Pod Insights Pop Culture Happy Hour Star Trek: Starfleet Academy About this episode Star Trek fans are finally getting something they’ve wanted for a long time, and it doesn’t disappoint. The new series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy takes place at the college attended by kids who want to become officers in Starfleet. It stars Holly Hunter as the school’s chancellor, Paul Giamatti as a recurring bad guy, and a roster of hot young cadets who have classes to attend and lessons to learn.
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0:19 Speaker 01 Star Trek fans are finally getting something they wanted for a very long time, and it doesn't disappoint. It's a series set at Starfleet Academy, the college attended by kids who want to become officers in Starfleet. You know, the folks who explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, boldly go where no one has gone before. It stars Holly Hunter as the school's chancellor, Paul Giamatti as a recurring bad guy, and a roster of hot young cadets who have classes to attend and lessons to learn, all while wearing skin-tight outfits. I'm Glen Weldon, and today we're talking about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.
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2:14 Speaker 01 Joining me today is Regina Barber. She's a host and reporter for NPR Science Podcast Short Wave. Hey Regina.
2:19 Speaker 03 Hey, I'm so excited. I love Star Trek.
2:21 Speaker 01 As do I. Also with us is filmmaker, pop culture critic, and iHeartRadio producer, Joel Menick. Hey Joel.
2:26 Speaker 04 Hey Glenn, glad to be back.
2:28 Speaker 01 Glad to have you. So, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy stars Holly Hunter as Nala Ake, a retired captain who gets called back into service to be the chancellor of the newly reformed Starfleet Academy, which is welcoming its first class of incoming students in over 120 years.
2:44 Speaker 05 You will learn the skills that shaped our greatest officers. Officers who began their journey to Starfleet Academy and went on to become legendary. Like them, you will learn to drink without limitations.
2:59 Speaker 01 That class includes Caleb Mir, played by Sandra Rasta. He's a kid from Ake's past, now grown up and hot-headed and rebellious. He resents Ake and Starfleet, and he really hates the space pirate Nus Braka, who let his mom astray many years ago. Braka is played with scenery-chumping relish by Paul Giamatti.
3:19 Speaker 06 Time, with its infinite sense of humor, will always fall upon itself like an origami chicken. Yeah, and this moment, Captain Ake, this moment is that chicken. In other words, payback's a bitch.
3:38 Speaker 01 Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is streaming on Paramount+. Regina, kick us off. What do you make of it?
3:43 Speaker 03 I was obsessed with Starfleet Academy when I was a kid. I had a shirt that said Starfleet Academy. I wore it probably every week of my undergrad. I wanted to be in Star Trek. I wanted there to be a future with no money and buck beds and regular meals.
3:57 Speaker 04 Yeah, okay, yeah.
3:58 Speaker 03 At first, I was, you know, a little wary of this show. I was like, how are they gonna ruin this? But we got to watch the first six episodes, and I think it gets better and better. It's kind of made me think of Lower Decks, and it's honestly made me less sad about my daughter going to college because they're still children. You know, my daughter's still gonna need me when she goes to college at 18. Like, all of them are still babies, and that's what this show is telling me.
4:23 Speaker 01 That's an interesting point. Okay, Joel, how about you? What'd you think?
4:26 Speaker 04 I am new to the Star Trek fandom. I started with Discovery in the pandemic and quickly became fully obsessed. It's a show my mom watched a lot as a kid, but I couldn't really connect to. And then there was a black captain. I said, I'm sad. I really enjoyed Discovery, but then I found Lower Decks, which is a
4:45 Speaker 03 Oh, so good.
4:45 Speaker 04 incredible introduction to the IP franchise. Easy to hop on, but they constantly are giving you deep lore. I love a school novel. Put the kids in school, make them fight against that school across the campus. And then also, maybe their teachers are mentors. Beautiful. Love the genre of this. When you cast stupid hot people in these roles, but also give me the classic Americana Star Trek vibes. If you're an old head Star Trek lover, you'll have it. I have a theory that Star Trek is America's Doctor Who.
