That's new for this series - it seems that they used the War College to train officers after the Academy closed following the Burn, since they were primarily focused on trying to defend what was left of the Federation.
I didn't realize until the trailer for this show came out that war colleges are a real thing.
Or at least a refit, which I suppose could be repairs following season 5, in theory.
are Betazoids really so vain that the shift of Starfleet HQ is enough to mitigate all their concerns?
I think this is actually a really big deal, especially since the Betazoids' concerns were chiefly about security, and the Federation is hardly going to let their seat of government fall.
But "the Federation is too Earth-centric" is a concept that's been played with since...at least the PIC era, so I thought this was pretty significant.
That has been a thing since DSC season three, and I really hope they explore exactly how that works in this series.
DIS Season 5 (with the exception of a flashforward in the finale) took place in 3191, so presumably this new series picks up where it left off.
This is a little up in the air, and Alex Kurtzman has said there's "some overlap" between the two series, but hasn't really elaborated on it. So this season could be running concurrently with DSC season 4 or 5. Maybe. But maybe not!
Na na, nanana hey hey
For now, I'll just share the thoughts I posted to Mastodon while this instance was still on the Genesis Planet...
Overall, a very strong couple of episodes. The cadets are all interesting enough, though Jay-Den and SAM are outstanding. Caleb is the sort of Rebellious Young Person that can grate on people, but I think the show compensates for that by making him a bit of a punchline. His backstory is also compelling enough (I actually thought his separation from his mother seemed very real), and his motivations are clear.
Nahla Ake is fantastic, and Holly Hunter brings a lot to the role. The character is quirky, but grounded, and you can see that she carries multiple lifetimes of experience.
Paul Giamatti is clearly having the time of his life as Braka. Time will tell whether he remains a cartoonish pirate (which I'd be fine with TBH), or if they'll give him more to do.
I've always loved the post-Burn setting, and I'm looking forward to exploring that status quo. The Betazed stuff is intriguing, and I hope we learn more about this "psionic wall" of theirs.
Also, "Discovery is unavailable because X" is the new "the transporters don't work because X".
Yeah, I don't know if they're focusing on more geographically spread-out areas, or what.
There's been a little bit of vagueness about the details - even in the recent SFX article, Kurtzman hedged a little bit about just how much it overlaps with Discovery.
“The new show synchronizes with the first two years of Starfleet returning to its full form. The safest way to look at it is it’s like when Discovery ends, we begin - but there’s kind of a two-year overlap.”
So it might be (or parts of it might be) running concurrently with Discovery season 5. It probably doesn't matter very much.
Yeah, unless they start specifically mentioning the DMA or the fight with the Breen or something, there's no reason to assume this doesn't take place after DSC S5 (excluding the time jump).