Star Trek

[Sparky Prime]

Picard season 3 episode 9
"Vox"

Spoiler

Troi is able to telepathically figure out who is behind the red door in Jack's mind... The Borg.

Picard tells Jack, and Jack flips out. Starfleet protocols say that Jack be taken into custody, but Jack takes over the guards with his abilities and takes a shuttle to take care of the Borg himself. The Titan-A does absolutely nothing to stop him. The crew are able to figure out when Picard was turned into Locutus, the Borg altered his DNA beyond that of normal drones. The result was a "seed", an organic receiver, which is how they explain why Picard could hear the Collective in First Contact. Having passed it to Jack, it as evolved to become an organic transceiver in him. The Changelings have also altered Starfleet transporters, introducing Borg DNA to anyone who uses them.

The Titan-A heads to Earth to warn Starfleet, where Admiral Shelby, on the Enterprise F, is heading up the Frontier Day celebration and introducing Starfleet's new interlinked fleet abilities. The crew realize what a bad idea this is and find it ironic Shelby would be in favor of this technology given how Borg-like it is. Jack arrives in a nebula where a Borg structure arrives via transwarp conduit. Jack beams aboard to kill the Queen (voiced by Alice Krige, but we don't actually get to see her, other than a stand-in from behind), but he finds himself unable to fire his phaser, and the Queen plugs some cables into Jack. The Titan-A arrives at Earth, where the automated Fleet protocols takes over the ship. Picard quickly warns Shelby but gets cut off. The Borg signal then telepathically assimilates everyone who has used a Changeling altered transporter. But only those under 25 because the prefrontal cortex stops developing at that age. The assimilated crew begins killing anyone that isn't linked to the Collective (and destroy the Excelsior). TNG crew escape to the shuttle bay through a maintenance deck, but Captain Shaw is killed giving them cover fire. Seven and Raffi stay behind. The Fleet begins to target Spacedock, and prepares to take out planetary defenses.

TNG crew head to the Starfleet Museum, in need of a ship that is 'analog' (that's already outdated by today's standards so I really wish they'd come up with some different terminology) so it wont get taken over by the Fleet. Geordi reveals the rebuilt Enterprise D he's been working on restoring. Thanks to the Prime Directive, the saucer section was recovered from Viridian III, and the stardrive belonged to the USS Syracuse. The Enterprise E apparently isn't available, to which everyone looks at Worf who says it wasn't his fault. Whatever that means...

The crew take their stations on the bridge and prepare to save the day on the classic Galaxy Class ship...

I do not feel the mystery behind Jack needed to be dragged out for 9 episodes. I was a underwhelmed by the reveal of the true big bad of the season. Honestly, I was expecting it to be them, because they were the only villain that'd make sense. But, it doesn't make sense to me that the Changelings would be working with them...

Spoiler

Either the Changelings would refuse to work with them because they are solids, or the Borg would try to assimilate them. Or maybe they already had? They never explained how the Borg could communicate to Vadic when she cut off her hand. They also never explained why Vadic knew all about Jack's abilities and visions. Maybe they'll cover it in the finale? Somehow, I doubt that.

The whole 'evolution' of the Borg doesn't really add up to me either. I don't see the Borg giving up technological assimilation in favor of this... telepathic organic assimilation or whatever it is. It's been said many times in the series that the Borg see organic as weak.

It was really good to see the restored Enterprise D again. They even had Majel Barrett-Roddenberry voice for the computer. I wish they'd given us a better explanation... or rather any explanation for what happened to the Enterprise E. Apparently something Worf did trashed it?

[andersonh1]

Questions aside,

Spoiler

I love the way that Picard's assimilation in Best of Both Worlds has come back to haunt everyone. It makes sense of how he can hear the Borg in First Contact, it makes use of putting Picard into an artificial body by finally doing something with his biological body, and it takes the idea that he had irumodic syndrome and does something interesting with it by making it Borg organic technology. Looks like the Borg have evolved in their attitudes. Captain Shaw was right... the real Borg are still out there.

