Spoilers Strange New Worlds 1x01 - "Strange New Worlds"

Altering their genes did seem rather excessive. Don’t they have prosthetics?

 

Ebay...

 

A technology that has an obvious dead end as we never see it again beyond SNW.

 

I’m not voting in the poll (in what parallel universe does 1/10 mean “excellent” and 10/10 “terrible”?) but it was a solid 9 for me. It felt tight, cohesive and assured and did a great job of setting up the series and outlining the characters.

I must admit, Pike’s situation struck a chord with me as someone living with stage four cancer. By all accounts I have far less time than Pike does, but you just gotta live with it, huh? We’re all mortal and sometimes recognising that can (and should) make us live better. Anson Mount is one of the best leads Trek has ever had, and Ethan Peck is note perfect as Spock. Una didn’t get much spotlight although I love her already. La’an is feisty and made her mark quickly, although her backstory I’m not quite as sold on. We’ll see what they have planned with that. One of the things I feel they’ve gone overboard with is all the callbacks to TOS. I mean, I adore TOS, but it does feel they overegged the pudding just a little. I was unsure about the inclusion of Uhura, but the actress did a really solid job. M’Benga has presence and I liked him a lot. Ortegas didn’t do anything but smirk—she could go either way for me, but I’m hopeful. Chapel…felt straight out of the MCU with her quippy dialogue and manner. In fact, quite a few times I got an MCU vibe which, I guess, is fine. That’s pretty much the face of entertainment these days and Trek always reflects the times to an extent.

Funnily enough, I do have a bit of an issue with Lieutenant Kyle’s casting. If it’s meant to be the same Kyle, I don’t know how we reconcile the fact that in a few years’ time this young Asian dude will be a pasty pale, blonde-haired Englishman. I was absolutely fine with the casting of Robert April because I never truly saw TAS as canon. But, if this is meant to be THE Kyle, it means this show is a reboot or set in an alternate universe. My disbelief can only suspend so far. Why not make this lieutenant another character? Silly thing to get worked up about, but it did pull me out whenever I heard his name mentioned. Maybe I’ll get used to it.

The plot was maybe a little thin, but it was fine, well executed and nicely encapsulated the core Trek message of unity and hope. Although I won’t lie—I found the confirmation that “we’re” headed for WW3, and an actual visual representation of it really…disturbing, particularly given the turbulence of the current times.

Great production values and as visually stunning as Discovery. In some ways this is quite “safe”, traditional Trek, but I think that’s what we need alongside the more edgy, non-traditional styles of DSC and PIC. SNW was kind of like slipping on an old glove, and I’m delighted this show exists.

Two minor niggles before I forget: why the heck would the crew be happy having their DNA altered each time they go on an away mission? Gads, what’s wrong with simple cosmetic disguises as we’ve seen countless times before and since? And Spock’s ears looked really fake and plastic to me, particularly on one of the Bridge scenes. Maybe that’s one of the problems with filming in 4K?

 

Finaly, tears of joy! Thank you all for listening.
Please stay on this heading!

 

I hope we get a flashback to when April was the captain with the Enterprise with very red nacelles and spikes.

 

Gets a 2 from me (9 on the 'old' scale.)
LOVED IT!

The original style of STAR TREK I enjoyed on TOS IS BACK!
Loved the way the characters and their dialogue was written. We have flawed and self questioning humans again.

Haven't read the whole thread, but saw some comments on the acting in the Spock/T'Pring scenes; but I thought they both did stiff/formal/unemotional Vulcans perfectly. Yes their communication and manner was stiff/stilted with ZERO emotion (except a hint of frustration/slight anger from T'Pring when Sock answers the communicator instead of continuing with the mating ritual ).

I loved the pace and flow of the episode, and the story/plot was a classic Star Trek one.

[starship porn] I also LOVED that we got to see a Disco styled version of a Hermes Class Scout (from the Franz Joseph Star Trek Tech manual):
http://www.shipschematics.net/startrek/images/federation/scout_hermes.jpg
[ / starsip porn ]
(And yes, I din't give this a ep. a 1 [10 on the 'old' scale]; because it's supposed to have a crew compliment of 195 - and hell even Pike and Co. when they showed in the 1701 up and scanned the ship were shocked/surprised to pick up no crew readings - so yeah, that's my one quibble. They went with a total crew of 3 and diedn't even take enough crew to have someone on board to beaqm them back.)
^^^
yeah, for ,me even that kind of thing is a bit too 'old school' TOS WRT 'plot complications'.

But yeah - loved it VERY MUCH. My kind of Star Trek is back.

