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Star Trek STRANGE NEW WORLDS

bionicbob said:
We get references to the Temporal Cold War from Enterprise.
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That's it. Now I REALLY need to watch SNW. As of last year, Enterprise is the series that I've watched the most of (all of seasons 2-4), it's full of problems but I love it dearly. I desparately want to see its ideas expanded upon, or at least referenced. I was already curious about SNW, but knowing that it references ENT is the final deciding factor for me.
 
Apparently I don’t like myself, as I watched Charades again.

It does NOT improve on a second viewing.

It feels like a horrible John Hughes parody. It is soooooo juvenile.
It a complete disservice to these iconic characters.
It really makes me nervous for the upcoming Lower Decks crossover.

If you want to watch GOOD Star Trek that explores many of the same themes, I strongly recommend TOS “This Side of Paradise”.
 
Honestly, I thought it was quite funny, and the heartfelt ending saves it from being too silly. It wasn't quite the standout that last season's hijinks episode was, but still, I liked it!
 
S2E6 "Lost In The Translation"

I liked this one!

None of the moronic camp comedy that ruin last week's episode for me.

Some nice Trek themes about exploration, communication and even environmentalism.

While this Uhura's episode, there are lots of character bits going around for most of the cast.
Also, lots of lore porn in this one. From Kirk being the youngest officer to Pike being Fleet Captain to the nacelles drawing in fuel to Saurian Brandy and more!
Also, lots of "Firsts" in this one. This is our first official introduction to Lt. Jim Kirk in the main timeline. Thus Kirk meets both Spock and Uhura.
While Wesley's Kirk still lacks the bravo of Shatner, there is no denying how charismatic he is in this episode and I can finally see why he was cast.

I also enjoyed the Kirk Brothers banter.

My only real nitpick is Warp Speed continues to be magic. Last week they were in the heart of Federation visiting Vulcan and now they are on the edge of Known Space. oh well, can't have everything.... lol

A solid episode.
 
S2E7 "Those Old Scientists"

So Paramount Plus surprised us and dropped the LOWER DECKS crossover early!
I am still processing about how I feel about it all.

I love Lower Decks. It was the show I did not know I needed. I laugh so hard when watching.
But with that said, there is no way in Hades I ever thought of it part of the Prime Universe Canon.
It was a fanboy love letter parody. Nothing more.
But now, according to SNW it is canon. And that for me is problematic.

This really feels like one of those "We Can Do It" without anyone in authority asking "But Should We?" moments.

The episode itself is Fine. Great live action performances by Quaid and Newsome. Some nice heartfelt moments and a few genuine giggles.

And this might have felt more special if SNW had not already laced almost every episode so far with comedy gags.
All this has done for me is reinforce that SNW is a full on Dramedy this season, thus further eroding its In-Universe Reality.
And next up, we get a Musical Episode?

Goldsmith said this Second Season would taking Big Swings.
I thought he meant Big Swings in terms of concepts and ideas, not tonal and writing quality.
Seven episodes in and only THREE I honestly fully enjoyed from start to finish.
With only 3 episodes left this season, I am very wary.

Time to put on my Grump Old Man pants and go outside to shout at the clouds. lol
 
Well I absolutely loved it, and so did the two people I watched with. One was the same friend I always watch SNW and Lower Decks with, and the other was my wife who likes Disco and SNW but isn't interested in the cartoons. She was hesitant after the opening scene but a few minutes into the live action and she was having a good time too.
 
S2E8 "Under the Cloak of War"

The horrors of war are explored in this very dark episode.
We get to see the Klingon War from M'Benga and Chapel's point of view and the permanent scars it has left on them.
The big steroid fight from the first episode now has some context.
The question of Justice vs Redemption is explored.
And not a single comedy or camp moment in the entire episode.
Needless to say, I really enjoyed it.
 
bionicbob said:
I love Lower Decks. It was the show I did not know I needed. I laugh so hard when watching.
But with that said, there is no way in Hades I ever thought of it part of the Prime Universe Canon.
It was a fanboy love letter parody. Nothing more.
But now, according to SNW it is canon. And that for me is problematic.
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Likewise. I love Lower Decks, but I have a very difficult time believing that in any way a crew like the Cerritos' could possibly exist in Starfleet.

Even harder to reconcile is Boimler seems to be aware that he's a two-dimensional cartoon character, and Pike's crew are absolutely aware of it in their animated scene.

The only way it could work is if each show and movie are actually in-universe recreations of events for purposes of entertainment and somebody chose to make Lower Decks an animated comedy.

Still, not gonna hide the fact that I loved the episode and grinned like an idiot from start to finish.
 
MightyAttackTribble said:
Likewise. I love Lower Decks, but I have a very difficult time believing that in any way a crew like the Cerritos' could possibly exist in Starfleet.

Even harder to reconcile is Boimler seems to be aware that he's a two-dimensional cartoon character, and Pike's crew are absolutely aware of it in their animated scene.
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All they needed to do was have some sort of Throw Away Line of Technobabble that the Portal is a doorway to Other Realities instead of a Time Machine and this otherwise wonderful episode would be a classic for me. But as is, it just seems to reinforce my perception that Goldsman desires to turn SNW into a sitcom whenever possible this season.
 
