Star Trek: Strange New Worlds [SPOILERS]

yup... that's why the mining colony that turned out to be exiles stood out for me.

the guys that built the estate that was the hard set lived at the bottom of the hill it's on before going off to die in WW1.

Trek tends to focus on disposable classes of people fairly frequently it seems.

Actually gotta agree. The whole was less than the sum of its parts.

A fairly predictable episode that had a few WTF things that just didn't make sense. Still, SNW's worst (to date, and even that is using "worst" in the lightest way possible) is stronger than Picard and Enterprise's best and on par with the more mid episodes of Voyager.

The Uhura actor continues to have chemistry with every screen partner they're paired with, and having the character rotate through departments (which is an actual thing line officers in the Navy do, in a slightly different sort of manner) is a great way to have Uhura get fleshed out.

I did like the kid actor who played the First Servant, has real talent and hope he'll be getting some good roles in ten years.

Nice way of them bringing back Pike's future in a background sort of that that is important to him but not like....all that he is.

I did like that there wasn't an easy answer or a last minute save at the end but I do wish we had more time to sit with that or maybe an itsy bitsy bit of reflection on the state of the Federation.

If this is the worst episode of the season, SNW is still gonna have the best first season of any series, including Lower Decks.

Yeah, but what does their tech do?

Something about keeping their city floating and not falling into the planet's lava/acid surface?

Surely a civilization more advanced than the Federation (based on their medical proficiency) could make that happen another way?

Although I think the episode was directly cribbing from a short story by Ursela K. le Guin with the message at the end, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about America's gun fetishization when Alora spoke at the end.

That was definitely a head scratcher too. It's one thing like a situation such as, say, "Congenitor" where biology was a factor they could not overcome built this species built this shit.

She seems to be one of the leaders of their society, and is trusted with dealing with the equipment. I think we can take what was stated at face value and say that they don't know exactly how it works.

A. The kid was impressive. Great future.
B. I don't think that over-thinking the "could they not have found a different way?" question kinda misses the point. A lot of these stories (print and film) are based on a premise that can be questioned but the aim is to make a point.
C. for me the power came not in her speech but the silent coda where he was alone. In reality, for the Feds to step in and potentially risk millions of lives they had no jurisdiction over would have been old school colonialism despite the noble cause of the moment. The silent scene gives space to digest the impossible conflict between the desire to save the child and the ethics of risking the rest.

For a smart kid, he was pretty stupid at the end. From his expression right before he was hooked up, he looks like realized he fucked up.

Um, that was the point. The First Servants don't realize they're effectively being marched to their deaths until it's too late.

He was still all "I'm so smart, S.M.R.T!" Even after he saw the previous First Servant all pruned up. Maybe he was too excited to put two and two together until the last minute.

But you'd think he knew what was going to happen, his father seemed to know he wouldn't come out as good as he went in.

Eh, plenty of folks that commit suicide regret it at the last minute, usually once it's too late. I'm sure he was fine with sacrificing himself in an abstract sense, but once it's actually about the happen I can't fault him for flinching.

Another thing about this episode. Pike brings up what his future holds for him, hey he essentially did the same thing, if not similar. He sacrificed himself on Discovery.

.

And it seems like the kid went through his sacrifice because he probably believed in the same things. It could be said that his society instilled those beliefs in him, but so did Pike's, and his belief in Starfleet which would have been instilled in him as part of his service in Starfleet.

But he is disgusted and completely against the First Servant sacrificing himself. It could be that his morality doesn't allow or believe that a child can do the same yet, the kid seemed to be mature and intelligent enough to know what he was doing.

Enjoyable, but also the weakest of the season.

Today's had a lot of LOL moments.

Not so subtle messaging about NB/2S and identity... some folks will hate it.

A couple of character seeds planted-not sure to laugh or cry at the last one.

I'm wishing we still ran the afterhours because Jess Bush is definitely a club kiddie.

This one was a lot of fun. Phasers underneath consoles, Jessie James Keitel hamming it up to 11, Spock and Nurse Chapel kissing, pirates, Alpha Braga IV, and SYBOK!

< laughs in Star Trek V canon vindication >

yeah, loved that "Alpha Braga IV" jab.

You kind of knew they'd be the big reveal as the pirate ringleader, but the Sybok connection was a good twist. I'm half hoping the reason we didn't get his face is because Ethan Peck will play him with the scruffy beard.

