Glenn Weldon (2:59)

Joining me today is Regina Barber. She's a host and reporter for NPR's science podcast, Shortwave. Hey, Regina. Hey.

Regina Barber (3:05)

I'm so excited. I love Star Trek.

Glenn Weldon (3:06)

As do I. Also with us is filmmaker, pop culture critic and iHeartRadio producer Joelle Monique. Hey, Joelle.

Joelle Monique (3:11)

Hey, Glenn. Glad to be back.

Glenn Weldon (3:13)

Glad to have you. So, Star Trek Starfleet Academy stars Holly Hunter as Nala Ake, a retired captain who gets called back into service to be the Chancellor of the newly reformed Starfleet Academy, with which is welcoming its first class of incoming students in over 120 years.

Regina Barber (3:29)

You will learn the skills that shaped our greatest officers. Officers who began their journeys at Starfleet Academy and went on to become legendary. Like them, you will learn to dream without limitations.

Glenn Weldon (3:44)

That class includes Caleb Mir, played by Sandra Rasta. He's a kid from Ake's past, now grown up and hotheaded and rebellious. He resents Ake and Starfleet. And he really hates the space pirate noose brat who led his mom astray many years ago. Bracca is played with scenery chomping relish by Paul Giamatti. Time, with its infinite sense of humor, will always fall upon itself like an origami chicken. Yeah. And this moment, Captain Ake, this moment is that chicken. In other words, payback's a bitch. Star Starfleet Academy is streaming on Paramount. Regina, kick us off. What'd you make of it?

Regina Barber (4:29)

I was obsessed with Starfleet Academy when I was a kid. I had a shirt that said Starfleet Academy. I wore it probably every week of my undergrad. I wanted to be in Star Trek. I wanted there to be a future with no money and buckbeds and regular meals. At first I was a little wary of this show. I was like, how are they gonna ruin this? But we gotta watch the first six episodes and I think it gets better and better. It's kind of made me think of lower decks and it's honestly made me less sad about my daughter going to college because they're still children. You know, my daughter's still gonna need me when she goes to college at 18. Like all of them are still babies. And that's what this show is telling me.

Glenn Weldon (5:08)

Oh, that's an interesting point. Okay, Joelle, how about you? What'd you think?

Joelle Monique (5:11)

I am new to the Star Trek fandom. I started with Discovery in the Pandemic and quickly became fully obsessed. It was a show my mom watched a lot as a kid, but I couldn't connect to. And then there was A black captain. I said, I'm sat. I really enjoyed Discovery, but then I found Lower Decks, which is a oh so good. Incredible introduction to the IP franchise. Easy to hop on, but they constantly are giving you deep lore. I love a school novel. Put the kids in school, make them fight against that school across the campus. And then also maybe their teachers are mentors. Beautiful. Love the genre of this when you cast stupid hot people in these roles. But also give me the classic Americana Star Trek vibes. If you're an old head Star Trek lover, you love it. I have a theory that Star Trek is America's Doctor who.

Regina Barber (6:01)

Yeah.

Joelle Monique (6:01)

Okay. Are the costumes and Alien sometimes way ridiculous? Absolutely. Does it have enough heart to sustain us another 50 years? You know it does. I love this show. I had so much fun with watching it. I binged the first six episodes in a single day. I was like, no one talked to me. I don't want to do anything else but just live in this world. I had so, so much fun. I'm really excited to see where they take this. I hope we get multiple seasons.

Glenn Weldon (6:23)

Oh, I think we will. I'm excited about this too. Although, you know, I come at this as a Star Trek completist with a big asterisk. I did skip Enterprise.

Joelle Monique (6:32)

Okay.

Glenn Weldon (6:33)

That's the only series I've ever bailed on.

Regina Barber (6:34)

We all skipped Enterprise. Okay. Note to rewatchers, I didn't watch the original either. Like, I'm a next gen head.

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Glenn Weldon (6:41)

I mean, like the thing with Enterprise, I could not get past the theme song. I'm just that petty. And you'll see that some of my quibbles with this series are just that petty. I'm going to give this a shot, but I think early on it's a little rough. The sixth one is where it got its hooks in me so good. But up to that point, I do think it suffers from pilot bloat where they load up the characters with what they think are going to be their defining characterizing traits that are so big because they press the gas on them so hard, they kind of start to feel like personality disorders and they're gonna get abandoned pretty soon. As the ensemble comes together and they figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the actors. Caleb Mir in the beginning is a hot headed rebellious jerk who is literally too cool for school until someone tells him to do push ups and it's like, well, that's not. I like that because if they stuck with that same characterization, he'd be unbearable. The favoritism he gets in this show Is rage inducing for a rule follower like me. It's not fair and I hate it.

