"The original Star Trek TV series debuted in 1966, so trying to get your head round all the sequels, prequels and timeline-splitting spin-offs can often feel like homework. It was only a matter of time before the venerable sci-fi franchise used a school as a setting. But Starfleet Academy, the latest streaming series, is not some random cosmic polytechnic for aliens to study humanities or vice versa."
"This is the oft-referenced San Francisco space campus sited right next to the Golden Gate Bridge. With James T Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard on the alumni list, it is basically Hogwarts for wannabe starship captains. Or at least it used to be. As this newest Trek opens we are in the 32nd century: as far into the future as the franchise has ever gone, boldly or otherwise."
"The universe is still recovering from the Burn, an all-encompassing cataclysm from 2020's season three of Star Trek: Discovery that put the kibosh on faster-than-light warp travel. After an extended period of intergalactic isolationism, Starfleet Academy is about to receive its first new intake for over a century. Mega-fan Stephen Colbert is already on board as the school's PA announcer. All it needs is a new chancellor."
"The best candidate is clearly Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter), an ex-Starfleet captain whose half-Lanthanite heritage means she has been around long enough to remember the good old pre-Burn days of 120 years ago. But a fraught opening flashback reveals why the long-lived Ake resigned from her position. Starfleet protocol forced her to separate a young kid called Caleb from his desperate mother (a brief but effective cameo from Tatiana Maslany) because their starving family had fallen in with a bristly gangster called Braka."
Starfleet Academy is set on the San Francisco space campus beside the Golden Gate Bridge in the 32nd century. The timeline follows recovery from the Burn, an all-encompassing cataclysm that ended faster-than-light warp travel. After a long period of intergalactic isolationism, the Academy prepares for its first new intake in over a century. Stephen Colbert appears as the campus PA announcer. Nahla Ake, an ex-Starfleet captain with half-Lanthanite heritage, is the leading candidate for chancellor. A flashback shows Ake forced by protocol to separate a boy, Caleb, from his mother after their family fell in with gangster Braka. Paul Giamatti plays Braka and Tatiana Maslany makes a brief cameo.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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