S01.E01: Strange New Worlds

[paulvdb]

Quote

Captain Christopher Pike comes out of self-imposed exile to rescue an officer gone missing during a secret mission.

Premiere date: May 5, 2022

[Zonk]

This was actually good. But I won't get my hopes up...

[paigow]

WTF?? Pike is living IN 10 Forward... TOS!Kirk lived in a tiny room WITHOUT a fireplace FFS

[paigow]

Query: Are these writers the only people that do not know what Pon Farr means?

Vulcan marriage (well, the first one anyway) is NOT optional. [explains Sybok]

[salaydouk]

23 minutes ago, paigow said:

WTF?? Pike is living IN 10 Forward... TOS!Kirk lived in a tiny room WITHOUT a fireplace FFS

That is a ret-con that I can live with.   And no he was not living in 10 Forward, but I would agree that this quarters were a bit _too_ large.  And the conference room off the bridge was also very very large, but I don't know if that was also his ready room as I thought I saw a desk in the back. 

2 hours ago, Zonk said:

This was actually good. But I won't get my hopes up...

Agreed.. I enjoyed it... I got some of the idealism vibes going...

And just surprised that they did add to canon with referencing 2 US Civil Wars and used actual news footage.  I wonder just how many people they are going to lose for that?

[Zonk]

11 minutes ago, paigow said:

Query: Are these writers the only people that do not know what Pon Farr means?

I always gave that a pass for Spock in the celvin timeline, since he is half human. So he might be perma-horny like a human male and get the pon farr on top, but I really don't think his vulcan wife should be into sex most of the time. Btw. how does that work? Do the males go into pon farr and the females just lie there and think of queen and country or does something in them get triggered as well?

 

[Rambler]

Glad to see that they seem to be going back to the separate stories for each episode format for this series. The season long story arcs don't work for Star Trek IMO. Well maybe they could work if they found a decent writing staff, but that seems like something CBS is incapable of doing.

[Stardancer Supreme]

6 hours ago, paigow said:

WTF?? Pike is living IN 10 Forward... TOS!Kirk lived in a tiny room WITHOUT a fireplace FFS

Listen, I want to live in Pike's quarters! 

5 hours ago, Zonk said:

I always gave that a pass for Spock in the celvin timeline, since he is half human. So he might be perma-horny like a human male and get the pon farr on top, but I really don't think his vulcan wife should be into sex most of the time. Btw. how does that work? Do the males go into pon farr and the females just lie there and think of queen and country or does something in them get triggered as well?

 

A little pon farr background:

A common misconception associated with the series (and Spock in particular) is that Vulcans only have sex once every seven years. However, pon farr is not coincident with the sex lives of Vulcans, and they are able to have intercourse without the affliction, and thus more than once every seven years. Star Trek: The Original Series writer and continuity story editor D. C. Fontana explains that pon farr is not the only time that Vulcans feel sexual desire or engage in sexual activity:

"Vulcans mate normally any time they want to. However, every seven years you do the ritual, the ceremony, the whole thing. The biological urge. You must, but any other time is any other emotion –humanoid emotion– when you're in love. When you want to, you know when the urge is there, you do it. This every-seven-years business was taken too literally by too many people who don't stop and understand. We didn't mean it only every seven years. I mean, every seven years would be a little bad, and it would not explain the Vulcans of many different ages which are not seven years apart."

So T'Pring was well within her rights to rock Spock's world... once he is finished gallivanting in space with Pike! LOL!

[Zonk]

Interesting. I guess they never made that really clear on the show. It came off like Vulcans are like a lot of animals on earth. That they have a mating season and aren't really that interested in sex outside of it. But that was never specifically stated, it is true. So anything goes and the current writers are in charge of what is canon.

14 minutes ago, Stardancer Supreme said:

I mean, every seven years would be a little bad, and it would not explain the Vulcans of many different ages which are not seven years apart.

That's a weird way of putting it. Why would it be bad? Just because humans are so horny everybody in the galaxy has to be?

Also I would have assumed it staggers, so that not all Vulcans have the same 7 year cycle. Only mating every 7 years could have absolutely worked, especially with a species that lives so long as Vulcans do. It would have made sense as an evolutionary adaptation to prevent overpopulation.

