Starfleet Academy Season 1 Episode 2 “Beta Test” Recap – Lessons, Laughs, and a Little Xeno-Mucosa Chaos
- Barbara
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Love the show’s mini-intro displaying all the previous starships as they morph into each other with the latest model outstanding.
Starfleet Academy’s Fall Semester Begins in San Francisco, CA. Nahla narrates and shares some truths to help the cadets succeed. The curriculum unfolds as the students are taught the history of those who have gone before.
The Doctor’s (Robert Picardo) Xenobiology Class is amusing and confusing. A student earns a failing grade if their mucus covered, xeno-mucosa specimen kills them. They also have to keep it alive and carry it everywhere they go. YIKES!
The Starfleet Academy history is an integral part of their coursework. The academy at one time had to be abandoned. “The Burn” caused them to leave everything behind. A Vulcan instructor of Comparative Xenobiology had the misfortune of having both Caleb and Darem in his class. Their verbal sparring and innuendos is comical to them, but not their instructor, and he immediately shuts them down.
The Academy also pays homage to the War College graduates that kept Starfleet strong together during “The Burn”. Their uniforms are cool.
Lura Thok/Number One teaches the cadets about self-defense, Duty, Honor, Service are their mantra. She teaches them how to look death in the face and fight back. She’s a terror, instilling in them not to turn out to be a gutless coward. Words of a true Klingon. One terrified cadet runs away in fear. Commander Thok smiles snarkily and tells the others she can always spot the runner.
Nahla shares more wisdom, and this time about democracy. Democracy doesn’t live in a place. It lives in continuous action. She encourages the cadets to go out, seek, explore and innovate. Go boldly where no one has gone before. This leads to a huge Welcome Return to Starfleet Academy.
The main intro for this show is sensational. Makes you want to believe the future could be like this. It’s got the OG Star Trek feel. This episode opens with Caleb, SAM and Kraag having a little study session. They get room assignments which give SAM nothing but joy. Kraag’s version of rooming is unappealing to Caleb. He also wants to know how roomies hook up in Kraag’s way of life. Genesis is always the one that will say the quiet stuff out loud. She gives Caleb advice on hooking up as she enters the room across the hall. Caleb is surprised, or more like horrified by his roomie. Can you guess who it is?
Chancellor Ake’s duties begin in earnest. The Doctor submits his requisition for new specimens and has to explain why. Ake just wants the convo to end, as she does her job helping decide where the new Federation seat of government will be built. Finally, she gets some peace as Number One updates her on all the scheduled Starfleet events. They get to the chancellor’s office and are met with two loudly protesting cadets. Nahla has to quiet them down. She points out the obvious that Caleb and Darem seemed to have missed in their angry moment. They are funny. Of course their request is denied. She throws Darem out and both she and Number One reprimand Caleb for hwb\hacking-while-bored. His defense is he was trying to find hobbies. They can solve that by assigning him more menial labor tasks. He reminds Nahla of her promise to find his Mother. The ease of these actors’ interactions is entertaining. What’s really incredible is how they can hold convos while walking the halls and meeting rooms with flying robots and droids all around.
Nahla updates Caleb on her findings about the location Nus Braka gave him. It doesn’t exist anywhere in the Starfleet database. He truculently asks to be dismissed. Nahla grants it. At least he gave her some respect as the Chancellor by asking. Number One says he needs to be reprimanded, but Nahla disagrees. He’s been kicked around his whole life.
Nahla comes without shoes to her special training with her War College counterpart, Commander Kelrec. Charles knows Nahla, and has a slight smile on his face. He silently watches Kelrec push the issue. Nahla is not changing, and continues antagonizing Kelrec. She also provides factual information to support her. Kelrec is surprised. They move onto the Betozoids’ isolationism and their younger generation wanting something different. Kelrec questions Nahla’s decision to have the younger gen attend their peace talks. He’d rather they be excluded from making the future work better. This upsets Nahla. Charlie decides the younger voices need to be heard.
The latest instructor is Jett Reno/Tig Notaro is a time traveler. She is also a Physics teacher. SAM cheerfully answers the instructor’s question, and gets an angry retort from a cadet with a not so cheerful attitude. That saddens SAM. Meanwhile, Jett Reno catches Caleb searching for Goja V on his tablet. She puts him on the spot. He explains he knows more about temporal mechanics than she can teach. She puts him on the spot. She shared some Oscar Wilde wisdom, “Old age and treachery always triumphs over youth and a smart mouth.” Also, “A smart mouth isn’t worth much with wisdom.” Caleb storms out but runs into SAM with her pet xeno-mucosa pet. It gets all over him and starts covering him with mucous. A biohazard AI tech suddenly appears and sprays him down, neutralizing the mucus. Caleb later gets even by asking the AI to perform an impossible calculation. He meets a betazoid who stops him from jumping the fence.
