Radical inclusion has been built into the Star Trek brand from its inception. The hopeful vision of the future created by Gene Roddenberry is an outsider’s paradise — and Starfleet Academy, the latest feather in the franchise’s cap, pushes that idea to a new limit. This is not your parents’ Star Trek: the young adult-centered series was made with a new next generation in mind. Its cadets are far removed from anyone’s idea of Starfleet material, but that’s what makes them so compelling. And none are more so than the fleet’s first photonic (that is, holographic) student, SAM.
Portrayed with buoyant delight by Kerrice Brooks, SAM — short for Series Acclimation Mil — fills the role of Roddenberry-esque outsider characters, previously occupied by the likes of Spock and Data. As a hologram programmed to experience the world as a 17-year-old girl and study humanity, she’s mostly served as comic relief. But the show’s latest episode marks a sharp pivot both for SAM and for Brooks, forcing character and actor to confront Star Trek’s daunting legacy. It goes deep into the lore of Deep Space Nine, focusing on the disappearance of Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) way back in the finale of that series, “What You Leave Behind.”
