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| We're Star Trekking Across the Universe! Always Going Forward 'Cause We Cannot Find Reverse! |
Welcome to Star Trekking, my blog space dedicated to Star Trek fandom!
Today's post, we're going to look at the season one finale of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
Paul Giamatti's Nus Braka is up to shit. Surrounding the Federation with mines armed with omega-47 particles, Brakka and his gang of Venari Ral thugs have the Federation boxed in.
A single Omega-47 particle mine can shred subspace for lights years in every direction.
And Braka has hundreds of them.
And the only Federation ship outside that zone of capitivity is the Athena.
The ship only has 3 occupants: Capt. Nahla Ake, Commander Jett Reno and the Doctor.*
*No, Doctor Who fans, not THAT Doctor. I mean the sentient holographic doctor played by Robert Picardo.
Well 3 occupants officially. Also on board for various reasons of plot are cadets:
- Darem
- He began the series as the cocky self assured dude who just assumes he's going to be a Captain some day by virtue of his social and political status. By season's end, we've come to know Darem a bit better and he's had the cockiness knocked out of him of few times.
- Genesis Lythe
- Like Darem, Genesis has a family pedigree that seems to mark for greatness. Unlike Darem, that background is less an asset and more an obstacle. She is compelled to earn her right to the Captain's chair.
- She actually has the conn and sits in the Athena's Captain chair and has the most unique reaction to the moment ever in Star Trek: "Wait! I think I need to pee."
- Jay-Den
- Star Trek's first gay Klingon.
- Or second if you count William Campell's Koloth from "The Trouble With Tribbles".
- Jay-Den has come far from his initial recalcitrance from speaking up and asserting himself. A unusual trait for a Klingon but his passion is less the way of the warrior and more of being a healer.
- SAM
- Our photonic lifeform had a very pronounced mid-season change to her status quo when her holo-matrix was damaged and she had to go back to her homeworld to be repaired where she spent 17 years living through an actual childhood and not the one programmed into her. (Time passes differently on her planet so the 17 years took a couple of weeks. And she was joined on her formative journey by the Doctor who became her Dad.)
- Tarima
- Our resident Betazoid has been through some shit this season. Unlike Next Gen's Deanna Troi who was half human and only empathic, Tarima has some super charged telepathic abilities even by the standards on Betazed. Which caused her a lot of grief and pain. And if she wasn't suffering enough, she had to put up with a relationship with Caleb Mir.
- And speaking of which...
- Caleb Mir
- Caleb did not begin this series on a good start with me, his brooding mad on at the world routine was definitely not an endearing character trait. But the persistence of his Academy classmates to be his friend, damn it, wore down the rough edges of his brittle personality enough to make him if not likeable, then at least tolerable.
No such journey for Caleb's long lost mom, Anisha Mir. She's spent 15 years separated from her son and feeding the fires of her rage at the Federation that seperated them.
So imagine her surprise when she's reunited with Caleb (Yay!) with a group of Starfleet cadets in tow (oh hell no!).
Not content with holding power over both the Federation and the poor hapless worlds outside their border, Nus Braka wants to humiliate the Federation so he snatches both Capt. Nahla Ake and Anisha Mir off the Athena. He puts Nahla on trial for the crimes of the Federation and makes Anisha her jury.
Long story made short, the cadets on the Athena (along with Reno and the Doctor) science the shit out of a technobabble solution to take down the Omega-47 mines.
But not before no less than Caleb Mir has to make a speech to buy time for this friends to get their technobabble. In front of an annoyed Nus Braka, a very proud Nahla Ake and a very confused Anisha, Caleb comes to the defense of the Federation and Starfleet.
Some comments about Oscar winners in the cast.
Holly Hunter as a very unique energy for a Star Trek command type person. Her Capt. Nahla Ake has a quirky sense of humor, a non-comformist attitude (she just can't seem to sit still in a chair) and almost zen like wisdom. She can summon some grade A Starfleet Captain intensity as needed but Holly Hunter is crafting one of Star Trek's most distinctive characters. And I very much approve of approach.
Paul Giamatti as Nus Braka approaches each scene like it's a honey glazed Easter ham and sometimes it can be a bit much. But there is no denying the heat Giamatti brings when Nus Braka is on screen. The word is that Giamatti will not be back for season 2 and I think that's a good thing. But maybe by season 3, we will have recovered enough for a return of Nus Braka.
And a note about our Emmy winning actor, Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black, She-Hulk) has a tough row to hoe as Anisha Mir. Her strident hatred of Starfleet and the Federation is completely understandable but she holds tight to that hatred even at the risk of her own safety and in defiance of her own eyes. She can clearly see that Nus Braka is a nut case loon with a self serving agenda but she still sides with him to find Capt. Ake guilty in his pathetic show trial? Still, points to Maslany for giving Anisha some nuance and empathy.
Side note on some legacy characters: The Doctor has survived the centuries since his time on Star Trek: Voyager and retains his flinty snark but has gained a lot in wisdom and compassion. His journey to becoming a father to SAM was a very compelling development in his character.
And Jett Reno from Star Trek: Discovery still amazes me as maybe one of the best characters in Star Trek with her wickedly sharp humor and her equally sharp insight into the human condition. Even in the desperate situation of the Athena being damaged and alone in space, Reno still manages to turn deftly the ongoing crises into teachable moments. It's a great way to get some scared kids to focus on not being scared and maybe learn something if they all survive this mess.
One last thing about a very distinctive "character" who is never seen, the Virtual Dean. Voiced by Stephen Colbert, the Dean provides clever details about life at the Academy with announcements about events, classes and other random stuff including the misadventures of the Talaxian furfly. "Students! Please be advised the Talaxian furfly is mating with itself. Does that seem normal to you?"
As was the case with Star Trek: Prodigy, I will admit that I don't think Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was developed with someone like me in mind but rather for a younger audience, to hopefully bring in fresh blood to the Star Trek franchise. Well, it may not have been created for me but I think ultimately, I really did enjoy this series.
Next week on Star Trekking, the Star Trek franchise stands at a crossroads with the current leadership of Alex Kurtzman and his Secret Hideout production company.
I post a look back on the Kurtzman era so far and what the future might hold.
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