A minor conspriacy

Dandelion is a very sweet short film starring Ava Lalezarzadeh as Margaret, a queer teen in the foster care system in the 1970s, and Vic Michaelis as Joyce, the volunteer trying to find her a new placement after she's kicked out of convent school. The short's a lovely standalone, but I was really happy to hear it's being made into a full-length movie!

The first season of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy just wrapped up, and man, that was a season of television that did my heart good.

I didn't initially think this show was going to be for me. Hopefully it goes without saying that this wasn't for any of the range of awful reasons people have wanted to hang a grievance or grift on it. Media with protagonists in their teens and twenties just usually aren't my thing, and so while I was glad to see Trek branching out, I went in aware I wasn't the target audience and figured I'd watch an episode or two to see if any of the older characters appealed to me.

Well, they definitely did. Free-spirited, complex, centuries-old school chancellor Nahla Ake might be my favourite character I've met this year. I am in love with her. The Doctor (from Voyager) and Jett Reno (from Discovery) are both back in supporting roles with some really wonderful scenes, and Jett has a hot and hilarious Klingon/Jem'Hadar wife (Lura Thok) who is definitely worth moving across the galaxy for.

But to my surprise, I also really love the kids! Not all the moments landed for me, but I ended up legitimately invested in their coming-of-age stories and journey into becoming a little family. I don't want to spoil some of the things I loved, but I am always here for mentorship, adoptive parent-child relationships, and queer romance, and I wasn't disappointed. Add in some good solid science fiction and a lot of classic Trek optimism and belief in the work of building a better world, and this was exactly what I needed right now. My only real complaint is that it was such a short season.