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Star Trek STRANGE NEW WORLDS

SEASON TWO has launched!

"The Broken Circle" as a season opener, I found it to be a mixed affair.

There is some very awkward, almost camp humor, that made me cringe.
The show also "steals" a plot point from Trek III, but thankfully it is a minor element of the story.
I really enjoyed the Post-War trauma element of M'Benga and Chapel and wished the story had focused more on that.
There is a fight scene that did not work at all for me.
Spock's struggles with emotions due to the events in the season one finale continue to play out in unexpected ways.
The Disco-Klingon design is now thankfully gone and we have the return of the more traditional Berman era look.
Though the hardcore fan in me asks, shouldn't a majority of the Klingons look Human at this point in history as established in ENT and TOS?
Carol Kane joins the cast as the new Chief Engineer with a mysterious long lived alien background.

All in all, I liked it, I had fun, but I did not love it.
 
I'm pretty convinced that the explanation is that the augment virus effected them like a pendulum, making them look human, then swinging back to looking klingon, then further into more 'ultra klingon' and then swinging back. I'm prepared to accept that as an in universe explanation.

I enjoyed the episode for one primary reason. The way they talked and behaved felt like starfleet. This is worlds apart from What we have been getting.
I struggled to get through season 1 due to how they talked and behaved. The worst for me was memento mori, where they seemed to be actively callous on a number of occasions for no good reason. also, ironically, the best episode for me was the story book episode, because they didn't use modern day slang at all.
That's how it should be, they are 2 centuries in the future, they shouldn't be talking like us. unless of course, they are aficionados like Tom Paris.
 
SNW has unfortunately been Discoveried a bit, I think. But hopefully the rest of the season has some good episodes like s1
 
KumoNin said:
SNW has unfortunately been Discoveried a bit, I think.
Click to expand...
what does this mean? as far as I can tell, they have gone the opposite way from discovery. I mean did you see those klingons? I find that statement to be rather perplexing. @_@
 
The Klingons look nice! So, um, spending a scene on the "so what's your Captain Catchphrase gonna be?" bit, when saying a catchphrase when going to warp is not a thing (Picard said engage, but so did Janeway and Sisko). Then Kelvin Pike said "hit it" (which is a Han Solo line) and from then on, whenever Kurtzman is producing a trek show, in every one of them, regardless of time and place, it's always an "in-joke" that you gotta come up with a catchphrase when you get the chair. Disco, Picard, and now SNW have all had entire scenes dedicated to that bit.
Another thing is action over plot. Do we really have to see Mbenga and Chapel punch Klingons in slow motion for scene after scene?
Also, drama (well, rather the overuse of it). Ohmygod we're gonna die now, let's say our teary goodbyes to each other for several scenes, even though we are characters who have appeared in TOS. Another thing is pretending that everyone is best friends with the extras, meaning that we can have a crying grieving scene later, when Lt. Five Minutes of Screentime and Nearly No Dialogue dies or almost dies. SNW has been good at developing the bridge crew. I think every character (except for Ortegas so far, but wasn't there a S2 preview where she's a pov character?) has gotten their own episode, which is great. But having everyone also be buddy-buddy with Jenna Mitchell (had to look up her name) is a bit odd, she's like Graggle Simpson.
There's also other stuff like logic leaps, characteristic of the other shows, but less so SNW until now. But anyway, we shall see, like I said, s1 was great, but there is a scoop which says that the blond producer guy was not as involved in the production as he was for s2
 
I see. Those are not things that I identified as issues with Discovery, but that doesn't mean they aren't valid of course. For me, the main issues were mary-sue characters, bad language (not necessarily cussing), the cavernous space between decks, "yum yum", just all around badness... I'm not explaining this well. I don't see excessive action as being exclusive to discovery, after all the Trek movies have done this for decades. Attention on minor characters.. I didn't really notice it and could easily let it go. The catchphrase bit, I hadn't really noticed it and I did find that quite humorous. I get your points though and I do hope these things improve for you.
 
I'm also annoyed by the captain catchphrases. What was wrong with "Engage?" Especially given that the first person to say it was Pike in "The Cage"!

Also one little quibble, Kelvin Pike says "Punch it", and Disco/SNW Pike says "Hit it".
 