 

[greekmom]

7 hours ago, paigow said:

Query: Are these writers the only people that do not know what Pon Farr means?

Vulcan marriage (well, the first one anyway) is NOT optional. [explains Sybok]

Thank you. First thing I said.

Only half interesting is La'an.

Kurtzman is an ass.

 

[Colorado David]

Liking so far. Does Spock have an accent, or is it me mishearing? I'm getting a touch of something at the ends of his words, but can't put my finger on it. 

Nice visuals.

[Ottis]

Liked it. Didn't love it. Mount continues to be fantastic. The episode plot, with the two warring situations, was cliche without being thought provoking (vs. say, TOS episode about the planet that had been at war for so long, the war had been tidily integrated into society and they just reported to disintegration chambers ... how awful).

Loved Pike realizing he saw his future and struggling with it. And I liked his eventual conclusion. But it happened too quickly. I didn't want it to continue forever, but maybe a few episodes.

Loved the additional Gorn info, and what a horrible thing to witness, all the people you love, eaten, and then you are set free as a token.

Did not like yet another "captain hanging out in the western wilderness" setting. Why can't Starfleet captains hang out at, say, a bowling alley?

Nice visuals. Nice connections to other Trek (nurse Chapel is cool!). And it was indeed time for a show with standalone episodes. Looking forward to them being more innovative, though.

Hope it does well. Picard S2 has so disappointed and irritated me that I *need* better Trek.

 

 

Edited May 6, 2022 by Ottis

[paigow]

8 minutes ago, Ottis said:

Loved the additional Gorn info, and what a horrible thing to witness, all the people you love, eaten, and then you are set free as a token.

TOS!Kirk - just a few years from now - will run into a Gorn... and nobody on the Enterprise, including Spock FFS has no idea what the talking dinosaur is up to... even though a former Number One has been up close and personal with many of them

[marinw]

So you deal with violating Genrael Order One by making it even worse?! There is no way to predict how revealing yourself to be Aliens will be receiced by a society fighting amongst themselves. Mass panic could be one likely response. Why would a society that can't deal with each other be receptive to Alien words of wisdom? Making a Big Speech isn't going to solve years of mistrust and paranoia

Do we Have to do World War Three?

As for Pike, when the time comes could he just aviod the training cruise? Also, do Starfleet people submit some sort of living will about what they will consent to in the event that they will be incapasitated? Are living wills and DNRs a thing? Also, Pike says he sees his death, but he dosn't die, not quite.

I like this, but not as much as Lower Decks. LD wins the prize for an optimistic future and eposodic stories.

Yikes. La'an's backstory is brutal.

Loving this M'Benga. And is Andorin Guy the Chief Engineer?

Edited May 8, 2022 by marinw

[Starchild]

Observations: 

• Maybe I'm misremembering but I thought in "Amok Time" that Spock said he hadn't seen T'Pring since they were children.
• Anson Mount is great here. People complain that he's kind of a wooden actor, and that may be true, but it works in a show like this, that harkens back to a simpler Trek.
• There's no way that La'an isn't related to Khan, right? That is too unique a surname to be using as a coincidence.
• The messaging was a bit heavy-handed, but not misplaced in today's society.
• This version of Chapel seems a bit bouncier than I remember.
• Uhura, Chapel and M'Benga, but not Boyce. Do we know if the events of "The Cage" have already happened yet?
• The actress playing Uhura really captures Nichelle Nichols' essence, I approve.
• So James was not the first Kirk on the Enterprise? Interesting that he never mentioned that when he later tells his crew about his brother.

Final point: I am LOVING the visual design! The bridge looks great. A nice blend of futurism and nostalgia. All the little callbacks to the original. Despite being tied very closely in time to TOS, they're making it their own. Like the uniforms. I'm fairly certain I saw that the gold uniforms have gold braid on the sleeve, but unlike TOS the blue uniforms have silver braid, and the red uniforms have shiny red braid. Nice.

I'm excited guys, this show is off to a great start, AFAIC.

[paigow]

1 hour ago, Ottis said:

Did not like yet another "captain hanging out in the western wilderness" setting. Why can't Starfleet captains hang out at, say, a bowling alley?

If Pike never made it to Talos 4, he would have been happy in The Nexus with Kirk.. Pike skillfully avoids HR issues by dating another Captain...