5:16 Speaker 03 Yeah.
5:16 Speaker 01 Okay.
5:16 Speaker 04 Are the costumes and aliens sometimes way ridiculous? Absolutely. Does it have enough heart to sustain us another 50 years? You know it does. I loved this show. I had so much fun watching it. I've been to the first six episodes in a single day. I was like, no one talk to me. I don't want to do anything else, but just live in this world. I had so, so much fun. I'm really excited to see where they take this. I hope we get multiple seasons.
5:38 Speaker 01 Oh, I think we will. I'm excited about this too, although, you know, I come at this from as a Star Trek completist with a big asterisk. I did skip Enterprise.
5:47 Speaker 04 Okay.
5:48 Speaker 01 That's the only series I've ever bailed on.
5:49 Speaker 03 We all skipped Enterprise.
5:50 Speaker 04 Okay. Note to rewatchers.
5:53 Speaker 03 I didn't watch the original either. Like, I'm a next gen head.
5:56 Speaker 01 Yeah. I mean, like, the thing with Enterprise, I could not get past the theme song, I'm just that petty. And, and you'll see that some of my kubos with this series are just that petty. I'm gonna give this a shot, but I think early on, it's a little rough. The sixth one is where it got its hooks in me.
6:09 Speaker 03 So good.
6:09 Speaker 01 But up to that point, I do think it suffers from pilot bloat where they load up the characters with what they think are going to be their defining, characterizing traits that are so big because they press the gas on them so hard, they kind of start to feel like personality disorders. And they're gonna get abandoned pretty soon as, you know, the ensemble comes together and they figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the actors. Caleb Mir, in the beginning, is a hot-headed rebellious jerk who is literally too cool for school. Until someone tells him to do pushups. And it's like, well, that's not, I, I like that because if they stuck with that same characterization, he'd be unbearable.
6:41 Speaker 03 Yeah.
6:42 Speaker 01 The favoritism he gets in this show is rage inducing for a rule follower like me. It's not fair and I hate it.
6:47 Speaker 03 He's the chancellor's kid, basically.
6:49 Speaker 04 I loved it.
6:50 Speaker 03 Of course he's gonna get favoritism.
6:51 Speaker 01 I know.
6:52 Speaker 03 This is the real world.
6:53 Speaker 04 But it's also such a love letter to kids who have not had safety in their life. I really love when somebody calls her on that. You're protecting too much. Like, he's never had anyone to trust. He doesn't know how. We have to give him the space and time to do that. I thought it was lovely.
7:06 Speaker 01 Right. Early on in the series, they're also taking the air out of his tires. They kind of let him be kind of a fool and that's good.
7:11 Speaker 03 Glenn, he didn't stay just because of pushups. He stayed because a pretty girl was like, where are you going? And then he stayed.
7:17 Speaker 01 Sure, sure.
7:18 Speaker 03 Okay, let's be factual here, Glenn.
7:20 Speaker 01 I don't think it works. Anyway, okay, I'll get to that. But here's my kind of lightning round of thoughts.
7:25 Speaker 04 Okay.
7:25 Speaker 01 Holly Hunter as schoolmaster is hippie, who's got a fantastic office. Uh, I love that. I love her.
7:31 Speaker 05 It is an on you to control anyone but yourself. Our lesson. But not all opponents are enemies. And the more you play, the more they help you live up to your potential.
7:45 Speaker 03 It's very Dumbledore.
7:46 Speaker 01 Yet another alien obsessed with humans, but that's Star Trek. That's what happens in Star Trek and I'm fine with that. I do think the character's barefoot thing is pretty gross. The internet has already made a thing about how she sits in chairs and made certain, uh, inferences about that. I like that she gets to go toe to toe. See what I did there? With, uh, Paul Giamatti, who of all of these actors is having the best damn time?
