The Most Unrealistic Thing About Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Isn't The Aliens Or Spaceships
by Witney Seibold · /Film"Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" has wrapped its first 10-episode season and provided Trekkies with the most hopeful iteration of "Star Trek" in years. The series is set several years after a galaxy-wide cataclysm called "The Burn," which destroyed countless starships and forced most worlds to become self-protective and isolationist as a result. Starfleet and the Federation managed to barely survive, although the organizations have very little diplomatic power, and are regarded with suspicion.
In order to rebuild the optimism of previous generations, the Federation has elected to re-open Starfleet Academy for the first time in centuries, inviting teens from all over the galaxy to attend and reunify. "Starfleet Academy" is a show about reconstruction, and it's told through the eyes of immature teens who are, in the middle of this historical drama, learning to be grown-ups in a rich, learning-forward college environment. It's a pretty good show and displays a lot of promise for future seasons.
"Starfleet Academy" is also about "Star Trek" history, as it catches up with many known alien species several centuries after the last time we saw them. The Klingons, for instance, lost their homeworld in the Burn and are now nomads. Betazed is only just opening its borders for the first time. The previously lab-grown Jem'Hadar have found a way to reproduce on their own. Some Trekkies don't like the changes, but they are all logical, given that it's been hundreds of years since the end of the last "Star Trek" series.
But there is one detail about "Starfleet Academy" that remains wholly unrealistic. The main characters all live on campus in the Academy dorm rooms ... and the dorm rooms are huge. They're bigger than my apartment. There's no way any college, no matter how advanced, would allow students to sleep in such enormous spaces.
The dorm rooms at Starfleet Academy are unrealistically large
Anyone who has lived in a dorm will be able to attest that they are typically very cramped places. Students are also usually assigned roommates to save space, and no doubt all college attendees have colorful "good roommate" or "bad roommate" stories. Dorm rooms have enough room for a desk, a bed (often a bunk bed), and maybe a closet. Showers and bathrooms are down the hall. In some cases, a student can request to bunk alone in a smaller room without a roomie, but it's pretty well-known that singles are very, very rare indeed. (I was lucky to secure a dorm in my sophomore year in college that had its own bathroom and shower. It was maybe one of four on campus.)
A glance at the picture above reveals Caleb (Sandro Rosta) in his dorm room. He has enough room for a bed, and has a high ceiling and a large window. Rather luxuriously, there's a small coffee table and a couch. This is not off-campus housing, mind you. This is not a fraternity or sorority house. This is the actual campus. A look around the Academy dorms also reveals extensive built-in bookshelves, a nice clean carpeted floor, and plenty of room to spin around or do backflips.
There are two students per dorm, as one might expect from the college experience, but they have plenty of space and can easily stay out of each other's way. Indeed, there's so much space, there doesn't seem to be a reason for students to double up at all. In giving the students that much space, "Starfleet Academy" is robbing itself of a vitally real college-life detail: constantly bonking elbows with the stranger you live with.
More personal space is the final frontier
The same thing goes for the staff dorms. Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) has an office as large as a house. It's full of personal artifacts and dark, lovely wood paneling. The lighting fixtures are big and impressive, and she seemingly has enough space to host 30 people.
Of course, "Starfleet Academy" is set in the far-flung future of the 32nd century, far ahead on the "Star Trek" timeline, so it's possible architects and designers have finally figured out ways to efficiently build larger spaces for students. In an idealized future, after all, a student should be given a sufficient space to sleep and relax when they're away from classes and activities. But if this is true, why are students forced to room together? If this is true, why do they still need to shower together and interact in large locker rooms? And wouldn't smaller rooms be a more recognized, universal college experience for a modern audience?
I'm sorry, I just don't buy it. I don't buy that Starfleet Academy would give their students whole condos of their own.
After all, a lot of these students are hoping to be stationed on Starfleet vessels after graduation, and starships don't have large quarters. Indeed, as seen on "Star Trek: Lower Decks," ensigns don't even have rooms. They have singular bunks located in a hallway. They also have to shower together in an outsize bathroom. Space may be the final frontier, but it's also still at a premium.
If "Starfleet Academy" wanted to be a truly accurate college show, they would address a college student's lack of personal space. Kids wouldn't have room to think, and would have to coordinate with roommates as to when they can bring sex partners over. That's what college is all about.