Star Trek Starfleet Academy - Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2 Thoughts And Things

Traditionally, the first paragraph of a review attempts to establish the writer’s bona fides, to explain why the reader should bother listening to their opinion at all. For long-running franchises, this often takes the form of the author talking about the first time they encountered it - typically a story from their youth meant to demonstrate that they’ve been around long enough to be taken seriously. Sometimes there’s trivia baked in as well: nothing too obscure, nothing too mainstream. Information just niche enough to signal that they’re hip, that they get “it,” that they are an Authority.

You know. Gatekeeping.

I’m not going to waste your time with that. Instead, I’ll waste your time explaining what I won’t waste your time with, because that’s different, and it challenges the status quo.

Much like this weird little opening, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy starts off a little rough, but ultimately does something unique with Trek - something new for the franchise. It’s a bit weird. But it’s different. And, I think, it’s good.

The first episode does a pretty decent job of setting up the series, doing all the things a first episode tends to do. It quickly establishes the setting (future times), introduces our primary protagonists and their backstories (cartoonish villain, Captain Teacher Mom, The Motivated Rebel), as well as our supporting characters (The Sassy Rogue, The New BFF, Asshole Number Two, Sam), and away we go. Things happen. Stakes are raised. People rise to the occasion. The villain escapes by the skin of his teeth like all good Saturday morning cartoon villains should.

The second episode leans more into world-building (specifically, rebuilding the world), introduces a few more characters, and suggests that while The Main Quest will be woven throughout the series, it won’t be the primary focus of every episode. I know you shouldn’t draw conclusions from just two data points, but it looks like they may have figured out how to do standalone episodes again, and I’m all for it.

Although the first episode starts out in that overly dramatic, weirdly lit, gritty, dark way many episodes of Discovery were written and shot, about halfway through the tone shifts to something significantly lighter and more fun. The characters are having fun. Some of them are feeling genuine awe and joy. And there are even jokes. Like, good jokes. Funny jokes. Things that made me actually laugh while watching.

There’s a lot going on in the background of almost every group shot, filled with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it references to past Trek. Considering this is the face of the 60th anniversary, I think that’s earned. These references feel more organic - more true to the world - than the extremely specific references Lower Decks was famous for. To me, Starfleet Academy uses them as world-building as seasoning, not as the whole point.

Overall, I’m in. I like these characters, and in only two episodes several of them—even ones who aren’t main protagonists - are already showing real growth.

Hell, since the first two episodes are free on YouTube in most regions (if you’ve got a VPN, you’re in most regions), why not give it a shot?