Star Trek Strange New Worlds

2022 - 5 - 6

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Image courtesy of "The Spool"

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 1 - The Spool (The Spool)

The series premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Is a familiar breath of fresh air ... Time-tested tropes mixed with contemplative tales and a strong cast ...

And yet, with a record five Star Trek series in production at the same time, variety is a good thing. The melodies Strange New Worlds plays may not be completely novel, but its rendition of them is marvelous, with just enough turns and flourishes to feel distinctive. And those who work to preserve the good in the darkest hours may see it blossom when the time is right. Trying to placate the unyielding elements of the fandom with reassuring throwbacks to what they already know and like can net you disappointments like Rise of Skywalker or, heaven forbid, Star Trek: Enterprise. The promise of James T. Kirk’s arrival in a later outing, and the presence of his mustachioed brother here, suggest the new series won’t shy away from tying itself to every piece of Original Series ephemera it can wrangle. But the personal connects to the political (and intergalactic) in the crisis du jour. A vision of harsh consequences can spur us to make the best, and most, of the opportunities available. But it remains stirring to hear one of those time-tested captain’s speeches, acknowledging the difficult moment of the present while suggesting it too can be a wake-up call to work for the future so many young Trekkies dreamed of. Pike, Spock, La’An, and the audience all have a chance to compare notes and consider whether fear of death or rather acceptance of it puts one in the right state of mind. The captain is reluctant in the right moments, becomes commanding and supportive in others, and seems low-key yet confident in a way few other commanders have throughout Star Trek’s venerable history. These types of exchanges allow the episode to focus on its character beyond the adventure of the week. What distinguishes this first episode is the same thing that distinguished dozens of similarly-conceived installments of the older series it borrows from: the specific themes and characters at play. That extends to the officers on deck.

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Image courtesy of "CNN"

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' review: Anson Mount moves into the ... (CNN)

Paramount+ keeps beaming up "Star Treks" whether needed or not, but its latest, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," draws more heavily on the original series ...

From that perspective, "Strange New Worlds" is basically mistitled. It's a departure from the serialized template of something like "Picard," "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" premieres May 5 on Paramount+.

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Image courtesy of "Den of Geek"

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 1 Easter Eggs and ... (Den of Geek)

From familiar planets to Enterprise captains, to the complicated history of Star Trek, here's how Strange New Worlds episode 1 dives deep into the ...

This is a slight retcon that Star Trek canon has been grappling with since TOS. In “Space Seed,” Spock mentioned that the Eugenics Wars were fought in the 1990s and that it was the last of your “so-called World Wars.” However, in TNG, WWIII and “the Eugenics Wars” were posited as separate events. April tells Pike and the crew that General Order 1 will now be called “the Prime Directive.” Pike scoffs at this saying the term will “never stick.” This of course is an inside joke. Number One refers to “zero point,” saying it’s “where we and the crew of Discovery opened up a wormhole to the future. Pike seems to roll the concepts of “the Second Civil War,” “the Eugenics Wars” and WWIII, all into one time period. As Spock shows Pike and La’an a map of “worlds in this sector with warp,” he uses his hands, casually, to point at the screen, and change what’s being displayed without touching it. What once sounded like a “mistake” now is part of the real-deal sound. Pike did two five-year missions, but not back-to-back, and we know that because there’s some non-five-year-mission action in there during the Klingon War and Discovery season 2 (in fact, right now, canon puts “The Cage” in 2254, which would be close to the end of Pike’s first five-year-mission.) Here’s a funny thing: Of all the points in the Star Trek chronology, the exact years of The Original Series have a tiny bit of wiggle room. Spock mentions to Pike that it’s been about “three months” since the events of Discovery season 2, which could imply this is still 2258, or maybe a bit later. Spock mentions the Klingon Moon Boreth, which is where Pike had his future vision in Discovery. Boreth was first introduced in a TNG episode called “Rightful Heir.” At that time, time crystals were not discussed, and Worf was seeking spiritual enlightenment. Throughout the episode, Pike and Number One both mention events that are “classified.” As Una makes clear toward the end of the episode, they’re talking about the ending of Star Trek: Discovery season 2, in which crews of both Enterprise and Discovery fought the evil AI known as Control, and Discovery opened a time portal wormhole to the future. Well, in Star Trek: Picard season 2, we learn Rick and Morty exist in the Trek timeline, which suggests that Star Trek: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan also exists in the backstory of Trek, somehow.

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Image courtesy of "Variety"

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Stars Anson Mount, Ethan Peck ... (Variety)

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" breaks new ground among the more recent "Trek" shows by going back to the old ways of the franchise.

to be associated with that is kind of confusing and strange, but at the same time, it’s been the most incredible journey. Interestingly, both Peck and Mount have been living with these characters since 2019 when they first appeared on “Discovery” Season 2. At multiple points in “Strange New Worlds,” that knowledge causes him considerable stress. And that, in a strange backdoor way, is tied up in his identity.” “The show is episodic but the characters have memory,” as Mount puts it. We wanted to reinvigorate that sense of excitement.”