[paigow]

1 hour ago, marinw said:

And is Andorin Guy the Chief Engineer?

Hope not...  That means Pike left Space Dock without a Chief Engineer??? 

[Frozendiva]

I liked it. I was free of the all-knowing, all-wise, all-capable - Burnham.

Instead we get Christopher Pike. I did like the old Montana frontier - my province is just upstairs. It reminded me a bit of the Klondike Gold Rush and the pioneers in their creaky covered wagons heading up to the Yukon and Alaska. I liked the juxtaposition of having real snow, the more wild west days of Pike riding Tango (I am assuming) amongst the huge wind turbines. A weird romanticism but likened it to outer space. The boldly going where no one has gone before, etc.

I also liked Pike being conflicted and paralyzed with inaction at knowing his future and having that knowledge be a part of every decision and guess and second guess. I had hoped he would have been this way for another few eps. He also had a bunch of good lines - Spock, are you naked; Take me to your leader. I liked seeing the old sci fi invasion movies. That worked really well.

The crew seems likeable so far. I liked Nurse Chapel, Uhura seems bubbly and fun. I liked Chapel chasing the alien bunny.

The story was a bit heavy handed at showing that the Discovery incident set this butterfly effect in motion. No guarantee that joining the Federation of Planets will stop wars from happening or not set the factions on the planet on their merry way to destruction. I did like the new tech that allowed people to morph in to the planet's inhabitants. I also liked that the planet had an actual civilization and not some simple cave or structure.

I am interested and will hang around for a bit. Kinda reminds me of the old Trek. Anson Mount is great as Pike.

8 minutes ago, paigow said:

If Pike never made it to Talos 4, he would have been happy in The Nexus with Kirk.. Pike skillfully avoids HR issues by dating another Captain...

Wonder if the show will remake The Cage episode.

[ajsnaves]

I think “The Cage” already happened. Didn’t Discovery go to Talos IV?
 

Overall I enjoyed it, but I’m an easy mark for anything Star Trek. I will be fine though, if Discovery and Michael are never mentioned again in this series.  All in all can’t wait until next week 

[Frozendiva]

I looked up the ep and the summary said that during Pike's appearance on Discovery, he had gone to Talos IV two years previously.

[Starchild]

OK then I guess it makes more sense that some more of Kirk's crew besides Spock is on board.

Edited May 6, 2022 by Starchild

[millennium]

Anson Mount does justice to the character.

But the characterizations of other familiar faces from TOS seem too far afield of the originals.  I don't much like giddy Uhura.   TOS Uhura was 100% professional and elegant in her demeanor.   This one seems to be a spiritual cousin of Sylvia Tilly and the last thing I want from this series is to be reminded of Discovery (oh, and thank you, writers, for clobbering us over the head again with that infuriating retcon about Burnham).   Ditto for the original Nurse Chapel.  Always kind of uptight, not at all like this Nurse Chapel.  And when did T'pring become snarky?

Mr. Speck isn't doing it for me either.

8 hours ago, Rambler said:

Glad to see that they seem to be going back to the separate stories for each episode format for this series. The season long story arcs don't work for Star Trek IMO. Well maybe they could work if they found a decent writing staff, but that seems like something CBS is incapable of doing.

This was what I liked best about the episode.  I'm tired of every show I watch having an arc now.

[theschnauzers]

Any personality/behavior differences can be chalked up to the TOS characters being younger. Did anyone notice Samuel Kirk being mentioned at the end of the episode? And yes, Hemmer is the chief engineer.

[thuganomics85]

Pretty good start, I thought.  Definitely seems to be the first of the NuTreks that not only seem more episodic (although I'm sure arcs will eventually come into play), but carries more of the optimistic and hopeful outlook that harkens back to the Original and Next Generation.  We'll see if it can keep this up, but it at least seems to be starting out on the right foot.

Anson Mount continues to be a pitch perfect Pike and the character really is becoming one of my favorite Trek captains already.  I might be an easy mark, but the gag of his folksy references and remarks throwing everyone else off is highly amusing.  While Leonard Nimoy will never be topped, I still think Ethan Peck's take is solid enough and he at least plays off Anson really well.  Rebecca Romijn didn't have as much to do this go around, but I'm looking forward to more of Una.

