I wrote a whole post on this show before watching it that I never bothered posting. It was basically, “People are bitching about the show without watching it, so I will “not bitch”… “anti-bitch”? … whatever, about the show, without watching it. In the end, it felt like pointless fuel on an artificial fire. Having watched it, or at least, the first part of it, its fine. If you want the short and sweet spoiler free commentary the show is pretty good, its “more Trek” than Discovery was. I can see why some folks dislike the dialog at times.
For my specific gripes, mostly, I have a hard time telling the main dudes apart, especially when there is action or any distance. They are all tall skinny dark haired dudes aside from the Klingon. The women are like, short chick with light hair, pale chick with dark hair, chubbier black chick. They are visually distinct, no problem. Maybe could like, one of the dudes at least be bald or have blonde hair people?
Visual cues are important!
I also both absolutely love Holly Hunter’s Captain Ake and find her really grating, for the same exact reasons, at the same time. I am not sure if that is a complaint or praise. Maybe its more, I like the character, but I am surprised Starfleet lets her pull some of her antics. I imagine at some point we will get an episode centered on her character that will sort of, explain why she is held in such high regards and thus is allowed to get away with her many quirks that are kind of “unbecoming of a Starfleet Officer.” And that will just, bulldoze away most of my annoyance leaving just the “I love her character.”
Anyway, onto more spoiler filled commentary.
S01E01 – Kids These Days
Episode one makes it fairly clear that our main character for the show is going to be Caleb Mir. Star Trek tends to be “ensemble cast” focused, but for the most part, The Captain is the main character. This is less emphasised in shows like Deep Space Nine and Strange New Worlds, of course, and in Discovery, Burnham was not Captain… at first… But its mostly the case. Since this show centers on Starfleet Academy cadets in the newly reformed Starfleet Academy, there isn’t exactly a Captain. Instead we get Caleb.
And the Captain, whom I mentioned above.
She may actually be a Chancellor or something.
The series starts with a flashback sequence to young Caleb, being separated from his mother after she is charged with “aiding” known pirate Nus Braka in stealing some food. The theft resulted in the death of members of Starfleet. I want to keep my comments fairly short, but this whole moment kind of deserves a bit more because its essentially the foundation for the entire series, and sets up the obvious subplot arc of the season.
I used the term “aiding” earlier, because its not clear how much she actually helped, if at all. It feels like she didn’t even know the food was stolen, which kind of makes her punishment a little wild. Its also not really clear yet how much she knows Nus Braka, or how. I will throw out, its very clearly not a “secret baby daddy” situation. Nus Braka is half Klingon and half Tellarite. He is played very nicely by Paul Giamatti, who brings some really fun kind of, high energy spastic abusiveness that works well for this space pirate.
This event also sets up Ake’s story a bit. She is part Lanthanite, like Pelia on Strange New Worlds, and thus she is quite long lived, being some 400 years old. She serves as an arbiter on the trial and feels extremely shitty about separating Caleb from his mother, and quits Starfleet over it.
This also sets up Caleb as a bit of a rebel who hates Starfleet.
Fast forward 15 years later to “present day”. Starfleet wants Ake back and she will only come if she can collect and bring Caleb Mir along. She wants to redeem herself for not fighting harder against the sentencing and wants to help save him from what is essentially a drifter life of crime.
After this set up, which takes up the bulk of the episode, we get to meet most of the rest of the main cast.
- Jay-Den Kraag – A pacifist Klingon who basically becomes Caleb’s best friend
- Darem Reymi – A fishlike alien that looks like a normal human most of the time because CGI is expensive and the show is about having a “hot young cast.”
- Genesis Lythe – Admiral’s daughter over achiever type with funny forehead ridges. Initially set up as sort of a love triangle interest for Caleb and Darem.
- SAM – An overly eager hologram.
- Voyager’s Hologram Doctor. Literally the same Doctor
- Lura Thok, second in command to Captain Ake, a half Klingon, hald Jem Hadar. What is it with all the half Klingons?
Most of them are fairly interesting and everyone sort of get a moment to shine when the Academy itself is attacked en route to Earth by Nus Braka. Braka gets away but we get a bit more set up with Caleb wanting to find his mother, who has gone missing.
The Academy itself is kind of interesting, its a ship, but it lands in San Francisco Bay and becomes a building when they arrive at Earth.
S01E02 – Beta Test
Apparently Paul Giamatti was expensive, because Episode 2 throws a few more series regulars at us. Tig Notaro returns from Discovery as Jett Reno, in a smaller fashion as one of the instructors. I kind of wonder what happened with Tilly, because I swore she was supposed to return as part of this show. Maybe she was busy and she will be a season 2 addition or something.
