A Filler Episode In The Streaming Era

February 20, 2026

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Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1, Episode 7 – “Ko’Zeine”Star Trek: Starfleet Academy delivers the kind of episode Star Trek fans have been clamoring for since Star Trek: Discovery launched the franchise’s streaming era on Paramount+. Written by Alex Taub and Eric Anthony Glover, and directed by Andi Armaganian, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 7, “Ko’Zeine,” is a quieter follow-up to the previous episode’s action-packed crisis.

Star Trek changed to accommodate the streaming era in ways that longtime fans lament. One of the biggest shifts is that Paramount+’s Star Trek TV seasons now consist of 10 episodes, down from 22 to 26 episodes when Star Trek was in first-run syndication or on UPN from 1987 to 2005 under executive producer Rick Berman.

Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard also embraced serialization, telling one 10-hour story per season. As a result, Star Trek lost what became known as “filler episodes,” i.e. smaller-scale and low-stakes, character-driven outings that helped fill out a 22+ episode season order. Filler episodes were a well-loved staple of Rick Berman’s Star Trek era.

Starfleet Academy’s “Ko’Zeine” Is A “Filler” Episode In Star Trek’s Classic Mode

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 7 is a throwback to the kind of filler episodes longtime Trekkies have yearned for. Dealing with the fallout from the crisis aboard the USS Miyazaki in episode 6, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy pairs up the cadets and explores their relationships more deeply.

Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané) follows Darem Reymi (George Hawkins) to his home in the Khionian Realm to be his best man in an arranged marriage. Realizing that Darem will perform his duty despite his true desire to be in Starfleet Academy, Jay-Den makes Darem’s fiancée, Kaira (Jaelynn Thora Brooks), see that letting Darem go is the best thing for him and Khionia.

Meanwhile, Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta) and Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard) bond in an empty Starfleet Academy, as Genesis attempts to steal her Starfleet application to hide an embarrassing truth. Genesis and Caleb are inevitably caught and barely escape expulsion, but they grow closer as friends, as do Darem and Jay-Den.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 7 is a welcome modern-day equivalent to beloved “filler” episodes like Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “Family” and “Captain’s Holiday,” Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s “In The Cards” and “Prodigal Daughter,” and Star Trek: Voyager‘s “Living Witness” and “Message in a Bottle.”

Star Trek Can Do Filler Episodes Without 22+ Episode Seasons

Star Trek on Paramount+’s remaining two series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, abandoning the serialized format of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard has been a boon. Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy feel more akin to classic Star Trek, as is the advent of “Ko’Zeine” as a filler episode.

Starfleet Academy showed wisdom by letting the cadets and the series breathe and cope with the aftermath of Nus Braka’s (Paul Giamatti) attack.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Strange New Worlds embrace an episodic, ‘problem of the week’ format where the character relationships continue to evolve throughout. Starfleet Academy showed wisdom by letting the cadets and the series breathe and cope with the aftermath of Nus Braka’s (Paul Giamatti) attack, which ended in tragedy.

It can be argued that Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 3‘s prank war and Calica game was also a filler episode that let the cadets bond by pitting them against their rivals at the War College. Star Trek has always fared well by lowering the stakes to explore its rich characters and their relationships, and Starfleet Academy continues this tradition.

By slowing down Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s narrative and letting the cadets reveal their inner turmoil, the characters and series emerge stronger, and we like them even more. Despite only having 10 episodes per season, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has laudably reincorporated the classic filler episode format and made it work in the streaming era.