Title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Release Date: May 5-July 7, 2022
Production Company: Secret Hideout | Weed Road Pictures | H M R X Productions | Roddenberry Entertainment | CBS Studios
Episodes: 10
Summary/Review:
Having revisited the first two seasons of the first two seasons of the original Star Trek, I decided it would be worth checking out Strange New Worlds. This prequel series depicts the adventures of the Enterprise crew about a decade before the original series and features characters originally introduced in the pilot episode “The Cage” and later seen in flashback clips in “The Menagerie.” While there are things about Star Trek: Discovery I enjoyed, it never feels like Star Trek to me. Which I know is a very snobbish thing to say.
That being said, I’m happy to report that Strange New Worlds is much more of what I want from a 21st century Star Trek. Instead of grimdark, it is optimistic about the future and the power of people working together. Instead of season-long story arcs, it is episodic television with a “strange new” adventure each week. Instead of focusing all the stories around one character it is a true ensemble show. And there is whimsy. So much whimsy!
Basing the show prior to the original Star Trek, means we get to know more about characters we only saw briefly. Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) is depicted as basically a goofy space dad, somewhat reluctant to be a captain and the necessity of involvement in military adventures, but nevertheless a warm and inspirational leader. Pike provides an interesting contrast to Kirk and Picard in showing a different, but also effective, leadership style. Other returning characters include Number One, a.k.a Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) from “The Cage” and “The Menagerie” and Doctor Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) who appeared in two TOS episodes.
On the other hand, as a long-time Star Trek fan it takes some getting used to seeing new actors portray more familiar characters. While it almost seems sacrilegious for anyone other than Leonard Nimoy to play Spock, Ethan Peck does a find job playing a younger version of the character as originated in Discovery. The cast also includes Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) as a young cadet and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush). The characters feel so different from their original versions that I wonder why they didn’t just make new characters. Ultimately though I just have to put up a barrier in my brain against continuity and just enjoy the fact that these actors are doing a great job at the versions of the characters they’re playing. New characters for the crew include the strict security officer La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), the playful navigator Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), and the grumpy Aenear chief engineer Hemmer (Bruce Horak).
As always, the episode-specific reviews below assume a familiarity with the show and thus are not spoiler-free.
Related Posts:
- Star Trek: The Original Series season one
- Star Trek: The Original Series season two
- Star Trek: Discovery season one
- Star Trek: Discovery season two
- Star Trek: Picard season one
- Star Trek: Lower Decks season one
- Star Trek: Discovery season three
Episode #: 1
Title: Strange New Worlds
Director: Akiva Goldsman
Writer: Teleplay by : Akiva Goldsman Story by : Akiva Goldsman & Alex Kurtzman & Jenny Lumet
Thoughts:
I said this show wasn’t grimdark, and yet we have Captain Pike sharing that the January 6th insurrection lead directly to World War III. Yet, it’s still hopeful! Starfleet is out exploring the galaxy in the future after all. In this episode they find a planet with a culture not unlike Earth in the 21st century and Pike violates the prime directive in order to prevent them from using warp technology as a weapon.
Grade: A-
Episode #: 2
Title: Children of the Comet
Director: Maja Vrvilo
Writer: Henry Alonso Myers & Sarah Tarkoff
Thoughts:
A comet appears on course to destroying a world with a pre-industrial society, but maybe the “comet” knows better. This is a great episode for developing SNW’s version of Uhura as a linguistics expert who is able to break the code while beginning to find a space for herself in Starfleet
Grade: B+
Episode #: 3
Title: Ghosts of Illyria
Director: Leslie Hope
Writer: Akela Cooper & Bill Wolkoff
Thoughts:
The traditional Star Trek viral infection story reveals that crew members are hiding secrets. Una is an Illyrian who is genetically-modified to appear human (a technology banned by the Federation). Meanwhile, M’Benga is hiding his young daughter in a the transporter buffer so he can delay the fatal disease she’s contracted until he can find a cure.
Grade: B
Episode #: 4
Title: Memento Mori
Director: Dan Liu
Writer: Davy Perez & Beau DeMayo
Thoughts:
The big bad for this season are introduced and they are the Gorn, a species of lizard-like humanoids that first appeared in the original series episode “Arena.” La’an is a survivor of a Gorn attack as a child and her experience plus Captain Pike’s resourcefulness help the Enterprise survive a cat-and-mouse chase through a brown dwarf.
