The first season of Starfleet Academy concluded last Thursday, and Comics Beat’s Star Trek team has some thoughts! Read on for our SPOILER roundtable.
Cover photo credit: Gibson/Paramount+
What did you think of the first season of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy?
DEAN SIMONS: I found it extremely uneven. When it was good, it was very good, but when it was bad, it was hard to watch. One of the other things that bugged me was the time jumps. I think if it were a 20-episode season, they wouldn’t feel so jarring. It did start and end well, and I learned to like most of the characters by the end. Darem is still very much a work in progress, but maybe that is the point of his character. Absolutely love Kraag.
GEORGE CARMONA 3RD: Was it a perfect 10 for 10? No, closer to 8 out of 10, and those 8 were great. Exploring the Federation landscape, post-Discovery, has been entertaining. Adding to the fun, traversing these worlds from a high-level view of the Faculty and the ground level of the students.
Z. RICE: I agree that it was uneven, but I still looked forward to every episode. There are solid Trek bones here (no pun intended, Dr. McCoy) – Trek at its best navigates a balance of gravitas and humor, which I thought the series did mostly well. And a primary focus on strong friendships has been a Trek theme since the beginning.
DERRICK CROW: There’s a run of episodes in the middle of the season where the show really shines and is at its strongest—unsurprisingly, it’s when the school show focuses on the school aspects as well as the students dealing with their time at the academy. Once we got away from that, the show got a lot rockier. Overall, I still liked it, but it was very uneven.
OLLIE KAPLAN: I’m struggling to organize my thoughts and feelings on Starfleet Academy‘s freshman season. Perhaps, as the other Beat roundtable contributors mentioned, my inability to commit to a single opinion about Starfleet Academy stems from the first season’s unevenness. However, I’m unconvinced there’s a problem with my post-season confusion because – at least in this case – it’s what made the first season immediately rewatchable.
AVERY KAPLAN: Of every Trek show (save Star Trek: Scouts), this is the first one I really felt wasn’t “for me.” But since I’m not a petaQ, I don’t have to make that my whole personality. There are still, like, a thousand other Star Trek episodes I can rewatch. I can imagine this show being for younger viewers what Buffy was for me back in high school: a fun genre show that mixed in antics set at a school at which I could see myself enrolled.
That being said, I could never get on board with the “Caleb and his mommy” storyline, even though Tatiana Maslany was great. And I never ever felt Ake (Holly Hunter) needed the “personal history” with Caleb to want to protect and mentor him.
The part of the show I most enjoyed was the scenes featuring the faculty. While I understand this is a show meant to pull in the teenage audience, I personally would have preferred a show that centered on the teachers… and let the stakes stay at the scale of the school instead of having to drag us into deep space for another dull and predictable season finale.
Also, I found it a bit cheesy that the finale was centered around control of the Academy set. We get it, you spent a lot of money on this set, and you’re gonna shoot on it! It was an impressive space, but I’m quite sure it was NOT worth canceling Lower Decks over.
Do you have any thoughts on the reactions to Starfleet Academy, both before its release and through the first season?
DEAN: I barely saw much, to be honest. I mostly just heard about the uproar second or third hand; however, since we are in the age of constant culture wars and social media pile-ons, it felt more like noise. The ones I did see who had negative reactions were not creating too big a stink about it. Just said, “Not for me.”
GC3: As I’ve become a curmudgeonly old man, with a definite “F’ Them Kids” mentality, I did not expect to love this show as much as I did. It was fun to see a different side of the Trek Universe, more importantly, for Trek to move forward and speak to the new/next generation of fans. I’ve also stopped looking for any clickbait hate, but I can’t wait for the haters to comment on Captain Ake’s monologue in the last episode.
Z. RICE: Honestly, the most vehement outrage I saw on social were reactions to how Captain Ake sits in the Captain’s chair. She’s half Lanthanite; they’re kooky. Let it go. There were comparisons to 90210 and other teen dramas, and they’re not unfounded. But you either roll with it and accept, like George said, that this is a new generation of Trek, or you don’t. I only saw the backlash to Jay-Den’s gay Klingon character second hand, but real Trek fans celebrate diversity, so I can only imagine it’s a minority voice.
DERRICK: Yeah, I’ve seen quite a bit of negativity surrounding this series. I’m not surprised, but always disgusted. Whether these people spouting this hate truly believe what they’re saying or are simply saying it in order to make money doesn’t matter; it’s shameful either way. I’ve done my best to ignore it all. Trek is allowed to have variety. If you want shows like what you grew up with as a kid, go buy the DVDs or something. They still exist for you to enjoy. Thankfully, I’ve also seen people who do enjoy it, but aren’t afraid to criticise it on its own story merits, and that’s the healthiest way to engage in art.
OLLIE: At this point, Star Trek has almost 60 years of storytelling under its belt. And as Derrick said, each of those stories still exists and can be easily streamed at ANY TIME of the day, all over the world, so go watch another series if you don’t like Starfleet Academy, because the modern world is already toxic enough.
AVERY: I may be only lukewarm on the show myself, but the pushback and derision at a show geared towards a younger audience from some “adults” is frankly embarrassing. In our pre-season review, Ollie and I quoted Captain Kirk, but here I think I will quote William Shatner instead: “Get a life!”
That being said, I do advise anyone and everyone who wants to enjoy the older shows to purchase them on DVD or Blu-Ray as soon as possible. But as physical media cannot be deleted or altered remotely by bootlicking anti-diversity executives, who knows how long they’ll continue to be available?
What was your favorite episode and/or character?
