Spoilers Strange New Worlds 1x01 - "Strange New Worlds"
- Thread starter Mudd
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I was impressed that they went ahead and made a direct comparison to our current times with video footage and everything. Gutsy in a very positive way.
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Definitely a great speech. That is why I put the speech in the good column. The speech was very inspiring and the videos make the speech that more powerful. I also appreciated how they handled the social commentary. They slip in some images of the Jan 6 riots to make the point about the divisions in our country and the world. It was there but not over the top.
It was a matter/anti-matter bomb, yes.
I doubt that anyone stopped to wonder, before posting, what you find attractive.
Or you, and they, can read first rather than blindly do. It's hardly a revolutionary concept.
What stunned me was that instead of doing the Picard Maneuver - holding up humanity as some kind of evolved species to be used as a model - or going full Kirk and giving 'em a pep talk about ideals and nobility, Pike said, in essence:
"We are you, and I'll show you just how badly we fucked up."
He shared, as some folks would put it, his experience, strength and hope. "Humble" is the word that keeps coming to mind. As @JLBTucker noted uptopic, Mount brings that Western vibe to this part, and one archetypical of the Western TV/movie genre* is the reticent, low-key and modest guy who can open up a can of whoop-ass** when the situation calls for it.
*Let's not get into the weeds here on what "the Old West" was really like.
**How ancient does this slang term make me?
Aren't the images of the "Hang Mike Pence" noose, the MAGA hats and "audit the vote" placards going to make this episode a bit dated? I mean, ENT did show the twin towers and Bin Laden, but still...
Those are real historical events. TOS frequently used WWII imagery for this kind of thing. I don't see a problem with it.
That was a great pilot - probably tied with Emissary for the best pilot in all of Trek history. It did absolutely everything that a pilot sets out to do - introduce us to the setting, themes, and main characters of the series.
It also, similar to Emissary, had a coherent character arc for the series lead (Anson Mount's rendition of Pike in this case). I have to say that taking the end of Season 2 of Discovery into account, this arc works a little less well however, because the beginning of the story regresses him a bit in order to make him reluctant to return to command. I did like the conclusion he draws from his discussion with La'an however - that in a way knowing how things ended liberated him, because Pike knows he has about a decade left to make things as right as he can be. My understanding is this is just a single step along his journey this season, so we'll only see Pike regain more of his confidence as the season wears on.
There's not much of anything I can nitpick about here, TBH. Maybe La'an's monologue about being a captive of the Gorn was a bit over the top - certainly it violated the dramatic rules of show not tell. But La'an was the other standout character this week, so I cannot complain. She didn't really get an emotional arc per se, but she did get a change in status over the course of the episode, impressing Pike and getting a regular assignment on the ship.
I cannot believe that Akiva Goldsman wrote this script. It's not genius work at all, there's certainly no high-concept SF to be found. But it works well as a back-to-basics Trek story to reintroduce us to planets of the week. I don't mind the lack of worldbuilding, since it's an explicit callback to TOS. I even think that his pretty mediocre direction style works quite well here, as he actually lets the camera linger fairly long on characters faces during intimate discussions - which make up the bulk of this episode. Seriously, I was so engrossed that I didn't notice until the end that other than a few shots fired at the Enterprise and a single 30-second "action" scene this was basically just people sitting in rooms and talking - but the script was well polished enough to have these relatively sedate, dialogue-heavy scenes carry the entire episode.
It also, similar to Emissary, had a coherent character arc for the series lead (Anson Mount's rendition of Pike in this case). I have to say that taking the end of Season 2 of Discovery into account, this arc works a little less well however, because the beginning of the story regresses him a bit in order to make him reluctant to return to command. I did like the conclusion he draws from his discussion with La'an however - that in a way knowing how things ended liberated him, because Pike knows he has about a decade left to make things as right as he can be. My understanding is this is just a single step along his journey this season, so we'll only see Pike regain more of his confidence as the season wears on.
