Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is REALLY good

[lizbee]

Thanks to my podcasting co-host's connections, we got screeners for the first six episodes, and here is my low-spoiler review as per the rules of the embargo. 

TL;DR it has a huge heart, and a series about rebuilding democracy and the infrastructure of a functional society in the wake of imperial decay and environmental devastation is exactly what the world needs right now. It overtly follows in the footsteps of Prodigy, as a jumping in point for a young new fan, and the relationship between Holly Hunter as the Academy chancellor and Sandro Rosta as a new cadet who is skeptical of Starfleet and the Federation (and with good reason!) is a real gift. 

I'm reluctant to commit to this, because recency bias is a thing, but it's absolutely my favourite live-action series of the streaming era (and you guys will recall that I loved Discovery and wrote a lot of fic for it!), and I think it's very possible I love it more than Voyager. Certainly it has the best opening six episodes of any Trek bar TOS. 

Comments

[kore]

Wow, I'll definitely be on the lookout for it!

(Disco aww.)

[kathleen_dailey]

Certainly it has the best opening six episodes of any Trek bar TOS.

Wow.

Thank you so much for this positive look at the first six eps. "Huge heart" is exactly what I've been hoping for. In the review, you mention that Holly Hunter's Nahla Ake "has experienced both loss and personal moral failure, which makes her a protective and thoughtful mentor with a taste for chaos." That kind of complexity (and contradiction) is really welcome in a principal Trek character.

Here's hoping that the writers will remain true to the premise and promise of the series.

[kelly_chambliss]

Thanks, Liz! I trust your judgment; I'll give Starfleet Academy a go. Like it better than Voyager, huh? Now that's an enticement to watch if I ever heard one. As if Holly effing Hunter weren't enough.

[thewormthatflies]

Hi, Liz! I'm a long-time lurker. Your Escapist Routes blog looks like exactly my jam, but I would really like to access it through a feed reader rather than an email newsletter. It looks like Beehiiv has an option to enable RSS -- would you consider doing this?

(Also, I'm glad you like the series -- I've been trying to manage my expectations, given how the other recent Treks have gone, and this makes me more optimistic.)

[lizbee]

Thank you, that's a really good idea! I've enabled RSS - https://rss.beehiiv.com/feeds/kRpxIt3a9m.xml

[thewormthatflies]

Yay, thank you!

[laurenthemself]

This is exciting stuff!