Every now and then, we at Antimatter Pod ask ourselves: is are we due for a DS9 rewatch?
And Starfleet Academy wants us to know: the answer is always yes.
We’re talking about episode 5 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, “Series Acclimation Mil”, an episode which dares to ask: is there such a thing as too much fan service?
- Four episodes of SFA have aired at the time of recording, we check in on the fandom (and have a little rant about media literacy)
- Does “Series Acclimation Mil” prioritise fanservice over the new viewer?
- Liz: “It’s giving ‘These Are The Voyages…’ (complimentary?)”
- The adult plotline feels … mean and incomplete?
- Sam is dealing with being a homeschooled kid off to college, and helicopter parents who can’t let her go, and in some ways, hers is a first-gen immigrant story
- Sam’s story is also about the journey undergraduates take in their education, from learning facts to synthesising disparate resources and developing original research
- Hey kids! Don’t do 12 shots in one night! Your Antimatter Pod Aunties are here to remind you to have fun and drink responsibly!
Transcript
(Please note this transcript was generated automatically by Apple Podcasts, and though it was edited by a human, some errors may remain.)
Anika: Welcome to Antimatter Pod, a Star Trek podcast where we discuss fashion, feminism, subtext, and subspace, hosted by Anika and Liz.Today, we are discussing Star Trek: Starfleet Academy “Series Acclimation Mil,” or Sam.
Liz: An episode which dares to ask, is there such a thing as too much fan service?
Anika: I call it petty levels of fan service. And what I mean by that is that they are directly addressing complaints of fans with this episode.
Liz: The perennial, why doesn’t New Trek acknowledge Star Trek: Deep Space Nine complaint?
Anika: Exactly, exactly. What I get out of this episode is that all of the people in charge of Star Trek right now are the same as all of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the best Star Trek fans that we encounter online. That’s my assumption here.
Liz: No, I think that’s fair. I think this whole series is very much influenced by Tumblr Star Trek fandom and Tumblr Star Trek fandom is all about Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Anika: That’s it, that’s it.
Liz: Although, you know, it’s the day after Threshold Day here, so you know, obviously Star Trek: Voyager gets its love.
Anika: Before Sub Rosa Day, so.
Liz: I do not observe Sub Rosa Day. I don’t like Sub Rosa Day, yeah.
So, before we get started on this specific episode, four episodes of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy have aired now, and let’s check in on the fandom, because I think there’s been the review bombing and all of that, but people who actually watch it seem to have a very high opinion of it and I’m glad.
Anika: I avoid all of the spaces with the people who review bomb. I have seen just so much positivity. My Bluesky feed is great. They all seem to be very happy. And the algorithm is going to algorithm. And so I have been fed some, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the worst thing to ever happen. Or New Trek is the worst thing to ever happen to Star Trek, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the epitome of it at this point. Type of comments. I think, you know, so, there are…
Liz: People are entitled to their wrong opinions, and it’s interesting that they’re increasingly in the minority.
Anika: Right, the people that I have seen who are negative are those ones who have not actually watched it, who are basing their entire opinion of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy on the poster that they are calling, you know, Friends-like or…
Liz: 90210.
Anika: Right. So… Okay. I don’t know. I clearly have to do my, what are you people talking about promo photo post? Because if anything is Gossip Girl, so if you’re going to be making the wrong assumptions, make them about the right thing. And everything from Game of Thrones to Law and Order does the same ridiculous promo photos that have nothing to do with what the show is actually about. So…
Liz: It’s interesting to me. I think a valid criticism is, I tried to watch it. I’m not into stuff that’s aimed at young adults. It’s not for me. That’s totally fair.
But I’m interested in how out of date people’s understanding of YA media is. People are saying, oh, the Academy is too Hogwarts. And the comparisons to 90210. It’s just wildly outdated. And I do understand that most people do leave young adult media behind when they cease to be young adults. I did not consume young adult media at all when I was a teen. I came to it as an adult. And I think that’s why I aspire to write it. But I actually think one more Hogwarts comparison is going to turn me into the Joker. It’s my villain origin story.
Anika: I curate my experiences very specifically with regards to Hogwarts and don’t engage with that at all. So I have seen no comparisons to that. And I really, what? I’m struggling other than Darem being a Draco, but he’s not really, his first appearance, but that’s it.
Liz: Even there, there are plenty of other contemporary and American examples of the asshole rich boy bully who is learning to be better.
Anika: In my video, I used Louis, or Luby, depending on the dub, from Beastars, which is an anime on Netflix that everyone should watch. I have recommended on this podcast before. I stand by that. But yeah, there are many better options than going to the Harry Potter route.
Liz: Yeah, I think I was just struck by the depth of the media illiteracy of a lot of Trekkies for contemporary works for young people. And I shouldn’t be, you know, that’s my bubble, but it was interesting.
And the other thing that has jumped out at me is how people are freaking out because Nahle wears bare feet. And I actually think it’s weird that people find this upsetting. They’re carrying on like she’s walking around without a shirt on.
Anika: What I just think is that if we’re really thinking of it as super far in the future, where they can do that whole thing where you walk through a portal and you have a totally new look, then she can be barefoot and it not affect her health in any way. There’s nothing dirty about it. Because she’s walking around on… It’s just such a strange… I don’t know. And again, she only does it to bother people. So if you’re bothered, that’s not even really a criticism of the show.
Liz: It’s just interesting the way people are going, oh, someone making this show has a foot fetish. And I’m like, literally, it’s just a body part. You’re like Vulcans carrying on because someone is holding hands. I don’t, maybe I should tell our listeners, I am not wearing shoes as we record. I don’t like wearing shoes around the house.
