Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 2 -SPOILERS

[Gary]

I think you're still comparing apples to oranges (and are missing the trees for the forest). Vulcans, by nature, have greater physical strength than humans due to evolution as a species. No genetic manipulation is responsible for that. This is why Vulcans are not treated the same as the Illyians or Kahn's people.

Actually, I'm comparing apples to apples. Vulcans, and other alien species, are not disqualified because of their intrinsic traits. Data was allowed into Starfleet and he's completely artificial. Why should Una or anyone else be disqualified because of their intrinsic traits, regardless of their origin? It's like the cloning comparison I gave before: Cloning is currently illegal, but if a child were born of an illegal cloning project they would not be barred from joining the military. The two things are not connected.

Perhaps; however, the trick was the manner in which she was able to lead everyone to the trail of breadcrumbs which laid out Una's later actions which essentially cured (yes, that's a legal usage) the fact that she had lied.

Yeah, she basically gave them the excuse they needed to do what they preferred to do, but it didn't change anything-- as the Bashir episode demonstrates. Which is why it would have been best to not do this story at all.

Right, except the way the law reads for the Federation, anyone who is genetically enhanced is seen as a danger because of the Eugenics Wars.

So the correct thing to do would have been to raise an equal rights defense, that the Federation equivalent of the Supreme Court would have upheld-- but that would have negated Bashir. So, again, raising this issue in a prequel was a bad decision.

I guess I've been missing something, because you had questioned why Illyrians were banned and not Vulcans. Also, Neera didn't give anyone an excuse needed to find Una not guilty -- unless you're speaking of the writers. The Federation was determined to burn her, and the plea bargain was a nice way of sending a message to others to abide by the laws. Insofar as Data, his fight also centered around whether he was property since he is, but all accounts, a machine. Picard successfully argued the mission of Starfleet is "...to seek out new life. Well, there it is."

I think it's fine overall even if it's a repeated theme, because it mirrors Civil Rights cases in our own timeline where people think a matter has been settled, yet a new flame flares.

[RJDiogenes]

I guess I've been missing something, because you had questioned why Illyrians were banned and not Vulcans.

Well, yes-- and not even Illyrians, just modded Illyrians. Let me put it another way: If Bob genetically mods himself, he's committed a crime and is therefore disqualified from Starfleet. Una was modded by her parents when she was a child-- she committed no crime, so why should she be disqualified? The writers are holding the victim guilty of the crime.

Also, Neera didn't give anyone an excuse needed to find Una not guilty -- unless you're speaking of the writers.

Yeah, them too.

The Federation was determined to burn her, and the plea bargain was a nice way of sending a message to others to abide by the laws.

I think it was only the Vulcan who was out to burn her. I think the others, at least Batel, were looking for an excuse to let her off the hook.

I think it's fine overall even if it's a repeated theme, because it mirrors Civil Rights cases in our own timeline where people think a matter has been settled, yet a new flame flares.

I guess, but there were a million more original roads they could have taken the character.

[Gary]

I guess I've been missing something, because you had questioned why Illyrians were banned and not Vulcans.

Well, yes-- and not even Illyrians, just modded Illyrians. Let me put it another way: If Bob genetically mods himself, he's committed a crime and is therefore disqualified from Starfleet. Una was modded by her parents when she was a child-- she committed no crime, so why should she be disqualified? The writers are holding the victim guilty of the crime.

I see. Well, the Federation considers genetic modifications to be a crime -- FULL STOP -- because of the Eugenics War. The people who survived seem to have overreacted, but that's how they wrote the laws. It's something even up to Bashir's time the Federation still hasn't addressed. The more I look at it the more it's like marijuana prohibition in the US. It doesn't hurt anyone, but a few uptight folks put out big scares for decades.

[RJDiogenes]

Yeah, exactly. It's just not well thought through, in terms of plot or world building. They should have just avoided it.

[RJDiogenes]

New episode in the morning!

[scottydog]

I was able to watch episode 2 a few days ago and have really enjoyed watching the two of you duke it out regarding its quality.

For me, it was an enjoyable hour but, like episode 1, it was a bit too reminiscent of past shows involving Data on trial and Dr. Bashir on trial. I'm hoping the next episodes will go beyond recycling old material and do something original.

[RJDiogenes]

I was able to watch episode 2 a few days ago and have really enjoyed watching the two of you duke it out regarding its quality.

That reminds me: I saw this, but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. Maybe Gary already saw it.

For me, it was an enjoyable hour but, like episode 1, it was a bit too reminiscent of past shows involving Data on trial and Dr. Bashir on trial. I'm hoping the next episodes will go beyond recycling old material and do something original.

