TF Views

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.

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.

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.

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.

Strange New Worlds finally returned this week with 2 new episodes. I've only watched the premier so far, finally wrapping up the cliffhanger from the end of season 2, 2 years ago.

Hegemony part 2

Unwilling to leave the colonists and remaining away team behind, the crew come up with a plan to ram the Enterprise into the Gorn ship in order for their shield frequencies to cancel each other out an allow the Enterprise to tag the Gorn with a wolkite beacon. The Enterprise then retreats back to Federation space. So... already off to a bad start for me. The idea that just ramming their shields together would cause the frequencies to cancel each other out? Those wouldn't be very good shields if it was that easy to get past them. At any rate... Pike argues with April that if they don't make a stand against the Gorn they'll just keep pushing the hegemony line deeper into Federation space. Officially, April can't authorize it, but unofficially he allows Pike to take the Enterprise to rescue the people captured by the Gorn.

Using Scotty's device that disguises the ship from Gorn sensors, the Enterprise is able to track the Gorn ship to a binary star system, where the radiation belt apparently creates sort of a natural cloaking field. This scene was confusing, because visual don't match the dialog. The Gorn ship doesn't disappear like a cloak, it clearly jumps to warp going between the two stars. Anyway, Pike speculates this is where the Gorn homeworld is located (not sure how scientifically, that'd put the planet in very close proximity to the two stars) when suddenly a huge wave of Gorn ships emerge and are headed for Federation space. Unable to warn Starfleet and save the colonists at the same time, the crew instead come up with a plan to use the Enterprise's shields to generate a solar flare (Scotty initially says it's impossible to get a star to do anything, even though we've seen plenty of methods to trigger a flare, albeit that was in TNG and DS9, but still...) that signal the Gorn to enter a long hibernation. With the Gorn threat pacified for now, they're able to beam aboard the surviving colonists and away team. Pike worries they've just made the Gorn someone else's problem down the road, an obvious reference to when Kirk will encounter the Gorn in TOS.

I hate this type of prequel writing. So with the Gorn now hibernating, I guess the writers are suggesting everyone will just conveniently forget they existed, so that in a few years time they can encounter them seemingly for the first time in TOS. This is just terrible writing. It sweeps the Gorn under the rug as villains for this series in an unsatisfying way, and fails to address the continuity. How has no one heard of the Gorn when half the Enterprise crew have been traumatized by them in this series?

There's also a b plot with Nurse Chapel trying to save Captain Batel from the Gorn eggs in her body. Turns out Batel is allergic to the medication for cryo-sleep, so they're forced to remove the eggs. Guess the writers forgot M'Benga kept his daughter in transporter suspension in this very sickbay for the majority of the first season. Because of the simulated treatments fail, they end up having to use Una Chin Riley genetics to give Batel's body a chance for survival... So, like Into Darkness, magical genetically enhanced super blood saves the day.

And finally there's a c plot about the away team escaping from the Gorn ship. Honestly, this didn't add anything to the episode for me. Ortegas basically dies the moment they're transported back to Enterprise, but I'm sure she'll be fine by the next episode, despite missing half her hand and got run through by a Gorn and bled out while piloting a Gorn attack ship. Actually, no, that scene really annoyed me. She claims she has to be the one to pilot the ship because she flies the ship. The writers literally have nothing else to define this character. It comes off more as a parody of Star Trek at this point. It reminds me of Galaxy Quest, where Gwen DeMarco repeats the computer because that's all that her character did.

So yeah... To me, the writing made this the worst episode of Strange New Worlds thus far.

SNW - Wedding Bell Blues

Little bit of a time skip with the Enterprise having spent 3 months under repair at Starbase 1. Seems to be becoming a reoccurring event in this series, every season has had the Enterprise getting significant repairs. Spock is looking forward to seeing Nurse Chapel, but she turns up with her new boyfriend, Dr. Korby. Dejected, a mysterious bartender (in a reflection and to the crew he appears Vulcan, but the audience sees his true appearance) offer Spock a special drink, and when he wakes up the next day, Spock finds it's his wedding day with Chapel. During rehearsal, Dr. Korby keeps sabotaging things, although their wedding planner (the bartender, now appearing to everyone as an Andorian) is able to subtly use his powers to correct any problems. Spock later finds Korby in his quarters, where he admits to trying to sabotage the wedding, explaining he's the only one that remembers this isn't what their reality is supposed to be. Eventually Spock gets angry and punches Korby, which restores his memories.

