"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Season 1 Talkback (Spoilers)

[Yojimbo]

The Frontier Awaits

STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS is based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series will feature fan favorites from season two of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY: Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series will follow Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.

Episode 1 "Strange New Worlds" - May 5, 2022

When one of Pike’s officers goes missing while on a secret mission for Starfleet, Pike has to come out of self-imposed exile. He must navigate how to rescue his officer, while struggling with what to do with the vision of the future he’s been given.

Related Threads
-Star Trek: Strange New Worlds CBS All Access Official Site
-Star Trek: Strange New Worlds News & Discussion Thread
-Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 Talkback
-Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 Talkback
-Shorts Treks Talkback
-Star Trek Television News & Discussion Thread

 

[PicardMan]

The premiere was exactly how I hoped a modern Star Trek would be. Look at the 91% audience approval rating after the other shows divided the fanbase. Strange New Worlds looks to be Trek's Mandalorian in that it's the show to unite the fandom after several divisive entries. So hoping it continues to provide adventures that feel like a modernized version of the original instead of Battlestar Galactica in a Star Trek skin.

 

[Fone Bone]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds "Strange New Worlds"

This has gotten a very good reception because it is a very "Back to Basics" Star Trek show. I agree we needed one and I like it for that. But let me also put this weird idea into your head: Discovery and Picard both being so "divisive" is actually okay. I'm a Star Trek fan. As far as fandoms go, and risk-taking, Star Trek used to be one of the safest franchises you could imagine. I understand the need to cling on (groan!) to that. It's what I've always liked about the show too. But as many pleasant memories as I have about The Original Series and The Next Generation, the truth is a LOT of both of those show's runs were VERY shaky. The best Star Trek series was Deep Space Nine, which was, say it with me, DIVISIVE at the time. Now it is beloved. I'm not suggesting the same is due Discovery and Picard. Discovery in particular will probably not live up to Star Trek's standards years later in hindsight. But the truth is Star Trek has always been at its best when it takes risks.

Did I love what I just saw? Yes. Am I giving something that pleasurable a near-perfect four and a half stars? Yes. Is that still half a star less than what I gave Picard's finale on the same day? Yes. I appreciate this show for making Star Trek accessible again. But I specifically like Picard because it makes things about the franchise, and even the canon, uncomfortable. And it raises questions that SHOULD be raised. Will I enjoy Strange New Worlds every week as a return to form for Star Trek? Undoubtedly. Will I ever love it as much DS9 or Picard? I very much doubt it.

I'm glad we have a nice, regular Star Trek show on the air. That's good for all of us, the franchise included. But I don't see the label "divisive" as negative as many other Star Trek fans do. In point of fact, Star Trek has always courted controversy.

I liked the parallels the very first episode raised with our world. Like Picard's finale, it moved the date of the Eugenics Wars to fit into an upcoming Second Civil War (eerily plausible) and finally we got a LOT of firm details about World War III. That specific thing has been with the franchise since the very first episode of The Next Generation. It never seemed plausible to me back in the day but it feels familiar now after Putin and Trump. The reason I still don't exactly believe in this series and its ideals is because I don't see how we come back from that. And this is why Gene Roddenberry is a better optimist that me. He knew sucky stuff was coming, and decided that even if none of us lived to see it, humanity itself would be all right. Do I believe him? Do I agree? No, on both counts. But the best thing I can say about it is that I can't DISPROVE him. I think Roddenberry had a LOT of shaky ideas about sexism, grief, and psychiatry, but that specific thing can't be argued against because it's entirely speculative. And fiction IS speculative by definition. My idea of a paradise for humanity is also vastly different than Gene's (humanity as seen on The Next Generation is frightfully boring) but even if I don't agree with what would make a good future, I still want a good future. My argument is that the ideals of a better future for humanity should not be down to one man, especially if that man didn't really understand how people worked. And I think this episode and this show were strong because they didn't offer easy answers, and Pike had to do the best he could. And Starfleet was so peeved at the great job he did, they invented the Prime Directive so that no-one else can ever be allowed to do something that awesome ever again, which is something I like, because it's taking a shot at Starfleet and one of Gene's sacred cows. And I love that DS9 and Picard routinely did that. I expect that far less on this show, but I feel safer knowing the vision is probably something molded together by a GROUP of writers and producers instead of one dude. I like that very much.

Starting to see the genesis of why T'Pring soured on Spock. Can't blame a woman when the guy takes off on their wedding night.