Regina Barber (7:32)

He's the Chancellor's kid, basically.

Joelle Monique (7:34)

I loved it.

Regina Barber (7:35)

Of course he's gonna get favorit. This is the real world.

Joelle Monique (7:38)

But it's also such a love letter to kids who have not had safety in their life. I really love when somebody calls her on that. You're protecting him too much. He's never had anyone to trust. He doesn't know how. We have to give him the space and time to do that. I thought it was lovely.

Glenn Weldon (7:52)

Right early on in the series. They're also taking the air out of his tires. They kind of let him be kind of a fool. And that's good.

Joelle Monique (7:56)

Glenn.

Regina Barber (7:57)

He didn't stay just because of push ups. He stayed because a pretty girl was like, where are you going? And then he stayed.

Glenn Weldon (8:02)

Sure, sure.

Regina Barber (8:03)

Okay, let's be factual here, Glenn.

Glenn Weldon (8:05)

I don't think it works anyway. Okay, I'll get to that. Here's my kind of lightning round of thoughts.

Joelle Monique (8:10)

Okay.

Glenn Weldon (8:10)

Holly Hunter as schoolmaster. As hippie who's got a fantastic office. I love that. I love her.

Regina Barber (8:16)

It isn't on you to control anyone but yourself.

Joelle Monique (8:21)

Art lesson.

Regina Barber (8:23)

But not all opponents are enemies.

Joelle Monique (8:25)

And the more you play, the more.

Regina Barber (8:28)

They help you live up to your potential. It's very Dumbledore.

Glenn Weldon (8:31)

Yet another alien obsessed with humans. But that's Star Trek. That's what happens in Star Trek. And I'm fine with that. I do think the character's barefoot thing is pretty gross. The Internet has already made a thing about how she sits in chairs and made certain inferences about that. I like that she gets to go toe to toe. See what I did there with Paul Giamatti, who of all of these actors is having the best.

Regina Barber (8:55)

He's committed.

Glenn Weldon (8:56)

He is having a ball. Tearing that kid away from the only family he has and then putting him in one of your uniforms reaches a level of sadism not even I have. Well, actually, there was that one time.

Joelle Monique (9:10)

Oh, well.

Glenn Weldon (9:12)

I like hearing Stephen Colbert as the voice of the school.

Regina Barber (9:14)

Oh, my God. Love it.

Joelle Monique (9:15)

It's very silly.

Glenn Weldon (9:16)

Attention all personnel.

Regina Barber (9:18)

The mess hall is now open.

Glenn Weldon (9:20)

Make sure to visit because sometimes hanger is the greatest enemy of all. I like that the doctor's back. He's been my favorite thing about Voyager. The main set, I'm still processing it. It is giving upscale Boca Raton mall food court. But I'm okay with that. And every time I see, like, they fetishize this one staircase on the set and I'm like, why are there stairs in the future? Like, right. We've eliminated disease, poverty, and racism. We skip stairs. I think we should. Holly Hunter is gonna stub a toe. I think that's gonna happen.

Regina Barber (9:54)

I think we want people to move, Glenn. That's why we have stairs.

Glenn Weldon (9:57)

Yes, but there's transporters. I know. This is my inner wall e coming. I don't think there's a lot of chemistry between Caleb and the Betazoid Tarima, played by Zoe Steiner. The writing is iffy there because at one point she says to him, I'm.

Joelle Monique (10:11)

Sorry I didn't tell you when I chose the War College, I should have. I owed you that.

Glenn Weldon (10:16)

My husband and I both on the couch, just sat up and went, girl, what you owe him Nothing.

Joelle Monique (10:21)

After all we've been through in the past 24 hours. Yeah, that was a trippy moment for me.

Regina Barber (10:26)

Their children. Their children understood.

Glenn Weldon (10:29)

I think it's hilarious that they named it Klingon Jaden, played by Kareem DNA. I mean, Jaden is the most Yukon lacrosse bro name you could give an alien.

Regina Barber (10:40)

There's Jaden Smith. He's not very lacrosse.

