Strange New Worlds disappointment

[eschaton]

I don't think this season has been particularly character focused. Looking around the cast:

• Pike's been given nothing other than worrying about Batel all season.
• Una has fallen into the background, occasionally piping up to be a strong XO (honestly, better in command than Pike).
• Spock had a sad about Chapel getting together with Korby, then started boning La'an in an apparently zero-drama manner.
• M'Benga has been essentially absent from the season, other than revisiting his past actions in Shuttle to Kenfori, and the whole Gamble subplot.
• La'an is seemingly mostly over her Gorn trauma (which was transferred to Ortegas), and her situationship with Spock is nowheresville.
• Chapel has essentially no character arc now that she's with Korby.
• Uhura has had a snoozer of a flirtation/will they or won't they with Ortega's brother.
• And Ortegas (who was long overlooked) somehow got the only complete character arc this season, establishing new PTSD with the Gorn which was paid off in Terrarium.

I'm not even going to consider Pelia or Scotty here, given they're not true regulars, though there seems to be an effort to start Scotty on an arc. But honestly, Kirk got the best character arc of the season in The Sehlat Who Ate its Tail. You could also argue that Through the Lens of Time and What is Starfleet? were both character-focus episodes which highlighted a guest character (Gamble and Beto) which by design somewhat sidelined the main cast.

You can, of course, argue that ten episodes isn't enough time. But I don't think that's true. The first season provided character arcs for everyone other than Ortegas, including two for Uhura!

The problem, to me, seems to be in part one of setup and payoff. The season made the choice to focus heavily on romantic subplots (Pike's angst about Batel, Chapel's new relationship with Korby, Spock/La'an, Uhura/Beto, etc.) and it's stuck in neutral on all of them, focusing instead on guest characters, comedy gimmicks, or crises of the week.

 

[Airmandan]

At least they haven't visited the mirror universe.....yet....

 

[Mudd]

I don't think this season has been particularly character focused. Looking around the cast:

• Pike's been given nothing other than worrying about Batel all season.
• Una has fallen into the background, occasionally piping up to be a strong XO (honestly, better in command than Pike).
• Spock had a sad about Chapel getting together with Korby, then started boning La'an in an apparently zero-drama manner.
• M'Benga has been essentially absent from the season, other than revisiting his past actions in Shuttle to Kenfori, and the whole Gamble subplot.
• La'an is seemingly mostly over her Gorn trauma (which was transferred to Ortegas), and her situationship with Spock is nowheresville.
• Chapel has essentially no character arc now that she's with Korby.
• Uhura has had a snoozer of a flirtation/will they or won't they with Ortega's brother.
• And Ortegas (who was long overlooked) somehow got the only complete character arc this season, establishing new PTSD with the Gorn which was paid off in Terrarium.

I'm not even going to consider Pelia or Scotty here, given they're not true regulars, though there seems to be an effort to start Scotty on an arc. But honestly, Kirk got the best character arc of the season in The Sehlat Who Ate its Tail. You could also argue that Through the Lens of Time and What is Starfleet? were both character-focus episodes which highlighted a guest character (Gamble and Beto) which by design somewhat sidelined the main cast.

You can, of course, argue that ten episodes isn't enough time. But I don't think that's true. The first season provided character arcs for everyone other than Ortegas, including two for Uhura!

The problem, to me, seems to be in part one of setup and payoff. The season made the choice to focus heavily on romantic subplots (Pike's angst about Batel, Chapel's new relationship with Korby, Spock/La'an, Uhura/Beto, etc.) and it's stuck in neutral on all of them, focusing instead on guest characters, comedy gimmicks, or crises of the week.

So, basically, you brought up a rather lengthy list and group of examples of character focus to explain why you dismiss each one.

Not really proving your point, I'm afraid.

 

[ichab]

At least they haven't visited the mirror universe.....yet....

I'm a little surprised it hasn't been done already.

 

[Nerys Myk]

At least they haven't visited the mirror universe.....yet....

I'm a little surprised it hasn't been done already.

Done to death in DISCO.

 

[cooleddie74]

Season 3 was easily my least favorite thus far, but still better than any single year of DSC or PIC.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Season 3 was easily my least favorite thus far, but still better than any single year of DSC or PIC.

Or Voyager.

 

[Tomalak]

This season hasn't really grabbed me either I'm afraid. The first couple of episodes were fine, but the holodeck episode, the Vulcan one and the documentary gimmick didn't really work for me.

The other episodes have been fine, if rather predictable. I think episode 9 exemplified this - classic Star Trek premise, a nice performance from Melissa Navia, a moment of personal growth for character - it would have been perfect mid-season filler in a 26-episode season.

But instead it's a tenth of the season. A story that Trek has done time and time again leaves you feeling a bit "so what?" I get that after nearly a thousand episodes it's not easy to create wholly original plots, which is why they've leaned into the gimmicky episodes (with Muppets to come next year), but marooned with an enemy after a shuttle crash is one of the lamest of tropes.

Throw in a completely unnecessary fanwank ending, and a bang average Star Trek episode ends up being less than the sum of its parts.

I still like this show, and the cast are great. I was a big fan of the return to episodic storytelling, as it felt like a radical breath of fresh air after the run of heavily serialised shows.

Now I'm not so sure. The current model of TV production does this format no favours at all, as there's nowhere to hide if a particular episode doesn't hit the mark. If they could do even 12-15 episodes, it would probably help significantly.

But it's going the other way, and season five will only be 6. I think making those part of a clear story arc would probably be a good idea.

But I'm looking forward to seeing episode 10 when I finish work. Hopefully it will end the season on a high!

 

[Artoo Atari]

My favorite SNW episode is still Children of the Comet. That's what I was hoping SNW would be.

 

[Starflight]

My favorite SNW episode is still Children of the Comet. That's what I was hoping SNW would be.

Same here, when Spock started harmonising with Uhura in the asteroid I actually burst out laughing, I couldn't believe it; it felt like the writers were giving the audience a concentrated dose of exactly what we wanted. My hopes for the show peaked in that exact moment, I thought the franchise was fully back on track.

It's a fascinating episode in retrospect because it's not even especially great, it's just a very typical by-the-numbers Star Trek adventure, and yet it's still my favourite thing the show's put out. I think it's proof that even a middling generic episode that TNG or Voyager would probably leave on the cutting room floor unless they were desperate makes for great TV, especially with modern production values.

 

[valkyrie013]

this season has been worse than the previous 2. Pike, as the show lead.. has been nearly absent. ( Carrying on from S2 when he had his kid) I've liked the episodes but it could be so much better. More Exploring less.. whatever this is.