Television: Star Trek’s Starfleet Academy is Almost Here

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Some of the new characters in the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. (Paramount+)

You only have to wait until January 15th for the latest Star Trek series on Paramount+, but you may want to see this most recent trailer because it sets up some of the background on the characters.

Paramount+ has already shared quite a few details about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy on its site, so here are some important items:

  • Plot: Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is about a young group of Starfleet cadets navigating friendships and rivalries, as well as first loves and a new enemy that poses a threat not to just the Academy, but to the Federation.

  • The Names of the Cadets:
    • Caleb Mir is an orphaned human who hasn’t yet declared his major, or focus, at Starfleet Academy.
    • Jay-Den Kraag is a Klingon cadet whose focus is the sciences.
    • SAM is a hologram – a Series Acclimation Mil, or SAM, for short. She’s the first of her kind at Starfleet Academy. SAM’s focus is operations.
    • Darem Reymi is a Khionian from a well-to-do background who aims to be in command – hence, the focus of his studies at Starfleet Academy.
    • Genesis Lythe is a Dar-Sha, a species new to the Star Trek universe. She’s the daughter of an admiral, and is also studying command.

  • Time Period: Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set in the 32nd century, at the upper end of the Star Trek timeline. More specifically, it takes place 125 years after The Burn, a catastrophic event that ravaged the galaxy, and hobbled the Federation. The cadets we meet represent a fresh start for the Federation; they belong to the first Starfleet Academy class since The Burn. You will need to watch Star Trek: Discovery season three to understand The Burn.

  • Key Actors in Season 1:
    • Holly Hunter as Capt. Nahla Ake Hunter’s character is the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy – and the captain of the U.S.S. Athena.
    • Tig Notaro as Jett Reno Notaro reprises her role as Jett, an engineering whiz, from Star Trek: Discovery.
    • Robert Picardo as The Doctor Picardo reprises the role he originated on Star Trek: Voyager.
    • Gina Yashere as Lura Thok Yashere is billed as a recurring guest star. She plays a Klingon/Jem’Hadar hybrid who serves as the Chancellor’s First Officer and Cadet Master.
    • Stephen Colbert as the voice of Starfleet Academy’s Digital Dean of Students The Emmy® winner (The Late Show With Stephen Colbert) will be heard as the faculty member who makes daily announcements – and issues alerts.

  • Number of Episodes: Season 1 will have 10 episodes.

  • Number of Seasons: A second season has already been green-lighted.

  • Your Mission: Simply enjoy this new Star Trek series.

Movie: The Astronaut

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: The Wonder Company/Grinder Monkey

The recent film The Astronaut did not stay in theaters very long, but then again very few films do these days. Even so, if you are looking for something inspiring, such as a space adventure that takes us away from Earth, you will be disappointed. This astronaut is from the International Space Station, not Mars, so we do not even make it to the Moon.

If the trailer is not clear enough, here is the main story from Deadline:

When astronaut Sam Walker (Mara) returns from her first space mission, she’s found miraculously alive in a punctured capsule floating deep off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. General William Harris (Fishburne) arranges for her to be placed under intense NASA surveillance in a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing. However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth.

Without giving away the whole plot, just think of it as a gruesome ET: The Extraterrestrial. Critics were not impressed, with the Tomatometer showing only 42 percent approval. In general, a rating between 40 and 59 percent is considered mixed or mediocre, with the average film achieving something in the low 70s.

Matt Donato from Collider did not have high praise for writer/director Jess Varley’s first film:

The Astronaut has sky-high ambitions that go up in flames during the home stretch. Everything’s chugging along fine, then the tone implodes, and Varley’s command over scenes disintegrates...I haven’t seen a movie shoot itself in the foot like this in a wee bit, and that’s a shame.

The selection of films of this genre are slim, so you may have a desire to see it anyway. That’s fine, but you have been warned.

Television: Will We Ever See a Return of The Orville?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: 20th Television and Fuzzy Door Productions.

While I am very happy with the sci-fi shows from this past summer, I would be happy to see the return Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville, if only rumors were true. Yes, the series seemed to start as a spoof of Star Trek, but it found its own unique footing and grew on me over time. Hence, I was not happy to see it end in 2022 after 3 seasons and 36 episodes.

