by Nick Ferro, Contributing Writer
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW) is the best first season of Star Trek to have ever graced a television screen, period, end of review, I will not be taking questions. [Sends for editing]
I have just been informed by my editor that a few more details will be required…
If you are an avid reader of SiftPop you may have noticed in the last year I have put out reviews for Lower Decks season two, Prodigy, and Picard season two. It might be safe to say, “I like me some Star Trek.” I grew up with The Next Generation and dabbled in all the other series here and there over the years. Back in 2018, I set out on a journey to rewatch every Trek show start to finish to fill in all the gaps, and I am dangerously close to completing that task. Thankfully, the powers that be over at Paramount+ made it a goal of theirs to ensure that I never run out of new Star Trek properties or episodes ever again, and for that, I thank them with the Vulcan salute. From October 28, 2021 to July 7, 2022, there hasn’t been a single week in which a new episode of Star Trek didn’t air. That is a 37-week consecutive streak of new episodes and a record for the franchise. So, now that the streak is over, if you see me shaking from Star Trek withdrawal you will now know why.
Strange New Worlds was announced back in May of 2020. Star Trek: Discovery (DISCO) season two had been over for an entire year but had been a solid improvement over its first season. That’s due in part to the temporary addition to the cast of Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Ethan Peck as Spock, and a brief season book-ended cameo from Rebecca Romijn as “Number One.” Mount has enough charisma to fill a star base in that season, and when it was finished, I don’t think there was a person alive, myself included, who wasn’t screaming for more Captain Pike. Pike has definitely entered the ongoing fight amongst fans of “Best Star Trek Captain of all time.” And he came out swinging! They announced that Mount would be leading his own show, set on the Enterprise itself, in the seven years prior to the accident that would put him in the infamous “beeping chair”, with a return to episodic storytelling that the newer Star Trek shows had moved away from. The “adventure of the week” story structure and guaranteed cast of Mount, Peck, and Romijn was all I needed to hear. I was in, no questions asked, and thus began the longest two year wait, EVER!
As the next two years unfolded, we learned more about the production and the cast. They began to bring in actors to fill known and new roles from Star Trek history. Of the known characters, Celia Rose Gooding would be filling some very big shoes as a young Cadet Uhura, who was immortalized by the incomparable Nichelle Nichols of the original series. Jess Bush would take on the role of Nurse Chapel, who was originally played by the late Star Trek legend Majel Barrett. Babs Olusanmokun was cast as Dr. Joseph M’Benga, a character that made a couple appearances in the original series, originally played by the late Booker Bradshaw. And a returning character that took me by surprise, Gia Sandhu was cast as T’Pring, Spock’s wife who was originally played, in the episode Amok Time, famous for its unique score, by Arlene Martel. In addition to these characters, we were introduced to a number of new characters to fill out this stunning ensemble cast, such as pilot of the Enterprise, Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), the dour Chief Security officer, Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), who shares a name with the infamous Villain Kahn Noonien-Singh, and Chief Engineer Hemmer (Bruce Horak). This cast is one of the best ensembles that Star Trek has ever put together, and in just one short season has managed to garner comparisons to the other great Trek casts to come before it.
I could write a paragraph each for every member of the bridge crew, as they all managed to impress me in different ways. There were two main standouts for me, who I am disappointed we didn’t get more of, and they are Bush and Navia. Bush’s take on Nurse Chapel, a character who had two main characteristics in the original series (female and a crush on Spock) really took the role and breathed life into it. She managed to avoid making the character the stereotypical manic pixie dream girl who was only there to be the third wheel in a love triangle between Spock and T’Pring. Her genuine friendship with Spock was incredibly real, with just enough of the undertones of unrequited love that was teased in the original series. I fell in love with her immediately, and whenever there was an episode featuring her as a main player, I was always excited to watch it unfold. I would be remiss if I didn’t stress how annoyed I was at the show for not using Navia more throughout the 10 episodes. Lt. Ortegas was hands down my favorite new character, and she was given pretty much nothing to do. When she was front and center though, she crushed it, and she always got a word in when she was given some screen time. But I was longing for an Ortegas episode that never came. Navia created a new character in the Star Trek pantheon that has elements of familiar characters, while being quite unique. Ortegas has the cockiness of Tom Paris, the confidence of Major Kira, the sarcasm of Dr. McCoy, and the sense of humor of Beckett Mariner. But she was never too much of one or the other, and I can’t wait to learn more about her in season two.
Everyone in the cast is doing an outstanding job with their characters, new and old. I love how Romijn really embodies the character of Pike’s Number One, Commander Una Chin-Riley. A character that only ever appeared in the original pilot of the show, also played by Majel Barrett. Barrett managed to leave a stamp on the character that Romijn picked up and ran with easily. She is the perfect stern enforcer to Pike’s more relaxed style of leadership. Romijn and Mount had excellent chemistry when introduced in DISCO, but it was only enhanced as this show progressed. The friendship of their characters is another relationship that I hope will be explored more in season two.
Lastly, I want to draw attention to the two who had the biggest weight on their shoulders, Spock and Uhura. These two characters have the most impact on Star Trek, being that they are the oldest known characters on the show, and could very easily cause the show to fail. I believe they pass with flying colors! Peck’s portrayal of a younger Spock still trying to find the balance between his human and Vulcan sides is electric. He has such a commanding presence that he uses to pay homage to Leonard Nimoy’s interpretation of the role, while also bringing his own unique style. Not to be repetitive, but so does Gooding. However, she had leeway with since Uhura was sadly never given much to do in the original series. With the help of the writing, she is able to give a well-known character even more depth as she tries to determine if life in Star Fleet is right for her. She is the main character of episode two, Children of the Comet, and delivers a performance which pays respect to the character as well as building her up in a way we had yet to see. What really impressed me was how well the whole cast worked together. The older Star Trek shows were graced with time. Time to tell more stories with over 20 episodes a year, allowing them to pair off different characters. Strange New Worlds only had 10, yet every time they put two different cast members together, they lit up the screen and built and instant relationship with the audience. That is what makes Star Trek so great: the ability to endear you to its characters.