Anika: I saw a complaint that the part of last week’s episode, not the week before, where they were in their locker room and then they were beamed naked into the ship. The complaint was that in the future, no one would care about nudity. So they shouldn’t have been upset. And I was like, okay, frankly.
Liz: I respect the angle you’re coming from.
Anika: That’s not why they were upset. They were upset because they were beamed into the middle of the lobby. I think that there are a lot of other things that they would be upset about, other than nudity. But also, it’s not a crazy idea that a 17 year old wouldn’t want to be naked in front of all his friends, with no warning, when the rest of the time people are in fact wearing clothes.
Liz: Yeah, I have to admit, there is a part of my brain that’s going, why is Sam wearing a one piece swimsuit to shower? But my answer is A, obviously, the actress may not have wanted to wear underwear or a bikini, and B, Sam is a hologram. She doesn’t actually need to shower. She just wants to hang out with her friends and get the locker room experience. And she’s like, what do you wear for this situation? I know, she probably isn’t even really wearing clothes because she’s a hologram.
Anika: Right. Yeah.
Liz: Anyway, and speaking of Sam, let’s talk about this episode, “Series Acclimation Mil.” Remember the other week we were saying that Sam would have a TikTok?
Anika: Yes.
Liz: We were right. This episode, her whole POV has such powerful vlog energy.
Anika: That’s why I was like, my favorite part of the episode was that the wild, I do this, yes, in vlogs and stuff, legitimately, this is perfect. It’s such a delightful. And her POV with all of her little squiggles is so bright and colorful and happy and cute. I was like, Sam, Sam, I feel you. She’s amazing.
Liz: She’s a delight. And I love that her perspective, what we see is not necessarily linear. And beginning with the freeze frames and the writing on things and all of that, what we’re seeing is not literally what’s happening, which builds up to the wonderful scene where she speaks to Jake Sisko. And that is all happening in her imagination. But it feels real.
It uses the visual language of a teen’s vlog, which is a thing that teens do. I do not follow teen vlogs because that would be creepy. But occasionally they come across my algorithm. This is the visual language that the young audience understands, to tell a story and then to tell a story that’s not wholly literal.
And I think that’s really smart because in a lot of ways, I kind of feel like this episode maybe prioritizes fan service over supporting the new viewer. If I had never watched Star Trek before Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, I might come out of this episode going, I feel like they want me to feel a certain way, but I don’t really have the context.
Anika: Yes. If this was your first episode of anything ever, you would have no idea what was going on the entire time.
Liz: Even as a fifth episode, I’m not sure I rate it.
Anika: Yeah. I enjoyed Sam’s POV and I cried about Dax and Jake.
Liz: Yes.
Anika: And Tawny Newsome in general.
Liz: Nothing but respect for Tawny Newsome. I didn’t even recognize her until halfway through the episode because I’m so bad with faces. Then I was like, wait, and then I realized that she was Dax. And I was like, Tawny Newsome, you magnificent queen.
Anika: Exactly. But right, I think that as an episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, it is sort of missing something. And as an episode of Star Trek, it is petty levels of fan service.
Liz: It’s like how when I finally watched the notorious finale of Star Trek: Enterprise, I thought this is actually a good episode, but it should have been a very special episode mid-season, not the cap of the series, because it’s a wonderful celebration of Star Trek, but it’s not really a Star Trek: Enterprise story.
This episode doesn’t go that far. I do think that it’s a solid episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. But I’m sorry, my neighbor has just started mowing. He does this. Anyway, it’s getting a lot of buzz online. A lot of reviewers with screeners have said that episode five is their favorite. And I think that’s purely because they’ve responded to the fan service.
Anika: Right. And I will say, it does give more context and backstory and character really to Sam herself.
Liz: Yes.
Anika: So it’s not like it doesn’t advance the characters. It uses the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine framing to… I mean, I think that what it does very cleverly is connect her so directly and explicitly to Ben Sisko that, yes, if you like Ben Sisko, you are not allowed to not like Sam. So I think there is some push and pull, and it’s clever.
I just think that there’s a lot of, my kids are into this Trek the way they are not into any of the other Treks. And I think they haven’t seen this episode, so I don’t know what they’ll think. I mean, my son has only seen last week’s episode with Jay-Den fully.
Liz: Yes.
Anika: And my daughter is just excited to watch, or interested in watching the show, which she has never been interested in watching Star Trek since she was a small child and was tricked into liking Star Trek: Enterprise. But when she got old enough to understand, was like, I don’t understand why we’re watching this show. It’s not good.
Liz: I mean, fair.
Anika: So.
Liz: I am very eager to have your kids’ opinions on this episode.
Anika: Right, of this episode. I’m interested, you know, having not seen Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ever, what are they going to think of it?
Liz: And I am curious to know how much of the audience is going to watch this episode and then fire up Paramount Plus and watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for the first time, as many, many Star Trek: Prodigy viewers did with Star Trek: Voyager.
Anika: Absolutely.
Liz: And how many are going to go, OK.
Anika: Right.
Liz: But I do think overall, this episode walks the line of being a Sam story. I love her perspective. I love that she is the impetus for the kids to finally go bar hopping, which is, you know, delightful. Compulsory for any college setting.
Anika: Right.
Liz: And I have to say the other reason I’m kind of lukewarm on this episode is that I don’t really know what to make of the adult plotline. It feels like everyone’s ganging up to make fun of Kelrec, and Kelrec feels like everyone’s ganging up on him. And it’s just kind of unfair.
Anika: So at the end of it all, was any of that real? The dinner?
Liz: No, no, that’s what I was trying to think about.
