Star Trek: Strange New Worlds -SPOILERS

[RJDiogenes]

Well, okay. I wasn't expecting much from this episode. Generic pirates take over the ship and the crew is trapped on a vessel that is literally the basement of a decrepit warehouse-- pretty much the essence of contemporary TV banality. Imagine my surprise at how cool it was. It even gave us a couple of surprising surprises.

It started off slow, with more bad Vulcan writing-- in fact, the alleged humor of that sequence, once again, hung on the Vulcans acting like Humans. Which they do all the time now. But at least the writers finally remembered the two-fingered thing this time.

They also briefly introduced Stonn, which once again raises the question of how closely they will cleave to the original timeline. For a couple who complains about being apart, Spock and T'Pring see a lot of each other-- yet, by the time of "Amok Time," Spock had saved up years of leave and no one on that crew knew anything about T'Pring (including Uhura and Chapel).

But things quickly improved with the introduction of a charming social worker who flatters Pike by calling him a Boy Scout-- and when he demures, Number One points out that it's literally in his personnel file. This kicks off the real episode-- fun, surprising, and off the wall.

In their mission to rescue some colonists, the Enterprise answers a suspicious distress call in a ridiculously dense asteroid belt. Ortegas gets to be cute and clever (and later even gets to stand up and walk around-- only three episodes to give her something substantial to do). In short order, the ship is hijacked and Pike is taken captive by pirates in the warehouse basement ship.

Now things start ramping up. Pike gets the pirate captain's number in about two seconds and begins to undermine his authority-- enjoying himself all the while. This is high adventure.

Meanwhile, back at the ship, Spock and Chapel regain control of the systems, which had been on pirate-proof lockdown, only to be betrayed by the charming social worker-- who turns out to be the Pirate Queen!! And I did not see it coming, even a little bit. The funny part is, that's only the second biggest surprise of the episode.

So now that the real villain-- Captain Angel, of all things, in total Saturday morning serial mode-- has been revealed, the evil plan is out in the open. She was really after Spock to use him for a hostage exchange for her husband, who is a Vulcan criminal in the custody of T'Pring. There are ploys and counterploys, during which Spock and Chapel pretend, a little too convincingly, that they're hooked up, and T'Pring exits stage left with her prisoner still imprisoned.

Interestingly, in the first half of the episode they made a point of saying that communications with Starfleet take two days-- yet in the second half of the episode, Captain Angel converses with T'Pring in real time. Technology progresses really fast in this timeline.

But then comes my favorite moment in the episode-- as Spock and Chapel are left to deal with a very unhappy Pirate Queen, the pirate ship swoops in to the rescue (apparently armed with prefix codes), with Captain Pike literally at the wheel. The pirate ship wooden buccaneer rudder-steering Captain Kidd wheel. A classic moment, only enhanced by the surly crew of pirates in the background, peacefully exercising their right to redress their commander for grievances to the death. And then further enhanced by Pike's terrible pirate impression back on the ship. Never has an episode subverted expectations so much as this one.

But that's not even the end. The show has one final classic twist: The prisoner that Captain Angel wanted was incarcerated under an alias. He is actually Spock's other semi sibling, Sybok! Got me again. And this raises quite a lot of questions. Is Captain Angel under Sybok's control? Did she take the initiative to spring him? And who is Sybok in this era? Thirty years later, he's a misguided religious fanatic, not a villain-- but what's he up to now? Why is he incarcerated?

All in all, a great episode. Not quite as much of an homage to TOS as some of the others, but it was still there. The character bits for Spock were good, but redundant-- the advice the undercover Pirate Queen gave him was pretty much word for word what he himself said to T'Pring earlier in the season. But there was also the subtext of irony in relation to honesty all over the place. The Boy Scout psyching out the pirates, the Pirate Queen's thorough deception, Spock and Chapel tricking T'Pring with their real feelings, while lying to each other, and, of course, T'Pring pretending that she was not fooled for a Vulcan minute. Also, I liked Chapel's line, "Don't try to be smarter than the truth." This show can be sneaky, sliding in messages to the very people who think they're above messaging.

Well, that was another good stand-alone episode -- although the last scene exposing Spock's evil half-brother certainly raises the spectre of a long arc.

I have a feeling it will involve a season-ending cliffhanger.