Ah, Lieutenant Sam Kirk. I see what they did there.

Quick Question: This episode was written by Akiva Goldsman, one of the masterminds behind Titans. That is one of the worst television shows of all time and Goldsman has routinely turned in some of the worst fictional scripts for that show I had ever had the misfortune of sitting through. Why is his work on this show okay? For that matter, why is Geoff Johns' stuff on Stargirl okay? Titans REALLY should not be as bad as it is if its creators can actually deliver solid scripts elsewhere. It makes zero sense to me, actually.

But I digress. To make a long story short, it just feels great to be able to outright ENJOY Star Trek once again. But please keep in mind that Star Trek is often at its best when it makes us uncomfortable. It doesn't have to be either / or. ****1/2.

 

[PF9]

So it's not as mature as Discovery, Lower Decks, or Picard, yet is more mature than Prodigy. Nice to have a middle-ground Trek series.

Next step should be to bring the franchise back to broadcast television, though as long as NCIS, NCIS: LA and Blue Bloods are still running CBS doesn't have room for any serious Trek shows on their schedule (or a live-action hour-long TMNT series I want the network to have). They could do a live-action sitcom though, titled "Start Wreck" [sic].

 

[PicardMan]

Next step should be to bring the franchise back to broadcast television

Broadcast TV, aside from the CW, seems to have abandoned genre fiction as Fox, former home of lots of genre programming, is now almost all reality shows. Kind of wondering if I'll meet any IRL people watching this show as it seems like hardly anyone has Paramount Plus in the first place compared to other streaming services. It seems like the Chris Pine movies were the last Star Trek thing watched by the "normies."

 

[the greenman]

Okay, finally got around to watching this. I enjoyed it for various reasons, and it felt much like Abrams 2009 Star Trek, so enjoyable you had to ignore your complaints.

1. Dr. Boyce replace by Dr. M'Benga. I think a choice of diversity, but I just hope they keep the diversity up and not make it blatantly cringy. That said, no reason Boyce can't show up later.

2. I enjoyed nurse Chapel, even though she shouldn't be here either. Again making me ignore my complaints, and I hope she shows up more.

3. Admiral Robert April, a pleasant surprise. Wasn't expecting him here. Even I knew ahead of time. I just hope he is used once or twice a season, and not a regular. Though, I suspect with the lack of Boyce, he will be Chris' confidante.

4. Still not a fan of Ms. Khan. Talk about fan service. Looking to blame Akiva Goldsman; look no further. First this, then actually having a "Kirk" appear all in one ep was just a little too much IMHO.

5. The helmsman (woman) is a slight touch on Vasquez from Aliens. At least, from my perspective.

Okay, touching on the story elements. So getting back to basics on the Prime Directive which is always fodder for controversy in Star Trek, did an okay job here. Love how they kept the trope of Spock being the one responsible for breaking their cover from TOS. Uhura was perfectly utilized in this one episode, from her enthusiasm to her knowledge of things where the audience goes, how'd she know . . . oh yeah communications. Something I always felt like Roddenberry and crew used Guinan for in TNG. All in all, good introduction to the series. Can't comment too much on the other CBS All Access/ Paramount + Trek shows cause I deliberately ignored and have not watched much of them.


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[Yojimbo]

Episode 2 "Children of the Comet" - May 12, 2022

While on a survey mission, the U.S.S. Enterprise discovers a comet is going to strike an inhabited planet. They try to re-route the comet, only to find that an ancient alien relic buried on the comet’s icy surface is somehow stopping them. As the away team try to unlock the relic’s secrets, Pike and Number One deal with a group of zealots who want to prevent the U.S.S. Enterprise from interfering.

 

[Fone Bone]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds "Children Of The Comet"

Buckle up. This is gonna be a long-ass review. We have a lot to talk about. I suspect many longtime Trekkies won't much like what I have to say. Or maybe they'll think I'm right. I'm not the comet in this episode. I can't see the future.