I think it's a well put together storyline, built on a lot of elements that came before.

Not sure how

Spoiler

seven people are going to properly crew the Enterprise D, or what one ship is going to do against the entire fleet

though. Can't wait to see how they wrap all of this up next week.

[Sparky Prime]

Questions aside,

Spoiler

I love the way that Picard's assimilation in Best of Both Worlds has come back to haunt everyone. It makes sense of how he can hear the Borg in First Contact, it makes use of putting Picard into an artificial body by finally doing something with his biological body, and it takes the idea that he had irumodic syndrome and does something interesting with it by making it Borg organic technology. Looks like the Borg have evolved in their attitudes. Captain Shaw was right... the real Borg are still out there.

I think it's a well put together storyline, built on a lot of elements that came before.

Spoiler

I did like that the irumodic syndrome turned out not to be irumodic syndrome. I got the impression from "All Good Things" that he only had it because of Q's meddling. Beverly said there was no sign of it when she examined him after the anti-time eruption was repaired. I was annoyed that they brought it back in season 1 of Picard. Making it the result of something the Borg did to him though... I feel works better, at least.

Not sure how

Spoiler

seven people are going to properly crew the Enterprise D, or what one ship is going to do against the entire fleet

though. Can't wait to see how they wrap all of this up next week.

Yeah, I had the same thought. Geordi did mention having drones loading the torpedo bays, but the ship is meant to be crewed by around 1000 people and drones can't do everything the crew can.

Spoiler

Forgot to mention, little disappointed they killed off Admiral Shelby. Once again, they bring back a legacy character just to kill them off. Although it seemed a little odd they cut off the transmission the exact moment she took two phaser shots. I kinda hope she could have been a Changeling disguised as Shelby...

They made a big deal that all of Starfleet would be at Earth for the Frontier Day celebration. It was a lot of ships, but there's just no way that was all of Starfleet.

Elnor was established to be serving on the Excelsior in the previous season... Terry Matalas apparently said he was not aboard when it was destroyed in this episode, but unfortunately the episode itself doesn't address this. If he wasn't on Excelsior, he probably has been assimilated...

Not sure what Picard's strategy for taking the Enterprise D back to Earth could be. One ship isn't going do much against a whole fleet.

Kinda think they should have addressed the Jurati Borg group. I know they're standing guard at that transwarp conduit or whatever it was, but it's possible they could help out against the real Borg.

[Sparky Prime]

Picard season 3 episode 10
"The Final Generation"

Spoiler

The Enterprise-D crew listens to President Anton Chekov (voiced by Walter Koenig! and I assume is also named for the late Anton Yelchin) warning people away from Earth due to the Borg attack, similarly to the message the President of Earth sent out in Star Trek 4. Distress signals have gone silent, and no other ships are on the way to Earth, so the Enterprise-D is the only calvary they'll get. Data detects a Borg cube at Jupiter and Picard has him set a course. This cube is massive, much bigger than any cube we've seen before and has large antennas sticking out of it. Beverly isn't able to pinpoint Jack's location due to interference from the broadcast the cube is transmitting, but they are able to determine roughly where he is on the cube. The cube also mysteriously lowers its shields, so Picard, Riker and Worf beam over. Meanwhile, Seven, Raffi and what's left of the unassimilated Titan-A crew manage to retake the ship by using phasers rigged up to the transporter system, instantly transporting everyone that they shoot and locking them in the transporter room (Seven makes it sound like a new idea, despite we've seen it in Star Trek before). But they still can't do anything thanks to the fleet formation system, which is having the entire fleet fire on Spacedock. Spacedock must have some amazing shields. Eventually the Titan-A crew figures out if they cloak the ship, it breaks their connection to the fleet formation, allowing them to attack the fleet in hit and run maneuvers.

