Star Trek’s Starfleet Academy Problem Is Finally Fixed After 26 Years

After 26 years, Star Trek has finally fixed one of its biggest Starfleet Academy problems. In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5, episode 19, "The First Duty", Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) is now a Starfleet Academy cadet and a member of Nova Squadron, a flight team made up of elite cadets that also includes Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill), Nick Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill), and Jean Hajar (Walker Brandt). Locarno convinces the rest of Nova Squadrun to cover up the death of teammate Josh Albert, who perished when Nova Squadron performed the dangerous Kolvoord Starburst maneuver. Wesley speaks up, and Nova Squadron is disbanded.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine returned to Starfleet Academy and introduced Red Squad. This new crop of elite Starfleet Academy cadets is eager to prove themselves to Admiral Leyton (Robert Foxworth), to the point that Red Squad inadvertently allows a Changeling coup of Starfleet to succeed in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4, episode 10, "Homefront" and episode 11, "Paradise Lost". Red Squad try and fail to redeem themselves in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6, episode 22, "Valiant". Cadet Tim Watters (Paul Popowich) appoints himself Acting Captain of the USS Valiant after the senior officers are killed, and he leads Red Squad into a fatal disaster.

Star Trek: Prodigy’s Nova Squadron Fixed Starfleet Academy’s Elite Cadets Problem

Prodigy's Nova Squadron Learn To Embody True Starfleet Ideals

Star Trek: Prodigy fixes the mistakes made by previous elite teams from Starfleet Academy with its own version of Nova Squadron by showing that the ego-driven arrogance of Starfleet Academy's past elite teams can be overcome. Prodigy's Nova Squadron is a team of up-and-coming cadets assigned to the USS Voyager-A under the command of Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), and includes Star Trek: Prodigy's breakout Vulcan cadet Maj'el (Michaela Dietz), human Zeph (Sunkrish Bala), and Grom (also Michaela Dietz), a Lurian. Like the 2360s version of Nova Squadron from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the 2380s Nova Squadron is highly skilled, and they know it.

Unlike the earlier Nova Squadron, Star Trek: Prodigy's Nova Squadron is tempered with kindness and humility. Despite Nova Squadron's initial skepticism of Dal R'El (Brett Gray), Maj'el's adventures with Dal and the other cadets prove that Dal's pilot skills can actually back up his boasting. When the chips are down, and Grom is out, Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran) points out that Dal can fill in for Grom. Star Trek: Prodigy's new Nova Squadron is elite, but not elitist, so they can give Dal a chance, and succeed because of it. There's no scandal, no desperate desire to prove their worth. These Nova Squadron cadets truly are the best of Starfleet's next class of heroes.

Will Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Also Have Elite Cadets?

Starfleet Academy's Elite Cadets Can Be Flawed AND Heroic

With the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy focusing on new cadets in Star Trek's 32nd century, it remains to be seen whether the tradition of Nova Squadron and Red Squad will be upheld in the far future era of Star Trek: Discovery. Starfleet Academy promises to be about a new version of the school, rebuilding itself after The Burn decimated Starfleet in Star Trek's 31st century. If Lt. Sylvia Tilly's (Mary Wiseman) team of cadets in Star Trek: Discovery season 4, episode 4, "All Is Possible", is any indication, some of these cadets haven't even met people outside members of their own species. Building an elite team will take hard work.

As long as cadets' egos don't get out of hand, as they did for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Red Squad, or Star Trek: The Next Generation's Nick Locarno, having an elite flight squadron in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy can give cadets something to strive for. Red Squad was a goal for Nog (Aron Eisenberg), and being a member of Nova Squadron mattered to Wesley Crusher, just as it does for Star Trek: Prodigy's Nova Squadron cadets. If Starfleet Academy does have a Nova Squadron, hopefully they'll follow the precedent set by Star Trek: Prodigy. Elite cadets can be flawed and immature, and still grow into promising young Star Trek heroes.