Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x01 - "Hegemony, Part II"

[Noname Given]

...Makes me wonder if they want to sell this for syndication at some point.

They ALWAYS keep that in the back of their mind. The "One hour with commercials..." paradigm will never die.

 

[firehawk12]

See....I don't get this critique of both Mitchell and DSC's Detmer, Rhys etc. They're background characters. O'Brien didn't get a first name until Season 4 of TNG and that same show had a rotating cast of helm officers that often appeared in more than 1 episode and no one gives the show the same level of grief.

I think a comparable example would be all the extras in Ops on DS9, which works because Ops isn't really a focus.

They are stuck on Enterprise with having two people at the helm. For TNG it's because Berman had a weird relationship with Wheaton and basically got rid of him when he wanted to act in other projects and decided not to replace him until they wrote in Ro.
For SNW, it's like every other major position on the bridge is covered by a member of the cast, but one of the most prominent positions - at least on camera when filming the Captain's chair - is essentially filled by a seat filler.

It is odd when they write the Captain as having great relationships with everyone on his crew, especially his bridge crew, except for Mitchell. She doesn't get invited to any of his parties I guess... so it becomes doubly noticeable when they make Pike talk to her constantly in this episode, including trying to relieve her and giving her a 'hero moment'.

As for Discovery, it'd be fine if they didn't pivot to trying to make the crew a family. I think I'm in the minority when I say I like S3-S5 way more than S1-S2, but one of the flaws of the 30th century seasons is the fact that they had to try to fill out these characters after treating them like minor characters in the first two seasons. Their "All Good Things" moment in the final episode felt a little hollow because of it.

 

[Romulan_spy]

I think the implication is that this will be the last we see of the Gorn on SNW?

The Gorn are just back in hibernation so they could come back. And the episode seemed to be setting up that a war with the Gorn is coming, Pike just temporarily delayed it. So I would not be surprised if the Gorn did come back in a season or series finale and we get a big battle.

 

[firehawk12]

They ALWAYS keep that in the back of heir mind. The "One hour with commercials..." paradigm will never die.

SNW (and all the other shows) airs on cable TV in Canada. I'm not sure if that's the only place that does it though.

 

[fireproof78]

I mean, maybe it's just me, but the characters felt like a trauma bonded family to me. But, I also found the Discovery crew very engaging and that seems a minority position.

And, I also don't think I need several episodes to care about characters either.

 

[V'Lias]

The Gorn are just back in hibernation so they could come back. And the episode seemed to be setting up that a war with the Gorn is coming, Pike just temporarily delayed it. So I would not be surprised if the Gorn did come back in a season or series finale and we get a big battle.

They are definitely leaving the door wide open for them to come back. Which I'm kind of fine with. I don't want them to be the Borg 2.0 and keep showing up, but I think there's room to do a few more interesting stories.

 

[Nyotarules]

I’m wondering if she’ll be dead by then. Morbid, I know. But if they stick to the future that we already know about, she’s nowhere to be found.

Contrary to how Trek portrays it, space is vast

 

[eschaton]

You very beautifully missed the point.
Because you just created two wonderfully great dramatic characters. And I'm sure there's a similar dramatic character inside Ortega.

What makes pilots more difficult to write than engineers or doctors... Is Star Trek. Specifically it's plot tropes.

Doctors & engineers have to play off of each other or other characters (case in point: Spock assisting Chapel to save Batel). They can do that in their offices, on planets, calm or in crisis. They can do that alone, or when everybody's watching. There's TONs of ways to integrate doctors or engineers into an adventure story.

A pilot is always sitting behind his desk. And whenever they do something significant, it gets very expensive and vfx heavy for the show.

That means - the only way to write a lot of Star Trek stories for pilots is OUTSIDE their main job. Like Tom Paris relationship to his father, his criminal background, his relationship with B'Elanna, becoming a nurse...