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Joelle Monique (10:43)

But, like, Jaden is also, like, a very recent name in human history. Like, I picked up as, like, this is a black sports star, and Klingons are all black folks. I was like, this is.

Glenn Weldon (10:53)

Sure.

Joelle Monique (10:53)

I have questions about our naming conventions here, but. Okay. Yeah.

Glenn Weldon (10:56)

Because I feel like they wanted to name him chad with, like, 3Ds and an apostrophe, and they just didn't have the guts. People have been talking about the body diversity in the show. I love it. I mean, with the Caleb Mir character, they are giving representation to the crazily yoked community. And that's always good to see.

Joelle Monique (11:11)

They said the gun show is here to stay. Put those abs onto sleep. They were about it.

Glenn Weldon (11:17)

Sleeves, we don't need sleeves in the future. And so you would think that with all these petty quibbles that the needle drop in the first episode, the Rufus Wainwright to San Francisco that should have kicked me out, would have kicked me out. Totally didn't. It worked for me.

Regina Barber (11:31)

If you're going to San Francisco.

Glenn Weldon (11:39)

Be.

Regina Barber (11:39)

Sure to wear flowers in your head.

Glenn Weldon (11:46)

You know why? Cause it's. There's President. It's Star the Motion Picture, where you get those spaceship porn glamour shots of the Enterprise only at San Francisco.

Regina Barber (11:56)

It's so good.

Joelle Monique (11:56)

And it's the school. It's Starfleet Academy.

Regina Barber (11:59)

I know it's Starfleet Academy.

Joelle Monique (12:00)

Oh, my God. It's really happening. I Didn't like the song. I was like, I just don't think it's the best rendition of that song. So I was like, I think we could have maybe picked a different version. But the reveal of the school, the fact that the ship was the school and then it's landing and you're like, familiar with. I was like, this is an epic way to do the glamour shots in a new way. I thought they were able to do that quite frequently of picking up the old Star Trek tropes and making them new and starting off with like, you're in trouble for stealing food. I was like, in a Star Trek universe, what's happening here? Like, food is free. It's like the main tenet of Star Trek and it brings you sort of back into the world in a. A really grounded way. And it also puts you in a place to question like Starfleet and the folks at the top and what's going on. I just, I love when we enter Starfleet with a captain who's disgruntled. That's my favorite start to any Star Trek journey. I'm like, oh, this captain's about to school all of you on morals. It's really beautiful.

Regina Barber (12:57)

We were talking about personalities and like the yokedness of these guys.

Joelle Monique (13:01)

Sure.

Regina Barber (13:02)

When the Betazoid brother.

Glenn Weldon (13:04)

Right. And about that Betazoid brother, he's played by Romeo Carrera.

Regina Barber (13:07)

Yeah. I don't think he gets enough time. And I'm just gonna say this right now.

Glenn Weldon (13:11)

Agreed.

Regina Barber (13:12)

Having somebody who's like over eage, eager to like be everyone's friend and join everything and. But he came from everything. Like he, this guy had everything, but he. What he didn't have was love, you know? But I think he's hilarious. He's like, I'm down in for everything. He's super supportive. Like he's not that spoiled rich kid you'd think he would be. And I love him.

Glenn Weldon (13:35)

Caleb. K o kao. People, stop.

Regina Barber (13:39)

People stop.

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Joelle Monique (13:41)

It's just playing.

Glenn Weldon (13:41)

Don't touch me.

Joelle Monique (13:42)

Okay, we'll get there.

Regina Barber (13:43)

Yes, the acting isn't the best and yes, they're children and some of their decisions don't make total sense, but they're children. Like I want to say again, I think the show is good because it is kind of messy. The world is messy.

Joelle Monique (13:57)

Agree.

Glenn Weldon (13:58)

All right, so you both mentioned the school setting. That's what sets us apart. That's what makes the show this show. I feel like we've been hearing about them wanting to make a Starfleet Academy series. Forever. Whether it's like Kirk and Spock at the academy, you know, Trek babies, or various iterations over the year, it's finally here. Joelle, I know you're all in on the school setting. How about you, Regina? Does it add, does it subtract? What's it do for you?