DEAN: Kraag. Always Kraag. A sensitive Klingon who felt apart yet connected to his culture and heritage. It would have been a hard one to justify, but it made sense in his focus episode, which, for me, was the best of the season (closely followed by the SAM episodes)
GC3: The pilot was a great launching point, but my favorite episodes of the season revolve around cadet SAM (Kerrice Brooks) in the episodes “Series Acclimation Mil (SAM)” and “The Life of the Stars.” “SAM” for being a great self-exploration for SAM and a wonderful nod to Captain Benjamin Sisko and Deep Space Nine. I didn’t know how they were going to top “SAM,” but they did it with “Life of the Stars.” We get the aftermath of a brutal attack, the return of Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), and another great exploration of SAM and the Doctor (Robert Picardo). The character development in that episode was amazing.
Z. RICE: My favorite episode was also “Series Acclimation Mil (SAM),” in large part due to Tawny Newsome’s involvement. I’m a big Lower Decks fan, and that episode felt like the closest thing in live action. But also the central themes – who am I, what is my role, what can I choose – are so true to Trek. I was reminded a lot of Data in that episode. I agree that Kraag is invaluable, but I have to say Nahla Ake is my favorite character, and I don’t think the show could be a success without Hunter anchoring it. Her skill as an actress and the mentorship of her character struck me in every episode.
OLLIE & AVERY: Lower Decks! Lower Decks!! LOWER DECKS!!!
DERRICK: It took a bit for me to warm up to her, but by the end my favorite character was Ake hands down. She just knows how to carry a scene and I always found myself really gravitating towards her. My favorite episode, however, was “Series Acclimation Mil (SAM).” It was a truly wonderful character exploration and the strongest character piece of the season.
AVERY: “Series Acclimation Mil (SAM)” was a highlight for me. I thought SAM was a fascinating character, and I’m curious to see where she goes from here. Brooks gave a fantastic performance.
I loved seeing more of The Doctor and Jett Reno, two of my favorite Franchise characters. Plus, bringing back Oded Fehr as Admiral Vance made the series feel more like a contemporary of the show it spun off of, Star Trek: Discovery.
What do you hope to see from Starfleet Academy in its second season?
DEAN: I wouldn’t mind seeing the academy feel more structured. Currently, it feels too close to the CW’s high school formula. Fun but gives the impression that the academy was a playground. If/when we see the cast actually graduate, I want to feel like they actually learned the skills they have.
GC3: I concur with more of the academic side, it would be interesting to see the cadets formalizing their career tracks. I would also love to see what else is different with the galaxy’s status quo, like what the Borg or the Dominion are up to, and whether the Bajoran Wormhole is still a thing. Besides that, more Lura Thok (Gina Yashere), more of Tilly’s theater class, and Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diane) finally getting to Ibiza.
Z. RICE: Karim Diané has hinted that Jay-Den will get a major story arc, and I am so there for it. Darem is also ripe for further character development – this season never touched on the reason he chooses to hide his true Khionian self. I expect those two characters will grow together next season. And keep up, the Reno and Lura, please.
OLLIE: Even more Reno, please! “Even more Reno, please,” is always the right answer for this type of question, especially now that Tig is the self-declared sexiest member of the cast.
Also, even more Jay-le! (Jay-den + Kyle)
DERRICK: I know it won’t happen, but can we just get a school show focused on the school and the students and their trials and tribulations with no sense of scale beyond that? I’m over every single modern Trek show ending their seasons or wrapping their seasons around universe-ending stakes. You got your one, now scale it back pleeeeease. Same with every modern Trek having to argue why Starfleet is the perfect system, I get it already, you don’t need to keep telling me.
AVERY: Derrick, I strongly agree. I wish that the season finale had not been about galaxy-scale action, and instead had been more focused on literally anything going on at the school. And Ollie, I also agree: sign me up for more Jay-le.
Tilly’s return was welcome, and I hope we see more Discovery alums in Season 2. In fact, I’d love to see a full-on crossover where the cadets get to spend a day aboard the U.S.S. Discovery, with the return of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), Booker Cleveland (David Ajala) and as much of the rest of the cast as possible.
And finally, more Newsome as Dax, please.
Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
DEAN: Only that more Trek (and scifi TV) is never a bad thing, just bad writing.
Z. RICE: Despite some dark themes, there is a lightness in Starfleet Academy that I really missed in Discovery. I think Trek gives us the series we need at its time, and these are painful times. Star Trek can be both a mirror to reality and a respite from it.
DEAN: Just remembered something that amused me a little in the season finale. The speech that Mir gives toward the end, about finding a home at the Academy and meeting people who feel like family, taken out of context, sounds like he joined a cult. Made me laugh.
OLLIE: I mean… isn’t it a bit culty?
AVERY: For Koala’s sake, Ollie, it’s called “The Church of Trek” for a reason.
GC3: The biggest mistakes Picard and Discovery made were killing their big bad villains off. I’m glad Starfleet Academy realized how great Paul Giamatti and his Nus Braka character are. A Hero(es) is only as good as their bad guy.
DERRICK: This season introduced me to a lot of fun characters, really moving episodes and scenes, and a really nice status quo for the show to build off of. I loved how it was more often approaching the rebuilding of Starfleet through the lens of the cadets, the ones who will be leading this new Starfleet one day.
I want more of that. Let’s just explore the cadets and their place in the wider system, and how they will change it for the better, and how it may change them for the better. Also, not related, but if both Starfleet Academy and Strange New Worlds end up being the last Trek shows of this particular era, it’s interesting to think that they’re both at the furthest ends of the timeline, nearly a thousand years apart.
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