I told one of my friends about watching the 4th episode of Starfleet Academy tonight, and based on what I said, he made this:

I might be more generous with the stars, but that’s not too far off.

Before I give my review, I’ll give my Star Trek bonafides, as it were.

I’m almost 53 years old, so I watched TOS in syndication whenever it was on. It was one of my favorite shows, though some of the episodes were real stinkers. When TNG came out, I went into it very hopeful, and it was only sort of okay. It eventually became the best SciFi on television, and I watch it as a comfort show to this day.

I loved Deep Space Nine, though I didn’t see all of it. Built on the lessons learned from TNG, it was consistently very strong, though there were a few episodes that were stinkers. I’ve seen most of Voyager, and while it had a few genuinely good episodes, it was mostly not good.

I liked Enterprise. I like the even numbered Star Trek movie. I kind of hated Star Trek: Generations, but absolutely loved First Contact. The rest of the TNG movies were kind of meh.

I thought the J.J. Abrams movies were fine, though it didn’t feel like Star Trek. I liked the performances and the casting, but it was full of things Abrams does that I do not like.

Star Trek: Discovery took some big swings, and not all of them landed. I didn’t see all of it. I’ve only seen a few episodes of Brave New World. Star Trek: Picard had some outstanding moments, but for the most part, wasn’t that great and missed the point of the Picard character.

If people are divided into Star Trek versus Star Wars people, I would be pigeon-holed as a Star Wars person. But I do really like Star Trek, and I feel like I understand it, in terms of storytelling, philosophy, intention, and history.

With all of that out of the way, how do I really feel about Starfleet Academy, and where do I rank it with the Treks that came before?

It’s better than I thought it was going to be. The advertising made me think it was going to be a teen melodrama, and while the main ensemble of characters are young, the themes are timeless: lost family, found family, fish-out-of-water, and finding our strengths through our differences.

The first two episodes focus primarily on Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta), and we follow his story as he is separated as a child from his mother by a dysfunctional Starfleet, then later given the choice of either going to jail or going to Starfleet Academy. The actor does a fine job, but the character can be hard to like.

The third episode opens up a bit more, giving us more time with the rest of the ensemble, with a heavy focus on Genesis Lyle (Bella Shepard) and Daren Reymi (George Hawkins). This last episode spent most of the time with the Klingon student, Jay-Dem Kraag (Karim Diane).

Holly Hunter does a fine job as Nahla Ake, and it’s nice to see Robert Picardo as The Doctor from Voyager.

The actors are doing great. If I were to complain about any of them, I don’t really get Sam (Karrice Brooks) yet, but maybe that’ll change in a future episode.

So far, the show is fine. I’m enjoying it, and I’m not bored. I know there are people online bashing it, saying that it breaks canon every five minutes or something. I don’t get that. I think if you really hated Star Trek: Discovery, you’ll probably hate this. Like I said, I didn’t see all of Discovery, but I recognize several characters reprising their roles in this show, which is set as far into the future as we’ve seen a Star Trek go.

Starfleet Academy is a Star Trek, in every sense. All of them take at least a season to find their footing, and this show is no exception.

I think one of the things people will struggle with is The Burn, which is some event that takes place before Starfleet Academy begins. It destroyed The Federation and set things back. I suspect some of this was covered in Discovery.

It is a violation of the idea of Star Trek. Roddenberry’s vision was that things get better. We put away our greed, our racism, our tribalism, and come together as one people, and beyond that, join with other peoples across the galaxy, to go on adventures and advance science and technology. To boldly go places, as it were.

Later writers have approached Star Trek with less reverence for that vision, and many of them try to break the status quo in order to tell a story more to their liking. It’s why Abrams destroyed Vulcan. It’s why Star Trek: Picard starts with the destruction of Romulus. New Trek has swear words now, too, and I’m not sure why.

Either Discovery or Academy went all the way, and destroyed The Federation itself. Academy appears to be where we watch The Federation rebuilt, which is at least a little bit hopeful, but the future has already been tarnished, especially for us viewers living way, way in the past.

I think Star Trek: Academy is better than Voyager and better than the movies from J.J. Abrams. In my opinion, it has the potential to become something very good.

From what I’ve seen online, Star Trek “fans” are a lot like Star Wars “fans” in that they mostly want retreads of the things that came before. I’m not holding my breath that Starfleet Academy will have the same chance previous Treks have had, to work things out in the first season and find their voice in the second.

If you’ve been watching Starfleet Academy, let me know what you think of my assessment.