First off all, I need to talk about second episodes a bit. What my expectations for them are, and how I review them. I have found that as far as episodic television goes, second episodes tend to be MUCH more instructive about a show's eventual quality than the Pilot is. This is especially true for the second episode of episodic science fiction. They are the first regular episode of the series. A Pilot sets up so much, and a second episode shows the viewer how they can expect the show to operate from week to week. If a show is great, the second episode is almost always worse than the Pilot (and sometimes by a lot). Good shows usually take a few episodes to find their footing. This was a little worse than last week, but still pretty great. And as far as Star Trek goes, I think in a lot of respects it feels better than The Original Series. Particularly the character of Spock. Of course, Ethan Peck is not as great in the role as Leonard Nimoy was. But I think this show's Spock is better written than he was on the old show. And frankly, I think a lot of that DID have to do with Leonard Nimoy. The guy is a beloved institution for good reason, but one thing people don't like to remember is that he was VERY protective of how Spock was portrayed. In my mind too much so. If an Original Series writer had come up with the humming scene Nimoy would have certainly refused to do it. I know, "Row, Row, Row your boat.". But that scene was in a film that was directed by a close personal friend after he'd been playing the character for 25 years. I feel when it comes to Spock, Strange New World's version might wind up more interesting than the original simply because Ethan Peck is game for anything.

I also want to be very clear about something. I don't actually blame Nimoy for this. In the 1960's especially, TV stars had far too much power and input, and yeah, vanity. It was not a personal failing on Nimoy's end. The vanity involved for TV and movie actors back then was simply considered normal. They demanded a LOT from their writers and producers and also refused to do scenes they felt might embarrass them. It was a different culture and a different time. And that's why I think this version of Spock will be more interesting. What I like especially is that I don't feel like any of the things he's done so far are actually out of character. Whether Nimoy would have permitted them or not, they still feel entirely true to the character, which is kind of amazing. Nobody will ever beat Leonard Nimoy for Spock. But perhaps the writers of this show will be allowed to stretch boundaries Nimoy would never have permitted. I think that's likely at this point.

Nimoy definitely lightened up a bit later in life. His appearances on both The Simpsons and Futurama suggest he stopped taking himself too seriously at some point.

I scowled at the recap at the beginning of the episode. I hope that's the only one, and only done because it's the second damn episode. But episodic television should NOT have recaps every week. They should only have them for two-parters.

We got far more information about Nyoto Uhura in the dinner scene than we got in three seasons of The Original Series and Six Movies. While J.J. Abrams has gotten some praise for finally giving the character something to actually do, we still didn't learn too much about her (other than making her name from the novels canon). Uhura having a tragic backstory, and sort of being iffy on Starfleet, is nothing we've gotten before. I liked how cool Pike was with Uhura being unsure about Starfleet. Frankly, I think everyone in Starfleet SHOULD be viewing their career differently from one another, and I think the Universal "Starfleet is the be-all and end-all goal for humanity" in the first five series is NOT a very human way to look at things. Some people love their jobs. But some people don't. It would be weird if everyone in Starfleet DID love their jobs.

I love that the Chief Engineer is a blind Aenar. Star Trek: Enterprise IS the worst Star Trek series (sorry Discovery haters, you are wrong about that show being the worst) but Season 4 was mostly good except for the horrible series finale, and I thought the idea of the Andorians and the Aenar were an interesting addition to the canon. Considering that Discovery doesn't actually seem all that interested in Star Trek lore, that specific Deep Cut on this show impressed me. Him showing off what he could do with Spock was beyond cool.

The mission was interesting because I think even ten years later the Prime Directive would have prevented the Enterprise from interfering with a comet destroying the planet. I found Pike's bemused reactions to the Shepherd quite entertaining, but what I like especially is that as far as mysterious aliens go, the Shepherd is far easier to understand than the primitive aliens who spoke in badly-written riddles the old show embarrassingly used every other week. When the Shepherd asks Pike if he is a reasonable man, I knew the Shepherd's intentions were good, and the lesson at the end would be that Pike needs to be more reasonable. And I like that the moral was allowed to stand for Pike, because outside of the Organians, Kirk's ongoing and obnoxious dumbassery week in and week out is simply allowed to stand. And again, it was a different time and era. But I'm looking forward to a Star Trek series that might suggest we could learn as much (if not more) from the aliens we encounter than they learn for us. That was a big reason I preferred The Next Generation to be honest, and to get that in a show set in this era feels like a treat.

Also episodes like this could not have been done on The Original Series because they would not have the budget for visual effects even approaching this in the 1960's. Part of me dislikes the episode for that, and for the fact that the Enterprise looks very different than it should. But unlike the Klingon make-up in Discovery, I don't think the stylistic changes or noticeably better effects and sets are done because of licensing issues. It's because they can. Yeah, I nerded out on The Next Generation episode "Relics" for building an almost exact replica of the original Enterprise bridge. And regardless of whether it feels comfortable (or even canon), I have to concede it LOOKS better here. Maybe that's enough. Maybe not for purists. But maybe that means I'm not a purist after all.

