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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Hype Train To the Stars
- Thread starter WisteriaHysteria
- Start date
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- Tags
- star trek
Just a few minutes into the episode and that song plays? This show is pandering hard, but fuck me is it working.
Edit: Pike in the green jacket me gusta.
Edit2: Oh man I love that Robert April is in this show.
Edit3: Nurse Chapel is bi or pan or something? I dig it.
Edit4: Dr M'Benga in his fishing hat, I'm in love.
Edit5: I feel like an entire episode has happened and the opening credits just started.
Edit6: I know I've read some detracting opinions on the opening theme. But with some good headphones on and the volume turned up, it really friggin' bangs.
Edit: Pike in the green jacket me gusta.
Edit2: Oh man I love that Robert April is in this show.
Edit3: Nurse Chapel is bi or pan or something? I dig it.
Edit4: Dr M'Benga in his fishing hat, I'm in love.
Edit5: I feel like an entire episode has happened and the opening credits just started.
Edit6: I know I've read some detracting opinions on the opening theme. But with some good headphones on and the volume turned up, it really friggin' bangs.
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"It appears hijinks are the most logical course of action."
IS THIS THE GREATEST LINE IN THE HISTORY OF THE FRANCHISE???
IS THIS THE GREATEST LINE IN THE HISTORY OF THE FRANCHISE???
yes, yes it is
Yup. Still accurate.
I appreciate that this episode gave us a male/female body swap scenario where both parties were completely nonplussed about it. Like, of course the Vulcans would react that way, but I did fear for a moment that they would make a big deal about it. Even when the human characters learn they don't give them a hard time, aside from some light teasing from Nurse Chapel which I'll allow because she's the best.
Planet "Aztec Sacrifice" is such a delightfully ridiculous TOS-style storyline. And is also exactly the kind of situation that the Prime Directive is the way it is, in order to protect Starfleet officers from having to make these kinds of moral compromises.
Still marveling at today's episode after sleeping on it. There's a lot of layers to this episode. And there's some really good commentary on Pike's whole situation that is done through subtle subtext rather than through direct exposition. It's wonderful. The writing on this show is really really killing it in the weekly format.
Didn't enjoy this one so much as the previous episodes. It's still fine but like another reviewer said elsewhere all the parts were good but joined together a bit oddly. The confidence of Alora who had a ahem, history with Pike was quite well played. I liked how he was the doof and they eventually consummate the heavy and effective! flirtation. Plus her taking down the rogue guard. My partial dislike of La'an continues, specifically her callous and frankly mean leadership "style" of so-called teaching cadet Uhura this time around. She does good later on but ugh. Personally I don't mind her attitude but levied upon those below her, nope. Interesting to watch I'll give.
It was nice to see Pike fail to see where this ended, and his inability to fix the problem.
It was nice to see Pike fail to see where this ended, and his inability to fix the problem.
La'an is fine. Great, even! She's fun. She's basically just a female, human version of Worf. Stern and hardened by her past and her duties, but she's a big softie on the inside and can't quite express that to others just yet. That includes her being 'callous and mean' to Uhura. It reminded me a lot of the S7 TNG episode "Lower Decks" where Worf was on the surface being mean to his Lower Decker, but was really just looking out for her and helped her be a better officer. Asian representation on Star Trek has also been historically pretty lacking, especially in Berman-Trek, so I'm always going to be happy about positive representation for us.
I thought the themes in this episode were handled pretty deftly. It's just that outside of the recap at the beginning, the episode itself respected its viewers enough to put those themes together themselves rather than being told very bluntly how they all interconnect. The idea of Pike being warry about his destiny is mixed in perfectly with the conundrum of this civilization. Where his past paramour very intentionally gives him an out from that destiny - to stay with her, in order to spare him his fate. But if he took her up on that offer, he would not only be benefiting from and thus partaking the violence inflicted upon that child, but that whole scenario acts as a mirror to his own situation - where he could run away from his destiny, but that comfort, security, and life would be built on top of the lives of the children he's destined to save at the expense of his own life. And confronting that scenario helps him embrace his own destiny better, because that devil's bargain is a price far too high for him make, especially when it's not just a theoretical and he has to stare the consequences in the face.
My first reaction to the most recent episode was that I’m pretty sure I read this plot in several novellas from the 70s and 80s already, and that the writing wasn’t quite as tight as other episodes so far. Not *bad* but not gonna rank high in the season for me. I do appreciate what Wist pointed out about it tying together themes for Pike though.
Last week’s Spock body swap ep was amazing. They’re really swinging for the fences with goofy old-school plot hooks and actually landing it more often than not.
Last week’s Spock body swap ep was amazing. They’re really swinging for the fences with goofy old-school plot hooks and actually landing it more often than not.
I mean, it is very nakedly just a Star Trek take of The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelias with a dash of Laputa/Gulliver's Travels sprinkled on top for sci-fi flavoring. Which I quite enjoyed, as it's in fine Star Trek tradition to be doing this kind of thing. For me personally, I really like these kinds of episodes because they:
1) Expose the themes of these kinds of literary classics to a broader population that would never otherwise be exposed to them.
2) What these episodes lack in originality they make up for in getting to watch the scenario play out within the Star Trek setting, and getting to see how Star Trek characters would react to those scenarios. (Anson Mount's facial acting in this episode was just like, a distilled acting clinic.)
