Today's Episode
We watched it. Every episode covers the latest installment(s) of a different TV show.
Today's Episode
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (S01E01-02)
Star Trek is back with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, a 32nd-century reset that follows a fresh class of cadets as the Federation tries to rebuild in the shadow of “the Burn.” We break down the 75-minute pilot, "Kids These Days," and episode 2, “Beta Test,” covering the new crew (Caleb, Darum, Genesis, Jaden, Tarima, and AI cadet Sam, and Holly Hunter in command with Paul Giamatti as the season villain. We also get into our comparisons, what works, what doesn’t, ratings, and production/franchise trivia. Tune in and Welcome to Today's Episode!
Welcome to today's episode, the podcast where we discuss the most recent installments of a different series every show. It is Friday, January 16th. We're still in the winter. Star Trek is out, Star Trek Starfleet Academy. The last time we talked about a Star Trek show, I think it was Strangers or something like that. Strange New World. Strange New World. And then before that, we skipped Discovery, but we did not Clone Wars, Lower Decks. Lower Decks. Thank you. You had a better memory than I do. Out of all the Star Trek characters, there's a billion different species, right? But out of the main ones, human, Vulcan, Klingon, or just AI, what would you want to be?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think that the humans are the coolest. In fact, I even remember dressing up as Captain Kirk for like my freshman year Halloween costume.
SPEAKER_00:It's such a short lifespan, though. They're like every other race that they introduce has like 400 years, or even the augmented humans, like Khan. Khan was an augmented human and he lived way longer. They're stronger. It's like all these other species have different things that like the Vulcans, they have the mind meld, they have that like knockout punch thing. Klingons, they look ugly as heck, but they're like super quick at um regenerating themselves. They also seem super smart. They're tough. Yeah, they're smart. And then AI, of course. Did you know that uh uh who plays the main bad guy in this? Paul Giamatti. Paul Giamani. He is actually only half Klingon. Oh, I didn't know. Us is only half Klingon. But yeah, and then AI, I think I would go with the AI um because of uh uh it being able to last forever. Right, which still seems to keep its own personality.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, it would I think be the best for like problem solving.
SPEAKER_00:So out of out of those, which one which one were you choosing?
SPEAKER_01:I'm still picking the human because I think that and I'm only basing that off of the three Star Trek movies that came out in like 2009. So all three in theaters. And again, I think Chris Pine is Captain Kirk was my favorite. So like if I could pick a human from that fleet, it would be a good one. But he's dead now, right? Not in the not in the Star Trek movies, no. Well, I mean, he died. It's what this takes place in the 32nd century. He's not still alive. Well, they don't mention Captain Kirk. This isn't like a Legend of Cora situation where they mention Captain Kirk in Star Fleet Academy.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it's very much a Legend of Cora situation because they are constantly throwing in references that you probably didn't understand because you didn't see Voyager or Star Trek New Generation or Next Generation.
SPEAKER_01:Interesting because I know that the last film for Star Trek came out in 2016, Star Trek Beyond, but I don't think that like the craze of Star Trek or kind of the renewed interest in Star Trek really happened until Discovery, despite the mixed reviews it had back in like 2017.
SPEAKER_00:The the thing about uh Star Trek now, though, is that with the Skydance merger, they scrapped the idea of any sort of return of Pine and Quinto and Hemsworth. And instead they're doing like a Ryan Reynolds like Mayday movie, uh where him and the guy who did, or the people who did um Dungeons and Dragons, that movie, yeah, they're they're teaming up to do some sort something in the Star Trek world.
SPEAKER_01:So Ryan Reynolds is going to be in the Star Trek world. You know, it's always the strangest names. I remember Quentin Tarantino for the longest time. I think even in the late like 2010s, was even still trying to make that Star Trek film he's wanted to make for like decades now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Last year, 2025, we only did two space sci-fi's. Uh you know where they are just off the top of your head. I would imagine one was Star Wars. Alien, there was no Star Wars, and then Murderbot. And uh, and so those were those two. And out of what this show reminds me of more is it's about the Academy, right? So Gen V, Hogwarts, Percy Jackson, the Institute, those are shows about kids. Uh, but the way that this is marketed, it feels like they're playing it cute because they're also going with like, oh, Holly Hunter's in this. And uh again, the bad guy's name. And Paul Giamatti. Paul Giamani's in it. And uh, yeah, we're gonna be returning a lot of people from other shows.