I don't suspect most of my reviews for this show will be this long, but I did feel the need to add some context about my judgments of second episodes. But I thought this was a solid week, and if this is the show demonstrating a "regular episode", I am most certainly going to be a very happy viewer most weeks. ****.

 

[RoyalRubble]

The first episode was also posted on YouTube by Paramount+.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 3 "Ghosts of Illyria" - May 19, 2022

The U.S.S. Enterprise encounters a contagion that ravages the ship. One by one, the entire crew is incapacitated except for Number One, Una Chin-Riley, who must now confront a secret she’s been hiding as she races to find a cure.

 

[Fone Bone]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds "Ghosts Of Illyria"

Best episode so far. That's not a huge brag as it's only the third, but it's the first one I will be giving five stars.

As a rule, contagion episodes on Star Trek suck. Considering we live in a Post-Covid era, doing one on the new show is a no-brainer however, so I don't actually begrudge them for it. I do feel this episode worked because it tied a lot of other additional interesting elements to the plague. The plague revealed new facets to the characters, and in some cases, those reveals opened up Strange New Worlds. Neat trick, right?

I mentioned before I like this show more than The Original Series. That specific opinion of mine is destined to be common. Why? Because this show is exploring Starfleet's bigotry towards Augments and Illyrians and are judging humanity harshly for it. Gene Roddenberry would never have permitted that. Correction, he WOULD be permitted the crew to hate Augments with no self-awareness that that is a form of prejudice. Roddenberry had amazing blind spots about those kinds of things, and I value this show for finding the 23rd Century humans struggling with the same crap WE struggle with, just aimed in a different direction. I seem to recall Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was considered controversial for the original cast and producers due to exploring ACTUAL bigotry using our characters. Here's a notion: That's why it has value. It's not the one Star Trek Original Series project outside of Gene's message. It's the only one that feels relevant to our world and situation, and suggests a realistic and unpleasant truth about humanity. And I like this episode for the same reason.

Surprisingly no-one, Singh is Khan's descendant. I heard people dismissing this show ahead of time for supposedly teasing Khan and breaking the continuity, but it was clear to me this was always going to be the situation. People angrily screaming "Retcon!" were mostly people unfamiliar with the canon. This is how things like this work in this franchise. Relax. Khan himself will NOT be appearing. He never was going to.

I'd be inclined to call Pike and Spock's stuff on the planet the highlight of the episode, if all of the rest of the episode wasn't great.

One of the biggest regrets about the pilot "The Cage" being retooled by NBC, was losing the character of Number One. Number One was fascinating. She originally had Mr. Spock's role as the logical and emotionless crew member (Nimoy as Spock shows a startling level of emotion in the Pilot. Witness him hilariously bellowing, "The women!") And as her character was dropped with zero explanation, we never understood the context for her alienation and quiet cool.

The show has (wisely) retconned the idea that she's logical and emotionless, but the cool, confident (and yet distant) demeanor is very well explained by giving her this specific backstory.

Dr. M'Benga's secret was also a great surprise, and added depth to a character who was basically simply "present" on The Original Series. I now care about him in a way I didn't before.

The episode was very much about people in authority showing some grace to people who have messed up, and are willing to own up to it. Number One refusing to write up Singh for striking her, Pike refusing to accept Number One's resignation despite her lying to get into Starfleet, Number One helping M'Benga keep his daughter alive despite it breaking every regulation. I like and value this show because so far, it's the Star Trek show questioning Starfleet rules and regulations. And I dig that very much.

I mentioned in a previous review it's unlikely this show will ever stir my passion the way Deep Space Nine and Picard have. But I think it DOES have the potential to be my third favorite series in my Trekkie heart. It is very crowd-pleasing and accessible (unlike both DS9 and Picard, which are polarizing). There is something to be said for a Star Trek series that is just plain easy to enjoy week in and week out. *****.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 4 "Memento Mori" - May 26, 2022

While on a routine supply mission to a colony planet, the U.S.S. Enterprise comes under an attack from an unknown malevolent force. Pike brings all his heart and experience to bear in facing the crisis, but the security officer warns him that the enemy cannot be dealt with by conventional Starfleet means.

 

[Fone Bone]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds "Memento Mori"

Great episode.

We don't actually see the Gorn here but we ARE given some context for them. And they are terrifying.

