IR TV Review: STAR TREK - STARFLEET ACADEMY - EPISODES 1 & 2 [Paramount+]
Creating a "Starfleet Academy" show presents its challenges but also some interesting ideas. Born out of the end of "Star Trek: Discovery", this show functions a little more on the ground though from the get go it does set up its arc behind the implementation of Holly Hunter as Nahla Ake and Sandro Rosta as Caleb Mir. It is a brief set up but ones that works. It interestingly enough has a nice balance of what we saw of the Jedi School in the prequels. The difference is the hormones, more flaws and an approach that keys outside the rules. Hunter anchors the show and she has a very specific personality as the leader of sorts here that is really unseen as any other. The way she sits on her chair, her cadence, her stature...it all feels very lived in, versus say Scott Bakula who, while good as Archer on "Enterprise" was, always felt like his delivery was performing on stage and thereby in a sense more artificial. Hunter's arch is the first episode seems a bit rushed but understandable considering the time jump that does happen.
The base point that was released in the five minute teaser is part of a larger context does make sense but its purpose is setting up the actual working structure of problem solving for the academy but also integrates the aspect of Paul Giamatti's character which is less central perhaps at the beginning but yet very prevalent in the opening aspects. Watching the two of them go at each other, one can see how much fun they are having. Like Michelle Yeoh, Hunter understands the play of this world. Oded Fehr provides the continuity in play from Discovery understanding his role but not overplaying it. Mir is the key rebellious one of the cadets for obvious reasons but the build of the characters around him is good if not a little bit too diversified. But that is part of what the story is about: bringing back a lot of different species especially after The Burn. There is even a couple easter eggs on the corner of the frame though we will see if it is actually acknowledged.
The second episode builds from this, establishing the element of San Francisco and yet the balance of where it comes from to where it is going is very specific. Though it is not completely clear it seems that Brit Marling might be playing a character that harks back to TNG in the best way and creates that element of the cadets with an outside source. This is not 90210 like most people are talking about. There is a little more profanity and flaunting of regulations but that balance is to be understood and does make sense overall. The Doctor is back and though it doesn't quite talk to what he has seen in the centuries since, it does give reason and Picardo is in same form, although a bit more seasoned. Tig Notaro does show up as a professor and like the Jedi reference it works because all the people teaching have seen action but the students need to come to understand that (and they will).
The crux on the second episode makes sense and is key to the Federation rebuilding itself. Again the balance of Hunter centers this series. She is its guiding star so even as there are some wobbly narrative elements, her focus really keeps it in play and hopefully this is a season of exploration and not overt strife. That is what this series needs. It has a certain feeling to it but it needs to run against expectations. Alex Kurtzman directs the first two episodes so he has a good consideration of what he is trying to accomplish. It is just a matter of how it all works out. The concepts of the needs of the many versus the one plays really specific and one can see harks back to it. It is just a matter of the progression of writing and the end game for the season while not working too much for trauma against the idea of inspiration. Episode 1: A- Episode 2: B+
By Tim Wassberg