SPEAKER_01:It feels like I yeah, yeah. I know that like comparing Star Trek and Star Wars, that's probably gonna get people for anybody. Yeah, just don't do that. Let's skip over that point. Well, it's just the Star Wars, the Clone Wars. I mean, I know that that focused a lot on how stormtroopers became stormtroopers. And here it feels like they're doing the same thing on like how people became pilots or something.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's more like they're recovering because obviously they changed something in discovery. It's called the burn. Uh you probably heard it a few times a year.
SPEAKER_01:They they referenced it so much in the first two episodes.
SPEAKER_00:The cataclysmic event where, like, just imagine everything goes kablooey and uh the Federation breaks up, which is like the main government of everywhere, and and now they're like everywhere went to war for a while. And so obviously the academy was transitioned into like a war academy. So there's like a college war, and now you're going to have these people who are diplomats trying to recreate the academy while at the same time there's also the war school, and they're going to be sort of rivals. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Okay. But even though you've mentioned all those uh like shows before, I would actually compare this mostly to the Breakfast Club. And I okay, I was going to ask you if you can name maybe not the names of the characters, but kind of the arch types that the Breakfast Club has. Because they're the same. I had him listed as the ringleader, but yeah, that's Caleb Mir and here. And you have the Jock. Yeah. And then the Jock I would say was kind of like the bully in this show, Darum Raimi. He's uh Keanuan and he's kind of like Mystique. He has Mystique's power where he like can shift into a different, like almost alien type uh form. And he he's the only person that's actually able to breathe in space. So they send him out uh side the ship in the first episode. They have like a change lane? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Okay, that's cool. Uh, and then there's the it girl. The it girl, yeah. I would say that's Genesis. She's the daughter of an admiral in this episode, but also I feel like she's supposed to be there, may be a love triangle. In fact, that's where I thought that it was going to go with Caleb and Darum, but it seems like Caleb's going to be more interested in a girl I meet in a second episode called Tarima. But yes, there was the it girl, and then who else?
SPEAKER_00:Uh oh yeah, and then the goth, like uh, I guess loner. Yeah, and the goth loner I didn't really have as anyone. That's fair. Do you concentrate more on the kids in the first episode, or is it more about Holly Hunter and Paul Gigamani?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I thought that it was going to be because the first episode is where you focus more on the kids. 75 minutes. I thought that it was going to be like a Guardians of the Galaxy situation where we were going to continually each episode see them kind of work together. In fact, that was probably my favorite part of the first episode, but actually, that's not what happens in the second episode. In fact, I don't really know what they're going to be doing because we really only get a good sense of the group in the first episode.
SPEAKER_00:Right. The pilot is the thing that's supposed to set everything up. So I can understand why they treated it more like a movie. Um, Holly Hunter described it as winning the lottery, and Paul Giamani, he was like pushing to be in this series. He they offered him a guest role and he said, No, I want to be the major villain. And uh he said he was happy as a pig and shit. And it's like no, that that's all that expression gets to me because it's like pigs don't like shit. Pigs like to root around for maybe had he said mud, because pigs like mud. They like I think pigs like to be clean. I think they're smart enough that they they like being clean. Holly Hunter stereotype.
SPEAKER_01:Holly Hunter, though, for Nala Ake, I actually had her listed as as the principal in the Breakfast Club because she's maybe not as hardcore, but she is the one that's like. You think it's the principal that John Hughes has like Well, I'm saying I she's the recruiter in this show, and I'm saying she's more giving the orders.