The whole Spock catchphrase scene is easily one of the most inane moments and poorly written scenes in SNW for me thus far.
They are STEALING the Enterprise (don't get me started on ripping off one of the most famous sequences in Trek movie history) and it is all played as a casual after thought, as a JOKE. There is ZERO tension. No stakes. No consequences. And if the situation to save La'an is so dire that it requires stealing a Federation Starship (they couldn't take a shuttle to investigate?) would you really take the time to pause and joke with Spock about a catchphrase? Wouldn't you assume Starfleet might be coming after you? Plus, it just makes Spock look ludicrous. Honestly, it is the type of scene that should be on Lower Decks, not SNW.
Thus, endeth my rant LOL.
 
S2E2 - "Ad Astra per Aspera"

After the underwhelming mess of the second season premiere, this is an excellent return to form.
This is the Court Room Drama episode and it is a more than worthy addition to Trek's long history of these.
Great social commentary and strong character beats.
Romijn gives a great performance.
Tonally, a much more even episode. Only one real camp moment and again it is at Spock's expense, but in this case it feels very TOS appropriate.
In fact, lots of visual design callbacks to TOS in this story.

Observation: In this episode La'an gives an illegal order to Uhura to hopefully save Una. Uhura refuses, pointing out it is wrong. It is good writing. But in last week's episode, Spock asks the crew to steal the Enterprise and no one argues against it. Terrible writing. How is this even the same show???? lol
 
Agreed, The adherence to the rule of law was particularly good. I loved that moment. The courtroom monologues did get fairly preachy and laboured towards the end, but for the most part, this was excellent!
 
It drives me crazy in any court scene when someone objects and then everything just keeps carrying on without it being sustained or overruled
 
S2E3 "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow"

SNW does City on the Edge of Forever mixed with Yesterday's Enterprise ( but no where near as well) with a sprinkle of romcom?

While not everything worked for me, particularly in pacing, it was an entertaining episode.

Paul Wesley returns as Kirk. His performance is better in this second outing, but I still don't fully buy him yet as the iconic hero. But it does help that he is playing an alternate version in this story.
This is essentially Chong's episode, and she has some great bits cemented by an emotion tugging closer.

M'Benga's fighting skills seen in the season opener are reinforced here.
So far, mixed feelings on Pelia's character. Her use here is... shall we say... very convenient.

We get references to the Temporal Cold War from Enterprise.
And after series like DS9 and Voyager ignoring the Eugenic Wars in their Earth time travel episodes, we get a canonical explanation of why Khan's genocidal war no longer occurs in the 1990s, which I know will open up a whole new can of worms for die hard TOS fans.

Decent to Good episode.

Additional Note: So Khan and his genetic brethren are created in a place called The Noonien Singh Institute and La'an's macro DNA can somehow override the bio-scan locks. This opens a whole new door to the Eugenic War mythos. It means the DNA shared by Khan and La'an comes from someone else, someone with the surname of Noonien Singh. This of course all makes sense, but has never been brought up before as far as I know? The emphasis has always been on Khan and ilk, not the people who created them.

So far, of three episodes, we have had one dud, one incredible and one average. Is the SNW shine already beginning to diminish? I hope not.
 
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One further observation.

I love Star Trek. All Star Trek. Even the crap. (well, maybe not INTO DARKNESS lol)

But as I believe I have mentioned previously, the only way I can allow myself to truly enjoy the modern Paramount Plus Era of Trek, is to tell myself it is a Reboot set in an Alternate Universe.

But I guess, after this episode, I no longer have to pretend. It is Official. It is now onscreen CANON. šŸ––šŸ˜
 
I loved the hell out of this episode.


And yeah, I got goosebumps when they laid out the shifting timeline theory. I loved the Khan books which cleverly took major events in the 70s through the 90s and posed that they were actually due to a hidden Eugenics Wars, rather than the all-out war that was assumed from TOS descriptions. That line about 1992 ties directly into Khan's original timeline and that book trilogy. We did get bits and pieces about some sort of World War III over TOS and TNG, but it wasn't until First Contact that we got a more direct timeline placing that in the mid 21st century, implying those two conflicts were separated by time.
So, I adore the subtle shift of making the Eugenics Wars and World War III part of the same conflict, which explains the time warpage and inconsistencies.

Edit: Not to mention that it changes Khan from "just" a Warlord of Yore to a primary player in the Dark Ages of humanity, directly leading to the bright Trek future.

I was very pleased with all of it.
 
