Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

[Joelist]

Found this episode kinda meh, but after the greatness of the previous two that is not too unexpected. Felt like a complete filler episode. I don't think it was intended as such, so I suppose that means they didn't do a great job. Was supposed to do some character building for Ortegas, but it didn't manage to.

I agree mostly. In fact, it is an episode like this where their writing Ortegas as a 21st century L.A. wiseacre really bites them. I have a problem ever taking her seriously, and this is because of the writing, as the actress has proven in other roles she has the chops for meatier stuff.

 

[Shadow Mann]

Really? I'm biased for using the term NuTrek which even its supporters use to refer to the Secret Hideout Trek shows? Nor did I create one "heap", but the shows I mentioned (TNG, VOY, TOS) do have a very large overlap in fanbases. And the overwhelming rejection of the Secret Hideout content is also pretty widely evident. It shows itself in the failure of Paramount+ as well as the implosion of the formerly stable and fairly robust Trek toy, hobby and game markets.

Also, I've been pretty fair to NuTrek. I tried STD before realizing what a bunch of awful, SJW crap it is. I also gave Picard fair shots in all three seasons. And remember I did say Picard Season Three was a major improvement over the first two. Finally, I have been a supporter in general of Strange New Worlds and even said this last episode was a good one.

That said, I am not going to pretend it fits correctly into Trek canon - it doesn't. And when your show is a prequel that can be a real issue. Picard for example was not a prequel so it did not have the burden of having to correctly fit into "history" - SNW does. This is why I have repeatedly said they need to clearly establish that SNW, STD and Picard are not in the same universe as TOS, TNG and VOY. It gets away from the history part of the canonicity challenge.

If these NuTrek shows had not attempted to ride on the popularity of Star Trek while introducing something that is literally and canonically completely different, I would have seen it though a different lens. However, I was very close to sources in the Industry in 2018 and Alex Kurtzman had a mission: to REPLACE Star Trek with a different product under a new license for the purpose of monetization. It failed, year after year, series after series, and all of the NuTrek series have been canceled at this point. Strange New Worlds always had two seasons in the bag. Given the current state of Paramount, I expect the other shoe to drop and there not being a Season 3 of SNW.

BTW: I refuse to watch any of Season 2, so I can't speak on any of the episodes but I am glad those of you who are watching it have the strength to do so!.

 

[Joelist]

Hi Shadow Mann!

I think everyone knows where I stand on NuTrek overall. STD and Picard S1 and S2 are abominations. Not just bad Trek but bad shows outright regardless of their affiliation.

Picard S3 was so different from the first 2 seasons it should almost be thought of as a different series. The writing was FAR better with a story that actually hung together logically. Most of the acting was good and the TNG characters actually felt like their TNG selves and not like aliens inhabiting their bodies. That said, I still think Trek should not be serialized and that the tone was too dark and a lot of times the show was LITERALLY too dark (thankfully the last two installments did turn the lights up somewhat).

Strange New Worlds is an odd animal. Many things have improved (it's episodic, tonally it is much more Trek like, it has a cast of actors and actresses with actual charisma, the lights are actually on). Yes the story writing is up and down like an EKG and yes in terms of Trek canon it is basically incompatible. But to be perfectly honest when viewed as show on its own and not as a Trek series it is watchable. If the show had been billed out of the gate as an alt universe Trek people would not be upset about it at all. And especially after the episode "Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow" the writing sure seems to be saying exactly that.

 

[Shadow Mann]

Hi Shadow Mann!

I think everyone knows where I stand on NuTrek overall. STD and Picard S1 and S2 are abominations. Not just bad Trek but bad shows outright regardless of their affiliation.

Picard S3 was so different from the first 2 seasons it should almost be thought of as a different series. The writing was FAR better with a story that actually hung together logically. Most of the acting was good and the TNG characters actually felt like their TNG selves and not like aliens inhabiting their bodies. That said, I still think Trek should not be serialized and that the tone was too dark and a lot of times the show was LITERALLY too dark (thankfully the last two installments did turn the lights up somewhat).

