Star Trek fans finally get the Starfleet Academy series they've wanted, starring Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti.
Glenn Weldon opens by describing the premise: Starfleet Academy has not admitted students for over 120 years and is reopening under Chancellor Nala Ake, played by Holly Hunter. The central cadet protagonist Caleb Mir, played by Sandra Rosta, is hot-headed, rebellious, and resentful of Ake, while the villain Bracca, played by Paul Giamatti, is described as scenery-chewing with evident relish. Regina, who has been a Starfleet Academy fan since childhood and owned a Starfleet Academy shirt, says she was wary going in but was won over by the improvement across six episodes. She compares it to Lower Decks in its energy and says it made her less anxious about her daughter going to college because all the cadets are revealed to still be essentially children. Joelle, who entered Star Trek fandom through Discovery and Lower Decks rather than the original series, loves the school drama genre and says she watched all six episodes in a single day. Glenn, as a Star Trek completist who skipped only Enterprise due to the theme song, offers a more measured assessment: the first several episodes suffer from pilot bloat where each character's defining trait is pushed so hard it becomes a personality disorder, but episode six is where the ensemble finds its rhythm. He praises Holly Hunter's work, Paul Giamatti's commitment, and the presence of Stephen Colbert voicing the school's automated systems. All three hosts discuss how Star Trek is America's Doctor Who: an IP franchise that can absorb tonal and stylistic shifts while maintaining a core philosophical identity. The tone is enthusiastic fan-critic discourse. The audience is Star Trek fans and pop culture media followers.