Your hopes are in vain.

[RJDiogenes]

Still not much in the way of Captain Pike. What is he, on paternity leave or something?

This was the strongest episode of the season so far, but still not up to the standards of season one. But it gets high marks on three counts: Acting, acknowledging continuity issues, and message.

Like a few recent episodes of Strange New Worlds (and Picard), this one borrows generously from older episodes; in this case, mostly "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "The City on the Edge of Forever." At the start, the timeline is altered into something unpleasant, though less dire than "Yesterday's Enterprise," and the conclusion involves La'an making the same decision that Kirk did in "Forever," that the war must go on for the greater peace to follow. Though in this case, there's an additional subtext.

The episode belongs almost entirely to Christina Chong-- not only is Pike absent, but the rest of the cast is also present only for cameos. The only other major character is another Alternate Kirk, who is somehow captain, six years early, of an almost identical Enterprise-- the similarity of Kirk and other circumstances to the status quo defies credulity, but what else is new? The character of La'an has been one of the least interesting on the show, being basically a Tasha Yar retread with an ill-advised connection to a classic antagonist. The actress, though, has occasionally shown that she can do better than the material, most notably in the Magic Kingdom episode, where she got to show her range. She really knocked it out of the park in this one, though, particularly in the fade-out scene.

Meanwhile, the Romulan time agent from an unspecified future period, did some ranting about time travel that seemed to be the producers' acknowledgement that the show takes place in an alternate timeline-- or maybe just throwing up their hands and saying that it doesn't matter with so many time travelers messing with the timelines. The character also mentions the Temporal Cold War and complains about the timeline somehow pushing back against changes, explaining why there are so many unrealistic similarities in the various alternate realities. Although a Khan who is fifty years younger and a Eugenics War delayed by a similar amount of time somehow still leading to Zephram Cochrane meeting the Vulcans and setting off a series of events that leads to the Federation would take a lot of pushback by whoever or whatever is in charge of time.

The message of the episode, taking advantage of La'an's character, goes a bit beyond Harlan Ellison's dangerous vision that sometimes war is a necessary evil by adding the more timely theme of generational guilt. She has spent most of her life unnecessarily carrying the burden of the attempted genocides of her ancestor, but the dual experience of confronting a less-appealing timeline and meeting someone who never heard her name allows her to step back and come to the realization that she didn't do any of that stuff and she doesn't have to take the blame. I wonder how, or if, this will affect her in the remaining episodes.

Some other thoughts:

The actual plot makes no sense whatsoever. Why did the dying time agent come to La'an at that particular moment and give her a cryptic dying message rather than return to home base? The time agent jerk at the end made it sound deliberate, which makes no sense no matter how you look at it.

Why are time agents always jerks?

Why wasn't the time travel device programmed to go back an hour before the Guy in the Tie was shot?

Alternate Kirk talked about his first officer and science officer, but somehow neglected to invite them to meet La'an.

I loved Alternate Kirk giving up his timeline only because his brother was alive in the other one.

It was also great seeing Kirk make a quick buck playing chess in the park. He sees five moves ahead in any timeline.

But Kirk being born on the USS Iowa was a bit too cute.

Car chase. Wow. At least the episode was longer to accommodate it.

I really don't think all that sleep time, research, travel back and forth, and searching could have been accomplished in the time allotted.

It was hilarious that Pelia had no interest in engineering in that time period, yet is an expert in the 23rd century. It was probably La'an who sparked her interest.

But why didn't she recognize La'an?

And do the Lanthamites and the El Aurians know about each other? The El Aurians and the Gary Seven people know each other. How many people on Earth are actually Earthlings?

The Romulan agent made a great Millennial, but a terrible Romulan-- although you could probably say that she went native over the course of thirty years.

Where were all the guards at the Noonian-Singh Institute?

How does the Noonian-Singh Institute connect to Dr Soong's Khan Project folder? And why is it the Khan Project and not the Noonian-Singh Project? Actually, every continuity disparity in Star Trek can probably be explained by all the butterflies in Picard Season Two.

It was pretty careless of La'an to leave a loaded gun with Baby Khan.

Apparently in this timeline, crew members can facetime crew members on other ships instantly on their Kindles.

[Gary]

Oh wow. A time travel episode where Time Agents "fix" blips that occur in the temporal continuity.



Yet they somehow manage to overlook an incident that happened in 2063. Is Terry Matlas now running things after his stint at Picard and believes fanboy service is a must?

[RJDiogenes]

I don't think he's involved-- which is why there are some apparent conflicts with Picard season two (not that it matters, since this is a different timeline). But in any case, I like Fanboy Service.