I'm sure if Ortega was part of the love triangle with Spock, we'd have tons of stories with her already. As is, the writers still don't have much outside of her job to do, and her job itself just lends a lot less to exposure than, say, the guys who have to analyze the anomaly of the week.

I don't mean to repeat myself, but the logical answer here is: So what? Uhura's been given a lot of story time across two seasons already despite her job mostly being a desk jockey. Yeah, the character development needs to occur separate from the exposition-laden scenes on the bridge.

If you look at the best Trek episodes, few of them revolve around the bridge drama anyway. No one remembers the bridge scenes on The City on the Edge of Forever. Or The Inner Light. Or The Visitor or In The Pale Moonlight.

Just throw her an episode illuminating something about her personality beyond "I fly the ship." I don't care if we need to see her on vacation.

I think I do agree that ideally they would have gone the DIS route and had someone more like Detmer at the helm, who we could mostly ignore. But you have a main cast member, not a glorified extra. Give her something to work with.

 

[Uhura's Song]

I get that the forum will have varying viewpoints, and that is to the good, obviously. Some want more development of the secondary characters, particularly new ones. Some complain there was not enough Pike in S2.

But I think SNW has been vastly superior to DISCO & PIC in sharing the wealth in terms of the focus. To wit:

S1E1: Strange New Worlds. Opening log: Una. A plot/main focus: Pike. La'an introduced & plays a big part. M'Benga, Chapel, & Ortegas smaller

S1E2: Children of the Comet. Opening Log: Uhura. Main character focus: Uhura.

S1E3: Ghosts of Illyria. Opening log: Una. Main focus: Una.

S1E4: Momento Mori. Opening log: La'an. Main focus: La'an.

S1E5: Spock Amok. Opening log: Spock. Main focus: Spock/T'Pring.

S1E6: Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach: Opening Log: Pike. Main focus: Pike.

S1E7: The Serene Squall. Opening Log: T'Pring. Main focus: T'Pring/Spock/Chapel.

S1E8: The Elysian Kingdom. Opening Log: M'Benga. Main focus: M'Benga.

S1E9: All Those Who Wander. Opening Log: Uhura. Main focus: Uhura/Hemmer.

S1E10: A Quality of Mercy. Opening Log: Pike. Main focus: Pike.
--------------
S1 Totals:

Logs: Pike 2, Una 2, Uhura 2, Spock 1, La'an 1, M'Benga 1, T'Pring 1.

Main focus: Pike 3, Uhura 1.5, Una 1, La'an 1, M'Benga 1, Spock 1, Hemmer 0.5, Chapel 0.5, T'Pring 0.5.
----------
S2E1: Broken Circle. Log: Pike. Main focus: Spock/Chapel. Pelia introduced.

S2E2: Ad Aspera Per Aspera. Log: Una. Main focus: Una. Neera/Pike secondary.

S2E3: Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow. Log: La'an. Main focus: La'an/Kirk. Pelia involved secondarily.

S2E4: Among the Lotus Eaters. Log: Pike. Main focus: Pike. Ortegas on the B plot.

S2E5: Charades. Log: Chapel. Main focus: Chapel/Spock. T'Pring involved.

S2E6: Lost In Translation. Log: Uhura. Main focus: Uhura.

S2E7: Those Old Scientists. Log: Boimler. Main focus: Boimler/Mariner.

S2E8: Under the Cloak of War. Log: Pike. Main focus: M'Benga.

S2E9: Subspace Rhapsody. Log: Uhura. Main focus: Ensemble/Uhura.

S2E10: Hegemony. Log: Batel. Main focus: Batel/Pike.
----------
S2 Totals:
Logs: Pike 3, Uhura 2, Una 1, La'an 1, Chapel 1, Boimler 1, Batel.

