A bunch of mismatched youngsters join Starfleet Academy and discover the need to grow up very quickly.

A new Star Trek show is (for people of a certain vintage) always going to be a big deal, but when the ninth live-action series was announced as being set at Starfleet Academy, there were understandable moans and groans within the community. It’s a story idea that’s been kicking around for years and was addressed previously in the Kelvin-verse movies. And yet, against all odds, this is actually pretty good.

Written by Gaia Violo and directed by Alex Kurtzman, the 75-minute show opener Kids These Days does a great job in setting up our leads Captain Nahla Ake (an excellent Holly Hunter), young Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta) and villainous Nus Braka (‘gimme some scenery to chew’ Paul Giamatti). In a short pre-title sequence these characters are set up efficiently to power the remainder of the episode.

A lot of what follows is the establishment of new characters as they integrate with fellow cadets, understanding the need to tolerate cultural differences, and each will no doubt have a spotlight shone on them as we pick up individual back stories. And the main thrust of the story just feels like good, old-school Trek, with smart people trying to sort out big problems in the most creative way. By the end of the first episode, all the ducks are in a line – job done.

Second episode, Beta Test, is written by Noga Landau, and again directed by Kurtzman, and brings the show down to the San Francisco campus, with a key plot strand being the Federation’s desire to get Betazed back as an ally. We meet Tarima Sadal (Zoe Steiner), a main cast member held back from the pilot to give her some room to breathe, and she has a great rapport with Caleb.

I’ve deliberately been vague on plot points, Easter eggs and legacy characters because as a die-hard Trekker, discovering them for myself was a lot of fun. My fear that this wasn’t going to be my kind of Star Trek soon dropped away, helped by a great young cast, with sturdy underpinning from Holly Hunter. The new ‘Star Trek 60’ ident is lovely, the visual effects are as good as we’ve come to expect, and I’m ready to kick back and see what lies ahead.

Verdict: This is NOT the show I feared it would be. A new generation of Star Trek, with just enough touch points to the previous 60-year legacy, this is a reminder that there’s still life in the franchise yet. 8/10

Nick Joy