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Starfleet Academy - It's Happening
- Thread starter StarMan™
- Start date
Phil Collins
Sussudio
The Beer Hall Pooch
Well Known Asshole
StarMan™
Well-known member
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the thumbnail for RLM's vid!
Just finished watching. Over 350K views in under 24 hours to Starfleet Academy's 50K (which as you already showed, had a 12-hour headstart).
Phil Collins
Sussudio
This guy is a bitch made bootlicker who uses shitty liberal mainstream media faceplants to launder right wing culture war garbage. Franchise slop like this show and it's orbit of hate-peddlers like this malformed example of failed masculinity have a synergistic relationship. Between this dweeb and Tim Allen, felons are getting a bad rap.
The Beer Hall Pooch
Well Known Asshole
And his still life exhibit still pulled more viewers than the STA premiere on YT, so...
Colonel Kira's Left Tit
Bearded Belly of Bajor
Well then. It happened.
That's all I got.
That's all I got.
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
1.2 - Again, pretty good, and its heart is definitely in the right place. All the comedy in the first half of the episode had me a bit worried, but it did serve a purpose in humbling Caleb a bit. I would hope in more serious episodes they tone down that aspect. As in the premiere I continue to enjoy the Kling-Hadar - but I hope she doesn't end up like SNW Spock where every line is some quip based on her species.
The Betazoid story was good once it got going, I liked the ending with the Federation becoming less Earth-centric. One thing that was weird though was that they kept talking about the Betazoids being "empathic" and "sensing thoughts" but made no mention of them being fully telepathic and being able to hear thoughts. They never stated that they CAN'T do that, but from just watching this you'd think they were all like Deanna (who was only half Betazoid.) Maybe they will reveal that they lost their full telepathic powers due to some disaster in the last 800 years or something.
I don't get why everyone was so mad at Caleb for taking the Betazoid Princess to see whales, it's not like he took her clubbing and they did space drugs or something.
I loved the live action Rok-Tahk (I know it was another member of her species, not her) and the Exocomp continues to be cute and should be in the main cast (I find it a bit weird Brit Marling and Stephen Colbert are listed as main cast when they're just voices and barely in the episodes.) Lingering on "BOOTHBY MEMORIAL GARDEN" was too on the nose.
But yeah so far definitely not a disaster, sorry.
The Betazoid story was good once it got going, I liked the ending with the Federation becoming less Earth-centric. One thing that was weird though was that they kept talking about the Betazoids being "empathic" and "sensing thoughts" but made no mention of them being fully telepathic and being able to hear thoughts. They never stated that they CAN'T do that, but from just watching this you'd think they were all like Deanna (who was only half Betazoid.) Maybe they will reveal that they lost their full telepathic powers due to some disaster in the last 800 years or something.
I don't get why everyone was so mad at Caleb for taking the Betazoid Princess to see whales, it's not like he took her clubbing and they did space drugs or something.
I loved the live action Rok-Tahk (I know it was another member of her species, not her) and the Exocomp continues to be cute and should be in the main cast (I find it a bit weird Brit Marling and Stephen Colbert are listed as main cast when they're just voices and barely in the episodes.) Lingering on "BOOTHBY MEMORIAL GARDEN" was too on the nose.
But yeah so far definitely not a disaster, sorry.
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I just finished the 2nd ep.
Definitely like Lura Thok. I hope she makes more cadets cry.
I like Holly Hunter, but I was worried about her being the "captain" but she's not the captain, she's a teacher and that fits.
I'm glad the Doctor is still obsessed with opera!
Definitely like Lura Thok. I hope she makes more cadets cry.
I like Holly Hunter, but I was worried about her being the "captain" but she's not the captain, she's a teacher and that fits.
I'm glad the Doctor is still obsessed with opera!
