Production
Writing
The episode was written by Kirsten Beyer and series co-producer Tawny Newsome, marking the first writing credit on the show for both. [1] [2] [3] Newsome is best known for portraying Beckett Mariner in the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks and appearing once in live action in "Those Old Scientists", an episode of the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . After being impressed by her improvisations during the filming of the latter episode, Star Trek executive producer Alex Kurtzman hired her as a writer for Starfleet Academy. [4]
Describing herself as a "die-hard fan" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Newsome expressed her "singular focus" when she entered the writer's room was to reference the show in a "meaningful way" on Starfleet Academy. [5] "Series Acclimation Mil" is the first episode of television that Newsome had written and that she was "pretty adamant" that her episode be an homage to Benjamin and Jake Sisko, feeling that modern Star Trek had not given the characters their due despite them and Deep Space Nine as a whole being such significant parts of the franchise's canon. Newsome called the episode a "gargantuan feat" to get made, and worked closely with co-writer Beyer, whom she described as a "fierce advocate", showrunner Noga Landau, executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Aaron Baiers, and Jake's actor Cirroc Lofton to realise her vision. [6] Landau stated that she, Newsome, and Beyer, who was co-creator of Star Trek: Picard , were in agreement about making a "love letter" episode to Deep Space Nine and the Sisko family, but that they "worked hard" to ensure it also fit in with the tone and theme of Starfleet Academy. [7]
Regarding the decision to leave Benjamin Sisko's ultimate fate ambiguous, series co-showrunners Noga Landau and Alex Kurtzman felt it was important not to interfere with Deep Space Nine's conclusion, with Kurtzman explaining that, "if we had given you a definitive answer, no matter what answer we'd given, I think you would have been really disappointed because it would have broken what the point of that show was and what the point of that ending was about", adding that he believed the reveals of the episode would give fans a "newer understanding" of the ending of that series.
Kerrice Brooks, who plays SAM, explained that she drew on her own experiences with loss to help her emotionally connect to her character's arc in the episode, stating, "the way that Sisko died was unexplainable. For me, when my granddad died, it felt very unexplainable, too", adding that on the set, it felt like "like [she] was talking to two people at the same time that were merging into one. It felt like everything was collapsing in and colliding." [8] She also expressed that some of SAM's personality traits or behaviours, such as her insulting of the Bajorans, comes from a place of "naïve arrogance" and a lack of total understanding of organic culture and society. Of SAM's connection to Benjamin Sisko and his influence on her development despite the two character having never met, she explained, "she knew so much about Sisko and she knew what he liked, what he didn’t like. He liked tomatoes, he ate gumbo, Creole kitchen, baseball, Jake. She knew Bajor. She knew so much about him, but also at the same time, felt so cut. There was a cut cord somehow and for whatever reason. And so it felt like the entire time Sam’s like grasping in the dark, trying to find and feel her way to maybe what her destiny could look like. [9]
Filming
The episode includes scenes featuring SAM breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the camera. Newsome stated that the unique structure and break from Starfleet Academy's usual format was proposed by Kurtzman, who felt it was a "special episode" that should look and feel different due to the focus on SAM, a non-organic character. Of this, Newsome stated, "I think we were just so inspired by the fact that we don’t know much about Kasq yet, and so we got to be the architects of this new species. And the fact that they process information so differently gave us the liberty to process the information differently for the medium, for the audience. And it just also spoke to my tendencies as a writer, which are a little bit outside of this genre. This is my first time writing narrative TV. I’ve written a lot of sketch and I primarily only do comedy. So while this episode has incredible heart – largely thanks to Kirsten — the format break was more suited to my style of writing. And the only person in my life who’s read nearly everything I’ve written is Alex Kurtzman, so I think that was intentional on his part." Newsome noted that the original draft of the episode was 72 pages long and included a lot of the on-screen graphics that made it into the final product, and that she pitched many comedic suggestions to director Larry Teng during filming to give to the background actors to give the impression that characters are "living full lives" despite them not being the focal point of the show. [6]
Kerrice Brooks, who portrays SAM, expressed that the main goal of the episode was to honor Avery Brooks and his character, the first black captain in Star Trek history stating, "we just wanted to honor Avery. I hope we did." Of filming, she explained, "It was really immersive. I want to say some of [the props] on set were the original props from Deep Space Nine. I know that the uniform was. You could literally feel the weight in the room as walked through the set during rehearsal. I don't know if it was the lighting or what, but you just felt how important all of it was. I felt like I didn't have to act too much in the scene, what I needed — it was just there." Brooks enjoyed breaking the fourth wall during the episode, noting that excerpts of the opening scene were part of her original audition for the show. She felt that her character arc during the episode was "a very rewarding experience", and felt it helped bring elements of Sisko's own character arcs on Deep Space Nine "full circle". Discussing the scenes between SAM and Illa Dax, Brooks explained, "in the writers room for the show, Tawny created and developed [SAM]. Shooting that scene, I forget the day we shot that, but we mostly shot the episode in sequential order. And that scene was pretty emotional, acting-wise. Especially with Tawny being such a big Deep Space Nine fan." [10] She also called her scenes with Cirroc Lofton as a "special" experience, and that his presence made her "step up [her] game". [11]
Casting
Main cast members Oded Fehr and Gina Yashere do not appear and are not credited. The episode features recurring cast members Raoul Bhaneja as Commander Kelrec, the Chancellor of the War College, Romeo Carera as Academy cadet Ocam Sadal, Alexander Eiling, Cecilia Lee, and Dale Whibley as War College cadets B'avi, Dzolo, and Kyle Djokovic, and the voice of Stephen Colbert as the Digital Dean of Starfleet Academy. Newsome makes a guest appearance as Professor Illa Dax, while Chiwetel Ejiofor voices SAM's Maker. RuPaul's Drag Race competitor Jackie Cox cameos as a bartender at the Academy bar. Newsome noted that she did not initially intend to appear in the episode herself, but that Landau suggested it once they had confirmed that the "shepherd" of the story would be a host of the Dax symbiont, which appeared in Deep Space Nine played by various actors. [6]
Cirroc Lofton reprises his role as Jake Sisko, whom he portrayed on Deep Space Nine across all seven seasons from 1993 to 1999. Avery Brooks, who played Jake's father Benjamin Sisko and the focus of the episode, did not reprise his role due to his retirement from acting in 2013, but archival audio of him reciting poetry taken from his 2007 album Here is used during the episode's final scenes. The decision to include this narration was suggested by Lofton, who gave Newsome his own copy of the album, and contacted Brooks for his approval, with the two having remained close following their work on Deep Space Nine. Newsome noted that she and Lofton talked for "months and months" prior to the episode, and felt that he deserved an executive producer credit for his contributions, with Lofton adding that his participation in the episode was fuelled by the chance to pay homage to Brooks and the Sisko family. Newsome explained that Brooks called her, Kerrice Brooks, and Lofton, during filming to give his blessing and "pass the torch". [5]