecting this quietness to belong more to Thok, given she is half Jem'Hadar. His quoting Worf from "The Outcast" was an obvious easter egg. Let's see what they do with him.
Reymi - He starts off as a dislikeable character... and he pretty much stays that way until the end of the episode. Obviously, the series will be trying to redeem him to be someone you want to root for. And obviously, they will make it seem like they succeeded by the end of the series, however long that is. His ability to be outside in space with no suit... lifted straight from FARSCAPE. (Except Luxans can be in a vacuum for 15 minutes.) Oh... his "I'm Khionian, bitch" line? (Shakes head.)
The wall of past Starfleet names: this was the PERFECT opportunity to have it contain entire ideas for stories. A wall with mostly new names (or even only half of them being new) would prompt the question: WHY are they on this wall of heroes? WHAT made them so heroic? HOW did they make a difference? That's a goldmine for new stories to EXPAND the universe. Instead, we get a wall made up almost entirely of names from the 22nd - 24th centuries. So Starfleet only had heroic people in its first 250 years of existing, and nobody from the other 800 years did anything of note? That is just ridiculous, and only makes the universe feel SMALLER. This isn't a wall celebrating Starfleet. It's a wall for the producers to just congratulate the viewer for watching the various shows/movies and the producers themselves for knowing who they are. (And the reason this is just them being self-congratulatory and not truly having any meaning? Examples: Peter Preston, Dorian Collins, and Riley A. Shepard are listed. Preston was killed in TWOK... Collins and Shepard were the cadets from Red Squad who were in DS9's "VALIANT". The only wall anyone from Red Squad in that episode should be on is a Wall of Arrogant Idiots.) I'm fine with some easter eggs and nods, but at least have some depth or meaning to them. (But this era just can't help itself.)
Overall, I feel like each of the cadets are the same exact kind of archetypes seen on so many, if not all, teen dramas: the socially awkward one (Sam), the silent one (Jay-den), the arrogant jerk (Reymi), the smart ass (Caleb), and the serious student (Genesis). There's nothing new at all about that part of the series, and it does nothing to interest me.
What DOES have potential is the background stuff: rebuilding the Federation. (Which is ALSO lifted straight out of other stuff, most notably ANDROMEDA.) It's really the only aspect of the 32nd century that held ANY kind of interest to me when it first appeared in DISCO... and that was squandered badly there. I just never cared about it due to how it was handled. (Particularly the cause, and how the rebuilding of the Federation took a backseat.) At least here, it seems like there is a chance it can be mildly interesting.
Some of the dialogue is just... not good. (The aforementioned, "I'm Khionian, bitch", as an example.) Obviously, it's geared for a younger audience. I am not that demographic. (And even when I WAS in that demographic, teen dramas and the like was just simply not my thing.)
The effects were good, which is really par for the course with the live action shows now.
My final thoughts: the pilot was not great, but it wasn't terrible, either. It was better than SECTION 31... a very low bar to clear, but I kept my expectations low so it would be that much harder to be disappointed. Is it better than DISCO's pilot, which I feel is the worst pilot in the franchise? DISCO at least didn't have the teen drama in it, but ACADEMY is supposed to be that, so in that regard it succeeded. DISCO didn't even have most of the cast OR the ship itself in its first two episodes, so at least ACADEMY definitely succeeded there. So the short answer: yes, I think overall, this was a better pilot than DISCO. Will I stick around for the season? Yes, for two reasons. First, the pilot was fine enough for me to stick around. Second, I wanted to give this show a fair shot, so that means the full first season. I did that with STARGATE UNIVERSE, and I was rewarded with the back end of the first season finally finding itself and season 2 being REALLY good.
My score: I'll give it a 5.5, which in here would round up to a 6.
You make a good point.
Trek ships have, for a very long time, been the products of an inbred design language. They reference no artistic vocabulary other than previous Trek, nor do they draw any inspiration from innovative engineering ideas or logic in the real world.
So yes, they're more boring as time goes by. And there's no reason to hope they'll improve.
But there's references to both shows IN Academy itself.
I think it's more likely they weren't included due to time constraints.
IIRC, the YouTube premiere is geoblocked. It's not available to a LOT of people.
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