So not directly related to the episode, but I love the new Star Trek 60 opening animation showing all the ships morphing into each other, great.

The opening narration from Holly Hunter did a great job of introducing the episode, and the cold open centered on Caleb and his mother was pretty great too.

Holly Hunter is fantastic in her role, as is Paul Giamatti, both of them own every second of screen time they have. The core group of cadets we see in this episode all have interesting characteristics and show they can work well together in crisis, and seeing The Doctor in live action again is a delight.

On the topic of the doctor, hearing SAM mention the crew of the Protostar was a delight as well.

The U.S.S. Athena is a fascinating ship, I love how it serves as both a significant portion of the campus and as a ship.

My biggest gripes about the episode are nitpicks, and that's a good thing. I wasn't sold on the use of John Philips' San Francisco as the ship approaches the Starfleet Academy campus, it kinda took me out of the episode a bit, not least of which was because of my other gripe. When the Athena lands, that's not San Francisco, that's Sausalito (across the bay to the north of San Francisco). You can certainly see San Francisco in the shot, but that's not San Francisco.

This is actually consistent with what we've seen in Star Trek in the past, 24th century SFA used establishing shots filmed in Van Neys, CA and having the training grounds located in Marin County was established in several points, though throughout the various series.

All told, this is a solid series premier, not the best one certainly, but very solid. It does a great job of introducing the characters and it remains entertaining throughout. I rate this opener Commander and look forward to more of the show.

HD3 Episode Rank: Commander (A Tier)