8:10 Speaker 03 He's committed.
8:10 Speaker 01 He is having a ball.
8:12 Speaker 03 Literally.
8:12 Speaker 06 Tearing that kid away from the only family he has and then putting him in one of your uniforms reaches a level of sadism not even I have. Well, actually, there was that one time. Oh, well.
8:27 Speaker 01 I like hearing Stephen Colbert as the voice of the school.
8:29 Speaker 03 Oh my god, love it.
8:30 Speaker 04 It's very silly.
8:31 Speaker 07 Attention, all personnel. The mess hall is now open. Make sure to visit because sometimes hangar is the greatest enemy of all.
8:39 Speaker 01 I like that the doctor's back. He's been my favorite thing about Voyager.
8:43 Speaker 04 Yeah.
8:44 Speaker 01 The main set, I'm still processing it. It is giving upscale Boca Raton mall food court, but I'm okay with that. And every time I see, like, they fetishize this one staircase on the set. And I'm like, why are there stairs in the future? Like, right? We've eliminated disease, poverty and racism. We skip stairs? I think we should. Holly Hunter is gonna stub a toe. I think that's gonna happen.
9:08 Speaker 03 I think we want people to move, Glenn. That's why we have stairs.
9:12 Speaker 01 Yes, but there's transporters. I know, this is my inner Wally coming out. I don't think there's a lot of chemistry between Caleb and the Betazoid Tarima, played by Zoe Steiner. The writing is iffy there because at one point she says to him.
9:25 Speaker 05 I'm sorry I didn't tell you when I chose to work at college. I should have. I owed you that.
9:31 Speaker 01 My husband and I, both on the couch, just sat up and went, girl, what? You owe him nothing.
9:36 Speaker 04 After all we've been through in the past 24 hours? Yeah, that was a trippy moment for me.
9:41 Speaker 03 They're children. They're children.
9:44 Speaker 01 Understood. I think it's hilarious that they named it Klingon Jayden, played by Kareem DNA. I mean, Jayden is the most Yukon lacrosse bro name you could give an alien.
9:55 Speaker 03 And there's Jaden Smith. He's not very lacrosse.
9:57 Speaker 01 Sure, but like.
9:58 Speaker 04 Well, Jayden is also like a very recent name in human history. Like, I picked up as like, this is a black sports star and Klingons are always black folks. So I was like, this is.
10:08 Speaker 01 Sure.
10:08 Speaker 04 I have questions about our naming conventions here, but okay.
10:11 Speaker 01 Yeah, because I feel like they wanted to name him Chad with like three D's and an apostrophe, and they just didn't have the guts. People have been talking about the body diversity in the show. I love it. I mean, with the Caleb Mir character, they are giving representation to the crazily yoked community, and that's always good to see.
10:26 Speaker 04 They said, the gun show is here to stay. Put those abs on display. They were about it.
10:31 Speaker 01 Sleeves? We don't need sleeves in the future. And so you would think that with all these petty quibbles, that the needle drop in the first episode, the Rufus Wainwright to San Francisco, that should have kicked me out, would have kicked me out. Totally didn't. It worked for me.
11:01 Speaker 01 You know why? Cause it's, there's precedent, it's Star Trek the motion picture where you get those spaceship porn glamour shots of the Enterprise, only it's San Francisco.
11:11 Speaker 03 It's so good.
11:11 Speaker 04 And it's the school, it's Starfleet Academy.
11:14 Speaker 03 I know, it's Starfleet Academy.
