This text incorporates spoilers for “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” season 1, episode 4 — “Vox in Excelsa.”
Klingons are entrance and heart in the great “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” particularly season 1, episode 4, “Vox in Excelsa” (or, moderately, what’s left of the once-proud warriors). This specific “Star Trek” present takes place after the Burn, a serious occasion in “Star Trek” historical past that hit the Klingons so exhausting that their very existence was left underneath extreme risk. And whereas the Federation makes an attempt to assist its former enemies by offering them with a brand new residence world, Klingon customs find yourself getting in the best way. Certainly, because the planet of Faan Alpha hasn’t been taken by drive, the Klingons cannot presumably settle for it.
Happily, Chancellor Ake (Oscar winner Holly Hunter, who not too long ago revealed to /Movie’s Jacob Corridor why Ake all the time sits like that) and Klingon cadet Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané) have the keys to an answer: Along with Ake’s ex, Klingon Normal Obel Wochak, the Federation phases a mock battle that Obel “wins” as a way to formally conquer Faan Alpha.
Since Obel is Ake’s outdated flame, and Ake herself is an historical and highly effective particular person, the position of the Klingon basic requires a really particular presence. Happily, actor David Keeley does a fantastic job with the half, making a contemporary Klingon character who I, for one, would not thoughts seeing once more.
Starfleet Academy’s David Keeley has been across the block
David Keeley is one thing of a journeyman actor, however his dozens of TV and film credit present that he has what it takes to get the job completed in just about any style. Aside from two filmed Stratford Pageant Gilbert & Sullivan musical diversifications from the mid-Nineteen Eighties, he scored his first display screen credit score in 1990. Since then, he is lived the traditional visitor star actor life — a visitor position right here, a recurring character there, and the occasional film position to change issues up.
One in every of Keeley’s first notable roles got here in 1996, again when he performed the recurring character Rick Forsythe in 4 episodes of the particular results themed TV crime drama “F/X: The Collection.” Then, in 2004, he portrayed Agent Evan Anderson in Jonathan Demme’s “The Manchurian Candidate” remake, showing a part of a star-studded forged that included Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Jeffrey Wright, and Liev Schreiber. After that, he confirmed up as Sergeant Byrnes in 5 episodes of the interval police drama “Copper” and did one-off episode activates reveals like “Warehouse 13,” “Designated Survivor,” “Complete Recall 2070,” and “Fits” (together with a two-episode stint on “Murdoch Mysteries,” as seen above).
In different phrases, “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” is much from Keeley’s first science fiction rodeo. His spectacular flip as Obel Wochak makes me hope that it will not be the final, both.
“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” season 1 is streaming on Paramount+.