Anika: I can’t tell.
Liz: We needed one more scene where the emissary from the aliens arrives, and it turns out that she has met Nahle and is exactly as Nahle’s impression. And thanks to Nahle, Kelrec is now ready to deal with her. And I like… That’s where I thought it was going.
Anika: Right. Because we get to the end, and the fish farts or whatever. I don’t even know what happened. And everyone starts laughing. It’s like a deflation. And I was like, wait, was this an elaborate practical joke? I don’t understand. So I legitimately don’t know what I’m supposed to think of that scene.
Liz: You know, I love an awkward dinner party. This is technically an awkward dinner party on earth, but it’s still on a spaceship. So I’m going to count it. And yeah, I just didn’t completely understand where they were going or what they were doing.
Liz: And I like the detail that Kelrec doesn’t have the diplomatic background of the Starfleet officers. And every single person at that dinner table other than him has a background in Starfleet’s diplomatic side. So they’re coaching him, but it just didn’t land for me.
Anika: Yeah, I legit…
Liz: It was the kind of mean humor that people expected from Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Anika: I didn’t even write it into the outline. I forgot it happened until you just said it. I was like, oh yeah, there was a subplot about the adults. But I… Okay, so I also love an awkward dinner party. I felt like Kelrec at this one. I was like, I’m just cringing this entire time. This isn’t fun. It was not my brand of humor.
Liz: Too much awkward and not enough dinner party.
Anika: So… So yeah.
Liz: And it also, because I wasn’t on board with that, the whole thing started to feel a bit xenophobic. Like they’re not just making fun of Kelrec, but they’re making fun of these aliens. If they’re not just making everything up. It really, really didn’t land for me.
There were individual good moments when Kelrec says, you’re not serious people. And Jett’s like, yeah, no, that’s fair. I’m not a serious person. And I liked his conversation at the end, where he and Nahle are finally honest with each other.
Anika: Yes.
Liz: Like that was great. But it felt like a lot of weird build up that didn’t quite go far enough.
Anika: Yeah. I just…
Liz: Narratively, I mean.
Anika: Again, I think that I am not the audience for anything that happened there. No, no.
Liz: Which is bad because my whole thing with YA fiction is I love YA stories where there are also really good adult characters and I can care deeply about both. And we spend so much time with Dax that I feel like the regular adult cast is a little overlooked. They’re there, but what are they doing?
Anika: Right. So. Yeah.
Liz: But let’s focus on Sam’s story and the good sides of Sam’s story. And I really do like that she starts off addressing someone, the audience doesn’t know who. And then at the end, we learn that she’s speaking to Benjamin Sisko and, you know, if the Prophets are in some way omnipotent, if he can sense that, maybe she’s the first person in many, many hundreds of years to speak to him like a guy.
Anika: Yeah. Right.
Liz: I really did expect Avery Brooks to manifest in the final scene. I was ready for it. I was going to be like, this is completely over the top and I love it. And I’m so happy. And instead we got his voiceover and that was great too.
Anika: Yes. The parallels between Sam and Sisko, there’s the blatantly obvious one that she introduced herself as an emissary and that she fixates on Sisko because he was an emissary. And that’s the whole thing. And that was, she was so cute.
Liz: It kind of highlights how, you know, she feels 17, but that is such a child way of thinking. To go, oh, you’re like me because of this one thing.
Anika: Right.
Liz: But I love it. Sam gives a real home schooled energy. And I think that fits.
Anika: Yes. We’ve been talking about being sheltered. All these kids aren’t, ooh. Was she sheltered? And continues to be, even though she’s there.
And then this was, at first when I was watching, okay, so first of all, I have to say, my screeners, I was having some troubles with my screeners. And so I didn’t realize the first time that she was yanked out of time and space by her people. I don’t know if they were her parents or the people in charge or her home world or whatever.
But as it kept happening, I was like, oh wait, this also happens to Sisko all the time. So I was like, oh, this is actually super clever. I really like that part. So that’s why I’m like, the fan service was so blatant, but it was also cute and clever and in this sort of meta way, in addition to being textural and on screen. So I’ve got to give them credit, they went full on into it.
Liz: And also the alien child with all powerful parents who turn up out of nowhere to tell them what to do was a huge thing in TOS as well. So I really like that this is just something that happens in Star Trek, but also in the context of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, it felt like a really, really good allegory for the helicopter parent who is having trouble with the fact that their child is now a college student and has that level of independence and they can’t speak to them every minute and can’t control the courses that they take and all of that stuff.
And in that sense, it also feels like a first-generation immigrant story where you’re sending your child off outside of your culture and you don’t fully understand the culture that they’re operating within.
Anika: Exactly. And so they are reacting to what she’s doing without the context of why she made those decisions. Yeah.
Liz: Yeah. And that’s really hard for everyone.
Anika: So.
Liz: Sam’s creators seem unreasonable here, but they don’t have context either. Her whole mission is to give them context.
Anika: Right. While we’re talking about her creators, I really have to jump back to the beginning. And she describes her mission as determining if it’s safe for them to interact with the Federation and be a part of what the solids — I’m going to call it a nerd Trek term — because they’re afraid that they will just be used or enslaved.
Liz: Yeah.
Anika: And I was like, that’s a lot to put on this seven-months-slash-17-year-old child, but okay.
Liz: Right, right. Imagine if they did enslave her, what would happen?
Anika: I know. It’s just hard. I get it. Star Trek: Voyager is all about hologram rights. You know, the Doctor was the third lead of that show. So there are plenty of stories about this already in Star Trek. And it’s interesting to me that people are still like, I don’t know, there’s a difference between, she’s just a hologram, so she doesn’t need rights. People are out there saying that. Oh, I know. So fandom is doing the thing that her creators are worried about people doing.