3) Get to be literary bingo for the well-read. (One of my old English lecturers used to geek out to our class about how many subtle literary references were peppered all over the Simpsons, and when I started to look at that show, and others through that lens it made pop media a lot more entertaining.)
4) It's just part of the DNA of Star Trek. This was TOS's entire M.O. It just *feels* like Star Trek to have the writers pepper their scripts with nods to famous literature. It's part of what makes Star Trek feel like something half-intelligent.
There were good themes being tied in with other characters too, like Dr M'Benga. Dr M'Benga here, cast suspicions onto this fellow doctor who he has to work with. But as it turns out, this other Doctor's real deal was that he was just trying desperately to save the life of his son. And he was doing so by hiding his son away through transporter trickery, and there were even grave consequences for his community for doing so. Like, this man it turns out, was a mirror for him. It thematically rhymed like pottery, and it was just so interesting to watch Babs Olusanmokun's acting as he rode the rollercoaster of emotions this episode and embodied a character who had a mirror put up against his own soul in such a way. And they did it in a way as to let the action speak for itself, without anyone having to tell the audience in a corny/direct way like having M'Benga tell the man "you're just like me." I just really love and appreciate how good the writing and acting has been in this show to date. Every script has hit it out of the park, and every actor has just done a freaking incredible job.
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Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking, I just didn't name-drop it because I wasn't positive I had it right and was too lazy to look it up.
Points following taken, though.This is my new favorite phrase of the month.
Ok, so I'm still processing what happened in this week's episode. But the zinger at the end for Sybok has me completely in shambles in the best kind of way. Sybok! YES!!!!! I can't wait. It's like a life long dream come true.
I haven't watched but i looked at your spoilers. WOW
Maybe it was the edibles talking, but this week’s SNW went from being the most preposterous and ridiculous episode of Star Trek ever made, into something that was punched me in the gut. what the heck man
That really was Sybok at the end there. I wonder if we'll get another deep thread of Vulcan culture started in Enterprise in this show. Hoping because of the quality dialogue already showcased. Its harder than many give it credit to write them effectively. Also I already mentioned it elsewhere but the fight scene on the bridge was blissful regarding Spock. That was a moment, for sure.
It's just an insane situation to put a person through. I thought M'Benga phrased it perfectly that he had just been through something 'extraordinary'. Like, on a philosophical level, he's letting his daughter go and die. On another side, he's birthing a new god that he just has to trust will be benevolent. It's just an unfathomable decision/responsibility. None of us will likely ever have to confront and make a decision that insane in our whole lives, and all he could do was what he ended up doing. Crazy stuff.
Also, a small detail that most people probably overlook (I overlooked it the first time):
Also, a small detail that most people probably overlook (I overlooked it the first time):
Call me odd but that decision became increasingly straightforward to me and my viewing-partner as his options were limiting with time. It's incredible, mad, and asking more from a parent than fate ever should but it was there and he took it. I was hoping something like that might find both of them and there it was - I'm really happy about it. Not saying you aren't or anything! These grandiose scenarios and decisions are something I'm glad to see pop into Star Trek occasionally.
!!! May Benny live on forever more in this world. Thanks for noticing that little detail!
!!! May Benny live on forever more in this world. Thanks for noticing that little detail!
I mean, the decision was obvious, but that doesn't make it any less hard to make. Like, one of the biggest emotional parts about a family member dying is the feeling of loss where you'll never really get to spend time with them anymore. And here the right decision, and the decision that gives her a life and stops gambling on unknowns with time running out, also means he'll pretty much never get to see her again. He'll never get to watch her grow up, share his life with her, read her stories anymore, and all the other things parents hope to do with their kids. It's just a shitty situation. And while he can take comfort in knowing intellectually she is well and off having a unique life nobody can imagine, he'll be left alone, wondering what is happening, what he could have done different, etc. Just because she didn't die and is out there somewhere doing cool things, doesn't mean he isn't feeling this profound sense of loss.
not only was this Peak Star Trek, it’s absolutely everything I want from Spaceship TV
I mean yeah Wisteria I felt and saw all of that as well, but for me I'd be relieved I finally - finally found a way for her to likely live on, one way or another. After so much time and dwidling-so closer of her dying for-certain. Done all you can and have to give it up to something else with far-better chance of life.
This episode is just Aliens
Indeed. But with Starfleet competency on full display. It’s kind of fun in that respect. I thought it was awesome. See what would happen in those kinds of movies if you had Star Trek characters handling the scenario instead of a bunch of incompetent schlubs.
Ending of this week’s episode hit different.
Unsurprisingly, some people making a sci fi show really like Aliens, yeah.
Edit: Rather than twisting myself in knots trying to avoid soecifics, I’m just putting the rest under spoilers.
Edit: Rather than twisting myself in knots trying to avoid soecifics, I’m just putting the rest under spoilers.
Anyway, I’m reading online that Hemmer’s goodbye here was always planned from the start, which I guess is better than being due to production difficulties but still sucks because the character is awesome. Apparently he’s still on retainer to re-appear via SF shenanigans, but it seems unlikely we’ll ever have him as a regular again. But I’m also wondering what’s up with La’an also being written, if not off, at least to the side for a bit. That one kind of smells like acting schedule conflicts or something...