STAR TREK

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Episode 6 of Starfleet Academy was more exciting.

Yes. Unfortunately ep. 7 was not quite as good. I can see what they were going for, but they didn't really pull it off imo.

I think they still haven't found out a way to make the high schoolers dramas land when it is just focused on the high schoolers.

On the flipside, though hokey, I enjoyed episode 8 and how it approached trauma.

[garbon]

As an aside, is that character, Kyle, going to be the gay love interest for the Klingon?

They did go there, but I wonder if they are going to ultimately pair the Klingon with someone else given how they have done little to flesh out Kyle / let him be the butt of jibes.

[garbon]

I've been re-watching Voyager (I don't think I ever saw it all )

The Tuvix episode continues to be so haunting.

The plus side of new trek is that it's made me reevaluate voyager. I still think it's the weakest of the middle trek, but it seems better in comparison. Captain janeway still sucks though

Most recent episode of Starfleet Academy made use of my re-watch as they directly reference an episode I remember in detail because of said re-watch.

Also, so far in season 4 of Voyager, I think the suckiest character in that crew is either Chakotay (with his clear quest to have Janeway as his dom top) or Tom Paris (always the discontent, wannabe outsider).  I guess maybe I'd give it to Chakotay so far given all his 'Native American' references were approved by that fradulent consultant that the showrunners had.

[Syt]

Episode 6 of Starfleet Academy was more exciting.

Yes. Unfortunately ep. 7 was not quite as good. I can see what they were going for, but they didn't really pull it off imo.

I think they still haven't found out a way to make the high schoolers dramas land when it is just focused on the high schoolers.

On the flipside, though hokey, I enjoyed episode 8 and how it approached trauma.

Ep. 8 was great and I was thinking it should have followed the Miyazaki episode.

The part with SAM/Doctor could have been longer but it made me quite emotional.

[Syt]

As an aside, is that character, Kyle, going to be the gay love interest for the Klingon?

They did go there, but I wonder if they are going to ultimately pair the Klingon with someone else given how they have done little to flesh out Kyle / let him be the butt of jibes.

It looks like Kyle mostly seems to exist to make Darim jealous?

[garbon]

As an aside, is that character, Kyle, going to be the gay love interest for the Klingon?

They did go there, but I wonder if they are going to ultimately pair the Klingon with someone else given how they have done little to flesh out Kyle / let him be the butt of jibes.

It looks like Kyle mostly seems to exist to make Darim jealous?

That's exactly my thinking.

[HVC]

I've been re-watching Voyager (I don't think I ever saw it all )

The Tuvix episode continues to be so haunting.

The plus side of new trek is that it's made me reevaluate voyager. I still think it's the weakest of the middle trek, but it seems better in comparison. Captain janeway still sucks though

Most recent episode of Starfleet Academy made use of my re-watch as they directly reference an episode I remember in detail because of said re-watch.

Also, so far in season 4 of Voyager, I think the suckiest character in that crew is either Chakotay (with his clear quest to have Janeway as his dom top) or Tom Paris (always the discontent, wannabe outsider).  I guess maybe I'd give it to Chakotay so far given all his 'Native American' references were approved by that fradulent consultant that the showrunners had.

I always kind of liked Paris. At season 4 how long ago was his fake insubordination?

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I always kind of liked Paris. At season 4 how long ago was his fake insubordination?

Near the end of season 2. At one point, in season 4, he similarly starts acting out but, at least so far, they haven't explained why other than he wasn't happy...being happy?

[HVC]

Belona makes him better . I think she may be my favorite,  and even she kinda sucks. I think thats a large part of why I never really meshed with Voyager. All the characters are kind of annoying

[Syt]

Btw, the design of the Starfleet Academy atrium keeps reminding me of the library for the Vienna business university designed by Zaha Hadid.

https://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/library-and-learning-centre-university-of-economics-vienna/

[Syt]

Ok, the first season of Academy is over.