I love that the crew members who die on this show aren't just forgotten. They are given funerals and considered heroes. A far cry from Star Trek's Red Shirt days.

Michael Burnham is indirectly referenced during the mind-meld. Good Discovery continuity.

Hemmer is a very interesting character. I predict he's gonna be a fan-favorite.

This show is knocking it out of the park every week. It has yet to deliver a bad episode. ****1/2.

 

[the greenman]

I'm commenting late on "Ghosts of Illyria" cause of my very busy schedule.

First off, I liked the episode, but I realized I have my own issues with stuff being messed with. Already commented on that before, so enough. I respect the ideas of bringing Number One an actual name and giving us a slight backstory.

Interesting to see #1's interaction with M'Benga, Hemmer & Khan. I kinda felt just a little too many revelations in one episode, but I guess two was sufficient enough.

Hopefully we'll see some more character studies on Ortega and others. That was what Star Trek kinda did well. Using different methods to get under these characters skins. Not a bad episode though.

I disagree with @Fone Bone, as I am willing to admit that, no I am not a massive Star Trek fan. I haven't read the novels, and dissected each and every episode. However, I have seen mostly all episodes of all series, up until Discovery. I still feel this addition of Khan in anyway was simply for fan service. Also laziness on the writing staff, which has included not just one reference to Kirk's TOS, but more than a few. It would just be refreshing to see brand new ideas, characters, and explorations. Star Wars is kinda guilty on the same exact track. IDK.

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[Yojimbo]

Episode 5 "Spock Amok" - June 2, 2022

It’s a comedy of manners when Spock has a personal visit in the middle of Spock and Captain Pike’s crucial negotiations with an unusual alien species.

 

[Fone Bone]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds "Spock Amok"

This show has yet to deliver a bad episode. That being said, this was the weakest episode so far.

There were things I definitely liked. Here's the best exchange:

T'Pring as Spock: "I don't like hijinks."

Spock as T'Pring "Unfortunately, hijinks may be the most logical course of action."

I also laughed at Number One's "What the hell is Enterprise Bingo?"

But the moment I love most was Captain Pike's "hunch" about how the alien's empathy worked. It looks sort of like reverse psychology, but there's more nuance to it than that here. I feel like people who use reverse psychology are mistreating the people they are trying to trick. I felt Pike's honesty was cool because they were all Damn Good Points. Even if Pike scared them off joining the Feds after all, the neat thing about the speech is that it would have had them begging off the Klingons and Romulans too. The good thing about it is even if they rejected the Federation that speech gave them license to reject the bad guys too and stay out of everybody's way. Is that in the Federation's best interest? No. But them being neutral is their SECOND best interest.

Also I feel like Pike is actually right that not every planet is a good fit for the Federation. The Federation needs to stop acting like unaligned planets are like Pokemon and they gotta catch 'em. Federation membership doesn't make sense for everyone. Starfleet read Sisko the riot act for using his influence as Emmisary to the Prophets to get Bajor to reject Federation membership while the Dominion War loomed, but that was the right decision, and probably saved Bajor itself. Not every planet, and even every FREE planet should be in Starfleet. I liked the episode for questioning it.

Unfortunately, I am just about heartbroken about Christine Chapel. This is the first time we've really seen this iteration of the character up close and it is ALL wrong. It's not as wrong as the Klingon monster make-up on Discovery. But it's wrong for the same reasons. You can't say this Earthy, in-your-face woman, who successfully not only gets into Spock's head, but earns his admiration is the same character Majel Barrett played. Aside from the fact that TOS Chapel was aloof and distant, and not a people person, her every waking moment was spent pining for Spock and being hurt by his rejection (and enchanted by his mystery). You can argue the character sucks for that. I'll even agree. But you can't say this is that same character and have it fit into the canon. It simply doesn't.

I will defend La'an Noonian Singh's place on the show with my dying breath. But this Chapel is as off as anything done on Discovery.

Chapel pointed out something most body swapping episodes forget: You switch bodies with a different gender, you're gonna want to check out the equipment. Farscape got a BIG laugh by being the first sci-fi to show this true thing. If I ever switch bodies with a woman, the first thing I am going to do is masturbate. It's weird sci-fi other than Farscape doesn't seem to grasp that. But how that works in my mind is my biggest unanswered question about women, and I'm betting more than a few of them question what it is about that that makes men so dumb and irrational and would do the same. Spock as T'Pring saying he never considered that while looking down is both funny and not damn good enough at the exact same time.

