By Dan Skip Allen

Star Trek had had a long and storied history on television and streaming. It has been 60 years since the beginning of Star Trek on CBS back in the 60s. Since then, there have been many shows such as Star Trek: The Next Generation that spawned four stand-alone movies. The first series had six films. The franchise has been rebooted as well. The real strength of Star Trek, though, is in its long-running television/streaming series. Picard and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are two of the newer shows that have done quite well with fans and critics alike. The latest series is “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” and it’ll stream on Paramount+ like the last three ongoing series. Is it as good as the ones I mentioned? That is still to be determined. 

This series focuses on three main things. The first is a young man known as Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta), as the adult version of the character. He is separated from his mother at a very young age by Starfleet, and specifically Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) who accused his mother of many different crimes because she was working for Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti) at the time. Once mother and son are separated, the young Caleb Mir escapes and ends up running away from the law and Starfleet the rest of his life trying to find his mother who was imprisoned. He is seen 15 years later imprisoned in a penal colony still looking for his mother. As a captive, he is contacted by the now Chancellor Ake, trying to recruit him to the newly instated Starfleet Academy. Either go to prison for many years or try to better himself and get help from the Chancellor to find his mother. He isn’t exactly Federation material, but he is very talented in many ways, having had to fight every day for survival. He learns a lot about himself and how believing in others and teamwork can be a benefit. 

The second story point in this series is in regard to the Hunter character. She is a bit quirky and sits with her feet up on the captain’s chair and isn’t the normal straight and narrow type of leader in Starfleet. Fans will have to get used to this new type of leader. Her character felt she failed the Rosta character and many others all those years ago. She now feels she has more to offer the cadets at the newly started Starfleet Academy and the Federation as a whole. Her ways and teaching aren’t always easy to see, but they are given from her many, many years of her experience. Specifically, her relationship with the Costa character drives her to help him and the rest of the cadets. I didn’t necessarily see Hunter as a Starfleet Captain or leader for that matter, but she’s grown on me as the series has progressed.

The third thing that the show focuses on is the supporting cast, which mainly is the cadets in the first class of the new Starfleet Academy. The Rosta character is the main cadet, but he isn’t the only one the series focuses on. A handful of them are Genesis Lythe (Bella Shephard ), a member of the Dar-Shar race. She is the daughter of an admiral and the first of her race to attend Starfleet Academy. She wants to blaze her own path and stand on her own. Another cadet is Darem Reymi (George Hawkins). He is a Khionian, a new Alien species created specifically for the show. He’s a bit full of himself and very confident. He has a bit of a feud with the Rosta character and a seemingly romantic interest in the Shephard character. A Klingon student who’s attending the Academy is Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diane). He befriends the Rosta character right away because they both seem like outsiders in Starfleet Academy. He is hard willed like most Klingons and has family issues, specifically with his brother being better than him in his parents’ eyes. The last of the cadets I’ll talk about is Sam (Karrice Brooks), which stands for “Series Acclimation Mill”. She is a hologram character from a hologram species known as Kask. She is a bit weird and awkward but adds a comedic element to the show. All of the characters are different from one another and create a nice dichotomy with each other throughout the series.

This series, as well as other Star Trek shows, has a handful of cameos and supporting roles that aren’t easily seen by those watching but sometimes heard. The first is obviously the villain in the first episode played by Paul Giamatti. He’s fantastic in everything he does, and I loved him in this over-the-top villain role. He eats up the scenery all throughout the first episode. The second cameo/supporting character ID voiced by Stephen Colbert. He voices the ship’s operating systems and is heard many times off and on throughout the show. Another supporting character is played by Robert Picardo. Yes, you may recognize this name as the actor who played Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager. He is now playing a holographic version of his character and is an instructor and the current attending doctor at the Academy. Becky Lynch a WWE Superstar, has a role in the first episode as one of the bridge crew. She was a surprise to see to say the least. A cameo in the 5th episode of the series is Captain Sisco. He is a legendary character from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. His legend proceeds him. I enjoyed all the older series connections in this series. They reminded me of aspects of them that I loved in the past.

This series has various connections to other shows, but the stories lack the imagination of some of the other series in the past. The episode involving two feuding schools, Starfleet Academy and the War College, was funny at times but didn’t do much except show that even Star Trek can do college angst like many films in the past. A relationship between the Rosta character and Betazoid, Tarima Sadal (Zoe Steiner), came out of this and an episode involving her race joining the Federation once again. An episode involving SAM learning about Captain Sisco (Avery Brooks) was another one that showed the college experience and the craziness that happens at school. It’ll take more episodes for me to truly embrace this series as much as I’ve done with Star Trek:  The Next Generation, Picard or Strange New Worlds, but that’s fine because I love watching almost any version of Star Trek. Discovery hasn’t been one of my favorite shows thus far, but this one has some interesting elements and character development that I can get behind. 

Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy is a good show so far after watching only six episodes. The first episode was enough for me to get into the show. Hopefully, other Star Trek fans will find it as good a start as I do. Hunter wasn’t exactly the lead character I thought I would get behind, but she has a quirky humor, and her southern accent leans into that. The supporting cast aren’t filled with great characters, but I do like them and can see myself loving them in months and years to come as the series progresses. The writing is okay but not great. I guess I should have expected the college angst to be a big part of the show. Even though there is quite a bit of Star Trek in the show, I wish there would be more than just college type stories. A blooming relationship is a nice touch, but the Rosta character needed to be more explored on a surface level. His mother was a terrific start to that exploration. It’s probably a good idea not to rush the show along, though. I’m still very interested in where it’s going in future episodes and seasons if that indeed happens. 

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1 6/10 Episodes Review’d, which start Airing on Paramount+ January 15th

4 stars