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Star Trek Strange New Worlds Review: A harmless yet forgettable ... (Hindustan Times)

Star Trek Strange New Worlds Review: This one is a pleasant, watchable series that has its heart in the right place and works best when it doesn't take ...

But it’s that very enjoyable genericness that makes it unable to transcend passive viewing, rather than the kind of show you’d actively return to week after week. “Anyone wanna tell me how a comet can put up a forcefield?” The more imaginative second episode follows a bunch of religious space monks sworn to protect a comet that’s on a collision course with a neighbouring planet. A race-against-time episode that involves our heroes saving the day by literally singing to a comet. The first episode, for example, is essentially Rescue Mission Impossible with the crew trying to go undercover to save one of their own who’s imprisoned on a planet consumed by civil war. Thankfully creators Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman and Jenny Lumet ensure Strange New Worlds is accessible to newcomers and invite us to strap in, sit back and just go along for the intergalactic ride of funky space adventures on the fancy spaceship. There’s Una “Number One” Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), a young Spock (Ethan Peck, grandson of Gregory Peck, as the gentlest, least interesting Spock yet), young Cadet Ahura (an endearing Celia Rose Gooding), and security officer La'an Noonien-Singh (a joyless, permanently sulking Christina Chong) among others.

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'Strange New Worlds' Finds the Old-School 'Star Trek' Sweet Spot (The Ringer)

After years of up-and-down, divisive, serialized storytelling, the latest 'Star Trek' series triumphantly returns the franchise to its familiar, ...

It’s not initially clear what galaxy-altering implications, if any, Strange New Worlds may be building up to, though the series does introduce an imaginative possible Big Bad and, in typical Trek fashion, finds ways to comment on the 21st century by way of the 23rd. Most of the episodes evoke Trek episodes past: a conflict between warring factions on a world that’s about to blow itself up; a vintage mysterious space anomaly; a crew contracting a confounding infection; a colony in distress; the complexities and perils of shore leave and diplomatic negotiations. Star Trek doesn’t necessarily need to be static; it could and should be a Changeling that adapts to its times and challenges its audience, and future Trek incarnations may perfect the model that Discovery and Picard pioneered. We want to do it the way it was done.”) From its font to its theme song to its story structure to Spock saying “reh-cords” and “sen-soars” to much of its recurring cast—which includes younger versions of Original Series characters Uhura, Nurse Chapel, and Kirk’s brother Sam, and will, as of Season 2, welcome Kirk himself (played by Paul Wesley)—Strange New Worlds is a comforting, familiar throwback. Perhaps improbably, the most consistent of the series that preceded Strange New Worlds is the animated Lower Decks, a comedic sitcom that fondly and perceptively spoofs TNG-style conflict by focusing on the not-in-command crew of an outmoded vessel that specializes in second contact. In some respects, Strange New Worlds seems almost regressive and cautious compared to the series that spawned it. I’m often the first to point out the problems with prequels or bemoan uninspired, nostalgia-centric narrative recycling, and on the surface Strange New Worlds would seem to risk checking both boxes. Discovery made Michael (and Sonequa Martin-Green) the first Black female captain in live-action Trek; in Pike (and Mount), Strange New Worlds returns to the franchise’s white-guy-captain roots. I finished it mostly out of vestigial loyalty to the character, the urge to rubberneck at a flaming 10-episode pileup, and fascination with what Stewart was thinking as he delivered his lines and presumably wondered how he got himself into this. Pike, preparing to settle into the captain’s chair on the bridge of the USS Enterprise, reminds his crew of its mission: “We seek out new life and new civilizations. You know the ones: those previously proclaimed by William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, and even Scott Bakula. They come right after the phrase “to explore strange new worlds,” which means they were always bound to be the big finish of an episode called “Strange New Worlds” that launches a series called Strange New Worlds. And after 50 minutes of anticipation, there they are, as expected and promised, with only minor modifications. But that’s not Strange New Worlds. Through the series’ first five episodes, which were provided to critics in advance of Thursday’s series premiere on Paramount+, the prequel/spinoff doesn’t take the coolness of the Enterprise’s five-year/ continuing/ ongoing mission format for granted.

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Image courtesy of "Space.com"

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' warps onto TV today on Paramount ... (Space.com)

Captain Pike and the Enterprise crew boldly blast into this back-to-basics “Star Trek” spinoff.

"Strange New Worlds" is produced by CBS Studios, Secret Hideout, and Roddenberry Entertainment. Every episode intends on being a standalone story which should draw in even more loyal viewers with its classic "Star Trek" approach. It’s light, fun, and agile in the best ways possible.

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