The venerable Star Trek franchise has boldly gone where it has never gone before: a high school drama. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, the latest streaming series from Paramount+, transplants the final frontier to a campus setting, delivering a hormone-fuelled tale of teenage cadets that feels like Grange Hill with phasers.
A New Era and a Transgressive Captain
The series propels viewers further into the future than any previous Trek, setting its story in the 32nd century. The galaxy is still recovering from "the Burn," a cataclysm depicted in Star Trek: Discovery that crippled warp travel. After a century of isolation, Starfleet Academy is reopening its doors to a new generation.
Leading the institution is the newly appointed Chancellor Nahla Ake, played with captivating, free-spirited energy by Holly Hunter. Ake is a half-Lanthanite former Starfleet captain, whose long life means she remembers the pre-Burn era. Hunter's performance creates a captain unlike any other in Trek lore: she goes barefoot on the bridge, wears retro spectacles, and sits with her legs folded in the command chair in a genuinely transgressive manner.
Scenery-Chewing Villains and Troubled Teens
The series' opening conflict stems from Ake's past. A flashback reveals she was forced to separate a young boy, Caleb, from his mother due to Starfleet protocol, leaving him in the clutches of a bristly alien gangster named Nus Braka.
Paul Giamatti steals every scene as Braka, delivering a jangling, spittle-flecked masterclass in scenery-chewing that echoes the heightened acting of the original 1960s series. His elaborate, grid-like hairstyle is a character in itself. Fifteen years later, Ake seeks redemption by bringing the now-troubled teen Caleb (Sandro Rosta) to the academy aboard the USS Athena, a combined campus and starship.
The feature-length premiere is a thrilling space adventure where Braka attacks the USS Athena, forcing Caleb and a diverse group of fresh-faced cadets to save the day. This cohort includes a pacifist Klingon (Karim Diané) and a sentient hologram (Kerrice Brooks), setting up the show's ensemble dynamic.
Hogwarts in Space Meets Teen Movie Tropes
Once the USS Athena docks in a futuristic San Francisco, the series settles into its campus life rhythm. Despite its 32nd-century setting, Starfleet Academy gleefully sends up classic American teen movie and college clichés. Viewers are treated to stinky male dormitories, students playing hacky-sack in the quad, and futuristic versions of letterman jackets.
The show also pays loving homage to Trek's 60-year history. A standout is the return of Robert Picardo as the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager, now a grumpy, opera-loving hologram teacher. The educational setting allows for literal Star Trek history lessons, making the show feel earnest, formulaic, and pleasingly cheesy—a combination long-time fans will recognise.
What truly differentiates this series is its young cast. Caleb and his fellow cadets are far more impulsive, emotionally raw, and considerably hornier than the typical, professional Starfleet crews of past series. This Grange-Hill-with-phasers vibe, focused on kids testing boundaries and navigating rivalries with a nearby military college, proves surprisingly moreish.
With Paul Giamatti's Braka sure to return for more galactic strife, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy successfully carves out a new niche within the franchise. It blends classic Trek optimism and lore with the relatable chaos of adolescence, creating a fresh entry point for new fans and a nostalgic twist for old ones. New episodes air weekly on Paramount+.
