60 years later, Star Trek's latest show failed to launch a new generation of heroes

While the series started strong, its character arcs largely fizzled out Star Trek: Starfleet Academy aimed to shake up the Star Trek formula for the franchise’s 60th anniversary by focusing on a group of young adults studying to be Starfleet cadets. After a rough pilot that was overstuffed with exposition and character introductions, showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau settled into a compelling formula of using classes on everything from debate to the mysteries of the universe to frame character-driven episodes. But in the back half of the season, their work started sliding in quality like they were students with senioritis. Episode 6, “Come, Let’s Away,” brought a major tone shift and emphasis on the schemes of series villain Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti). But focusing on a big threat to the United Federation of Planets left much less time for character development, causing many plotlines to feel rushed or underdeveloped. Now that the season is over, we’re grading the storylines for the show’s six main characters — and hoping they get better treatment when they return to school for season 2. [Ed. note: This article contains major spoilers for Starfleet Academy season 1] Caleb’s

Mar 12, 2026 → Mar 23, 2026