STARFLEET ACADEMY-VOX IN EXCELSO (s1e4)

 

STARFLEET ACADEMY-VOX IN EXCELSO  (spoilers)

 

Wow! I’d have to watch this one again and I’m sure there will be those who pick this apart, especially the battle at the end but the battle is NOT the point of this character study and a damned great one, too. I would give this an 11/10. Okay I'll deduct two points for the battle at the end: how DO you trick Klingons into thinking they're in a battle, have won, and no one died?

 

The hateful worst of the right will probably hate this soft Klingon and the acceptance of his father as well as the friendships between the three major male cadets and the relationship between Jay Den and the Jem Hadar/Klingon officer. They will also hate the way Jay Den’s brother just fully accepted him and hate the way Jay Den argues that Starfleet cannot change the Klingons but meet them on their own terms. I get it from them, I really do: they hate change, they hate acceptance, they hate. Not all the right. And not all the right are wrong. Sometimes, and especially in the last 7 to 8 years, they’ve made more sense than the far out far left. BUT not about this show.

 

I’m convinced the evil reviewers on You Tube (Jz and  Butler and D being three of the worst) will pick this episode apart but they fail to see the touching, honest sincere feelings this does evoke and how it cements this show as a steady study in character and loyalty.

Make note of how some of the evil ones lament the lack of one white male cadet (it's a lie, there are white male cadets) and the overuse of gay (another lie, sadly, there is not one gay male yet that we know of but just two adult lesbians). 

One reviewer, Jz, continually in his reviews of this and STRANGER THINGS and other shows, uses a mimicking, mocking voice, that of a homophobic bully, something I haven't heard since junior high school in the 70s. Not that they ever picked on me at all or hurled that my way, they'd know better. Cowards all, I fought back and/or didn't let them get to me but they sure picked on others that I had to defend. A is like that: homophobic and a coward.

What is wrong with him? He needs to be reported and in touch with his own inner spirit and maybe his own inner gayness. Never mind, back to the show. 

 

If you’re not touched by this episode in some way, there really is something deeply disconnected in you and you need to get in touch with your inner spirit. I’m also convinced the reviewers (by at least two dozen of them) are using STARFLEET ACADEMY bad reviews just to get more and more views and likes and hits. Lies abound. Nitpicking small details abound. 

I’m so glad the captain sits in the chair during a battle with a full crew on board and with her feet covered. She always did when on the ship. I was watching. Her relationship with the older Klingon was nice and yes, maybe she’s not good at her job the way  Butler, annoyingly, points out but are all characters (like her unfair comparison to the “perfect” judgmental and self righteous Oliva on LAW AND ORDER: SVU unrealistically seems to be) perfect at their jobs?

 

The scene between the fish boy and Jay Den is odd, I’ll give them that but he stopped being a dick for a day and I’m guessing during that time of meditation is when he stole the wrecked Starfleet call device but his meditation method helped Jay Den make that speech. As predicted the evil reviewers are calling this a gay scene and a gay Klingon. The fish boy is bi. AND is a gay Klingon such a bad thing? Nope. 

 

I’m sure the right reviewers (ironic that name) will hate that speech, the closeness between the fish boy and Jay Den, the family accepting Jay Den and leaving him, the space battle (okay I'll give them that one; it's a bit unlikely you can fool Klingons into thinking a fake battle is a real one), the relationship between the captain and the older Klingon and how it all worked out but you know what? It does not matter. This was an excellent character study and a very cool lesson in how people dismiss those different than themselves. It is in short, PURE STAR TREK and as a person who understands Jay Den more than any other character, I felt for him and related to him in more ways than one. I’m also sure they will mock his crying in one short scene. It was needed and it was also cool.

 

Not sure what else to say but that this was a serious episode and a study in the relationships between Caleb and Jay Den, between Jay Den and himself, between Starfleet and the now refugee Klingons and Jay Den’s internal struggles.

 

In short, this episode was near perfect. And for once, certainly better than ANY 1990s TREK, it was a full on Klingon episode that didn’t bore me. EVERY Klingon episode of NEXT GENERATION were filler and wastes of time, boring, and tedious and horrid. THIS was the complete opposite of that. I never really got to know Worf, his son, his adopted son, his family, his enemies at all as characters. They were boring cardboard cut outs and their struggles were useless, monotonous wastes of time and episodes. THIS is the complete opposite of that: a great character study and a  great way to make  a statement of caution, care and yes, even love and friendship.  

 

And strong writing and acting here.

 

All of those strengths that the evil reviewers (if they hated the first three episodes why won’t they just stop watching----I’ll tell you why---they’re using it to get views and likes) will find as weaknesses.

 

For now, for this episode and the first four, this show is near perfect STAR TREK. Near. No show is perfect, though PERCY JACKSON, HEATED RIVALRY, and SINGLE OUT come very, very close. If more of STARFLEET turns out to be, in future episodes, like this episode, then it will join them in those endeavors.

 

WELL DONE!