11:15 Speaker 04 Oh my god, it's really happening. I didn't like the song. I was like, I just don't think it's the best rendition of that song. So I was like, I think we could have maybe picked a different version. But the, the reveal of the school, the fact that the ship was the school and then it's landing and you're like familiar with, I was like, this is an epic way to do the glamour shots in a new, I thought they were able to do that quite frequently of picking up the old Star Trek tropes and making them new and starting off with like, you're in trouble for stealing food. I was like, in a Star Trek universe? What's happening here? Like, food is free. It's like the main tenet of Star Trek and it brings you sort of back into the world in a, a really grounded way. And it also puts you in a place to question like
11:57 Speaker 04 Starfleet and the, the folks at the top and, and what's going on. I just, I love when we enter Starfleet with a captain who's disgruntled. That's my favorite start to any Star Trek journey. I'm like, oh, this captain's about to school all of you on morals. It's, it's really beautiful.
12:12 Speaker 03 We were talking about personalities and like the yokedness of these guys.
12:16 Speaker 04 Sure.
12:17 Speaker 03 When the Betazoid brother.
12:18 Speaker 01 Right. And about that Betazoid brother, he's played by Romeo Carrera.
12:22 Speaker 03 Yeah. I don't think he gets enough time. And I'm just gonna say this right now.
12:26 Speaker 01 Agreed.
12:27 Speaker 03 Like having somebody who's like over eager to like be everyone's friend and join everything and, but he came from everything. Like he, this guy had everything, but he, what he didn't have was love, you know? But, but I think he's hilarious. He's like, I'm down. In for everything. He's super supportive. Like, he's not that spoiled rich kid you'd think he would be. And I love him.
12:54 Speaker 06 Stop. I love you, bro. It's just pretty. Don't touch me. Okay, we'll get there.
12:58 Speaker 03 Yes, the acting isn't the best, and yes, they're children and some of their decisions don't make total sense. But they're children. Like, I want to say again, like, I think the show is good because it is kind of messy. The world is messy.
13:12 Speaker 04 I agree.
13:12 Speaker 01 All right, so you both mentioned the school setting. That's what sets us apart. That's what makes the show this show. I feel like we've been hearing about them wanting to make a Starfleet Academy series forever.
13:22 Speaker 03 Mm-hmm.
13:22 Speaker 01 Whether it's like Kirk and Spock at the Academy, you know, Trek babies, or various iterations over the year. It's finally here. Joelle, I know you're all in on the school setting. How about you, Regina? What does it add? Does it subtract? What's it do for you?
13:35 Speaker 03 I used to teach at a university. I taught for almost a decade. I really, really love the aspect of teachers trying to be mentors and teachers not being evil and not like, you know, like, when you're in college and people are like, I got that F because my teacher was bad. And I'm just like, 10% chance that's true. Because so many educators are really, really trying to help you. Like, we're not trying to fail you. Seeing this school situation and trying to, you know, help these kids figure out who they are, like, it kind of just brought me back and I absolutely love it. I see it from one side of being the educator and I see it from the other side, you know, wishing I had Starfleet Academy when I was 18. A long time ago, at the turn of the century.
14:19 Speaker 01 Sure. Joelle, say more about the school aspect, though.
14:22 Speaker 04 Okay, what really works for me about a school dynamic and storytelling is like, to Gina's point, children with no rationale or approach to any, it's just immediate, like, the conflict and also the hormones are at an all-time high, and that's really good for a plot. What I like here in the Star Trek universe is, like, you get, Star Trek, for, apparently people don't know, is like a morality tale told over and over again about like, What it means to be like a great human race, like how do we treat people and stuff? And so to then turn that back and reflect on the children as the children are the future, as Whitney told us, I think is a really like beautiful space that Star Trek hasn't given us a lot of opportunity to explore.
15:06 Speaker 04 This is such a beautiful like opportunity for Star Trek to look at the youth in a very concentrated, very communal way. I think that's new for Star Trek, at least on screen, and I really appreciated that element of it.
15:18 Speaker 03 Yeah.
15:19 Speaker 04 Are we at the point where we could talk? Because people have definitely been, there have been comments, news wise, about this being a woke Star Trek, a term that
15:27 Speaker 01 Yeah.