SPEAKER_00:So that's I would say that Holly, like I hear her voice, and it's Mrs. Incredible, which is the person who plays Caleb. She he said the same thing um when they did interviews with him. Academy shows, this isn't like the first time that they've been thrown out there. In 1968, they actually wanted to do something with the original cast where they had like a Spock and Kirk prequel. Um, they were thinking about getting like Leonard Nimoy and uh Well, I think they probably would have shown up at some point. Well, yeah, it was it was just dumb. It was like Monsters University, you know? Yes. Right. They would just be headed to school together. Gene Roddenberry, yeah. And so kind of what we see in 2009, because they do show a little bit of the academy, but Kirk has always got that like smug attitude problem, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, and I I remember that was the first time I was introduced to Star Trek in 2009, and I didn't remember what I thought about it at the time until like a year later, I was kind of going through a journal that I had kept and I had listed it as my favorite movie of 2009. Star Trek into Darkness. I remember I really liked the sequel to that. I saw it two times in theaters. It was actually a graduation gift once I graduated eighth grade. And then even when I went on a digital, I remember I showed it to my dad. And so I think that was my favorite uh film of 2013 as well. So both the first two were my favorite films of that year. And then Star Trek Beyond, I also saw in theaters. I remember that I think was my least favorite of the trilogy because I felt like it was more like a filler movie where it kind of was just like an episode where they're all stranded in different parts of this planet until they all have to come together and defeat.
SPEAKER_00:When I was coming up with like what would you rather be? I was thinking about adding some of those kind of like strange species. And I think the people of that planet had like their own name. I'm glad that you gave like a little breakdown that's basically showing that you are not a huge Trekkie. Like you know the three films, but that's about it. Yes. And then same for me. I know even less of the films because I may or may not have seen the I don't think you saw the last one. Yeah, I don't even remember if I saw the last one. But what they keep on preaching with this show is that it's supposed to be sort of a reinvention for new fans, for old fans. Um, and it kind of to me reminded me honestly of like Doctor Who Meets Lower Decks. Because I did see a few lower decks episodes, but like it do you prefer the dark Star Trek world like type of storylines, or do you prefer like the light-hearted one?
SPEAKER_01:Normally, and so here I know that this is supposed to kind of be more wholesome than some of the other uh series.
SPEAKER_00:However, like they've also compared it to like a CW version of it. And I know in the second episode they do lean into more CW themed, uh, but but they had like a version of this show that was after the 1968 one that we talked about, Monsters University version. They had Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the people behind Gossip Girl, the OC, they were developing a younger viewing uh audience for a Starfleet Academy project in 2018. That one got scrapped. So this one is actually like the third version. And you got Alex Kurtzman, whose contract is due this year. He's been a very polarizing figure in the Star Trek universe because he's created all these different shows. Some of them have been successful. Some of them start off with like major problems. Like I remember when we were talking about uh lower decks, you said it had like a 5.6. Now it has like a 7.8. I was shocked to see Strange. Stranger World has like an 8.2 a card. Like all these different shows tend to like I've I guess they find their audience in the end. Yeah. However, you still have some haters out there who are like, this isn't enough close to what I uh the original types of series, and also this feels too cheesy. I I do feel like these are very cheesy programs. Like I don't think I could sit down and watch it. But if I had a kid that I was sharing that with, absolutely, you know? Yeah. Um, and there were definitely moments in the pilot from what I was seeing that were shot, like they they had a budget here. They have act actors.
SPEAKER_01:No, the the like whenever they show the outside of space, it always looked really cool, which is not uh expected for for a TV show, especially with Star Trek. Yeah, no, I mean like whenever and whenever some of the action hit, especially that action scene in like 45 minutes in when Paul of Giamai's character is attacking the ship. Like, I mean, what you definitely got kind of that Star Trek feel. And I was glad to see that the special effects really work for this show because like I even know Marvel sometimes has a huge budget for their shows, and they can't even pull it off, i.e. Ironheart.