On the cube, the Enterprise crew are surprised to find many of the drones are dead, apparently most of the resources have been devoted to sustaining something... or someone. Picard tells Riker and Worf to find the beacon while he goes to find Jack. Picard quickly finds Jack, who has been assimilated. He looks like Locutus, except he has hair, which is odd looking for a Borg. Picard is unable to reach him and the Queen reveals herself. She looks like she's falling apart herself, telling Picard she's had no resources to fall back on. I assume this is a result of the neurolytic pathogen Admiral Janeway infected the Collective with in Voyager's finale. Unfortunately, despite this season making several mentions of Janeway, this episode doesn't explain why exactly the Collective is in the state its in, the most we get is that the Queen blames Starfleet for it. At any rate, the Collective is gone, so the Queen is using Jack to make a new Collective, one that only assimilates the strong and destroys everything else.

The Titan-A is disabled, and the cloak is destroyed by the escaped assimilated crew, leaving them dead in the water. Spacedock's shield's fail and is destroyed. The fleet begins to target cities around the globe (apparently it controlled the planetary shields as well). Riker and Worf relay to the Enterprise-D the location of the beacon, but it's at the center of the Cube, the Enterprise-D has to maneuver through the cube to destroy it but find if they do, the cube will be destroyed. Riker and Worf decide to stay behind find Picard and Jack. Picard plugs himself into the Collective to talk to Jack. Jack feels this is where he belongs, but snaps out of it when Picard says he will stay with him. The Enterprise-D destroys the beacon is on their way out, but when Troi senses Riker, they make a pit spot to beam them up, and escape as the cube explodes. All the assimilated crew returns to normal.

In the aftermath, Beverly has figured out how to use the transporters to remove the Borg DNA, which also identifies any Changeling infiltrators. The Enterprise-D is finished restorations and becomes part of the fleet museum, between the Enterprise-A and Stargazer. Tuvok promotes Seven of Nine to captain, under recommendation from Shaw in a crew evaluation made prior to his death. A year later, Jack has joined Starfleet and is embarking on his first assignment on the Titan-A.... which is newly rechristened to Enterprise-G under command of Captain Seven and Raffi is her first officer. TNG cast meet up at Ten Forward in LA for a game of poker (unfortunately, no Guinan appearance, just a mention from Geordi that she's been giving them the side eye from off camera).

In a post credits scene... Q shows up in Jack's quarters, telling him while his father's trial may be over, Jack's has just begun.

This was a packed episode. Overall, I really enjoyed it although it had some flaws. This season was easily the best of the series... Which isn't saying much as that was a pretty low bar. Still, this is exactly what fans have been asking for ever since Voyager came to an end. A series set after the events of Nemesis, involving people/stories from TNG/DS9/Voyager, set on a new starship. This season delivered on almost everything I wanted from a TNG reunion.

I think I'll be making another post on the overall season at some point.

[andersonh1]

This was a packed episode. Overall, I really enjoyed it although it had some flaws. This season was easily the best of the series... Which isn't saying much as that was a pretty low bar. Still, this is exactly what fans have been asking for ever since Voyager came to an end. A series set after the events of Nemesis, involving people/stories from TNG/DS9/Voyager, set on a new starship. This season delivered on almost everything I wanted from a TNG reunion.

I agree, 100%. I really enjoyed Picard this season.

[andersonh1]

Nice to finally learn that Admiral Janeway's pathogen from "Endgame" did in fact work and pretty much killed off the Borg.

[Sparky Prime]

The Ship

Spoiler

While I really like the design of the "Neo-Constitution Class", it looks out of place in the 25th century. And that's because it's based on a fan design (by Bill Krause) of a 23rd century era ship. I know showrunner Terry Matalas said that Starfleet decided to go retro, similarly to how so many cars on the road these days have gone with a retro aesthetic... But while that may make sense for civilian vehicles, it doesn't make sense for Starfleet, a military/exploration organization. We've seen a fairly clear design lineage with Starship vessels, with them becoming more streamlined, and this ship in this era breaks that. Strangely, the Duderstadt Class introduced in this season is another based on a fan design (and is another by Bill Krause) that had 23rd century aesthetics, but the changes they did with this design actually updated it to look like a 25th century ship. This also causes scaling issues, as the design is meant to be about the size of the original Constitution class, but the creators have scaled it up to be roughly the size of an Ambassador class.