There's not much of anything I can nitpick about here, TBH. Maybe La'an's monologue about being a captive of the Gorn was a bit over the top - certainly it violated the dramatic rules of show not tell. But La'an was the other standout character this week, so I cannot complain. She didn't really get an emotional arc per se, but she did get a change in status over the course of the episode, impressing Pike and getting a regular assignment on the ship.
I cannot believe that Akiva Goldsman wrote this script. It's not genius work at all, there's certainly no high-concept SF to be found. But it works well as a back-to-basics Trek story to reintroduce us to planets of the week. I don't mind the lack of worldbuilding, since it's an explicit callback to TOS. I even think that his pretty mediocre direction style works quite well here, as he actually lets the camera linger fairly long on characters faces during intimate discussions - which make up the bulk of this episode. Seriously, I was so engrossed that I didn't notice until the end that other than a few shots fired at the Enterprise and a single 30-second "action" scene this was basically just people sitting in rooms and talking - but the script was well polished enough to have these relatively sedate, dialogue-heavy scenes carry the entire episode.
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They play the long game...
As if they could.Did anyone else find the final series of images of the Kileyites a little ambiguous and foreboding? I did. It gave me the creeps and I liked that.
They lead with an image of a child obviously full of wonder at the spaceship, and then on through shots of the techie types reverse engineering Federation technology, studying our biology and finally some quasi-religious imagery.
I wonder if the writer's intent was not to suggest that, given what we've seen of the locals and what we know about ourselves, Pike's decision might yet send them in either a hopeful or dark direction.
If that was the intention, I admire it.
He did plant a flag and take the series confidently in some unexpected directions - the story's a little bit more scary than Trek usually manages to do, and the manner in which Pike throws away the Prime Directive is long overdue and itself overthrows decades of narrative timidity.
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I had the same reaction. "Uh... is this good, or bad...?" I liked the episode a lot overall, so I'm going to go ahead and give them credit for being intentionally ambiguous.
Prime Directive?! That'll never stick!
That was great. Well-paced, fun, and with some depth. Hardly any clunky dialogue (compared to, say, PIC). I also liked that it had some (not too many) callbacks to DSC, while also exploring unintended side-effects from SF actions.
Oh, and I loved how they showed the FC plot from the view of the aliens, who are really not the aliens in this scenario.
I kinda low-key ship La'an & Chapel, too bad at least one of them will set their eyes on other people.
Speaking of La'an, from the previews she was probably the least interesting character for me; that has certainly changed with this episode. Also some nice, subtle acting from her.
As an old Nimoy fan, I've really warmed up to Peck's Spock. And can I just say I love me some stilted, rational Vulcan courtship - I'll take that over most more 'human' drama anytime.(Btw, are they hinting at Pike/ Una? I hope not.)
10/ 10 although. I think they might get even better. But certainly one of the best Trek pilots, if not the best.
Hit it!
That was great. Well-paced, fun, and with some depth. Hardly any clunky dialogue (compared to, say, PIC). I also liked that it had some (not too many) callbacks to DSC, while also exploring unintended side-effects from SF actions.
Oh, and I loved how they showed the FC plot from the view of the aliens, who are really not the aliens in this scenario.
I kinda low-key ship La'an & Chapel, too bad at least one of them will set their eyes on other people.
Speaking of La'an, from the previews she was probably the least interesting character for me; that has certainly changed with this episode. Also some nice, subtle acting from her.
As an old Nimoy fan, I've really warmed up to Peck's Spock. And can I just say I love me some stilted, rational Vulcan courtship - I'll take that over most more 'human' drama anytime.(Btw, are they hinting at Pike/ Una? I hope not.)
10/ 10 although. I think they might get even better. But certainly one of the best Trek pilots, if not the best.
Hit it!
I redid my vote now. All is well with the world. 
Shoutout to Akiva Goldsman. The man gets pissed on a lot by ‘fans’, but he did a great job here are writer/director. Needs to be said! And a shoutout to Nami Melamud. She wasn’t ‘allowed’ to write the main theme for some reason, but her score was brilliant..!!!
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