Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context ComicBook / StarTrekStarfleetAcademy

Go To

1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sa1.jpg]]
2''Star Trek: Starfleet Academy'' was a comic book series written by Creator/ChristianCooper and published by Marvel between 1996 and 1998. Lasting 19 issues, the series focuses on the adventures of [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Nog]] and his teammates in Omega Squad at [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Starfleet Academy]].
3
4Omega Squad itself was a team consisting of:
5
6* Nog (The Alien): The first Ferengi in Starfleet and a transplant from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine.'' Nog attempts to fit in despite his merchantile activities.
7* Kamilah Goldstein (TheHeart): A beautiful woman of mixed Palestinian/Israeli descent trying to serve as a peacemaker.
8* Matthew Decker (TheLancer, later TheLeader): A hotheaded descendant of Starfleet royalty who constantly gets them in trouble.
9* T'Priell ([[TheSmartGuy The Smart Girl]]): A Romulan agent impersonating a Vulcan within Starfleet Academy.
10* Pava Ek'Noor (The ActionGirl): A hot-blooded Andorian warrior that has some interesting ideas on interspecies relationships.
11* Edam Astrun (TheSixthRanger): A male Betazoid who joins Omega Squad later than the others.
12
13Although generally forgotten today, ''Starfleet Academy'' was considered to be among the best series in Marvel's ''Franchise/StarTrek'' run, both in terms of art quality and storytelling (their use of original characters allowed them greater freedom).
14
15It is notable for being the first Expanded Universe series in the franchise to feature primarily original characters (debuting several months before Creator/PeterDavid's ''Literature/StarTrekNewFrontier'' novels; David himself wrote a few young adult novels about Worf at Starfleet Academy that introduced some ''New Frontier'' characters). It is also the first ''Franchise/StarTrek'' series to directly address homosexuality (Cooper himself is gay).
16
17With Pava's inclusion as a minor character in ''Literature/StarTrekTitan'', the series has been retroactively incorporated into the Literature/StarTrekNovelverse.
18
19A miniseries of the same name was released in 2015 by IDW, with a new set of cadets and set in the Kelvin timeline of the [[Film/StarTrek2009 2009 movie]].
20
21----
22!!Tropes seen in ''Star Trek Starfleet Academy'' include:
23
24* AcademyOfAdventure: It takes place in Starfleet Academy on Earth in San Fransisco. Which is apparently full of SwissCheeseSecurity, weird alien contacts, and dangerous situations.
25* AdaptationalVillainy: Red Squad was under the impression that it was a test of Starfleet security when they sabotaged the Earth power grid in "Homefront" while here they're fully aware it's part of a larger plan to launch a coup against the President.
26* AxeCrazy: Selke is a Romulan impersonating a Vulcan with a dangerous split personality and barely suppressed violence.
27* BigBad: Sub-Commander Thokol serves as this to the series, being a Romulan out to destroy Starfleet Academy.
28* BizarreAlienReproduction: Andorian mating rituals. Just as in the novels, they have four sexes (two male, two female).
29* CanonDiscontinuity: A minor example. Red Squad, perhaps due to their AdaptationalVillainy, is expelled from Starfleet and sent to rehabilitation therapy. In the later [=DS9=] episode, "The Valiant", we find out Red Squad wasn't even expelled and became the crew of said Defiant-class ship.
30* TheChessMaster: The Founders; possibly the Talosians as well (see XanatosGambit below). Both of them play a game of chess manipulating the Jem'Hadar and Starfleet Academy students against one another.
31* ContinuityPorn:
32** One of the main characters is a descendant of Commodore Decker from ''The Doomsday Weapon'' and relative of Captain Decker from ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture.''
33** Charlie X is one of the antagonists, from the selfsame TOS episode.
34** The Talosians from ''The Cage'' show up as enemies of the Founders from the Dominion War.
35** Admiral Leyton's coup forms part of the backstory, occurring during Nog's time at the Academy.
