By Chris Snellgrove | Published
How do you fix a controversial show that listeners are always complaining about? Simple: with transparent fan service!
Starfleet Academy he has been annoyed by Trekkies who think the brand is worn by them like a leather suit. In an effort to combat this, the new spinoff has been doing more callbacks to old shows, trying to strengthen its relationship with some of the franchise’s best episodes from Star Trek’s golden age.
The latest Starfleet Academy episode, “Life of the Stars,” takes fan service to the next level by serving as a direct sequel to the forgotten. Voyager episode. In “Real Life,” the Doctor used Voyager’s holodeck to build a family for himself, but due to the reality of his simulation, his digital daughter died after a freak accident. Although he never seemed to worry about it in later episodes, Starfleet Academy he recently revealed that he had been grieving over his death for over 800 years.
The Real World
“Real Life” was an episode of VoyagerThe third season where the Doctor wants to learn more about what it means to be human. So, he organized a family on the holodeck, giving himself a wife and two children.
After Tom Paris and B’Elanna Torres (who are visiting for dinner) tell him everything is fine, the Doctor tweaks the plan to make it a reality. This results in aggressive teenagers: the son falls in with an evil mob of local Klingons, while the daughter begins playing the dangerous fictional game of Parisses Squares.
Although it seems like the Doctor’s son is in serious danger (it’s not long before he wants to get involved in Klingon blood-letting rituals), things take a drastic turn when his daughter suffers a fatal injury while playing games. The Doctor’s attempts to cure him are unsuccessful, and he shuts down the act just because of the pain; however, after Tom Paris reminds him that families should support each other even in the worst tragedies. A holographic therapist runs the program and sits by her daughter’s bedside until she dies.
Unexpected Redial
Star Trek: Voyager it was a staged show, so it didn’t really follow how the Doctor felt after watching his daughter die. However, the Starfleet Academy The episode “Life of the Stars” revealed that he has been struggling for more than 800 years in this event. This also provides a background explanation as to why the Doctor is obsessed with SAM, a hologram of his colleague: she reminded him of his daughter from day one, and shut down his attempts to reach her because he was spending time with his old reopened wounds that had never fully healed.
SAM thrives in this episode, and the Doctor helps his strange alien race identify the problem: namely, he never had the benefit of growing up, so he lacked the emotional strength to process the recent trauma (ie, the Doctor’s own rejection) he experienced. To help him do so, the Doctor makes the drastic decision to raise SAM on his homeland, giving him 17 years of experience before returning to Starfleet Academy. But due to time constraints and his home planet, that feels like 17 years in SAM and the Doctor only counts about two weeks back from school.
The fan service is well done
Some critics of the Starfleet Academy complained that previous fan episodes (especially “Series Acclimation Mil,” which were too focused Deep Space Nine) are just bare-bones attempts to please the audience. That doesn’t make them bad, really; for example, others DS9 fans are happy to finally learn more about what happened to Sisko. But “Life of the Stars” arguably takes fan service to the next level with some great (albeit obscure) performances. Voyager The episode got even better some 30 years later.
“Real Life” is an underrated gem of an episode that allowed Robert Picardo to do some of his best work as an actor. He spread great ways back then to show the grief of a man dealing with the grief of losing a daughter he never knew he loved until she was gone. Starfleet Academy it reverses that process, allowing Picardo to provide the main stage in the acting while adding much-needed depth and complexity to his character.
Even if you’re not a huge fan of the game (maybe you really hate it), Starfleet Academy You just added a significant amount of reviews to one of yours Voyagerbest episodes. The show also does this while providing a clear throwback to the franchise’s golden age. Now that the show is finally getting good (even pretty good at times), let’s hope this new Star Trek spinoff can overcome the no-win situation of all: early cancellation by Paramount.