SPEAKER_00:Uh they this is the seventh show under the Kurtzman umbrella, and then it's I think total like the 12th uh show in the canon for the for the entirety of everything. It takes place in the 32nd century, 120 years after the burn, and they're back in San Francisco. Uh there's the Golden Gate Bridge. Um they actually don't reach San Francisco until the end of the first episode. Right, after there's been like some sort of attack by Giamatis Nusca. Yes, Nus Paca. Right. Yeah. Yes. Um, so let's go into Caleb's backstory a bit because that's how they begin the whole thing. And that and that's where we see Tatian and Mauslani. Yeah. That was my favorite part of the entire show. Is it I understand that kind of doing the same thing that Abrams did in his film, where it's like if you're going to have a major character and they're going to lead the rest of the series, they have to have some childhood trauma. And it's always a famous, it's always a famous parent from the MCU, right? Also, like that that shot of her pointing out into like that that could be a poster. Like I I screenshot that. I'm gonna put it out on Twitter with our like little comment, but like that's that's a really cool shot.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I I did like the way that it started off because they were trying to show that even people who work with Nus Braca, again, the villain of this season at least, he's a pirate. They weren't bad people themselves. Not necessarily.
SPEAKER_00:Because it's kind of almost like uh in in Star Lord, what was that name? Star Guardians of the Galaxy, yes, the blue guy, uh Merle from The Walking. I know you're talking about I forgot his name. Yes, the one who had the whistle machine thing. Do you think that Nuss is actually going to be a good guy anymore?
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no, no. I think that it's strange, and uh it may be gained a little bit into my cons, but for some reason, Paul Giamatti, he just cannot pull off the over-the-top villain. It seemed like he was channeling himself from the amazing Spider-Man 2 when he was the Rhino. Like that is how cartoonish his villain is.
SPEAKER_00:He is cartoonish. Yeah, but I think he's doing that because he knows it's for a younger audience.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but it also for me, it was just like this is supposed to be the intimidating villain that we're tracking for the rest of the street.
SPEAKER_00:We're not the only one to have said that. Yes. But I do feel like in that first scene where he it's him and Tatiana Maslani, before he starts his cackling and stuff like that. And and there's the boy there, there's Caleb there. Caleb Mirror, yep. He's like, I will I want to say how old, like five years old, would you say? Well, he it's 15 years later, right, when the academy takes him. So, and he said he's 20. So that's that's five years old. That's about right. Um, and and Holly Hunter, this is like a pivotal moment in her own career because it changes whether or not she wants to kind of be the war captain anymore and uh how she becomes more of a diplomatic presence.
SPEAKER_01:Right. She has no problem telling Nus Braca that he's going to be put in jail. But even though it seemed like Caleb's mom and her had some type of agreement where it seemed like she maybe like she struck a plea deal. Maybe gaining off scot-free or a reduced sentence, Holly Hunter still says no, you're going to be going to a rehabilitation camp. And then that is when uh Caleb's.
SPEAKER_00:I thought at first they said they were just straight up putting her to death. And then I I heard Oh, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01:It's rehabilitation, but Caleb's mom, the second she hears that, realized that Holly Hunter flipped the script and tries to tell Caleb, uh, don't trust them. You can't, like, you know, you're on your own, basically.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and he doesn't, because then he steals the pin and he makes his own escape. What do you think? We're supposed to believe that for the next 15 years she never catches him, or maybe we're supposed to take it that she keeps on finding him at certain points in his life and then he breaks out of it.
SPEAKER_01:When Holly Hunter went back for the bear, I did think that Caleb I didn't think Caleb was going to go on the run like he did.
SPEAKER_00:I do. Yeah, and it also seemed like he opened up the portal or whatever thing and he just shot into space. Because if you ever watch the expanse, it would just vacuum tube him out there and he would just be he would have been frozen and kind of like Leia in in Star Wars in that one scene. Um, yeah, so she finds him after 15 years, offers him a chance to redeem himself.
SPEAKER_01:Well, don't skip the part where it seemed like two other people, I couldn't tell if they were cops or if they had just caught him, were going to be.
SPEAKER_00:Like it was a Pirates of the Caribbean moment where they were just giving all the stuff that he'd done.