1. The episode was all pretty much by-the-numbers. Pike's ability to manipulate the pirates into mutiny seemed a bit too easy, but I'm willing to roll with it.

I liked how they treated it as just a day at the office-- this sort of thing is old news to Pike and Number One.

4. Did Pike's hair seem more tamed than usual, or have I seen so many exaggerted memes that his hair looks normal by comparison?

The pirates had clearly put him through the wringer.

[scottydog]

Thanks for offering these insights and analyses. I think your review nailed it.

Well, okay. I wasn't expecting much from this episode. Generic pirates take over the ship and the crew is trapped on a vessel that is literally the basement of a decrepit warehouse-- pretty much the essence of contemporary TV banality. Imagine my surprise at how cool it was. It even gave us a couple of surprising surprises.

Yes, I agree, one of the secrets to this show's success is that it is able to put a fresh spin on familiar plotlines.

Meanwhile, back at the ship, Spock and Chapel regain control of the systems, which had been on pirate-proof lockdown, only to be betrayed by the charming social worker-- who turns out to be the Pirate Queen!! And I did not see it coming, even a little bit.

I didn't see it either. You really need a versatile actress to pull off the two personalities so convincingly.

And then further enhanced by Pike's terrible pirate impression back on the ship. Never has an episode subverted expectations so much as this one.

I'm glad they dared give Pike the opportunity to do a little physical comedy, if you could call it that. Up til now, his humor had been subtle wordplay only. Anson Mount can do more than that.

This show can be sneaky, sliding in messages to the very people who think they're above messaging.

Good observation, and very true. I love it.

The pirates had clearly put him through the wringer.

So Pike gets punched hard in the face a bunch of times and all he has is some subtle red marks on his cheeks. I guarantee that if I were punched once like that, there would be a crushed eye socket, shattered cheekbone, broken jaw, and six lost teeth.

[RJDiogenes]

Yes, I agree, one of the secrets to this show's success is that it is able to put a fresh spin on familiar plotlines.

It proves that there's still life in the classic format, if you've got the talent and imagination for it.

I didn't see it either. You really need a versatile actress to pull off the two personalities so convincingly.

I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing her again.

I'm glad they dared give Pike the opportunity to do a little physical comedy, if you could call it that. Up til now, his humor had been subtle wordplay only. Anson Mount can do more than that.

Yeah, I don't know if he's a currently well-known actor or if he came out of obscurity, but he's a real find.

So Pike gets punched hard in the face a bunch of times and all he has is some subtle red marks on his cheeks. I guarantee that if I were punched once like that, there would be a crushed eye socket, shattered cheekbone, broken jaw, and six lost teeth.

I think the shock wave from the approaching knuckles would probably kill me.

[RJDiogenes]

Well, I guess I know which episode of this season is going to be the actors' favorite.

So once again SNW pulls its inspiration from the TOS bag of tricks and makes it new again. I hope the Powers That Be at Paramount who are in charge of Star Trek yet have not the first clue about Star Trek are taking note of this. Actually, what I really hope is that SNW is as popular as it deserves to be, based on its quality, because that is what will make the guys in ties take note. But we don't really see ratings information about streaming shows like we did with broadcast shows-- or at least I don't.

In any case, this was a supremely entertaining story, if a bit odd in some ways (unintended ways, I mean). The character twists and performances were great, and the dialogue sparkled, even before the Fairy Tale started. It was a bit soft on the theme again, but this was entirely a personal story so that's fine.

And, hey, a Boltzmann Brain. I love Boltzmann Brains, and you don't really see them very often (which is kind of the point, if you know anything about Boltzmann Brains).

I even liked Hemmer in this one. I hope he retains this interpretation of his character going forward. Turns out he can be a fun guy.

And note to show: This does not count as giving Ortegas more to do. She needs an episode devoted to her actual self.

But the real oddities come from the actual crux of the story, which was the resolution of the situation with M'Benga's daughter. Basically, it was a good resolution to an ill-concieved notion. Somehow I thought it was going to figure into the season finale somehow-- and maybe it still will-- so I was happy to see it come to an end, or at least to a milestone. The climax did surprise me a bit-- there were three possible ways it could go, and they went with the fourth. Of course, the reason I didn't consider the possibility of M'Benga letting his young daughter go off to live in a disembodied state with an alien life form in a nebula who sprang into existence at the whim of the far end of the probability spectrum and about whom he knows literally nothing is that it kind of resembles child abandonment and abuse, and would probably result in Social Services filing a 51-A if it had happened in the 21st century.