[Gary]

I don't think he's involved-- which is why there are some apparent conflicts with Picard season two (not that it matters, since this is a different timeline). But in any case, I like Fanboy Service.

The part about Matlas was sarcasm. These lame ass time travel stories are to me what pew pew are to you. I appreciate a good battle and wish the writers would stop writing battles such that one lasts 30-seconds with little damage, while in a later episode someone launches a torpedo which obliterates the opposing vessel.

[RJDiogenes]

I'm with you on the time-travel stories. I was kind of hoping that the Temporal Cold War would end with the Organians or somebody password-protecting the timeline so that nobody could ever time travel again.

[scottydog]

I enjoyed episode 3, despite the fact that there are wayyy too many time-travel episodes. Still, it was very moving and the performances were extraordinarily good. Christina Chong knocked it out of the park -- I hadn't really thought much about her as an actress, but now she has my utmost respect. Paul Wesley as Kirk was also phenomenal. Props to both of them!

[RJDiogenes]

I forgot! New episode today!

[RJDiogenes]

And Strange New Worlds season two continues to improve. For one thing, Captain Pike is actually in this one. For another, we've got a nice little Science Fiction concept reminiscent of the original series. And it's also a great characterization episode-- ironic for a story about people forgetting who they are. It's not a perfect episode, by any means, but it's very good and its faults are few.

For a return to Rigel VII, the very first extrasolar planet ever mentioned in Star Trek, it's a little underwhelming. I feel like they should have built something a bit more epic and used it as a premiere or finale, but that's okay. It is good for what it is. They expanded well on what we were given in "The Cage" and really gave the planet a strong sense of place, with the collision of moons creating both a ring system and impacts on the surface that affected the course of civilization. A nice little SF scenario. There are a few questions that come to mind, like how they built that fortress without memories and is that the last outpost of civilization in the world, but these things are not important to the story.

That being said, the way the society developed was very much in the vein of TOS storytelling. The people were divided into two main castes, the rulers and the ruled-- and the ruled were manipulated by supplanting their individuality with pre-fab identities, along with a religion reminding them that this is a good thing. The dehumanization of identity politics.

Pretty quickly, the landing party and the crew topside lose their memories-- but not their character. It's sort of "The Naked Time," in a way, but without the intoxication. The characters have nothing but their character. On the planet, we see La'an's indomitable will to live, M'Benga's healing instincts, and Pike's assertiveness and loyalty. And back on the ship, we get Ortegas' pride in her special talent.

The whole sequence from Ortegas losing her memory to her bringing the ship out of the asteroid field was one of the finest in the series so far-- well, the threading-the-needle thing was a bit over the top for somebody with a brain injury, but I'll allow it. From the initial disorientation and confusion, to working through the fear, to her dialogue with the computer, to her determination to save the ship and her return of confidence was both very well written and well performed. It was almost like a one-act solo performance. Ortegas finally gets her moment.

But the final message of the story was delivered on the surface, by Pike and crew, as well as their native friend: The things you want to forget are the things you need to remember. As Captain Kirk would say, "I don't want my pain taken away-- I need my pain."

Other thoughts:

The plot device of a crew member being stranded on a planet and making a mess of things is very TOS, but poor Zac was more or less just an incidental character. He should have played a bigger part.

And how did he keep those phasers charged up for all those years? Are phasers in this timeline self charging now?

Speaking of Zac, I remember Pike in "The Cage" mentioning that he had lost his personal yeoman on the planet. That's nice attention to detail.

But you'd think they'd have a system to sign out weapons and other items for landing parties. It kind of belies belief that so many items would be forgotten and left behind.

I know Pike has come to terms with his future, but you'd think he'd avoid a long-term relationship for that reason alone. I forget if Batel knows about his vision.

In "The Naked Time," everybody got drunk-- it's too bad we didn't get to see how all the characters dealt with this one. You'd think they'd all be struggling to figure things out in their own way.

Speaking of which, where the hell is our new engineer? The most we've seen of her is in the past.

Nice touch that Spock handed out clipboards to remind everybody of who they are, and then nobody could read.

In this timeline they've got the guiding lights in the corridors that were only introduced on the Enterprise-D in the prime timeline (and why were the lights blinking in the cross corridor behind Ortegas?).

Ortegas is also a bit of a crankypants. She seems to almost fill the McCoy role in that regard.

I don't believe that bronze shields would deflect phaser beams, but that was a pretty cool scene regardless.

And I keep meaning to say that SNW does a decent job of bringing back the poetic- or literary-type titles of the TOS era.