Kids These Days (episode)

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

After being on the run since age 6, 21-year-old Caleb, a brilliant street kid, is offered the chance of a lifetime: to join the first new Starfleet Academy class in San Francisco in over a century. There's just one problem – the person offering him the spot is newly-minted Chancellor Nahla Ake, the Starfleet captain who sentenced his mother to Federation prison fifteen years ago...

Summary[]

Log entries[]

Memorable quotes[]

"That... thing is taking us to the school?"
"That is the school."

- Caleb and Ake, getting their first glimpse of the Athena

"As you see, I'm no one's mentor."
"But you were. To Voyager's crew, to the children of the Protostar, to Dal and Murf and Captain Gwyndala and..."
"Uh..."
"Your sensitivity calibrations are spiking. Have I said something inappropriate or, uh, frightening?"
"My interactive subroutines are functioning perfectly. And I fear nothing."

- The Doctor is reminded of his past by SAM

"Hello? Is anyone listening to me? This is an emergency."
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency."
"I... I need command level access to the primary tactical systems."
"That's not a medical emergency."
"It's about to be. I am trying to save Cadet Reymi's life."
"You should have said that first."

- Genesis, enlisting The Doctor for a not-yet medical emergency

Background information[]

Title[]

This episode features an alternate title sequence at the end of the episode instead of the series' usual opening credits.

Story and script[]

Preproduction[]

Production[]

Filming for this episode and the series proper began on 26 August 2024. [1]

Postproduction[]

Cast and characters[]

Robert Picardo reprises his role of The Doctor. He is the first actor to be credited as a main cast member on three different Star Trek series, following his performances on Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Prodigy. He joins the ranks of actors who have appeared on four different series in the franchise (with a guest appearance on DS9: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume") in addition to a cameo in the film Star Trek: First Contact.
Oded Fehr reprises his role of Charles Vance, which he originated on the third season of Star Trek: Discovery.
Sandro Rosta is introduced as Caleb Mir. A younger version of the character is portrayed by Luciano Fernandez in the episode's prologue.
Other members of the cast of main characters introduced in this episode include a few notable representatives of alien species:
- Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) is the first main character who is a Lanthanite hybrid, and the second major Lanthanite character after Pelia.
- Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané) is the third Klingon main character (following Ash Tyler and Worf).
- SAM (Kerrice Brooks) is the third photonic main character (following The Doctor and Hologram Janeway).
- Lura Thok (Gina Yashere) is the second Klingon hybrid main character (following B'Elanna Torres) and the first with Jem'Hadar ancestry.
- Darem Reymi (George Hawkins) is the first Khionian main character and Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard) is the first Dar-Sha main character. Both are also the first representatives of their respective species featured on a Star Trek series.
Brit Marling and Stephen Colbert are credited for their voiceover performances as the main computer and the Academy's Digital Dean of Students. This marks the first time that actors who primarily voice the computer join the main cast of a Star Trek series. They follow in the footsteps of notable computer performances by Majel Barrett Roddenberry, Judi Durand, and Julianne Grossman.
Main cast members Zoë Steiner and Tig Notaro are not credited and do not appear in this episode.

Sets and props[]

The set for the atrium of USS Athena is the largest ever built for a Star Trek series and covers the entirety of Pinewood Toronto's 45,900 square foot soundstage, which is also the largest in Canada. [2]

Costumes[]

Soundtrack[]

The episode features a rare instance of non-diegetic popular music on Star Trek: Scott McKenzie's 1967 song "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" plays over a montage of USS Athena approaching San Francisco Bay and arriving at Starfleet Academy near the end of the episode. The song is closely associated with 1960s hippie culture and the era's civil rights and anti-war movements, which are often thematically linked to Gene Roddenberry's concurrent optimistic vision of the future in Star Trek: The Original Series. The scene uses a new arrangement by Jeff Russo with vocals by Rufus Wainwright. On 16 January 2026, the track was released on streaming platforms with the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season One soundtrack, which also includes an alternate version with reduced instrumentation.

Special effects[]

Continuity[]