Liz: I had this guy on Reddit, and I should say I steer clear of the big Star Trek reddits, but I really like the television subreddit just because I like TV. And it’s a great way to find out about shows that are coming out and chat about stuff and all of that. But the overall vibe there is really anti-Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
And I had this guy arguing that Sam doesn’t need human rights because holograms can be mass-produced, whereas Data is unique. And I was like, first of all, Data is not unique. He’s not even the prototype. Secondly, humans can effectively be mass-produced. We mass-produce ourselves, and yet we are entitled to human rights, and it’s terrible when they’re not granted.
And third, there’s a whole episode of TNG where a woman has invented a cool robot to do little jobs, and then it turns out that the cool robots are sentient and should have what we would call human rights. And that’s where the exocomps come from. And I don’t think it’s coincidence that we have an exocomp in the background of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
Anika: It’s such a strange comment that somehow makes it different. I mean, we have complained about how many red shirts there are so many times.
Liz: Yes, yes. The idea that Data and the Doctor…
Anika: Yeah, yeah.
Liz: Data and the Doctor are unique. And I’m like, hmm, it’s interesting. There’s something that separates them from Sam, is it? It’s quite mysterious. Difficult to say. I personally would not be out here arguing that a Black woman doesn’t deserve human rights, but that’s just me.
Anika: Yeah. So that, and the show engages with it because they put this on her. They put this into the… What she is here to do is pretty clear, that these holographic entities are afraid that they will be enslaved. And that’s a big fear because, you know, it’s just so crazy to me that we’re having this conversation at the same time as the conversation where chatbots are convincing people to divorce their husband and run away with them, or that they’re their only friend.
The difference between a chatbot and Sam is so vast. And yet, there are some people out there saying that chatbots are in some ways real, or as good as a real person, as good as a therapist. You can just go talk to your chatbot or whatever.
Liz: Okay, Hugh Culber.
Anika: No. And at the same time… So they are saying that the chatbot doesn’t deserve rights because it’s just a chatbot, but also it’s as good as a human. And that’s just weird.
Liz: I’ve also seen the take that it’s problematic that so much of science fiction is about the personhood of artificial life because that leads to chatbots. And I’m sorry, but the artificial life forms in science fiction, like robots and androids and holograms, they’re an allegory. The first robot in science fiction was an allegory for the worker. You know, robot rights are workers’ rights. I need people to be less literal, please.
Anika: You’ve lost that. I completely agree.
Liz: I know.
Anika: And it’s very obvious to me. But yeah, people are bad at this. They’re bad at allegory.
Liz: I just didn’t think that understanding the difference between fiction and reality would become such a rare skill. Because I, for example, understand that Data and the Doctor and Sam are not the Siri who lives in my phone and my watch. I’m sorry.
Anika: I can’t. Yeah, it’s bad.
Liz: Obviously, if Siri develops sentience, then I’m going to be in trouble. But I will reassess my opinion when we come to it.
Coming back to this specific episode, I feel like another way in which Sam is so very young is her intensely literal approach to the whole what happened to Benjamin Sisko project. That this is an ambiguous question that can never be answered is not okay by her. She needs to go through the process of learning that she can’t always answer these questions.
Anika: And I think that is again, yes, she’s so young. She’s neurodivergent coded. There’s a lot of ways that you can take those ideas.
And, you know, also Dax says, you’re not ready for this class. This is a project to show you that you’re not ready for this class. And she’s correct, not because she fails to answer the question, but because she didn’t realize what the real question was.
Liz: And that also has a real clever undergraduate trying to do an advanced course before doing the prerequisites.
Anika: Absolutely. And because she…
Liz: Which she explicitly is.
Anika: She’s good at facts and reading. She has the ability to do this work really quickly, but that doesn’t mean she understands what it is or what she’s doing. The ability to consume a lot of information is different from the ability to parse it.
Liz: Okay. The reason I was arguing with a guy on Reddit about whether or not Sam should have human rights is that he was going, why would a hologram go to the Academy when they can just know everything?
And I was like, well, first of all, it’s about socialization and secondly, it’s not just about knowing facts, it’s about developing the skills to understand and to synthesize that information and build on it. Anyway, we got off course in this discussion and then I got downvoted to oblivion because I don’t know why, because I’m right.
Anika: Anyway, I do love that…
Liz: I didn’t mean to. It’s usually a nice sub. Anyway, I love that part of this episode is about Sam developing these skills because in that way, I think this is a really successful episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and a really successful story for young viewers.
Anika: I just want to say while we’re on the topic of her age, that we were right about Darem. He is confirmed 17 years old.
Liz: Yes. Yes.
Anika: It flashed on screen.
Liz: I think there was a screen in the first episode which said that Jay-Den was 17 as well. I think we can assume that Genesis is about the same. I’m still going to guess that Tarima is maybe a bit older just because of the romance with Caleb who was 21. Right. Just, you know, age gap discourse.
Anika: Let’s avoid that as much as possible.
Liz: The gang learns about 32nd century statutory rape law.
Anika: Oh my god.
Liz: Speaking of ages, I had a little cackle that they go to a bar and they consume alcohol and then they get into a fight and they get in trouble, but at no point is anyone mad or talking about underage drinking. Therefore, the legal drinking age in the Federation right now is not 21 as it is in America and I just think that’s great.
Anika: Yeah. There is no carding. There is no discussion of it. The bartender literally brings them shots.
Liz: So the bartender is Jackie Cox, who does a lot of Star Trek events.
Anika: She’s a massive Trekkie.
