Starfleet Academy: Kids These Days

We've recently been seeing the end of quite a few Star Trek series. (Certainly more than we should be.) But we're also still getting the start of new Star Trek series too, as we did last week with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. The loudest voices on the internet seemed to be preemptively grumpy about this show... but if you're here, you're probably curious to know what I thought of the first episode, "Kids These Days."

Young career criminal Caleb Mir is trying to find his mother Anisha, from whom he was separated 15 years ago as a young boy. Former Starfleet officer Nahla Ake regrets her role in that separation, and now has a chance to do something about it. She's been called back into service as Chancellor of Starfleet Academy, and persuades Caleb to enlist so together they can use Federation resources to track down his mother. But on the way to Earth, another figure from their past re-emerges: pirate Nus Braka, who is responsible for Anisha's arrest and holds a vendetta against Ake. For a group of new Starfleet cadets, the first expected to train on Earth in over a century, their first test will be very dangerous and real.

To internet complainers fearing some "teen drama"-fication of Star Trek, one can clearly argue that at least this first episode of Starfleet Academy is not that. (Whether it would even be a bad thing if it were that is a debate you'd never win with them.) That said, this first episode also doesn't quite make clear exactly what this show will be, since there's quite a jumble of contrasting tones in the mix.

One prong of this show sets a conventionally dramatic tone. Oscar winner Holly Hunter quickly asserts herself as a compassionate leader out to atone for her own mistakes. Her character, Nahla Ake, has lighter moments (like when she drapes herself across the command chair like a sleeping cat), but that's because she's no stick-in-the-mud captain of Star Trek past requiring two-or-more-seasons to develop. Her scenes with Sandro Rosta (playing Caleb Mir) feel grounded and important. And in the flashbacks setting up this story, we get another performer I love: Tatiana Maslany plays Caleb's mother -- and I immediately hope they do find her just so we can get more Tatiana Maslany in the show.

But when Caleb Mir is in a scene without Ake, the tone shifts a lot, to follow the quirky band of Starfleet cadets who are the focus of this show. I imagine that for many viewers, some of these characters are going to be a lot. The Caleb Mir we get in these scenes is as brash and pompous as Star Trek: Prodigy's Dal (and yet, not actually a cartoon character). Viewers who didn't like the bubbly bundle of nerves that was Tilly on Star Trek: Discovery will likely be repulsed by SAM, the "newborn" photonic life-form. Your reaction to Darem Reymi will likely depend on how much you enjoyed the movie Top Gun -- particularly, the rivalry between Iceman and Maverick, because that's totally what it seems we're getting between Darem and Caleb.

Still, from the brief glimpses that just one episode gives us of these characters, I find myself interested in several. I'm definitely into Jay-Den Kraag, a long overdue twist on a Klingon who gives us all the same sense of honor funneled through an interest in science. (Actor Karim Diané really has the "Michael Dorn voice" down too.) Genesis is a character I hope is destined for more than being one point of a love triangle, because she seems the most smart and capable of the lot. (And again, just based on one episode, Bella Shepard seems like the most natural actor of the young cast.)

Among new characters, I also think Lura Thok is compelling, because she gives us so many "first time ever on Star Trek" qualities in a single character. She serves drill sergeant vibes. She's a female Jem'Hadar. She's a hybrid of two different warrior species, that and Klingon. But she showed lighter moments and a sense of humor too, and not simply a collection of stereotypes.

But there's a third tone in the show too: that of Paul Giamatti as the villain Nus Braka. He's here to have fun and chew scenery, as though he watched Christopher Plummer's delightfully unhinged performance as Chang in Star Trek VI and shouted "hold my Romulan ale!" I think Star Trek could benefit from a new, broad, memorable villain; I feel like it's been quite a while since we had a good one. Still, words fail to describe just how big a performance this is. How well it works in the series overall may well be a factor of how frequently the character appears. We can only wait and see.

So it's a fun counter full of ingredients. (And I haven't even mentioned the return of The Doctor from Voyager, and Admiral Vance from Star Trek: Discovery.) Plus, it's all presented with modern Star Trek's sky-high production values, including fantastic special effects, huge casts of background actors, massive sets, and cinematic camera work. Where we go from here will depend on how those ingredients are combined into the stew.

I'm interested to see how these writers navigate the most apparently "stationary" show since Deep Space Nine. (Though that show did fine with the constraint, and Starfleet Academy has already established the ability to move if and when they choose to use it.) I want to see how these characters develop. Generally, I'm curious for what happens next. I give "Kids These Days" a B+.