The storytelling of Strange New Worlds was, as promised, a “planet of the week” style adventure, where each episode we were taken to a new place, met new characters, and were given the perspective of a different main cast character. Where other Star Trek shows fumbled with the idea of carrying over character development from episode to episode, Strange New Worlds does it seamlessly. One classic example of Trek not doing its characters justice was the episode of Deep Space Nine (DS9), “Hard Time”, where Chief O’Brien is imprisoned for what he believes is 20 years, but in reality, is only a matter of minutes. The experience he goes through would be enough to require heavy therapy for the rest of his life, yet is never mentioned again after that episode. In SNW, if a character goes through something it is continued, but the subsequent episodes are never completely tied down by them. This is a problem that DISCO has, where they focus too much on a character’s trauma that it persists in every episode. After watching the pilot, I was concerned that Pike’s vision of his future (as seen in DICSO season two) would play a major role in whole season of this show. However, it only comes into play in a major way in the first and last episodes, and in my opinion was handled expertly. I also enjoyed that SNW wasn’t afraid to make most episodes about something new, and not use older Trek and fan service as a crutch to tell stories. And at the same time, they weren’t afraid to use elements from past series or movies either, like surprise characters, costumes, equipment, or alien species. They also stayed true to what Star Trek storytelling has always been, whether it be a moral conundrum or a lighthearted romp, they managed to fill the episodes up with some good old fashion Trek-y goodness.
Without going into spoilers, there were three episodes in particular that stood out to me as great examples of what Star Trek has to offer. The first is the pilot episode, “Strange New Worlds”, where Pike must take the Enterprise on a covert mission to rescue Number One from a planet which they have not yet made first contact. It is a classic Trek premise, where they have to find a way around the Prime Directive of non-interference in order to save their missing crew member and an entire planet from going to war.
The second episode of note for me was episode eight, “The Elysian Kingdom”, in which Dr. M’Benga is unaffected by a strange phenomenon that has affected the crew. The crew believes that they are characters from a story book he has been reading his daughter, and M’Benga must find a solution with the help of Chief Engineer Hemmer, who also is unaffected. This is a classic “holodeck” style of episode with fun medieval costumes, play acting, and a TON of scenery chewing. Mount has the most fun by getting to play against type from his role as captain in this episode, and he delivers the most laughs. Chong also gets to step outside of her character’s typical serious behavior to be a nice touch of comic relief. However, this episode also packs an incredibly emotional punch by the end that had me in tears, which is not something that Star Trek has done very often.
The final episode of note and my favorite of the season was the finale, “A Quality of Mercy”, where Captain Pike is given an opportunity to change his fate and avoid the dreaded “beeping chair” of his future. Only he is paid a visit by someone from the future and given the opportunity to see what changing his fate will result in. This episode was both brilliantly original and slathered in fan service all at the same time. Its almost a play on the classic DS9 episode, “Trials and Tribble-ations”, where the crew goes back in time to experience the Original Series episode “The Trouble with Tribbles”. I won’t say more, because to spoil the surprise of this amazing episode would make me a terror. I will say that it was the perfect balance of fan service to the original series and character work for Captain Pike. And its conclusion should put to bed any concerns that skeptics might have as to the care the show runners are taking to maintain canon without sacrificing story.
In an effort to not overhype the show and temper the expectations of those who want to give it a go, I will say this: I love this show because I have been watching Star Trek since I was five years old. It is an updated, modernized version of the thing I loved growing up. That is not the experience everyone will have going in. There are some elements that bugged me that you should be aware of. The endings on almost every episode felt rushed and some of the solutions were “yada-yada’d” over on more than one occasion, in an effort to “wrap it up.” Not every character was given their proper due, like Hemmer and Ortegas, in favor of some characters like Spock and T’Pring, who had two or three episodes in which they were the main focus. The writers are still using the trope of giving characters a tragic backstory as a shortcut to doing actual character development, like they do on DISCO. It’s these little nitpicks that are the main faults I find with a show that is otherwise excellent.
I have not loved any of the new Star Trek shows right off the bat as much as I have Strange New Worlds, mostly because there were so many parts that distracted from my enjoyment, from questionable writing to canonical discontinuity. Discovery focused too much on one or two main characters, and never made the rest of the ensemble real characters to care about. Picard got bogged down in trying to tell one long full season story when they only had enough story to fit half a season. Lower Decks is glorious, but it took several episodes for me to get on the same wavelength and accept that it was okay to poke fun at Star Trek in a meta way. I don’t believe everyone will have the same experience as me — in fact, most people won’t. But I do feel that Strange New worlds is the perfect place for newcomers. If you have never seen an episode of Star Trek and are looking for a place to start, this is it. If you like episodic storytelling where the characters take the forefront, then you will like this show. If you are looking for a show that will make you laugh, grip your seat in suspense, wonder what will happen next, then this show is for you. If you love beautiful visuals, amazing costume design, and incredible prosthetics and makeup, you will love this show. My pain runs deep, having to accept that there were only 10 episodes to watch. I hope that season two is longer, because they have struck gold with Star Trek Strange New Worlds, and after the teases we got this season of what’s to come, I can’t wait to see what final frontier awaits us.
Score: 9/10
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