Fun seeing a few other "past characters with new faces" like Uhra, Nurse Chapel, T'Pring, and Dr. M'Benga.  Hopefully they will be developed in interesting ways.  And I'm curious see who else might eventually show up here.

Out of the fresh faces, it definitely looks like La'an going to be a major player going forward.  The backstory with the Gorn was quite brutal.  And her surname definitely is making me suspect something...

So, according to Pike, is supposed death will happen in about ten years.  Plenty of time to get a few seasons knocked out if there isn't a way to reverse it!

Certainly went all out with the set design and visual effects here!

[CarpeFelis]

I thought Pike’s speech to the aliens went over a little too easily. Their society was likened to ours (21st century Earth), but if aliens visited Earth today and showed us the potential for a peaceful future, you just know there would be a large faction insisting it was all a hoax.

[cambridgeguy]

7 hours ago, Ottis said:

Loved Pike realizing he saw his future and struggling with it. And I liked his eventual conclusion. But it happened too quickly. I didn't want it to continue forever, but maybe a few episodes.

It's an (unintentional?) callback to the Cage, where Pike was moping about the burden of command before snapping out of it by the end.  And for those uncomfortable with changes to characterization, let's not forget the guy was kind of an uptight prick.  Part of the reason Spock was so shouty was because Nimoy wanted to provide a counterpoint to the more dour captain.  Personalities change over the years.

[Ottis]

2 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

It's an (unintentional?) callback to the Cage, where Pike was moping about the burden of command before snapping out of it by the end. 

I'm not sure what that means, in reference to my comment. I know The Cage well. I was saying I liked that Pike had to struggle with what it means to know when and how you will die, and I wanted that struggle to last longer than the pilot. Didn't need the hesitancy it caused, but I would have liked a more insightful look at what it means to know your fate, and what you choose to do until then.

I mean, the show didn't even touch on the fact that Pike is age what? Late 40s? Early 50s? And in his time, humans probably routinely live to 100 or more. So knowing he dies at 60 means he misses out on 40% of a life span. Also, he was doing something heroic, so the reason for his "death" should be in the discussion. So many directions that could have gone, but it is done, now.

10 hours ago, marinw said:

So you deal with voilating Genreal Order One by making it even worse?!

Yep, that's one option. A callback to the TOS spirit, where sometimes the person on the ground has to make a decision that doesn't fit neatly with the rules. I liked it.

9 hours ago, Starchild said:

There's no way that La'an isn't related to Khan, right? That is too unique a surname to be using as a coincidence.

First thing I thought, too. If the writers put that forethought into it, and this matters later in the series, we're in good hands.

5 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Anson Mount continues to be a pitch perfect Pike and the character really is becoming one of my favorite Trek captains already.

He was the best thing about Discovery, IMO. In fact, the back half of the season he was in approached lofty Trek levels ... Pike represented what the Federation aspired to be, while being a leader who didn't need to be the star. It was such a change of tone for Discovery that I was excited that it had moved beyond "Michael is perfect" status and had a bright future. Then the new season started, Pike was gone and by ep 3, Discovery was back to Michael is perfect.

I'm not fazed by small timeline inconsistencies ... who saw the Gorn when, or when a Vulcan gets horny. This is a franchise with multiple (long-running!) TV series and movies over 50+ years. There will be an occasional miss. As long as they don't take the lazy "multiverse" path out of it, and keep them to occasional, I can handwave. And anything has to be better than the horrid Picard 2.

I mostly just want good stories about ideas bigger than "who loves who," or "shove mental health into every plot." Give us stuff to think about, like TOS, and the characters and ship and world building will fill in.

 

Edited May 6, 2022 by Ottis

[Zonk]

11 hours ago, marinw said:

So you deal with voilating Genreal Order One by making it even worse?!

They had developed a warp-bomb. That is a planet killer and not in the sense of "oh it will be nuclear winter for a few hundret years and then life might recover", no in the sense of "the planet gets ripped in apart". It literally can't get any worse.

50 minutes ago, Ottis said:

I mean, the show didn't even touch on the fact that Pike is age what? Late 40s? Early 50s? And in his time, humans probably routinely live to 100 or more. So knowing he dies at 60 means he misses out on 40% of a life span.

