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

[valden]

She likely said cool in the end for the same reason Picard was called JL in season 1. That is kurtzman superficial logic of trying to make trek be as cool and hip as marvel.

 

[Visitor1982]

Gave it an 8 (or a 3). I liked the characters, but the plot was rather predictable. I'm hoping there are some 2 or 3 parters as well. I kinda liked what Enterprise did in season 4.

 

[The Rock]

It makes sense for you, which is good. Me? It isn’t the look, it is simply the feel of the product. Two different shows made by different people fifty years apart. They simply don’t work together.

I know how you feel in the sense that I've always felt that TOS and the TOS movies feel very different from each other. Like, it's always been somewhat hard for me to accept that the look and feel of TOS morphs into TMP. They have the same actors but everything else feels different.

 

[Tosk]

So yeah. Pretty good. But am I understanding this right...they reverse engineered warp technology by looking at some ships with their telescopes?! You must be joking.

 

[Orphalesion]

I just finished the episode and...wow. That was one excellent episode of Star Trek. I like all of the characters. I really like the general design (and keep in mind, I'm not a fan of the original TOS style) and I loved the storyline.

The characters come off as engaging and relatable. Every single one. I think right now I like Chapel and Uhura the best, but I like all the others as well. Whether she has that unfortunate "secret relative to Kahn" aspect or not La'an just has a really interesting personality and it's nice to see how capable she is (like with the wounded Gazelle gambit and her choosing to endure the pain of the genetic alteration without pain relief). Uhura just seems fun personified and the actress makes the character her own. Chapel is, however the bigger improvement and I liked her and Dr. M'Benga rapport. In general several of the crew seem to have a good rapport with each other and there were so many excellent interactions (my favourite was probably Pike's talk with La'an about trust)
And on the topic of Pike. From what we saw here he might grow into one of my favourite Captains. He's personable, seems to care about his crew both on a professional and personal level...and damn can that man deliver a speech. I'm not ashamed to say that I had tears in my eyes during his speech to that alien world. So beautiful. So hopeful.
Also Ethan Peck manages to make Spock his own, and those scenes with him and T'Pring on Vulcan were excellent, in my opinion they managed to "get" Vulcans. They aren't emotionless, they aren't perpetually annoyed (*cough* T'Pol *cough*) they just control their emotions very strictly. Also loved that they didn't put the "standard Vulcan hairstyle" wig on T'Pring.
I'm looking forward to proper intros for Una and Hemmer next week.

I really liked the design of...everything. In the months leading up to the show's premiere I was actually quite disappointed and disheartened because it seemed to look more and more like TOS but... seeing the ship, the uniforms etc. They managed to strike a really effective balance. It is clearly inspired by TOS, but is different and updated enough to not looks outdated and actually comes off as quite believable and tasteful (I like the uniforms better than the ones DISC has right now and...did that male Transporter Chief wear the "skirt" variant? If so; awesome)

I also thought they managed to create a good tone for the series. There was drama (and really isn't the idea of humans believing they are immortal until the last moment relatable?) there was adventure, there was some very funny scenes of humour and light heartedness (loved that conversation Uhura had with the alien in the turbo lift) It makes me optimistic about the coming episodes.
I also thought that the plot was quite an interesting idea, with the first contact and everything (though that first scene was so obvious...did they really think anybody wouldn't get right away that we're watching aliens?)
Also the stuff with Samuel Kirk was fun...only I don't really know who he is...is he James Kirk's older brother or something?Didn't Kirk have a brother?

All in all, I'm definitely going to continue watching this show. Yay now I have two current ST shows I genuinely like (this and LD)

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Fuck me. All this trouble over a reversed poll.

Seems it was pretty good then?

 

[ExtremeSail]

Yep. This is it, chief. If they can keep up this vibe and quality then SNW might just knock TNG off the number one spot for me.

 

[Tuskin38]

Goddamn that was an adventure. This and Picard finale back to back makes me want to dance. So much energy and excitement.

Though I did notice one thing. Pike’s log at the end of the episode seems to have used a Kelvin style stardate. He said it was 2259.Something, 2259 is the year the season takes place according to the costume descriptions. However Earlier in the episode the stardate was 17XX.

 

[bookworm8571]

I absolutely love it. I’m sure I will end up watching it again a few times to pick up some of the details I missed but this is going to be my favorite show this summer. There was nothing I didn’t like.

 

[Tuskin38]

really know who he is...is he James Kirk's older brother or something?Didn't Kirk have a brother?

