There are causes that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds exists past the necessity to maintain the Trek content material pumping so no one thinks too exhausting about canceling Paramount+. It’s designed to quell a number of the discontent in Star Trek’s huge and vocal fanbase concerning the route the live-action reveals have traveled beneath the stewardship of uber-producer Alex Kurtzman. It’s additionally a barely bewildered response to the criticism of its predecessors, Discovery and Picard, made by the identical folks behind these two reveals. In quick, it’s designed to attraction to individuals who, when requested what their favourite live-action Trek present is, unironically say The Orville.
We open on Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), the once-and-future captain of the Enterprise after his sojourn main Discovery in its second season. There, a magic time crystal informed him that, in lower than a decade, he’ll be non-fatally blown up in a coaching accident. Armed with a standard-issue Grief Beard™, he refuses the decision to return to the celebrities till the siren tune of non-serialized area journey turns into too nice. It isn’t lengthy earlier than he and Spock are reunited to rescue Rebecca Romijn’s Number One from a spy mission on a pre-warp planet gone incorrect. Sadly, Paramount’s restrictive embargo on discussing the primary few episodes forbids me from discussing a lot of what I’ve seen, so issues will get vaguer from right here on out.
It appears to be like prefer it was August 2020 when Alex Kurtzman stated that the present can be episodic relatively than serialized. This was a approach to tackle the criticism of the closely serialized, go-nowhere, do-nothing grimdark thriller field tales that sucked a lot of the enjoyment from Discovery and Picard. Strange New Worlds is, as an alternative, a deliberate throwback within the model of The Original Series, albeit with serialized character tales. So whereas we go to a brand new planet every week, characters nonetheless retain the scars, and classes discovered, from their experiences.
There are extra refreshed Original Series characters than simply Pike, Spock and Number One alongside for the journey. Babs Olusanmokun is enjoying a extra fleshed-out model of Dr. M’Benga, whereas Jess Bush takes over for Christine Chapel. André Dae Kim is the brand new Chief Kyle, who has been promoted from intermittent further to transporter chief. Then there’s Celia Rose Gooding as Cadet Uhura, whose semi-canonical backstory is now firmly enshrined as a Dead Parent / Troubled Childhood narrative. Uhura apart, most of those roles had been so under-developed within the ‘60s that they’re successfully clean slates for the reboot. Oh, besides that everybody is now Hot and Horny, as a result of this isn’t simply Star Trek, it’s Star Trek that isn’t afraid to indicate characters in mattress with different folks.
Rounding out the solid is Christina Chong as safety chief La’an Noonien-Singh, a descendant of Khaaaaan! himself, Trek’s in-series Hitler analog. From what we study of her up to now, she additionally will get saddled with a Troubled Childhood / Dead Parent narrative, in addition to a case of the nasties. I anticipate her character will soften additional over time, however proper now she’s formally the least enjoyable character to spend time with. Of extra curiosity is Melissa Navia’s hotshot pilot Erica Ortegas who can launch the odd quip into the combo when referred to as upon, and Hemmer. Hemmer is a telepathic Aenar (a kind of Androian first launched in Enterprise) performed by Bruce Horak. Horak performs Hemmer as an old style lovable grump and mentor determine for a number of the different characters and can clearly turn out to be a fan-favorite.
And having now seen the primary half of the primary season (a second is already in manufacturing) I can say that Strange New Worlds will probably be a irritating look ahead to followers. Frustrating as a result of there are the bones of a very enjoyable, attention-grabbing Star Trek sequence buried deep inside Strange New Worlds. Sadly, it’s trapped within the normal mixture of faux-melodrama, clanging dialogue and dodgy plotting with the same old lapses in logic. Many writers are blind to their very own flaws, which is why it’s so amusing that that is what Kurtzman and co. really feel is a radical departure from their very own work.
Maybe I’m being unfair, however that is the seventh season of live-action Star Trek launched beneath Kurtzman’s purview. The three lead characters all had a full season of Discovery to mattress in, too, so it’s not as if everybody’s ranging from chilly. But regardless of the gentlest of begins, the present nonetheless manages to stumble out of the gate, making an attempt to do an excessive amount of and never sufficient on the identical time. The first 4 episodes, particularly, really feel as if somebody’s making an attempt to speed-read you thru a complete season’s value of plot in a bunch of partly-disconnected episodes.