We don't really know how old he is. He might be 70 or 80. He looks like a 50 year old to us, but there is no telling what that means with the medical technology in Star Trek.

 

[paigow]

7 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Nurse Chapel and Dr. M'Benga.  Hopefully they will be developed in interesting ways. 

Their best TOS comedy bit was Spock healing himself in sickbay via self-induced coma and needing help to wake up. A horrified Chapel walks in on  M'Benga doing his best Jack Bauer on Spock...

[Colorado David]

I did have a chuckle moment - general order 1, don't interfere with their society. Solution: bring no weapons, and when you get caught, beat the heck outta the natives physically. UMMM HAD YOU PHASERS, YOU COULD'VE JUST STUNNED THEM. IMO they are less likely to remember getting stunned (especially if you hide and snipe them from out of site) as opposed to beating the crap outta them, which as a native I'm gonna remember that the next week at least. 

I thought the Pike in Montana was a subtle joke as Mount as Cullen in Hell on Wheels, the quiet rough cowboy. And he's playing Pike well - Pike in the movies is fairly quiet and fatherly, and I'm getting that same kinda vibe from Mount. 

Not keen on a captain saying 'hit it' to go to warp, but that may be just me. Is there a slang protocol in Star Fleet???

Yeah, hoping Uhura is NOT the comedy relief. Actually hoping for no comedy relief if we can help it, comedy is for the Orville, not here IMO. That bit with Chapel chasing the alien was cringeworthy - these other crewpeople just continue on their way ignoring the alien running down the hallways?

 

 

[wanderingstar]

Number One was still taking folks out while injured! Respect.

[Ottis]

3 hours ago, Zonk said:

We don't really know how old he is. He might be 70 or 80. He looks like a 50 year old to us, but there is no telling what that means with the medical technology in Star Trek.

So something else that could have been discussed. I mean, humans might live to be 200, we don't know that, either. I could only go on the gray in his beard (which could have been a fashion choice, but I suspect is more aligned to how old he is roughly), and the fact Mount is 49. 

54 minutes ago, Colorado David said:

I thought the Pike in Montana was a subtle joke as Mount as Cullen in Hell on Wheels, the quiet rough cowboy. And he's playing Pike well - Pike in the movies is fairly quiet and fatherly, and I'm getting that same kinda vibe from Mount. 

Or a subtle tie in to Kirk climbing mountains, or Picard riding horses. I mean, Starfleet captains all seem to be outdoors people. Make one a gamer! :-)

This also made me remember that I'm interested in the fact Pike seems to think he dies in 10 years, and we know he doesn't and ends up in the chair with Salamanca lights  - and he seems to be seeing his scarred face from when he is in the chair. So either he is using "die" in a more general sense of losing the kind of life he values, or he doesn't realize he doesn't actually die - which makes me wonder about the relic he touched. Is it incomplete, or is it his interpretation?

[cdnalor]

Now this show is a welcome return to the old formula: problem crops up, our heroes go check it out, captain makes a big speech, problem solved, on to a new crisis next week.  Please, please keep up the stand-alone episode format, I am so done with the one-plot-season format adopted by all these genre shows.

I noticed that both Pike's Enterprise and Discovery have only women at the helm positions as if they're making a statement about the male-dominated original show.  I guess it's okay as long as they're not required to parallel park either ship. (I'm kidding, I'm kidding!)  It just gives the impression that when Jim Kirk took over, he got rid of all the women on the bridge except for Uhura, and then put them all in mini-skirts.  What a chauvinist!

I was shocked by how much gray hair Pike has on this show.  I looked up pics of him on Discovery and he started out with dark hair, I wish the show had kept that.  I also don't care for the rather tall haircut.  The rest of the cast looks fine, it's fun to see new iterations of 60's characters.  I was expecting the doctor to be the crusty old coot we saw in "The Cage" but I guess he retired after that incident.

The sets and production values look great, like they did on ST:Disco, and the episode felt like a combination of TOS and TNG storywise, so I hope this continues for the next 10 or so years that Pike believes he has left.

 

[MissLucas]

Well, I liked it. I'm in desperate need of good ST - preferably without time travel hijinks, thankyouverymuch.

Forget about Pike's quarters I want that mountain cabin! I wonder how having a set future for Pike will influence the story-telling. They've done some interesting things with the premise already.

