Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x10 - "Hegemony"

[Mudd]

You know, we each have our own idiosyncratic notions of what's plausible and what's not, especially where character behavior is concerned. The one line that took me out of the story for a beat was Ortegas pointing at the debris from Batel's ship on a display and asking "What's all this?"

I mean, WTF? That would be the shit you'd be hyper-aware of if you're driving the goddamn ship, Erica, that's what that is!

I was mildly distracted by the fact that the overhead scanning display of Cayuga was of a completely intact vessel. I'm sure that could be rationalized if I - Squirrel!

 

[cooleddie74]

Easy. Spock's Library Computer decided to be clever and show he and Pike a ship that wasn't in pieces and chunks of jagged debris.

See? The Enterprise itself has a conscience and we rarely recognize it.

 

[Noname Given]

Once again posting my review before I read the rest of this thread.

Yes it's another 10 from me.

They took some big swings for Season 2, and as far as I am concerned, hit nothing but absolute home runs with them all.

-For me, " Mr Worf... fire", just got replaced as one of the most chilling Star Trek cliffhanger endings.

In this episode we have the 1701 crew being successful in taking out the Gorn jamming Tower, only to find out that the Gorn were quicker than they were in beaming out the colonists and the remainder of the landing party before the Enterprise could do it.

We also have a situation where the Federation does not want to get into a shooting war with the Gorn; so Pike is not supposed to take any overt aggressive action; yet he's now in a situation where his ship is being fired on by the Gorn who now have the colonists and the members of his Bridge crew that were on the landing party, and the episode ends with number one asking what his orders are as the 1701 continues to take Gorn fire....
^^^
I do want the WGA and SAG AFTRA to get a decent/fair deal from theAMPTP, but yeah it's going to be hard waiting for that strike situation to resolve itself because until it does, production on snw is halted, and once it does begin, it'll still be 12 to 14 months before we see the resulting episodes..

I also enjoyed the way that they are organically dealing with and discovering new aspects of both Gorn technology, Gorn biology, and such as it is, Gorn society. It's refreshing to have a Star Trek show that doesn't reveal everything via exposition from a single set of ship or tricorder scans. Yes they are using those tools, but said tools aren't no longer instantly telling them everything; and the writers are finally taking into account that other species would have technology that would interfere and make those tools much less efficient. Also we finally get to see an adult Gorn in a Gorn EVA suit, that Spock dispatches with great prejudice

I also don't mind that they finally introduced a version of Scotty, and I actually love that he was a student of Pelia's.

Also the VFX and sound design teams deserve tons of praise here. The VFX are definitely major Motion Picture level quality, and I love that the sound designers on this series continue to artfully include many original TOS Bridge instrument sound effects seamlessly with many newer sound effects. The combination works and is wonderful to hear.

My only honest complaint is the fact that with respect to the USS Cayuga's saucer section, Christine Chapel was the only survivor; and they don't even have a scene where she and Spock attempt to check if the saucer section has anyone else who survived before sending it into the Gorn jamming tower.

But overall, it was an amazing finale to SNW Season 2, and overall I think SNW Season 2 was slightly better than SNW Season 1, although for me, both of these seasons are the best Star Trek that's been produced since TOS Season 1. If SNW keeps producing episodes like it has in these first two seasons, it'll replace TOS as my personal favorite Star Trek franchise series.

It's going to be an agonizing wait for the first episode of SNW Season 3; and when all is said and done with the Hollywood strike situation, I truly hope the overall run of SNW does not end up being negatively impacted, but time will tell.

I'll be snapping up the Blu-ray of Strange New Worlds Season 2 as soon as it is announced and made available for purchase.

 

[Tallguy]

See? The Enterprise itself has a conscience and we rarely recognize it.

Kirk is a jerk!

 

[Ssosmcin]

Can't say this thrilled me. It was okay, but I have to echo some of the others here.

