Star Trek is currently trying to go where the franchise hasn’t gone before: into the future. Star Trek: Discovery set up a story arc that jumped the Star Trek timeline forward to the 32nd century. That future wasn’t what Starfleet hoped, as intergalactic travel had been crippled by an event that destroyed the critical warp drive component Dilithium. Discovery chronicled how a ship from the 23rd century brought the ideals of Starfleet to a dystopian galaxy that was fractured, ruthless, and had long forgotten the Federation and what it stood for. Now, Starfleet Academy is exploring how a generation of cadets in the 32nd century attempts to rebuild the mission and legacy of the Federation, when the universe is still so far gone. That includes trying to give us new versions of familiar franchise staples – including iconic ships.
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Starfleet Academy has introduced us to the USS Athena, a brand-new type of Starfleet starship, designed with a unique look for a very specific purpose. Athena is both a stationary headquarters and a flight-capable starship, and it has several distinct sections that could be interlocked or can move in combined coordination; the ship can even separate its core from the modular circular surrounding portions to make planetary landings. The Athena is essentially a futuristic mobile university campus, designed to give Starfleet cadets firsthand education and experience in learning about the galaxy. It’s been an interesting new vessel to witness in action, but if Star Trek is hoping for it to replace the USS Enterprise, they may need to think again.
Starfleet Academy Episode 7 Totally Nerfs the Athena
Starfleet Academy Episode 7, “Ko’Zeine” saw Caleb (Sandro Rosta) and Genesis (Bella Shepard) break into the bridge of the Athena, where Genesis hopes to hack the main computer to cover up elements of her past, and successfully does so. They are caught by instructor Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) and have to (yet again) face the possibility of real consequences. In the end, Captain Ake (Holly Hunter) takes the two rogue cadets in the opposite direction from hacking: doing manual labor as their penance.
The story beats and themes of the episode were clear: Genesis has anxiety about the growing expectations of her (being nominated for the Pre-Command Track of the academy), and acts out. The issue is that a cadet, even one as talented as Genesis, was able to hack the Athena. The ship is both a sophisticated Starfleet vessel with future technology and a school that houses an entire class of cadets. The idea that its computer system is able to be hacked by a cadet is an issue that understandably drags any longtime Star Trek fan right out of the show.
There have been so many instances of Star Trek TV episodes and films that have dealt with digital threats – be it enemies like the Borg attempting to hack the systems of the Enterprise, or rogue AI (Moriarty), or alien supercomputers (Landru) that have attacked various Starfleet ships and/or their crews. Star Trek has repeatedly had to sell the concept of its futuristic computing systems actually being futuristic; Starfleet Academy just made that suspension of disbelief a whole lot harder.
There are ways to rationalize this, if you so desire. Starfleet Academy is, in general, a Gen Z Star Trek story; the notion that the younger generation can manipulate technology in ways their elders can’t anticipate or prevent could be taken as a metaphor more so than a sci-fi misstep. The other caveat could be that due to the Burn, technological standards at Starfleet still (clearly) aren’t what they should be.
But even if you give Starfleet Academy that kind of grace, this kind of moment still doesn’t help fans appreciate the USS Athena like they should, or arguably need to, especially during a new Star Trek series’ formative days. Hopefully, Starfleet Academy has more impressive moments to come from the Athena, which will help cement the ship as another one of Star Trek’s greats.
Starfleet Academy is streaming on Paramount+. Discuss the show with us on the ComicBook Forum!
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