Further, they made a big deal in this season that the Titan-A was a refit of Riker's Luna Class Titan...Which, frankly, makes no sense to refit a ship of one class, and rework it into a completely different class. At that point it would be much easier to just build a completely new ship, but that wouldn't be a refit. To make it worst, Dave Blass and Terry Matalas essentially said that's essentially what happened (behind the scenes). They simply took parts of the Luna Titan to build the Neo-Constitution Titan-A. So yeah... the shows creators have no idea what a refit is.

I'm also not a fan that the Titan-A is rechristened the Enterprise-G. Sure, they've renamed ships before, as according to Gene Roddenberry, the Enterprise-A was originally the Yorktown. And that's fine. But what's odd to me that they'd take a ship, already named in honor of a starship, and rename it after yet another legacy ship. I feel that takes away from the legacy of the other ship. Not to mention, this makes the third variant of a Constitution class . I kinda think Starfleet would want the Enterprise to be something a little more... flagship-y for this century.

Speaking of Enterprise's... I'm disappointed the Enterprise F was decommissioned in this season. I'm not really clear on the reason why it was being decommissioned after only 15 years of service. There was an Instagram post explaining the critical systems were compromised during something called the Monfette Gambit. To bad nothing in the show explained any of this. Heck, the dialog didn't even say it was being decommissioned, just a graphic that was easy to miss. It makes it feel like a last minute decision. Besides, I don't think a ship that was "critically compromised" to the point they decided to retire the ship, would be capable of flying around under its own power during the Frontier Day festivities. So that means the Enterprise E only had about 13 years of service? I mean, that's longer than the D at only about 7 years, but still, that's a disappointingly short tenure for my favorite of the Enterprises, with nothing beyond Worf saying it wasn't his fault to indicate what happened... So they've had 4 Enterprise's within 35 years between the D, E, F and now G. In contrast, the original Enterprise was in service for around 40 years. I think if they were going to decommission an Enterprise in this series, it should have been the E.

Also kinda think it's a problem the J has been established as a 26th century Enterprise, and now we've only got the G, H and I for the next hundred or so years. Which is possible, but given is seems the Enterprise A-F all lasted less than 20 years, it seems unlikely.

To end on a positive... Absolutely loved seeing the Starfleet Museum and all of those ships again.

The bad guys

Spoiler

I really liked the idea of the Changelings being the villains of this season. It was interesting to see TNG crew, aside from Worf, having to face villains they weren't familiar with. Although, I wish they hadn't modified them to "better" imitate people. It felt more like a downgrade, given they didn't seem to have the full range of shapeshifting abilities they had in DS9. Blood screenings we saw wasn't always effective if the Changeling had the opportunity to swap the sample, and DS9 never established internal scans to be able to identify Changelings. If the Founders could make Odo a solid, complete with internal organs, I have to imagine that wouldn't be a problem for them. So I have to wonder why the writers saw this change as necessary. The Ferengi and Vulcan criminal stuff seemed a little superfluous. I get that was the Changelings covering their tracks to throw anyone off their trail... But the Changelings can look like anybody, frame anyone they want. So why bother with them? And then they reveal the Borg to be the true masterminds behind the plot. Which, ok, that could be interesting to see these two major villains from DS9 and TNG/Voyager working together. But, why are they? They never actually explain anything about these two factions teaming up.

Thing is, if they hadn't held off on revealing the Borg until the last two episodes of the season, they would have had the time to explore that. This has been a problem for every season of Picard. They drag out the mystery of the season, and then rush the ending in the last episode or two without properly covering all the story elements that really should be addressed. I wish the previous two seasons hadn't already used the Borg as well. It's become a cliché for the Borg to be involved in some way.