Liz: I love her. I’ve seen her. It was just really good to see a drag queen in Star Trek on screen because I’m friends with Cody, @atiredgay on Bluesky. And one of the things he was saying last year is that he doesn’t just want queer people in Star Trek. Well, obviously, that’s important, but he wants queer culture, drag queens and gender play and performance and all of that. And so just seeing Jackie Cox was really like, this is for Cody.
Anika: This is for you. Speaking of gender play, yes. Jay-Den’s skirt was delightful.
Liz: Can I just say I totally missed that? Was this in the club scene?
Anika: It was in a couple of the scenes. It was his uniform. He’s wearing the skirted uniform in a couple of scenes.
Liz: Yeah. Oh, my gosh. My queer son. He’s slowly coming out.
Anika: Jay-Den.
Liz: I’m super embarrassed that I missed it. And I saw your note about it in the notes and I was like, should I go back and rewatch the screener? And then I was like, no, no, no, I’m just going to fess up.
Anika: You weren’t paying attention. And that’s fine. I just think, the controversy that I really liked it, because the skirt in TNG, male-identified people have been cosplaying with the TNG skirt for decades. Yes. And they get a lot of high fives and woos. And you know, yay, the future or whatever. And so I really hope that that continues. But we’re in a very gender non-neutral state of affairs here in America. And so I’m scared.
Liz: Yeah. Jay-Den as a character has already been the target of a lot of homophobia.
Anika: Right. But I love him.
Liz: And yeah, he’s so great.
Anika: His dancing with Kyle, every interaction with Kyle is perfect in every way. And I love them.
Liz: Yes, I am not planning their wedding, but I’m close. I’m coming close.
I really enjoyed the whole bar scene. That was kind of when this clicked back into being proper Star Trek: Starfleet Academy again. And we’ve got the relationship stuff and just the setting and Genesis looking out for Sam and yeah, it was great. Sam’s, yep, 12 shots. And I’m like, girl, what are you doing?
And this is me being old, but I don’t understand the appeal of shots. I mean, I know it’s to get as much alcohol into you as possible while tasting as little as possible and as cheaply as possible, but why? Children, what are you doing?
Anika: Yeah, I had one night of tequila shots in college and that was enough forever. You know, I don’t really know.
Liz: I was a really big Sambuca drinker for some reason.
Anika: On New Year’s, we do vodka shots in ice glasses.
Liz: That sounds very Scandinavian.
Anika: With caviar. It’s this tradition. And I spend New Year’s with my college people. So, no, we weren’t doing it in college, but it is still sort of a youthful vibe, maybe. Because we’ve been friends for so long. But it’s not, we don’t do 12 shots. We don’t do six shots. You’re like, we do two. No, no. And it’s fun.
Liz: 12 is going to kill you. Unless you’re a hologram.
Anika: But I guess she, I mean, and getting Sam drunk is delightful. Because she’s Sam, and she has no context for any of it. And it’s…
Liz: What’s a burrito? And why am I craving one?
Anika: And I don’t have to worry about her health or anything. So it’s just fine because she is a hologram who cannot actually be harmed by this in any way. Actual 17-year-olds can be harmed by having too much alcohol.
Liz: Don’t do that, kids.
Anika: So, yeah.
Liz: I support a lower drinking age than 21, but also I think you should learn to drink responsibly and start small and not do 12 shots in one night.
Anika: It’s one of those things.
Liz: Because you will die.
Anika: If the drinking age was lower, there wouldn’t be this pressure to get drunk. Freshman year.
Liz: That’s true. Yeah. Yeah.
Anika: It’s because it’s forbidden that they do it.
Liz: And less pressure to drink as quickly as possible.
Anika: Because what if you get caught in all of that? Because what if something… If anyone can go to the bar or the party and have a drink or two, we wouldn’t have as many drunk 18-year-olds.
Liz: That’s true. Underage drinking is a thing in Australia, but less of a thing.
Anika: So…
Liz: But also, yeah, yeah. We’ve kind of gotten a bit out of sync, but let’s talk about the first of our surprise cameos. Jake.
Anika: Oh, so I love Cirroc Lofton. He is such a gem of a person. I think I’ve mentioned this before, that he was the first Star Trek celebrity that my son ever met. And my son was 11 at the time. So he was basically Jake’s age.
And Cirroc Lofton was just so kind and talked to him like he was a full on person and never talked down to him. And it was just a beautiful interaction that my son still remembers. And it’s just because Cirroc Lofton was such an amazing person. I think that’s the only time that I’ve interacted with him in person, but on podcasts and online and just in interviews, it’s like he is Avery Brooks’ son.
Liz: Yeah, he has that decency about him.
Anika: In that same vein of really taking everything seriously, but not in a harmful or over the top way, just in a, I don’t know.
Liz: And it seems like, you know, Brooks has retreated from public life. He doesn’t do Star Trek stuff anymore. He still works, but stage work and teaching. And it feels like Cirroc Lofton has taken over the public face of being a Sisko.
Anika: Yeah.
Liz: And it’s almost as if he’s protecting Brooks in a way.
Anika: So I love seeing him. I loved because, and also I loved Jake. Jake was so important to me as someone who was not in Starfleet, but was still important to the story that was being told. Yes, yes.
Liz: And we had Wesley in Star Trek: Prodigy and that was so fitting. But I think Nog would be more fitting for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, but of course Aron Eisenberg is no longer with us, but we do have Cirroc Lofton. And I think it’s great for Sam to have a role model, a historical role model who is not necessarily in Starfleet.
