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- SL Rez
- 2002
The first two episodes of "Starfleet Academy" aired, so it's a good time to discuss them a little bit.
Ok, first the setup: the show plays in the 32nd century, in which the Discovery has been stranded, after the burn. So if you are no fan of that timeline the show is not for you. Starfleet is busy rebuilding is busy rebuilding its civil infrastructure, and for that task the Starfleet Academy in San Francisco has been rebuild and will be opened again after a hiatus of 100 years. The academy now a sister academy due to the burn, the war academy.
So the show is about how this institution reopens and with whom.
As chancellor a woman named Nahla Ake is being recruited, who left Starfleet 15 years ago and since then a kindergarten worker at Bajor. She's a half Lathanide, so about 442 years old or so. Admiral Charles Vance convinces her to take the job.
Nahla Ake played judge 15 years ago during the burn on a case, where a young mother Anisha with 5 year old son or so was sentenced to thievery and education camp. The result was taking away the mother from son, which why she afterwards retired from her duties. Also she promised Caleb to protect him, but he ran away. Also later his mother escaped without leaving any trace.
Fast forward in the present. Caleb is now a very muscular, young and rebellious man, but also some kind of genius, who's desperately searching for his mother. Nahla Ake takes the opportunity to recruit Caleb to become a cadet at the academy, but also promises him to help him find his mother.
So Caleb has mother issues, and Nahla wants to redeem herself. Over time we meet more cadets, one is old Starfleet gentry, a woman named Genesis Lythe - with a new alien race, the Dar-Sha. Instead of head plastic she's got eye brow plastics. Genesis is very determined, courageous and wants to make her daddy, who's an Admiral, proud. So she's an eager overachiever.
Nahla Ake is also a very unconventional chancellor, because she often doesn't follow the protocol. She likes to walk around barefooted in the academy, to slouch herself in the commanding chair of her star ship, use unproper language and much, much more.
Then we've got a Darem Reymi, who is a handsome young looking man giving off rich kid vibes. So he comes from status, with lots of pressure and expectation. He's a khionian, another new race. His super power is that he's able to survive in space without protection suit for about 8 minutes. He's clashing fast with Caleb, because Darem is the exact opposite from him.
There's also a klingon named Jay-Den Kraag, who gives off very strange vibes, because he doesn't want to die in battle, but live a honorable life being a pacifist. His hobbies include observing birds. Jay-Den very quickly forms a friendship bond with Caleb.
And then there's SAM, which is a hologram created by a species of photonic life forms, which should observe humanity and learn from them. She's often quite annoying, and laughing when there's no reason to because she doesn't get the gist of it.
As first commander there's Lura Thok, who is a Klingon-Jem'Hadar-hybrid, however this might work out. Mostly she's playing an over-the-top drill sergeant, and often clashes with Jay-Den, because she's a very traditional Klingon something.
Also this cast is joined in 2nd episode by Tarima Sadal, a betazoid and love interest of Caleb. The 2nd episode is about motivation Betazed to join the Federation again. When Betazed split apart they have created a psionic barrier around their section of space, which isolated them from the rest of the galaxy. And this barrier was not breakable by technology. The isolationist prime minister of Betazed is not a friend of rejoining the Federation and dropping that shield, unless they do provide a heavily armed flotilla, which is beyond the capabilities of the federation right now. Later he though accepted, after Admiral Vance bribed him by saying the Federation wants to erect its now galaxy wide headquarter on Betazed instead of Paris, Earth.
There are also many cameos of old races, Protostar (the rock alien) and such. Robert Picardo has a permanent role as the doctor of the academy, so there's a lot of him in the series. Jett Reno teaches temporal mechanics. And an off-screen announcer is always making speeches like on a cruise liner ("This and that is now in the canteen. Don't leave academy after 2200."), voiced by Stephen Colbert.
Paul Giamatti plays the main antagonist so far, Nus Braka.
Anywaaay... critics like it, most viewers hate it so far. The story is too predictable, it's looking too polished and much stuff just makes no sense.
For example: in the 1st episode the ship is attacked by programmable matter. To get rid of it it needs to be scanned from space. Why? Nobody knows. Space suits are not working/available, so Darem Reymi is doing that job, risking his life. Which makes absolutely no sense when having a walking hologram named SAM around.
Starfleet Academy really looks and works much like a CW teen drama like 90210. It's a mashup nobody asked for, and working not so great in my opinion.
CGI also looks sometimes meh, especially planet surfaces and San Francisco. The 2nd season is already in production. Hopefully it's going to be the end of Kurtzman trek.
