TREK REVIEW: SFA 1-1 - "Kids These Days"

Typical, isn't it? I finally find time to sit down and review Starfleet Academy and what happens? Paramount cancels it. It's a huge shame, because this series, in spite of how some fans feel about it, was a real winner for many more. Still, it's understandable. While it's tempting to blame review bombing and negative press, at the end of the day, it's an extremely expensive show and not enough people were watching. (At least in the States; UK and European streaming figures have been very positive.) SFA has been hovering outside the Nielsen Top Ten, and for a high budget, flagship series, that's not going to cut it. Plus, with the studio being bought yet again, it was an easy first move to cut it.

Still, season two is already in the bag and will be streaming next year, assuming Paramount doesn't do something stupid like they did with Star Trek: Prodigy. In many ways, Starfleet Academy is a continuation of Prodigy. Not literally, of course; it's more of a continuation of Discovery, sitting at the far end of the 32nd century and the frontier of Trek's future history. But Prodigy was Star Trek aimed at younger viewers, focusing on a group of teens of various species as they made their first faltering steps into Starfleet. The Doctor was even there, offering his wisdom and acting as Chief Medical Officer. It's hard not to see SFA as the next step, a more adult series, of course, but still resolutely aimed at young people. 

This is the problem a lot of fans have with it. It simply isn't aimed at them. Now, it's not aimed at me, either - at 42, I'm far too long-in-the-tooth for the target audience. I love the show, but I understand that's a rarity among died-in-the-wool Trekkies. But that's fine. This isn't a show for people who've been watching Star Trek for decades. It's a show for new, young viewers, and while it still needs to be Star Trek it doesn't need to be old school Star Trek. Now, I agree that there's a place for old school Trek and that nothing airing right now quite fulfils that remit (Strange New Worlds comes closest, but that's still an aggressively modern take on early Star Trek). But that's not what Starfleet Academy is trying to be.

Some fans have called it "CW Star Trek," and that's a pretty fair description of the show. Personally, I don't think CW Star Trek would have been a bad thing. If anything, it perhaps should have been more of a CW-style show, and turned out twenty-six episodes on a slimmer budget. That would have made an easier argument for keeping it around, without having to change the content much at all. As for people complaining that it's woke... yeah, it is. That's a good thing. As frustrating as it is to see people making the same complaints that they made about Voyager thirty-odd years ago (as Robert Picardo himself pointed out), being politically correct is, usually, a good thing. Infinite diversity, remember?

"Kids These Days" is a solid opener for the series, with a lot packed into its somewhat extended runtime. It introduces the new cast of characters, setting, and ongoing story arc with style and flare. The cast are uniformly excellent, even if not everyone gets a chance to really show their stuff in this opening instalment. Sandro Rosto is clearly pitched as the star as Caleb Mir, the cocky, genius runaway and criminal who gets to show he's a decent fella at heart. There's a bit of a trend for this kind of character in Trek recently: Jack Crusher, Dal Rel (his closest antecedent, really), even 2009 Jim Kirk (if you can call that recently). Still, with a full season of Academy-learning ahead of him, it's more realistic to imagine that he'll find his path and learn how to balance his cleverness and ingenuity with, well, not being a prick.

The second lead is, of course, Holly Hunter, bringing both Hollywood leading lady and weird little gremlin vibes. Captain Ake is getting a lot of hate and a lot of love from fan circles. Personally, I think she's great. It's always good to see an older woman in a lead role, especially on an action show, and this peculiar, 400-year-old officer, weighed down by the guilt of her poor decision years earlier but still an eccentric, chipper mentor character, really works. 

Robert Picardo is the big draw for existing fans, excelling in his portrayal of an older, tireder, more melancholy Doctor. It's interesting to see how his character here contrasts with his 800-years-younger version in Prodigy, when he is in an ostensibly similar position. Gina Yashere is an inspired choice for Lura Thok, the intimidating Klingon-Jem'Hadar Cadet Master. Some fans are getting upset at a female Jem'Hadar, but I can't get over having a Cockney Jem'Hadar! She's a hoot in every scene she's in. The other main "grown-up" Starfleet character is Admiral Vance, with Oded Fehr giving his usual quietly classy turn. 