Regina Barber (14:20)

I used to teach at a university. I taught for almost a decade. I really, really love the aspect of teachers trying to be mentors and teachers not being evil and not like, you know, like when you're in college and people are like, I got that F because my teacher was bad. And I'm just like 10% chance that's true because so many educators are really, really trying to help you. Like, we're not trying to fail you. Seeing this school situation and trying to, you know, help these kids figure out who they are, like, it kind of just brought me back and I, I absolutely love it. I, I see it from one side of being the educator and I see it from the other side, you know, wishing I had Starfield Academy when I was 18. A long time ago at the turn of the century.

Glenn Weldon (15:04)

Sure. Joelle, say more about the school aspect though.

Joelle Monique (15:07)

Okay. What really works for me about a school dynamic in storytelling is like to Gina's point, children with no rationale or approach to any, just immediate, like the conflict and also the hormones are at an all time high and that's really good for plot. What I like here in the Star Trek universe is like again, Star Trek, for apparently people don't know, is like a morality tale told over and over again about like what it means to be like a great human race, like how do we treat people and stuff. And so to then turn that back and reflect on the children as the children are the future, as Whitney told us, I think is a really like beautiful space that Star Trek hasn't given us a lot of opportunity to explore. This is such a beautiful, like opportunity for Star Trek to look at the youth in a very concentrated, very communal way. I think that's new for Star Trek, at least on screen. And I really appreciated that element of it.

Regina Barber (16:03)

Yeah.

Joelle Monique (16:04)

Are we at the point where we could talk? Because people have definitely been, there have been comments news wise about this being a woke Star Trek, a term that, yeah, confuses me when we look at the historical scope and nature of this show. I mean, we're talking first interracial kids on tv. Fan fiction in America doesn't exist the way it exists without Star Trek, like fandom in general. And I think a lot of that has been like, hey, like, it's very queer, the fandom. Like, we were putting Spock and Kirk together day one, right? Characters that a lot of people gravitate toward. People love Ohura and the fact that she was just there and in, like, command. And, like, I just think it's strange to me that anyone would go to Star Trek, of all places, and be like, this is too woke. I'm like, this is all they know how to do.

Regina Barber (16:48)

George Takei is like, you know, queer icon, too. You know, like, as Sulu.

Joelle Monique (16:52)

Exactly. Yeah.

Glenn Weldon (16:53)

And it's this suddenly woke thing that, I mean, just to back up a bit, the hallmark of Star Trek is diversity in casting this. Now, that includes body diversity as well, which has led to a backlash from some, including conservatives on social media, like President Trump's aide, Stephen Miller. And it's like, okay, if you want to call it woke, call it woke, fine. But it has been woke from the jump. It had the first interracial kiss on American television. It's always been about a world beyond racism and sexism and xenophobia. None of this is sudden. None of this is new. It's baked in. And if you don't know that, don't pretend you know anything about track.

Regina Barber (17:27)

It's ridiculous. The first season of Star Next Generation had men in skirts walking around. So, like, are we really gonna be freaked out?

Glenn Weldon (17:35)

But to go back to the school setting. I don't care about fiction set in the school environment. I hate to sound like a network executive because this is the classic network executive note, but I don't feel stakes. It's hard for me to care. I mean, they think the only property that found a cheat code around that was Buffy because it keyed into what you have to do. Because nothing in high school matters. Nothing in college matters objectively. But it feels like because of those hormones you mentioned.

Regina Barber (17:58)

Disagree.

Glenn Weldon (17:59)

No, it feels like it does. It feels like the universe is ending. It feels like you're the only one who is feeling these feelings when everybody is feeling those exact same feelings. So Buffy said, we'll take those feelings. We'll literalize them. You got a show there. The world is literally ending. You are the chosen one with a unique burden. That is smart. That's worked. But I'm watching the first few episodes of this show, and I'm getting a prank war and a sports team, a debate club. And, yeah, they have characterizing, you know, ramifications, but they feel very overlaid very schematically. There are times when the school setting, I think, gets in the way Logically, like sensitive, diplomatic discussions about Beta Zed coming back into the Federation in front of students do not take place at a school assembly. That's just dumb. And they've always have to hand wave around the fact, you guys both reference this, that, you know, every week, the plot of a school set show is they do something that bends or breaks the rules. Every week they should get expelled. Never, never are they expelled. This is the Potter problem. This is the Wednesday problem. But then in the sixth episode, we can't talk too much about it. But the sixth episode, the bubble around this show shatters. The kids enter the wider universe. The stakes get higher. But I'm telling you, if the seventh episode reverts to who are you going to take to Space Prom or whatever, I don't know.

