I found the Kelric storyline not only distracting, but very jarring (in terms of tone, for starters,) to SAM's storyline.
Spoilers Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1x05 – “Series Acclimation Mil”
- Thread starter Commander Richard
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Not what I was expecting from the promos, which mostly promised a love letter to DS9. But once I got used to it, I was strapped in.
The director made an interesting choice when it came to depicting SAM's pov as a photonic being, having her internal frame of reference often depicted with noisy visuals, blur, quick cuts, items superimposed within the field of vision, ect. It was very jarring when the teaser started, but it helped visually distinguish her internal monologues from the external parts of the narrative. It worked. Everything about SAM worked here. She's an often annoying, cringy character, but she's meant to be, and goes on a coherent character arc.
This brings us to the DS9ness of it all. I was expecting a bit more here, TBH, but I'm glad the episode didn't devolve into a series of memberberries as we got one cameo after another in archival footage. This wasn't a story about DS9, this was a story about SAM, and her trying to define her role in the Academy through Ben's story.
Cirroc is enough to carry this side of the story. He's great here, which surprises me, both because he's not acted professionally in nearly 20 years, and the times I saw him do "zoom plays" during covid on Alexander Siddig's YouTube channel he was pretty weak. Not sure we needed the reveal that Tawny was playing a Dax (being a descendant of Jake would be fine), but hopefully, some more will be done with it in Season 2.
I know people are going to be upset that Jake didn't confirm Ben returned to Kassidy and his unborn child, given Brooks had a clear wish for that to be the end of his story. However, I interpret the instance of Jake we see here as a virtual reconstruction of him based on Anselem. If Jake said nothing about his father being alive in the book, SAM couldn't've known. The episode makes clear anyway that the Sisko has become so central to the Bajorans that proving he came back to live a quiet life on Bajor would be like proving Jesus didn't exist. He is a religious metaphor, and religion doesn't offer concrete answers.
I'm less enamored with this episode whenever we lose focus on SAM. The b-plot involving Ake trying to coach the weird chancellor of the War College was unnecessary, though I started enjoying it about halfway through. And the whole bar scene just seemed like misplaced teen content to give the rest of the cast something to do. The plot lines here weirdly continue aspects from Episode 3 which were skipped last week.
Overall, it's hard to rate, because the scenes I loved were some of the best of the entirety of modern Trek, but there were real bores stretched through as well. Still, the best episode of this season yet.
The director made an interesting choice when it came to depicting SAM's pov as a photonic being, having her internal frame of reference often depicted with noisy visuals, blur, quick cuts, items superimposed within the field of vision, ect. It was very jarring when the teaser started, but it helped visually distinguish her internal monologues from the external parts of the narrative. It worked. Everything about SAM worked here. She's an often annoying, cringy character, but she's meant to be, and goes on a coherent character arc.
This brings us to the DS9ness of it all. I was expecting a bit more here, TBH, but I'm glad the episode didn't devolve into a series of memberberries as we got one cameo after another in archival footage. This wasn't a story about DS9, this was a story about SAM, and her trying to define her role in the Academy through Ben's story.
Cirroc is enough to carry this side of the story. He's great here, which surprises me, both because he's not acted professionally in nearly 20 years, and the times I saw him do "zoom plays" during covid on Alexander Siddig's YouTube channel he was pretty weak. Not sure we needed the reveal that Tawny was playing a Dax (being a descendant of Jake would be fine), but hopefully, some more will be done with it in Season 2.
I know people are going to be upset that Jake didn't confirm Ben returned to Kassidy and his unborn child, given Brooks had a clear wish for that to be the end of his story. However, I interpret the instance of Jake we see here as a virtual reconstruction of him based on Anselem. If Jake said nothing about his father being alive in the book, SAM couldn't've known. The episode makes clear anyway that the Sisko has become so central to the Bajorans that proving he came back to live a quiet life on Bajor would be like proving Jesus didn't exist. He is a religious metaphor, and religion doesn't offer concrete answers.
I'm less enamored with this episode whenever we lose focus on SAM. The b-plot involving Ake trying to coach the weird chancellor of the War College was unnecessary, though I started enjoying it about halfway through. And the whole bar scene just seemed like misplaced teen content to give the rest of the cast something to do. The plot lines here weirdly continue aspects from Episode 3 which were skipped last week.
Overall, it's hard to rate, because the scenes I loved were some of the best of the entirety of modern Trek, but there were real bores stretched through as well. Still, the best episode of this season yet.
I thought that SAM was an acronym of her proper designation and that Mil was her actual given name.
Enjoyable.
I expected Illa to turn out to be a Sisko descendant. The Dax reveal was a welcome surprise.
So, Sisko did indeed become an absentee father. Sad and disappointing. Especially compared to his fate in the First Splinter timeline, where he returned in time for the birth of this daughter and Bajor‘s accession to the Federation.
They also glossed over Sarah Sisko being a victim of non—consensual impregnation and motherhood.
I expected Illa to turn out to be a Sisko descendant. The Dax reveal was a welcome surprise.
So, Sisko did indeed become an absentee father. Sad and disappointing. Especially compared to his fate in the First Splinter timeline, where he returned in time for the birth of this daughter and Bajor‘s accession to the Federation.
They also glossed over Sarah Sisko being a victim of non—consensual impregnation and motherhood.
If it was not for the DS9 stuff that was very well done, this episode would have deserved a 3 IMO. I bumped it up to a 7 only because of the DS9 stuff.