SPEAKER_01:And that was probably my favorite part of the episode is that fight scene he has with the two of them inside the spaceship.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. I mean, it reminded me too much, I think, of the acolyte, which is not a very good point show on IMDV, yeah. Yeah, but they they had a lot of decent fight scenes in it. Right. Um, especially at the very beginning where they were trying to introduce people. So they get to this school, and I guess my question about 30 the the the uh the generation 32, no, um the 32nd century is that you're supposed to believe that there's new species, right? Which there would be, and there's new technology. But in my mind, a thousand years from a millennium from now, or from when Star Star Trek, the original series took place, like it feels like there'd be more changes. So you think that they didn't do enough? Like there were some pretty cool ones. There was a haircut machine, like where he just walked in and he instantly got it. And then I realized that they like perfected the Scotty Beam Me Up technology where people can kind of teleport wherever they want. Yeah, that was cool. AI is pretty incredible because it's able to walk and talk and think it's a human.
SPEAKER_01:But oh, Sam Sam, though, I think was the worst character by far. I could already tell where her character was going from the first scene that we saw her in, where she's just like overly analytical. Um, she can't read humans very well, and it I just can't stand those characters.
SPEAKER_00:Whoa, well, that's that's a lot of characters in Star Trek.
SPEAKER_01:Well, yeah, but I'm talking about Sam specifically.
SPEAKER_00:I know, but like even Spock, that was his whole vibe, too, is like Vulcans couldn't read. I don't know. I guess I just didn't see her character as endearing as she's kind of in your face about it. Yeah. And that was kind of what people complained about with Alien and the kids in that, where they were put into older bodies, and it would just be like, How naive do you have to be? After a while, it gets really, really greedy. So you didn't like that. Were you a fan of the love triangle between you said Caleb is probably gonna end up with this other chick. Yeah, Tarima. Tarima's got an interesting set of abilities. She's like the daughter of someone famous, and she reminded me because she's a telepath and like an empath, she's able to read people's mind and move things with her mind, but she takes something for it to stop her from going crazy.
SPEAKER_01:That's very Jean Grayish. It's almost it's kind of reminding me strangely of Adventure Time because I think that like who Finn dates, the fire lady, she has a similar type of thing where it's like if she goes crazy, she can like set the whole place on fire.
SPEAKER_00:Right, but it feels like that's the preface to leading to the ending of the season.
SPEAKER_01:It's gonna happen at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_00:She's either gonna try to save everybody by stopping the pill, um, or she's going to some and like the villain's gonna manipulate her into doing that and use her to try to beat up everybody.
SPEAKER_01:You don't have that line in there without it happening this season. I definitely agree with you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, what was the line? Something like, I can't take it without get making people hurt, getting people hurt, right? Um, there's plenty of Lens Slayer. So JJ Abrams, even though he's not there, he's still there. He's there in spirit. So much music.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I thought that the music worked really well for the show.
SPEAKER_00:Again, when he comes to constant horns and opera, though.
SPEAKER_01:And when it comes to the aesthetic of Star Trek, you know, with all the suits and and and uh, you know, the special effects and everything, that I think I thought the show definitely had that. And I I I again, my favorite set was probably in the command deck where Holly Hunter is when she's commanding the ship in that first episode.
SPEAKER_00:So the set is like a mega set. It's the like one of the biggest ones in the world. I think it might be the biggest one in the US, and it's like almost as big as a football field, and they have the auditorium in there, and you it really does look impressive when they're walking around. Get rid of a few of those lens flares and just have those huge setups like with the TVs in the background and and and just the pixelation of everybody. There was always something happening and always some sort of uh CG model of like a computer droid in the background, which is really cool.
SPEAKER_01:I didn't know that the set was actually that big a deal where it was that big.
SPEAKER_00:But I can just give it like it I think it's even been nicknamed like the Star Trek set or something, or the mega set, um, or mega stage, it says here. And then the ship itself is, I think, part of that, the USS Athena. Athena is the goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare. Yeah. So the fact that it's a teaching ship for the academy. I wonder if it is also a teaching ship for the College of War or whatever, because it feels like it would fit into both. Right. And then we'll we Is that the one that gets it doesn't get destroyed in the first episode, but it definitely gets destroyed.
SPEAKER_01:No, it gets it gets uh yeah, it gets taken over by Nas Braca, and you even see Nas Bracca's ship, which is very much Star Wars where it's all black, and I think some grain.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's Nuss again.
