Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x08 - "The Elysian Kingdom"

[Trekker4747]

What a worthless pile of shit. QPid is great because the whole crew knows they're being messed with by Q, this was just fucking Fair Haven but with LARPing instead of Irish stereotypes. This is now easily the worst episode of SNW, beating out the stupid child sacrifice episode and the Freaky Friday episode. I'd almost rather watch 50 minutes of Michael Burnham & friends softly discussing their feelings while crying over on DSC then rewatch this episode.

1/10, I can't believe we had a shitty holodeck episode on a show that (as of yet) doesn't even have a damn holodeck.

Edit: I just read about the DS9 reference, so I'll take this opportunity to say fuck DS9's Far Beyond the Stars, it was the second worst DS9 episode after Profit and Lace. Also, how the hell can a figment of Sisko's imagination write a book

Congratulations. Your hyperbolic nonsense has made me officially declare this episode a 9.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

Chapel working her cauldron slayed me!

 

[Kevman7987]

The dog had a cape!

Rukiya being V'Gered at the end is simultaneously happy & sad.

I was hoping Rukiya's story would end with McCoy coming on in a guest role and helping M'Benga to cure her illness.

 

[Charles Phipps]

The ending didn't work for me. it felt like he just gave up oh his daughter and let some cloud look after her. Maybe they should have made his daughter look more ill. Show how bad it really is.
I did think the entity was going to be something we know. Nagilum came to mind, or someone related to him.

Probably why they wanted to make absolutely sure that we knew it was a benevolent entity and she was happy.

 

[DaveyNY]

It's nice to be reminded every once in awhile that not every Star Trek Entity is a cold blooded, destroyer of worlds.

 

[Trekker4747]

The ending didn't work for me. it felt like he just gave up oh his daughter and let some cloud look after her. Maybe they should have made his daughter look more ill. Show how bad it really is.
I did think the entity was going to be something we know. Nagilum came to mind, or someone related to him.

Agreed. Show don't tell. We keep being told she's very sick but every time we see her she looks normal and healthy just laying there in that biobed. The one times she's up and doing stuff she's pretty much acting like a normal kid. We really should have seen her suffering, struggling to even stay sitting up in the bed, it taking every ounce of what was in her to play with that other kid a few episodes back. (The joy/fun of some activity giving her the short burst of energy to play.)

But, we just kept being told, "no, she's very sick, there's not much time left." Didn't quite work.

 

[urbandefault]

What a worthless pile of shit. QPid is great because the whole crew knows they're being messed with by Q, this was just fucking Fair Haven but with LARPing instead of Irish stereotypes. This is now easily the worst episode of SNW, beating out the stupid child sacrifice episode and the Freaky Friday episode. I'd almost rather watch 50 minutes of Michael Burnham & friends softly discussing their feelings while crying over on DSC then rewatch this episode.

1/10, I can't believe we had a shitty holodeck episode on a show that (as of yet) doesn't even have a damn holodeck.

Edit: I just read about the DS9 reference, so I'll take this opportunity to say fuck DS9's Far Beyond the Stars, it was the second worst DS9 episode after Profit and Lace. Also, how the hell can a figment of Sisko's imagination write a book

 

[fireproof78]

Being sick isn't visible always. Having worked with people with chronic illnesses for a while it's believable.

 

[Trekker4747]

Being sick isn't visible always. Having worked with people with chronic illnesses for a while it's believable.

But when you're doing a fictional story and need to sell the concept that a character is very sick and tethering to life you have to do stuff to sell it more than just have characters say it.

It's hard to buy she's very sick when all we see is her looking perfectly normal laying there listening to bedtime stories and running around playing.

 

[fireproof78]

But when you're doing a fictional story and need to sell the concept that a character is very sick and tethering to life you have to do stuff to sell it more than just have characters say it.

It's hard to buy she's very sick when all we see is her looking perfectly normal laying there listening to bedtime stories and running around playing.

To each their own. I'll assume nothing. If they are sick then the word of a doctor is sufficient.

Eta: I will add that this is deeply personal for me and a big sticking point. Probably doesn't impact others the same.

 

[GNDN18]

But when you're doing a fictional story and need to sell the concept that a character is very sick and tethering to life you have to do stuff to sell it more than just have characters say it.

It's hard to buy she's very sick when all we see is her looking perfectly normal laying there listening to bedtime stories and running around playing.

Babs Olusanmokun’s performance illuminated the child’s sickness much more poignantly than seeing Rukiya wracked with pain. All of the indicia of Rukiya’s looming death played out in every line of Olusanmokun’s face, every twitch of his hands, every crack in his voice. It was a brilliant performance and it completely convinced me that Rukiya was terminally ill.

 

[Okmyx]

10. But then I've given most of the episodes a 10. Because even the worst SNW is better than just about any Trek anything since TOS and the Kirk movies (IMHO).

Now I need to buy more Kleenex.

 

[Belz...]

Babs Olusanmokun’s performance illuminated the child’s sickness much more poignantly than seeing Rukiya wracked with pain. All of the indicia of Rukiya’s looming death played out in every line of Olusanmokun’s face, every twitch of his hands, every crack in his voice. It was a brilliant performance and it completely convinced me that Rukiya was terminally ill.

And that's why M'Benga has become my favourite character along with Hemmer, and why seeing them both on the forefront this week was so sweet.

Now I need to buy more Kleenex.

La'an's dress was pretty exciting, wasn't it?

 

[plynch]

Just shite. 4 is generous. Was raving about THIS show to ppl just like PIC S2 … when it started. This is two comedy/farcical episodes with horrible tonal shifts in each, in a row.

(Emotionality creds: I openly weep at most Waltons eps until the later seasons.) This ending left me sitting stonefaced in my gt gt grandfather’s rocking chair. Just didn’t move me. Ug.

 

[fireproof78]

I trust the people you recommend it to are receiving an apology card?

 

[Ssosmcin]

Strange New Worlds continues with a good old-fashioned TOS-style episode.

More like the animated series. Or early Deep Space Nine. Oy... this one was a tough slog. Not my style of episode in the slightest.

Only positive is that Peck played Spock just right. Except he was Pollux at the time. My vote for worst episode of the season. Ah well, fresh one next week.

 

[NCC-73515]

I agree with trekcore:

the contrivance of having M’Benga be told to his face that he made the right choice is heart-warming to watch, but obvious and a little cheap. He is left alone, smiling, as the crew return to normal, remembering nothing of the last five hours of high fantasy nonsense.

Some of the Original Series does this, too — “Catspaw” is good example — but other episodes well-known for the high levels of nonsense, such as “Return of the Archons” or “I, Mudd,” usually had some sort of point about social trends, none of which is found here.

There’s a lot more to classic Star Trek than just silly costumes and clunky noises — a desire to tell plots that make you think and ask questions of our society. There is some cursory engagement with questions around terminal illness and engagement here, but it is slim

https://blog.trekcore.com/2022/06/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-review-the-elysian-kingdom/

 

[fireproof78]

It was a personal journey. It needs no other justification.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Look who wrote THE KINGDOM OF ELYSIAN...

 

[Ssosmcin]

I will say that Hemmer is amazing.