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I'm still a little confused by the timeline, can you elaborate?
 
asterixsmeagol said:
I'm still a little confused by the timeline, can you elaborate?
Click to expand...

TOS established that the Eugenic Wars happened in the 1990s.

In TWOK, Khan says he ruled 200 years ago, which would be the 21st Century.

VOY time travelled to 1996 Earth and no Eugenics War.

DS9 time travelled to 2030s Earth and no Eugenics War or WWIII.

Both VOY and ENT clearly established there are Time Travel Wars going on and events being changed.

TNG established First Contact is 2063, after the Khan war and WWIII, which were originally separate events.

Picard season two travels to 2021 and no wars, but they tease "Project: Khan"

SNW travels to 2022 and no wars yet

So now, according to SNW, because the Temporal Cold Wars, history has not only been changed but that is is always in flux, but time always pushes back and some key events must always happen and the Eugenics War now occur sometime around the 2040s.
Which does not leave much wiggle room for First Contact.
Some fans now assume that the Eugenics Wars and WWIII may be the same event, or leads directly into the next.

So one could assume now, because different specific dates have been given in TOS and SNW, perhaps SNW is a branch timeline.

In the end, this a band aid solution. What happens if Star Trek is still around in another 20 or 30 years? lol

It all stems from Paramount wanting to maintain the fan belief that STAR TREK could be OUR FUTURE.
Rather than just saying Star Trek exists in an alternate timeline.
And I can totally understand and appreciate their reasoning.

But with that said, many stardates ago, I made this Alternate History Timeline bonus feature for my Wrath of the Augments fan edit...


:)
 
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S2E4 "Amoung The Lotus Eaters"

Pike returns to center stage (or is it center chair) with this episode and the show is all the better for it.

Nice callback to 'The Cage' pilot with our crew returning Rigel VII.

The classic Trek trope of the crew losing their memory is revisited and is well executed.

Lots of solid character beats throughout this episode.

"I am Erica Ortega and I fly the ship!" -- what can I say? It made me smile and gave me the Feels.

A solid old school adventure.
 
This week, Charades...
It was okay, but I do feel like it was poor in many ways. The way they portray the Vulcans, constantly using the words "feelings" and "I feel", are antithesis of what the Vulcans are supposed to be. I'm okay with them getting sloppy on occasion, but this is outright disregard for the very thing they are supposed to be writing about. Star Trek or not, no matter what this is called, this is just incredibly bad writing. They can't remain consistent with the premise they setup within the darn episode. This is disappointing at best, and quite frankly, they are lucky to have garnered as much faith as they have with the acting, the set design, etc.

Even the direction was incredibly amateurish. What the hell was with that camera angle suddenly 90 degrees on it's side???? There was absolutely no rhyme or reason to that, it's the kind of thing I'd expect from a 6th form high school student. I just don't understand the decision making behind that AT ALL.

Having said all that, I was actually mostly okay with it. This says a lot. It says that even when they royally screw up, the fundamentals are solid enough that someone who has been VERY angry with them for years, is wiling to let it slide. I consider this to be a blip within season 2 rather than par for the course.
There were some good funny bits so I enjoyed that, and the premise was good. It felt fresh enough that I could treat it as an original idea.


I really liked last weeks btw. That was good as heck.
Although I feel it was a hell of an oversight not acknowledging that Rigel is an entire year journey from Earth. They were so casual about it all. At their speeds it was like Picard going to farpoint station.
 
S2E5 ā€œCHARADESā€

Spock does human puberty.
A variation of the Trek trope of splitting a character in half. No transporter accident this time, instead DS9 style wormhole aliens.

And itā€™s ANOTHER COMEDY EPISODEā€¦ sighā€¦

I enjoyed Spockā€™s relationship with his mother Amanda. And the Vulcan bigotry was interesting. But everything else was written so juvenile. It could have been so much more if it had been treated more seriously and treated the characters as professional adult Starfleet Officers rather than goofy horny teenagers.

Also, for a starship on a 5 year mission to explore the final frontier, they spend a lot of their time warping around known Federation space. And Warp Speed seems to be magic now, crossing distances that used to weeks or months in mere hours or days.

While the show remains entertaining, thanks mostly to great cast performance and incredible visuals, I find myself becoming more and more critical of the writing and creative choices with each new episode.

So for me, Charades was another ā€œaverageā€ episode.
 
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