SPEAKER_01:And yeah, Nuss, he goes to Nala, and I think that he's trying to get a piece from the ship, but he's also, I think, trying to find Caleb's mother as well, which is a really interesting dynamic because he was doing Caleb also doing it. It's very much like Shazam in that way, where throughout a majority of the main character there is trying to find his mom.
SPEAKER_00:I wonder if they're gonna like age up Tatiana Maslani.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because I imagine she's going to come back in the show because the whole thing is she was able to escape rehabilitation camp. In fact, that's the main reason why Caleb is there, because Nala Aik and her and him came to an agreement. Aki.
SPEAKER_00:So like it's weird with Aki, uh, she's a lanthanite, which is one only introduced in Strange New Worlds, which means basically she's human, but she doesn't age as fast. They could make Caleb into that too.
SPEAKER_01:Makes it make sense why she doesn't really age in the 15 years that we saw her.
SPEAKER_00:And yeah. And again, that's like most of them, even the AI had to explain it because uh the doctor, who I think the doctor's my favorite character. He's got the biggest sense of humor.
SPEAKER_01:He's starting the Glee Club, but I mean they they pump him full of jokes, and I don't mean just like one-liners, like I mean anything funny that happens, like him messing up or even singing in the second episode while that party's going on, they give it to him.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's because like the delivery, he has that uh sense of humor that actually works while I feel like a lot of the newbies um they haven't had a lot of acting experience before, and sometimes it can come off pretty stiff.
SPEAKER_01:And so, like I was watching that with especially the kids and their scenes, and like yeah, I mean I really I was not a fan of how like the first scene with everyone with Jaden, Genesis, Sam, and Darum, where Darum is kind of the bully and he's he's bullying. It was so high school, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But it was like kid, it was like TV high school, it wasn't real high school.
SPEAKER_01:It felt it felt very much like uh Safe by the Bell the College years, Star Trek the college years, that's what that scene was. Not like the pit or something like that, where it's the teaching hospital. Right, and and it's it's a it's like that for a long time, for like the first 45 minutes, which again, this 75-minute pilot, just in my view, was way too long.
SPEAKER_00:There's that, but it also had a Holly Hunter in charge of the ship, and we would see that in her splice, and I'd be like, oh, those are really cool shots. Like she is she does look like she's being enjoying being a captain there.
SPEAKER_01:I thought that the best part came with that last 30 minutes where uh, even though I wasn't a big fan of his character, Nuss ends up showing back up because that's when we got to see kind of everyone doing their own part. There was Cadet Master Lura Thawk, and she ends up getting hurt. And so uh She's got some interesting makeup there, like the that's gotta be a long time in the sitting chair. I don't know why, but for some reason I was seeing kind of the wicked lady like a little bit. No, I can see it.
SPEAKER_00:Did she bust out into song? Because I I know someone did sing. Wasn't the goal? And that was that was the doctor in the second episode.
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, no, that's when we get to see everyone kind of do their thing because the thing about Jaden is he wants to be a medic, so he is trying to save Lura during this time. And then you have Darum, and Darum is uh Keonan, that's where we he that he wants to go outside the ship to kind of assess the goo that uh Nuss brought along with him. You have Genesis, Genesis, and she's trying to save Darum by the very end of this.
SPEAKER_00:There's so many plots, so many characters.
SPEAKER_01:Caleb Caleb is kind of taking the brunt of it because he needs to save the ship, and they're running this fake simulation to try and scare off Nuss. He's he's able to do that because he's a check tech genius, right? Yes, right. He it it was a little bit like Lazarus, it almost reminded me of with the amount of typing going on. And then yeah, they're able to save everyone by the very end of it. Uh Nuss ends up running away, but he drops a clue, Goj V, which I think is one of the planets that the mom is at, and then they end up uh one of the planets.
SPEAKER_00:They've like split her up, like cut her body up.
SPEAKER_01:No, I meant I meant I I think that like he he says in that's supposed to be a clue that they have to try and get to that planet because that's where the mom is. So first episode feels like a Doctor Who adventure. Right.
