Now that the first season has come and gone, what are your overall thoughts about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy?
What do you think of the characters and their performers?
What were standout episodes, moments or scenes in season one?
Are you considering yourself a fan of the show? And where do you rank it with the other Trek series?
What do you want to see more / less of in season two?
Sorry for the long-ish post, but I guess I had some things to say about the show. Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on it so far.
What are your overall thoughts about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy?
What do you think of the characters and their performers?
What were standout episodes, moments or scenes in season one?
Are you considering yourself a fan of the show? And where do you rank it with the other Trek series?
What do you want to see more / less of in season two?
What do you think of the characters and their performers?
What were standout episodes, moments or scenes in season one?
Are you considering yourself a fan of the show? And where do you rank it with the other Trek series?
What do you want to see more / less of in season two?
Sorry for the long-ish post, but I guess I had some things to say about the show. Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on it so far.
What are your overall thoughts about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy?
I remember being very skeptical about the premise of a show set in Discovery’s 32nd century when we first heard about Starfleet Academy almost exactly three years ago. I just didn’t feel confident that they would be able to make the far-future setting interesting and my biggest fear was that this would be Discovery 2.0, only more cringe. But what can I say, somehow this group of producers and writers has managed to create an instant hit for me. The show isn’t perfect by any means (and really, what is?), but they actually managed to create a world and a cast of characters I care about. Upon seeing the premiere and the second episode, an early reviewer remarked how Starfleet Academy reminds them of the time The Next Generation started and the fictional galaxy felt fresh and full of wonder. That sentiment kinda stuck with me and I’m glad to report that feeling held on for almost all of the episodes for me.
The writing, while — again — certainly not perfect, feels original enough. The show has its own voice and I like the way they’ve set up the season as episodic installments with several character-driven arcs that thankfully all feel like they’ve been planned from day one. I wonder who’s chiefly responsible for introducing this way of writing for this show. Do we have to thank producers Noga Landau and Alex Kurtzman, or was it Gaia Violo that imprinted that kind of storytelling onto the show during development? I just gotta say, after the serialized offerings of both Picard and Discovery, this return to a classic formula is very welcome and often reminds me of what I love about the storytelling style of Strange New Worlds.
What do you think of the characters and their performers?
Overall I think the cast is stellar. Here are some of my thoughts about the various characters and actors:
I had some reservations about Holly Hunter before the show started (mainly because I wasn’t really aware of her previous work and wasn’t blown away by the early previews and trailers), but I’m surprised by how well she works as a character and the show’s adult lead. Hunter somehow manages to convey through her performance how much Ake cares about the cadets and the world around her. And I honestly had no idea how much I needed a Trek captain like her. She has some shades of gray to her character, which only makes her more interesting. I wonder where they plan to take the character in season two. Will there be room to explore the backstory with her son? Will they make more of an effort to give her an active love life?
I continue to be impressed by Sandro Rosta as Caleb. He somehow simultaneously plays the character with youthful naivety and goofy awkwardness and yet also retains an unmistakeable presence as the show’s lead. His arc of coming out of his shell to open up to the galaxy and find a place where he belongs worked exceptionally well for me. In early episodes you’d often hear him make snide remarks about Starfleet ideals and being above needing teachers or friends, but even back then there’s also these moments where he sits to the side, observing his fellow cadets and smiling about their hijinks, and you can see how bit by bit he comes to genuinely wanting to be there. It’s interesting that they already concluded that arc with his mother and Braka, because I would have thought this was something they’d carry over into season two, but now I’m wondering what will be his story going forward.
Bella Shepard as Genesis is probably the strongest performer out of the cadets. I love how they made her a natural leader who makes friends easily and brings people onto her side. However, I feel like they only scratched the surface so far concerning her character and I’m ready for what they want to do with her in year two.
Kerrice Brooks as SAM got better for me as the show went on. After not being a massive fan of “Series Acclimation Mil”, the other SAM-centric episode, “The Life of the Stars”, became my favorite episode of the season. I totally did not see coming that they would address the one aspect of her character I wasn’t a fan of from day one (the no childhood thing). They really made a gamble with the way they portrayed her for the first half of the season, which tells me they trusted that the story would work and pay off later. From what we’ve seen so far in the final two episodes, they really made an effort to write her differently, and for Kerrice to portray her differently. A little more jaded perhaps, but it nicely rounds off her character.
Zoë Steiner as Tarima seems to be an acquired taste, as many seem to have expressed how they consider her the least engaging performer on the show. I definitely recognize an inexperienced, timid quality in her performance, and while that may very well stem from Steiner being young and inexperienced herself, I also think it’s a perfect fit for Tarima as a character. I do think there were some genuinely strong acting moments with her in season one and I’m looking forward to see her mature as an actress. For Tarima I hope that they further explore where she sees herself in Starfleet (or the War College).
I love Jay-Den and Darem as characters (especially when they are together), but I wanna say that Karim Diané and George Hawkins are probably the weakest links among the cadet actors. They aren’t bad per se, but in my mind they both didn't manage to rise above the trappings of their character outlines to deliver performances that felt as powerful as those of the others. However, storywise there’s so much untapped potential for both of them. Why did Jay-Den want to become a healer? Will he ever confront his father? And for Darem I kinda hope that they explore more of his uniqueness as a Khionian. Why does he feel awkward showing his alien appearance? And why would he be the more interesting partner for Jay-Den?
Gina Yashere is, for me, one of this show’s absolute highlights. She’s playing the funniest character and I love the mysteriousness that still surrounds Lura Thok. From the few glimpses we’ve seen here or there I think she has a great potential for emotional and serious scenes, and my hope for season two would be that next to all the quips and jokes they’ll find room to explore that part of her performance. I know the show is not “about” the adult characters, but still I’d love to get an actual Lura Thok centric episode.