Anika: It really felt like, yeah, that he was stepping in for both Avery Brooks and Aaron Eisenberg. Like there was weight to the appearance that was outside of what was actually happening, but inside of what was actually happening, it was just so, I love that we get the confirmation that he became this author who is still remembered and that he kept the memory of his father alive and that he understood that his father didn’t actually leave him. Like, that was really important to me.
Liz: I love that he is still remembered as an author and as a writer and never actually published his novel because these days, there’s so often a feeling like you’re not really an author until you’ve published the novel, and your short stories and your journalism don’t really count. So well done, Jake. You may not have gotten paid for your work, but you’ve changed the face of things.
Anika: And I loved his costuming because it was very reminiscent. Yes. Yes.
Liz: I’m blessed.
Anika: So everything about Cirroc Lofton’s appearance made me so happy.
Liz: His outfit, it did look like something like a modern take on 90s Trek. And I really like Avery Plewes’s work as the costume designer. And I recommend following her on Instagram if you’re interested in that sort of thing, because she obviously has a very deep knowledge of the costuming of 90s Star Trek and is applying that to contemporary forms and styles and fabrics. And it’s really effective. And yeah, yeah. And his little Bajoran, not even a Bajoran earring. He’s wearing an earring, but it’s not Bajoran.
Anika: Right, right.
Liz: And it’s like, Bajor is part of my heritage, but I am also a human and a Sisko and of New Orleans.
Anika: Oh, beautiful.
Liz: I also found it super interesting that we get a glimpse of the Sisko family tree and Sisko’s descendants, but no one actually speaks about Jake’s sister, Kasidy’s child. And I feel like Jake, in speaking to the museum and writing his book, he has sort of taken on the work of curating Sisko’s legacy so that his sister and Kasidy can just live their lives privately without the burden. Because obviously if they live on Bajor, there’s a lot of pressure there, because we see how seriously, the Bajorans are treating Sisko the way Muslims treat the Prophet Muhammad.
Anika: Right.
Liz: And that’s fascinating. But imagine being that guy’s son or daughter. Or widow.
Anika: I liked that Jake called Sam sis.
Liz: Yes. Yes.
Anika: Because it does draw that he does have a little sister. And so he understands how to take Sam under his wing. That had a lot of layers as well. And because it can just be a nickname. You know, so. And particularly in Black vernacular.
Liz: Yeah. Yeah. I saw a Black viewer say about “Vox In Excelso” that you could tell this was co-written by a Black man. And I feel like you can tell that this episode is co-written by a Black woman.
Anika: Right. Right.
Liz: There is a lived-in identity here, even though we’re dealing with holograms and memories and Prophets.
Anika: And the same person who is opposed to the concept of New Trek and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, their whole argument was based around how much they love Sisko. And it was because it didn’t matter that he was Black. And I was like, I don’t think you watched that show at the same level of intensity that I did. But OK.
Liz: But I think Avery Brooks would be fascinated to learn this.
Anika: That’s what I’m like. I’m just like, I don’t know, he did say nearly. So I guess he’s acknowledging that there are times when it’s pretty blatantly in the plot. So I like that there are these nods. I think it’s true about last week’s episode, and it’s true about this week’s episode, that there are people in the room from these identities.
Liz: Bringing their experience.
Anika: Bringing their experience, which is different from when that is not true, from the nods. A lot of it was on Avery Brooks.
Liz: Yeah, and he shouldn’t have had to carry that.
Anika: And so it’s great that, I’m sorry, I don’t even know Sam’s actor’s name.
Liz: Kerrice Brooks.
Anika: Kerrice Brooks, right. Doesn’t have to carry that, and it’s not on her to understand, and it’s not on her to be, hey, I’m a Black girl first. We…
Liz: No, no. Other people can do that work for her.
Anika: Yeah.
Liz: Should we move on to Anika’s academia corner? I made you a theme song.
Anika: I am so excited. I can’t wait to hear it. So okay. Shout out one first, which is that today is a no lunch day. Again, I felt so seen in that moment. That was such an academia thing. I’m sure it is in corporate America too, but there’s no such thing as, we have it so you can’t have a class — quote unquote can’t — have class during lunchtime, that there’s supposed to be this common time where everybody stops and has lunch, which of course doesn’t happen.
Liz: How does that go?
Anika: Because we still have to have, creating a schedule for a working university, you know, a schedule of courses, is the hardest work. And so there always are things happening, but it also means that that’s when all the meetings happen.
Liz: Oh, come on.
Anika: And so the concept of, and she says it because she’s trying to have lunch in her office by herself. And I was like, this is me at least once a week. Where I try to actually take, not even an hour, not even a half hour, try to take that 20 minutes of I’m not going to work, I’m going to eat this and pay attention to eating because that’s the healthy way to do it.
Liz: And that did not happen. Nope, none for you.
Anika: So it was just, that was very real to me.
Liz: Even as she’s having her lunch, she’s talking to Sam and mentoring her. And then Kelrec starts boiling the ocean. So she’s got to go deal with that. It’s like, yeah, any kind of teaching role is really hard.
Anika: Yes. But then the name of Dax’s course, Confronting the Unexplainable, that is like the subtitle of higher education. And I say that, I’m not being cutesy or facetious or quirky about it. I literally mean, that’s the point. We sort of touched on it earlier where you go to college, not to learn how to achieve data or achieve knowledge. You go to college to learn how to learn. And confronting the unexplainable means that you are not reading a book to be able to summarize it. You are reading a book to learn something about you and life and what the human condition is and all of those unexplainable things.
Liz: And also we talked about Sam as an allegory for the neurodivergent experience. And that’s great, but a lot of neurotypical kids come to university or college with a lot of experience in standardized tests and that sort of regurgitating facts. Now they have to learn the higher skill of synthesizing and building on those facts. And that’s really hard. And a lot of them struggle with it. I did.