Loktar
Internet God and Defender of Park Benches
I liked the Doctor's opera singing. This is annoying opera sing
Loktar
Internet God and Defender of Park Benches
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
I thought Holly Hunter was in her fiftes but she's 67, wtf. Also her character name is Nahla Ake, I should remember that.
So I’ve watched the first episode and I’ve come away with pretty mixed feelings.
For context, I dropped Discovery around season 2 because I just couldn’t keep going with it. I just had to tap out. It really wasn’t for me, which was a shame given how long Star Trek has been part of my life. Strange New Worlds brought me back somewhat. I had issues with it, but I enjoyed it a lot more than Discovery and it felt closer to the tone and discipline I associate with Trek.
I didn’t go into Academy hostile, or confused, or out of the loop. I've kept up with the lore.
I understand the 32nd century setting. I understand the Burn and the jump forward and all the hand waving that goes with it. I just don’t really like it. By the end of TNG and Voyager we were already stretching technology to the point where it was starting to dictate stories rather than serve them. Jumping several centuries further mostly just means inventing reasons why things suddenly don’t work anymore. Tech dark ages, selective regressions, etc. I get the hand waves, I just don’t really vibe with them.
Aesthetically, I’m really not a fan either. I don’t like the new ship designs at all. The floating nacelles look ridiculous. I’ve already mentally dubbed The Athena the USS Ladybits. I don’t care how many in-universe justifications are offered, it looks impractical and silly. And when the transporter fails in the first episode and entire parts of the ship become inaccessible, it just proves the point.
Classic Starfleet ships felt like you could actually operate them in a crisis. This feels like design for differentiation rather than function.
That said, even when I don’t like the choices, the production design itself is undeniably slick. It looks expensive. The craft side of the show is clearly being taken seriously except for one glaring issue I'll get to later.
Dialogue-wise, I winced a lot. Everyone enters every scene already armed with a speech. Everyone is witty. Everyone is sassy. Everyone sounds like they’ve rehearsed their lines in front of a mirror. It’s very try-hard. I love Buffy speak when it’s done well. This feels like a cheap knockoff version mixed with Marvel dialogue, where no one is allowed to be quiet or serious for more than a few seconds.
Older Trek let humour emerge naturally from character and situation. Here it feels pushed to the front constantly.
Before this gets misread, I want to be clear about something. The anti-woke outrage industry that surrounds everything actively makes it harder to talk honestly about these shows. There’s already been the usual campaign against Academy from the same people who make a living selling manufactured rage to idiots who think they’re enlisted in some kind of culture war. That stuff interests me not a jot. Sometimes they accidentally stumble onto a criticism I might agree with, but the place they’re coming from isn’t honest. It’s performative, monetised anger, and anyone buying into it wholesale is basically a mark. My issues with the show are not coming from that world at all.
Which brings me to Starfleet Academy itself. Representation isn’t the problem. It’s Star Trek, of course there should be representation. The problem is how heavy-handed it can feel, and how often it undercuts the idea that this is meant to be an elite institution. When we saw Starfleet training in TNG and DS9, it was made very clear that these people had worked their backsides off to be there. In this show, some of the cadets feel like they have no business wearing the uniform, and the writing just leans into that for laughs. Lines like “I swallowed my commbadge” are meant to be funny, but I prefer my Trek played straighter. Star Trek can be very funny without turning Starfleet into a joke.
The character writing is also very shortcut-heavy. You’ve got the bully character who is instantly a complete arsehole with no buildup, straight out of an 80s or 90s sitcom. Then almost immediately we’re told he’s actually kind of cool and it’s all a front. That sort of arc can work, but not when it’s speedrun in the first episode. Compare it to something like Ted Lasso, where a character like Jamie Tartt is allowed to be unpleasant for a long time and actually earn his growth. Here it just feels mechanical and writerly. Checkbox stuff.
