I've been beating the drum that Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is one of the best new shows in the franchise yet, and somehow, it is doing it like no other modern show before it has. To me, it even reminds me of The Next Generation and other shows of the era, and I'd struggled to explain why until I spoke to Tawny Newsome.
A lifelong Trekkie and former star of Lower Decks, Newsome is now a gleeful writer for Starfleet Academy, and she was putting up what I was putting down when I shared my thoughts during a recent conversation about her episode "Series Acclimation Mil." After telling me she thought comparing the series to any writing of that era was a massive compliment, she shared what she felt may connect the two when it comes to storytelling:
I think part of that was a real commitment to a balance of stakes, like, not even necessarily lower stakes, but more personal and internal stakes, especially, you know, the, these cadets are at the start of their career. They don't need to be solving galaxy-ending problems right away.
Newsome did go on to say that there are occasional "big stakes" in Starfleet Academy, as is the case with all Star Trek shows. At the same time, she emphasized the "balance of stakes" in a season, which was present in previous shows when looking at some of TNG's best episodes.
Surprisingly, the actress and writer also brought up campiness, which led to some of the most WTF moments in TNG and other shows like Voyager. Tawny Newsome noted that while it's important for Star Trek to get serious, it's also important to lean into the silliness when possible and have some fun:
The number of times I was pounding my fist on a table, being like, 'Deep Space Nine is silly!' There's a Rumpelstiltskin in an episode, there's, a mariachi band that shows up far too often for this to be only the high-minded serious morality play that you think it is. It is all things, it's all genres, it's all tones. The second you say that would never happen in Star Trek, me or Kirsten Beyer could point to three episodes where it did.
I love hearing this from Tawny Newsome, especially as someone who would agree that while I loved Star Trek: Discovery, it did occasionally take itself too seriously. With Starfleet Academy sharing some of the same cast and the same future time period, it seems the show has found a way to stand on its own, without relying on the same tone.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is midway through its run on the 2026 TV schedule and has given us different looks at what the series can be. Sometimes it can be a deep tribute to Deep Space Nine and the legacy of actor Avery Brooks. It can also be an episode that revolves around a prank war, and has an over-the-top laser tag scene mixed in.
Both were good, and as Tawny Newsome said, both are Star Trek. The fate of the galaxy doesn't have to be on the line to keep fans invested, and there's plenty of evidence available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription. Here's hoping this is the first of many great episodes she'll write, as we wait on the rest of Season 1 and Season 2.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streams new episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays. This season is flying by, so those who haven't had a chance to check it out yet should get caught up on streaming and get ready for what should be some eventful episodes in the coming weeks.
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