He appeared once in TOS, as a corpse played by Shatner wearing a fake moustache

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/George_Samuel_Kirk

 

[Orphalesion]

He appeared once in TOS, as a corpse played by Shatner wearing a fake moustache

Ooooooh, so that's why he had that creepy moustache.

 

[tenmei]

Ooooooh, so that's why he had that creepy moustache.

One person's creepy is another's Magnum PI

 

[Kaelef]

One thing that struck me about this first episode is that I immediately cared about and was interested in all the characters. This is in contrast to Discovery and, to a lesser degree, Picard, where I - unfortunately - only barely cared about the majority of them, even after many episodes.

 

[Romulan_spy]

A fine return to episodic "classic Trek". I know it is technically a prequel but it feels like a TOS reboot (in a good way). The show basically feels like an answer to the question, "what if TOS were made today?". We got a lot of elements from TOS from the ship, many of the same characters, and similar storytelling but all packaged in modern production values, sets and visuals.

Good

• Likeable crew
• Sense of fun and wonder
• Enterprise
• Pike
• Spock
• Humor
• A lot of nice nods to TOS from the retro tricorder, Uhura's ear piece etc...
• Classic trek story about first contact, planet of the week and prime directive.
• Pike's speech was good. I could definitely see Shatner's Kirk doing something similar in TOS.

Bad

• Planet of the week story seemed a bit thin. Just beam in, rescue Number One, give a speech. And we don't learn much about the bumpy forehead aliens except they are in a civil war (which was pretty common in TNG and Voyager).
• A couple plot contrivances like the aliens reverse engineering a "warp bomb" just from observing Starfleet ships through their telescopes. Also, the trope of the security scan not working and hacking it just in time.
• I personally don't care for the term "warp bomb". It was a matter-anti matter reactor. Just call it that. A matter-anti matter reactor could be used to power warp drive or create anti-matter bombs. That is what the show was getting it so just say that. The A/AM reactor can power warp drive, it is not warp drive itself. So calling it a "warp bomb" seems like a misnomer to me.
• Others also noted some discrepancies in rank on the uniforms.

Questions

• In TOS and TNG, they used cosmetic surgery for infiltration. Why not do something similar here, especially since cosmetic surgery would have avoided the issues of Spock reverting back and compromising the mission? I guess the writers felt that genetic modification would sound cooler but it made the mission more difficult.
• Who is La'an? Is she related to Khan? That seems to open up a lot of canon questions.
• Interesting that they referenced Discovery so much. I thought they would make the show stand on its own but they seem to really want to tie it in to the Discovery continuity.

Conclusion
Writing is a bit "simple" but the likeable characters and the sense of fun, wonder and adventure easily make up for it. Overall., an excellent premiere. I really look forward to watching this show. I think I will really like the episodic format and the classic Trek feel.

 

[Mudd]

She likely said cool in the end for the same reason Picard was called JL in season 1. That is kurtzman superficial logic of trying to make trek be as cool and hip as marvel.

Wrong again.

She says it because people talk that way now. Even old people. Welcome to the 21st century.

 

[Seven of Five]

Oh, I meant to vote 3, not 8. Is it a backward poll, or a backward user? Either works.

The first episode showed a lot of promise. I wasn't convinced that the crew having to pretend to be another alien race was anything strange or new in Star Trek, but the way they went about it was really good.

The crew comradery looks very solid, and I look forward to the rest of the year. The trailer for the rest of the season looks interesting as well.

The SFX were wonderful, giving a retro, but modern take on all of the classic effects.

Now onto PIC.

 

[Mudd]

They had fun with the Vulcan sequence - I loved the attendant/Maître d/whatever running them out of the establishment for a human display of physical affection.

 

[Tuskin38]

Can we get a redo on the poll? A lot of people are voting for the wrong number not realizing it’s reversed compared to 99% of this sites polls.

 

[Mudd]

f the week story seemed a bit thin. Just beam in, rescue Number One, give a speech.

One of the best Captain speeches to an alien species ever.

I personally don't care for the term "warp bomb". It was a matter-anti matter reactor.

It was a bomb and Spock called it that. And my heart was in my throat when Spock said the words. One of the two or three best twisty moments in the story.

Writing is a bit "simple..."

Yep. They're doing it the right way.

 

[Kaelef]

They had fun with the Vulcan sequence - I loved the attendant/Maître d/whatever running them out of the establishment for a human display of physical affection.

Only thing that was missing in that scene was a nod to the "finger caressing" motion we've seen Vulcans do in past Trek series. I kept waiting for at least a moment of that, but it never came.