Onto the rest of the kids. Karim Diane makes an immediate impression as Jay-Den Kraag (a Klingon called Jayden? Really?) Poised and respectful but full of Klingon energy, he's very much the new Worf. The remarkably deep voice he puts on is not his natural one, but feels exactly right for the character. I was intrigued by his make-up, which includes blue contacts and unusual whorls on his cheeks, and wondered if he, too, would be revealed as a hybrid. Seems like he's a full-blooded Klingon, though, and it's not like that species' appearance has ever been entirely consistent. 

George Hawkins as Darem Reymi mostly just gets to alternate between being charming and dickish, although his species, the Khionians, is intriguing. Bella Shepherd doesn't get to do much either as the ludicrously named Genesis Lythe. She's from another new alien race, the Dar-Sha, but Shepherd mostly just gets to look beautiful and gets little character work here. Still, this is only the first episode, and they do both get their hero moment. There will be plenty more to see from them as the season goes on.

Kerrice Brooks is an immediate hit as SAM, the Series Acclimation Mil hologram from Kasq. Again, there's a lot more to learn about her later in the season, but her character is so instantly clear from both the dialogue and Brooks's performance. The high-powered student who's desperate to both make friends and achieve is a cliche, but the idea of someone programmed to be that student so she can learn about organic beings is a great twist. If there's a complaint to be made about the young characters, it's that they are fundamentally cliched archetypes for this kind of show, but mapping this to the distant future makes that future easily relatable.

Finally, the anti-Starfleet side. Tatiana Maslany is a great actor but doesn't have a great deal of time to show that her. Fortunately, we'll be seeing more of her. Paul Giamatti is just fabulous as Nus Braka, our new Big Bad. Braka is a fully evil, over-the-top villain, and Giamatti plays him appropriately, hamming it up to the max. Half that enormous budget must have been spent replacing the scenery after he was finished chewing it. In spite his loudly villainous character, like the somewhat similar character of Harry Mudd (at least on Discovery), Braka has a point when he criticises Starfleet in general and Ake in particular. It's important that Starfleet, even being positioned as good for the Galaxy, isn't beyond reproach. Ake made a serious error in judgment in having Anisha Mir locked up and separated from her son, but she was just following orders, as they say. The seriousness of a powerful government sending uniformed troops out to arrest aliens and separate them from their children shouldn't take too much extrapolation to the modern day, even for the most cloth-headed viewers.

There are, admittedly, some massive plot holes in "Kids These Days." This is nothing new in Star Trek, but they still rankle when you notice them. Sure, Caleb Mir is a genius, but his escape from Starfleet Custody as a six-year-old srains belief a bit too far. Braka's plan to ensnare the Athena relies on a hell of a lot of luck. Ake could easily have decided just not to investigate the phenomenon when the ship already has a destination to get to. There are some oddities that are par for the course for a series like this: modern slang that will date quickly; actors well into their twenties playing teenagers. It's a little odd having that in Star Trek, but it's exactly what you'd expect from what is, at its heart, a teen drama series. 

Importantly, though, it works as set-up for the series. In the post-Burn galaxy, we get why Starfleet Academy is a big deal and an altogether good thing. The galaxy is still in turmoil and things aren't fixed overnight. People are suffering out there and others are taking advantage of that. This, arguably, includes Starfleet, with Ake essentially blackmailing Caleb to join because she's decided it's the best path for him. But we also see that having structure and support around does help him, and that Starfleet is working to change how it interacts with the galaxy. For all the background about the resurgance of Starfleet, the threat of the Venari Ral pirates and all the other troubles in the galaxy, this is actually quite a small scale story, focusing on Caleb's choosing of his path.

The season as a whole follows up on all of this, albeit not entirely successfully, but as first episodes go, this is a strong opening to a fine, if very different, kind of Star Trek. 

And if you don't like it - that's fine. But I rather loved it.