Strange New Worlds is an odd animal. Many things have improved (it's episodic, tonally it is much more Trek like, it has a cast of actors and actresses with actual charisma, the lights are actually on). Yes the story writing is up and down like an EKG and yes in terms of Trek canon it is basically incompatible. But to be perfectly honest when viewed as show on its own and not as a Trek series it is watchable. If the show had been billed out of the gate as an alt universe Trek people would not be upset about it at all. And especially after the episode "Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow" the writing sure seems to be saying exactly that.

Like I said, my reaction now is "if you like it, that's fine", instead of "WHAT? How could you!!!?". It's just not important to me anymore. Star Trek in rewatch is still great (except TNG for me). Strange New Worlds is by definition a time-bracketed show, or was supposed to be. It does not get to do it's own thing and claim to be Star Trek (to me). That's why I will not watch it. What for? It's completely unfamiliar to me and not interesting as a standalone show for me to want to watch it. It looks pretty from screencaps and snips I have seen. I have also read some silly story elements online I would rather not actually see in the series.

 

[Joelist]

Like I said, my reaction now is "if you like it, that's fine", instead of "WHAT? How could you!!!?". It's just not important to me anymore. Star Trek in rewatch is still great (except TNG for me). Strange New Worlds is by definition a time-bracketed show, or was supposed to be. It does not get to do it's own thing and claim to be Star Trek (to me). That's why I will not watch it. What for? It's completely unfamiliar to me and not interesting as a standalone show for me to want to watch it. It looks pretty from screencaps and snips I have seen. I have also read some silly story elements online I would rather not actually see in the series.

Which is pretty much what I said - I don't understand why (especially after an episode that all but screams "this is alt universe") they don't just say it and run with it. Even JJ in ST09 was very upfront that it was an alt universe specifically so that Prime Trek would be unaffected. It's Kurtzman and Secret Hideout who keep playing the semantic games.

As to story elements described online be careful - it's not always accurate.

 

[Quetesh]

....Haters gotta hate, hate, hate, hate ,hate....
I chose to ignore any comments that don't come from knowledge of actually watching the shows and making valid and meaningful points.


This season has been either bad or good eps, no real in in-between.
Half the time it is a wokefest where they just keep trying to make bad overly woke characters likable, which is failing and the other half is well written interesting episodes.
The writers need to pick a lane and go with it, the overly woke is getting really tired for most people, just like Meghan and Harry...the writing ( pun intended ) is on the wall.

 

[Joelist]

I agree that the writing on SNW is up and down like an EKG. Either they create something pretty cool or they create nonsense.

 

[Joelist]

As I have not yet seen this week's installment, I thought I'd try something different. You may want to try it too. It is:

If I were installed as the show runner for Strange New Worlds what would I do?

First thing: trim the cast. Part of the writing issue is too many characters to service properly especially in these 10-13 episode seasons. So Uhura and Chapel both are replaced with new characters who we know are there but just fill posts. That trims the character count to a more manageable level.

Second thing: Fix Ortegas dialogue. She needs to sound like a professional and doesn't. It's a disservice to the character and to the actress - I will be giving Melissa Navia some meatier acting assignments.

Third thing: Take Spock seriously. Stop the subtle putting him down and such. He should be the wisest and most experienced crew member - show it.

Finally, the show is supposed to be Strange New Worlds. So stop with the presentism. Which also means no soapboxing - learn how to actually weave social commentary into a story (watch TOS to see how to do it).

 

[Lord Ba'al]

Episode five was a good episode. I enjoyed watching it, and I think I will enjoy rewatching it later. I had some good laughs. I know the comments are going to be that it doesn't work with canon, because yada yada yada, I really don't give a shit. The episode worked. The Vulcan dad being under the Vulcan mom's thumb, priceless. I even liked Ortegas in this episode, and Uhura, on a girl trip to save Spock. The four women showing Spock how he should speak as a Vulcan cracked me up as well. I did not find nurse Chapel annoying. Spock did a great job throughout the episode. Spock's fiancee is great as well. Very likeable, yet very Vulcan.