SPEAKER_00:Uh second episode is a little bit more down to earth because they literally go to Earth. They're on they're in San Francisco. The name of the episode is Beta Test. Why is it beta test?
SPEAKER_01:Because Beta said is the place that they're trying to uh get to join the Federation. It was at a time part of the Federation, and then I think they didn't trust them anymore and they left, so they got Beta said with the burn, everything got messed up.
SPEAKER_00:And the one thing that they keep saying is that these kids, they're the first generation after the burn. And I was like, but the burn was 120 years ago. It is the first generation with the school, but it's not like their parents or even their, well, I guess if everybody's super old, that they had that experience with the the academy.
SPEAKER_01:I know that Nala, because she says this at the end of the first episode to Caleb lost her son during the burn. So I I think that it's very much still in people's minds.
SPEAKER_00:It's so weird because everybody's like great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparent must still be alive for most of these species.
SPEAKER_01:Um but he but yeah, almost uh it seems like the Federation is trying to pull a like Ronald Reagan because they're trying to get the wall between them and beta set uh like broken down, them to join the Federation again.
SPEAKER_00:Despite, yeah, despite the huge uh academy that they're building up, it does seem like there's only a set number of people. Like there's there's a lot of people in the show, but uh as far as the school goes, it's certainly not like 2,000 or even more, you'd think in space. You can very much say that.
SPEAKER_01:And it shows how kind of closely related they are because Caleb, he starts to fall a little bit for the president's daughter, Tarima Sadal.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we talked a little bit about Tarima. Again, she's the one who's like Gene Gray, and she decides to go into war. Like she wants to be.
SPEAKER_01:She's gonna be part of that college, yeah, because Caleb was thinking that they were going to be part of the same group, but then I guess they get married and we'll be he wasn't looking that far ahead in the second episode, but he was thinking that she was going to kind of be like near his dorm, and then she chose a different college to go to because we should mention because they do reach an agreement. I think that what Ake proposes is that they should put a federation seat place, not in Paris where it was before, but in Betasid. And then they agree to that, and Betasid is now part of the Federation again.
SPEAKER_00:But does she have like a grudge against the war? People, she's like, no, no, no, no, these you guys are taking it to Ham, like you are going after this.
SPEAKER_01:No, okay. So what I believe is that the Federation is also kind of part military.
SPEAKER_00:That's what I'm saying. Is like, is she kind of against that? Because her whole whole vibe since what was going on 15 years ago is I want to be fair, I want to be justice, I want peace. I don't want to be training kids to fight. That's the like even the doctor showed up in the first episode and he was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yes, I gotta sense your hormone levels, which would be terrible for a school. Oh, well, that was that was very Can you imagine him just popping into rooms and being like, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop that. Yeah, anyways.
SPEAKER_01:No, I I I think though that like she understands that it needs to happen. Like, Nez, she's not going to let that go. She actually wants to like capture him because he escapes at the end of the first episode. So I think Nuss, yeah. So I think that NUS is like that's kind of like what she's using her examples for. She knows that war needs to happen. She just doesn't want it to be the only thing they do.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Um, yeah. So we talked about basically all of the stuff surrounding the kids. As far as the kids' personalities, not including AI Sam, it is strange, and people have pointed this out the vernacular, the the slang, the just modern version, there's no way that language, that was one of the things whereas like tech changes, species change, but so does language and just the way they speak to one another. I don't think I'll ever be able to get over the when I heard them being like bruh, or chill, or messing with me, hanging with friends, membership fees.
SPEAKER_01:You know, it's it's also not just the like what they're saying, it's how they're saying it. Every single character is exposition filled, like it almost exposition drenched with the amount of uh things that they say per like it's it's it's this is who I am. Yeah, this is who I am, this is why it matters, this is my backstory, this is why you should care for me. But it happens with like every single character.
SPEAKER_00:That's more of a critic like uh issue though, because it's like if you're a kid, you kind of expect that, you kind of need to know that in order to uh connect with them. My thing is more, I guess it is also it you wouldn't notice it as much as a kid, but for anybody who's after their teens would or even in their teens would just be like, that's a strange way. If you've ever seen the original series, that we went back to speaking like we do in the world.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's just a continual cycle, you know. We're probably where they are, like 2000, early 2000s right now.