15:27 Speaker 04 confuses me when we look at the historical scope and nature of this show. I mean, we're talking first interracial kids on TV. Fanfiction in America doesn't exist the way it exists without Star Trek, like fandom in general.
15:40 Speaker 03 Yeah.
15:40 Speaker 04 And I think a lot of that has been like, hey, like, it's very queer, the fandom. Like, we were putting Spock and Kirk together day one.
15:47 Speaker 01 Right.
15:47 Speaker 04 Characters that a lot of people gravitate toward. People love Ora and the fact that she was just there and in like command. And like, I just think it's strange to me that anyone would go to Star Trek of all places and be like, this is too woke. I'm like, this is all they know how to do.
16:03 Speaker 03 George Takei is like, you know, queer icon too, you know, like as Sulu.
16:07 Speaker 04 Exactly.
16:08 Speaker 01 Yeah, and it's this suddenly woke thing that, I mean, just to back up a bit, a hallmark of Star Trek is diversity in casting. This time out, that includes body diversity as well, which has led to a backlash from some, including conservatives on social media, like President Trump's aide Stephen Miller. And it's like, okay, if you want to call it woke, call it woke, fine, but it has been woke from the jump. It had the first interracial kiss on American television. It's always been about a world beyond racism and sexism and xenophobia. None of this is sudden. None of this is new. It's baked in. And if you don't know that, don't pretend you know anything about Trek.
16:42 Speaker 03 It's ridiculous. The first season of Star Trek: Next Generation had men in skirts walking around. And so like, are we really gonna be freaked out?
16:50 Speaker 01 But to go back to the school setting, I don't care about fiction set in the school environment. I hate to sound like a network executive because this is the classic network executive.
16:59 Speaker 03 No.
16:59 Speaker 01 But I don't feel stakes. It's hard for me to care. I mean, they think the only property that found a cheat code around that was Buffy because it keyed into what you have to do. Because nothing in high school matters, nothing in college matters objectively, but it feels like because of those hormones you mentioned.
17:13 Speaker 03 Disagree.
17:14 Speaker 01 No, it feels like it does. It feels like the universe is ending. It feels like you're the only one who is feeling these feelings when everybody is feeling those exact same feelings. So Buffy said, we'll take those feelings, we'll literalize them. You got a show there. The world is literally ending. You are the chosen one with a unique burden. That is smart. That's worked, but I'm watching the first few episodes of this show and I'm getting a prank war and a sports team and a debate club. And yeah, they have characterizing, you know, ramifications, but they feel overlaid very schematically. There are times when the school sitting, I think, gets in the way logically, like sensitive diplomatic discussions about Betazoid coming back into the Federation.
17:52 Speaker 03 In front of students.
17:53 Speaker 01 Do not take place at a school assembly. That's, that's just dumb. And they've always have to hand wave around the fact you guys both referenced this, that, you know, every week, the plot of a school set show is they do something that bends or breaks the rules. Every week they should get expelled. Never, never are they expelled. This is the Potter problem. This is the Wednesday problem. But then in a sixth episode, we can't talk too much about it. The sixth episode, the bubble around the show shatters.
18:17 Speaker 03 Yeah.
18:17 Speaker 01 The kids enter the wider universe, the stakes get higher. But I'm telling you, if the seventh episode reverts to who are you going to take to space prom or whatever? I, I don't know.
18:27 Speaker 03 I would be all in. I'd be like, let's go to space prom.
18:30 Speaker 04 A thousand percent. I want to see the dresses. I want to know who wins.
18:33 Speaker 03 Me too.
