Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Catch-All (SPOILERS)

Rat Boy wrote:

"Memento Mori" is rightly getting its due as one of the best action episodes of the franchise like "Balance of Terror" and "Year of Hell," but I can't help but notice that almost no one is mentioning the episode it shares the most DNA with, DS9's "Starship Down."

When I was chatting with folks in Slack about this episode, I called it a mix of Wrath of Khan and Starship Down.

With a dash of TNG's "Disaster," specifically two characters stuck in a combustible cargo bay. Betcha Beverly and Geordi wished they kept EV suits handy.

THEY'RE BRINGING IT BACK!

Spoiler:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FT4BY1LWYAA2wt_?format=jpg&name=medium)

The green captain's shirt is back!

f*ckyeah.gif

My god what an amazing episode. I swear all through Trek we’ve wanted to see a low-stakes “Normal day on the ship” episode. We got close with Data’s Day, but this just struck gold on every level. Just amazing. Every plot was fun, the acting was amazing, as was the writing, and it just felt GOOD to be in the Trek universe again. I love this show. Best first season, so far, since Lower Decks.

Yeah, it was a bit light on “strange new worlds,” but it was still a fun and unique experience.

Radical idea: a T'Pring spin-off a la The Fugitive:

Dr. K'imble: "I didn't kill my wife!"

T'Pring: "As a Vulcan, I have no feelings about that one way or the other."

Veloxi wrote:

My god what an amazing episode. I swear all through Trek we’ve wanted to see a low-stakes “Normal day on the ship” episode. We got close with Data’s Day, but this just struck gold on every level. Just amazing. Every plot was fun, the acting was amazing, as was the writing, and it just felt GOOD to be in the Trek universe again. I love this show. Best first season, so far, since Lower Decks.

I thought the first three episodes were clunky with lots of odd exposition (an actor taking a deep breath made me think "Oh, here it comes" over and over). But the last two have really warmed me up to SNW.

I agree that the acting in this episode was excellent, with the exception of T'praan. I'm not sure if that actress is otherwise great, but she comes across as really wooden in SNW. And not in a wooden on purpose Vulcan way. One of the reasons her performance in particular stands out to me is that by comparison it comes across as so much weaker than any other person in this episode, even the random Ensigns we only see in two scenes.

Especially with the

Spoiler:

Parent Trap

hijinks the acting could've used a bit of nuance that she just didn't seem able to deliver, imo. But otherwise I thought the episode was very satisfying and fun.

So maybe SNW will overtake The Orville as the best Star Trek series since Enterprise/DS9. Speaking of which, great season premiere!

I can't get the theme out of my head you guys.

It's interesting you bring up The Orville, Keithustus. We love The Orville, and really enjoyed the first episode of season three. That said, we feel like it has a longer/harder row to hoe now that Strange New Worlds exists.

Another hard pivot to a different theme, this time...

Spoiler:

... to modern allegory. Very modern and timely allegory.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FU6QAmMXEAALBE1?format=jpg&name=large)

Rat Boy wrote:

Another hard pivot to a different theme, this time...

Spoiler:

... to modern allegory. Very modern and timely allegory.

A taste of that ol' Star Trek captain is so irresistible plotting of days yore.

Spoiler:

And a twist so telegraphed it was borderline comically apparent as soon as you see Alora, which kind of dampened the impact of the reveal for me. Kind of like a clumsier Snowpiercer. If they had all done the engine hand gesture I would've laughed. Was neat to see a mini Librarian reunion though.

Am I the only one who finds what M'Benga is doing with his daughter kind of psychotic? It feels like a plot device they're trying desperately to avoid examining too closely because it's a huge can of worms. Like what kind of effect would that have on the daughter's mental state? Beyond just her being bored I mean. And there has to be a reason people don't teleport THAT frequently.

If you've ever briefly lost consciousness it can be super disorienting and this is like something similar cranked to 11.

They also will inevitably have to either cure her or... make a big special episode of finally pulling the plug, which will be weirder the longer they go on showing her like 2 minutes at a time.

Uhura may not be the "point of view" character so to speak, but I like how much she's getting to do in SNW. It's kind of like the anti-Sigourney Weaver's character in Galaxy Quest.

Light on Una and Spok this episode, but still decent.

Rat Boy wrote:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FU6QAmMXEAALBE1?format=jpg&name=large)

I was reading GWJ during dinner, as one does.

My wife paused the TV to go get something, and this is a picture I took of my screen right after seeing your post:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/jz6gsjT.jpg)

Rat Boy wrote:

Another hard pivot to a different theme, this time...

Spoiler:

... to modern allegory. Very modern and timely allegory.

It's basically a retelling of...

HOLY sh*t.

Spoiler:

Sybok!

Rat Boy wrote:

HOLY sh*t.

Spoiler:

Sybok!

Funny thing:

Spoiler:

At the start of this episode, I said "we're seeing so much of Spock & T'Pring that I have to wonder when his brother will show up".

Didn't think I would get an answer that quickly!

Such a fun episode. I had two thoughts.

1. Holy f*ck they messed up Pike's hair! They gonna pay!

2. I also thought holy sh*t

Spoiler:

Sybok

as well.

So fun.

I do hope Jessie James Keitel's character returns. They were quite entertaining.

Rat Boy wrote:

I do hope Jessie James Keitel's character returns. They were quite entertaining.

Oh God yes super fun.

Veloxi wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

I do hope Jessie James Keitel's character returns. They were quite entertaining.

Oh God yes super fun.

I think that's a given.

I need to rewatch this to see if [SPOILER] was in the opening scene and the director distracted attention by introducing Stonn.

What does SNW need with a reference to Trek V?

I was instead hoping that film like the JJ version ones are ignored, forgotten, and de-cannoned like all the old Star Wars novels.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVaX3aZWYAAVy27?format=jpg&name=medium)

So the book M'Benga's been reading to his daughter has come to life in the most hysterical way possible? I love how this show pivots.

Rat Boy wrote:

I love how this show pivots.

Lots of TNG/TOS vibes all throughout this season. This promo looks like a typical Q or Holodeck-incident episode. And no, I don't care if SNW is leaning on tried-and-true stories, because they're great stories to tell, and if it helps to establish this series as being a credible and interesting show to produce long-term, I'm all for it. Praise the writers!

From Ethan Peck's Instagram:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVkaBgnUcAAotA8?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)

"Get in, losers. We're doing a Star Trek."

Obviously for reasons I'm in the midst of watching Star Trek V for the first time in about a decade and I'm wondering just how many more eyeballs are on this movie because of "The Serene Squall."

Me watching people watch Star Trek 5 because of the latest SNW:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/PIEmDDc.png)

Well no wonder the Vulcans kept Sybok locked up, seeing how he could get the crew to turn on their captain and totally ignore a blinking indicator saying "Hey, Klingons are coming."