Pop Culture Happy Hour - Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Star Trek fans are finally getting something they’ve wanted for a long time, and it doesn’t disappoint. The new series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy takes place at the college attended by kids who want to become officers in Starfleet. It stars Holly Hunter as the school’s chancellor, Paul Giamatti as a recurring bad guy, and a roster of hot young cadets who have classes to attend and lessons to learn.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhourSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Star Trek fans are finally getting something they wanted for a very long time, and it doesn't disappoint. It's a series set at Starfleet Academy, the college attended by kids who want to become officers in Starfleet. You know, the folks who explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, boldly go where no one has gone before. It stars Holly Hunter as the school's chancellor, Paul Giamatti, as a recurring bad guy, and a roster of hot young cadets who have classes to attend and lessons to learn, all while wearing skin tight outfits. I'm Glenn Weldon, and today we're talking about. talking about Star Trek Starfleet Academy on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

Joining me today is Regina Barber. She's a host and reporter for NPR's Science Podcast Shortwave. Hey, Regina. Hey, I'm so excited. I love Star Trek. As do I. Also with us is filmmaker, pop culture critic and Iheart radio producer, Joel Monique, hey, Joelle? Hey, Glenn. Glad to be back. Glad to have you.

So, Star Trek Starfleet Academy stars Holly Hunter as Nala Ake, A retired captain who gets called back into service to be the chancellor of the newly reformed Starfleet Academy, which is welcoming its first class of incoming students in over 120 years. You will learn the skills that shaped our greatest officers. Officers who began their journeys at Starfleet Academy and went on to become legendary. Like them, you will learn to dream without limitations. That class includes Caleb Mir, played by Sandra Rosta. He's a kid from Ake's Pass, now grown up and hot-headed and rebellious. He resents Akeh and Starfleet, and he really hates the space pirate Noose Braca, who led his mom astray many years ago. Braca is played with scenery chumping relish by Paul Giamatti.

Time, with its infinite sense of humor, will always fold upon itself like an origami chicken. Ha ha, ha, yeah, and this moment, Captain Ake, this moment is that chicken. In other words, payback's a bitch. Star Trek Starfleet Academy is streaming on Paramount Plus. Regina kick us off. Would you make of it? I was obsessed with Starfleet Academy when I was a kid. I had a shirt that said Starfleet Academy, I wore it probably every week of my undergrad.

I wanted to be in Star Trek. I wanted there to be a future with no money and buck beds and regular meals. Yeah, it's okay, yeah. At first, I was, you know, a little wary of this show. I was like, how are they going to ruin this? but we got to watch the first six episodes, and I think it gets better and better. It's kind of made me think of Lower Decks, and it's honestly made me less sad about my daughter going to college because they're still children. You know, my daughter's still going to need me when she goes to college at 18.

Like, all of them are still babies, and that's what the show is telling me. Oh, that's an interesting point. Okay. Joel, how about you? What do you think? I am new to the Star Trek fandom. I started with Discovery in the pandemic and quickly became fully obsessive. show my mom watched a lot as a kid, but I couldn't really connect to. And then there was a black

captain. I said, I'm sat. I really enjoyed discovery, but then I found lower decks, which is a incredible introduction to the IP franchise, easy to hop on, but they constantly are giving you deep lore. I love a school novel. Put the kids in school, make them fight against that school across the campus, and then also maybe their teachers are mentors. Beautiful. Love the genre of this. When you cast stupid hot people in these roles, but also give me the classic Americana Star Trek vibes. If you're an old head, Star Trek lover, you love it. I have a theory that Star Trek is America's Doctor Who. Yeah. Okay. Are the costumes and aliens sometimes way ridiculous. Absolutely. Does it have enough heart to sustain us another 50 years? You know it does. I love this show. I had so much fun watching

it. I've been to the first six episodes in a single day. I was like, no one talk to me. I don't want to do anything else but just live in this world. I had so, so much fun. I'm really excited to see where they take this. I hope we get multiple seasons. Oh, I think we will. I'm excited about this, too, although, you know, I come at this from as a Star Trek completist with a big asterisk. I did skip Enterprise. Okay. That's the only series I've ever bailed on. We all skipped Enterprise. Okay. Note to rewatchers. I didn't watch the original either. Like, I'm on next gen head. Yeah. I mean, like, the thing with Enterprise, I could not get past the theme song. I'm just that petty. And you'll see that some of my coobbles with this series are just that petty.

I'm going to give this a shot, but I think early on it's a little rough. The six one is where it got its hooks in me. So good. But up to that point, I do think it suffers from pilot bloat where they load up the characters with what they think are going to be. They're defining, characterizing traits that are so big because they press the gas on them so hard, they kind of start to feel like personality disorders. And they're going to get abandoned pretty soon as, you know, the ensemble comes together and they figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the actors. is Caleb Mier in the beginning is a hot-headed rebellious jerk who is literally too cool for school until someone tells him to do push-ups. And it's like, well, that's not. I like that because if they stuck with that same characterization, he'd be unbearable. The favoritism he gets in the show is rage-inducing for a rule follower like me.