I enjoyed all of the new crew. Uhura was great at handling the freaked-out alien by -communicating- with him about his planet's sports. Una's the badass I expected her to be and I enjoyed Ortega and her talkative eyebrow. My favorite so far is La'an - probably because she reminds me of Drummer both in styling and demeanour, which is not a bad thing at all!

The episode was dedicated to April Nocifora - I recognized the name from other Star Trek shows but had no idea how close her ties to the franchise were for almost three decades - RIP.

[Frozendiva]

12 hours ago, theschnauzers said:

Any personality/behavior differences can be chalked up to the TOS characters being younger. Did anyone notice Samuel Kirk being mentioned at the end of the episode? And yes, Hemmer is the chief engineer.

I would think that, for example, Uhura would have been in her 20s and was excited about landing a dream job, so would be giddy and bubbly. And then grow in to her mature, elegant, responsible self.

[cdnalor]

34 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

My favorite so far is La'an - probably because she reminds me of Drummer both in styling and demeanour, which is not a bad thing at all!

That's who she reminded of, thank you!  At first, I thought she was like the security officer on the Orville, but that didn't seem right.  But Drummer?  Yes!

[Starchild]

Remember, Pike's fondness for horses was seen in "The Cage."

As for ruminating on his future "death", he did say to Spock that (paraphrase) "I saw my own death, or at least the death of the man I am now." So I think he realizes he doesn't actually die, and was speaking metaphorically. Let's face it, life in that chair is a living death for anyone who was once so active and commanding, and is now reduced to a life of immobility and communicating in 0s and 1s.

When this show was announced they did explicitly state they were intending mostly standalone stories. Hopefully they are able to resist the call of the season arc. I like that kind of story telling too, but I am really enjoying the classic feel of this so far.

As for Mount's hair, it doesn't bother me, but even if it did, the return of "classic Trek sideburn" would be enough to mitigate it lol.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

9 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

It's an (unintentional?) callback to the Cage, where Pike was moping about the burden of command before snapping out of it by the end.  And for those uncomfortable with changes to characterization, let's not forget the guy was kind of an uptight prick.  Part of the reason Spock was so shouty was because Nimoy wanted to provide a counterpoint to the more dour captain.  Personalities change over the years.

Remember also that Spock had regular emotions in The Cage. The NBC execs were worried that people would see the pointy ears and think Spock "demonic," so Roddenberry compromised going forward by having Spock be super-logical and unemotional (and thus unthreatening), which ironically made the character a fan favorite.

 

17 hours ago, marinw said:

So you deal with violating General Order One by making it even worse?!

TOS was full of episodes where Kirk and the crew speak reverently of obeying The Prime Directive (aka General Order One) right up until Kirk says "F it" and just does what he wants. Pike openly mocking the "Prime Directive" term was a little too on-the-nose, though.

I had a unique experience with this episode: I'm 50 years old and have been watching Star Trek since I was in grade school. My wife is 52 and had never watched Trek in her life (except for walking in on a S3 episode of Discovery, where everyone's overacting led to her asking if it was supposed to be a parody of something). So last night was her first time watching a Star Trek episode beginning to end. The result? She liked the optimism of the show and the underlying philosophical questions raised, even if she realized there was a ton of subtext she wasn't getting (for example, I had to explain what Vulcans were and their love of being logical all the time, and also had to explain the concept of warp drive).

[Tachi Rocinante]

47 minutes ago, cdnalor said:

That's who she reminded of, thank you!  At first, I thought she was like the security officer on the Orville, but that didn't seem right.  But Drummer?  Yes!

 I like her so far, but Drummer would kick her ass with one hand tied behind her back, sasa que?  😁

The Noonien-Singh name drop was pretty blatant.  Not sure if he'll end up being Daddy or Unky Khan.

I also like NotEmmaStone as the Nurse, and Romijn continues to do solid work.

[marinw]

I think I like M'Benga the best so far. He was only in two eps of TOS, so I can not fret over how this M'Benga is different than OG M'Benga. Both actors portray great intellect, humor, and persoanilty. Hope M'Benga gets some good screentime in his enourmous Sickbay.