The writers may have realized that and we luckily got an appearance from Rikaya as an adult to confirm that the informal adoption worked really well. After all, this is fiction and it's the Trekverse, and it's pretty much making the best of a bad plot thread. Not that it wasn't very touching and nice, there's just more to overlook than usual. And now M'Benga has an adult child energy entity who may return in the future-- perhaps even in the season finale, where I originally expected her story to reach a climax.

The one other thing that jumped out at me was Spock. If Hemmer's limited telepathic ability saved him from brain change, why didn't Spock's more extensive powers save him, too? Seems like a plot hole. Or maybe he just took one look at Uhura's dress and decided to play along.

But, criticisms aside, I still consider this another success for SNW. That's eight out of eight. Can they keep it up?

[scottydog]

^ I haven't peeked at what you wrote above. Not sure when I can see this episode. Maybe when I get insomnia one of these nights

[RJDiogenes]

Now you're down two.

When I saw the coming attractions for this episode, I thought it didn't look very good-- but I've thought that a couple of times and it turned out to be good anyway. Imagine my surprise when it wasn't very good.

The writing itself was as good as ever. The dialogue and characterizations were as sharp as I've come to expect. Both the opening scene in the captain's chalet and the closing scene at the funeral were excellent. Ortegas gave a nice remembrance, even though I don't remember them ever interacting. But as for the story itself-- some bad choices were made.

The first bad choice was really a pre-existing bad choice. Namely, the re-imagining of the Gorn. Chest Bursters? Come on, man. And the babies fight until only one Gornlander remains? How did these guys ever get to be spacefaring? And we're back to the old slow Zombies versus fast Zombies debate. Slow is better. Or maybe Kirk lucked out and got a 300-year-old Gorn. All that hissing really meant, "Get off my lawn."

Second: There was an awful lot of primal screaming in this episode. Spock screams, which seems to have triggered an existential crisis that will lead to his TOS characterization. Singh screams and beats up the cute little snowGorn because she's damaged and likes it that way. Sam Kirk didn't exactly scream, but he got very anxious-- making me wonder if we'll see the moment where he decides that Starfleet is not for him and goes to live with the Fried Eggs. In any case, these characters could have had their moments without Hulking out. Way too simplistic.

And then, worst of all, they resorted to the tragic death of a main character trope. I'm so disappointed. Right until the end I thought they were faking us out. When Hemmer stepped outside the force field and commented on how like Andoria it was, I knew what would happen: The very cold that invigorated him would kill the Gorn babies. But no. Unless his last thought before he hit the ground was "Oops."

I didn't really like Hemmer at first, since they painted him as a complete asshole, but they really turned him around in the fairy tale episode, as well as in this episode. I would have been fine with him sticking around at this point. The fact that he was only in about half the episodes makes me wonder if something behind the scenes didn't work out, but that's still no excuse for using this horrible trope.

Aside from that, I got a kick out of the Peregrine. Another class of starship, but built from Constitution parts. Okay. In the original timeline, the Constitution class was the state of the art, and they were special because there was only twelve-- apparently the fleet is somewhat larger in this universe, as well as several hundred years more advanced. Because, y'know, in the original timeline, a Constitution class would break up if it entered a planet's atmosphere, but this baby not only survived a crash but they were able to relaunch it-- with a bent nacelle!

So with one more episode to go, we've lost my two least favorite characters-- although I seriously doubt that Singh is really gone for good. I hope they don't have any more bad tropes in store for the finale, and maybe something for Ortegas to do.

[scottydog]

Now you're down two.

I'm not peeking at anything except this first line!

And I look forward to boldly catching up like no one has caught up before!

[RJDiogenes]

Looks like I forgot to put "Spoilers" in the title.

[RJDiogenes]

And there we have it: The Grand Finale. "The Balance of Terror on the Edge of Forever." They should have called it that. It kind of rhymes. In any case, it was, predictably at this point, very good. Not the best episode of the season, but... uh... well, maybe it was the best episode of the season. This is the kind of multi-dimensional plot dynamics you get when you have writers that actually care about Trek, even if they are forced to write in an alternate timeline-- or, in this case, two alternate timelines.

