Wait what a new Star Trek TV show? We’ve held off on writing up episode reviews of the new shows since they’ve been completely serialized, but since Strange New Worlds is episodic we’re gonna give it a shot. This episode was pretty fun! The crew seems cool so far, the ship interiors look great, it’s what you want to see in a Trek show. There’s plenty of dumb/weird bits, but overall this is the most exciting series kick-off of the Paramount+ era. The series starts with a Prime Directive – er- General Order One – plot, one of our favorite subjects, so that doesn’t hurt. They handle Pike’s knowledge of his dark future deftly in a nice scene with Spock, and we get a nice, natural feeling spotlight on La’an. The mystery that they are investigating (How a civilization developed warp-adjacent tech sooner than they should be able) is actually interesting, and fits into previous stories nicely. Pike gives a serviceable speech at the end that maybe could’ve driven the aliens to a slightly less definitive resolution. I might have appreciated a “here’s how we did it, you can do that too, but it’s up to you, seeya!” rather than a “Here’s how we did it, now you’ll do it, welcome to the federation!” but it’s not a huge deal. This episode has what we’re lookin for, and we’re excited to keep tuning in.
Hey wait a second the aliens are us!Pike has been so distraught that its led him to beardom.Robert April!Spock and T’Pring are hitting it off in their own gross sort of way.A bridge crew!Some of them smirk.Uhura gets the deluxe badge.Pike brings you up to speed on why he’s rattled, so you don’t have to watch Discovery. Thanks Pike!The Archer (hey!) only carried three crew members? Looks like the kind of ship that would need at least four.Spock says Vulcan’s invented first contact. No one ever met each other before that.It’s Doc M’Benga! He seems like a chill dude but DO NOT try to give Paul and Jessica sanctuary at Sketch Tabr he’ll go nuts over it.Nurse Chapel is the disguise expert. Basically an Ethan Hunt type.They need to beam into their clothes? Oh I see its for a joke – these aliens wear shorts. We can only assume this is what the civil war is about.Spock knocks some guys out, which they then decide to beam onto Enterprise, and then it turns out they need one of their DNA samples in order for Spock to pass a retinal check. Lucky!Uhura is an expert in a weird sport this terrified alien likes, which lulls him into her trap. Number One says these people saw season 2 of Discovery through a telescope and reverse engineered a warp bomb!!Spock’s eaws huwtThey decide to ‘screw general order 1’ 😎😎😎😎Everyone knows about The Enterprise now!Pike shares a “how it started/how it’s going” meme with them and they end all war.what tha heck sam kirk is dropping byWhen asked what their mission is, Pike gives the opening credits monologue, which I personally feel he should work into more conversations.But then its spoiled by Uhura gleefully saying “cool!” like a total nerd. Here comes trouble! jk Hemmer you’re cool I think? maybe we’ll find out next week!
