Tuesday, August 15, 2023

TV Time: Star Trek Strange New Worlds

I've been a fan of Star Trek since the 60s (For a second, I thought, "Should I say 1960s?) I've written about The Original Series (TOS)The Next GenerationDeep Space 9, and Picard.

I enjoyed Voyager, Enterprise, and Discovery as I watched them. I liked Kate Mulgrew as Janeway and the whole set-up on Voyager; it also had some memorable villains such as the Hirogen and the organ-harvesting Vidiians  I never got the point of Neelix and Kes, and I hated that Voyager took over the Borg storyline. 

Enterprise wasn't all that memorable. I liked the character of Trip, and Porthos helped inspire our adoption of Spike. 

Discovery was confusing with Spock's secret sister, spore drive, alternate universe, android-looking officer, and trip into the future. But I loved seeing Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou and Doug Jones as Saru. 

We just finished the second season of Strange New Worlds, and I am loving it. It takes place on the Enterprise of Captain Christopher Pike. Pike's crew includes Spock, Chapel, and Uhura--all different from their TOS incarnations. Future Captain Kirk has made a few guest appearances. I don't particularly care about the differences and discrepancies. I've forgotten a lot of details of TOS. 

Strange New Worlds has offered some wacky plotlines: Spock "repaired" by an alien species as fully human, Spock and his fiance T'pring exchanging bodies, a crossover with characters from the animated Star Trek series Lower Decks, and a musical episode in which the characters are compelled to sing out their inner feelings. These stories have been done with fun in the tradition of some of my favorite DS9 episodes: "Trials and Tribblelations," "You Are Cordially Invited," and "Take Me Out to the Holosuite."

But Strange New Worlds is not a comedy. One episode explored the horrors of war and post traumatic stress. The season finale ended with Pike facing a seemingly impossible decision. If he follows Star Fleet orders, he condemns many of his crew to certain death. 

I want to re-watch all the episodes. 

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