That said, I didn’t hate the episode. It was watchable. I wasn’t checking the time or waiting for it to end. Holly Hunter was genuinely very good, and honestly she carried the episode for me. I didn’t buy her at all from the trailers, but in the actual show she brings authority, warmth, and a kind of calm gravity that the rest of the ensemble badly needs. When she’s on screen, things feel anchored. Paul Giamatti was clearly having a lot of fun hamming it up and that worked for me too.
Caleb is fairly cookie-cutter, chip on his shoulder but secretly brilliant, but he’s likeable and competent. I’m less sure about the hologirl (Photonic?). She could get annoying very quickly, though I did warm to her a bit by the end. If they lean properly into the dynamic between her and the Doctor, there’s potential there.
Bob Picardo as the Doctor was a delight, as always. He just understands Star Trek on a fundamental level and it’s immediately relaxing when he’s on screen. Is it memberberries? Yeah, but it was a very good choice getting him on the show.
Lura Thok was… okay. I personally didn’t have a big problem with the whole Klingon/Jem’Hadar thing. I don’t love the time jump in this series at all, but it does adequately explain her for me. It wasn’t eye-roll worthy.
One other thing I clocked pretty quickly is that I basically liked everyone over the age of 30 in this show straight away, and everyone under the age of 30 mildly annoyed me on some level. Yes, that is absolutely angry man yelling at cloud energy. I’m trying to grow. That said, this is literally Starfleet Academy, so that may just be an ongoing problem for me rather than a fatal flaw of the show.
One thing that really stood out in a bad way was the fight at the end between Caleb and Giamatti’s character. The direction and editing were genuinely awful. It was cut so poorly it felt amateurish, and I was honestly surprised it was allowed to go out like that. There were some really weird ADR errors as well. Nitpicky but noticeable.
Overall, I don’t think the show is a disaster. I don’t think it’s unwatchable or some abomination like some sections of the internet would lead you to believe. I also get that it’s probably not aimed squarely at me, and that Trek can’t just cater to older fans forever. That said, the way legacy elements are sometimes dangled in front of us as member-berries feels a bit try-hard too, Doctor excluded.
So yeah. I found it watchable. I didn’t love it. It rubbed me the wrong way more often than it got things right. I’ll probably give it more time, but so far it feels like another modern Trek show that’s occasionally fun, technically well made, and still slightly out of tune with what I personally want from Star Trek.
I'm not dropping it. I do want to see where this goes for the time being.
For context, I dropped Discovery around season 2 because I just couldn’t keep going with it. I just had to tap out. It really wasn’t for me, which was a shame given how long Star Trek has been part of my life. Strange New Worlds brought me back somewhat. I had issues with it, but I enjoyed it a lot more than Discovery and it felt closer to the tone and discipline I associate with Trek.
I didn’t go into Academy hostile, or confused, or out of the loop. I've kept up with the lore.
I understand the 32nd century setting. I understand the Burn and the jump forward and all the hand waving that goes with it. I just don’t really like it. By the end of TNG and Voyager we were already stretching technology to the point where it was starting to dictate stories rather than serve them. Jumping several centuries further mostly just means inventing reasons why things suddenly don’t work anymore. Tech dark ages, selective regressions, etc. I get the hand waves, I just don’t really vibe with them.
Aesthetically, I’m really not a fan either. I don’t like the new ship designs at all. The floating nacelles look ridiculous. I’ve already mentally dubbed The Athena the USS Ladybits. I don’t care how many in-universe justifications are offered, it looks impractical and silly. And when the transporter fails in the first episode and entire parts of the ship become inaccessible, it just proves the point.
Classic Starfleet ships felt like you could actually operate them in a crisis. This feels like design for differentiation rather than function.
That said, even when I don’t like the choices, the production design itself is undeniably slick. It looks expensive. The craft side of the show is clearly being taken seriously except for one glaring issue I'll get to later.