So many good things, starting with Admiral Pike of the movie era. Probably in his early 70s or so at that point, they made him look believably older but not "The Deadly Years" old. The whole Klingon-Monks-with-Time-Crystals thing was probably best left vague, so I'm okay with that. Interestingly, at some point, Future Pike says something about Spock taking one for the team in every other timeline-- makes me wonder exactly how many times Pike tried to change the future and had to be stopped.

Also great was the fact that they transposed so much from "Balance of Terror" line for line. Again, there was no holding back and that's the way to do it. I like the way Pike brought Spock right into it and made short work of his doubts, although why Future Pike didn't give out more helpful information didn't really make sense.

And Captain Kirk. That was a bit of a surprise. We thought we were going to get Lieutenant Kirk in season two-- and maybe we still will-- but here he is as captain, sensibly enough, of Farragut. And with La'an as his first officer. I wonder where McCoy is, and what happened to keep M'Benga in the CMO position on Enterprise. I'm still thinking that the M'Benga of TOS must be the son of M'Benga.

As for bringing Kirk into the mix, that went surprisingly well, because so many things could have gone wrong. But his friction with Pike was underplayed rather than overplayed, which was a wise decision. His interactions with Sam were similarly kept nice and brief-- and nice. And, best of all, while he did of necessity play second banana to Pike-- and lose his ship-- they did give him a classic Kirk moment-- not just bluffing the Romulans with a fleet of robotic mine ships (which were actually Chekov's Phasered in the first act), but actually putting those ships to use to save Enterprise. You are looking at the only cadet to ever beat the Kobayashi Maru.

But here's where we get into some quibbles. The Vampire Diaries guy did not impress me as Kirk as much as I thought he would. In fact, he was kind of bugging me from his first moment on camera and I think I finally figured out why-- he reminds me more of a young Bruce Campbell than a young William Shatner. And, while his performance was perfectly fine as a guest captain, he did not really have the gravitas of Kirk, especially next to Anson Mountain. If he does show up as a lieutenant, this won't be as evident, I guess.

More quibbles:

What the hell is up with Ortegas? Not only did she not get much to do again, but she was playing the role of that obnoxious guy in the original. He had an ancestor killed in the Romulan War or something. Is this foreshadowing that Ortegas has a similar grudge for some reason?

And then there was that declaration of war. It was kind of overkill to go full "Yesterday's Enterprise." Spock's ironic fate, along with the lives lost on Farragut, should have been enough. George Bailey didn't have to start WWII to make his point.

In any case, the ongoing plotline about Pike knowing his future now seems to be resolved, with him accepting his fate and accepting the kid's death as his Edith Keeler moment-- maybe. I was expecting the pivotal transformative juncture to be Pike realizing that he was primarily trying to change his own fate and to shift his focus to saving the final two kids, regardless of the cost to himself. Which would make him doubly a hero. And, who knows, that may come up next season. Also, Pike doesn't seem to be aware of how his life continues with the Talosians-- and, since they were obviously lying about their ability to cure him, we may find out what really happened to him after "The Menagerie." He may well have some grander fate awaiting him, which would make for a nice series finale.

But, overall, an excellent episode and an excellent finale. Now we get to wonder what will happen to Number One, a conundrum where Pike finds himself in a similar predicament of changing the future. The two timelines were the same up until six months before the encounter with the Romulans, and he wasn't able to save her then. I don't think he learned anything new in the future that will help him now. Maybe Future Pike will be back with more advice.

[Gary]

I haven't read any of the comments in this thread and thought it best to keep my comments regarding the show here. I have to say I absolutely LOVE the characters and the writing. Last night's viewing involved the episode where Pike managed to initiate a mutiny on the Orion ship (we started a but too early ) followed by Dr. M'Benga's daughter making friends with the cloud entity. I may have missed it, but is the Chief Engineer an Andorian? The little bits of humor are well done, such as the banter between Pike and Ortegas. For some reason, I really like Nurse Chappel. I don't know if it's her serious level of confidence, but she's quite the character.

[RJDiogenes]

I haven't read any of the comments in this thread

You should. They're brilliantly insightful and entertaining.

I have to say I absolutely LOVE the characters and the writing.

Ditto. I really wish it were part of the TOS timeline, but it's just too good to dismiss.

