Welcome to Starfleet Academy, students, we hope you survive the experience!

It’s the grimdark future of the 32nd century and a bunch of weird, traumatised kids are stuck together having to learn and grow into Starfleet officers! Will the main character be too annoying a main character? How many The O.C. references will Charlie make? How much will Miles lust after an espresso machine? And how delightful are those teachers?

Kids These Days brings Holly Hunter and her wayward ward into the orbit of Starfleet Academy, along with Paul Giamatti who Paul Giamattis the hell out of his role. Beta Test gets into some proper Star Trek content: Meetings! Peace talks! Also some teen drama and shonky CGI whales.

00:01:56 What Non-Star Trek Thing We’ve Been Enjoying: Detectorists, Plur1bus

00:08:29 Starfleet Academy “Kids These Days”

00:52:31 Starfleet Academy “Beta Test”

Talking points include: The OC, Blake’s 7, Detectorists, Toby Jones would have made a good MODOK, Plur1bus (which is not Polybius), Charlie’s lawn is no longer Area X, credit to rexedge.bsky.social for pointing out that Fate of Ophelia would work great in Simlish, The Stranger Things, 80’s nostalgia, Rimmer-ness, the wall of references, Paris Gellar, the secret other member of the Gellar family in Friends, Brit Marling’s science fiction oeuvre, teen drama ball cancer plots, Charlie would never make it as a barista, psychics who psychic a bit too much, bros, Miles lusts after an espresso machine, the works of Brian David Gilbert, Heated Rivalry, . Oh, and occasionally Star Trek.

Casual Trek is by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn and Miles Reid-Lobatto

Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn

Casual Trek is a part of the Nerd & Tie Network

https://ko-fi.com/casualtrek

Miles’ blog: http://www.mareidlobatto.wordpress.com

Charlie’s blog: http://www.fakedtales.com