I don't actually believe men and women are all that different in thought and demeanor. I reject that idea entirely, probably because I've dated a female sociopath. MY biggest questions about women are biological. I think men and women are pretty similar psychologically, even if no-one but me would ever admit that.

I'm not loving the solar sailing ship. This was an entirely different model than the Bajoran ones seen in Deep Space Nine's "Explorers", but the design looks updated and cooler, because the better modern effects are now affordable. Still, if these things are well-known, it doesn't fit the canon that Cardassians are surprised one of the Bajoran ones made it to Cardassia. Another wonky canon thing.

I like hijinks myself. I also like hunches. Do I like party animal Christine Chapel? Not even a little bit. ***1/2.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 6 "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" - June 9, 2022

A threat to an idyllic planet reunites Captain Pike with the lost love of his life. To protect her and a scientific holy child from a conspiracy, Pike offers his help and is forced to face unresolved feelings of his past.

 

[Fone Bone]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach"

This is a significant episode. Why? Because it did something no Star Trek show has done since at least Deep Space Nine (if I'm being charitable) but possibly not since The Next Generation. Sticklers might argue since The Original Series. What? What was so big?

It did a new sci-fi convention. It was the tribute to The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, a truly horrifying story by Ursula K Le Guin made tolerable for the simple fact that a narrative for it doesn't truly exist, and it's all theoretical. And yet Star Trek doing a "new" sci-fi high concept trope hasn't been done for decades.

Star Trek has dealt with human sacrifice before, but only with adults, and the Enterprise always puts things right by the end of the episode. Like the kid in Omelas you aren't allowed to hand a drink of water, the child here is not saved. It's the parable of Omelas put into an actual narrative which is what makes it so horrible. And it's a perfect representation of the parable because Pike doesn't take the hard road and stay and fix it, or devote his life to doing so. He walks away. In Le Guin's fable, people who know the truth about Omelas and walk away supposedly go to a better place, possibly Heaven (it is left ambiguous). But I disagree with Le Guin's conclusion. The people who deserve Heaven aren't those who wash their hands of Omelas. They are people like the colonists and the guard here who are actively trying to fix the horrible situation, even if it makes Omelas fall. Le Guin never offers the true opinion that Omelas deserves to fall, and that anyone who defies the scenario instead of either accepting it or walking away from it is the actual righteous person. The people who have left to regroup on a crap planet to figure out way to stop this obscenity are the heroes, and people who merely walk away (or like Pike, beam away) are not. I believe the true parable of Omelas is not the strength of will to reject a gruesome situation. You have to be willing to do something about it. To let the walls of Omelas fall and give that dirty disabled kid a drink of water. Because they deserve to and it's the right thing to do. The true moral to Omelas, and this episode, to me is simply that the ends don't justify the means. And Pike is not willing to put in the work to fix it. Because he has a LOT else going on, granted, but him walking away is not a moral victory. Not like the kid's father pledging to join the insurrectionists.

I initially thought that guy was the worst father ever. But he treats the kid badly because he's not supposed to get attached to him. But he can't help it. He's his son. Which is the right reaction.

The stuff with M'Benga was interesting, and I like that the kid forces a half-smile out of Spock. But truly, the only subplot worth remarking on is Noonian Singh's security officer slave driver training. Kirk could have used Singh. Her rule of "use your tricorder for examination, and NEVER touch anything," would have saved the lives of roughly 80% of the Red Shirts on The Original Series.

Most of the episode was a bit dry until we get to the meat of the Omelas scenario. This show has yet to deliver a bad episode. Even the dry episodes wind up pretty amazing, when all is said and done.

Is this the last new sci-fi trope Star Trek will ever explore? Could be. But if you asked me before tonight I would have said there weren't any left. And I could never, EVER have pictured this franchise doing Omelas because every earlier incarnation would have either chickened out or bought it back. Are there similar hardcore sci-fi ideas out there Trek might be willing to try in modern times? I don't know, but the fact that there might be excites me like nobody's business. ****.

 

[the greenman]

Catching up: so my short comments on "Spock Amok".

Thoroughly enjoyable. Classic Trek where the crew deals with alien social relations, their personal inter-relationships, and the challenge of overcoming & solving those problems that come along.

Hope this isn't going to be a fluke.

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[Yojimbo]

Episode 7 "The Serene Squall" - June 16, 2022

While on a dangerous humanitarian mission, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise stumbles into a harrowing game of leverage with the quadrant’s deadliest space pirate.