You may remember back in January 2024 when MacFarlane told The Wrap somewhat cryptically:

All I can tell you is that there is no official death certificate for The Orville. It is still with us. I can’t go any further than that at the moment. There are too many factors.

And then this time last year, some sites, such as The Cinemaholic, were reporting that filming for season four was to start in January 2025.

While the filming rumor was false, as recently as August of this year Seth MacFarlane kept rumors alive when he told Ted Danson that he still plans to do a season four, or that’s how the media reported it. Actually, if you listen to the interview, what he said was, “We still have yet to do a season four.” This is a correct statement, but not really a statement of intent.

Can we hang our hats on the word “yet” and start to assume a fourth season? That would not be a safe bet. Many artists feel their work deserves more running time and will not let go, if only for the sake of the fans.

So I am deciding to focus on the new sci-fi shows from the last 12 months that really are returning or seem to have a strong shot at another season, which includes:

That said, I am not giving up on the return of The Orville.

RIP: June Lockhart, Actress

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): June Lockhart in the television series Lost in Space. (20th Century Fox Television)

Actress June Lockhart passed away last Thursday at the age of 100. She had a storied career in both movies and television, including the 1960s television shows Lassie and Lost in Space.

Lost in Space was a somewhat silly story about the Robinson family migrating from an overpopulated Earth to a exoplanet orbiting Alpha Centauri. Of course, just like the story in Gilligan’s Island, the five-and-a-half year tour turned into a new adventure among the stars.

The show was best known for the robot always spouting “Danger, Will Robinson!” in reference to the son whose mother was played by June Lockhart. Of course, Star Trek premiered during that same period with some of the same silliness. It seems we did not achieve our darker sentiments about humans in space until somewhat later.

With regard to her time with Lost in Space, Ms. Lockhart stated to Fox News:

I was over the moon – pun intended. … I have been told that my contribution inspired many astronauts to pursue a career in space science and exploration … it is lovely to know that I touched so many people by doing things that interested me!

The 1998 movie Lost in Space did little to revive interest in the series (or space from what I can tell), but the Neflix television series of the same name did a nice job bringing the Robinson family back to life. If you are looking for a great updated adventure story about a boy and his robot traveling through space, you might want to start with the Netflix version.

You can read more on Ms. Lockhart’s life and career at these sites:

BBC
CBS News
The New York Times

Rest in peace.

Image (Credit): Poster for the 1998 movie Lost in Space. (New Line Cinema)
Image (Credit): Poster for the 2018 television series Lost in Space. (Netflix)

Television: Season One of Alien: Earth Exceeded Expectations

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: FX

I already miss the weekly episodes of Alien: Earth. The acting, story line, and overall energy far surpassed anything I expected going into this series. And while it was gory in the typical Alien way, it had more to say than some of the earlier movies. Fortunately, with a cliff-hanger like the last episode, we still have plenty more story to come in a second season.

[Spoiler Alert: Do not read any further if you have yet to complete the first season.]

Will there be a second season? I certainly hope so, though showrunner Noah Hawley did not specifically confirm it in a recent interview:

So for me, I never hedged my bets. This is not a closed-ended season. This chapter is closed, but Yutani troops are landing. The balance of power has shifted. These children have no idea what’s coming. The last line of, ‘Now we rule’ is triumphant and uplifting. But cut to 10 minutes later, what is going to be happening? So I like that it has that real-time urgency to it.”

The series could not have been more timely as the daily news discusses the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in our future. Fortunately, we have yet to face a battle between (1) Synths (fully artificial beings with AI), (2) Cyborgs (biological humans enhanced with technology), and (3) Hybrids (synthetic bodies containing uploaded human consciousness).

Even so, we have plenty of corporate weirdos (some role-playing with Roman fashions) who can still do plenty of damage. Our growing dependence on social media, crypto-currency, and other forms of electronic assets and infrastructure (slowly soaking up more and more of our energy supply) has primed us for some real and permanent damage in the wrong hands.

While the theme running through the series was Peter Pan, I think the larger theme was Frankenstein’s monster learning the truth about his creation and his future (or “her” in this case). It did not end well for the monster, and the new kid-monsters in Alien: Earth are unlikely to find a more receptive world.

We can only hope that AI holds off on its reform of the world as we know it until after the last season of Alien: Earth drops.