36* CoolOldGuy: Boothby, the campus groundskeeper. As in "The First Duty", he remains a source of advice and stability to cadets.
37* CrisisCrossover: The Telepathy War arc brought the Cadets into contact with the crews of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.
38* CultureClash: One of the major recurring themes.
39** Nog's sexism, even improved from his time on Deep Space Nine, is a source of serious tension with the female majority Omega Squad.
40** Pava's ProudWarriorRace and BoisterousBruiser tendencies offend the more TechnicalPacifist nature of Starfleet.
41* DarkAndTroubledPast: T'Priell's father was killed during her attempt to prove herself in the Forge despite the fact women weren't required to take the same test as boys.
42* EvilPlan: The Dominion and its attempt at genocide stirs up a lot of conflict.
43* GambitRoulette: Ambassador Spock speculates that the entire Telepathy War may have been orchestrated by the Talosians in order to obtain a race of Jem'Hadar slaves to reclaim the surface. This is neither confirmed nor denied by the Keeper.
44* HeroOfAnotherStory: Decker and Omega squad serve as this to the events of the [=DS9=] episodes, "Paradise Lost" and "Homefront." Decker is recruited to help sabotage Earth's power grid and immediately attempts to inform Starfleet, only to fail because Admiral Leyton is behind it.
45* HeteronormativeCrusader: Halakith, a rare justified example, being from a species that was dying, nonreproductive relationships such as same sex couples were taboo.
46* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Edam Astrun has a terrible attitude despite being one of the heroes. His attitude is notably a MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch due to the reputation of Betazoids as NiceGuy and NiceGirl types.
47* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Kamilah dies in issue five]].
48* LiteraryAllusionTitle: "War and Peace" is a reference to the [[Literature/WarAndPeace novel]] by Creator/LeoTolstoy.
49* TheMole: [[spoiler: T'Priell is an agent of the Tal'Shar. But she doesn't know it due to being BrainwashedAndCrazy.]]
50* MemeticMutation: A rare in-universe example, as the Dominion plots to exterminate all telepaths with a deadly EarWorm. Notably, this was written years before Dawkins's theory of Memes was popularized by the Internet.
51* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: Possibly Kamilah, although we will never know.]]
52* OneSteveLimit: This one puts an aversion into the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' universe with Matt Decker, who is named after his great-grandfather, the commodore of the ''Constellation'' from "The Doomsday Machine".
53%%* PietaPlagiarism: The cover of issue five.
54%%* PsychoRangers: The Klingon cadets of First Cadre.
55* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Pava alone against three Jem'Hadar soldiers. Despite her immense skill, she is quickly overwhelmed. What did you ''think'' was going to happen?
56%%* StarCrossedLovers: Pava and Kovold.
57* StuffedInAFridge: [[spoiler: Kamilah]]. Subverted in that her death primarily affected Pava.
58* TakeThat: Issue #2 takes shots at the [[TheNineties then-popular]] practice of collecting comics without reading them. Nog opens up Decker's comic book collection and reads them, which infuriates the latter. Decker then reads them himself and decides to appreciate them for their campy storytelling value. Nog also makes it up to Decker by giving him a 1940s comic he snagged in "Little Green Men."
59%%* TokenHuman: After Kamilah dies, Matt becomes this on Omega Squad.
60* TwoBeingsOneBody: T'Priell and Selke eventually agree to share the body despite being a Romulan and Vulcan respectively with diametrically opposing worldviews.
61%%* VillainousCrush: Thokol has a big one on Selke.
62%%* WarIsHell: The Jem'Hadar invasion of Talos IV.
63* XanatosGambit: The Founders trick the Federation into believing that they plan to annihilate a Telepath conference; in reality, they want the delegates evacuated to spread a memetic virus. In any event, the virus has already been implanted and the evacuation would facilitate the spread.

Top