I still don't understand the reason behind Vadic needing to cut off her hand to communicate to the Borg Queen, or how that even works. Clearly the device she cut her hand off into was some sort of subspace thing, but, why is the Borg Queen communicating through Vadic's... goo? How does that work in Changeling physiology? We've never seen them able to communicate that way with each other, let alone with another species. The Shrike had a viewscreen like most starships, and the Borg generally communicate to other species via more typical audio/visual means, it seems like it'd be more efficient if they'd just talked that way. I'd also be curious to see what that looked like on the Queen's side of the communication.

Speaking of the Shrike... Where did that come from? It clearly was not Dominion, or Borg in origin. I'd have to guess it was commandeered from somewhere, but it would have been nice if that had been explained.

The good guys

Spoiler

It was amazing to see TNG cast reunited after all these years. Also great to get cameos from Ro Laren, Elizabeth Shelby, Tuvok, and Q and the voices of Walter Koenig, Alice Krige and Majel Barrett. Little disappointed Chief O'Brien didn't get a cameo, since he was also a major part of both TNG and DS9... but I dunno if Colm Meaney was available or what. I've read they would have liked to do a few more cameos, but they just didn't have the budget. It's understandable, they really went above and beyond with this aspect as it is. I do wish they hadn't killed off Ro and Shelby though. That's been another unfortunate trait of this series, killing off legacy characters.

I really liked Picard's arc in this season. I frankly hated everything about season 1. Season 2 largely felt unnecessary. But this season, introducing Jack as Picard and Beverly's son, along with reconnecting with the rest of TNG crew? This is the heart that the series had been missing in the previous seasons. And making the irumodic syndrome actually the result of Borg DNA, that had been passed on to Jack was a great idea. I just wish they hadn't dragged it out for 9 episodes.

All the characters played a role, which was great. The movies had problems balancing all the characters, particularly Crusher, so it was great she got a great deal of focus in this season. Although Dr. Crusher vaporizing the two Changelings that boarded her ship, prior to figuring out who they even were, and later, explaining the Hippocratic oath to Vadic and debating with Picard whether or not to kill her seemed very odd. Frankly, I think it was out of character for Beverly to kill those Changelings like that. Geordi being overprotective of his daughters I didn't really care for either. As a kid of Starfleet officers, and a Starfleet officer himself, he knows what it's all about better than anyone. Especially given his own mother went missing and presumed dead. Bringing back Data, yet again, was odd. But again, that was a problem caused by the poor story of season 1. If this had been the first time they brought him back, it would have been fine. Troi could have had a bit more, being the last one to enter into the season, but from what I've read, Sirtis was in London during most of the filming and scheduling her to come out was a bit of a thing. Really like Worf. Him being the comedic relief worked well. I still don't get the "I prefer pacifism these days" line. It didn't come off the way the trailers made it seem, but it still didn't work, especially when Worf isn't at all pacifist. He was quick to draw the sword or a phaser, and was in some ways more brutal than we've seen him be in the past.

Wasn't a fan of Captain Shaw. I get they wanted him to be somewhat of a foil for Picard and Riker, which was fine... But I felt they over played it. After they were attacked by the Shrike, I kinda expected him to mellow out and work with them more willingly. I did like that they explained his hostility towards Picard, given he was at Wolf359. But what was his beef with Riker? Just the fact he was friends with Picard? I also didn't really get his criticisms of their commands. He cited 3 events to highlight some of their faults at one point in the season... 1. The anomaly in the Devron system from "All Good Things". That never actually happened in this timeline, and what Picard experienced was all directly the result of Q's meddling. 2. Breaking the Prime Directive to help the Ba'Ku in "Insurrection", except they didn't break the Prime Directive. The Ba'Ku had warp technology, they just rejected using it (along with other technology). 3. Crashing the Enterprise-D saucer on Veridian III in "Generations". Shaw conveniently leaves out the part about the Duras sisters attacking them first... I don't understand why the writers would use these as examples or why Picard and Riker offer no push-back on it when Shaw is leaving out details or is outright wrong. Instead Picard says "Those were the days", like he's affirming the point Shaw is incorrectly making. I honestly don't understand why I've seen so many people say they liked this character. I mean, snarky characters can be fun, and he did have a few good moments. But there should be some truth behind the points he raises, and because there isn't so much of the time... It was clear they were trying to make him the loveable ass, so not really surprised he was killed off, but he just came off as unlikable to me.