SPEAKER_00:I heard one reviewer refer to it as just like adults uh writing for kids. And yes, no, and that's and that is a complaint that I would have. Whips, I think the writer for the doctor's lines were corny enough, but good enough where uh like that they should keep. Uh and they even in every interview was talking about how like uh Tatiana, sorry, not Tatiana, uh Tawny Newsom, they got her from Lower Decks to come in and do writing on the show. And then you have Stephen Colbert doing like voiceovers.
SPEAKER_01:I did I did see Stephen Colbert in the title sequence, and I I wasn't sure who he played, but yeah, I think he plays like kind of the voice over he's like Miss Minutes. Right, exactly. And so I think that um what I liked about the show was Caleb. Uh, I think that he's the most interesting character to follow, so I think it was smart that the main character position. Like I said, probably my favorite scene with him was the action scene about 15 minutes in before he is uh recruited. And then mostly in the first episode, again, looks really cool, looked like it was Sean's space. I like the Guardians of the Galaxy aspect when all of them were having to do their part at the very end of the first episode to save the ship. And again, the trek, it's classic trek in terms of aesthetics with uh the colorful uniforms, future success, and it's a lot more wholesome. So if you like those shows, you're gonna enjoy.
SPEAKER_00:There's so many references that we can't tell you anything about. That is like they have like a hall of heroes, and it's like good luck. Historically true, yes. Um Voyager Discovery, like I'm sure all of them are represented.
SPEAKER_01:However, though, with the cons, I felt like the two episodes were way too long. The cons? The cons, yeah. I didn't even catch that. But yes, no, the two episodes, the runtimes are longer than any of the JJ Abrams films, and you feel it throughout the whole entire thing. Yes, combined together. And then I that combined with every character's dialogue being botched with the exposition, every cliche character in the book, again, the bully, the best friend, the ringleader, all of that, Paul Giamatti being the villain and the way he plays it. I have to give this show a five out of ten.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so it's just m mixed. Yes. Um, that's kind of how the reception has been. There have been places that really like it. It seems like the fans of other series are way more accepting of it. While you do have some original like people who are or people who just want a darker theme thing. I don't like begrudge anybody who enjoys this type of uh show. It's just it feels a little bit too corny to me. And I do like Doctor Who in certain things because it's able to, but but you do need to stick with Doctor Who through a lot before you get to one of those really, really good episodes. Um, and so they might be the same way with this. So uh unless you have that sort of patience, I feel like then if you don't like it from the start, you should put it away.
SPEAKER_01:And it was the same thing with the Orville, too, right? Didn't the Orville season one start off just being like that? It was negative reviews, and then by the end of season one, people were like, oh no, this is actually a pretty good show, right?
SPEAKER_00:I will say the Orville is different, where Kurtzman is kind of like, I am in charge of, he's the James Gunn uh here. He's he's in charge of all of Star Trek, and he doesn't really care as much as I think Seth McFarland. Seth McFarland's baby was the Orville, and that was his one chance at making a serious slash funny sci-fi show. And so I think he put a lot more into trying to bring all his friends aboard it, and it was a lot more special to him than this show, which I'm not trying to bring anything out of this show. It's got some amazing people attached. A lot of the crew from Discovery came over to do it, but at the same time, like it's not without its flaws. And part of that is just because of the superfluous amount of Star Trek material that's out there. Um, yeah, so I'll be interested in seeing the Mayday film, um, where where that goes. And if this show ends up with having like a couple nine episodes on IMDB, then I might tune back in to check out.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But uh yeah, uh overall Collider liked it, A B Club liked it, Slasher liked it. And that's strange because I thought Slasher only reviewed horror things, but apparently they like that, and they also liked Marty Supreme. I love Marty Supreme. Marty Supreme Slasher.
SPEAKER_01:I know, I know, I know.
SPEAKER_00:But Marty Supreme is like my favorite movie of the year. All right. Well, thanks for listening. We'll see you on the next episode. Hope you enjoyed this one.
unknown:Bye.
SPEAKER_00:Bye.