Xenomorph simarliities (and I'm being kind) are too easy. I don't care if they wanted to go in another direction for the Gorn than the original, but this didn't show any more imagination than the dinosaur guy. I do hope season 3 will show us a more up to date take on the ogirinal as a higher, more intelligent overlord speices using the Xenomorphs as cannon fodder. It is a bit Xindi but I would be fine with it.

Same with the others: Chapel being the only survivor and no mention ot looking for others. Also I hate when zero G is portrayed as "underwater." A lot of suspense can be generated simply by not having a handhold in zero gravity.

Great moments for Erica but damn they love pronouncing La'an's surnames like Data's Dad. Nooneyan vs NooNEE-in. Muh Bega vs EM-Benga. Small things but they stick out for me.

The moment I saw Scotty, I bluirted out "oh f'k you." Not because I don't think Scotty would join the crrew before Kirk but because I've hadmy fill of Classic Ttrek legacy characters being brought in. I really wanted Pike's crew to be mostly original and have a chance to grow without plot armor keeping them alive. I found ZERO suspense with the scenes of Chapel being thought dead or Spock about to have his helmet crushed. Now we just added another character who, at most, can lose a finger.

Cliffhanger: didn't feel we needed it. I could have lived with a drop of any other prior episode (except the War one) to make room for part two this year. And I didn't feel it was compelling. The moment the end credits came up, I quoted Pike himself. "Well, that happened."

This was a mix and pour plot episode and while I don't mind that stuff (Star Trek isn't new to shake and bake stores), I didn't get into this one at all. The "homages" were far too obvious and I didn't end the episode going "oh man how will I wait?!" I wondered if I'd remember this episode by the time the next season premiered.

Glad so many people liked it and for those who rated every single episode a 10, I'm thrilled you're having a great time.

This episode get s 4 from me and the season a 6.

 

[jackoverfull]

You know, we each have our own idiosyncratic notions of what's plausible and what's not, especially where character behavior is concerned. The one line that took me out of the story for a beat was Ortegas pointing at the debris from Batel's ship on a display and asking "What's all this?"

I mean, WTF? That would be the shit you'd be hyper-aware of if you're driving the goddamn ship, Erica, that's what that is!

I think that was a rhetorical question.

 

[Kaelef]

Then, the fact she catches sight of both the Enterprise and Spock flying past the window she just happens to be standing next to.

It surprised me that we didn't get a moment where Spock is actively looking for Christine as he goes over what's left of the ship's hull. That would've helped explain his eagerness to go forward with the de-orbiting plan and also his insistence that he was the only one capable of doing it (we're not told or shown anything that explains why that might be so).

Also, Spock just happens to float over the one spot where Christine is standing just as she happened to stand there was eye-roll-inducing.

 

[Nerys Myk]

You know, we each have our own idiosyncratic notions of what's plausible and what's not, especially where character behavior is concerned. The one line that took me out of the story for a beat was Ortegas pointing at the debris from Batel's ship on a display and asking "What's all this?"

I mean, WTF? That would be the shit you'd be hyper-aware of if you're driving the goddamn ship, Erica, that's what that is!

I was mildly distracted by the fact that the overhead scanning display of Cayuga was of a completely intact vessel. I'm sure that could be rationalized if I - Squirrel!

I read that scene differently. Like jackoverfull mentions, a rhetorical question.

 

[Tallguy]

Star Trek isn't new to shake and bake stores

So that would be a shake and bake colony?

 

[Kaelef]

I'll be snapping up the Blu-ray of Strange New Worlds Season 2 as soon as it is announced and made available for purchase.

The season 1 UHD Blu-rays are awesome and I will start a bloody riot if we don't get season 2 UHD Blu-rays!!

 

[firehawk12]

I talked about what I think was going on with the colony design here: https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/sta...ds-2x10-hegemony.314821/page-20#post-14584385

The same notion applies to vehicles. They would be standard, 23rd Century vehicles but made to appear like they are from an earlier era.

Yeah, if this is just "Cottage core" but with every aspect of life instead of just clothing, fine... you're choosing to live a less than optimal life by having streets and wheeled vehicles to get people around because you want to appropriate the signifiers of the period.