 

[Joelist]

I really do like T'Pring. She is played well and I marked the actress (Gia Sandhu) as someone to follow back in season one.

 

[Joelist]

Okay, S2E5 was a fairly comedic endeavor. As a comedy it was entertaining, and as stated above Gia Sandhu is great as T'Pring. I do wish they would stop with the disrespecting Spock though.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

Someone to eat? I'm not familiar with that phrase. Or did you just give away a little too much of your inner self?

 

[Joelist]

Someone to eat? I'm not familiar with that phrase. Or did you just give away a little too much of your inner self?

Fixed it! Thanks!

 

[Shadow Mann]

I really do like T'Pring. She is played well and I marked the actress (Gia Sandhu) as someone to follow back in season one.

I like her too, but I don't like that they completely shredded the canon to make her a recurring character in the show. I donl;t like what they did to Spock. I watched ALL of Season 1, but none of Season 2. I just can't, especially after what I have seen excerpted from it on Twitter.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

Episode six, not great, not too bad either, just an average episode really. The sounds Uhura was hearing were quite reminiscent of non-corporial space transformers. I found it rather stupid for Uhura to realize only about 85% into the episode that it was a communication. That much was obvious to me as a viewer instantly. Some communication officer. Also Uhura giving the order to fire torpedoes was dumb as, especially since no one had been asked or ordered to ready torpedoes and target anything beforehand. It seems this season is bringing more of James Kirk into the mix, and leaving Pike a bit more in the background. Like they're trying to balance things, and maybe eventually go all Kirk.

 

[Joelist]

This was basically a riff on TNG Night Terrors. It was kinda meh and the actress playing Uhurs still feels like Hoshi Sato.

 

[Atlantis]

Looks like they are doing a Musical

'Star Trek' is getting its first-ever musical episode — watch the trailer

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 2 is getting a full-on musical episode — a first for the franchise.

ew.com

Sound of music
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUgrY1_O92A

 

[Lord Ba'al]

Been a bit behind due to being away, but just got caught up on this. The cross-over with Lower Decks was alright. The episode with the Klingon was alright. The musical episode was strangely also alright, and unique within Star Trek.

 

[YJ02]

Been a bit behind due to being away, but just got caught up on this. The cross-over with Lower Decks was alright. The episode with the Klingon was alright. The musical episode was strangely also alright, and unique within Star Trek.

I have 'appreciated' all the eps. Have not watched the musical yet.

I see they have included shots/flash scenes of both TNG and STD Klingons along with this shows version of Klingons, which basically seem to be TNG ones

I liked the line, I think Nurse Chapel and Uhura had "This is a different dialect of Klingon" implying a reference to a thought I had and something I have read on others thoughts; that there are different sub races of Klingons. Perhaps segregated based on where they are in their development back from the Augment Virus? Maybe they self separated to other planets and to their own tribes based on their appearances, and thereby developed dialects based on this? Would like to see them show some TOS Klingons, we know they "exist" esp since the look was reconfirmed in TNG and Enterprise

Anyhow.. WHO ELSE thinks the best part of this season overall is Carol Kane's CHARACTER?

loved her line, something like "I still have a bunker in Vermont filled with treasure just in case this no money, socialist utopia thing doesn't work out"

great line - always love immortal/long lived characters

 

[Joelist]

I've just stopped trying to fit it into Trek at all. Once I did that it became an easier watch.

I will praise the acting, the overall tone and SOME of the writing and directing. But the show has not achieved consistency - the quality of episodes still goes up and down like an EKG. And I still think there are too many characters which is causing none to really get properly served in the scripts. Like I said upthread drop Uhura and Chapel and turn the "serious and professional" dial on Ortegas more to that side and give her some meatier stories - Melissa Navia has acting chops but is not being given much to do here.