An apart: Ever because the mid ‘80s, Paramount was desperate to reboot Star Trek with a younger cast to cash-in on that Kirk/Spock brand awareness. It eventually happened, but only in 2009 with J.J. Abrams’ not-entirely-successful try to reboot the sequence in cinemas. While a Young Kirk film made sense within the ‘80s, mining that seam for nostalgia today seems very weird indeed. After all, most people under the age of 50 will likely associate TNG as the One True Star Trek. The fact that not-so-closet Trek fan Rihanna’s favourite character is Geordi La Forge speaks volumes about the place millennial love lies. But I’d think about a La Forge spin-off sequence was by no means going to fly with any technology of Paramount executives.
Now let’s discuss that emotional continuity, as a result of whereas folks will take their experiences with them, little effort has been made to pre-seed conflicts earlier than they erupt. Arguably the weakest episode of the bunch tries to cram 4 (4!) A-plots into its slender runtime. One of which is a popping out narrative for one crewmember – and as soon as they’ve come out, one other character reveals a deep-seated antipathy towards that group. It can be good, if we may have let this specific battle brew, nevertheless it’s launched about 25 minutes in and resolved with a punchfight by minute 40. We’re not proven the particular person wrestling with the choice to come back out and threat their skilled and private relationships beforehand, both. Just… punchfight.
A variety of these episodes don’t correctly resolve themselves both, which is the usual downside for any 50-minute TV present. It’s exhausting to construct a brand new world, flesh out new characters, set up and resolve their issues within the area of two episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. But not less than three episodes function conclusions that both aren’t clear or happen completely off display, defined away with a line of dialogue. I don’t know if it was a manufacturing downside, or if a majority of the present’s 22 (sure, twenty-two) credited producers signed off on it, nevertheless it feels a hell of loads like dishonest. It’s nearly as if the writers wished to impress shock within the subsequent scene — how did this get resolved!? — over concocting a satisfying emotional and narrative catharsis on-screen.
In reality, I’m going to harp on about this one specific episode as a result of it’s not content material with simply dropping one main character revelation. The episode mainly stops 10 minutes early in an effort to – shock horror – drop one other Kinda Dark Secret About A Crewmember You Barely Know. One factor I stated when Discovery began was that if you happen to by no means get to know the characters of their default state, it’s not precious to see their bizarro-world counterparts immediately. It’s the identical right here, Strange New Worlds refuses to do the painstaking work of filling in these characters earlier than they begin altering on account of their experiences collectively.
The solid is all strong, and clearly working exhausting to raise the fabric they’ve been given, as a result of the dialogue right here is so tough that I believe all of them deserve hazard cash. Now, nü-Trek dialog has at all times been awkward and/or impenetrable, nevertheless it’s past dreadful right here. Kurtzman and co. forgot the entire “show, don’t tell” nature of screenwriting, and so characters simply stand there and inform you the whole lot, consistently. This is made worse as a result of relatively than giving area for these proficient, well-paid actors to behave, they’re as an alternative compelled to say what they’re feeling.
Here’s an instance of that: In one episode, a personality is making an attempt (and failing) to recollect a key reminiscence from a traumatic expertise in childhood that holds the important thing to saving the day. But relatively than use the performer to convey that, they’ve the actor in query stand there, blank-faced, and say “I am trauma blocked.” Then there are scenes by which two characters describe what’s occurring in entrance of them with the kind of faux-gravitas that solely Adam West may pull off.
Remember once I stated there was promise? There actually is, and you are feeling like if the writers may get out of their very own manner, issues may enhance massively. There’s one episode you can simply describe because the (really enjoyable) comedy romp of the season and it’s nice. Every Trek fan is aware of that The One With The Whales is essentially the most financially profitable Trek property ever made. And but at any time when a brand new Trek property is made, it’s at all times with the promise of extra grimness, extra darkness, extra grit, extra realism. Yet right here we’re, with the enjoyable episode reminding you why you watch Star Trek within the first place, and making the characters enjoyable folks to hang around with. If the sequence may proceed in that barely slower, extra relaxed groove, then Strange New Worlds might be sensible.
I haven’t talked a lot concerning the manufacturing design or results, each of that are nice – this new Enterprise is attractive in and out. Nor the sequence music, with Nami Melumad’s rating being sensible, refined and plush in all the proper locations. That’s a praise not shared with Jeff Russo’s now commonplace fare, which neither matches the delicacy of status drama intro nor the hovering bombast related to Star Trek. The greatest and worst factor I can say concerning the intro theme is that it sounds prefer it got here from one in all Interplay’s mid ‘90s CD-ROM video games.
Fundamentally, I can solely actually rattling Strange New Worlds with the faintest of reward – it may be enjoyable, each once in a while. I might think about, and hope, that issues will enhance as time goes on, and the present’s makers gained’t indulge their worst impulses. Given that I walked away from Picard after the tip of its first dreary-as-hell run, the actual fact I’m not less than ready to stay round right here speaks volumes.