Anika: Absolutely. It’s a different level of education. And purposefully, you are expected to then try… You’re not supposed to know everything when you come to college. That is not the purpose of college. And so I just really loved that it was called Confronting the Unexplainable because it really felt like that is the exact…
And also, people are going to say, oh, you’re just talking about the humanities or social science and all these squishy nonsensical higher education, liberal arts nonsense. And it’s like, no, I am also talking about science and even hardcore hard science because the whole purpose of science is actually confronting the unexplainable. That is what we are doing with science. Right. We are looking at something and saying, why is it like that? Where did that come from? The kindergarten question of why is the sky blue? There is a scientific answer to that, but it’s not a fact. You have to think about it and you have to prove it and you have to keep proving it.
In my head, I was like, they’re going to say that I’m just doing a soapbox for the humanities. And it’s like, no, this is also science. That’s unexplainable. Science is in fact unexplainable. And I work in science, in higher education. So I’m not wrong. I have the receipts for this, I guess is what I’m saying. I struggle because everything I do in my job is under attack from the federal government currently. And part of that is that they just want someone to say, this is what this is. They don’t want people to look at anything. They want it all to be explainable and explained. The first person who tells them is the winner.
Liz: Yeah.
Anika: Regardless of any reality.
Liz: I’m currently reading The Empire of AI by Karen Hao, which is mostly about Sam Altman and OpenAI, but is about the AI development culture in general. And I feel like a whole lot of problems with this field would have been avoided if anyone, literally anyone involved, or anyone with authority in that field, was able to be comfortable with ambiguity and questions with no simple answers.
Anika: Right.
Liz: So, Confronting the Unexplainable should be a compulsory course for all degrees.
Anika: The unexplainable. Confronting the Unexplainable.
Liz: Yeah.
Anika: But also, the line between explainable and unexplainable is a moving target.
Liz: It changes. Sometimes, you know, things that were great mysteries for a long time are solved, and that’s fantastic, and that’s how academia works. That’s right. The baseline of knowledge moves on. On to fashion, and I feel like we’ve covered everything except Nahle’s comfy wardrobe, which continues to be comfy and fabulous.
Anika: It just continues.
Liz: I noticed that the cast was on the Kelly Clarkson show the other day, and Holly Hunter’s outfit was basically a Nahle outfit. So I wonder how much of this was driven by Hunter’s own aesthetic.
Anika: I’m here for Nahle’s wardrobe.
Liz: So here for it.
Anika: It just looks constantly comfortable. But let’s move on to shipping.
Liz: Jay-Den and Kyle in the silly little dividing up the atrium scene, which is great. They have a moment and Darem interrupts them. And then they have another moment at the club and Darem interrupts them again. And I think Darem is feeling a certain way about his friend. And yeah, yeah.
Anika: Anyway. Yeah. I mean, you could read it as he’s just against the War College and doesn’t want Jay-Den hanging out with a War College guy.
Liz: And that was my first thought, but then I rewatched the “Vox In Excelso” one.
Anika: He’s not doing it to Caleb. Who is making out with the War College girl.
Liz: And it’s clearly, Sam is talking about it. So clearly they’re not keeping this thing a secret. So, yeah.
Anika: Right. It feels very targeted. Based on last week plus this week, I really think that at least Darem has a crush.
Liz: And also that he doesn’t really, I don’t think he’s usually the one with a crush who isn’t having it reciprocated.
Anika: He’s used to being the-
Liz: The object of desire, yeah.
Anika: Who just, yeah, the object of desire. So, yeah. But, Jay-Den and Kyle are perfect. So, sorry.
Liz: Yeah, look.
Anika: I enjoy some pining. I’m enjoying Darem’s, and I don’t wish any sorrow for him.
Liz: No, no. And I’m not even a big fan of the love triangle as a concept. But in this case, you know, this is new ground for Star Trek, and I am eager to watch the drama.
Anika: Right.
Liz: And then Caleb and Tarima finally cut through their bullshit and kiss, which, yes.
Anika: Tension.
Liz: Yes, that’s probably a better word for it. Because, yes.
Anika: It’s been obvious from the teaser that they are a couple. And I love a slow burn, but not in this case. I was very much like, just get it on.
Liz: I feel like for these specific characters, a slow burn wouldn’t make sense.
Anika: It would not make sense at all, because I think both of them feel like they could lose this at any moment. Everything that they have gained at Star Trek: Starfleet Academy slash The War College could be taken away at any time based on their lives.
Liz: Both of them, kind of their whole deal is that they feel things very deeply.
Anika: Right. So I’m happy for them to be full on making out and getting to the next level of the relationship. I think they’re very cute. I enjoy the potential for this relationship, but so far there’s nothing, it’s just there and it’s happening.
Liz: It’s not really crunchy yet.
Anika: No. So yay. But that’s just what, I don’t really have much to say about them.
Liz: No. Although, when Caleb says, well, what is his line? Most of my relationships have been theoretical or something along those lines. It makes me think, oh, you’ve never actually had a real relationship before. He may never have had a girlfriend or a boyfriend or any sexual experience.
And I’m okay with that because I think one of my pet peeves in young adult media, and it’s particularly a thing in television, is that you have these characters who are very, very young and yet somehow have the sexual tastes and experience of 30-somethings. Jaded 30-somethings at that.
Anika: Yeah. Yeah. They’re sweet.
Liz: Yeah. No. I support them.
Anika: They’re, they’re happening.