Grade: A-
Episode #: 5
Title: Spock Amok
Director: Rachel Leiterman
Writer: Henry Alonso Myers & Robin Wasserman
Thoughts:
The comic relief episode for the season builds on lore from “Amok Time.” Spock attempts to connect with his fiance T’Pring (Gia Sandhu) through a Vulcan ritual that accidentally causes them to swap bodies, and thus they have to fulfill one another’s professional responsibilities. Despite the absurdity of this premise it works out well in practice. Int he B plot, Number One and Noonien-Singh attempt to counter their reputation as fun-killers by participating in a game the crew plays called Enterprise bingo.
Grade: A
Episode #: 6
Title: Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach
Director: Andi Armaganian
Writer: Robin Wasserman & Bill Wolkoff
Thoughts:
Pike is reacquainted with an old flame Alora (Lindy Booth) from the non-Federation planet Majalis and learns of a tradition of elevating a young child to a revered status, but hides a grim secret. The plot kind of fails at serving as a social commentary on real life child welfare issues, but Mount does a great job in his performance of Pike having to deal with failing to save the day.
Grade: B-
Episode #: 7
Title: The Serene Squall
Director: Sydney Freeland
Writer: Beau DeMayo & Sarah Tarkoff
Thoughts: Argh! Pirates. In. Space. I was enjoying this episode until the main guest character Counselor Aspen (Jesse James Keitel) does a heel-turn and their performance is basically a moustache-twirling villain. Also, for an episode that establishes the Enterprise is out of range from contacting the Federation, it is somehow too easy to contact T’Pring and then have her travel to meet them to witness a forced moment between Spock and Chapel. Kind of the closest thing to a dud in this season.
Grade: B-
Episode #: 8
Title: The Elysian Kingdom
Director: Amanda Row
Writer: Akela Cooper & Onitra Johnson
Thoughts:
Starting with “Shore Leave” it’s been a tradition for Star Trek to have episodes where the crew finds themselves in a fairy tale setting. In this case, they become the characters in the novel M’Benga reads to his daughter Rukiya (Sage Arrindell) thanks to the intervention of a sentient nebula (believe me, it makes sense in the show. Everyone in the cast is having a great time playing against type especially Mount, Navia, and Chong. The episode also resolves the story arc of Rukiya’s illness which is good because it was getting a bit strained to see M’Benga putting her back into the transporter buffer again and again
Grade: A
Episode #: 9
Title: All Those Who Wander
Director: Christopher J. Byrne
Writer: Davy Perez
Thoughts:
In an episode that is a ripoff of an homage to Aliens, the Enterprise crew face off against Gorn hatchlings that emerge from the body of a refugee aboard a crashed starship. In a familiar trope, new characters are introduced only for them to die, but we also lose Hemmer who sacrifices himself after becoming infected with Gorn eggs. Anyone familiar with “Arena” will be puzzled by the continuity of re-imagining the Gorn a savage monsters, but apart from that this is a compelling dramatic episode.
Grade: A-
Episode #: 10
Title: A Quality of Mercy
Director: Chris Fisher
Writer: Henry Alonso Myers & Akiva Goldsman
Thoughts:
Throughout the season, Pike has been dealing with the foreknowledge that he will be disabled in accident as depicted in “The Menagerie.” In this episode he attempts to change the future but an older version of himself uses time travel to let him know that the changed future could have disastrous consequences. The main part of the episode depicts the events of the original series episode “Balance of Terror” as they would happen if Pike was still the captain of the Enterprise. And Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) is there too, commanding a different starship. Pike and Kirk’s leaderships styles are contrasted without a judgement of which is better, but ultimately in this situation Pike’s approach fails. Oddly, this episode may go too far in its nostalgia for the original series, and could be interpreted as basically saying that Strange New Worlds is not as important as earlier Star Trek. That aside, it’s a good episode, and Mount’s performance is strong as he continues to make Pike a memorable character.
Grade: A-
Panorama of the Mountains 