I liked a lot of the bridge crew of the Titan-A. Especially while Riker was in command in the 3rd episode of the season. They actually got to feel like a crew, giving suggestions and working the problems... I wish we'd gotten more of them besides just Sidney LaForge. I get the main focus obviously and rightly so was TNG cast, but with how much time they spent with these characters.... They could have done more with them at the same time.

Odd that Laris was completely forgotten. It would have been nice if they acknowledged what happened between her and Picard after he found out about Jack. Or what happened between him and Beverly for that matter. I'm guessing since they dropped Jack off at the Enterprise-G together, maybe they got back together? But the episode doesn't actually tell us.

The fanservice

Spoiler

I've already mentioned a great deal of it already... But this season was great when it came to everything relating to previous Star Trek series. While it wasn't always perfect, it's obvious the writers of this series know and understand Star Trek, which had been yet another element largely missing from the previous seasons. And it was amazing. For the most part, I felt they balanced it all well, with out making it feel like it was going into the realm of fanfiction.... Except for one thing. I wasn't a fan of the idea that Kirk's body is at the Daystrom Station, along with some of the other stuff they had. It raises too many questions for something that's only thrown in for nothing more than fan service.

The future?

Spoiler

As I said, this is easily the best season of Picard, and probably the best Star Trek we've had in 14 years. With Raffi, Seven, Jack and Sidney as crew for the Enterprise-G, and Q showing up to tell Jack his adventures have just begun.... If feels like they've set things up for a potential spin off series. Which, honestly, if they keep Terry Matalas and Dave Blass on, I wouldn't mind seeing that series. As I said in my comments about the finale, a series taking place post Nemesis is exactly what fans have wanted, and they've proven they can do a better job than the other creative teams that have been helming nuTrek for the past 14 years. Maybe get a better editor that can keep the continuity straight between episodes as well. If they do that, I think they would need to follow the lead Strange New Worlds has taken, going to more of a episodic approach, since they struggled with carrying a single story over 10 episodes. But there is certainly potential here. Maybe even fill in some of the gaps they overlooked in this season.

[Sparky Prime]

Strange New Worlds
Season 2, episode 1

Spoiler

Enterprise has returned to Starbase 1, where Pike is preparing for Una's trial. He has to leave to try and convince someone on Una's behalf, leaving Spock in command. Enterprise is undergoing regular maintenance, but Uhura gets a coded distress call from La'an. Admiral April denies their request to check it out because the planet is a dilithium mine shared between the Federation and Klingon Empire, which they each take turns on. April is concerned the Federation being there when it isn't their turn on the planet will restart the war. I have to say, this is a dumb plot point. I don't buy for a second the Klingons of this era, in the middle of a cold war no less, would be willing to SHARE a planet with the Federation. Nevertheless, Spock decides they need to steal the Enterprise. They fake a warp core breach, but one of the people doing maintenance on the ship sees right through the deception, and suggests venting the nacelles to make it look more real (not sure how venting plasma from the nacelles makes it look more real for a warp core breach, we've never seen that happen during an actual warp core breach...). In exchange, she wants to be the Enterprise's new chief engineer. Turns out she's a Lanthanite, a species that lives for hundreds of years but is otherwise identical to humans, and apparently have been on Earth for centuries, having revealed themselves in the 22nd century. Not sure if these are new aliens or not. It's a name we've never had before, but there have been aliens that look human and live for hundreds of years in Star Trek before, and haven't been named.