I'm getting a Checkow vibe from Erica Ortegas, in that this is a fun person who takes her job seriously but not herself too seriously.

 

Edited May 6, 2022 by marinw

[benteen]

I very much enjoyed the first episode. The production values are great and it's wonderful to get back to the story of the week. The alien race was underdeveloped and the politically message wasn't exactly subtle but I enjoyed seeing first contact with an alien species like this.

Of the crew, I thought La'an was the standout. I like her character and she has potential. Definitely could be a Major Kira type. Anson Mount is strong as Pike and looking forward to seeing more of Rebecca Romain as Number One. Ethan Peck is alright but Luke Christopher Reeves with Superman, no one will be able to play Spock like Leonard Nimoy, although Zachery Quinto did a good job and looked like the character. Very nice to finally see Robert April in live action. 

I'm very much looking forward to more episodes and Strange New Worlds looks like it will be fun but Luke other current Trek shows such as Discovery and Picard (even Enterpriseback in the day), I consider this seperate from the first era of Trek. I don't want to be one of these fans arguing over braking "canon" but the fact is this show and the others all do that, cribbing from what has gone before it and disregarding what far better Trek shows have already established. It's like these writers really do not have any faith in their abilities to do something original in the world of Star Trek.

The George Kirk reveal, while a clever misdirection is probably the chief offender. When we finally see George Kirk in The Original Series, it's clear that NO ONE knows this man other than his brother Jim Kirk, who is the only person who calls him Sam. He was a civilian researcher. You would think Spock or Uhura would have known him but they don't.  Jim Kirk also said that he only met Pike once when he took over for him on Enterprise but I'm sure we'll eventually get extensive scenes between those two. Amok Time implies Spock hasn't seen T'Pring since they were children but nope, the show wanted Spock sexy time and Peck doesn't have the charisma to pull that off. Spock doesn't recognize the name Noonian-Singh in Space Seed despite having served with a crewmember with an identical last name and Starfleet never encountered the Gorm before TOS.The writers will continue to chip away at the far better Trek series to cover their own lack of original ideas. So to me this is completely seperate from the original Star Trek shows like TOS, TNG and DS9.

The idea of crewmembers serving on the Enterprise before TOS has been around for a long time

 DC Fontana's Vulcan's Glory book has Scotty on the Enterprise is Pike's time. So it's fine having some of these crewmembers appear although Chapel is hard to make work and I don't know why M'Benga would go from CMO to staff specialist although using his character is a good opportunity. I liked Uhura being able to relate to the Kiley alien but I think I just about died of embarrassment with Uhura's "Cool!" at the end. She deserves better than.to be portrayed as a bubbly teenager. She's a Starfleet cadet. As for Chapel, she has more personality than her TOS counterpart (even Majel Barrett didn't think highly of her character) but I feel like I've seen her kind of character on a bunch of different shows. She and Uhura deserved a better introduction to each other.

 

Edited May 7, 2022 by benteen

[greekmom]

What was that thing La'an did when she first met the doctor??

It was sort of like she wiped under her eye.

Was it a signal of sorts?

[benteen]

I think refusing to write Spock like he was on TOS does the character no favors. It meant something when Spock actually showed emotion. Now when he does it regularly it means nothing. 

I never watched Discovery so I haven't seen Peck as Spock before. I am not impressed. Nimoy could play emotionless with so much charisma. I don't see an shred of that in Peck's performance. 

Edited May 7, 2022 by benteen

[Frozendiva]

3 hours ago, greekmom said:

What was that thing La'an did when she first met the doctor??

It was sort of like she wiped under her eye.

Was it a signal of sorts?

Probably will rewatch tomorrow. A first for me - rewatching a pilot.

[Chyromaniac]

On 5/5/2022 at 9:07 PM, marinw said:

Do we Have to do World War Three?

No we don’t, which - at least in my opinion - was the point of Pike’s speech, both for the citizens of Kiley and for us.  He’s saying, look at what we’ve accomplished, and how far we’ve come - but also look at how close we came to screwing it all up.  Right now you’re right on the verge of heading down that same destructive path that we did, but you really don’t have to.  Don’t make our same mistakes.