Main focus: Spock/Chapel 2, Pike 1.5, Uhura 1.5, Una/Neera 1, La'an/Kirk 1, Boimler/Mariner 1, M'Benga 1, Batel 0.5, Ensrmble 0.5.
---------
*Quibble with my classifications if you will. A gave co-credut sone places, but not others. Ortegas close to 0.5 in Lotus Eaters.

S3E1: Hegemony, Pt II. Log: None. Main focus: Ensemble/Pike/Batel.

S3E2: Wedding Bell Blues. Log: Spock. Main focus: Spock.

Anyway, I get the gripes from the Ortegas fans. She has not had the log yet, while even characters like T'Pring, Batel, and Boimler have. And she certainly has not had the A plot yet, whilst nearly every other main crew have (save for Hemmer & Pelia).

But the show in general has. In 22 episodes, Pike, Spock, Una, La'an, Uhura, M'Benga, Chapel, Batel, T'Pring, Kirk, Neera, and Boimler/Mariner have all had the A plot and or log. That's a Baker's Dozen in 22 episodes. With only Pike hitting 3 in any season.

 

[Uhura's Song]

A century later the Enterprise-E beams Worf out of the Defiant while the Enterprise's shields are up. Presumably the computer or transporter operator, who would know the frequency of the shields, would account for that during transport allowing beaming to be possible.

No. They state over and ever in Trek you cannot beam in when shields are up. That is just another instance of them messing it up in my view.

 

[Yistaan]

No. They state over and ever in Trek you cannot beam in when shields are up. That is just another instance of them messing it up in my view.

Can you cite the episodes and dialogue that state this? Not that I'm doubting you but I'm wondering if micro-analyzing the lines themselves might provide some kind of explanation or wiggle room.

 

[Uhura's Song]

I don't mean to repeat myself, but the logical answer here is: So what? Uhura's been given a lot of story time across two seasons already despite her job mostly being a desk jockey. Yeah, the character development needs to occur separate from the exposition-laden scenes on the bridge.

If you look at the best Trek episodes, few of them revolve around the bridge drama anyway. No one remembers the bridge scenes on The City on the Edge of Forever. Or The Inner Light. Or The Visitor or In The Pale Moonlight.

Just throw her an episode illuminating something about her personality beyond "I fly the ship." I don't care if we need to see her on vacation.

I think I do agree that ideally they would have gone the DIS route and had someone more like Detmer at the helm, who we could mostly ignore. But you have a main cast member, not a glorified extra. Give her something to work with.

Good post. But I think Ortegas, whilest not having been the main character in the A plot yet, has been utilized way more than Random helm officers in TOS/TNG. Or Dermer, Owo, Rhys, Bryce, & Christopher, or the CMO, on DISCO.

She does a lot of comic relief quirky stuff. She is friends with Chapel, and now has her brother dating Uhura. She played the joke on her for Pike's dinner. Had the B plot in Lotus Eaters. Was as involved as any in Elysian Kingdom save M'Benga.

There have only been 22 episodes. Paris has, what, 172?

 

[drt]

Makes me wonder if they want to sell this for syndication at some point.

They ALWAYS keep that in the back of heir mind. The "One hour with commercials..." paradigm will never die.

The very television-esque three-act structure combined with the long "insert commerical here" fade to black between those acts is especially noticable in SNW.

 

[Yistaan]

The hotshot pilot thing has always been arbitrary and inconsistent in Trek. Riker suddenly became a hotshot pilot for all of 1 TNG episode conveniently when Jellico, who he's on bad terms with, suddenly needs a hotshot pilot. It never comes up again except in Insurrection when Riker uses a joystick to fly the Enterprise.

 

[Search4]

Where's Una and her magic blood to help wheelchair Pike in TOS?

Magic blood seems to be all over. Maybe Khan can heal Pike. Or La’an?

 

[eschaton]

Good post. But I think Ortegas, whilst not having been the main character in the A plot yet, has been utilized way more than Random helm officers in TOS/TNG. Or Dermer, Owo, Rhys, Bryce, & Christopher, or the CMO, on DISCO.