At the planet, La'an informs the crew a group of Klingons are trying to restart the war somehow, and she needed help to investigate. All she knows is that they've been trying to get their hands on Federation technology. M'Benga and Chapel are captured when the Klingons notice them using Federation medical technology to help some people and are taken to a Federation ship the Klingons are building. After healing some Klingon's, they use super soldier serum to break out of sickbay. Ok, I have no idea what they injected, but the episode doesn't explain what it is, they literally pull it out of no where. It gives them the strength to beat up dozens of Klingons bare handed. There's also a subplot here about the two having fought in the war and have some trauma... But weren't they on the Enterprise during the war, which was kept out of the war? At any rate, the episode doesn't really do much with it, and feels out of place.

A Klingon D-7 arrives in orbit and Spock is informed M'Benga and Chapel have been missing for an hour (another dumb plot point, why wasn't Spock informed the moment they lost their signal? Why wasn't he told until an hour later, after specifically asking about them?). The hijacked Federation ship climbs into orbit and they detect the transponder has been reprogrammed to tell them to destroy it. Strangely, they identify the ship as a Crossfield class, like the USS Discovery, but it clearly isn't. It's Frankenstein'd together from the saucer of a Crossfield-class, the nacelles are Constitution class, and some other parts. It also appears to be a different CGI model from when we saw it on the planet... The ship was still very much under construction, probably weeks away from launch, and the saucer looked more like the very first Discovery teaser trailer, without a gap in the middle. The rouge Klingons plan to attack the D-7 to frame the Federation. Spock holds off firing at them, waiting for an opportunity to save their medical officers but ultimately does at the last moment. After the ship explodes, they detect the pair after they'd launched out of a airlock and beam them aboard.

Spock shares a barrel of blood wine with the D-7 captain to prove their good intentions (this also feels out of place for Klingons of the 23rd century, this is more like Klingons in the 24th century). Spock reports to Admiral April, who is obviously angry that Spock stole the Enterprise, but overlooks it for having prevented another war. In secret, he's happy they probably saved them from fighting a war on two fronts, as sensors detect a Gorn ship...

Honestly, I wasn't that impressed with this seasons premier. There is a good story here, but several plot elements felt a little lazy or half baked.

[andersonh1]

Strange New Worlds
Season 2, episode 1

Spoiler

Enterprise has returned to Starbase 1, where Pike is preparing for Una's trial. He has to leave to try and convince someone on Una's behalf, leaving Spock in command. Enterprise is undergoing regular maintenance, but Uhura gets a coded distress call from La'an. Admiral April denies their request to check it out because the planet is a dilithium mine shared between the Federation and Klingon Empire, which they each take turns on. April is concerned the Federation being there when it isn't their turn on the planet will restart the war. I have to say, this is a dumb plot point. I don't buy for a second the Klingons of this era, in the middle of a cold war no less, would be willing to SHARE a planet with the Federation. Nevertheless, Spock decides they need to steal the Enterprise. They fake a warp core breach, but one of the people doing maintenance on the ship sees right through the deception, and suggests venting the nacelles to make it look more real (not sure how venting plasma from the nacelles makes it look more real for a warp core breach, we've never seen that happen during an actual warp core breach...). In exchange, she wants to be the Enterprise's new chief engineer. Turns out she's a Lanthanite, a species that lives for hundreds of years but is otherwise identical to humans, and apparently have been on Earth for centuries, having revealed themselves in the 22nd century. Not sure if these are new aliens or not. It's a name we've never had before, but there have been aliens that look human and live for hundreds of years in Star Trek before, and haven't been named.

At the planet, La'an informs the crew a group of Klingons are trying to restart the war somehow, and she needed help to investigate. All she knows is that they've been trying to get their hands on Federation technology. M'Benga and Chapel are captured when the Klingons notice them using Federation medical technology to help some people and are taken to a Federation ship the Klingons are building. After healing some Klingon's, they use super soldier serum to break out of sickbay. Ok, I have no idea what they injected, but the episode doesn't explain what it is, they literally pull it out of no where. It gives them the strength to beat up dozens of Klingons bare handed. There's also a subplot here about the two having fought in the war and have some trauma... But weren't they on the Enterprise during the war, which was kept out of the war? At any rate, the episode doesn't really do much with it, and feels out of place.

