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

That was... wow.

Now that I've had time to unpack it:

The wow:

Spoiler:

There have been criticisms that as a prequel there aren't a lot of stakes and that after episodes like the last one the show had been playing it safe when it comes to consequences. Hemmer's death kind of puts both of those notions to bed. One wonders if in the next episode or the next season we'll meet Hemmer's successor who probably speak with a certain accent.

The nerdy:

Spoiler:

The Peregrine and its Sombra-class opens up the notion that all the wrecked ships from TOS weren't technically the same class as the Enterprise.

La'an and the future:

Spoiler:

I wonder if her going off to track down Oriana's family will give the show the means of introducing James T. Kirk without the hassle of him meeting Pike, Spock, and Uhura before he "should." Also, I wonder if this run-in with the Gorn is what convinces his brother Sam to quit Starfleet.

Trailer and clip from the season finale:

Spoiler:

Uh...

Spoiler:

... didn't have a "Balance of Terror" direct prequel on where this series might go.

God dammit show. God dammit.

Synopsis and photos for Season 1's finale.

Spoiler:

I was close. It is "Balance of Terror," but from an alternate future where Pike is still captain.

One question I had - even though I could just look it up - in TOS were the Gorn this big of an issue? I have not watched any TOS since the 90s probably. I remember like one Gorn ep and I don't remember much in the 90s series about them either. They are def being played up as a threat here, right?

karmajay wrote:

One question I had - even though I could just look it up - in TOS were the Gorn this big of an issue? I have not watched any TOS since the 90s probably. I remember like one Gorn ep and I don't remember much in the 90s series about them either. They are def being played up as a threat here, right?

They are definitely getting played up in terms of their threat to the Federation and arguably their mutual knowledge. The TOS purists are livid about it.

The only TOS Gorn episode I remember left me unimpressed. I don't mind the SNW take on them, though the episode drew heavily from Aliens.

IMAGE(https://preview.redd.it/p65fvq6hx6x71.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=9681ccc3eb533d0805aa66e876cf69df11e113b9)

What SNW has done to the Gorn is much much better than what Discovery did to the Klingons.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

What SNW has done to the Gorn is much much better than what Discovery did to the Klingons.

You're just jealous you don't have the double action going!

@jls Yeah I think that is the same memory I have of them. No worries if they are making them a bit more in this series, I enjoy the world building, I just could not recall any other eps.

You may want to skip the opening credits just this one time with episode 10.

Holy sh*t what a cracking good episode.

This is without a doubt the best first season of a Star Trek series ever. It found its voice at the get-go, didn't have any misstep episodes, and somehow in the course of only 10 episodes ran the whole gamut of the kinds of episodes we've seen for the last 55+ years.

Rat Boy wrote:

This is without a doubt the best first season of a Star Trek series ever. It found its voice at the get-go, didn't have any misstep episodes, and somehow in the course of only 10 episodes ran the whole gamut of the kinds of episodes we've seen for the last 55+ years.

Lower Decks season 1 was pretty damn good too. But, yeah, that was a good episode and a good season.

My only real complaint is that James Kirk didn't feel like James Kirk.

Oddrune wrote:

My only real complaint is that James Kirk didn't feel like James Kirk.

The actor did a good job, but looks enough like Jim Carrey that I kept waiting for him to ham up a take on Shatner.
IMAGE(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lOKt53zClTc/mqdefault.jpg)

Rat Boy wrote:

This is without a doubt the best first season of a Star Trek series ever. It found its voice at the get-go, didn't have any misstep episodes, and somehow in the course of only 10 episodes ran the whole gamut of the kinds of episodes we've seen for the last 55+ years.

Concur. Can't wait for more.

Took me over half the season to get caught up, but I'm in genuine awe of how good SNW's first season was. Doing Trek well is hard, as evidenced by how long the franchise has floundered around. I mean, I've found things to enjoy in all of the new Trek so far (Discovery season 2 was a struggle), but for my money, this is the best Trek has been in a very long time. If the show were to end its run tomorrow, I'd still have all of the warm fuzzies just knowing this season exists. If you had told me ten years ago that not only would I be watching multiple ongoing Star Trek series but that I'd be enjoying all of them on different levels, I'd of thought you were high. But here we are, and it's awesome.

I also loved this season in its entirety. I wouldn't change a single thing about it, except maybe that tiny bit about

Spoiler:

killing off chief engineer Henner. And then providing only an off-camera Scottish-voiced new chief engineer in the last episode.

I liked the new Kirk.

JLS wrote:
Oddrune wrote:

My only real complaint is that James Kirk didn't feel like James Kirk.

The actor did a good job, but looks enough like Jim Carrey that I kept waiting for him to ham up a take on Shatner.
IMAGE(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lOKt53zClTc/mqdefault.jpg)

That's what I felt while watching this episode, too.

Spoiler:

When Pike went down to sick bay to check on Spock, I was half-expecting Spock to say "I have been, and always shall be, your friend". Glad that didn't happen.

Good season, too short, looking forward to the next one.

At first, I was a little disappointed that the central plot of ep10 was essentially just a trolley problem for Pike, but as I digest it…well the trolley problem is really a type of Kobayashi Maru in that theres no way of winning. Very cool to also have that be the episode where Captain Kirk is introduced.

Overall I’ll be back for season 2. I thought turning the Gorn into predator/alien hybrids was terrible, but the Illyrian subplot was absolutely worth it.

Seth wrote:

Overall I’ll be back for season 2. I thought turning the Gorn into predator/alien hybrids was terrible, but the Illyrian subplot was absolutely worth it.

That was a little worrying, but I think they've got some room to explore there.

If we consider TOS, Enterprise and SNW Gorn together, we have a species that is:

  • Very agile and hyper-aggressive when young.
  • Do not need parental care.
  • Reach reproductive maturity quickly.
  • Get slower, but craftier as they age.
  • Are able to learn to control and even harness their hunger and aggression.

What kind of society would come from that? The Gorn captain in Arena was able to maintain control of his ship, despite being, shall we say... slow. How did he do that? Were there no young Gorn on board? Were the command systems isolated from younger crew? Was he the only Gorn on board? Do young Gorn simply not kill old Gorn?

Oddrune wrote:

What kind of society would come from that? The Gorn captain in Arena was able to maintain control of his ship, despite being, shall we say... slow. How did he do that? Were there no young Gorn on board? Were the command systems isolated from younger crew? Was he the only Gorn on board? Do young Gorn simply not kill old Gorn?

My guess is they probably do the majority of the implanting and growing on the breeding planets.

Comparison video between the season finale and well, you know...

Spoiler:
merphle wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

How does this show keep getting better with each episode?

They hired writers who had actually seen TOS and TNG before?

Moderately disappointed that they didn't cast...

Spoiler:

James Frain as the Romulan Commander.

But that would be a pretty inside joke.

I truly was hoping for that, but you can't have everything I guess.

Got a haircut, trying the Pike.

IMAGE(https://forum.quartertothree.com/uploads/default/original/3X/e/f/efeaab7ff3d2ed1cbb8e1fe92ea0efa9a60ed38c.jpeg)

Maybe I'm missing something. Where are you, Veloxi? I only see a Starfleet Officer.

Needs about another foot of pompadour.