NySocBoy's Beefcake and Buddy-Bonding: Starfleet Academy: Finally we get to see the fabled space school. But will they explore strange new worlds, or will it be "who's dating who"?

Jan 7, 2026

Starfleet Academy: Finally we get to see the fabled space school. But will they explore strange new worlds, or will it be "who's dating who"?

One of the iconic moments of my childhood was seeing a shirtless Sulu (George Takei) sword-playing his way across the Enterprise while high on alien water on Star Trek (Episode 1.4, "The Naked Time"). I was a big fan of the original series, and occasionally watched The Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine: Exploring "strange new worlds" was so intriguing that you could easily ignore the crewmen kissing different alien babes every week, and forgive the utter absence of LGBT persons.

Sooner or later, viewers were told that every crew member -- without exception -- "graduated at the top of your class at Starfleet Academy." Apparently the classes were very, very small, and they had ten graduations per year.

We don't learn much more about the Academy: you have to take a class in "Ancient Mythology and Religion"; they teach the Kobayashi Maru no-win test (save your own ship or a ship full of civilians?); and the entrance exam is staggeringly difficult. Even future space-time voyager Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton, left) and Greatest Captain of All Time Contender Jean-Luc Picard failed on their first try.

So I was excited when I heard that that Paramount Plus would be airing a new tv series, Starfleet Academy.

The premise: Around 3069, 800 years after the original series, dilithium crystals across the galaxy failed. That means no faster-than -light travel: everyone was stuck in their solar systems, and Star Fleet (and the United Federation of Planets) collapsed. Now it's around 3300, the crystals have been restored, Star Fleet has returned, and the first class of cadets arrive at Starfleet Academy.

Maybe we'll see some of those incredibly difficult classes. There'll be some new species as well as old favorites like Klingons and Romulans, and...

Uh-oh, it looks like we're going to get a major dose of boy-girl romance, and once again the utter absence of LGBT characters. The promo shows three boy-girl couples.

Sam is a Kasquian, a new species: a sort of sentient hologram, only a few weeks old but created as a young adult. She has to deal with anti-hologram prejudice. The trailer shows her being effervescent and on a date with:

Jay-Den Kraag, a Klingon who wants to become a medical officer. There were evil Klingon villains on Star Trek from the beginning, and allies beginning with Whorf on The Next Generation.

Jay-Den is played by Karim Diané, who has a femme look here, but is actually straight, bringing the Love of His Life on a vacation to Tulum.

Tarima Sandal, is a Betazoid, the daughter of the president of her planet, who wants to become a starship captain (don't they all). We've had telepathic Betazoids since Deanna Troi of The Next Generation.

The trailer shows her falling in love with, kissing, on a date with, on a battlefield with, kissing, and kissing:

Caleb Mir: a human outcast/outsider/rebel who hates Starfleet, but the Chancellor promised that if he joined, she would help him find his missing mother. Why does she care so much? That appears to be the main mystery of the season.

More after the break

Caleb is played by Sandro Rosta, a recent graduate of the Oxford School of Drama. He is heterosexual.

But built

Genesis Lythe is a Dar-Shaw, a new species. She is the daughter of an admiral, who wants prove herself worthy of Star Fleet without Daddy's help and become a captain someday.

In the trailer, after one of the Caleb-Tarima kissing scenes, another couple is shown kissing. It goes by too fast to know for sure, but it's probably Genesis and:

Darem Reymi, a Khionian, a spoiled rich kid who aspires to become a captain someday. It should be interesting to see him handling a society where everyone can get anything they want from a replicator, so everyone has infinite resources and no one uses money (but they have restaurants with serving staff).

Darem is played by George Hawkins, who may be gay; he gives his pronouns (he/him), and there are no photos of ladies on his Instagram except for his mother.

I checked the rest of the cast list for potential gay characters, and found the lesbian actress Tig Notaro playing an engineer on the starship Discovery, and Scotty Blanchar (below), playing "Sullivan" in one episode. Better than nothing.