Yeah, I got suspicious about 10 minutes in, when things started to seem, I don't know, "odd" with her behavior. She didn't strike me as any kind of counselor. I figured it out when she told Spock they should abandon ship. Jesse James Keitel did a solid job, though. Some folks felt she didn't act right, but quite frankly, what's the point of being a pirate captain if you can't be needlessly flamboyant? As far as I'm concerned, that rang out most like TOS, and I loved it.

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Is the Best of What Television Used to Be
Despite how much television has changed, there’s still no pleasure quite like the episodic television of days past.

Well said. I'm glad that episodic Star Trek has made a comeback.

This one was just... bad. And I loved the ones prior to this.

Some of the best Trek so far in SNW, but this one was a 3/10. Not quite as bad as Marauders, but close.

Funny you mentioned "Marauders" because I was thinking you could replace Angel with a random Ferangi and the plot would have worked just the same. This one also reminded me of the TNG episode "Manage a Troi" where Deanna, Lawaxana and Riker are kidnapped by Ferangis and Picard has to profess his love for Lawaxana to get her back. I feel like this was pretty much the combination of the two episodes. I'm guessing this was the non-binary person that was referenced in the article @Diacanu posted up thread? The hamming it up I didn't mind at first because it reminded me of a classic over the top TOS villain or your classic Ferangi episode, but it was played for too long. I liked the character bits we got between Spock and Chapel and I liked Pike, Ortegas and Number one's mischief among the pirates which reminded me of Picard and Riker in "Gambit" so this definitely had the meat and potatoes of Star Trek in it so I'll give it a pass. I like the Ferangi episodes, even if they are kind of corny and I like the two part "Gambit" episode. At least it wasn't so gloomy as last week's episode. Not great, but serviceable and it should be interesting to see where they are going with Sybok.

It was a bit after that Spock said that he knew who Xaverious was, that I thought "Could it be Sybok?". But wasn't really sure if they would actually do that. But I guess so. Also, a few parts of those episode made me "D'fuq?!".

Kind of another fun episode, not as fun as Spock Amok, but still a fun episode. And oh yeah, Chapel is a badass! Really hoping a later episode shows how she went from being fun, spunky, badass nurse to a serious no nonsense medical staffer.

My least favorite episode so far. It had its moments, but Angel chewed enough scenery after the heel turn that they (and the episode) lost all realism to me.

Plus much of what Demiurge said.

Pike's hair looked so much better after the pirates had knocked most of the product out of it.

And Gia Sandhu continues to be a smoke show.

Yeah, a little too much hamming it up.

Amazing how good chemistry amongst the actors can actually save an otherwise lame script.

Thoughts:
*Agree Aspen was a better performance than Angel - the latter was WAY too hammy
*The pirates took the ship way too easily and Angel escaped way too easily (also, the "Captain" had very little to do with the bulk of their crew and had no problem bailing on all of them
*wouldn't be shocked if they turn up again, particularly given the connection to a legacy character and I also think the Irish Orion might be a sort of Mudd-type returning character over the years
*Big sore thumb to me - what was the point of the net? Didn't work, but escaping it didn't seem to create a hitch in the pirate's plot, never relevant to the rest of the story at all except to set up Spock's discomfort with hunches
*Speaking of...Angel's particular interest in Spock MAYBE implied not just her knowledge of T'Pring but...she knows of the family relationship too?
*my biggest WTF was - did Chapel do a NERVE PINCH, and if she did...WTF?!!?!
*As Sean pointed out on YouTube, the sudden ease of communication later on after clearly stated it was a 2 day lag in the opening requires some pretty aggressive head canon.


So yeah, I can do more of that for this episode than for any previous one but - still thought it was a lot of fun all in all. No series is going to be a classic every week but so far, no shit episodes either.

all that said, I actually liked the reveal at the end. Particularly if it's foreshadowing and not just an Easter egg

The episode must have taken place over several days, but it felt more like an afternoon. It must have taken a while for T'Pring to reach the Enterprise from what I assume is a prison somewhat close to Vulcan.

Ooh, maybe T'Pring was dropping off subspace relays on the way there.

I think they're gonna go with having her find someone she loves, decide to settle down with him and then he goes missing, following her original TOS backstory.