This YA-flavored series punches way above its weight class

Starfleet Academy is one of the most talked about and least visited key locations in the entire “Star Trek” franchise. It’s a place where legends are made, mistakes are made, and young people from across the galaxy are shaped, ready and able to board a spaceship and boldly set off, and so on. It exists more as a twinkle in the eye of characters like Captain Picard than as a known, fully identified location with an exact identity.

In other words, it’s the perfect place to set a new “Star Trek” TV series.because everyone from Mr. Spock to Harry Kim has passed through its halls. It connects virtually every major character in the franchise, while still being open enough for all sorts of interpretations. And after decades of false starts and canceled attempts, a full-fledged story set (almost) entirely within its hallowed halls has finally arrived.

“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” is a strange, even funky, series in that it has to acknowledge the fact that the captains, diplomats and scientists assembled in this franchise all started out as reckless, arrogant, shy and strange little people attending college for the first time. This is a “Star Trek” series where teenage shenanigans frequently take center stage, but also reminds us that with any luck, these kids will one day command entire fleets. They just need a good education.

And when it works, and it usually does, “Starfleet Academy” is a joy.

“Starfleet Academy” is a show that operates on two distinct but parallel levels. Above, we watch the school’s educators and leaders as they welcome the first Starfleet Academy class in over a century (fallout from the events of “Star Trek: Discovery”) and navigate a perilous, perilous galaxy and the diplomatic pitfalls that await them at every turn. Below, we observe the school’s students as they take classes, join clubs, bristle with sexual tension, and generally deal with the anxiety of being a sexy young human/alien with the weight of the universe on their shoulders. High end stories are huge in scope, student stories are smaller and personal. One is often the microcosm of the other, even when they do not directly cross paths. As the galaxy faces a major event of grave importance, the Starfleet Academy Debate Club discusses it. It’s a wonderful structure.

This type of setup should be familiar to anyone who has ever enjoyed a story built around the young adult trope of “magic school,” and yes, there are times when “Starfleet Academy” could be described as “Star Trek: Hogwarts.” Fortunately, the school’s campus is a place worth the investment, a lavish piece of production design teeming with creatures and robots that can also literally take off from its San Francisco port and take excursions to strange new worlds. In this way, the series is a college soap opera that also acts as a “Star Trek” series.

Any “Star Trek” show is only as good as its team, and the “Starfleet Academy” ensemble is a healthy mix of young talent and veteran performers. As Nahla Ake, the Academy’s century-old chancellor, Holly Hunter brings a brash, hippie aura to the uniform, casually throwing out protocol often enough to make James T. Kirk blush (and no Starfleet officer has ever sat in the captain’s chair like her). She’s supported by returning “Trek” characters like Robert Picardo’s holographic Doctor (still delightful) and Tig Notaro’s Jett Reno (still delightful) and new characters like Gina Yashere’s Lura Thok, the secretly sentient Jem’Hadar warrior tasked with toughening up the cadets. The bench is deeper than expected and, as the series proves, the opportunities for fascinating guest professors are endless.

The young cast also makes a good impression, bringing all the angst you’d expect from a series about young people living in a giant space school full of sexy people. But if the mischievous Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta) is presented as the central protagonist of the series, it is the slightly more esoteric characters who bring the series to life. Karim Diané’s queer, pacifist Klingon Jay-Den Kraag immediately stands out, honoring the past of the legendary alien race even as the series turns everything on their culture upside down in a surprising and satisfying way. Kerrice Brooks’ Sam, a “photonic” projection depicting an isolated race of alien AI, begins as comedy relief before becoming the catalyst for the series’ most unexpected and moving moments.

“Starfleet Academy” walks a fine line, trying to appeal to three different audiences at once. It really wants to be a great “Star Trek” “first” for young viewers, drawing them in with a CW-tinged drama where students aspire and learn in equal measure. He wants to attract a mainstream audience more familiar with action films, by bringing expensive action scenes done with enthusiasm on the big screen. And yes, it also wants to appeal to hardcore Trekkies, exploring the current status of the Klingon Empire (a massive swing that connects with unexpected force), Betazed politics (more interesting than you think!) and the lingering mysteries of a certain season finale that “Trek” fans still passionately discuss (episode 5 is going to inspire some of the biggest conversations online in ages).

But this cocktail has an undeniable YA flavor, and showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau are leaning into it. These kids are kids, they make mistakes, fall in love, struggle with homework, wage ridiculous prank wars and, in perhaps the funniest “Star Trek” sequence outside of the animated comedy series “Lower Decks,” leave campus for a night of drinking and partying. While some old-school “Trek” fans will scoff at the diversions, I just remember that virtually every mention of the Academy in previous shows was accompanied by a wink and a smirk suggesting the chaos everyone created before graduating. It’s the right choice.

Frankly, I found myself enchanted by the first six episodes of “Starfleet Academy” offered to critics. I had a blast with the ridiculous comedic twists, intergalactic politics, often bizarre romantic subplots, Paul Giamattithe offbeat guest performance as a disgusting space pirate, the new takes on the “Trek” universe, and the frequent (and I mean frequent) Easter eggs and callbacks to past alien species and events. Did you want the “Next Generation” men’s uniform-skirt to come back? Don’t worry, “Starfleet Academy” has your back.

I recommend skeptical “Trek” fans give this one a chance and stick with it. Yes, this series is a direct spin-off from the controversial film “Star Trek: Discovery,” but it takes the lemons from that series and makes sweet lemonade. The series gets better as it goes on, especially in its thoughtful and joyful fourth episode and its hilarious and kick-ass fifth entry. Controversial events like the Burn were given new context, acting as a metaphor for the here and now like the best “Trek” always did. These children inherited a world in ruins, which adults could not repair. It’s theirs now. And it’s easy to support this crew.

/Film rating: 8 out of 10

“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” premieres on Paramount+ on January 15, 2026.