Dialogue-wise, I winced a lot. Everyone enters every scene already armed with a speech. Everyone is witty. Everyone is sassy. Everyone sounds like they’ve rehearsed their lines in front of a mirror. It’s very try-hard. I love Buffy speak when it’s done well. This feels like a cheap knockoff version mixed with Marvel dialogue, where no one is allowed to be quiet or serious for more than a few seconds.
Older Trek let humour emerge naturally from character and situation. Here it feels pushed to the front constantly.
Before this gets misread, I want to be clear about something. The anti-woke outrage industry that surrounds everything actively makes it harder to talk honestly about these shows. There’s already been the usual campaign against Academy from the same people who make a living selling manufactured rage to idiots who think they’re enlisted in some kind of culture war. That stuff interests me not a jot. Sometimes they accidentally stumble onto a criticism I might agree with, but the place they’re coming from isn’t honest. It’s performative, monetised anger, and anyone buying into it wholesale is basically a mark. My issues with the show are not coming from that world at all.
Which brings me to Starfleet Academy itself. Representation isn’t the problem. It’s Star Trek, of course there should be representation. The problem is how heavy-handed it can feel, and how often it undercuts the idea that this is meant to be an elite institution. When we saw Starfleet training in TNG and DS9, it was made very clear that these people had worked their backsides off to be there. In this show, some of the cadets feel like they have no business wearing the uniform, and the writing just leans into that for laughs. Lines like “I swallowed my commbadge” are meant to be funny, but I prefer my Trek played straighter. Star Trek can be very funny without turning Starfleet into a joke.
The character writing is also very shortcut-heavy. You’ve got the bully character who is instantly a complete arsehole with no buildup, straight out of an 80s or 90s sitcom. Then almost immediately we’re told he’s actually kind of cool and it’s all a front. That sort of arc can work, but not when it’s speedrun in the first episode. Compare it to something like Ted Lasso, where a character like Jamie Tartt is allowed to be unpleasant for a long time and actually earn his growth. Here it just feels mechanical and writerly. Checkbox stuff.
That said, I didn’t hate the episode. It was watchable. I wasn’t checking the time or waiting for it to end. Holly Hunter was genuinely very good, and honestly she carried the episode for me. I didn’t buy her at all from the trailers, but in the actual show she brings authority, warmth, and a kind of calm gravity that the rest of the ensemble badly needs. When she’s on screen, things feel anchored. Paul Giamatti was clearly having a lot of fun hamming it up and that worked for me too.
Caleb is fairly cookie-cutter, chip on his shoulder but secretly brilliant, but he’s likeable and competent. I’m less sure about the hologirl (Photonic?). She could get annoying very quickly, though I did warm to her a bit by the end. If they lean properly into the dynamic between her and the Doctor, there’s potential there.
Bob Picardo as the Doctor was a delight, as always. He just understands Star Trek on a fundamental level and it’s immediately relaxing when he’s on screen. Is it memberberries? Yeah, but it was a very good choice getting him on the show.
Lura Thok was… okay. I personally didn’t have a big problem with the whole Klingon/Jem’Hadar thing. I don’t love the time jump in this series at all, but it does adequately explain her for me. It wasn’t eye-roll worthy.
One other thing I clocked pretty quickly is that I basically liked everyone over the age of 30 in this show straight away, and everyone under the age of 30 mildly annoyed me on some level. Yes, that is absolutely angry man yelling at cloud energy. I’m trying to grow. That said, this is literally Starfleet Academy, so that may just be an ongoing problem for me rather than a fatal flaw of the show.
One thing that really stood out in a bad way was the fight at the end between Caleb and Giamatti’s character. The direction and editing were genuinely awful. It was cut so poorly it felt amateurish, and I was honestly surprised it was allowed to go out like that. There were some really weird ADR errors as well. Nitpicky but noticeable.
Overall, I don’t think the show is a disaster. I don’t think it’s unwatchable or some abomination like some sections of the internet would lead you to believe. I also get that it’s probably not aimed squarely at me, and that Trek can’t just cater to older fans forever. That said, the way legacy elements are sometimes dangled in front of us as member-berries feels a bit try-hard too, Doctor excluded.
