Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Redeems Klingons After 27 Years

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1, Episode 4 - "Vox in Excelso"After 27 years, Star Trek has finally stopped failing the Klingons, thanks to Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Directed by Doug Aarniokoski, and written by Gaia Violo and Eric Anthony Glover, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 4 delivers a long-awaited and resonant update to the state of the Klingon Empire in the 32nd century.

The Klingons are arguably the most popular aliens in Star Trek, but the great warrior race hasn't been treated well in decades. The Klingons were reliable heavies in Star Trek: The Original Series and 1980s Star Trek movies, but it was thanks to Star Trek: The Next Generation's Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn) that the Klingons' honor-based warrior culture was fully explored.

When Lt. Commander Worf jumped to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he brought the Klingons with him. The Klingons became the main villains and allies of Captain Benjamin Sisko's (Avery Brooks) space station and were instrumental during the Dominion War.

After Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended in 1999, however, the Klingons entered a wayward state regarding the forward movement of their story.

Starfleet Academy Told The Best Klingon Story Since Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 4 told the most substantial Klingon story in decades that finally codified the fate of the great warrior race in the 32nd century. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy revealed that The Burn destroyed Qo'noS, turning the Klingon Empire into refugees scattered across the galaxy and facing extinction.

The plight of the Klingons was personified by Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané), who was abandoned by his family on Krios Prime before he joined Starfleet Academy. It was Jay-Den who explained that the core belief of the Klingons is to maintain their identity at all costs, even in the face of extinction.

Jay-Den provided the context and understanding of his people's non-negotiable need to "remain Klingon" that made Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) realize how to coax the Klingons to accept Faal Alpha as their new homeworld. Following Jay-Den's ingenious plan, Nahla provoked a "war" between the Klingons and Starfleet.

The Klingons' "conquest" of Faal Alpha by defeating the United Federation of Planets in "battle" satisfied their code of honor. Meanwhile, Jay-Den's heroism gave him the right to call himself a Klingon warrior while simultaneously accepting his friends and his deserved place in Starfleet Academy.

There hasn't been a Star Trek story about the Klingons with this much depth and feeling, while simultaneously updating and contextualizing the Klingons' place in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's late 32nd century era, since Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended in 1999.

Star Trek Has Failed The Klingons Since 1999

Despite the many appearances of the Klingons since Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended, the forward movement of the Klingons' story actually stalled after 1999. Star Trek: Voyager's Lt. B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) was half-Klingon, but her Delta Quadrant-set series wasn't a haven for Klingon stories.

Klingons did not appear in 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, which was the final Star Trek: The Next Generation movie. The Klingons popped up in Star Trek: Enterprise, but Captain Jonathan Archer's (Scott Bakula) show was a prequel set in the 22nd century and focused on other alien species like the Suliban, Xindi, Andorians, and Vulcans.

When the Klingons returned in Star Trek: Discovery, it sparked the most uproar among fans due to the Klingons' extreme redesign, which broke established Star Trek canon. The revamped Klingons proved to be so unpopular that Star Trek: Discovery left them behind when the series jumped forward to the 32nd century, and never mentioned the Klingons again.

Regardless, Star Trek: Discovery's Klingons lived in the mid-23rd century, and so did the traditional-looking Klingons seen in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2. Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy showed Klingons, but both animated series were set in the late 24th century, and neither delved into the state of the Klingon Empire.

Except for Captain Worf, there were no Klingons in Star Trek: Picard, and no information was given about the state of the Klingon Empire at the dawn of the 25th century in Star Trek: Picard season 3. At long last, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy not only features the first Klingon main character since Worf in Jay-Den Kraag.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 4 tells the first great Klingon story since the 1990s. "Vox in Excelso" affirms what Klingon honor truly means, and lets Star Trek's greatest warrior race overcome an unthinkable tragedy to seek a hopeful future after too many years of looking back to the past.