 I think it’s an important message - for 50+ years, Star Trek has been showing us a future where humanity puts aside our differences, and works together to explore the universe with our friends.  Somewhere along the way though, we got the idea that this bright destiny was preceded by a great disaster - the Eugenics War was possibly the first iteration of this.  This notion has only been compounded over the years, notably in episodes like Encounter at Farpoint, to the degree that for some viewers, it may feel inevitable.  What’s the point in fixing things, if everything has to get worse before anything can get better?  Especially now, when every day feels like it’s putting us closer to the point of no return?  Pike is reminding us that it’s never too late.  As bad as they may seem, the apocalyptic events in Star Trek mythology are just that - cautionary tales.  And he’s also saying that we can start having the utopian future today, we just have to choose it.  Embrace things like peace, understanding, truth, progress, equality, and so on - don’t waste hundreds of years and millions of lives getting to a point where there’s literally no place to go but up.

And fwiw, I don’t think we’re meant to believe that Pike’s speech literally solved everything for the people of Kiley (or that it would instantly fix our problems either).  But it’s a good first step, and shows how we can all boldly go to a better tomorrow.

[marinw]

5 hours ago, Chyromaniac said:

And fwiw, I don’t think we’re meant to believe that Pike’s speech literally solved everything for the people of Kiley

Good point. Any more than  Kirk's huge speech would solve a long running war in "A Taste of Armageddon." I do love the line "I will not kill. Today"

[greekmom]

for reference on my previous post.

[starri]

5 hours ago, Chyromaniac said:

And fwiw, I don’t think we’re meant to believe that Pike’s speech literally solved everything for the people of Kiley (or that it would instantly fix our problems either).  But it’s a good first step, and shows how we can all boldly go to a better tomorrow.

Troi has a line to Cochrane that indicates that meeting the Vulcans didn't solve all of Earth's problems immediately.  It still took a few decades for us to straighten ourselves out.  The montage of things that happened on Kiley after Pike spoke to them didn't read to me like it was happening all at once.

On a less philosophical note, I hope we get to see April again.  I liked him a lot.

[aemom]

On 5/6/2022 at 2:58 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Pretty good start, I thought.  Definitely seems to be the first of the NuTreks that not only seem more episodic (although I'm sure arcs will eventually come into play), but carries more of the optimistic and hopeful outlook that harkens back to the Original and Next Generation.  We'll see if it can keep this up, but it at least seems to be starting out on the right foot.

Anson Mount continues to be a pitch perfect Pike and the character really is becoming one of my favorite Trek captains already.  I might be an easy mark, but the gag of his folksy references and remarks throwing everyone else off is highly amusing.  While Leonard Nimoy will never be topped, I still think Ethan Peck's take is solid enough and he at least plays off Anson really well.  Rebecca Romijn didn't have as much to do this go around, but I'm looking forward to more of Una.

Fun seeing a few other "past characters with new faces" like Uhra, Nurse Chapel, T'Pring, and Dr. M'Benga.  Hopefully they will be developed in interesting ways.  And I'm curious see who else might eventually show up here.

Out of the fresh faces, it definitely looks like La'an going to be a major player going forward.  The backstory with the Gorn was quite brutal.  And her surname definitely is making me suspect something...

So, according to Pike, is supposed death will happen in about ten years.  Plenty of time to get a few seasons knocked out if there isn't a way to reverse it!

Certainly went all out with the set design and visual effects here!

When I first saw Pike, Number One, and Spock on ST:Disco, I really liked them and said "I want a spin-off with these characters! I would watch the shit out of that show and I would like it better than Disco." So when they announced the show, I was thrilled!

I was honestly more excited about this premiere than I was about Picard, but I reminded myself that it's also only the pilot, and shows usually take some time to find their rhythm. 

Overall, I was very pleased. It wasn't perfect, but it was never going to be, and I'm excited for next week.

[benteen]

Question...I've never watched Discovery and from what I've read it sounds like I'm not missing much. But if Pike knows all the details about how he is going to be injured, then isn't it really easy for him to change what's going to happen? In TOS, we learn he was injured while doing a cadet review of an old Class-J training vessel. If he knows that detail, then he should be able to easily prevent that and have that damn ship repaired. Easy peasey!

Marching into a very preventable life-altering accident is not heroic. If you know the details it can be avoided with ease. This isn't altering the past. The future isn't even set yet. 

Edited May 7, 2022 by benteen