Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

[Joelist]

Well Strange New Worlds has premiered. And like I expected it is a mixed bag.

THE GOOD

1) Anson Mount is still charismatic as Pike. In fact the whole cast showed some charisma which helps get you to start to care about them. Ethan Peck surprised me - he did a good Spock.The Noonien Singh character was also good - really Chapel was the only issue.

2) HUGE improvement in Tone and feel. This WAS more optimistic and DID actually point back to actual Star Trek concepts.

3) It looks pretty.

4) Episode 1 at least held off on the woke.

5) They delivered on it being episodic.

THE BAD

1) There are roughly four cringe moments, including calling someone "Brave", two needless sex scenes and rejiggering history to make it sound like a certain political alignment Hollywood dislikes caused WW3. This was EXACTLY why Classic Trek when it did social or political plot lines made sure not to be on the nose to the point of alienating half your fanbase.

2) This has some of the same issues that Encounter at Farpoint had many years ago as the TNG premiere - it felt kind of flabby and unfocused at some times and at others it was so breakneck paced that you just say "CALM DOWN!".

3) Nurse Chapel came off a bit ditzy which was disconcerting.

So, jury is still out. It has a lot of the typical series premiere issues and has some cringe moments but it does actually speak to some of the issues with Picard and STD that turned the fans so totally off.

 

[Atlantis]

meh, I am no longer interested in this to be honest.

 

[YJ02]

here are roughly four cringe moments, including calling someone "Brave", two needless sex scenes and rejiggering history to make it sound like a certain political alignment Hollywood dislikes caused WW3. This was EXACTLY why Classic Trek when it did social or political plot lines made sure not to be on the nose to the point of alienating half your fanbase.

yup.. and you know.. we often hear how "movie X or tv show Y had last minute changes as recently as 1 week before airing..."

i really think they COULD HAVE EASILY put in scenes of the actual WAR occurring now that has far more potential for 'WW3' than 6 Jan does

I mean, I am sure PARAMOUNT is banned in Russia and the show isn't getting any play there, so why the hell not?

but yes, i agree with you on this and all else

and,so far i do like it

JUST one thing I would add as a 'possible' inconsistency, and I say possible as I did not watch STD---which also reminds; i have often said, and its true, i cant get through more that 5-8 mins of an STD episode,, this show I watched every minute at about 4 am, didn't even snooze off!

but yeah-- not making first contact, using Vulcan protocol, until detecting a warp signature. So with the "Spore drive" what if some unknown planet is advancing and NOT using warp, like the spore drive? Wouldn't this "new canon" mean the Federation is potentially missing out on hundreds of civilizations?

be kind of like us saying "i only make friends with people who drive gas powered cars-- leaving unknown all the people with EV or Hydrogen

see what i mean? of course, this depends on if i understand what the spore drive is and that the ST "universe" allows for other means of FTL travel other than warp

 

[YJ02]

Noonien Singh character

so not thinking she is any relation to "Khan"

1- its a fairly common name

2- she was born and raised in deep space, so any relation would be very distant ,certainly not an Augment one - right (?)

-------------------------------------------
and on her, the actress, anyone else do a double take at first scene with her? I did,, the North Asian/ North American Native DNA connection is well known, people often forget how close it is


cast on purpose to derive from another show?

 

[Joelist]

She does feel a little like a riff on Drummer yes. But so far she was a pleasant surprise. So was the dialogue not being all jokey and insubordinate.

As to STD, yes the spore drive opens all kinds of issues. And yes they REALLY needed to have Discovery's trip to the future completely erase it from history - put them in an alt universe. That way SNW would have a clean slate to write on.

 

[YJ02]

She does feel a little like a riff on Drummer yes. But so far she was a pleasant surprise. So was the dialogue not being all jokey and insubordinate.

As to STD, yes the spore drive opens all kinds of issues. And yes they REALLY needed to have Discovery's trip to the future completely erase it from history - put them in an alt universe. That way SNW would have a clean slate to write on.

in theory are there not other methods of FTL propulsion that would not be detected as "warp"?

if so, than it would mean the Vulcan policy means a lot of potentially missed civ's

unless, the galaxy is on some kind of FTL development in alignment with the concept of simultaneous invention/multiple scientific discovery in which ALL RESEARCH in FTL no matter by whom, with no alien contact ALWAYS results in a warp drive

now, that would be boring

 

[Joelist]

Yeah, I understand the point.