Yeah, that's wearing thin for me. A bit of comedy is nice, but not all the time. We need to feel these characters are capable and serious when necessary. That feeling has been there on occasion, but the show has been eroding that with the silliness.

Last episode had all the makings of good Trek but it fell short.
It certainly wasn't helped by hte poor editing in hte finale. All of a sudden we see everything through frosted glass that has not really been shown beforehand, it came out of left field and the way it was intercut with the closeup of Chapel, it definitely came across like a POV shot and totally confused me. I just didn't get the whole 'mystery' aspect of that. Apparently, we're supposed to be questioning what real;ly happened, from a narrative perspective, but to me it seemed clear from a narrative perspective that M'Benga stabbed him because he was being all weird and creepy, and I was more confused about the frosted glass. Didn't work well in the end.
 
tremault said:
It certainly wasn't helped by hte poor editing in hte finale. All of a sudden we see everything through frosted glass that has not really been shown beforehand, it came out of left field and the way it was intercut with the closeup of Chapel, it definitely came across like a POV shot and totally confused me. I just didn't get the whole 'mystery' aspect of that. Apparently, we're supposed to be questioning what real;ly happened, from a narrative perspective, but to me it seemed clear from a narrative perspective that M'Benga stabbed him because he was being all weird and creepy, and I was more confused about the frosted glass. Didn't work well in the end.
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Where are the security cameras??? lol
 
S2E9 "Subspace Rhapsody"

or, The Musical Episode.

So many mixed feelings. First off, I love musicals! From Music Man to La La Land and everything in between.
But do I want a Star Trek musical????

The In-Universe explanation works in a bonkers Third Season TOS kind of way. So no real issue there.
Put it this way, I bought it more than believing Lower Decks is canon.

The musical numbers themselves are full of energy, passion and flair.
And the cast can SING!!! Great performances all around!
But the songs are also immediately forgettable.

And while I smiled and laughed many times, I also found myself constantly looking at my watch.
At 62 minutes, I think this is the longest episode thus far, and it feels every second of its runtime.

Just like season one, they use this penultimate episode to wrap all of this season subplots.
Unfortunately, all the subplots are Romance based. As a B or C plot, these are entertaining character melodrama moments.
But as a full on one hour of in your face Romantic Musical, it is a lot to accept.

I liked the resolution of the La'an and James Kirk arc.
Pike and Batel was a cringe for me. It mostly feels like it there just so something bad can happen to Batel next episode.

And then there is the Spock and Chapel....
What a wasted story.

The exploration of Identity is a timeless story device. Made even more relevant with the added layer of gender and sexual identification.
So much incredible rich material to draw from and what did SNW do?
They made Spock a horny adolescent who gets his heart broken.
Wow. Deep stuff. (this is me being sarcastic lol)

And to top it all off, they take perhaps Spock's most MONUMENTAL character moment (until he encounters V'Ger), the moment where he decides to forgo his Human half and embrace logic fully, and it is tossed away in a gimmick song about discovering "he is the ex".

Now I am not saying this can not be done. Buffy The Vampire Slayer did it fantastically. When Buffy sang she "thought she was in Heaven", that was a dramatically powerful gut punch moment. But this???

As I said, a completely wasted storyline for me.

Next week, is the season final. I expect we will get another seismic tonal shift as the Enterprise faces off against the Gorn.
Will the writers fridge Batel?
Will the Gorn become Pike's Moby Dick?
Stay tuned!
 
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I like it when creators make big swings and this was most certainly a biiiiig swing.

Did it work 100%? No, but it worked enough for me that I had a giant smile on my face for the entirety of the episode.

I've finally warmed up to Paul Wesley's Kirk. It took a while for me to wrap my mind around the fact that he isn't doing what Shatner or Pine did, but he is absolutely a worthy Kirk to me now. His portrayal is also an important course correction after the two Abrams films leaned too hard into trying to recast Kirk as a frat boy--although Lin's Beyond showed how he grew out of that wonderfully.

Looking forward to seeing how they wrap things up next week.
 
I really really HATE musicals. This episode was incredibly cringe for me and I literally had to fast forward through great big chunks of it. 🫣
 
Yeah, on the fence with this one. A rusty, possibly electrified fence. First 20% was pretty awesome, and I thought the concept was actually entirely plausible in Star Trek terms. Then things started to unravel. La'an's song was much too long. Songs came at an unrealistic pace. The Klingons were rapping and everyone flat out ignored them (yikes), and that final number...oooh boy, easily the worst of the bunch and just, off in so many ways... Like I watched it 4mins ago and I'm still processing, but if they aren't nominated for a Razzie I'll be surprised. And I like the show.
 
It tried too hard. I counted about three songs that I thought were belters, but none of them were all that catchy. I wound up turning it off and watching the songs on youtube, the actual story was too wafer-thin.
 
Did anyone catch the 'science' in this one though? was this a subspace fold? They were saying this was new and amazing and could enable communication over light years nearly instantly. But surely they already have subspace communication at this point? Or is this part of the origins for it?
 
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