I just wonder what kind of people would want that life when it's seen as pretty bad to some people living now. Like even if you ignore the racism, sexism, transphobia, etc. of the time period and think about the mechanics of having to drive everywhere. Every time I commute I feel a little piece of me die inside, so to actively choose it because it's quaint is a choice. lol

 

[fireproof78]

Yeah, if this is just "Cottage core" but with every aspect of life instead of just clothing, fine... you're choosing to live a less than optimal life by having streets and wheeled vehicles to get people around because you want to appropriate the signifiers of the period.

I just wonder what kind of people would want that life when it's seen as pretty bad to some people living now. Like even if you ignore the racism, sexism, transphobia, etc. of the time period and think about the mechanics of having to drive everywhere. Every time I commute I feel a little piece of me die inside, so to actively choose it because it's quaint is a choice. lol

Maybe because some people like simplicity. I enjoy commuting, I enjoy working on my house myself, I find a pleasure in the work of my hands, far more than even some of the past retail work I have done. I don't automatically go and seek out the latest and greatest tech, and clothes are simply something I wear.

To me there is a simplicity of it and I like it.

 

[Noname Given]

I would argue the long wait between Voyager S7 and Prodigy for a resolution to the Voyager cliffhanger was the longest wait in Star Trek history. lol

Star Trek "The Cage', was filmed in 1964 with Captain Christopher Pike, and Number One as the main characters. This version of Star Trek wasn't picked up and green lit until the year 2020.
^^^
That's a 56 year wait from Pilot to Series pickup...Just saying...

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yeah, if this is just "Cottage core" but with every aspect of life instead of just clothing, fine... you're choosing to live a less than optimal life by having streets and wheeled vehicles to get people around because you want to appropriate the signifiers of the period.

I just wonder what kind of people would want that life when it's seen as pretty bad to some people living now. Like even if you ignore the racism, sexism, transphobia, etc. of the time period and think about the mechanics of having to drive everywhere. Every time I commute I feel a little piece of me die inside, so to actively choose it because it's quaint is a choice. lol

The beauty of it is you don't have to include the racism, sexism, transphobia etc.

 

[Ssosmcin]

So that would be a shake and bake colony?

You got it.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

I wonder what the USS Stardiver looked like. Can't wait for the Eaglemoss vers---

Shit.

 

[Trekker4747]

You know, we each have our own idiosyncratic notions of what's plausible and what's not, especially where character behavior is concerned. The one line that took me out of the story for a beat was Ortegas pointing at the debris from Batel's ship on a display and asking "What's all this?"

I mean, WTF? That would be the shit you'd be hyper-aware of if you're driving the goddamn ship, Erica, that's what that is!

I guess I read that as her asking kind of rhetorically. Asking what is because she WAS aware of it and saw the value in it while everyone else seemed to disregard it.

 

[drt]

With regard to Cayuga's saucer... my assumption is that the writer may have intended the damage to have been so extensive that there was really no chance of any survivors, but then the visuals left us with a saucer that's half intact.

I'm also bit confused at some calling the adult Gorn being unintelligent and animalistic, it was obtrying to crack Cayuga's computer system.

You know, we each have our own idiosyncratic notions of what's plausible and what's not, especially where character behavior is concerned. The one line that took me out of the story for a beat was Ortegas pointing at the debris from Batel's ship on a display and asking "What's all this?"

I mean, WTF? That would be the shit you'd be hyper-aware of if you're driving the goddamn ship, Erica, that's what that is!

Yeah, it would have better served her character to just propose to use the debris in the first place.

 

[Mudd]

I guess I read that as her asking kind of rhetorically. Asking what is because she WAS aware of it and saw the value in it while everyone else seemed to disregard it.

That occurred to me, yeah. But it took working at it.

 

[Trekker4747]

That occurred to me, yeah. But it took working at it.

She's got a wit to her, it's tough to read through sometimes.