That cadet is, of course, J-Dan Krieg, a soft-spoken Klingon who just wants to blend in with the crowd and study science, no matter how wild his new circle of friends at the academy have become over the past few weeks. since Search Set in the 32nd century, the Klingons have been one of the greatest mysteries of the era—an iconic star trek Species that were completely extinct even as we got major updates on equally enduring species like the Vulcans and Romulans. So when J-Dan came across as a glaring anomaly Starfleet AcademyWe figure we’re supposed to check-in on Qo’nos, and “Vox in Excelso” finally gives us that.
Except that the answer is that there is no Qo’nos to check. The Klingon Empire is no more, replaced by a diaspora that has spent much of the last century on the brink of extinction since the events of the Burn – and J-Den learns early in the episode that that extinction may be a little more personal, when she’s informed by Chancellor AK that a Klingon ship is carrying her father and mother (and it appears that’s pretty much all that’s left). Eight (The great houses of Klingon society) have fallen victim to an accident.
Although this is absolutely a J-Dane Power Hour – with Kareem Dyne proving himself time and again among the show’s strong roster of young stars – it will, of course, not be an episode of Starfleet Academy If it doesn’t outline a huge exploration star trek A decidedly more offbeat concept through framing. So of course, the question of what the Federation can do about the Klingons is not just a crisis to be addressed by senior staff in a round of diplomacy, but through the Doctor starting the Academy’s debate club.
It seems a little strange at first that an extra-curricular school activity is initiated on such a large scale by the looming shadow of the dying breath of a major galactic power, but it is J-Dan who makes the future of the Klingon diaspora the hot topic for cadets’ debate, giving himself a chance to deal with his own anxieties about public speaking and consider his own complicated relationship with Klingon culture, while Chancellor AK requests one of these. The remaining leader of the Klingons – and an apparent old flame – Obel Volsek (guest star David Kiely), begins reconstruction on Fan Alpha with an offer of Federation assistance as a possible new homeworld for the Klingons.
“The future of the Klingons is decided by the high school debate club” might sound like the premise of an episode on paper that isn’t going to convince people who doubt Trekkies. Starfleet Academyatmosphere so far, but “Walks in Excelso” is arguably the best Klingon episode star trek in the 21st century. It definitely stands out for his explorations of post-TOS improvement. tng, ds9And sailor Probably one of the best Klingon episodes star trek The franchise has offered new perspectives and genuine interactions with what has come before with the species, and acknowledging that the traditions established by those prior inquiries can co-exist with something new.
whether next generation The Klingons were originally revived as a cautious ally of the Federation rather than the racially charged villains they were. star trekThe status quo has remained for Klingons for the past 40 years; We’ve never really seen him as someone who exists outside of conflict. Sure, they’re not always at war – although they often are – but as Klingon culture and their code of warrior honor began to come to the fore more and more, Klingon society as we know it has always been shaped by external threats and, more importantly, unlike “Walks in Excelso” here, internal threats.
The game of backstabbing at the court of the Klingon Chancellery and among the Great Houses defined much of the new Klingon society. tng Onward, and more star trek Since those years are trying to present that situation retrospectively in their longer time period enterprise Famously giving an origin story for the redesigned appearance of the species SearchThe radical aesthetic shift of the species itself led to an almost immediate return towards a more traditional Klingon design, while focusing on political betrayals and honor-driven machinations to reassure audiences that they could “do” the Klingons the right way.
“Walks in Excelso”, meanwhile, juxtaposes and, through the disintegration of the Klingon Empire as a structure, offers us a chance to look at this genre for Klingon culture without the overarching framework that has defined it ever since. tng. It does this through three different forms, based on the extensive preparation of the debate club’s seminars on the Klingon question. The first is in the back-and-forth between AK and Volsek, which perhaps draws most heavily on those old visions of Klingon leadership – a political battle about image and honor that is about two former lovers reuniting after years apart, as much as it is about Volsek’s belief that the Federation’s offer for Fan Alpha is the antithesis of the Klingons’ steadfast independence, even if it could save them from extinction. But the things this episode highlights most lie in J-Den’s relationships with his two communities: his history with his family and his new circle of support among his Starfleet Academy peers and staff.
In a flashback to 16 months before he joins Starfleet, we see J-Den’s strained relationship with his three parents, as the Kraggs (mother Livana, played by Dorothy Atabong; fathers Drakol and Enoch, played by Martin Roach and Sean Jones; and brother Thar, played by Tremaine Nelson) live a separate, yet purely Klingon life on a world called Krios Prime. Even though they have, through the disaster of Bern, been freed from the political dramas of the Great Houses we have been familiar with for decades star trekThe conflict explored between them is still rooted in the tried and tested notion of respect for that interpretation.
The division here is particularly between J-Den and one of his fathers, Drakol, as J-Den is annoyed by J-Den’s growing curiosity about the world beyond his family: his interest in other cultures on Krios Prime and Federation technology, his desire to study science rather than hunting, and a general reservation that reinforces the idea of what we’ve typically come to expect from brutal Klingons. When Thar dies after refusing to accept outside help, supporting his brother’s divergent path, J-Den’s relationship with his family completely disintegrates, Drakol had destroyed the Starfleet Academy recruitment orb, Thar had encouraged J-Den to seek molestation after a failed ritual hunting experience, causing him to abandon the young man and abandon him on Krios Prime.
Or at least, that’s how J-Dan understands it. He has spent the past 16 months coming to terms with his “failure” to conform to what is expected of a Klingon, even as he pursues his curiosities and his dream of joining Starfleet, creating a division within him that manifests repeatedly in this episode, in his panic attacks as he tries to acclimate himself to participating in Academy debates and also in his arguments with Caleb, who confront J-Dan both inside and outside of debate practice. But let’s quip. Hypocritically advocating an independent, separatist future for the Klingons, while seemingly abandoning their people for Starfleet.
After an explosive accident, J-Den turns to the only other person at the academy who can truly understand him, Cadet Master Bulk due to his Klingon upbringing. And it is her, and her own nature as a woman of two worlds, that actually allows her to synthesize a new perspective: Drakol was not using Klingon tradition to ostracize his remaining son when he interrupted the ritual hunt, but was using Klingon tradition to signal to J-Den that he accepted the future the young man wanted for himself. Gaining that perspective gives J-Den the confidence to move on to success in the debate club, advocating that Fan Alpha’s proposal to the Federation has been rejected up to this point because Starfleet (and namely AK, who watches from the audience) has failed to cater to the Klingons on their own terms – the Federation ceases to be the Federation at its best, a community of different viewpoints, if it blindly offers charity and the Klingons’ The process undermines your self-independence.
In overcoming his own doubts – on the debate stage and in reckoning with his relationship with his family – J-Den provides Starfleet with the answers it needs. Instead of handing Fan Alpha to Volsek and Klingon on a platter, they stage a grand showdown that’s basically a fake battle between the two. athena and a fleet of Starfleet ships and what was left before the Klingons retreated and allowed the Klingons to claim the world as the spoils of their warrior traditions. Everyone gets what they want: Starfleet helps, the Klingons save face, and J-Den in particular learns to find comfort in not only the bonds she has begun to form at the academy, but also how to stand up for herself and exist as both a Klingon and a member of Starfleet.
it’s probably Starfleet AcademyIt’s its strongest hour yet, really presenting the comfortable landscape the series has found for itself by crafting big explorations star trek60 years of thought through the world of and its academic setting. Fully believing that children are the future, watching one of them shape the new status quo TravelThe most important species so cleverly handled is proof of what Starfleet Academy Can do his best work.
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