Although the new series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy doesn’t require viewers to know a lot about Star Trek lore, it’s still deeply rooted in franchise canon. The 32nd Century and brand-new Starfleet Academy setting serve as a fresh start for Earth and its characters, but the foundation of all this is connected to the complex timeline of Star Trek: Discovery, and the legacy of Starfleet in general. And how all that translates in the third episode of Starfleet Academy, “Vitus Reflux,” is via the appearance of weird alien monsters that represent very deep cuts from Trekkie history.
“Vitus Reflux” is about many things. We learn that there’s a competition between Starfleet Academy and its rival, the War College, that manifests in a prank battle and a physical game called Calica. This game is new, but it is kind of like the Trek answer to Quidditch crossed with laser tag. Teams can be stopped from scoring by a kind of goalkeeper, who takes the form of the team’s mascot, complete with a wild costume. And it’s here, with the Calica mascots, that Starfleet Academy is getting wacky.
