Starfleet Academy Episode 1 Recap Go to school bravely

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers from the series premiere of “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” titled “Kids These Days.”

“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” comes off phasers right out of the gate, with a premiere episode that is not only among the best of the latest “Trek” series, but among the best of the entire franchise.

We open with a story from half-Lanthanite Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter), explaining the cataclysmic impact of The Burn, a deadly cosmic event in the 32nd century that took place during the events of “Star Trek: Discovery.” In the aftermath of The Burn, the United Federation of Planets all but collapsed, and some of Starfleet’s high ideals fell by the wayside.

Go to a remote Federation outpost. Anisha Mir (Tatiana Maslany) is accused of helping a space pirate named Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti) – part Klingon, part Tellarite – attempt to hijack a Federation food supply shuttle, killing the shuttle’s pilot in the attempt. Ake serves as the judge who oversees the proceedings and sentences Braka to life in prison.

Braka has a distinct, exaggerated, theatrical quality, something Giamatti loved to play. “He’s a bit of a ham bone,” Giamatti says, laughing. “So it was a lot of fun to do. The idea was to make him seem more of a buffoon than he actually turns out to be.”

Although Ake wants to be merciful, Anisha assisted in a crime that resulted in the death of a Federation officer. Therefore, Aké sentences her to a rehabilitation camp and separates her from her young son Caleb. Before being dragged away by the guards, Anisha yells at Caleb, “Don’t trust [the Federation]!”

Ake tries to comfort Caleb, but he quickly escapes Federation custody and strikes out on his own.

Fast forward 15 years. The now adult Caleb (Sandro Rosta) is a wanted fugitive who is still desperately looking for his mother. An epic battle on an alien prison transport isn’t enough to free himself, and Caleb ends up in lockdown.

Rosta, who is fresh out of acting school and has never done stunt work, says the show’s stunt team helped him through that struggle. “They helped me through the whole process and they knew I was into it,” Rosta says. “They knew I was game. So they let me do as much of it as possible, even hitting the walls and stuff.”

In the meantime, Aké has resigned from her commission and is living a peaceful life. But when she hears that they are reopening Starfleet Academy and want her to be the new chancellor, she can’t refuse.

She is finally able to track Caleb down and offers him a choice: join the Academy or stay in prison. She sweetens the offer by promising to help him find his mother, who she says escaped from prison a year ago.

Caleb, a perpetual lone wolf, isn’t too happy about being at the Academy. In addition to the San Francisco campus, students spend a lot of time on the USS Athena, a fully functioning spaceship that functions as a kind of mobile classroom. We also get a better sense of Aké’s leadership style, which involves a much more relaxed approach than a traditional Starfleet captain – lying in the captain’s chair, not wearing shoes, etc.

“My character’s name, Nala, means ‘water in the desert’ in one translation,” says Hunter. “I thought that was really fantastic for so many different reasons. I thought about water, not just to drink, but maybe also to feel. I wanted to be liquid. Then I also thought about being almost a cat, almost a cat-like energy, but also a fun energy. When you’re 423 years old, there are a lot of things that fall away, and the most important things stand out.”

Upon arrival, Caleb meets his fellow classmates, including: pacifist Klingon Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané), holographic (or photonic) Kasqian student Sam (Kerrice Brooks), driven Dar-Sha cadet Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard), and headstrong Khionian Darem Reymi (George Hawkins). Caleb also quickly comes into contact with Cadet Master Lura Thok (Gina Yashere), a half Klingon half Jem’Hadar, and with The Doctor (Robert Picardo).

The Athena begins its journey to Earth. Caleb uses an ancient subspace frequency that his mother taught him to send her a message, but receives no response. But when the Athena tries to investigate a space anomaly, they are ambushed by Nus Braka and his gang. They disable the ship using programmable matter, with Braka telling Ahke that they tracked the Athena using Caleb’s message. Nus demands that Ahke surrender the Athena’s warp core or risk the entire ship and its crew being destroyed.

In keeping with Braka’s theatrical nature, his appearance includes funky clothing, unique finger armor, and ritual tattoos and scars. “Earth pirates from the 18th century roamed all over the planet,” Giamatti says. “I thought, ‘Well, this guy’s been all over the galaxy.’ And I thought it would be interesting if he were some kind of map of where he’s been.

Devastated that he endangered others, Caleb tells Ake he can get the programmable matter off the ship. He and his classmates get to work, which takes up Ake Braka’s time. Genesis and Darem set out to collect programmable matter from the hull, with Darem’s Khionian nature allowing him to briefly survive in the vacuum of space.

At the same time, Jay-Den is forced to perform emergency surgery on Thok, who was injured in Braka’s first attack. Although nervous at first, Jay-Den manages to save her life. Darem can reach the programmable matter, but in doing so he is on the brink of death. At the last moment, Genesis uses the ship’s tractor beam to pull him back to safety.

Ake fakes a nuclear breach to get Braka off the ship, while the Klingarite reluctantly leaves. That gives Caleb the time he needs to rush to the tech and try to execute his plan. He is caught in a sneak attack by Braka, who provokes Caleb by telling him that he has freed Caleb’s mother from prison. The two engage in a knock-down battle, with Caleb ultimately emerging victorious and disabling the programmable matter. Braka jumps into a nearby escape pod and escapes.

Rosta praises Giamatti’s willingness to make room for him, despite the vast difference in experience levels as actors.

“That part of the scene where he hits my head on the console came from a suggestion I had at the time,” Rosta says. “I was like, ‘Man, if I hit your head on it and you hit my head on it, that would be cool.’ And Paul said, ‘We will. We fucking do!’ – and we did it. And that just shows how much he is willing to give me, a younger and less experienced actor, space for a moment of expression.”

The Athena arrives safely at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco. Caleb could very well be kicked out because of what happened on the trip, but Ake manages to convince the higher powers to simply punish him and let him stay. She and Caleb have a heart to heart, where she reveals that her own son was murdered in The Burn.