Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Returns To Bajor From Deep Space Nine

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Be warned, this article contains spoilers for the first episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, titled “Kids These Days.” The series premiere marks the first time in 27 years that the show has featured a location prominently seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Directed by Alex Kurtzman and written by the series’ creator, Gaia Violo, the episode returns the action to San Francisco and focuses on the cadets at Starfleet Academy.

The first episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy explains how Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) and Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta) became connected. We learn that Nahla was in charge when Caleb’s mother, Anisha Mir (Tatiana Maslany), was imprisoned for working with the space pirate Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti).

I was shocked to learn about Caleb’s story. He was only five when he escaped Captain Ake, and then spent fifteen years hidden from everyone until Starfleet finally found him. What really bothered me, though, was how the Federation just took him from his mother. It felt so cold! That’s why Nahla resigned – she couldn’t stand by and let that happen. And then, to make things even worse, Admiral Vance appointed Captain Ake as the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy fifteen years later! It just didn’t seem right.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Returns To Bajor For The First Time Since DS9

The first episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy features Admiral Vance discovering Captain Ake on the planet Bajor. This marks the first time the Star Trek universe has revisited Bajor in live-action since the 1999 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine finale, “What You Leave Behind.”

I always loved Nahla Ake’s story. After leaving Starfleet, she dedicated herself to teaching, working with little ones from all sorts of alien cultures at this amazing place called ‘Little Blooms.’ Honestly, it felt like the perfect training for when she eventually became Chancellor of Starfleet Academy – she clearly had a knack for nurturing potential!

Captain Ake took the job of leading Starfleet Academy partly to help Caleb Mir turn his life around. As part of this, Nahla’s office from Bajor was recreated exactly as it was on the USS Athena, which now serves as both a starship and the Academy’s main campus.

Bajor has been featured in only 22 episodes of the live-action series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. After enduring 50 years of Cardassian rule, the planet’s beautiful landscapes were slowly restored. Before becoming the Emissary of the Prophets, Captain Benjamin Sisko (played by Avery Brooks) had hoped to build a home on Bajor.

Starfleet Academy Will Have A Love Letter To Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

The unexpected inclusion of Bajor in the first episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is just the beginning of several references to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Episode 5 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is being described as a tribute to DS9, and it will reveal what truly happened to Captain Sisko.

The series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy features references to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, including the character Commander Lura Thok, played by Gina Yashere. Thok, who serves as a Cadet Master at Starfleet Academy and First Officer on the USS Athena, is a unique character—she’s a mix of Klingon and Jem’Hadar, the genetically engineered soldiers first seen in Deep Space Nine.

The first episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy brought up an old question from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Has Bajor ever become part of the Federation? The character Nahla Ake moved to Bajor after leaving Starfleet, which might suggest that Bajor still isn’t a Federation member.

As a lifelong Trek fan, I’m really hoping the rumored Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series finally shows Bajor officially joining the Federation. It would be amazing to see the completion of Captain Sisko’s lifelong goal, about 27 years after Deep Space Nine concluded, and set roughly 800 years into the show’s overall timeline.

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2026-01-16 18:29