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Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x03 – “Vitus Reflux”

Rate the episode...

  • 10 - Excellent!

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • 9

    Votes: 2 10.5%
  • 8

    Votes: 2 10.5%
  • 7

    Votes: 2 10.5%
  • 6

    Votes: 4 21.1%
  • 5

    Votes: 3 15.8%
  • 4

    Votes: 2 10.5%
  • 3

    Votes: 3 15.8%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1 - Terrible.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    19
[*]Is the War College on Earth? In San Fransisco? In the Starfleet Academy building? Why are they training together?
[*]Okay, they ARE sharing the same building. Was the War College already occupying Starfleet Academy grounds and they just opened it up again?
[*]Again, WHY are the War College and Starfleet Academy in the same building? Is this Harry Potter.
They're next door, right across, apparently.
Reviewers compared it to Slytherin in Hogwarts :D
 
Oh dear, I need to talk about...
  • Starfleet Academy does COMMERCIALS? Isn't it something they've always had too MANY applicants for?

Pre-Burn, sure, when the Federation was at its peak, and Starfleet explored the galaxy.

But after the Burn, when the Federation shrunk to 30 or so worlds and Starfleet could no longer afford to explore (as per Admiral Vance in Season 3 of Discovery), it probably became a lot less popular. Who would want to join up with the fleet of a small rump state that might be attacked again at any time? (Earth left the Federation in part due to this risk, i.e. not wanting "to be a target") Especially since the last "attack" involved most Starfleet ships blowing up mid-flight. Who would want to sign up for Starfleet if that could happen again?

Now that the Federation is recovering and they want to regrow Starfleet, I imagine they need to work a lot harder to attract applicants. So it doesn't surprise me that an advertising campaign would be needed. It's also why Captain Ake is less strict with the cadets than previous Chancellors might have been.
 
The chancellor needs to learn to sit on a chair properly without exposing her feet every single time.

This episode was approaching dsc levels of dumb.
 
The chancellor needs to learn to sit on a chair properly without exposing her feet every single time.

This episode was approaching dsc levels of dumb.

That is actually one of the things I love about her character, her laissez-faire approach to chairs.
 
I loved the first two episodes, but this one I mostly didn't care for.

Better characterization on the War College characters would have helped a lot. Tarima aside, the other cadets were just so purely vile. And the fact that this chancellor of a serious WAR COLLEGE was lowering himself to actively facilitate this kind of juvenile BS made him too pathetic to take seriously.

Their aggressive awfulness also made it an unpleasant experience to watch them besting our characters for almost the whole time.

It started reminding me of "Saved By The Bell" in the degree to which it was straining for a laugh, and how it would strain by going far too broad/big (Ocam's mugging was really getting exhausting).

All that being said, there was still much to like. I love the cast and characters, and it was great to tilt more ensemble-y again after last episodes narrower focus.

The reveal on Thok & Reno was delightful and had me grinning like an idiot.

And the ending was somehow very effective, despite how turned off I was by the journey there.

I wonder if Darem's bisexuality will ever come up again, or if it'll be like Chapel... referenced in a single line in the first season, and that's it! Never to be referenced or alluded to again!
 
I'm finding it odd that critics were saying these first run of episodes are great, because this really felt so clumsy.

I've gotten over the language and people calling each other bitches because it is what it is (although I can't imagine they'd have included a British character calling everyone the c-word), and I'll even accept people still calling out their "daddy issues" but even after a thousand years, haven't discovered therapy.

This was just so long, especially when they basically set up the solution at the beginning of the episode and it takes the characters 40 minutes of laser tag to figure out what they need to do. And then when they make an Oceans Eleven style montage sequence, it wasn't even clever when this is a universe with transporters if not time travel.

Otherwise it's fine I guess? The tropey characters are perfectly fine, broad solution of using brains over brawn is fine, even if I think the solution the writers came up with wasn't as clever as they thought it was in the writer's room, but put together it was just... not really interesting at all.

I've been re-reading the first Peter David Starfleet Academy book mostly out of curiosity and even though the series is anchored by Worf and his outsider status, similar to Caleb here, it still felt like it came together much better than what I've seen in these three episodes. And it's a pretty short book.

I dunno, as someone who actually thought a Starfleet Academy show could work when the CW was still a network and slot in with Supernatural, Riverdale, and Kung Fu and whatnot, I want this idea to succeed. So far it hasn't really impressed unfortunately.
 
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Man, Calica looks like fun.

Such a great "War Simulator" for you to train in the form of a game.

Although the penalties for "Hand-to-hand" combat seems kinda BS to me.
 
Man, Calica looks like fun.

Such a great "War Simulator" for you to train in the form of a game.

Although the penalties for "Hand-to-hand" combat seems kinda BS to me.

They are going to be in for a shock, when they do an exchange program with the Klingon War Academy. Castradas, chop, chop.
 
Man, Calica looks like fun.

Such a great "War Simulator" for you to train in the form of a game.

Although the penalties for "Hand-to-hand" combat seems kinda BS to me.
I kind of assume it’s just a sport because ground conflict barely made sense in DS9 and they had to invent reasons why transporters didn’t work. lol
 
It's not as bad as Discovery for me. I was able to get through the episode. I liked the message of patience and empathy; however, the story felt like it was for a high school setting rather than a college setting.
 
Small universe syndrome writ large.

I would have assumed the War College would be...anywhere BUT Earth given the Federation hasn't had Earth for a century.
How is it 'small universe syndrome' when the War College WAS Starfleet Academy for 100 years. It was probably based out of Fed HQ just like SFA was when it reopened in Season 4 of Discovery.

The two schools are linked because they are BOTH Starfleet, but just responsible for different agendas. The War College exists because the Federation stopped exploring. It still exists because the galaxy is now a very hostile place and peace is fragile. However the Federation is also realising it needs to begin exploring and reaching out to the galaxy, which is why Starfleet Academy is back. The two co-existing is emblematic of the Federation and Starfleet searching for identity and hoping for a better future while still being traumatised by the past.
 
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