‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ Episode 1 Recap: Holly Hunter, Paul Giamatti on Boldly Going Back to School

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers from the series premiere of “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” titled “Kids These Days.”

“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” comes out phasers blasting right out of the gate, with a premiere episode that ranks not only among the best of the newest “Trek” series but with any throughout the franchise.

We open with a narration from the half-Lanthanite Capt. Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter), explaining the cataclysmic impact of The Burn, a deadly cosmic event in the 32nd century that occurred during the events of “Star Trek: Discovery.” In the aftermath of The Burn, the United Federation of Planets all but collapsed, and some of the high-minded ideals of Starfleet fell by the wayside.

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Cut to a remote Federation outpost. Anisha Mir (Tatiana Maslany) is accused of aiding a space pirate by the name of Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti) — a part-Klingon, part-Tellarite — in attempting to hijack a Federation food supply shuttle, with the pilot of the shuttle dying during the attempt. Ake serves as the judge overseeing the proceedings, sentencing Braka to life in prison.

Braka has a definite over the top, theatrical quality to him, something Giamatti was all too happy to play. “He’s a bit of a ham bone,” Giamatti says with a laugh. “So it was really fun to do. He was meant to come across as more of a buffoon than he actually turns out to be.”

Although Ake wants to be merciful, Anisha aided a crime that resulted in the death of a Federation officer. Given that, Ake sentences her to a rehabilitation camp and separates her from her young son, Caleb. Before she is dragged away by the guards, Anisha screams to Caleb, “Don’t trust [the Federation]!”

Ake attempts to comfort Caleb, but he quickly escapes Federation custody and strikes out on his own.

Fast forward 15 years. A now adult Caleb (Sandro Rosta) is a wanted fugitive who is still desperately searching for his mother. An epic fight on an alien prison transport is not enough to free himself, and Caleb ends up in lockdown.

Rosta, who is fresh out of drama school and had never done stunt work before, credits the show’s stunt team with helping him through that fight. “They helped me throughout the entire process, and they knew that I was into it,” Rosta says. “They knew that I was game. So they let me do as much of it as possible, even the slamming against the walls and stuff.”

Meanwhile, Ake has resigned her commission and is living a peaceful life. But when she hears they are reopening Starfleet Academy and want her to be the new chancellor, she cannot refuse.

She’s finally able to track down Caleb and offers him a choice — join the Academy or stay in prison. She sweetens the offer by promising to help him locate his mother, whom she says broke out of prison one year ago.

Caleb, a perpetual lone wolf, is none too happy to be at the Academy. In addition to the campus in San Francisco, the students spend a great deal of time on the U.S.S. Athena, a fully-functioning starship that functions as a sort of mobile classroom. We also get a greater sense of Ake’s leadership style, which includes a much more laidback approach than a traditional Starfleet captain — laying out across the captain’s chair, not wearing shoes, etc.

“My character’s name, Nala, in one translation means ‘water in the desert,'” Hunter says. “I thought that was really fantastic for so many different reasons. I thought of water not just to drink, but kind of maybe to feel. I wanted to be fluid. Then I also thought about like being almost a cat, almost a feline energy, but also a fun energy. When you’re 423 years old, there are many, many things that fall away, and the most important things distinguish themselves.”

Upon arrival, Caleb meets his fellow classmates, including: pacifist Klingon Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané), the holographic (or photonic) Kasqian student Sam (Kerrice Brooks), the hard-driving Dar-Sha cadet Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard), and the cocky Khionian Darem Reymi (George Hawkins). Caleb also quickly runs afoul of cadet master Lura Thok (Gina Yashere), a half-Klingon half-Jem’Hadar, as well as The Doctor (Robert Picardo).

The Athena begins its journey to Earth. Caleb uses an old subspace frequency his mother taught him to send her a message, but receives no reply. But when the Athena attempts to investigate a space anomaly, they are ambushed by Nus Braka and his gang. They disable the ship using programmable matter, with Braka telling Ahke that they tracked the Athena using Caleb’s message. Nus demands that Ahke surrender the Athena’s warp core or risk the whole ship and its crew being destroyed.

In keeping with Braka’s theatrical nature, his appearance includes funky clothes, unique finger armor, and ritual tattoos and scarring. “Earth pirates of the 18th century, they kind of went everywhere on the planet,” Giamatti says. “I thought, ‘Well, this guy’s been everywhere in the galaxy.’ And I thought it’d be interesting if he’s kind of a map of where he’s been.”

Caleb is devastated that he put others at risk, telling Ake that he can get the programmable matter off the ship. He and his classmates get to work, with Ake stalling Braka for time. Genesis and Darem set off to gather programmable matter off the hull, with Darem able to briefly survive in the vacuum of space thanks to his Khionian nature.

At the same time, Jay-Den is forced to perform emergency surgery on Thok, who was injured in Braka’s initial attack. Although at first he is nervous, Jay-Den manages to save her life. Darem is able to get to the programmable matter, but he is on the verge of death as he does so. Genesis uses the ship’s tractor beam at the last minute to pull him back to safety.

Ake fakes a core breach to get Braka off the ship, with the Klingarite reluctantly leaving. That gives Caleb the window he needs to rush to engineering and attempt to pull off his plan. He is caught in a sneak attack by Braka, who goads Caleb by telling him he broke Caleb’s mother out of prison. The two engage in a knockdown drag out fight, with Caleb eventually coming out on top and disabling the programmable matter. Braka jumps into a nearby escape pod and gets away.

Rosta praises Giamatti’s willingness to make space for him despite the great difference in their experience levels as actors.

“That part of the scene where he smashes my head on the console, that came from a suggestion that I that I had in the moment,” Rosta says. “I was like, ‘Man, if I bust your head on it and you bust my head on it, I think that’d be kind of cool.’ And Paul was like, ‘We’re doing that. We’re freaking doing that!’ — and we did it. And that just shows how much he’s willing to give space to me, a younger and less experienced actor, to have a moment of expression.”

The Athena arrives safely at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco. Caleb could very well be kicked out for what happened on the journey, but Ake is able to convince the higher ups to simply punish him and allow him to stay. She and Caleb have a heart to heart, where she reveals her own son was killed in The Burn.