It's not fair and I hate it. He's the chancellor's kid, basically. I love it. Of course he's going to get favoritism. I know. This is the real world. But it's also such a love letter to kids who have not had safety in their life. I really love when somebody calls her on them.

You're protecting him too much. He's never had anyone to trust. He doesn't know how we have to give him the space and time to do that. I thought it was lovely. Right. Early on this series, they're also taking us to the air out of his tires. They kind of let him be kind of a fool and that's good.

Glenn, he didn't stay just because of push-ups. He stayed because a pretty girl was like, where are you going? And then he stayed. Sure, sure. Okay. Let's be factual here, Glenn. I don't think it works. Anyway, okay, I'll get to that.

But here's my kind of lightning round of thoughts. Okay. Holly Hunter as schoolmaster. is hippie, who's got a fantastic office. I love that. I love her. It isn't on you to control anyone but yourself. Hard lesson. But not all opponents are enemies.

And the more you play, the more they help you live up to your potential. It's very Dumbledore. Yet another alien obsessed with humans, but that's Star Trek. That's what happens in Star Trek, and I'm fine with that. I do think the character's barefoot thing is pretty gross. The Internet has already made a thing about how she sits in chairs and made certain inferences about that. I like that she gets to go toe to toe.

See what I did there. With Paul Giamatti, who of all of these actors is having the best damn time. He's committing. He is having a ball. Literally. Tearing that kid away from the only family he has and then putting him in one of your uniforms

reaches a level of sadism, not even I have. Well, actually, there was that one time. Oh, well. I like hearing Stephen Colbert as the voice of the school. Oh, my God, love it. It's very silly. Attention all personnel.

The mess hall is now open. Make sure to visit because sometimes hangar is the greatest enemy of all. I like that the doctor's back. He's been my favorite thing about Voyager. The main set, I'm still processing it. It is giving upscale Bocer-Rat-on Mall food court, but I'm okay with that. And every time I see, like they fetishize this one staircase. on the set? And I'm like, why are there stairs in the future? Like, right? We've eliminated disease,

poverty and racism. We skip stairs? I think we should. Holly Hunter is going to stub a toe. I think that's going to happen. I think we want people to move, Glenn. That's why we have stairs. Yes, but there's transporters. I know. This is my inner Wally coming. I don't think there's a lot of chemistry between Caleb and the Betazoid Tarima, played by Zoe Steiner. The writing is iffy there because at one point she says to him, I'm sorry I didn't tell you when I showed. I was the war college. I should have. I owed you that.

My husband and I both in the couch just sat up and said up and said up and said, girl, what? You owe him nothing. After all we've been through in the past 24 hours? Yeah, that was a trippy moment for me. Their children. Their children. Understood. I think it's hilarious that they named it Klingon J. Den, played by Kareem DNA.

I mean, Jaden is the most Yukon-Lacrossbro name you could give an alien. There's Jaden Smith. he's not very lacrosse. Sure. Well, Jaden is also, like, a very recent name in human history.

Like, I picked up as like, this is a black sports star and Klingons are always black folks. I was like, this is, I have questions about our naming conventions here, but okay.

Yeah, because I feel like they wanted to name him Chad with like three Ds in an apostrophe and they just didn't have a guts. People have been talking about the body diversity in the show. I love it. I mean,

with the Caleb Mere character, they are giving representation to the crazily yoked community, and that's always good to see. They said the gun show is here to stay. Put those abs on display. They were about it. Sleeves?

We don't need sleeves in the future. And so you would think that with all these pittic quibbles that the needle drop in the first episode, the Rufus Wainwright to San Francisco, that should have kicked me out. Would have kicked me out? No. Totally didn't. It worked for me. If you're going to San Francisco. You know, why?

because there's president. It's Star Trek the Motion Picture where you get those spaceship porn glamor shots of the Enterprise. Only it's San Francisco. It's so good. And it's the school. It's Starfleet Academy.

I know it's Starfleet Academy. Oh my God, it's really happy. I didn't like the song. I just don't think it's the best rendition of that song, so I was like, I think we could have maybe picked a different version. But the reveal of the school, the fact that the ship was the school

and then it's landing, and you're like familiar with all. I was like, this is an epic way to do the glamor shots in a new way. I thought they were able to do that quite frequently of picking up the old Star Trek tropes and making them new and starting off with like you're in trouble for stealing food. I was like in a Star Trek universe, what's happening here? Like food is free. It's like the main tenant of Star Trek and it brings you sort of back into the world in a really grounded way.