18:33 Speaker 04 And queen. I love it. To me, the reason I really like a school environment is like, not that just that it feels like the end of the world, but like, it really could be the end of the world for you. Like not like, if you don't pass, like, not even like passes class, but like for our main character, like he is going to be on his own if he doesn't like fall in line. Well, he's in such a difficult place. And I think a school, a space that allows you to experiment, to try a lot of different things is a really great way to sort of explore a vast galaxy in a confined space. So I like that element of it. And I also think there's just something really special about. I think a lot about my high school years. Not that I want to relive them or go back,
19:15 Speaker 04 but I just think like, like becoming, like the idea of becoming, like who am I to the world, to myself, what I want to do? I just think those like really big questions are great plot fodder. Like they're really fun and they're fun to watch somebody discover well. And I think we have a couple of really good actors in here, so I'm hoping we can continue to lean into that. I also really wanted to briefly talk about casting of Tatiana Maslany. She plays our main character Caleb's mom, and I thought she was fantastic.
19:41 Speaker 01 Yep.
19:41 Speaker 04 They brought her in to do the thing she does well, which is break your heart. And I thought, like, having her here to open the world made me instantly care in a way that I think would have been difficult to pull off without her. And to have her opposite Holly and this, like, these devastated mothers going back and forth. I was like, oh, and again, like, this show really is about moms and their children. And like, how do we let them go? How do we bring them into the world? And also, what kind of pressures are the world putting against these mothers who are just trying to survive and raise good kids? Like, I think the complexity of a multi- galactic universe of beings trying to work together, simplified down to a mom and a child
20:25 Speaker 04 and a school, that really works for me. I like the big questions in a small space.
20:30 Speaker 01 So is there anything else we wanted to hit that we haven't hit that you wanted to make sure we brought up?
20:34 Speaker 03 I really loved Gina Yashere. She plays Laura, and she's half Klingon, half Jem'Hadar, which is really, really cool that there's like a mix that isn't just like half human. I knew her because her name is Gina and I'm conceited. And I saw like clips of her and I think she's hilarious.
20:52 Speaker 07 Cadet Krang, drop your gear on this idiot's back.
20:57 Speaker 07 Yes, idiot, back, back.
20:59 Speaker 03 She's one of the best, like, violent comedic. You know, characters in the show.
21:06 Speaker 04 I do love listening to her yell. It's so funny. Like, she's definitely like the drill sergeant of the school and the more like military minded, battle ready, you know, Klingon.
21:17 Speaker 03 But she's so such good friends with the chancellor and that was so nice.
21:21 Speaker 04 Yes, the back and forth of it. I'm I love a Klingon. And so I was like, really excited to see them sort of imbued throughout the show in ways to make them feel a part of everything as opposed to constantly being in a space of wanting to battle everyone. I think also Star Trek tapping into the boom of the romance genre. We've been shipping our Star Trek characters for a long time. Let them have sex. And they do. And it's great. And there's romance and intrigue and it's steamy. And I think more of this from our big IPs, you have to find new spaces to go if you're going to constantly be telling us stories. And so I think Star Trek, better than a lot of other spaces, has found a way
22:04 Speaker 04 to reach audiences at multiple levels. And I'm excited to see how they keep pushing that envelope going forward.
22:10 Speaker 01 All right. Well, we want to know what you think about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Find us at facebook.com slash P C H H. And a reminder, we're pulling back the curtain and letting Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus supporters sit in virtually on a live episode taping. They'll get to see how the show is made and experience this episode before everyone else. And we'll be talking about something Oscars related, which is one of our favorite topics. Anyway, it's all happening over Zoom on Friday, February 13 at 3 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific. If you are not a Plus supporter yet, go to plus.npr.org/happy. Again, that's plus.npr.org/happy. If you are already a Plus supporter, thank you so much. Scroll back in your feed to January 22 to learn how to register for that taping. That brings us
22:55 Speaker 01 to the end of our show. Joelle Manique, Regina Barber, thank you so much for being here.
22:58 Speaker 04 Thank you, Glenn.
22:59 Speaker 03 Thank you. Kapla.
23:01 Speaker 01 This episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Kayla Atamore, and edited by Mike Kadsup. Our showrunner is Jessica Ritty. And Hello, Come In provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Glen Weldon, and we'll see you all next time.
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