Character notes: 

Nahla Ake was born in the 2770s, a period of Trek history we know very little about. She's a solid four hundred years older than Caleb and his fellow students. (Except SAM, she's only a few months old.)

The Doctor still loves his opera, so not that much has changed in the last 820 years. He's also added an ageing subroutine to his programme, ostensibly to put organics at ease.

Alien life forms:

A lot of fans have cried out against Lura Thok being having a female Jem'Hadar and a hybrid, in spite of the Jem'Hader being canonically all male and unable to procreate. She merely describes herself as from "the Jem'Hadar lineage of Kah-Baj," which doesn't necessarily mean natural procreation by a Jem'Hadar, although even the existence of a female Jem'Hadar is previously unheard of. More pertinently, the Jem'Hadar are an artificial species and it's been 800 years. They could have undergone any amount of re-engineering in that time. Revelations like this, that go against established lore, open up new questions and storytelling avenues. We get to ask, "How?" and "Why?" That's far more enjoyable than, "Not allowed."

The Khionians have two forms: one which looks human, and another which is more fish-like and allows them to withstand the vacuum of space for a short time.

The Torothans, who arrest Caleb, appeared in ENT: "Desert Crossing." They were the dominant faction on their, then unnamed, planet. Fast forward a thousand years, and they're clearly still in charge there. The planet is now named Toroth, which I guess means they got to decide what it was called.

Braka refers to himself as a "Klingarite," and according to background info, is half-Klingon, half-Tellarite. Even given how much variation there is in Klingon appearance, Braka looks very little like either species. But then, who knows what such a mixture should look like?

Planets visited:

The Little Blooms facility on Bajor cares for orphaned kids of various species. This was where Caleb was supposed to go before he escaped. We see Orions and Suliban there when Vance visits Ake. Bajor is probably a Federation member in this time period. This is the first time the planet actually appears outside of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Starships and stations:

The USS Athena NCC-392023 is an Academy-class starship, and is both a serving vessel and the new campus of Starfleet Academy, able to land and dock in the traditional site in San Francisco.

Nitpicks: 

Why are cadets allowed to open the airlocks, but not wear spacesuits? The other way round would be strange enough, but this way round is lethal!

The "wall of honour" is a nice touch, even as what's really just a list of popular characters for fans to spot. I'm not keen that we see Lt. Nog listed - I just won't accept that he didn't make captain. On the other hand, given that the last row is made up of name of the writers and directors, it's orobably safe to ignore it. 

I love...

... the new 60th anniversary intro animation. At least Paramount are doing something to mark it.

I don't love...

... that cover of "San Francisco" that plays when the Athena arrives on Earth.

REVIEW: Nobody's Sweetheart Now by Dale Smith

Dale Smith has somehow managed to write the perfect novel for me. There aren't very many people who would call a Goodnight Sweetheart pastiche/crossover with the periphery of the Doctor Who universe their perfect novel, but I am one of them. Stuart Douglas, head honcho of Obverse Books and commissioner of this novel, is another. Presumably, so is Dale Smith, and potentially, given the book's dedication, so is Richard Herring.

Nobody's Sweetheart Now is the third book of The New Adventures of Iris Wildthyme, which you can tell, because it's got the number two on the spine. The previous book, Courtney Milnestein's Mother, Maiden, Crone, was an unnumbered special and came out almost six years ago; book one, The Polythene Terror, by Iris's creator Paul Magrs, came out in 2019. I'd assumed this series had ended almost as soon as it began, so I'm very happy to see another book, by the brilliant Dale Smith, no less. 

Goodnight Sweetheart is an old favourite of mine, a cosy nineties sitcom with a fantasy bent. Nicholas Lyndhurst, as Gary Sparrow, travelled through time via a redbrick alleyway, walking happily between the 1940s and the 1990s, engaging in transtemporal bigamy. It got a bit more sci-fi towards the end, but mostly it was about the difficulties of leading a double life and the amusing situations that then arise. It was a fun series with a great cast, even when both of Gary's wives regenerated into new actresses halfway through.

