Star Trek

[andersonh1]

I think they misjudged the tone the show needed as well. I'd like to have seen a grim, serious commanding officer, as Pike was written in The Cage. A cramped ship, space exploration that's dangerous and takes a toll on the crew, and bizarre aliens and other threats. And they had characters that we barely got a chance to know: Dr. Phil Boyce, Lt. Jose Tyler, Yeoman Colt (and what happened to the captain signing orders, as Kirk always had to do?), Communications officer Garrison, and of course Spock and Number One, who did make it to SNW. There's untapped potential with those characters and a duplication of the ship and conditions depicted in that first episode, potential that will continue to be untapped, sadly.

[Sparky Prime]

Yeah, the tone is certainly a problem with Strange New Worlds as well. I still can't believe they did a musical episode in season 2. Not that Star Trek has to be grim or serious all the time, but it's just so jarring to see something as over the top as a musical, compared to the tone Star Trek series generally have, or even compared to other SNW episodes. But even though that episode is somewhat of an exception, the show in general does seem to lean more towards comedy. It takes me out of the story.

[andersonh1]

Almost done with my rewatch of Star Trek, and one thing that I had never paid attention to before as an indication of the reduced budget in season three is the lack of crew filling the corridors. The ship generally looked busy in seasons one and two, and there were always crew members walking the corridors. Landing parties tended to have people other than Kirk and Spock regularly. In the later episodes, it's almost always Kirk, Spock and McCoy, with the occasional extra crew member if the plot calls for it. I guess they could no longer afford to hire extras for that type of scene. It's a pity, I enjoyed seeing the ship packed out with personnel.

Scotty also gets a lot more to do in the third season. I'd say he's almost elevated to main character status with the big three, while Sulu, Uhura and Chekov remain second tier characters in terms of how much they get to do (though Chekov occasionally gets more time in episodes than the other two). Makes me wish the show had been more of an ensemble show, because every actor is so good that they all deserved more screen time. Think of "Mirror, Mirror" which is probably the best ensemble episode of the series, and then imagine far more episodes that used the secondary characters just as well. I'd love to have seen it.

[Sparky Prime]

It has been announced Strange New Worlds will be getting a 5th season... However, it will also be its last, and be 6 episodes rather than 10 that the other seasons have gotten. Season 3 is set to premier next month July 17th.