I'd agree with you. And TBH, I'd be more okay with Ortegas not being given focus if literally everyone else hadn't been given something:

• Pike has his impending doom, and his relationship with Batel.
• Una has her background as an Illyrian.
• Spock has his mixed heritage, plus the relationship drama with Chapel.
• Chapel has...her relationship drama with Spock. And now Korby, I guess.
• La'an has her augment heritage, and childhood trauma related to the Gorn. Oh, and pining over the alternate Kirk.
• Uhura has the tragedy of her parents death, her early unsureness, and her mentor relationship with Hemmer being yanked away.
• M'Benga had his first-season arc with his daughter, and the whole traumatized war veteran thing they've got going now.

Giving Ortegas a brother is a start, but it really hits home how in a show where extensive backstories were established for the rest of the main cast, we don't know crap about her yet. I don't necessarily want to have every character have past trauma (it's an awful trope in fiction when overused) but a sense of her as more than having just stepped off the screenplay would be helpful.

She does a lot of comic relief quirky stuff. She is friends with Chapel, and now has her brother dating Uhura. She played the joke on her for Pike's dinner. Had the B plot in Lotus Eaters. Was as involved as any in Elysian Kingdom save M'Benga.

I'd argue that both those episodes were failures to flesh her out. Among the Lotus Eaters involved her losing her memory (along with everyone else) and it was groan-worthy that the only notable thing she could use to tie herself back to her identity was her job. And in The Elysian Kingdom we were really seeing the cast play alternative characters to act against type. The prissy La'an and cowardly Pike, after all, showcased nothing about them.

There have only been 22 episodes. Paris has, what, 172?

True enough. Makes me lament what we've lost with modern short seasons. In general I'd say SNW has been the best when it comes to Trek shows on centering the writing on character, though, which makes me sad when there are obvious omissions.

Sometimes I think about whether or not you could compact say DS9 down to 70 more-highly-serialized episodes without losing anything important.

 

[Rahul]

I don't mean to repeat myself, but the logical answer here is: So what? Uhura's been given a lot of story time across two seasons already despite her job mostly being a desk jockey. Yeah, the character development needs to occur separate from the exposition-laden scenes on the bridge.

If you look at the best Trek episodes, few of them revolve around the bridge drama anyway. No one remembers the bridge scenes on The City on the Edge of Forever. Or The Inner Light. Or The Visitor or In The Pale Moonlight.

Just throw her an episode illuminating something about her personality beyond "I fly the ship." I don't care if we need to see her on vacation.

I think I do agree that ideally they would have gone the DIS route and had someone more like Detmer at the helm, who we could mostly ignore. But you have a main cast member, not a glorified extra. Give her something to work with.

Oh no, I fully agree, they should have given Ortegas her "focus episode" a long already.

I'm just saying: M'Benga or Hemmer or Una were already so much involved in the "day to day" activities of Trek, they were already well rounded before they hit their respective focus episode (or Hemmer never even getting one), just naturally by being put into so many dramatic situations already as part of many episodes' plots.

The pilot just doesn't have that naturally. The plots simply don't demand that. The writers would need to make a conscious effort to "let's focus on this character for this whole episode". Which they should have done already. But also, with only 10 episodes, they clearly had other stories in mind to prefer.

 

[Mudd]

No. They state over and ever in Trek you cannot beam in when shields are up.

And they've done it over and over since the beginning.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I still don’t get how they beamed up so many people that quickly

Has there been a limit established?

 

[Yistaan]

Magic blood seems to be all over. Maybe Khan can heal Pike. Or La’an?

Una: Don't worry Chris, we'll--

La'an: be more than happy to exchange body fluids with you to help you out (they wink at each other).

Commodore Mendez: One flash, then two flashes, then one flash again. Oh dear, Captain Pike seems confused and is waffling between saying yes and no...