Nobody's Sweetheart Now starts as an obvious parody, barely changing the character names. Gary Sparrow is now Trevor Tern. Ron is now Don. It's been moved from London to Manchester, but otherwise it seems like a pretty straightforward riff on the TV series, aside from the raucous presence of Iris Wildthyme. The truly inspired part is that both Gary's – sorry, Trevor's – wife and girlfriend are incarnations of Iris, the latter going by Ursula but actually being a rarely seen regeneration of the transtemporal adventuress. 

As it progresses, though, the book becomes something far cleverer than a mere pastiche. It's approximately 750% gayer, for a start, which becomes clear from the moment Trevor sets foot in the wartime pub and only develops from there. From the outset there's a clear theme of the dangers of nostalgia – especially the second-hand kind of nostalgia for a time one never lived through. Rose-tinted glasses aren't good for your eyes, it turns out, even if they do look fabulous. The deeper, more affecting theme, though, is the importance of being true to yourself, of embracing who you really are, whether you're a closeted man living an unsatisfying life or a time traveller who gave up the right to their name. 

This book is a very funny, joyfully silly and rather beautiful piece of work. Please, Obverse, don't let this be the last New Adventure for Iris. 

Nobody's Sweetheart Now is available from Obverse Books in paperback and ebook formats.

The latest reviews at Television Heaven

2026 has started strong with reviews of Matt Smith's grimly comedic Brighton drama The Death of Bunny Munro and Doctor Who spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea. Plus, season four of classic Doctor Who is now complete, with my reviews of The Smugglers, The Underwater Menace (what a classic) and The Moonbase, plus The Highlanders and The Evil of the Daleks from site chief Laurence Marcus.

So if you want to know what Matt Smith got up to in the block of flats where I live, how underwater civilisations looked in 1967and 2025, and just which alien menace mocks "stupid Earth brains," you're just a click away.

Listen to 'The Goblin King and Me' on BBC Radio

Broadcast today on Radio 4 and available to stream on BBC Sounds, The Goblin King and Me is a gorgeous 45-minute drama from Bafflegab Productions, written by Paul Magrs. 

Magrs has adapted The Goblin King and Me from his novelette Stardust and Snow, which is itself available as an ebook or limited edition paperback from Obverse Books, and as the first story in Paul's self-published collection Christmassy Tales via Amazon. Based itself on a true story told to the author, it's a beautiful story about the eyes of childhood, learning to live in a world that doesn't understand you, and embracing the magic in life for as long as you can. 

The 10th of January will be the tenth anniversary of David Bowie's death, so this is the perfect time for this story of a special meeting with the star that made a difference to little boy's life. It stars Frankie Treadaway, with support from real-life husband and wife James Bolam and Susan Jameson, with master impressionist Jon Culshaw as Bowie, in all his guises. A lovely late Christmas present.

2025 films of the year

It has been a bit of a year for me, and I haven't had the opportunity to see nearly as many new films as I'd have liked, let alone write up the ones I have seen. I've decided to run down through my top ten for the year, but there are plenty more films to catch that could shift the line-up, especially given the number of high-profile and acclaimed releases in late November and December. I may revisit this in another twelve months and see if it's changed. I'm going to appraoch these in order of lowest to highest rated, according to my own flawed opinions.

Honorable mention: Nosferatu (Robert Eggers)

Strictly speaking, Nosferatu is a 2024 film, but as it went on general release with only a week left of 2024, most of its run was in '25. A bleak and beautiful film, this updates the original Symphony of Horror into a vampiric epic. Lily-Rose Depp gives the star performance of a powerful cast, in a truly haunting production that's exquisitely realised. It loses momentum halfway and runs too long, and it's not nearly as strange as either the original or Eggers's best work, but it's still an exceptional film. If it had come out a week later it'd have sat at number three on this list. Full review here.