 

[YJ02]

Yeah, I understand the point.

and?

what's the math on how many non warp. yet FTL capable civilizations the Federation missed out on?

how about those with non ship capabilities, like Gate travel?

NOW THAT would be a Trek show I'd watch!! Kind of be impossible to rehash any old Trek plotlines in that scenario

@Lord Ba'al

 

[Shadow Mann]

Hello everybody, been gone a while! So, I have read everyone's comments on this and although I did stay up to watch the premiere on Paramount+, I was not impressed in a favorable way overall. This show makes lots of improvements on Discovery and Picard, but it (to me) has made the fatal flaw of tying itself FIRMLY to the events in Discovery and in the universe of the 2009 movie. I think it is visually beautiful, and the music is better than the other two series. But lets be honest here: this is a HARD reboot.

 

[YJ02]

Hello everybody, been gone a while! So, I have read everyone's comments on this and although I did stay up to watch the premiere on Paramount+, I was not impressed in a favorable way overall. This show makes lots of improvements on Discovery and Picard, but it (to me) has made the fatal flaw of tying itself FIRMLY to the events in Discovery and in the universe of the 2009 movie. I think it is visually beautiful, and the music is better than the other two series. But lets be honest here: this is a HARD reboot.

so again, not having watched STD- the only thing i noticed was the actual mention of the DISCOVERY ,what else was included?

 

[Joelist]

Pike knowing his future. Really this goes back to how stupid STD season 2 finale was. Classifying Discovery was not enough, their trip to the future needed to erase their memory from everyone in the past.

 

[YJ02]

Pike knowing his future. Really this goes back to how stupid STD season 2 finale was. Classifying Discovery was not enough, their trip to the future needed to erase their memory from everyone in the past.

well then! GOOD thing I didn't watch STD! no memory to erase here

 

[Quetesh]

My opinion without the hatefest on the other new ST shows :

This show has potential but I did not like Pike as much as I liked him when his character was on STD. To be a bit shallow, his hair is quite annoying, but something else is off about him. I am hopeful, he will grow back into the role.
The Spock character mention of his sister was their "nod" to the existence of STD and probably done on purpose to leave that door open just ajar depending upon what happens with the others shows. Good or Bad, it just is.
Nurse Chapel was more of a side character in TOS so it felt a bit out of place to see so much of her in this show.
They are bringing Kirk on to the ship way too soon. It would have been nicer to see more of pre-Kirk of anything kind time.

I have no opinion yet of the Noonien Singh character, but most likely it is meant to be a connection to Khan, as TPTB seem to be linking every old character from TOS that they can to the point it might be a bad thing. It also feels like another character they will use as their SJW teaching points conduit.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

I watched the first episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds shortly before going on vacation, so I had other things on my mind at the time. After coming back, I watched it a second time and managed to scribble down some thoughts. I still had doubts about if I fully understood Pike's story though, so I also watched the episodes "The cage" (unaired pilot) and "The menagerie" parts one and two from Star Trek: The Original Series, plus the episode "Through the valley of shadows" from season two of Star Trek: Discovery, which helped to complete the picture for me.

The way the episode was started, was through an interesting perspective. That of another race of humanoids experiencing a first contact event with humans. The fact that they were not human was at first cleverly disguised and then revealed at the perfect moment to maximize its impact. Nicely done.

Pike was watching some black and white science fiction show or movie, which he called "a classic". I wonder which one it was.

When Pike was out riding his horse, he passed some wind mills. They looked exactly like the wind mills we currently have in many places around the world. I find it highly unlikely that so far into the future those exact same models of wind mills are still being used. Even now there are developments in the field of wind energy which are showing alternative options and will lead to more efficient mills. Perhaps it is strange, but I found these mills to be breaking my immersion.

Captain Pike is clearly hesitant about returning to the command of a starship. Although it's not specifically indicated, the intended assumption appears to be that this is due to the glimpse of his future he received while holding the time crystal in the aforementioned Star Trek: Discovery episode. While standing next to his horse, Pike is told by the admiral that he needs to get back on that horse. A cheeky analogy which, if intended to be funny, fell rather flat. The horse itself I think was included because in Star Trek: The Original Series there was a scene based on Pike's memories which included a horse the captain remembered. Evidently, the captain likes horses. The bond between captains and horses appears to be a common thread throughout Star Trek. I recall Kirk having a fondness for horses. I recall Picard being on a horse. I'm sure that at some point Janeway was involved with a horse at some point as well. Not sure about Archer.

