Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 4x01 - "Valles Marineris"

[eschaton]

I've seen people getting taken out of Star Wars: The Last Jedi because 'people can't survive in space', and that's a story about space wizards, so the show about scientists learning about the universe has to try even harder. And I'm sure everyone has a point where a story will lose them, even people who reckon they've moved beyond childish things like caring about believability in their made-up TV show, so writers shouldn't be testing how far they can lower the bar.

TBH, I think a lot of it comes down to the tone of the fictional story, not how rigorous it is.

As an example outside of sci-fi, consider if you're reading or watching historical fiction which is supposed to take place in say the Victorian era, but the dialogue contains a lot of anachronistic modern slang. If the the subject is dark and serious (say covering labor strife, or a murder investigation) this will be jarring as hell. On the other hand, if it's a light or comedic story, you can get away with it.

The same goes in worldbuilding in speculative fiction. If you're telling a serious story, the world needs to be framed in a serious, rigorous manner. Not necessarily scientifically accurate, but consistent and grounded.

A great example of how tone and worldbuilding don't work well is the Netflix movie Bright. The concept of a gritty cop story told in a fantasy world had a lot of promise (has been done well in book form several times), but the worldbuilding was just a lazy pasting of fantasy races onto a bog-standard cop movie. Worse, the tone of the movie was deadly serious, without a hint of tongue in cheek. It ended up a drag and nonsensical, a world where a "dark lord" nearly took over 1,000 years ago, but somehow a Chicano character also referenced The Alamo.

 

[BillJ]

A great example of how tone and worldbuilding don't work well is the Netflix movie Bright.

Seems like viewers disagree with your analysis. More than 10,000 votes by viewers averaged out to 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Bright | Rotten Tomatoes

Discover reviews, ratings, and trailers for Bright on Rotten Tomatoes. Stay updated with critic and audience scores today!

www.rottentomatoes.com

 

[eschaton]

Seems like viewers disagree with your analysis. More than 10,000 votes by viewers averaged out to 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Bright | Rotten Tomatoes

Discover reviews, ratings, and trailers for Bright on Rotten Tomatoes. Stay updated with critic and audience scores today!

www.rottentomatoes.com

Well yeah, and look at the audience reviews.

Plus Lindsay Ellis:

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[BillJ]

Well yeah, and look at the audience reviews.

Plus Lindsay Ellis:

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A YouTuber hated something?! The Hell you say! They make their money off of criticizing things.

 

[fireproof78]

A YouTuber hated something?! The Hell you say! They make their money off of criticizing things.

We all know that's the final arbiter of taste is popularity

 

[BillJ]

We all know that's the final arbiter of taste is popularity

It never is. Same time, if lots of people are liking something, there is something in it that is engaging them.

 

[fireproof78]

It never is. Same time, if lots of people are liking something, there is something in it that is engaging them.

That's the joke.

Popularity is an awful measure of quality of storytelling.

 

[Ovation]

That's the joke.

Popularity is an awful measure of quality of storytelling.

Popularity is an excellent measure of…popularity. Considerably limited as a metric beyond that.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

A YouTuber hated something?! The Hell you say! They make their money off of criticizing things.

Every professional critic makes money by criticising things, YouTube or otherwise.

These days there are algorithms that encourage drama, but for YouTubers their reputation is what gives them credibility and if their viewers sense that they're lying about something to get attention they can turn on them. There's an incentive to be honest. I don't know if I've seen much by Lindsay Ellis but I've never heard anything bad about her and the vibe I get is that she's pretty well respected.

 

[Miami Vice Admiral]

Late to the party here.

This is the first one in a long time my folks and I liked. The only big nitpick I have is that Pike’s decision wasn’t given nearly the weight it deserved and the ending was a bit too happy for what just happened.

Still though, it had a lot of great elements

 

[saddestmoon]

Also late to this party, as season 4 only just available here: enjoyed the first ep, and not a bad opener to the season: this could have possibly been a two-parter of an arc, simply because it wrapped up quite quickly, considering the gravity of the situation - but overall, a solid SNWs return!

 

[Farscape One]

"Valles Marineris"
The new Vulcan cadet... clearly, the writers are trying to see if SNW can pull off having a T'Lyn from LD. (She was a great addition there.) Already similar story in both not really accepted by other Vulcan institutes (a ship in T'Lyn's case, not getting into the Vulcan Science Academy here). But she should have been used more here instead of just what amounted to a tacked on appearance at the start and end. She should have at least been involved in the story tangentially. She felt more like a last minute tacking on than a real part of the episode.

JURASSIC PARK meets STAR TREK... never thought I would say that sentence out loud, but here we are. And while it is a fun gimmick, it was simply that: a gimmick.

I did like the point-counterpoint of values and philosophies between Pike and Cassell. It was too short, however, and really should have been a bigger part of the episode.

I like that Una got a promotion to full Commander... about time! As usual, she handled herself well on the planet.

The whole predestination paradox aspect of this was... certainly a choice. Adding this component in just made the episode feel like it was two separate stories mashed together instead of fully forming each story into their own episode... which was a problem with several season 3 episodes, most notably the season 3 finale. (Also this reminded me of the classic DW story "Earthshock".)

It's really become a tiresome cliche for SNW at this point: Spock with yet another romance. This was already building up in season 3 with La'an, and it was tiresome then.

Speaking of La'an, her season arc starts here. I'm thinking this will tie directly into her transformation in "Four and a Half Vulcans".

Curious to see this rivalry between Scotty and Ortegas play out. And Pelia, as usual, is always fun to have around.

As usual, the visuals were really good... I'd even say they were pretty stunning.

Not a bad way to start the season, but not a great episode, either. It was a fun adventure with some elements of what makes STAR TREK great: moral dilemma. But it felt like the dilemma was more the side dish rather than the main course, which I wish was the reverse. I'd give this a 5.75, which rounds out to a 6 here.