Warning! The following contains SPOILERS for the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode "Come, Let's Away." Stream the episode with a Paramount+ subscription and read at your own risk!
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy took a big jump in its story, and it started with an escalation in Caleb and Tarima's relationship. Viewers got a look at what can happen when Betazoids and humans have a "close" connection, and I couldn't get over just how cool the mind space scene looked when their thoughts were shared. I was also shocked to learn how real it actually was, as Sandro Rosta shared a funny part of hanging out in Tarima's consciousness and that field of flowers.
CinemaBlend had a chance to speak to Rosta and Zoë Steiner about the latest episode of Starfleet Academy, and I had to know if the mind space was real or the product of that massive AR wall the Star Trek franchise has bragged about. Rosta confirmed that much of what was shown in the final cut was real, and as he described it, talked about the one awkward part of having to film those scenes:
It was just filled with these like prosthetic yellow flowers to the point where it's hard to get in and out because we, we go back in there later on in the episode, and I'm like standing in front of her. It was just hard to navigate, so I was kind of like stuck in [the bed], while they were setting up and moving things around and things.
It's good to see that even with one of the biggest sets in franchise history, the show isn't going cheap and trying to fake effects wherever possible. I was already impressed enough with the mind space scene with its field of flowers, but I appreciate it even more now that I know it was practical effects. I also never considered the actors needing to move out of the bed between takes, and how much of a pain that could be.
Aside from the mind space, the latest episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was a great example of how the show has found a great way to balance the stakes. We don't need the galaxy to be in jeopardy for an emotional episode, and while the death of a student during a routine training exercise isn't huge in the grand scheme of the universe, it made for a devastating event for the students.
As ComicBookMovie and others report, Starfleet Academy didn't crack the Top 10 on Nielsen's streaming list after its premiere episode. I do hope that trend changes as Season 1 continues, however, because I think recent episodes like the Sisko tribute show this series is the perfect mesh between new and old Star Trek.
As Karim Diané alluded to when I spoke to him recently, it takes a bold show like TOS once was to make history. The Starfleet Academy series seems primed to take those big swings, but it needs an audience that will support it when it does.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streams new episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays. Season 1 is officially toward the back half of the season, but don't worry, Season 2 is in the works and on the way.
