- Directed by Andi Armaganian
- Written by Gaia Violo and Jane Maggs
- February 26, 2026
- Allegedly based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry. The blame for the idea of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy rests upon Gaia Violo as aided by Alex Kurtzman
- Paramount+
Episode Cast
- Chancellor Nahla Ake-Holly Hunter
- Caleb Mir-Sandro Rosta
- Jay-Den Kraag-Karim Diané
- SAM (Series Acclimation Mil)-Kerrice Brooks
- Darem Reymi-George Hawkins
- Genesis Lythe-Bella Shepard
- Digital Dean of Students-Stephen Colbert voice
- Kyle Djokovic-Dale Whibley
- Jett Reno-Tig Notaro
- Tarima Sadal-Zoë Steiner
- Ocam Sadal-Romeo Carere
- Maker-Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Sylvia Tilly-Mary Wiseman
The cadets work through their trauma over the Miyazaki with the help of Lt. Tilly in a theater class while SAM continues to glitch. A 64-minute therapy episode.
The Life of the Stars opens on an unusual-for-this-show-but-typical-of-Star Trek bit by using a personal log from The Doctor (Robert Picardo) to set the stage for the story. I do believe this is the first time I’ve seen them use one for this show. As mentioned in previous posts there were a few moments when it would’ve been utterly appropriate. Certainly sets the tone for a more traditional Trek episode. Heck, Stars even ends with one which helps it feel closer to Trek than some of their other episodes though it aids little beyond that.
As everybody now knows Lt. Tilly (Mary Wiseman) is featured in this episode after the general assumption was that she would be a featured cast member of Academy. There is a line in which Tilly mentions in her normal duties she is dealing with 3rd year cadets. I thought this was the first year of Starfleet Academy being open?
What does she do in the episode? Teach an abruptly required by Chancellor Ake (Holly Hunter) theater class focusing on the play Our Town as a way of the cadets (but only those of the main cast) to process their trauma over events on the Miyazaki. Their trauma is very focused on how it made them feel with never a mention of the several forgettable characters that died or how quickly Kyle moved on from his last boyfriend. Do they no longer have counselors available? For dramatic purposes that would have worked better than watch the insufferable Tilly with her Gen Z/Millennial dialogue undermine the seriousness of thin plot of everybody processing trauma.
I’m baffled on what exactly Tilly brought to this episode as a drama teacher for a class abruptly assigned to the cadets. I tuned out of Discovery at the end of Season Two so maybe I missed some reveal of an interest by the character in acting. Her appearance was a treat aimed at Discovery fans which this is a spin off thereof. The big thing was a brief reunion with Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) that had a distinct lack of chemistry. It was more like making nice with a coworker you barely tolerated.
Given the general paucity of episodes in Academy, it perhaps would have been more appropriate for The Doctor or Ake to teach the course. The former has a history of theater in Voyager, and the latter was the one that made the class a requirement.
Tarima (Zoë Steiner) makes her return to the show and her character immediately goes to lashing out at Caleb (Sandro Rosta) before getting all sad over her feelings while stating how different she is and she wishes she could go back to like she was when she was in the War College.
How exactly is Tarima different? Steiner was not previously given much to do as the character leaving Tarima vague. We are told she has changed but other than lashing out at everybody because she is different, we never see how. Episode writers Gaia Violo and Jane Maggs really did nothing to demonstrate a thing.
Never explained is why Tarima is kicked out of the War College but allowed to slide into this semester of Academy with no effort. Somebody capable of taking out an entire ship with their mind sounds like a valuable military asset. Or does her stated current nature answer that question? Of all the things to tell us, this was not one of them.
SAM (Kerrice Brooks) has a serious glitch and finally gets an in series once over by The Doctor. Fine. The computer however states a system’s diagnostic is in progress. She’s a program! She has programs and not systems. Star Trek now seems to get the technicals wrong a great deal these days. What processors and what circuits does she have that are talked about? She’s a projection.
It was previously mentioned by SAM that the creators of the Kasq holograms left. Now she says they died out. Which is it? Not unusual for lore to get changed or mistakes to occur like “T” getting added as Kirk’s middle initial but in such a short period with so few episodes. This just feels sloppy.
An issue for me has been why SAM was never just transmitted back home. Here we finally learn why though they do tell us why she needs a bed. Seems her people live on a planet where time passes more quickly because it exists in a weird space/time area leading to a mention of the Voyager episode Blink of an Eye. That is not the only Voyager connection. Why did Ake escort her to the planet? This does not appear to have caused issues with the Kasq so it is not like she needs to smooth things over as a rep of Starfleet or the Academy. It does allow her and The Doctor to talk about how time really does not affect them.
The SAM storyline turns into a sequel to the Season 3 Voyager episode Real Life where The Doctor created a holodeck program of a family for him so he could better understand humanity. Being too perfect B’Elanna Torres changes things to make it more realistic leading to an impactful story of character development from what I remember though now we get why The Doctor is a bit crankier and did not want to be SAM’s mentor. It is due to events of that episode. It gets better.
‘How so?’ you may ask. SAM is not damaged from the Miyazaki but is glitching over the trauma since she never had a childhood to learn how to process trauma. A race of advanced whatever never thought to put in safeguards for stress. The solution? Her and the doctor spend 17 years on the planet where she is reset to a silver almond and The Doctor raises her.
We could not get a previously unseen relationship? He is a few centuries old but has been very static in his life? In an episode centered around trauma and processing it he is working just fine having NOT processed trauma for 800 years. A moment that could’ve been used to grow The Doctor a little bit and a new character was used instead as a sequel to an episode that wrapped things up pretty nicely on its own. Sometimes a tough ending is a good and right ending. Especially if it is a show trying to be weighty and thoughtful. No need to change of fix the ending but they did.
Actual story this episode is thin. There’s not much that happens here. Rather than an episode of a TV show that advanced the main plot it’s largely a therapy session for the whole cast. That’s it. It’s just a bunch of discussion of feelings and trauma. Our Town I guess is meant as a parallel in part to what is going on here but if you have never seen the play you will not see it.
It’s difficult to empathize with these characters’ situation because the deaths that occurred were of barely visible minor one note characters in a show whose regular characters are equally poorly done. This episode should’ve had emotional residence but since we the viewer never became invested in them and have no way to understand how they did. Spock’s death was traumatic because we cared about the character and by extension could understand how it affected the rest of the cast of characters.
If their trauma is derived by being in a life-or-death situation then perhaps these cadets might not be suited for Starfleet given the possibility of encountering hostiles. You cannot have a crew emotionally crippled for over a month by anything be it death or a scary enemy.
I was significantly underwhelmed by The Life of the Stars. Then again, Starfleet Academy hasn’t exactly impressed me. It’s an hour or so of people whining.
Warren Watched A Movie 