And it also puts you in a place to question like Starfleet and the folks at the top and what's going on. I just, I love when we enter Starfleet with a captain who's disgruntled. That's my favorite start to any Star Trek journey. I'm like, uh-oh, this captain's about to school all of you on morals. It's really beautiful. We were talking about personalities and like the yokedness of these guys. Sure. When the Betazoid brother.

Right. And about that Betazoid brother, he's played by Romeo Carrera. Yeah. I don't think he gets enough time. And I'm just going to say this right now. Agree. Like having somebody who's like over-eager to like, be everyone's friend and join everything.

But he came from everything. Like, this guy had everything. But what he didn't have was love, you know? But I think he's hilarious. He's like, I'm down. In for everything. He's super supportive. Like, he's not that spoiled rich kid you'd think he would be.

And I love him. K, K, K, K, K, K, K, K, K, K, Kow. Bibo? Stop. Bibo. Stop. I love me, bro. It's just praying.

Don't touch me. Okay, we'll get there. Yes. The acting isn't the. best and yes, their children and some of their decisions don't make total sense, but their children, like I want to say again, like I think the show is good because it is kind of messy. The world is messy. I agree. All right. So you both mention the school setting. That's what sets us apart. That's what makes the show this show. I feel like we've been hearing about them wanting to make

a Starfleet Academy series forever, whether it's like Kirk and Spock at the Academy, you know, Trek Babies or various iterations over the year. It's finally here. well, I know you're all in on the school setting. How about you, Regina? Does it add? Does it subtract? What's it do for you? I used to teach at a university.

I taught for almost a decade. I really, really love the aspect of teachers trying to be mentors and teachers not being evil and not like, you know, like when you're in college and people are like, I got that F because my teacher was bad. And I'm just like, 10% chance that's true. Because so many educators are really, really trying to help you. Like, we're not trying to fail you. seeing this school situation and trying to, you know, help these kids figure out who they are. Like, it kind of just brought me back. And I absolutely love it. I see it from one side of being the educator and I see it from the other side, you know, wishing I had Starfield Academy when I was 18 a long time ago at the turn of the century. Sure.

Joelle, say more about the school aspect, though. Okay. What really works for me about a school dynamic and storytelling is like, to Gina's point, children with no rationale or her approach to Eddie, it's just immediate, like the conflict and also the hormones are at an all-time high and that's really good for a plot. What I like here in the Star Trek universe is like, Star Trek for apparently people don't know is like a morality tale told over and over again about like what it means to be like a great human race. Like how do we treat people and stuff? And so to then turn that back and reflect on the children as the children are the children are the future, as Whitney told us, I think is a really, like, beautiful space that Star Trek

hasn't given us a lot of opportunity to explore. This is such a beautiful, like, opportunity for Star Trek to look at the youth in a very concentrated, very communal way. I think that's new for Star Trek, at least on screen, and I really appreciated that element of it. Yeah. Are we at the point where we can talk, because people have definitely been, there have been comments newswise about this being a woke Star Trek, a term that confuses me when we look at the historical scope and nature of this show. I mean, we're talking first interracial kids on TV. Fan fiction in America doesn't exist the way it exists without Star Trek, like fandom in general.

And I think a lot of that has been like, hey, like, it's very queer the fandom. Like, we were putting Spock and Kirk together day one. Characters that a lot of people gravitated toward people love O'Hura and the fact that she was just there and in like command. And, like, I just think it's strange to me that anyone would go to Star Trek of all places and be like, this is too woke. I'm like, this is all they know how to do. George decay is, like, you know, queer icon, too, you know, like as Sulu. Exactly.

Yeah, and it's this suddenly woke thing that, I mean, just to back up a bit, the hallmark of Star Trek is diversity in casting. This time out that includes body diversity as well, which has led to a backlash from some, including conservatives on social media, like President Trump's aide Stephen Miller. And it's like, okay, if you want to call it woke, call it woke, fine, but it has been woke from the jump. It had the first interracial kiss on American television. It's always been about a world beyond racism and sexism and xenophobia. None of this is sudden. None of this is new. It's baked in.

And if you don't know that, don't pretend you know anything about track. It's ridiculous. The first season of Star Trek Next Generation had men in skirts walking around. Absolutely. So, like, are we really going to be freaked out? But to go back to the school setting, I don't care about fiction set in a school environment. I hate to sound like a network executive because this is the classic network executive note. But I don't feel stakes.

It's hard for me to care. I mean, they think the only property that found a cheat code around that was Buffy because it keyed into what you have to do. Because nothing in high school matters. Nothing in college matters, objectively. But it feels like because of those hormones you mentioned. Disagree. No, it feels like it does. It feels like the universe is ending.

It feels like you're the only one who is feeling these feelings when everyone. Everybody is feeling those exact same feelings. So Buffy said, we'll take those feelings, you will literalize them. You got a show there. The world is literally ending. You are the chosen one with a unique burden. That is smart. That's work.