A Klingon D-7 arrives in orbit and Spock is informed M'Benga and Chapel have been missing for an hour (another dumb plot point, why wasn't Spock informed the moment they lost their signal? Why wasn't he told until an hour later, after specifically asking about them?). The hijacked Federation ship climbs into orbit and they detect the transponder has been reprogrammed to tell them to destroy it. Strangely, they identify the ship as a Crossfield class, like the USS Discovery, but it clearly isn't. It's Frankenstein'd together from the saucer of a Crossfield-class, the nacelles are Constitution class, and some other parts. It also appears to be a different CGI model from when we saw it on the planet... The ship was still very much under construction, probably weeks away from launch, and the saucer looked more like the very first Discovery teaser trailer, without a gap in the middle. The rouge Klingons plan to attack the D-7 to frame the Federation. Spock holds off firing at them, waiting for an opportunity to save their medical officers but ultimately does at the last moment. After the ship explodes, they detect the pair after they'd launched out of a airlock and beam them aboard.

Spock shares a barrel of blood wine with the D-7 captain to prove their good intentions (this also feels out of place for Klingons of the 23rd century, this is more like Klingons in the 24th century). Spock reports to Admiral April, who is obviously angry that Spock stole the Enterprise, but overlooks it for having prevented another war. In secret, he's happy they probably saved them from fighting a war on two fronts, as sensors detect a Gorn ship...

Honestly, I wasn't that impressed with this seasons premier. There is a good story here, but several plot elements felt a little lazy or half baked.

I haven't watched the whole episode yet, that whole scene where the Lanthanite commander was offering tips on how to steal the Enterprise was painful to watch. I wasn't cheering Spock on when he disobeyed orders, the Admiral's response and reasoning were very strong. That whole incident ought to end the careers of the bridge crew right there, but of course it won't. And the stupid banter when they're making a getaway, they stop and discuss what Spock should say when the ship is going to warp? The suspension of disbelief that there are seasoned professionals doing a dangerous job goes right out the window. When you watch the original series, there's no doubt that Kirk was a commanding officer, not everyone's buddy. The bridge crew did not sit around engaging in banter when there was a serious situation. Someone on this show's writing staff needs to figure out that these aren't a bunch of teenagers goofing around in space and stop writing them as though they are.

[Sparky Prime]

And the stupid banter when they're making a getaway, they stop and discuss what Spock should say when the ship is going to warp?

It annoys me that the nuTrek writers seem to think Starfleet captains have to have a catch phrase when ordering the ship to warp, as if that's always been a thing in Star Trek. Discovery, Lower Decks, Picard and now Strange New Worlds have all highlighted Captains having catch phrases. But it was really only Picard, with his "Make it so" or "Engage". Kirk, Sisko, Janeway and Archer..? They didn't have a catch phrase.

The suspension of disbelief that there are seasoned professionals doing a dangerous job goes right out the window. When you watch the original series, there's no doubt that Kirk was a commanding officer, not everyone's buddy. The bridge crew did not sit around engaging in banter when there was a serious situation. Someone on this show's writing staff needs to figure out that these aren't a bunch of teenagers goofing around in space and stop writing them as though they are.

Yeah, I'd have to agree. Contrast this scene with the scene in Star Trek 3 of the crew stealing the Enterprise. The entire time they're trying to escape from Spackdock, and running from Excelsior, they remain serious. It's not until they're at warp on the way to Genesis that they loosen up.

In some news today... Star Trek: Prodigy has been cancelled. The series will be pulled from Paramount+ (apparently within a matter of days), and will not be returning to air on Nickelodeon (which as far as I know, never finished airing all the episodes from season 1). The show had already been approved for a second season, which reportedly they are far enough along with that they will be completing post-production work on it, but it is currently unknown where those episodes will find a home at.

Can't say I'm surprised that Nick would drop the show, but I'm surprised it's not staying on Paramount+. It's supposed to be the home of all things Star Trek.