I may have missed it, but is the Chief Engineer an Andorian?

Yes, he's an Andorian, but a certain kind of Andorian-- he's blind and has telepathic powers, unlike the regular "Shran" kind of Andorian. Like a different Andorian ethnic group.

The little bits of humor are well done, such as the banter between Pike and Ortegas.

I love the character interactions. I could watch episodes of the characters just interacting.

For some reason, I really like Nurse Chappel. I don't know if it's her serious level of confidence, but she's quite the character.

Great character, but so different from the original. Maybe there was no relationship with Dr Korby in this timeline. Something tells me the backstories of the two versions are in conflict, but I'm not sure.

[Gary]

I may have missed it, but is the Chief Engineer an Andorian?

Yes, he's an Andorian, but a certain kind of Andorian-- he's blind and has telepathic powers, unlike the regular "Shran" kind of Andorian. Like a different Andorian ethnic group.

OK, that makes sense. I figured he was Andorian, and I did catch the part where it was explained that he's blind with his other senses "picking up the load". I missed his species.

The little bits of humor are well done, such as the banter between Pike and Ortegas.

I love the character interactions. I could watch episodes of the characters just interacting.

One of the best episodes from TNG was Data's Day. It would be absolutely brilliant if something similar were done in SNW, but not centered on just one person's interactions with the others. Something like situation happens with person X, and then there's a hand off to someone else as the situation unfolds, and the hand off continues until we go full circle back to the original protagonist.

[RJDiogenes]

OK, that makes sense. I figured he was Andorian, and I did catch the part where it was explained that he's blind with his other senses "picking up the load". I missed his species.

There's a special name for them, but I forget what it is. It was his telepathic nature that allowed him to keep his grip on reality in the Fairy Tale episode (though why Spock wasn't spared was never explained).

One of the best episodes from TNG was Data's Day. It would be absolutely brilliant if something similar were done in SNW, but not centered on just one person's interactions with the others. Something like situation happens with person X, and then there's a hand off to someone else as the situation unfolds, and the hand off continues until we go full circle back to the original protagonist.

"Data's Day" was one of my favorite episodes. That's the one where Miles and Keiko got married. I'd rather watch stories like that than space battles with villainous species any time.

[Gary]

Finished the last episode last night. I want to know how the hell they were able to lift the Constitution from that planet's suface. Looking at it from an engineering perspective, I would think the tractor beam would exert too much sheering force on the hull especially considering the planet's gravity. Love how the ship had visible damage while being towed (disjointed nacelle, deflector dish).

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, another damned time travel episode. I would love to be in the writer's room for when someone proposes an episode which involved time travel.



I really like how we see Lt. Spock having to deal with his humanity. They're doing a great job fleshing out the character. I was saddened to see the Chief Engineer perish, but he had a good arc. I've seen snippets online that Carol Kane will be the CE in Season 2. This should be great!

[RJDiogenes]

Finished the last episode last night. I want to know how the hell they were able to lift the Constitution from that planet's suface.

The technology of this universe is way beyond even the TNG era in the prime universe.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, another damned time travel episode. I would love to be in the writer's room for when someone proposes an episode which involved time travel.

I completely agree-- I wish the Organians would password protect the timestream or something, so that nobody can ever time travel again.

However, this may not have been a time travel episode at all. I've been thinking it through a little more since I wrote my above comments, and it occurred to me that future Pike may have been an illusion sent by the Talosians, like Commodore Mendez was in "The Menagerie." And the rest of the story may have been an illusion as well. It's obvious that the Talosians lied about just about everything they said (and must have exerted a little mind control to make everyone believe it). It seems to me that they really want Pike on Talos, and it's probably not just to give him a happy retirement. If this is along the lines of what the writers are thinking, Strange New Worlds may be headed for something completely different from other Trek shows. Alternatively, another possibility is that this show is actually portraying Pike's life of illusion on Talos following the events of "The Menagerie," which would explain all the highly advanced technology and so forth-- he's basically dreaming.

I really like how we see Lt. Spock having to deal with his humanity.

Actually, I think their portrayal of Vulcans is the weakest part of the show. They're basically just stiff-lipped humans.

I've seen snippets online that Carol Kane will be the CE in Season 2. This should be great!

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. I think she's a great choice to play a Trek character.