So yeah. I found it watchable. I didn’t love it. It rubbed me the wrong way more often than it got things right. I’ll probably give it more time, but so far it feels like another modern Trek show that’s occasionally fun, technically well made, and still slightly out of tune with what I personally want from Star Trek.
I'm not dropping it. I do want to see where this goes for the time being.
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Watched EP 2. I think it’s fair to say the show has found a better footing than it had in the premiere.
The pilot felt like tonal whiplash. It played like a slightly jarring movie rather than the start of a series, with manic energy and Marvel quippy dialogue that constantly pulled focus. EGREGIOUSLY in parts.
Episode two calms its tits a bit. There’s still a young-adult sensibility to it, and it’s not like the writing suddenly does a complete 180, but the improvement is noticeable. The characters are less frantic with each other, the monologuing is dialed back (still there, but nowhere near as annoying), and scenes are allowed a bit more space to exist without being constantly interrupted.
The Betazed diplomacy storyline worked reasonably well for me. I was a bit confused by the sign language at first, but I honestly just rolled with it. I found myself quite happy just watching a straightforward Federation political problem play out. The Federation being desperate to rebuild trust, the uncertainty around whether Betazed would rejoin, that all felt very Trek. Why this is happening at the Academy is a stretch, but whatever. I also appreciated the restraint of not having some assassin plot or other MAJOR event sabotage it.
What did annoy me was that the show then insisted upon itself, like it didn’t trust the younger audience it’s trying to rope in with “boring” political stuff, so we get Caleb dicking around with his zip and being told off by Ake and the Doctor. Completely unnecessary. It felt like the show mirroring what it expects its younger viewers (if it ever gets any) might be doing.
What helped a lot too is that the Academy itself finally feels like a place. There’s a genuinely warm, almost cosy atmosphere to it. You can see the show trying to make this feel like a home base rather than just a set, which was missing from the pilot. I did find the heavy use of the golden, yellowish filter a bit overdone at times, but that’s a nitpick more than anything. The underlying intent comes through.
The Caleb and Betazed girl storyline is very much standard teen-romance stuff. They have a moment, there’s a misunderstanding, feelings get bruised. There’s nothing remotely groundbreaking there. But honestly, I didn’t mind. Zoë Steiner is absolutely gorgeous, getting serious young Anne Hathaway vibes, and the whole thing was light enough that it didn’t become irritating. It’s familiar territory, but it was handled gently enough to pass. Caleb isn’t groundbreaking as a protagonist either. The tortured past, the rebellious streak, etc. But he does pass one SUPER important line for a lead: he’s actually quite likeable.
Have to shout out Holly Hunter too. I really thought she was miscast from the trailers last year, but she’s been more than great.
There are still a few technical and stylistic things that occasionally take me out of it, but I’m also painfully aware that I’m a 42-year-old man watching a show that is very clearly also courting a younger audience. Some of that is just not going to be for me, and that’s fine.
What matters more is that this episode felt more like Star Trek than the first one did. One of my long-standing issues with nuTrek is that it can sometimes feel like a non-Trek show wearing a Star Trek skin. Episode two actually had some Federation optimism, some politics, some sense of building toward a future. Even though I still don’t love the 32nd-century setting, I do appreciate that it’s at least looking forward rather than tripping over itself with prequel canon, which I’ve never been a fan of either.
I’m not suddenly converted, and I’m not pretending this is peak Trek. It’s still a bit on the nose. But episode two was a clear improvement over the pilot and it’s made me a lot more open to seeing where the show goes next. I quite liked this one.
Also, completely random point, but I appreciate that Caleb is clearly about 6'4. As someone of that height, I have to acknowledge the tall gang.
The pilot felt like tonal whiplash. It played like a slightly jarring movie rather than the start of a series, with manic energy and Marvel quippy dialogue that constantly pulled focus. EGREGIOUSLY in parts.
