Streaming service Paramount Plus releases the fifth 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; Cirroc Lofton (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and Chiwitel Ejiofor (The Martian, The Life of Chuck) guest star. 
Stardate not given: As a hologram, SAM is unique among the student body at Starfleet Academy – she is able to assimilate and process vast quantities of information quickly, so classwork is unlikely to faze her. She also reports back to her creators on the planet Kasq, telling them what she has learned about life among organic life forms as Kasq’s emissary to the Federation. SAM’s makers assign her to enroll in a class called “Confronting the Unexplainable”, despite the fact that she is already deep into the semester. The teacher, Ila, seems amused when among all of the mysteries covered in her class, SAM homes in on the mystery of the disappearance of a 24th century Starfleet captain named Benjamin Sisko, who himself was regarded as Bajor’s Emissary to the Prophets and vanished under mysterious circumstances. SAM dives deep into the available facts and the intangible, unsolvable questions, becoming engrossed in trying to solve the mystery, even watching a holographic recording of a talk given by Sisko’s son. But SAM can’t seem to get any closer to solving any of the unanswerable questions, despite the hints given to her by an instructor who seems to know a great deal about Sisko’s life.
written by Kirsten Beyer & Tawny Newsome
directed by Larry Teng
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 (Cadet 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), Chiwitel Ejiofor (The Makers), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Raoul Bhaneja (Commander Kelric), Tawny Newsome (Ila Dax), Romeo Carere (Ocam Sadal), Alexander Eling, Dale Whibley (Kyle), Ceceilia Lee (Dzolo), Daniela Sandiford (Music Instructor), Julian Young (Club Leader), Darius “Jackie Cox” Rose (Bartender), Diedrie Henry (Museum Display Computer)
Notes: Cirroc Lofton played the role of Jake Sisko from the beginning of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to its final episode; this is the first time in the 25 years since DS9’s finale that he has reprised the role on screen. Portraying Ila Dax, instructor in the unknowable, is Star Trek: Lower Decks star (and Starfleet Academy writer/producer) Tawny Newsome. This Dax host appears to have both Cardassian and Trill lineage. The episode carries a dedication to Avery Brooks, who played Deep Space Nine’s Captain Sisko. Other Deep Space Nine references in the episode include Caleb’s jumja stick, the Bajoran cultural tradition of assessing someone’s pagh by grasping their ear, and many references in the virtual museum exhibit: representations of Sisko’s baseball and catcher’s mitt, a Niners baseball cap (Take Me Out To The Holosuite), a manual typewriter (presumably a reference to Benny Russell from Far Beyond The Stars), a Bajoran Orb, and the sign from Sisko’s Creole Kitchen. Jake’s lecture was recorded in the year 2408.
Aside from the mystery of what happened to Benjamin Sisko, other displays in the “Confronting the Unexplainable” classroom include: “Origins of the Omega Molecule” (Voyager: The Omega Directive), “Psionic Effects of the Galactic Barrier” (TOS: Where No Man Has Gone Before), “Subspace Divergence Fields” (Voyager: Deadlock), “Alternate Continuums” (a topic that presumably has a non-zero probability of discussing Q), and “Immortal Non-Corporeal Entities” (with a rendering of the Guardian of Forever as seen in TOS: City On The Edge Of Forever and Discovery: Terra Firma Part 2). A further display, only partially glimpsed, appears to reference the Progenitors (possibly the race glimpsed in holographic form in TNG: The Chase). Outside of competing on RuPaul’s Drag Race, drag performer Jackie Cox emceed Star Trek Day in 2023.
LogBook entry by Earl Green