 

It's a miracle they got what they actually ordered!

 

I was born right before TNG came to the air, and ever since then I've always wanted a more direct TOS sequel in the way DS9/VOY was to TNG. SNW is that show. I gave it the highest rating (1, or 10).

I'm really not surprised to see fans quibbling over all the minor details here. I noted them as they kept coming up: The Gorn, Transporters serving as replicators when beaming people down, Beaming into bloodstreams. George Kirk.

It's this kind of stuff that created all the ham-handed retcon explanations in Disco that were so awkward and forced. The only time I felt that here was when Spock when out of his way to mention nerve pinches working.

Otherwise, at least from this fan, I'd call this episode perfect. The only quibble I had with it was that the dialogue sounded a little muddied, so I needed subtitles to cover what I couldn't discern.

Favorite moments:

+ Uhura is un-phased when the alien jumps into the turbo-lift and makes conversation with him to put him at ease. Completely on point with Uhura's character from TOS, who rolled with such punches as the Androids in I, Mudd and the Mirror Universe. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of her.

+ Love that the whole episode is a call back and answer to that segment of The Day the Earth Stood Still- I daresay one of Trek's primary influences. Even the duo of a humanoid and a robot is mirrored with Pike and Spock.

+ "Why does this always happen when I'm in the chair?"

+ "The transporter doesn't work like that." "Then find a way to make it work like that!"

+ Interference in the planet's affairs is so in-line with TOS episodes doing similar (Return of the Archons, A taste of Armageddon et all), but does it in a way that avoids a lot of those episodes problematic ramifications.

+ T'Pring proposing to Spock puts a new spin on their relationship I'm intrigued to explore. It's going to be sad to watch the erosion of it since we know the ending, which was hinted in their introduction: Spock is going to continue sacrificing and assuming her intent for the sake of his starfleet duties.

+ Sam Kirk was a wonderful reveal. I caught Lt. Cmdr Kirk early in the episode, and knowing he'll be in Season 2 I thought this was an instance of flouting canon for a divergence. Not only was it Sam, but wasn't that Paul Wesley in a mustache? If so that's wonderful parallel to Shatner-Sam, and a wonderful way to bamboozle us with his S2 reveal to make us think Lt. Commander Kirk was James. It didn't occur to me it would be Sam until just before he walked on the bridge.

+ Throwing aside all that "Arena was implied to be first contact" stuff regarding the Gorn, the (gruesome) tidbits La'an provided about them are interesting. I'm looking forward to encountering them in this season, as they're one of the remaining TOS races under-utilized (The Tholians have featured a lot in ENT). I don't care about canon regarding them and would gleefully shove it aside to see more of the Gorn.

All in all, A great episode. I'm anxious about the next episode only in whether it'll measure up in greatness to the first- a good problem to have!

 

The did have to pass as members of the species under apparently strict security measures. That, and Spock's alterations had to fail to cause drama.
I'm not sure how editing plays a part in explaining away the issue in timing. Pike says "Let's go see the Doctor" and in the very next shot they all three walk into Sickbay. Pike saying "I'm going to go talk to the Doctor" and then a few unrelated scenes later showing them all walk into Sickbay would have accounted for the time for M'Benga and Chapel to do their thing.

 

Peck is practically smiling through the dinner scene, especially when he figures out he's about to get laid. Which is what I would expect from a young Spock.

 

I get that but I’m sure they could create some tech to fool their scanners. Altering their DNA seemed unnecessarily dangerous.

 

Look what happened to Yeoman Colt.

 

Great first episode. Thoroughly enjoyed it...

 

The problem with prosthetics is that blood samples, X-Rays and retinal scans will see through it.

That's such a weird threshold. The ship's design is changed, the props and uniforms and sets are updated, the tech is better than it was in TOS, etc. etc. etc. ... and Kyle being a different racial profile is THE thing that sends the show into reboot territory?

Again, I want to mention comic books, which typically engage in these sorts of creeping, piece-meal retcons as they go along. It's not an issue.

 

Agreed, and it'd be easier to believe Chapel was able to create their disguises based on visual date procured by the Archer crew. That she was able to duplicate the appearance of a species they had yet to study closely on a genetic level was a bit of a stretch.

 

Nurse Chapel has been busy

 

You know, they were really kinda off kilter with this part of the episode. Seems like they would've simply listened in on their communications and would've been able to tell a great deal about them from those.

 

Sam Kirk.

 

Talosians: I wonder why he wasn't interested in Yeoman Colt.

Pike: Yeah....uh...you have some things to learn.