The Betazed negotiations are tough and the Admiral is having a difficult time. The Betazed Minister’s daughter is the girl Caleb met while sitting on the fence. She is Tarima Sadal, and asks her father for a tour of the academy. Nahla agrees and is about to select a cadet but Tarima wants Caleb. Nahla has to negotiate with Caleb to get him to do it. Genesis is watching as Caleb and Tamira smile at each other. He wants her to fire the temporal mechanics instructor and access to the stellar cartography lab. He says if he can’t find Goja V he’ll let Nahla do the searching for his Mother.
Caleb shows Tarima around the academy. She tells him about the gem on her tooth. Caleb takes her to the Stellar Cartography lab. He can’t find Goja V and is about to give up until Tarima brings up the Betazed star charts. They are more accurate. They find Goja V. They return to the negotiations, but the negotiations are still having problems, so they retire for the night.
Caleb asks Tamira to come with him, to show her something that might cheer them both up. He takes her to an aquarium and shows her a humpback whale. Something she wanted to see since they arrived. Tamira is overjoyed. She tells him the galaxy is paradise. He tells her she can travel the galaxy, too. They are interrupted by her Dad, Nahla and Charlie. Tarima’s Dad is not happy.
The Doctor and a crew member sing an operetta at the Betazed dinner event. Tamira and Caleb are falling for each other. Tamira can feel his true feelings by just touching his hands. Caleb didn’t tell Tamira he was using her to find his Mom. Tamira questions Caleb’s feelings for her and they part ways. Negotiations fall apart and the Betazeds leave.
Nahla goes to see Caleb in his Starfleet Room. She heard about Caleb’s Mom. She had a remarkable mind. She spent her time studying physics in the rehabilitation camp. Caleb reminds Nahla that you can always build something in physics. Nahla has an idea that could save the Betazoid negotiations. Caleb stops the Betazoids from leaving. He tells Tamira about how his Mom was taken. He opens up to her. He saw Tamira’s joy at seeing the whale and the thought of seeing other wonders. He begs Tamira to convince her Dad to return to the negotiations table. Nahla suggests the Federation build their new headquarters on Betazed. Charlie tells them the Federation can protect Betazed if they take down their walls. Tamira, her brother and Calib along with other cadets in the audience stand up in support. Offer accepted.
Later, Nahla updates Caleb on the Goja V data from Starfleet Intelligence. They found the planet inhospitable, and mostly gang populations. His Mom left Goja V five months before, and is now free. A flight manifest had her name on a ship headed to the Romov Sector three months ago. Nahla gave Caleb access to the communications systems, and he can look for any communication from his mom. Caleb asks Nahla if this is a “guilt bandaid”. She smiles. He shows Nahla respect and lets her dismiss him. Baby steps towards discipline for Caleb, nothing but patience, warmth and kindness from Nahla to Caleb. Their relationship is changing with an added touch of trust. Caleb leaves and seems to be more relaxed at Starfleet. He does need to watch out for his physics instructor, who has her eye on him.
Guess who Caleb finds in his room working out with his roomie? Does Tamira return to Betazed? If not, where does she go? What does the stranger in his room give Caleb? What can it do? What does Darem help Caleb do? What does Tamara have on the side of her neck and what does it do? Will Nahla and Commander Kelric get together?
This second episode did not slow the momentum of the first one, just added more to it. This was stellar! The more we learn about the great characters, the stories, the mysteries they uncover, and just fun school stuff, the more familiar and entertaining they become. Loved the operetta performed by The Doctor/Robert Picardo and the other crew member. It was beautiful. Commander Thok is terrifyingly good! I really enjoyed this new Star Trek Series addition. It was wonderful to hear the OG Star Trek’s tried and true theme “...of going where no one has gone before…” in one of Nahla’s inspirational speeches. It has a lot of potential, great cast and crew, beautiful sets, and a huge galaxy to explore. I enjoyed this show, and look forward to adding it to my ‘must sees’ list.
I gave this epi 5 Stars out of 5.
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