Mild spoilers follow for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1, Episode 1.
“You don’t want me in command of that ship.”
That’s not a belief you hear frequently on Star Trek, where the primary characters are nearly preternaturally offered to taking charge. But as Strange New Worlds debuts, Anson Mount’s Captain Christopher Pike simply does not understand if he has it in him any longer.
His journey back to command starts in this very first episode of the current Star Trek series, which is a high-end and exhilarating callback to the magnificence days of the Star Trek of the past when adventure-of-the-week stories were the standard, aliens and their characteristics were way more like people than we cared to confess (foreheads regardless of), and a little excellent humor went a long method to cushioning the honestly lofty perfects of the team of the USS Enterprise.
Trekkies naturally understand why Pike is down on his luck in this premiere. Spoilers for a half-century-old episode of television, however back on The Original Series we found out that Pike was fated to be seriously hurt in a mishap at some future point, and therefore required to invest his staying days as a damaged male in a life-sustaining maker. When the character went back to the screen in 2019 for Star Trek: Discovery, Mount’s version of Pike got a regrettable peek of his most regrettable future. Which is why he’s moping around in the mountains with his finest pandemic appearance, beard and all, when we initially fulfill him here.
Of course, it was that stint on Discovery– Mount and his Strange New Worlds co-stars Ethan Peck (Spock) and Rebecca Romijn (Number One) all appeared in Season 2– that rejuvenated the Pike character (who, after all, had actually just made a handful of looks in the years previous). Fans enjoyed him and his friends, and required the 3 get their own program, and nowadays fans typically get what they desire. (Of course, legend has it that fan letter-writing projects conserved the initial Star Trek from cancellation … for a time anyhow. There is precedent here.)
And so we now have this program, which illustrates the early experiences of the USS Enterprise prior to Captain Kirk takes control of, however while a great part of his ultimate team are currently onboard. In addition to the core trio of Pike, Spock, and Number One, we likewise have Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura (who’s simply a young cadet here), Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel (obviously a civilian who has actually not yet signed up with Starfleet), and Babs Olusanmokun asDr M’Benga (a character seen one or two times back on the initial program). There are likewise new faces like Christina Chong as security chief La’an Noonien-Singh, Melissa Navia as helmsperson Erica Ortegas, and Bruce Horak as the blind alien chief engineer Hemmer.
The primary thrust of the episode includes the team of the Enterprise being remembered from leave early in order to go trying to find among their own– Romijn’s Number One was on an objective that went awry on a world not unlike Earth of the 21st century. Parallel Earths was an idea Trek developer Gene Roddenberry utilized on TOS, and this episode leans into that concept (without simply out-and-out going “Roman Earth” or “Nazi Earth” like the old program tended to). The world that Pike and business discover, and the scenario they discover themselves in the middle of there, seem like timeless Trek, with a great dosage of cautionary storytelling included along the method.
Inevitably, some fans might bristle at Strange New Worlds’ brushes with connection. For example, Spock’s time on Vulcan with a particular character here relatively hits the occasions of among the most popular Original Series episodes. And yet, probably it can be weaved into the material of that earlier episode without in fact breaking canon. Whether or not the tightrope act concerning this specific subplot deserves the effort stays to be seen.
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Speaking of which, stories like Spock’s here, or Pike’s struggles with the foreknowledge of his future, will seemingly continue throughout the show. (The first five episodes have been made available to press as of this writing.) So whereas the Discoveries and Picards of the world are focused on season-long Big Bad main arcs, Strange New Worlds is focusing on new stories each week, but also telling its characters’ stories over the long haul. Those are the season-long arcs, and man, does it really work in the first five.
Mount and Peck certainly have some good stuff to chew on in this premiere episode (the Enterprise could seemingly be powered by Mount’s charisma alone, and Peck’s unique take on a Spock who is 10 years out from being Spock is addictive). But franchise newcomer Christina Chong’s La’an Noonien-Singh also gets to shine in the debut. Let’s face it: The idea behind the character sounded pretty dumb when she was announced. A descendant of Khan Noonien-Singh, as in The Wrath of Khan, working on the Enterprise? But Chong is great here, hinting at her genetically tangled past and also showing the guys a thing or two when they’re planet-side on their away mission.
But as with the Spock plot this week, and perhaps with any franchise that has been running since Lyndon B. Johnson was president, maybe we just need to make a choice as fans: Do you go with the new storytelling or instead focus on how things connect or don’t, as the case may be, to the stories told decades ago? In the case of Strange New Worlds, I recommend the former, because if the first five episodes are any indication, this is just really good Star Trek.
Questions and Notes from the Q Continuum:
- “Spock… are you naked?”
- How best is it that Pike has a routine of seeing The Day the Earth Stood Still, the timeless sci-fi movie about mankind’s very first contact with alien life? That the excellent captain obviously has an OLED television in the future, instead of some expensive holo-projector or the like, we’ll chalk up to his horse-riding, mountain-cabin livin’ way of life.
- The admiral played by Adrian Holmes who sends out Pike to try to find Number One is Robert April, previous captain of the Enterprise who Pike served under as his Number One (as validated in Discovery).
- Lots of Easter eggs are plentiful. First contact with the Gorn? Shuttlecraft Stamets? Transporter Chief Kyle? Others that are too spoilery to talk about here ?!
- So Nurse Chapel was at the leading edge of the old “change your DNA so you look like an alien” tech, eh? It never ever actually got utilized on the old program much, however TNG enjoyed that things.
- Man, this Enterprise is spacious!