NCC-1701, no additional characters. The very first Enterprise in its class, I guess.

Query... query... It is even mentioned to be inefficient by the Vulcan woman. Surely in the history of the uber-logical Vulcan race, someone must have come to that conclusion before. This concept of saying "query" before asking a question is obviously pointless and illogical, thus this scene is tainted.

A Vulcan woman asking a Vulcan man for marriage. My stepdaughter went nuts over this. Apparently she's extremely conservative. I found it a perfectly normal thing. The scene seemed to indicate that it is customary for Vulcans that the female asks the male to marry them. I can't remember if there was any prior mention of this in previous Star Trek canon. I wonder how long it will be before we get to see a Vulcan gay couple. In any case, no sex for Spock tonight. Duty calls.

Spock has some super pointy sideburns. Actually, they look like a kris knife.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is clearly set in a time after the Discovery left to the future.

The new first officer is quite reminiscent of Drummer from the Expanse. It must be the eye make-up.

A warp-bomb. Ooooooh! Interesting. That's something new at least. Shame we didn't get to see anything about it. I bet it would have been a blast. The nuclear bomb could have been developed before particle physics, they say. Yeah sure. But that seems rather unlikely. Imagine how many times one would die by throwing random materials together in various ways before one gets to a functional nuclear bomb that doesn't blow up in one's face. And with every failed attempt one would be dead and all knowledge of what happened would be lost, so someone else would have to start from scratch.

The new first officer is a tough cookie. Doesn't want sedatives. She's a very strong woman.

That was a very old-fashioned looking tricorder.

The new first officer is a bitch.

Screw general order 1!

Captain Pike has the biggest stick. Kinda cool seeing the Enterprise hanging in low orbit.

The first officer's story turned out to be an unintended motivational speech for the captain's benefit.

Awesome speech by the captain to the warring alien factions.

Overall, I'm really happy with this episode. There were several moments which had an emotional impact on me, even though this was the second time watching the episode. I'm looking forward to what's to come.

 

[Joelist]

I actually reviewed it in a different thread here. Interesting to see where our views were similar and where they differed:

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Well Strange New Worlds has premiered. And like I expected it is a mixed bag. THE GOOD 1) Anson Mount is still charismatic as Pike. In fact the whole cast showed some charisma which helps get you to start to care about them. Ethan Peck surprised me - he did a good Spock.The Noonien Singh...

www.gatefans.net

 

[Quetesh]

It is very disjointed and inconvenient to be putting the shows into different threads for each ep. They will have times they will meld together so I will prefer to post on a one thread for the season.

 

[Quetesh]

My thoughts on the show so far remain optimistic but cautious. I liked the second ep better than the first, but still not happy that there is a Kirk on the ship now. I also still am really bothered by a look change that seems to have occurred with both Pike and Spock but I can't put my finger on it yet.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

in theory are there not other methods of FTL propulsion that would not be detected as "warp"?

if so, than it would mean the Vulcan policy means a lot of potentially missed civ's

unless, the galaxy is on some kind of FTL development in alignment with the concept of simultaneous invention/multiple scientific discovery in which ALL RESEARCH in FTL no matter by whom, with no alien contact ALWAYS results in a warp drive

now, that would be boring

There are other faster than light technologies in Star Trek canon. We've seen several in Voyager. Some kind of slingshot comes to mind. There's the travelers. And of course the caretakers who pulled Voyager into the delta quadrant in the blink of an eye. I'm sure there were others.

I would look upon the Vulcan policy more as looking for "capable of reasonable interstellar travel" rather than just "warp drive".

 

[Lord Ba'al]

They are bringing Kirk on to the ship way too soon. It would have been nicer to see more of pre-Kirk of anything kind time.

You did notice that it was not James T. Kirk who is on the crew, right? It is Kirk's father.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

and?

what's the math on how many non warp. yet FTL capable civilizations the Federation missed out on?

how about those with non ship capabilities, like Gate travel?

NOW THAT would be a Trek show I'd watch!! Kind of be impossible to rehash any old Trek plotlines in that scenario

@Lord Ba'al

Star Trek Gate for the win! (Star Grek? Gate Trek?)

There have been various episodes with gate-like travel. What's that Voyager episode with the guy wants to give Janeway a scarf and their society wants stories. They used some kind of special attribute of the planet to travel to other worlds. I also recall a place with various trapezoid-shaped doorways which kept switching between different worlds. Maybe that was in one of the movies.