The pros: I really like the cast and characters. There were some really decent episodes (Come Let's a Way, Vox in Excelso). Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti were absolute standouts. Enjoyed the amount of Jett Reno. Not enough Lura Thok overall.

The cons: Some low episodes (Kozeine). Please, please stop with the "galactic stakes" for EVERY Star Trek show. Especially a show like Academy feels much better suited to keep the stakes smaller and personal. Have Nus Braka be a small time criminal maniac. I don't think you need these big stakes to resolve the conflict of Caleb - His Mom - Nus - Nala.

I'd give it 6.5 to 7 overall, with the better episodes going to 8, the lower ones to 6.

[HVC]

Looks like star fleet Academy is canceled. Season 2, which has already filmed, will be its last.

[garbon]

Ok, the first season of Academy is over.

The pros: I really like the cast and characters. There were some really decent episodes (Come Let's a Way, Vox in Excelso). Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti were absolute standouts. Enjoyed the amount of Jett Reno. Not enough Lura Thok overall.

Yeah totally agree. Even my husband who isn't much into Trek paid a bit of attention. Gina Yashere was criminally under used but then I only really know her as a standup so her more dramatic casting was always going to feel a little strange to me.

The cons: Some low episodes (Kozeine). Please, please stop with the "galactic stakes" for EVERY Star Trek show. Especially a show like Academy feels much better suited to keep the stakes smaller and personal. Have Nus Braka be a small time criminal maniac. I don't think you need these big stakes to resolve the conflict of Caleb - His Mom - Nus - Nala.

100% though I think it is hard given the Marvelfication we've had. Like audiences want smaller stakes but I also think sometimes they will complain if they aren't big.  I did think it was odd that they decided to go with Omega given I'd seen people online had previously suggested that Voyager's Omega Molecule would have been a much more 'sensible' way for the Burn to occur rather than as the result of childish temper tantrums.

That said, I also think it was weakest when just exploring the students so it was good they did some exploring / more standard Trek missions.

[garbon]

Looks like star fleet Academy is canceled. Season 2, which has already filmed, will be its last.

I honestly think that is okay and still would have been worth watching. Like I'm not sure as an audience we would get a lot out of exploring every year of however long Starfleet academy lasts diegetically.  If I think about another schooling universe, Harry Potter, part of its decline was that there was only so much you could do with a school setup without exploring the wider world.

It would be nice though, with whatever is next for Trek, if some of those characters could return like how Voyager's Doctor got to make a return.

Total aside but I really dug (but also understood why it wasn't explored further) the bit of horror they injected for the Doctor who is doomed to outlive anyone he ever cared about and thus doesn't really want to get close to anybody. Referencing his fake family from Voyager was strange though as I'd not have recalled that (and how 'heartbroken' he had been had I not watched it recently. Would have landed better if he had referenced how long it had been since Janeway/Seven had died.

[Syt]

I'm not surprised but I also think that TNG wouldn't make it past its initial 20 episodes in the current media environment. I imagine it was not a cheap show to produce, so it would need all the views (unless you are on Apple TV, I guess) all the time or capture the conversation in another way.

Oh well, two more seasons of SNW (hopefully better than the third's meandering quality) and one more of Academy. Unless they pull a Prodigy and don't plan on airing it unless it finds a different (well-paying) home.

I hear your comment about how much you can stretch out the Academy format. For cast, you can have the "old cast" graduate and bring in new classes every year. But it doesn't solve the other issue - many people tune in for the strange new worlds and Academy is a bit less easy to adapt to that (Athena notwithstanding).

Personally, I like the idea of a long term show that follows the career of one or small group of characters - starting at Academy, becoming lower deckers, and moving their way up with every season towards Captain or even Admiral. You could set it against the backdrop of 90s Trek - start around the time of Encounter at Farpoint and have the character(s) go through the Cardassian War, the Borg Incursion, the Dominion War ... kind of a Hornblower in Star Trek setting. Or you could set it in 32nd Century (or between 2400s and the Burn) if you don't want to be burdened with too much canon continuity.