We also get a pair of Betazoid siblings, Ocam and Tarima. The whole episode centers around an attempt by Starfleet to get Betazed to rejoin the newly forming Federation. These two are the children of the Betazed leader and stay behind after the negotiations. In case you are not familiar with Star Trek The Next Generation, which featured Counselor Troi as one of the main cast, the Betazed people are empaths. They can sense people’s feelings and true intentions.
Tarima is pushed as a lot more important than her brother throughout the episode, she has some sort of heightened empathic ability and has to wear this inhibitor thing on her neck for it. She also gets set up as a love interest for Caleb. Sorry Genesis, I guess. By the end of the episode though its revealed that Tarima has decided to enroll at War College instead of Starfleet while her brother joins Starfleet and becomes Caleb and Darem’s third roomate.
Overall its an interesting episode, with a nice nod to Star Trek IV’s humpback whales hidden inside. Plus an interesting little look at Betazed culture, outside of Troi. Their leader was also a neat twist because he speaks in sign language, with a little voice box interpreter.
S01E03 – Vitus Reflux
I mentioned the War College, but figured discussing it could wait until this episode, since this episode is essentially “War College Focused.” War College was basically, the replacement for Starfleet Academy after The Burn when Starfleet collapsed. I imagine Discovery mentioned it, but I had forgotten about it.
It also has one of the stupidest Star Trek names ever. War College. What the fuck even is that unimaginative horse shit. Like I get that its basically a more military focused Starfleet Academy, but… WAR COLLEGE. It even sounds dumb to say.
(Note, Memory Alpha Wiki suggests War College was made up for SFA. Laaaaaaaame)
Anyway, this episode centers on a mini prank war between the two school, as well as try outs for a competitive laser tag sort of sport. It’s pretty entertaining, though primarily focuses on Genesis and Darem as both being overly competitive over achievers.
Apparently SAM is immune to the laser tag guns, which kind of feels like cheating.
S01E04 – Vox in Excelso
Star Trek has often used its world as a metaphor for political issues. Starfleet Academy so far hasn’t really felt like it’s pushed into this too deeply yet, but this one is definitely the deepest and most serious so far. We get to delve into the Klingons. One thing thar naghed me in Discovery, that seemed weird, and I think I even mentioned it in one of my write ups, was how the first two seasons were all Klingons Klingons Klingons. Then, once in the future, there was like, only one mention of Klingons in all three seasons there. There were probably some books or something that went into it, but we finally get some in show answers.
Basically, they got extra fucked by The Burn. To the point of almost extinction. They pretty much just reverted to their tribal warrior roots. Qo’nos, their home world, was effectively destroyed, or at least left unlivable. They became more insular than they already tended to be.
Though, apparently not insular enough to not be screwing other aliens making cross breed alien archetypes. Considering this show has two. Must be all that Klingon poetry.
Starfleet wants to make friends with them again, or at least help them find a planet and not go extinct. But they need to do it in a way that won’t offend the Klingon’s code of honor.
Meanwhile, this is kind of spawned because a Klingon transport malfunctioned and possibly killed Jay-Den’s family. Hey, its a Klingon episode, do you think it won’t also spotlight the show’s Klingon character? We get some nice flashbacks to his past, and how he has basically always wanted to help more than harm. His brother gets it, and encourages him, though his father hates it. Ultimately, his brother gets killed trying to get some Starfleet medical equipment for Jay-Den, and his father is, understandably pretty upset.
Whats interesting though, they still push the idea that, despite not being hungry for battle, Jay-Den is still very much a Klingon. He complains about food that has no blood in it, and how he cannot eat a Klingon dish meant for warriors. He still honors the Klingon ways, despite not really falling into them.
The backdrop of Starfleet trying help the Klingons is also shown through school debates. Basically boiling down to “Should Starfleet force the Klingons to relocate for their own good, vs allowing the Klingons to choose for themselves.”. Are they still Klingons if they are forced to give up their Klingon ways for the Federation. Is the Federation still the Federation if its imposing it’s will on others.
Ultimately, Jay-Den’s inner turmoil helps Captain Ake and Admiral Vance find a solution. They had met with an old popular Klingon House leader, who knows its best for his people to relocate, but knows they won’t accept handouts from The Federation. They essentially stage a mock battle against the Klingon Force, then ceed victory to the Klingons, along with the planet.
Final Thoughts
I am enjoying the series so far. I will try to get back with another check in after another four episodes. The next ine seems to have some Deep Space Nine connections, which will be fun. I really don’t want to get into the stupid “iT’s WoKe” stupidity other than to say, its not.
It’s really not. Its way less “woke” than Discovery honestly, hell, they way those jokers define things, probably less so than Strange New Worlds. Its definitely a more modern Trek, but unlike Discovery, it doesn’t feel weird because its trying to shoe horn itself into the TOS era.