Together, Spock and Korby try to restore others memories, but their attempts fail. Eventually they track down the bartender/wedding planner who explains he will kill everyone if they don't play along. At the ceremony, Korby attempts to object but is turned into a dog. Spock gives an impassioned speech which snaps Chapel out of it. Frustrated his farce has failed, the bartender/wedding planner/officiant goes on a rant about ending everyone's existence... when his father (an energy being voiced by John de Lancie) shows up to reprimand his child's behavior and bring him home. Everyone snaps out of the illusion and after an awkward speech from Captain Pike, the group switches to celebrating Federation Day. Ortegas leaves early, and we see she is suffering from PTSD after her recent experience with the Gorn.

--
Despite the episode never actually naming him, the bartender/wedding planner/officiant is obviously meant to be Trelane... Which is more terrible prequel writing if you ask me. I hate when writers think that simply by not naming a character/species, it negates any potential conflict with continuity. This episode needed to be clearer about Trelane. They never address why Trelane decides to alter reality to give Spock his desire. It's implied none of the characters ever see his "true" human form that we the audience see, but I'm not clear if that remains true for all of his scenes or not. Having John de Lancie voice his dad in this episode implies the long standing fan theory that Trelane is actually a Q. At least, that's what Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman said in an interview. Having de Lancie call him son implies he might be Q jr that was introduced in Voyager, but the aforementioned interview says that's not their intention. Rather, Goldsman suggest Trelane and Q may be one in the same, which I am not a fan of. Don't get me wrong, I do like the idea Trelane is a Q, but I think he should be just another Q. Like maybe the first Q born after jr, explaining why the Continuum is so keen on watching over him after what happened with jr in Voyager.

Ortegas seems to have regrown her missing fingers. Would have been nice if they'd addressed that. And now we have two characters suffering from PTSD after their encounters with the Gorn. I'm happy to see them finally give Ortegas some characterization besides 'I fly the ship', but giving the character the same exact PTSD as another character seems a bit lazy.

The first images of the upcoming Starfleet Academy series have been revealed via Entertainment Weekly. This series is set in the 32nd century, following the events of Star Trek Discovery.

Edit: And the first teaser trailer is online.

To be honest, not sure how I feel about this series. I think Starfleet Academy is interesting as a concept for a series, but I think setting it in the 32nd century is a bit of a mistake, being so far removed from most of what we know about the Star Trek universe, and the creators of nuTrek (save for the animated series) have constantly struggled with world building, even in already established settings.

Is.. is that a photo of a Jem'Hadar female? Odd enough to see a Jem'Hadar in a Starfleet uniform but... The Jem'Hadar were genetically engineered by the Founders, they don't have females. I suppose it's possible the Founders gave them independence in the subsequent 800 years and created female Jem'Hadar to allow them to procreate on their own. I hope that's something the explain in the series at any rate. Edit: So it has been confirmed that she is a Jem'Hadar/Klingon hybrid. No idea how that'll work...

Odd that they don't show Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman's character). She left Discovery to be an instructor at the re-established Academy. I thought she was supposed to be a main character for this show, but she's apparently listed as a guest star.

Looks like Starfleet Academy is once again based on Earth in San Francisco. Seems they park a starship above the Academy grounds. The bridge I have to say is disappointing. It looks like a redress of the Discovery or SNW sets, but is minimal with new stations/displays. It doesn't look like what I'd expect a 32nd century ship to be.

Apparently Sisko hasn't returned after 800 years. One of the displays shown asks if he died in the fire caves of Bajor or if he actually went to live in the celestial temple. There's also a huge wall that displays the names of many famous... er... I would say Starfleet Academy graduates, but then, Garak is listed as an Ambassador, and we know he never went to the Academy, and some of Voyager's crew that never actually graduated the Academy are listed as well. Some neat Easter Eggs... Harry Kim apparently became an Admiral. Nog is unfortunately listed as a lieutenant, when he should be at least a Captain. Also... I know this is just supposed to be a fun, oh look at all these famous Starfleet people type thing but... It's odd to see so many names of characters from the various series when, in this series, they've been gone for 1000, 900, 800 years...

Edit: Strange New Worlds has a teaser for season four. It looks like they're going to do an episode where the cast is portrayed... by muppets. I don't know why they seem to think these types of gimmick episodes are a good idea. This isn't the sort of show Star Trek is.