The opening narration by Nahla Ake recaps the Burn which occurred around the year 3069. During the Burn, dilithium across the Milky Way briefly went inert, which caused every active warp core to detonate, destroying most active starships. With political and economic crises already at hand, the disaster hastened the Federation's decline: member worlds, including founding members Earth, Andoria, and Ni'Var, seceded, leaving only 38 worlds by 3189. The arrival of USS Discovery in the 32nd century led to the Burn's cause being identified and to the development of new interstellar propulsion options. Several worlds had rejoined the Federation by 3191 in a renewed push for galactic unity. The Burn and its aftermath are primarily explored in season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery.
The prologue is set at stardate 853724.6. Extrapolation from the Star Trek: The Next Generation stardate system (and taking into account the deviation introduced in Star Trek: Voyager's final season) places Anisha Mir's imprisonment around 3176 or 3177, with the reestablishment of Starfleet Academy in San Francisco about fifteen years later (circa 3191-3192). However, Paramount+ promotional material instead describes the series as set 125 years after the Burn, implying a main setting around 3194. [3] Another conflicting data point is the personnel file of Lura Thok, which lists her birth year as 3145 and her age as 50, suggesting an episode date of 3195. [4]
Bajor is implied to be either a member world or otherwise have retained tight relations with the Federation: in the prologue Nahla Ake suggests that Caleb Mir might be brought to the Little Blooms education center on Bajor after he is taken into Federation custody. Ake herself works there fifteen years later, following her resignation from Starfleet. Although Bajorans have appeared throughout multiple series, this episode marks the planet's first appearance outside of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, where it was last seen in the series finale "What You Leave Behind".
A first post-Burn class of new Starfleet Academy cadets was already ceremonially welcomed by Captain Michael Burnham, Admiral Vance, and Federation President Laira Rillak in 3190 while celebrating the opening of Archer Spacedock. (DIS: "Kobayashi Maru") The reopening of Starfleet Academy, as described throughout this episode, can be implied to refer specifically to the reestablishment of the Academy campus in San Francisco.
With his appearance in this episode, The Doctor is the longest-living confirmed main character on Star Trek, with over 820 years having passed since his first activation in 2371 aboard the USS Voyager. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Relativity") Yet his lifespan is greatly surpassed by other major recurring characters, such as Q, Pelia, and possibly Guinan. In addition to The Doctor, Nahla Ake also lived in the Federation before the Burn, due to the longevity of the Lanthanites. Both characters knew the Federation at the height of its expansion and influence, and witnessed its decline before and following the Burn.
The Doctor has retained his fondness for opera, a passion he had already entertained in the 24th century. (VOY: "The Swarm", "Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy", "Virtuoso", "Renaissance Man")
As SAM gets excited about meeting The Doctor for the first time, she mentions his early Starfleet career aboard USS Voyager and his experiences with the wayward crew of the USS Protostar, including Dal R'El, Murf, and Gwyndala.
USS Discovery is mentioned to be undergoing a refit, ruling it out as an option to aid the trapped USS Athena.
Monitors in the Academy's classrooms feature inspirational quotes by famous Starfleet officers:
- "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." - Jean-Luc Picard (TNG: "Peak Performance")
- "There are three things to remember about being a starship captain: keep your shirt tucked, go down with the ship, and never abandon a member of your crew." - Kathryn Janeway (VOY: "Dark Frontier", PRO: "The Devourer of All Things, Part I")
- "A stranger is a friend you just haven't met yet." - Kathryn Janeway (VOY: "Fair Haven")

Apocrypha[]

Reception[]

Following the debut of its first two episodes, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and its premiere episode received generally very positive reviews, with a 87% "certified fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes. Many outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, Globe and Mail, and The Guardian highlighted the show's acting (both from veteran actors and the young cast of Academy cadets), as well as its set design, the series' storylines, and the way the show contemplates current real-world issues. [5]
The release of the premiere received notable negative commentary from the right side of the US political spectrum. In a comment on X, Elon Musk shared a 14 second clip of this episode, featuring several female characters, commenting disparagingly on their body weight and on Nahla Ake wearing glasses. Similarly, a Fox News segment called out the show for featuring "ugly" people, among other insulting remarks. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller shared the same clip as Musk via an account called "End Wokeness", calling it "tragic" and imploring Paramount+ to save the Star Trek franchise by giving its reins to William Shatner. [6] [7] [8] Shatner responded, perhaps in jest, by saying that he is on the same page as Miller, declaring "shame on the producers" and asking Miller if he meant Ake's hyperopia with a winking emoji. [9]

Awards[]

Releases[]

Links and references[]

Starring[]

with

Stephen Colbert as Digital Dean of Students (voice)

and

Robert Picardo as The Doctor

Special guest stars[]

Tatiana Maslany as Anisha Mir
Paul Giamatti as Nus Braka

Guest stars[]

Rebecca Quin as Lt. Mackenzie Ya
Ken Barnett as Lt. Hayden Thriss

Stunt doubles[]

Steven Clarke as stunt double for Sandro Rosta
Josslyn Farrow as stunt double for Holly Hunter
Jack Sansone as stunt double for Paul Giamatti

Athena dedication plaque references[]

Advanced Technologies; Aloum, H.; Andrews, M.; Bellemore, A.; Blair, R.; Bradford, K.; Butt, M.; Campbell, S.; Casement, A.; Choi, N.; Colucci, M.; Command Unit; Comeau, J.; Companion, C.; Cooper, K.; Curtin, K.; Davies, G.; Decker, G.; Definney, H.; Denver, N.; Drdakova, M.; Dziwik, A.; Dziwik, M.; Edgson, J.; Elliott, S.; Engineering Division; Ferczak, A.; Forbes, N.; Fleet Operations; Gilbert, B.; Grayson, A.; Guitard, C.; Hartley, D.; Higgins, P.; Holmberg, S.; Holton, P.; Howes, S.; Howes, T.; Jefferson, C.; Jefferson, F.; Jefferson, J.; Jefferson, P.; Kappf, M.: Kirk, S.; Kuitenbrower, J.; Kuntz, J.; Lariani, B.; Lee, D.R.; Leighainger, S.; Lima, K.; Lindell, A.; Lingard, O.; Maddox, T.; Manarre, J.; Manco, T.; Martin, D.; McCabe, B.; McCullagh, D.; McCullagh, K.; McStay, O.; McStay, R.; Mealia, N.; Metzlar, D.; Monteforte, A.; Montgomerie, H.; Munro, O.; Nemeth, G.; O'Brien, M.; O'Neill, O.; Office of Science Ops; Olbey, J.T.; Orton, J.; Orton, L.; Orton, Z.; Paton, A.; Paton, J.; Patterson, A.; Perrier, L. Thomas; Perrier, O.; Pierce, R.; Plagg, I.; Robinson, S.; Rodgers, A.; Rogers, A.; Roulston, C.; Sagias, J.; Salema, G.; Saxby, D.; Serling, J.; Singh, A.; Singh, S.; Smith, A.; Tactical Unit; Tadjik, A.; Taylor, K.; Thaysen, E.; TRAPPIST 1e Ship Yards; Ulley, K.; Watt, R.; Welsby, T.: Whitworth, A.; Williams, F.; Zorin, D.

Meta references[]

intertitle; "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)"

Lyrical references[]

flowers; hair

Unreferenced materials[]

External links[]

"Kids These Days" at the Internet Movie Database

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First episode in series

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

Season 1

Next episode:

"Beta Test"