Ok, first the setup: the show plays in the 32nd century, in which the Discovery has been stranded, after the burn. So if you are no fan of that timeline the show is not for you. Starfleet is busy rebuilding is busy rebuilding its civil infrastructure, and for that task the Starfleet Academy in San Francisco has been rebuild and will be opened again after a hiatus of 100 years. The academy now a sister academy due to the burn, the war academy.
So the show is about how this institution reopens and with whom.
As chancellor a woman named Nahla Ake is being recruited, who left Starfleet 15 years ago and since then a kindergarten worker at Bajor. She's a half Lathanide, so about 442 years old or so. Admiral Charles Vance convinces her to take the job.
Nahla Ake played judge 15 years ago during the burn on a case, where a young mother Anisha with 5 year old son or so was sentenced to thievery and education camp. The result was taking away the mother from son, which why she afterwards retired from her duties. Also she promised Caleb to protect him, but he ran away. Also later his mother escaped without leaving any trace.
Fast forward in the present. Caleb is now a very muscular, young and rebellious man, but also some kind of genius, who's desperately searching for his mother. Nahla Ake takes the opportunity to recruit Caleb to become a cadet at the academy, but also promises him to help him find his mother.
So Caleb has mother issues, and Nahla wants to redeem herself. Over time we meet more cadets, one is old Starfleet gentry, a woman named Genesis Lythe - with a new alien race, the Dar-Sha. Instead of head plastic she's got eye brow plastics. Genesis is very determined, courageous and wants to make her daddy, who's an Admiral, proud. So she's an eager overachiever.
Nahla Ake is also a very unconventional chancellor, because she often doesn't follow the protocol. She likes to walk around barefooted in the academy, to slouch herself in the commanding chair of her star ship, use unproper language and much, much more.
Then we've got a Darem Reymi, who is a handsome young looking man giving off rich kid vibes. So he comes from status, with lots of pressure and expectation. He's a khionian, another new race. His super power is that he's able to survive in space without protection suit for about 8 minutes. He's clashing fast with Caleb, because Darem is the exact opposite from him.
There's also a klingon named Jay-Den Kraag, who gives off very strange vibes, because he doesn't want to die in battle, but live a honorable life being a pacifist. His hobbies include observing birds. Jay-Den very quickly forms a friendship bond with Caleb.
And then there's SAM, which is a hologram created by a species of photonic life forms, which should observe humanity and learn from them. She's often quite annoying, and laughing when there's no reason to because she doesn't get the gist of it.
As first commander there's Lura Thok, who is a Klingon-Jem'Hadar-hybrid, however this might work out. Mostly she's playing an over-the-top drill sergeant, and often clashes with Jay-Den, because she's a very traditional Klingon something.
Also this cast is joined in 2nd episode by Tarima Sadal, a betazoid and love interest of Caleb. The 2nd episode is about motivation Betazed to join the Federation again. When Betazed split apart they have created a psionic barrier around their section of space, which isolated them from the rest of the galaxy. And this barrier was not breakable by technology. The isolationist prime minister of Betazed is not a friend of rejoining the Federation and dropping that shield, unless they do provide a heavily armed flotilla, which is beyond the capabilities of the federation right now. Later he though accepted, after Admiral Vance bribed him by saying the Federation wants to erect its now galaxy wide headquarter on Betazed instead of Paris, Earth.
There are also many cameos of old races, Protostar (the rock alien) and such. Robert Picardo has a permanent role as the doctor of the academy, so there's a lot of him in the series. Jett Reno teaches temporal mechanics. And an off-screen announcer is always making speeches like on a cruise liner ("This and that is now in the canteen. Don't leave academy after 2200."), voiced by Stephen Colbert.
Paul Giamatti plays the main antagonist so far, Nus Braka.
Anywaaay... critics like it, most viewers hate it so far. The story is too predictable, it's looking too polished and much stuff just makes no sense.
For example: in the 1st episode the ship is attacked by programmable matter. To get rid of it it needs to be scanned from space. Why? Nobody knows. Space suits are not working/available, so Darem Reymi is doing that job, risking his life. Which makes absolutely no sense when having a walking hologram named SAM around.
Starfleet Academy really looks and works much like a CW teen drama like 90210. It's a mashup nobody asked for, and working not so great in my opinion.
CGI also looks sometimes meh, especially planet surfaces and San Francisco. The 2nd season is already in production. Hopefully it's going to be the end of Kurtzman trek.