But I'm watching the first few episodes of this show. And I'm getting a prank war and a sports team and a debate club. And yeah, they have characterizing, you know, ramifications. But they feel overlaid very schematically. There are times when the school sitting, I think, gets in the way logically, like, sensitive diplomatic discussions about Betazed coming back into the Federation in front of students. Do not take place at a school assembly.

That's just dumb. And they've always have to hand wave around the fact. You guys both referenced this that every week the plot of a school set show is they do something that bends or breaks the rules. Every week they should get expelled. Never. Never are they expelled. This is the Potter problem. This is the Wednesday problem.

But then in the sixth episode, we can't talk too much about it. the sixth episode, the bubble around the show shatters. Yeah. The kids enter the wider universe. The stakes get higher. But I'm telling you, if the seventh episode reverts to who are you going to take to space prom or whatever, I don't know. I would be all in.

I'd be like, let's go to space prom. A thousand percent. I want to see the dresses. I want to know who wins prom king and queen. I love it. To me, the reason I really like a school environment is like not that just that it feels like the end of the world, but like it really could be the end of the world for you. like not like if you don't pass like at night like pass his class but like for our main character

like he is going to be on his own if he doesn't like fall in line well he's in such a difficult place and I think a school a space that allows you to experiment to try a lot of different things is a really great way to sort of explore a vast galaxy in a confined space so I like that element of it and I also think there's just something really special about I think a lot about my high school years. Not that I want to relive them or go back, but I just think, like, becoming, like, the idea of becoming, like, who am I to the world, to myself? What I want to do? I just think those, like, really big questions are great plot fodder. Like, they're really fun. And they're fun to watch somebody discover well. And I think we have a couple of really good actors in here. So I'm hoping we can

continue to lean into that. I also really wanted to briefly talk about casting of Tatiana Maslani. She plays our main character, Caleb's mom. And I thought she was fantastic. They brought her into do the thing she does well, which is break your heart. And I thought, like, having her here to open the world made me instantly care in a way that I think would have been difficult to pull off without her. And to have her opposite Holly and this, like, these devastated mothers going back and forth, I was like, oh. And again, like, this show really is about moms and their children.

And, like, how do we let them go? How do we bring them into the world? And also, what kind of pressures are the world putting against these. mothers who are just trying to survive and raise good kids. Like, I think the complexity of a multigalactic universe of beings trying to work together, simplified down to a mom and a child and a school, that really works for me. I like the big questions in a small space. So is there anything else we wanted to hit that we haven't hit that you wanted to make sure we brought up?

I really loved Gina Yashire. She plays Laura, and she's half Klingon, half Gem Hadar, which is really, really, really. cool that there's like a mix that isn't just like half human. I knew her because her name is Gina and I'm conceded and I saw like clips of her and I think she's hilarious. Cadet, Cron. Drop your gear on this idiot's back. Hmm? Yes, idiot bag, back. She's one of the best like violent comedic, you know, characters in the show. I do love listening to her yell. It's so funny. Like she's definitely like the drill sergeant of the school. and the more like military-minded battle-ready, you know, Klingon.

But she's such good friends with the Chancellor, and that was so nice. Yes, the back and forth of it, I love a Klingon. And so I was like really excited to see them sort of imbued throughout the show in ways to make them feel a part of everything as opposed to constantly being in a space of wanting to battle everyone. I think also Star Trek tapping into the boom of the romance genre, we've been, ship in our Star Trek characters for a long time, let them have sex. And they do. And it's great.

And there's romance and intrigue and it's steamy. And I think more of this from our big IPs. You have to find new spaces to go if you're going to constantly be telling us stories. And so I think Star Trek better than a lot of other spaces has found a way to reach audiences at multiple levels. And I'm excited to see how they keep pushing that envelope going forward. All right. Well, we want to know what you think. about Star Trek, Starfleet Academy. Find us at Facebook.com slash P-C-C-H-H-H-H. And a reminder,

we're pulling back the curtain and letting pop culture happy hour plus supporters sit in virtually on a live episode taping. They'll get to see how the show is made and experience this episode before everyone else. And we'll be talking about something Oscars-related, which is one of our favorite topics anyway. It's all happening over Zoom on Friday, February 13th at 3 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific, if you are not a plus supporter yet. But a plus that end, NPR.org slash happy. Again, that's plus.npr.org slash happy. If you are already a plus supporter, thank you so much. Scroll back in your feed to January 22nd to learn how to register for that taping. That brings us to the end of our show. Joel Manique, Regina Barber. Thank you so much for being

here. Thank you, Klaplak. This episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Kayla Adamor, and edited by Mike Katzif. Our showrunner is Jessica Ritty. And hello, come in, provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Glenn Weldon and we'll see you all next time.