Streaming service Paramount Plus releases the second episode of the Star Trek spinoff Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, created by Gaia Violo and set in the post-Discovery 31st century time frame. Holly Hunter stars, with veterans of past Star Trek series (Robert Picardo, Tig Notaro and Oded Fehr) also joining the cast. 
Stardate not given: On the first day of the Academy’s fall semester, Caleb Mir is already having trouble fitting in, though his troubles are largely of his own doing. From his assignment of Darem (with whom he has already formed a rivalry) as a roommate, to a science experiment mishap, his preoccupation with finding Goja V – a location not on any of the Federation’s charts – is all-consuming, and he already has doubts that Captain Ake will help him find his mother. When Caleb goes to climb the fence and leave the campus (despite the 90-day moratorium on him doing so), he is watched with amusement by a young Betazoid woman, Tarima Sadal, who senses his internal conflict between staying and going. He is unaware that she is the daughter of the President of Betazed, who is visiting Earth to attend talks about a possibility of rejoining the Federation. The enforced isolation of the Burn led Betazed to retreat behind a psionic barrier, along with numerous other Federation worlds, where it has remained for a century. But in recent years, young activists, including the President’s daughter, have loudly made a case for rejoining the Federation; as Betazed’s youth have brought the planet back to the negotiating table, it is decided that the cadets of Starfleet Academy should attend the negotiations to learn about diplomacy first hand. (This is opposed by Commander Kelric of the Starfleet War College, a military institution that supplanted Starfleet Academy in the decades after the Burn.) The opening negotiations are terse; President Sadal makes his demands for rejoining the Federation a very high bar for entry. When Admiral Vance suggests a recess, Tarima asks her father if she and her brother can tour the campus, to which he reluctantly agrees; Tarima also nominates Caleb as her guide, which makes Captain Ake nervous. Caleb’s tour leads to stellar cartography, where Tarima shares access to the Betazed star charts, revealing that Goja V is behind the barrier. Caleb also takes Tarima to see the humpback whales from an undersea vantage point, a sight she was hoping to see while on Earth. But before their own negotiations get any further, the two are discovered by President Sadal, Captain Ake, and Admiral Vance, and their tour is declared over. The following evening, at a formal event, Betazed’s President decides the negotiations are over: his planet will not rejoin the Federation; diplomatic relations similarly break down between Tamira and Caleb, who she accuses of using her just to find Goja V. Captain Ake has an out-of-left-field idea for convincing the President to change his mind, but before she can propose it, everything relies on Caleb making amends with Tamira and asking her to bring her father back to the negotiating table.
written by Noga Landau & Jane Maggs
directed by Alex Kurtzman
music by Jeff Russo / additional music by Dan the Automator, Sam Lucas, Alex Yewon and Antonio Andrade
Cast: Holly Hunter (Captain Nahla Ake), Sandro Rosta (Cadet Caleb Mir), Karim Diane (Cadet Jay-Den Kraag), Kerrice Brooks (Cadet SAM), George Hawkins (Cadet Darem Reymi), Bella Shepard (Cadet Genesis Lythe), Zoe Steiner (Tarima Sadal), Oded Fehr (Admiral Charles Vance), Gina Yashere (Lura Thok), Brit Marling (Computer Voice), Stephen Colbert (Digital Dean of Students), Tig Notaro (Jett Reno), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Raoul Bhaneja (Commander Kelric), Anthony Natale (President Emerin Sadal), Jamie Groote (Diva), Romeo Carere (Ocam Sadal), Cecelia Lee (Dzolo), Tabitha Tao (Holo-Guide), Scott Yamamura (Tinn Valaak), Marcia Adolphe (Interpreter), Piotr Michael (President Sadal’s Voice Chip), Kether Donohue (Almond Basket), Joseph Messina (Cadet Holloway), Raffa Virago (Cadet Pickford), Graham Knox (Cadet Oren), Katie Nora Ready-Walters (Terrified Cadet), Ashley Poulin (Very Small Cadet), Scott Gemmell (Darem’s Posse), Mia Yaguchi-Chow (Darem’s Posse), Ritchie Lawrence (Darem’s Posse), Brian David Gilbert (DOT), Rekha Shankar (DOT), Jeremy Culhane (DOT)
Notes: The revitalized San Francisco campus of Starfleet Academy has a park named for its beloved 24th century groundskeeper, Boothby, and a pavilion named for a legendary captain long since gone. Among the cadets seen in the background of scenes in the first two episodes are Orions, Cherons (Let That Be Your Last Battlefield), Kelpiens (Star Trek: Discovery), Ferengi, and in the opening scene of act one of Beta Test, a Brikar (the same species as Rok-Tahk from Star Trek: Prodigy, using a nearly-identical 3-D model with a slightly more realistic texture). If Caleb had ever watched the first season of Red Dwarf, he would already know about the recommended serving temperature of gazpacho soup. Humpback whales (saved from extinction in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) are alive and well in the 31st century; prior to this we at least knew they made it to the 24th century thanks to the second season of Star Trek: Prodigy.
LogBook entry by Earl Green