Liz: I support them and I want them to be happy. I’m basically Tarima’s brother in this. Speaking of whom, do we think that Sam has a crush on Ocam? Cause…
Anika: I mean, so I’d say, he does the whole title thing at the beginning with her, which was, I was like, I love this so much.
Liz: He’s very charming.
Anika: I was, oh my goodness. He’s such a goofball. Ocam doesn’t have game, but then it’s like, oh, Ocam has game.
Liz: No, no, no.
Anika: So I was into that. And because he’s a Betazoid and it was just, everything about that was so sweet. And they are both sort of the goofball characters. So it’s like, okay, I can see that. Yeah. It’s going to be fun. But yeah, I don’t know if we’re supposed to be reading anything into it because, but I just love Ocam so much. I really love him.
Liz: He’s a really delightfully uncomplicated character. And I think you need that in a series with so many angsty kids. He is the most plausibly 17 of all of them, him and Sam.
And then we have Nahle and Kelrec and based on this week, I’m not really shipping them. I think that they need to find a place of mutual respect first. And I think that they’re getting there. But yeah, they’re not quite what I look for in a relationship.
Anika: Talk about, I think that Kelrec is not comfortable in his own skin with-
Liz: Yeah, yeah.
Anika: I think that he has also been-
Liz: I was just about to say-
Anika: in some ways.
Liz: He is-
Anika: And this is- he’s going through a little coming of age story, even though he’s a-
Liz: Which is fantastic. You never stop growing.
Anika: Right. I love that. I adore coming of age stories about adults. It’s one of my favorite things.
Liz: So he’s sort of what happens if you’re a senior Starfleet officer who didn’t go to the Academy and didn’t get any grounding whatsoever in the diplomatic scientific side. He’s obviously very intelligent. He’s obviously good at his job. But his skill set is not as great as the other officers.
Whereas you get someone like Vance, who I think is great at the diplomatic side, but he’s actually kind of terrible in any kind of military conflict situation. Michael is always having to come in and save him.
Anika: I mean, I guess I didn’t write it down, but when they were first… I expected to see the ambassador for whatever race. And it was suggested in the first scene where it was brought up, and she was like, oh, you have a thing for them. You know, and I was like, I would like that. I would like to see him have a thing for them. I would like to see him have a thing. I think that would be fun.
And so I felt cheated out of finding out if that was true, if he was trying to impress her because he was attracted or respected her in a different way, which is different from how he… He doesn’t seem to respect Nahle super much. They’re coming around to it. Like you said, they’re sort of getting to this we understand each other sort of place. And I liked that the scene at the end between them is why I ended up putting them on this list.
Liz: The bit where she lies down and then kind of nuzzles up against him. I was like, okay, Nahle, you’re a cat, I understand, but also, okay.
Anika: That’s where I was coming from with it. And that’s sort of fun. That’s a trope in these types of series with the two schools. The headmasters are in a secret relationship that always comes out halfway through. But yeah, I can go either way on this one, but I like Kelrec more.
Liz: Yeah, same.
Anika: I think that he’s an interesting character for someone who is in charge of something called the War College, to be a three-dimensional character. I’m enjoying that. And having non-War College vibes and being awkward with… So I didn’t like the dinner scene, but I did like the scene at the end and the scene at the beginning.
Liz: Agreed.
Anika: And I wish we had seen the Ambassador.
Liz: My gosh, yes. Also, I just want to say, I don’t know if there’s a safe and cool way to boil part of the Pacific Ocean. I think maybe Kelrec should not do that. Just putting that out there.
Anika: Yeah. Just a theory.
Liz: Just my personal take. No big…
Anika: Bad ideas.
Liz: No, I really like the contrast between Kelrec’s job and the fact that he’s such a dweeby little guy. I watched A Few Good Men for the first time during the week, and Jack Nicholson’s character is what you would expect the War College guy to be. You know, super masculine, high-key, misogynistic, homophobic, asshole, violent. A Jack Nicholson character. And instead, Kelrec is actually this very pleasant, pedantic man.
Anika: Right. Yes. Yeah, oh my gosh, thank goodness we don’t have that. I am not a Jack Nicholson fan. That’s the only movie I can actually stand him in.
Liz: Yeah, I think he’s a very talented actor, but I don’t like watching him.
Anika: It fits the character very well in that. And you’re not supposed to like him in any way. So anyway, well, it’s not a Jack Nicholson podcast, but thank goodness we don’t have anything remotely like that.
Liz: No, no, and I think it’s a good sign narratively that they’re looking at characters and then going, what if we go for the opposite of the obvious type? Also, we’ve kind of got Lura Thok as that aggressive drill sergeant type of character, but she is also not a Jack Nicholson character. Thank God.
Anika: Right, she has other sides.
Liz: Yeah.
Anika: I mean, not to talk about Aaron Sorkin, but I think that the main problem with that particular story is that there are no gray areas of… What’s his name? Let’s just call him Jack Nicholson. There are no gray areas of Jack Nicholson.
Liz: Well, there are no gray areas in that movie because that’s not how Aaron Sorkin sees the world.
Anika: In that movie.
Liz: Honestly, I found it a fascinating piece. We could do a whole podcast on A Few Good Men. I have a lot of interesting thoughts on the gender of it all. But yeah, we’re not a Jack Nicholson podcast or an Aaron Sorkin podcast.
And on that note, thank you for listening to Antimatter Pod. You can find our show notes at antimatterpod.com, including links to our social media, credits for our theme music, and transcripts of our episodes. You can follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, and Bluesky, all at antimatterpod. And on Mastodon at antimatterpod@tenforward.social. You can also find us on TikTok at Antimatter Pod. People gave us comments and likes, and it was so exciting.
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