10) The Running Man (Edgar Wright)

I'm pretty sure this one wouldn't have made it into the top ten if I'd caught more films this year. This isn't a great film, but it is an entertaining one. The second film of the year based on a Stephen King novel with a title based on perambulation, The Running Man is the least stylish of all Wright's films, but still way more stylish than most action movies. The general consensus is that Glen Powell is miscast as the lead, and that's probably fair, but he's watchable enough to carry the adventure. There are occasional glimpses of Wright's unique style, and it's sure as hell better than the shitty 80s version starring Arnie. The film has a strong message against corporate greed and the rich's exploitation of the poor, but it's hard to swallow in a film that cost $110 million where the catering budget doubtless cost more than most people's annual salary.

9) Predator: Badlands (Dan Trachtenberg)

Amazingly, the second Predator film from Trachtenberg this year. Killer of Killers was better than I expected, but it was Badlands that I really enjoyed. We've had the popcorn movie approach with Predator before, with varying results, but Trachtenberg really has nailed three different takes on the concept in short order. This is Predator as a full-on comicbook-style action movie, with legions of CGI monsters. This should be crap, but it tremendously entertaining and surprisingly heartwarming film. Showing the film from the Predator's point of view was a bold move, but making him such a likeable goof makes the film. It's hard to say how much of Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi's performance actually makes it through the CGI, but let's give him the benefit. Elle Fanning's the star, though, as both Weyland-Yutani androids Thea and Tessa. Tying the film so heavily to the Alien series without actually including the monster works brilliantly, as well.

8) Wake Up Dead Man (Rian Johnson)

The third film in the Knives Out/Benoit Blanc series is not, sadly, the hoped for Muppet version, but a stylish and highly personal crime story from Johnson. Although he was raised as an Evangelical Protestant, he chose Catholicism for its potent imagery. It's just as appallingly hypocrytical an institution, after all. There's a potent story here about the conflict between the comfort that faith brings and the damage done by indoctrination, with excellent performances from Josh O'Connor, Josh Brolin, Glenn Close and, of course, Daniel Craig. The rest of the cast don't get the chance to show how good they are, sadly, and the actual mystery at the heart of the story isn't original or confounding enough to live up to the rest of it. Compels me, though.

7) 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle)

The follow-up that 28 Days Later deserved, with Boyle returning to the post-apocalyptic Britain he created, (frustratingly only 22 years later). The exploration of how society has adapted to a world infected by the Rage, both the isolated community on Lindisfarne, and to a lesser extent, the rest of Europe on the other side of the quarantine line. I can't quite decide who gives the best performance: 14-year-old Alfie Williams as the courageous young Spike, who's never known any other world but this; or Jodie Comer as his dying, mentally-distressed mother Isla. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is also very good as dad Jamie, pushed to understandable extremes by the stresses of his life, as is the great Ralph Fiennes as the isolated Dr. Kelson. Also fascinating is gradual revelation that the infected remain, if not intelligent in a human sense, then clearly sentient, with the sport-like hunting of them even more disturbing as a result. Judging by the final scene, the second part, The Bone Temple, is going to be bizarre.

6) The Penguin Lessons (Peter Cattaneo)

Although this premiered in 2024, it didn't go on general release until '25, so it definitely belongs on this list. Based on the memoir of Tom Michell, this is the story of how he arrives to teach English in a school in Argentina, in the middle of the 1976 military junta. Steve Coogan is funny, sympathetic, and surprisingly hot as Michell, who ends up rescuing a penguin from an oil slick, in a desperate attempt to get laid on a break in Uruguay. Adopting the penguin - Juan Salvador - and smuggling him into the school, he is able to inspire his students and find some purpose, but the military's abuse of power soon comes out of the background and begins to impact him and those he has become close to. The comedy is gentle, but not the drama. Disturbingly more topical each day in its exploration of life under fascism, this is an undersung success.

