‘Starfleet Academy’ Episode 8 Combines ‘Voyager’s “Real Life” & “Blink of an Eye”

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1, Episode 8, “The Life of the Stars.”Despite Robert Picardo’s Doctor being heavily present in Starfleet Academy so far, Paramount+’s new Star Trek series has been surprisingly light on other Voyager references. Finally, eight episodes into Season 1, the show has given the fans what they wanted. Well, sort of. Voyager fans will know that there’s a specific episode that Starfleet Academy would arguably be very foolish to ignore. While it’s still not too late for this to happen, the installment appears to have been leapfrogged by two other classic-era storylines.

Just as Episode 5, “Series Acclimation Mil,” served as a legacy sequel/tribute to Deep Space Nine, Starfleet Academy has allowed Voyager to return to the spotlight in Episode 8, “The Life of the Stars.” The latter is a little more subtle than the former in how it acknowledges the show that inspired it, but not overly so. The events of two Voyager episodes are directly referenced in “The Life of the Stars,” making it impossible to deny their importance to the story. They might not have been the episodes fans expected to serve as such fertile narrative ground, but they certainly worked very well.

Which 2 ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ Episodes “The Life of the Stars” Is Based On

The emotional core of Starfleet Academy Episode 8’s storyline involving the Doctor and SAM (Kerrice Brooks) pays off a Voyager Season 3 installment from 1997. Episode 22, “Real Life,” doesn’t come up all that often in discussions about the best Voyager efforts, but it’s a deeply emotional landmark for the Doctor. As explained in “The Life of the Stars,” the Doctor made himself a holographic family to find out what the experience would be like. While he initially makes the simulation far too idealized, it’s eventually made more realistic, and in a heartbreaking twist, he loses his daughter in a freak accident. The Doctor can’t bear to continue with the experiment, so he ends the program and never revisits it.

The other Voyager episode that serves as a cornerstone in “The Life of the Stars” is held in high regard among fans of the classic-era show. Season 6, Episode 12, “Blink of an Eye,” premiered in 2000, and it revolves around a fascinating planet where time moves much faster on the surface than it does for the rest of the universe. So, the Voyager crew gets to witness the civilization below grow and change at an accelerated rate. “The Life of the Stars” borrows this concept, applying it to how time passes on Kasq compared to Earth and other Federation worlds. Just as the Doctor’s functional immortality allows him to live an entire lifetime on the alien world in “Blink of an Eye,” he spends 17 years with SAM on Kasq, raising her as his daughter. Back on Earth, far less time passes. It’s tough to tell how long exactly, but it seems to be just a matter of days for the cadets.

Why These 2 ‘Voyager’ Storylines Work So Well Together in ‘Starfleet Academy’ Episode 8

Considering the two Voyager episodes have never really been considered connected in any meaningful way, “The Life of the Stars” manages to masterfully blend them together to create a combined legacy sequel a quarter-century later. The biggest connection between the pair of older storylines is that the Doctor becomes a parent in both of them, then loses his child. While he couldn’t biologically reproduce with the aliens in “Blink of an Eye,” he does report upon his return to Voyager that he became an adoptive father to a son named Jason during his time on the planet. The nature of the time dilation means Jason dies shortly after the Doctor is extracted.

This was the second time the Doctor had lost a child, with “Real Life” being the first. “The Life of the Stars” basically serves as a much-needed catharsis for Picardo’s Doctor in this respect. As he explains in Starfleet Academy, his past losses mean he has all but shut himself off from love by the time of the 32nd century, which accounts for why he has been so cold to SAM since they met. She was reaching out to him, looking for a mentor, but really needing a father figure. On some level, I think the Doctor knew that, which is why he kept her at arm’s length until that was no longer an option in “The Life of the Stars.” Now, the Doctor has a surrogate photonic daughter who isn’t part of a curated holodeck adventure, nor will she pass on due to time acceleration.

If I really had to be picky, I’d say one flaw in “The Life of the Stars” is that the Doctor never mentions Jason. Instead, the implication is that the Doctor immediately closed himself off to the idea of parenthood after his daughter’s death in “Real Life,” given how perfectly his photonic memory can recall such tragic events. The fact that he raised Jason as his own in “Blink of an Eye” suggests this isn’t true, which sort of reduces the emotional impact of the Doctor’s speech to SAM. Still, opening up and becoming a father to Jason after already losing a daughter does at least set up the Doctor to be someone who is willing to try and try again. I still think the whole Jason situation was overlooked in “The Life of the Stars,” but I’m willing to let it go. Maybe SAM also being a hologram just felt too familiar.

Does “The Life of the Stars” Mean It’s Now Too Late for ‘Starfleet Academy’ to Acknowledge “Living Witness”?

UPN

Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, Episode 23, “Living Witness,” is something of a standalone installment. It’s brilliant, but it takes place 700 years after the show’s core events and features a version of the Doctor who has been recovered from a backup module on an alien world. When it was made, “Living Witness” took place at a point in the Star Trek timeline that felt incredibly out of reach. However, Starfleet Academy‘s 32nd century means the show takes place after “Living Witness.” In fact, with the time jump at the end of “Living Witness,” the backup Doctor could very easily show up in Starfleet Academy at some point, if his off-screen journey to Earth was ever successful.

Many Voyager fans started to speculate that this could serve as the basis for an upcoming storyline when Picardo was announced as part of the Starfleet Academy cast. An episode allowing the “Living Witness” Doctor to reach Earth and interact with his counterpart still seems like an awesome idea. That said, with “The Life of the Stars” already paying off two Doctor-centric Voyager episodes, also addressing “Living Witness” could be deemed overkill. After all, Starfleet Academy isn’t a dedicated Voyager sequel, despite the Doctor’s ongoing presence.

In other words, it would be difficult to bring the “Living Witness” Doctor into Starfleet Academy while also involving the show’s new characters. “The Life of the Stars” does a great job of being an episode of Starfleet Academy that builds on Voyager ideas, but doesn’t ignore its responsibility to further the saga overall. Although it would be really cool to see “Living Witness” get the attention it deserves, the spotlight would unavoidably be on Picardo, as he would be required to adopt a dual role. That said, with Starfleet Academy Season 2 already wrapped, it’s not impossible that the show will find a way to pen an authentic-feeling “Living Witness” sequel that doesn’t come across as forced.

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  Star Trek: Voyager

  
  

  Release Date

  January 16, 1995
  

  Network

  UPN

  Showrunner

  Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor, Brannon Braga, Kenneth Biller

  Directors

  David Livingston, Winrich Kolbe, Allan Kroeker, Michael Vejar

  Writers

  Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor

  
  

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    Roxann Dawson

    B’Elanna Torres

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    Robert Duncan McNeill

    Tom Paris