Regina Barber (19:12)

I would be all in. I'd be like, let's go to space prom 1000%.

Joelle Monique (19:16)

I want to see the dresses. I want to know who wins prom king and queen. I love it. To me, the reason I really like a school environment is, like, not that just that it feels like the end of the world, but, like, it really could be the end of the world for you. Like, not like if you don't pass, like at night, like, passes class, but, like, for our main character. Like, he is gonna be on his own if he doesn't, like, fall in line. Well, he's in such a difficult place. And I think a school, a space that allows you to experiment, to try a lot of different things, is a really great way to sort of explore a vast galaxy in a confined space. So I like that element of it. And I also think there's just something really special about. I think a lot about my high school years. Not that I want to relive them or go back, but I just think, like. Like becoming, like the idea of becoming, like, who am I to the world, to myself, what I want to do. I just think those, like, really big questions are great plot fodder. Like, they're really fun and they're fun to watch somebody discover. Well, and I think we have a couple of really good actors in here, so I'm hoping we can continue to lean into that. I also really wanted to briefly talk about casting a Tatiana Maslany. She plays our main character, Caleb's mom. And I thought she was fantastic. Yeah, they brought her in to do the thing she does well, which is break your heart. And I thought, like, having her here to open the world made me instantly care in a way that I think would have been difficult to pull off without her and to have her opposite Holly and this, like these devastated mothers going back and forth. I was like, oh, and again, like this show really is about moms and their children and like how do we let them go? How do we bring them into the world? And also what kind of pressures are the world putting against these mothers who are just trying to survive and raise good kids? Like, I think the complexity of a multi galactic universe of beings trying to work together simplified down to a mom and a child and a school, that really works for me. I like the big questions in a small space.

Glenn Weldon (21:15)

So is there anything else we wanted to hit that we haven't hit that you wanted to make sure we brought up?

Regina Barber (21:19)

I really loved Gina Yashare. She plays Laura and she's half Klingon, half Jem Hadar, which is really, really cool that there's like a mix that isn't just like half human. I knew her because her name is Gina and I'm conceited and I saw like clips of her and I think she's hilarious.

Joelle Monique (21:37)

Cadet, drop your gear on this idiot's back. Yes, idiot.

Glenn Weldon (21:43)

Back, back.

Regina Barber (21:44)

She's one of the best, like violent, comedic, you know, characters in the show.

Joelle Monique (21:51)

I do love listening to her yell. It's so funny. Like she's definitely like the drill sergeant of the school and the more like military minded, battle ready, you know, cling on.

Regina Barber (22:02)

But she's so such good friends with the Chancellor and that was so nice.

Joelle Monique (22:06)

Yes, the back and forth of it. I'm. I love a Klingon and so I was like really excited to see them sort of imbued throughout the show in ways to make them feel a part of everything as opposed to constantly being in a space of wanting to battle everyone. I think also Star Trek tapping into the boom of the romance genre. We've been shipping our Star Trek characters for a long time. Let them have sex and they do, and it's great. And there's romance and intrigue and it's steamy. And I think more of this from our big ips. You have to find new spaces to go if you're going to constantly be telling us stories. And so I think Star Trek, better than a lot of other spaces, has found a way to reach audiences at multiple levels. And I'm excited to see how they keep pushing that envelope going forward.

Glenn Weldon (22:55)

All right, well, we want to know what you think about Star Trek. Starfleet Academy. Find us@facebook.com and a reminder, we're pulling back the curtain and letting pop culture happy hour plus supporters sit in virtually on a live episode taping. They'll get to see how the show is made and experience this episode before everyone else. And we'll be talking about something Oscars related, which is one of our favorite topics. Anyway, it's all happening over Zoom on Friday, February 13th at 3pm Eastern Noon Pacific. If you are not a plus supporter yet, go to plus.npr.org happy again, that's plus.npr.org happy if you are already a plus supporter, thank you so much. Scroll back in your feed to January 22nd to learn how to register for that taping. That brings us to the end of our show. Joelle Monique, Regina Barber, thank you so much for being here.

Joelle Monique (23:43)

Thank you, Glenn thank you.

Glenn Weldon (23:44)

Kaplak Kaplak this episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Kayla Adamore and edited by Mike Katsif. Our showrunner is Jessica Ritty and hello. Come in provides our thanks theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from npr. I'm Glenn Weldon and we'll see you all next time.

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