The new Starfleet Academy series has finally dropped. I haven’t really been following it, because the marketing around this series really has not appealed to me. I’ll come back to that. Let’s cut to the chase; how is the show, honestly? Well, it’s pretty good. Not perfect, not world‑ending, not “franchise‑saving”, just good, confident Star Trek doing what Star Trek has always done: tell stories about people trying to be better in a universe that demands it.
And yet, somehow, the discourse machine has already spun up like a warp core about to breach. The flavour of the outrage feels familiar. It’s very The Acolyte, very “how dare women exist in my sci‑fi setting.” It’s the same tired refrain, the same refusal to engage with the actual text, the same panic at the idea that the future might include people who aren’t carbon copies of the Original Series bridge crew.
Let’s be real: anyone moaning about Trek being “woke” has never watched Trek. Ever. This franchise has been political, idealistic, progressive, and socially conscious since the moment Gene Roddenberry pitched a “Wagon Train to the stars” with a Black woman, a Japanese helmsman, and (a little later on) a Russian ensign on the bridge during the Cold War. Trek didn’t suddenly become woke; some people just finally noticed.
And while they’re busy noticing, I’m busy enjoying myself. Because the show is fun.
One big stumble so far is the marketing, which never quite struck the note the show itself is playing. The trailers leaned too hard into generic YA melodrama and not nearly enough into the actual texture of the series; the optimism, the humour, the sense of legacy, the fact that it’s unmistakably Trek. Instead of foregrounding the captain’s charisma or the joy of seeing Jet Reno again, the campaign felt like it was trying to sell a show to people who don’t watch Star Trek, while accidentally alienating the people who do. The end result was a mismatch: a fun, confident series wrapped in a marketing shell that didn’t trust its own identity.
One of the most compelling choices Starfleet Academy makes is putting a Lanthanite in the captain’s chair. It’s not just a cool lore pull; it’s thematically perfect. Starfleet is an institution trying to reclaim its legacy, rebuild its ideals, and remember what it once stood for. Who better to guide that process than someone who has literally lived through the eras Starfleet is trying to reconnect with? A long-lived Lanthanite captain becomes a kind of embodied archive, a walking reminder that the Federation’s values aren’t abstract slogans but hard‑won lessons carried forward across centuries.
Holly Hunter brings exactly the right energy to that role. She’s flinty, warm, authoritative, and just eccentric enough to feel like a captain who has seen entire cycles of history rise and fall without losing her sense of humour. There’s been some noise online about whether the character “fits,” but honestly, that criticism evaporates the moment you remember what Strange New Worlds established about Lanthanites via Carol Kane’s Pelia. They’re observers, survivors, long‑view thinkers; people who understand the sweep of time in a way most species can’t. Putting one at the helm of a new generation of cadets isn’t just sensible; it’s inspired.
Oh, and Jet Reno being back? That’s a gift. A blessing. A stabilising force of dry humour and engineering‑bay pragmatism. Tig Notaro’s performance has always been one of the best additions to modern Trek, and seeing her again feels like the writers reaching out and saying, “Yes, we know what you like. We’ve got you.”
The whole thing has that breezy, youthful energy that an Academy‑set series should have. It’s earnest without being naive, playful without being shallow, and grounded enough to feel like it belongs in the same universe as the shows that came before it. The use of the 32nd century setting also frees them up to tell new stories in the spirit of Trek without the baggage of the more crowded 24th century setting that most 90s Trek (a golden age, I grant you) occupies.
So yeah, first impressions? It’s fun. It’s Trek. And if that bothers some people, that’s their problem, not the show’s. I get that there will be plenty of folk that disagree with my points. Some will have legitimate disagreements on issues of taste, which I can respect. Others just like to hate things, and the internet has told them what to think.
No Rerolls 