Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s First Three Episodes in Review
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the latest series in the Star Trek franchise, which, in 2026, will be marking the sixtieth anniversary of the first broadcast of The Original Series. With the new TV series set in the 32nd century – not long after most of the final season of Star Trek: Discovery – the story centres on Captain Nahla Ake (played by Academy Award-winner Holly Hunter), who is the chancellor of the newly re-established Starfleet Academy, and the first group of cadets to train to become Starfleet officers in 120 years. Are the first three episodes of the new Star Trek show any good? Are they as radical and forward-thinking as TOS was?
Episode One: “Kids These Days”
The first episode introduces us to many of the main characters, including half-Lanthanite, half-Human Captain Nahla Ake, who was involved in the sentencing of half-Klingon, half-Tellarite criminal Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti) and Anisha Mir, who was only aiming to feed her young son, Caleb. When the mother and son are sentenced, Caleb is made a ward of the United Federation of Planets but escapes, prompting Ake to quit Starfleet.
Fifteen years later, Ake is approached by Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr), who persuades her to rejoin Starfleet as both the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy and captain of the USS Athena. Ake then finds Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta), now a young man of twenty-one in the custody of the Torothans, and gives him the chance to join Starfleet rather than face death in a Torothan prison.
This episode does a lot of work in introducing us to the cast of both officers and cadets. They include the legacy character of The Doctor (Robert Picardo), whose most recent portrayals were in live-action in Star Trek: Voyager and in animation in Star Trek: Prodigy. The use of CGI to create the sequences in space is spectacular and shows how far CGI has come since it was first used in Star Trek in the 1980s and ‘90s.
Although this episode does a good job in setting up the story of the post-Burn Academy, I felt Gina Yashere stole the show as Lura Thok, the half-Klingon, half-Jem’Hadar Cadet Master and first officer of the Athena. For fans who remember Star Trek in the 1990s, Robert Picardo is a welcome addition to the cast, and I look forward to seeing how his character grows as the series progresses. A cameo appearance by Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) is the only thing that let this episode down for me, as I didn’t know who she was, which made me feel like I needed to watch Star Trek: Discovery at some point.
Episode Two: “Beta Test”
The second episode was a bit more fun and helped set up the tone of the show. This time, there’s no sign of Paul Giamatti as Nus Braka but the important aspect of this story is the negotiations for the re-admittance of Betazed to the Federation after a century of isolation behind a psionic wall following the Burn. In order to achieve their goal, the Federation has to make a concession which will help persuade the Betazoids to rejoin the interstellar organisation.
This episode introduces us to Zoë Steiner, who plays Tarima Sadal – the daughter of Emerin Sadal, the President of Betazed. Tarima Sadal catches the eye of Caleb Mir and wears an inhibitor. At the end of the episode, she remains on Earth but not as a cadet of Starfleet Academy.
The first thing that struck me about this episode was the use of sign language by the Betazoid delegation, including Tarima’s father, as surely this race of empaths are able to communicate both telepathically and orally. However, it emerges that President Sadal is deaf and, therefore, can only use sign language and lip reading when communicating with non-telepaths. The sign language is translated by a translation drone attached to his clothing.
This episode, for me, was a realistic portrayal of political and diplomatic negotiations. Zoë Steiner is a welcome addition to the young cast of cadets and a good foil for Sandro Rosta’s Caleb Mir. I’m sure Tarima’s inhibitor will be explained more in future episodes. In the meantime, Gina Yashere remains as funny as ever and we start to see her relationship with Nahla Ake begin to develop.
Episode Three: “Vitus Reflux”
This episode’s title intrigued me as to exactly what a vitus reflux was. I wasn’t quite prepared for what it turned out to be! Space Age Venus Flytrap comes to mind.
If there’s one thing Star Trek series excel in, it’s having an ensemble cast where different characters take the spotlight. Starfleet Academy shows promise in that regard in this episode. It beautifully sets up the rivalry between the Starfleet Academy cadets and their counterparts at the adjoining War College, which is where Tarima Sadal attends. It’s also an episode that allows two cadets to take centre stage, namely Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard), who is an ambitious Dar-Sha cadet, and Khionian cadet Darem Reymi (George Hawkins).
The highlight of this episode, for me, was the prank played on the War College on the orders of Nahla Ake, using the titular plant. The way it’s executed shows the beginnings of great teamwork among the cadets, each of them using their strengths to achieve their goal. It also gives them a taste of the hierarchy of an organisation like Starfleet, providing a moment of light-hearted comedy.
In Conclusion
I feel these first three episodes do a great job of introducing us, as fans, to the cadets and their instructors. If I was to pick a favourite episode among the three, I would choose “Vitus Reflux” for the sheer fun of the story as well as the depth it added to the characters of Genesis Lythe and Darem Reymi. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy shows a lot of promise and hopefully audiences will give it a chance before deciding if it’s for them.