Tig Notaro continues to shine as Reno, no surprise there. Besides the deadpan one-liners they’ve also gave us some genuinely good moments of her as a teacher, which I hope they continue to do. That they paired her up with Lura somehow came as a surprise, even though it seems to make a ton of sense.
Robert Picardo thankfully works really well in the show, although I would say he’s underutilized in season one. The scenes we do get with him are great, but like some of the other adult characters he’s been missing for chunks of it.
Oded Fehr and Raoul Bhaneja are wonderful additions to the cast, and my hope for season two would be that they don’t forget about either of them. Especially Kelrec, who’s much more fun and interesting than he appeared to be upon his first appearance.
What were standout episodes, moments or scenes in season one?
Favorite episodes were “Kids These Days” (easily the best, most cinematic premiere of any modern Trek show), “Come Let’s Away”, “The Life of the Stars” and “Rubincon”, which perhaps not coincidentally are more like the key “event” type of episodes. From the more low-key, low-stakes episodes I have a soft spot for “Beta Test” and “Ko'Zeine”.
I appreciate what they wanted to do with “Series Acclimation Mil” and I like that at its core it’s still an SFA episode about SAM and not a weird wannabe episode of Deep Space Nine. And while I loved seeing Cirroc back as Jake the episode ultimately felt like a let-down to me after all the early hype. As much as I love Tawny Newsome, she somehow seemed off as Illa Dax to me, like she wasn’t able to act through all that makeup. I wanted to love this episode, but right now I think the best thing about it is how it set up “The Life of the Stars”.
Off the top of my head, here are my favorite moments and scenes from season one:
- The Athena first landing in San Francisco with that song playing in “Kids These Days”. People seem to either love or hate that scene, but I honestly thought it was just magical.
- Reno recognizing that there wasn’t anything wrong with Darem’s PADD and that his parents just weren’t answering in “Vitus Reflex”.
- Darem helping Jay-Den prepare for the debate event in “Vox in Excelso”. I gotta say, the romantic and homoerotic intensity of that scene hit me by surprise, and I loved it.
- Jake appearing to SAM at the end of “Series Acclimation Mil”. Great performance by both Cirroc (maybe his best in the role next to his scenes in “The Visitor”) and Kerrice and some intelligent lines of dialog about finding your own way in life.
- Kelrec shining as a perfectly competent commander in “Come, Let’s Away”.
- Caleb taking Genesis’ hand when they have to face the music in front of Ake in “Ko’Zeine”.
- The scene where Genesis takes care of a drunken Tarima in “The Life of the Stars”
- The Doctor finally revealing why he didn’t let himself get too attached to SAM in “The Life of the Stars”. Heartbreakingly beautiful with a powerful performance by Picardo.
- SAM being reborn and the sequence of her growing up with the Doctor in “The Life of the Stars”.
- Ake setting Nus Braka straight on his self-mythology in “Rubincon”. Great moment for both Hunter and Giamatti.
Are you considering yourself a fan of the show? And where do you rank it with the other Trek series?
I suppose by this point it comes as no surprise, but yes, I most certainly call myself a fan of the show. Together with Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds, these are the best Trek shows this latest era of the franchise has to offer. I found something to like in both Discovery and Picard as well (mostly the characters), but Lower Decks with its zany look at Trek felt the most unique and fresh, Strange New Worlds is the one that I feel comes closest to classic 90s-era Trek (and I mean that in the most positive way possible) and Starfleet Academy manages to feel new and original (enough). Like LD and SNW, SFA has its own style, its own strengths and its own brand of humor and humanity. The writers clearly have their heart in the right place, and are not cynical about Star Trek and, most importantly, were able to string together ten episodes that all had me entertained, crying, jumping for joy and everything in-between.
I find ranking these shows among the other Trek shows almost impossible, as I can’t very well leave aside my nostalgic feelings for the older ones. But also, the Trek shows I do love I tend to love for different reasons, so it sometimes feels like comparing apples to oranges. I would probably put it something like this, with multiple shows on the same tier:
DS9 >> TNG / TOS >> LD / VOY / SNW / SFA / ENT >> PRO / TAS >> DSC / PIC / VST / SCO
What do you want to see more / less of in season two?
Right now, after just having watched the season one finale, what I’m most hoping for in season two, is that they’ll be able to once more create satisfying arcs for all the characters that unfold in interesting ways throughout the season. What I also hope for is that they’ll be more daring with episodes that attempt to say something a little deeper or even provocative. They sometimes managed to scratch the surface in season one, but most of the time it felt like they preferred to play it safe in terms of any kind of messaging.
I also hope to see more of the Athena, both in terms of wanting to see more unfamiliar places on the ship, and also in terms of wanting to see the ship in action. Most of the sets are gorgeous and I fell in love with the Athena design almost instantly. So more of that, please! For more on what I wish they will do going forward, here’s an entire dedicated Starfleet Academy wishlist.
What I hope to see less of in season two is that the conclusions to episodes don't feel so rushed. Often in season one I felt they were spending the majority of the runtime with a problem/dilemma, only to wrap it up in mere minutes at the end, sometimes even off-screen. They definitely like to maneuver the characters into interesting situations, but then often don’t seem interested in showing how they get out of them. This had the effect of making some of the episodes / storylines feel unfinished.
What I also don’t want to see is an extended storyline about two female characters fighting over the same guy or anything like that. Not necessarily because this stuff doesn’t happen in real life, but more because I think it’s super played out in fiction and it never makes the writing for the female characters look particularly good. I’d rather have them as friends working together.