Episode two calms its tits a bit. There’s still a young-adult sensibility to it, and it’s not like the writing suddenly does a complete 180, but the improvement is noticeable. The characters are less frantic with each other, the monologuing is dialed back (still there, but nowhere near as annoying), and scenes are allowed a bit more space to exist without being constantly interrupted.
The Betazed diplomacy storyline worked reasonably well for me. I was a bit confused by the sign language at first, but I honestly just rolled with it. I found myself quite happy just watching a straightforward Federation political problem play out. The Federation being desperate to rebuild trust, the uncertainty around whether Betazed would rejoin, that all felt very Trek. Why this is happening at the Academy is a stretch, but whatever. I also appreciated the restraint of not having some assassin plot or other MAJOR event sabotage it.
What did annoy me was that the show then insisted upon itself, like it didn’t trust the younger audience it’s trying to rope in with “boring” political stuff, so we get Caleb dicking around with his zip and being told off by Ake and the Doctor. Completely unnecessary. It felt like the show mirroring what it expects its younger viewers (if it ever gets any) might be doing.
What helped a lot too is that the Academy itself finally feels like a place. There’s a genuinely warm, almost cosy atmosphere to it. You can see the show trying to make this feel like a home base rather than just a set, which was missing from the pilot. I did find the heavy use of the golden, yellowish filter a bit overdone at times, but that’s a nitpick more than anything. The underlying intent comes through.
The Caleb and Betazed girl storyline is very much standard teen-romance stuff. They have a moment, there’s a misunderstanding, feelings get bruised. There’s nothing remotely groundbreaking there. But honestly, I didn’t mind. Zoë Steiner is absolutely gorgeous, getting serious young Anne Hathaway vibes, and the whole thing was light enough that it didn’t become irritating. It’s familiar territory, but it was handled gently enough to pass. Caleb isn’t groundbreaking as a protagonist either. The tortured past, the rebellious streak, etc. But he does pass one SUPER important line for a lead: he’s actually quite likeable.
Have to shout out Holly Hunter too. I really thought she was miscast from the trailers last year, but she’s been more than great.
There are still a few technical and stylistic things that occasionally take me out of it, but I’m also painfully aware that I’m a 42-year-old man watching a show that is very clearly also courting a younger audience. Some of that is just not going to be for me, and that’s fine.
What matters more is that this episode felt more like Star Trek than the first one did. One of my long-standing issues with nuTrek is that it can sometimes feel like a non-Trek show wearing a Star Trek skin. Episode two actually had some Federation optimism, some politics, some sense of building toward a future. Even though I still don’t love the 32nd-century setting, I do appreciate that it’s at least looking forward rather than tripping over itself with prequel canon, which I’ve never been a fan of either.
I’m not suddenly converted, and I’m not pretending this is peak Trek. It’s still a bit on the nose. But episode two was a clear improvement over the pilot and it’s made me a lot more open to seeing where the show goes next. I quite liked this one.
Also, completely random point, but I appreciate that Caleb is clearly about 6'4. As someone of that height, I have to acknowledge the tall gang.
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
Yeah, that was one bit I thought was going too far, then later when the same girl was saying "red alert, RED ALERT" too. I was expecting the reveal that she's some weird alien that doesn't understand anything. Could still come!
I'll just warn you the second episode has a lot of humour at the start but does develop into a decent story by the end, so you should probably like it fine (you don't need me saying this, really!)
Is it my preferred version of Trek? No, but I have accepted no one is going to do "exactly like the good seasons of TNG" Trek again. And really the tone here isn't much different than SNW. There's definitely enough I liked that I'm looking forward to the third episode to see where it goes and not just watching it out of obligation like Discovery where I watched the finale 18 months after it came out.
EDIT: You posted about the second episode right as I posted this lol omg.
You know me well!