5) Superman (James Gunn)

Gunn's relaunch of the Superman movie franchise and reboot of the DC Universe is quite unlike any Superman film that's come before, and yet is the most satisfying film for the character since Superman II over forty years ago. This doesn't feel much like a Superman film, but it does feel like a Superman comic, which makes a huge difference. Skipping the origin story is standard now, but this feels deep into its universe even as a first instalment. Clark is just one of many powerful beings working as heroes, yet stands apart from the metahumans, something that works far better than I would ever have thought. Having him and Lois already deeply in love and managing their relationship is another plus. Yes, this takes a few hints from the CW but in a vastly more cinematic way. Clark is the giant Boy Scout he always truly was, with David Corenswet giving a wonderful performance, while Rachel Brosnahan is actually perfect as Lois. Nicholas Hoult is remarkable as Lex Luthor, and a special shout-out goes to Edi Gathegi for stealing his every scene as Mr. Terrific. Amazingly, this film manages to both be a bold statement on today's genocide-steeped world, while still being a wholesome live-action cartoon featuring Krypto the Superdog.

4) Thunderbolts* (Jake Schreier)

The second of three MCU films out this year, and while Brave New World was better than I expected, and Fantastic Four: First Steps was decent if unremarkable, Thunderbolts* was a genuine surprise. I did not expect Marvel's answer to The Suicide Squad to be a powerful examination of depression and mental illness. Florence Pugh is the standout as Yelena Belova, dealing with the unbelievable trauma of death and resurrection as well as a truly horrific upbringing. While superhero films can get too serious for their own good sometimes dealing with trauma in a realistic way, in the right setting it works. It's an ensemble by its nature, but the other dominant performance is Lewis Pullman as Bob Reynolds, whose journey through mental illness is powerfully expressed through the allegory of his good and evil superhuman personae. It'll be interesting to see how Bob/Sentry will be used in the future, being essentially Marvel's deliberate Superman ripoff; based on Thunderbolts* alone, his character is one of the best things introduced to the MCU in a good while. 

3) Sinners (Ryan Coogler)

Vampire films are such well-trodden ground, it's incredibly refreshing when one as original and unique as Sinners appears. It's unsurprising that Coogler took some inspiration from From Dusk Till Dawn, but this is far and away the superior work in every way. The direction, music and visual effects are impeccable throughout, but what sets Sinners apart from so many vamp-fests is that it's actually about something. The indelibly racist history of America, the ongoing abuse of Black people and other minorities in the West, the cultural and binding power of music, the strengths and weaknesses of Christian belief, the kinship between Black and Irish... this is a dense film worthy of serious analysis. Michael B. Jordan is predictably excellent as gangster twins Smoke and Stack, with Hailee Steinfeld and Miles Caton (the latter, astonishingly, in his film debut) also giving powerful performances. The fact that half the costuming and period material was bought from Disney after Marvel stopped production on Blade is the icing on the cake. This is how you make a modern vampire film when you know what you're doing.

2) Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro)

The film del Toro was surely born to make, the latest adaptation of Frankenstein blows so many others out of the water. While far from being a faithful interpretation, del Toro's script captures much of the spirit of Shelley's novel, with a strong focus on Frankenstein's selfishness and abandonment of his responsbilities. Oscar Isaac, one of today's great character actors, gives a riveting performance as Frankenstein, with able support from Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz. However, the real star of the film is Jacob Elordi as the Creature, giving a nuanced and powerful performance that is both deeply sympathetic and frequently terrifying. Del Toro remembers the oft-forgotten detail that the Creature was intended as a perfect example of human form, with the design and Elordi's performance elevating the monster to a thing of twisted beauty. Achingly sad in places and quite beautiful throughout, in its own gruesome way, this makes a perfect companion piece for Nosferatu as classic horror bookends for the year. It deserves a proper theatrical release, but at least having it on Netflix means plenty of people will watch it.

1) The Long Walk (Francis Lawrence)

In October I said this would be my film of the year, and I stand by it. I'll also likely never watch it again. The other Stephen King adaptation in this list, The Long Walk shares some notable themes with The Running Man, each story essentially being about the way the powerful exploit the masses through scraps of generosity, the promise of opportunity, and ever more twisted entertainment. It's a far more serious, brutal and emotionally honest story, though. Cooper Hoffman gives a strong lead performance as Ray, but it's David Jonsson, rapidly becoming my one of my favourite young actors, who is the heart of the film as Ray's friend Pete. A brutal production in both filming and presentation, The Long Walk is harrowing but a must-see. Full review here.