SAM's storyline was good. I really appreciated the "love letter" to DS9. The episode was very respectful of Sisko and DS9. Seeing Jake was great. The reveal that the instructor was a Dax was very cool. The poetry by Avery at the end was perfect. The lesson SAM learns about herself was good.
The rest of the episode was crap. The B plot with Ake and Kelric was super boring, jarring and pointless. It seemed like just filler. The rave scene was bad. It was basically the typical YA tropes. It was distracting to SAMs main plot.
The concept of an alien species being isolationist and sending an emissary to learn about "outsiders" has been done before. I am surprised the episode did not make the comparison with the Founders, since the ep leaned so much into DS9 lore.
Personally, I think the mystery of Sisko is pretty obvious. He died. His body was destroyed in the fire caves. But his spirit joined the Prophets in an "after life" in the Celestial Temple.
Minor nitpick: the episode says the semester is almost over so she could not enroll in the course right away. You can only enroll in courses during specific enrollment periods. Later they say it is midterms. So it could not be the end of the semester yet. So the episode contradicts itself on the date. I think the writers wanted an excuse for SAM to investigate Sisko's dissappearance but the way they did it with SAM trying to earn credits to enroll in the course was clumsy.
SAM's storyline was good. I really appreciated the "love letter" to DS9. The episode was very respectful of Sisko and DS9. Seeing Jake was great. The reveal that the instructor was a Dax was very cool. The poetry by Avery at the end was perfect. The lesson SAM learns about herself was good.
The rest of the episode was crap. The B plot with Ake and Kelric was super boring, jarring and pointless. It seemed like just filler. The rave scene was bad. It was basically the typical YA tropes. It was distracting to SAMs main plot.
The concept of an alien species being isolationist and sending an emissary to learn about "outsiders" has been done before. I am surprised the episode did not make the comparison with the Founders, since the ep leaned so much into DS9 lore.
Personally, I think the mystery of Sisko is pretty obvious. He died. His body was destroyed in the fire caves. But his spirit joined the Prophets in an "after life" in the Celestial Temple.
Minor nitpick: the episode says the semester is almost over so she could not enroll in the course right away. You can only enroll in courses during specific enrollment periods. Later they say it is midterms. So it could not be the end of the semester yet. So the episode contradicts itself on the date. I think the writers wanted an excuse for SAM to investigate Sisko's dissappearance but the way they did it with SAM trying to earn credits to enroll in the course was clumsy.
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That was great. Really loved it.
Or it might be just simply Mil, and not really stand for anything.
I wonder when Sisko was supposed to haveboughtreplicated a typewriter. So he's apparently a collector nerd just like us.
Because of Benny Russell?
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Features An Easter Egg You Probably Missed – Showrunner Reveals Where To Find It [Exclusive] - SlashFilm
We've got the inside scoop on where to spot a somewhat hidden Easter egg in the latest episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
www.slashfilm.com
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I have much to say about this episode that I will have to write after work, but I will address the bolded point now.
I understand why Avery Brooks asked for that change in the finale, but even without that, I never saw him sacrificing himself to stop Dukat and the Pah-Wraiths as becoming an absentee father. He did that to end a threat to everyone, which includes his unborn child. That's not an act of being an absentee father. That's an act of love.
It's no different than a father serving in the military getting killed in the line of duty. Or a father who is a firefighter that walks into a burning or collapsing building to save other lives. Or a father who is a police officer and is killed while protecting someone from a criminal.
It does seem to me that the Makers (or Sam herself) already have to understand organics pretty darn well, just for her personality to be what it is. At least as she presents, there’s nothing alien about her — she already comes across as not only human, but American. Which admittedly is true of a lot of aliens from TNG onwards.
The pain of seeing your friends grow old and die again and again over eight centuries seems straightforward.
It feels like there’s something more than just that, while it certainly is something. The Doctor’s almost visceral reaction to Gwyn in the pilot makes me wonder if there ended up being some sort of connection between those characters outside of the mentor/mentee relationship.
I will only give an 8/10 and the 4th episode is better in my opinion, as a hardcore DS9 fan. Why? I love the Ds9 references, and I love why SAM is researching The Sisko, but the pacing of the episode is extremely uneven. Seeing Jake was amazing and I love the Illa reveal. I could have missed completely the party scene, did not loved that at all, mostly the SAM being drunk part, I liked the Carem and Tarima part. I do not mind the silly graphics that I presume is in SAM's head, and also the glitter vomit I think it is SAM dealing with the vomit, I do not think that is real. And yes, I want a Doctor episode too, like many people here 
Which is why the premise does not really make sense if you think about it too much. It is even stated that the Makers were created by organics. So they would have knowledge of organics that way. Not to mention that they could pick up transmissions from organics and learn a lot about them that way. And like you said, they modeled her personality after organics which requires knowledge of organics. So there is no need for them to create SAM, model her after organics, to send her out to learn about organics.
Also, the Makers insistence that she fulfill her mission right away was silly. Surely, they would know that you cannot learn everything you need about organics in just a couple weeks. Such a mission would take more time than that.
Regarding Sam's mission...
It's not gathering information about organics that is the mission. It's to see if organics can be trusted.
Basically, Sam's Makers are the Ancients from FARSCAPE, specifically season 1's "A Human Reaction". They wanted to see if Earth was a place where they'd be welcome and humans can be trusted. The Makers' mission is the same mission.
It's not gathering information about organics that is the mission. It's to see if organics can be trusted.
Basically, Sam's Makers are the Ancients from FARSCAPE, specifically season 1's "A Human Reaction". They wanted to see if Earth was a place where they'd be welcome and humans can be trusted. The Makers' mission is the same mission.
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