Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Strange New Worlds
May 5, 2022 7:27 AM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
[Series premiere] Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the USS Enterprise--NCC-1701, no bloody A, B, C, or D, or NX for that matter--reunite (or meet for the first time, depending) after the events of season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery, and immediately deal with the fallout of a First Contact situation gone horribly wrong.
Memory Alpha thinks that those primary colors are boldly going there:
- The episode and series are sequels both to the original Star Trek pilot, "The Cage" (FanFare post), and to S2 of DIS, which had Pike temporarily taking command of Discovery and also featured Spock and, to a lesser extent, Number One, the executive officer of the Enterprise, who gets a full name, Una Chin-Riley. (Her first name was mentioned in DIS and Short Treks.) The series is, of course, also a prequel to most of Trek, and references Pike's future fate, which featured in the TOS two-parter "The Menagerie" (FF posts here and here), which incorporated parts of "The Cage."
- In addition to Pike, Spock, and Una, the show includes characters later seen in TOS (Christine Chapel, Dr. M'Benga, T'Pring, Nyota Uhura, and a certain Lieutenant Kirk), and TAS (Robert April), as well as new characters Erica Ortegas and La'an Noonien-Singh (yes, a descendant of you-know-who). The chief engineer, Hemmer, was not in this episode.
- The Enterprise is seen in spacedock--nothing like starting out a series or formal/informal reboot with a spacedock scene--and may have undergone a partial refit, which would explain any differences between the ship currently and as shown in DIS S2.
- The episode makes it clear that the events of S2 DIS, especially the fate of Discovery and its crew, are officially classified by Starfleet.
- The uniforms are further modified from the versions seen in S2 DIS, although the admiralty seems to still be using the dark blue uniforms of the first two-and-change seasons of DIS.
"Captain's log, stardate 2259.42. Earth--the dust and sky--is my hearth. But Enterprise is my home. We can go forward together, knowing that whatever shadows we bring with us, they make the light all the brighter. I am... a lucky man."
--Pike
Poster's Log:
I loved it.
There's a lot that's remarkable here, but maybe the most striking thing is just generally how much more bright and colorful everything is. At times, DIS (and PIC) seem(ed) almost monochromatic; not just the uniforms, but the ship and just the general tone of the thing. I was originally going to say "dark", but that's not literally true; the sick bay was an almost blinding white, but that also seemed to leach the color out of everyone and everything in it. What's also remarkable, though, is that if you go back and rewatch "The Cage" (which I recommend, if only for historical purposes), that's also a much less colorful version of the ship; there's almost no red on the bridge (the railing around the center is black), and the uniforms are similarly drab. (Compare/contrast with the beige and light blue uniforms of the crew in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.) If the purpose of doing SNW was to do something that was distinct from DIS and PIC for those that don't care for those shows--and, let's be frank, that seems to include a number of MeFites--it's immediately visually obvious that they're going in a very different direction here.
And that's also very obvious in how the crew and their characterization and interactions are shown. Probably the main impetus in this series existing was Anson Mount's portrayal of Pike in S2 DIS, which immediately got a hugely positive fan response. Just as the sets and uniforms were distinctive from the original 1701 of "The Cage", Mount's Pike is quite a bit different from Jeffrey Hunter's; Hunter seemed to be super-serious, almost grim at times, with only the occasional smile to alleviate things, while Mount has a sly sense of humor except in his more serious moments (and this episode does have those, especially when he's contemplating his eventual fate). Everyone else gets their bits as well; Uhura picks up details of the Kileys' culture amazingly fast (and uses it well), and we get a surprising (and kind of horrifying) amount of La'an's backstory for a premiere episode. And we even get Spock and T'Pring together, with some truly unfortunate timing. Plus, of course, a head-fake WRT Lieutenant Kirk which had me literally laughing out loud once I'd realized what they'd done. Already looking forward to next week.
Memory Alpha thinks that those primary colors are boldly going there:
- The episode and series are sequels both to the original Star Trek pilot, "The Cage" (FanFare post), and to S2 of DIS, which had Pike temporarily taking command of Discovery and also featured Spock and, to a lesser extent, Number One, the executive officer of the Enterprise, who gets a full name, Una Chin-Riley. (Her first name was mentioned in DIS and Short Treks.) The series is, of course, also a prequel to most of Trek, and references Pike's future fate, which featured in the TOS two-parter "The Menagerie" (FF posts here and here), which incorporated parts of "The Cage."
- In addition to Pike, Spock, and Una, the show includes characters later seen in TOS (Christine Chapel, Dr. M'Benga, T'Pring, Nyota Uhura, and a certain Lieutenant Kirk), and TAS (Robert April), as well as new characters Erica Ortegas and La'an Noonien-Singh (yes, a descendant of you-know-who). The chief engineer, Hemmer, was not in this episode.
- The Enterprise is seen in spacedock--nothing like starting out a series or formal/informal reboot with a spacedock scene--and may have undergone a partial refit, which would explain any differences between the ship currently and as shown in DIS S2.
- The episode makes it clear that the events of S2 DIS, especially the fate of Discovery and its crew, are officially classified by Starfleet.
- The uniforms are further modified from the versions seen in S2 DIS, although the admiralty seems to still be using the dark blue uniforms of the first two-and-change seasons of DIS.
"Captain's log, stardate 2259.42. Earth--the dust and sky--is my hearth. But Enterprise is my home. We can go forward together, knowing that whatever shadows we bring with us, they make the light all the brighter. I am... a lucky man."
--Pike
Poster's Log:
I loved it.
There's a lot that's remarkable here, but maybe the most striking thing is just generally how much more bright and colorful everything is. At times, DIS (and PIC) seem(ed) almost monochromatic; not just the uniforms, but the ship and just the general tone of the thing. I was originally going to say "dark", but that's not literally true; the sick bay was an almost blinding white, but that also seemed to leach the color out of everyone and everything in it. What's also remarkable, though, is that if you go back and rewatch "The Cage" (which I recommend, if only for historical purposes), that's also a much less colorful version of the ship; there's almost no red on the bridge (the railing around the center is black), and the uniforms are similarly drab. (Compare/contrast with the beige and light blue uniforms of the crew in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.) If the purpose of doing SNW was to do something that was distinct from DIS and PIC for those that don't care for those shows--and, let's be frank, that seems to include a number of MeFites--it's immediately visually obvious that they're going in a very different direction here.
And that's also very obvious in how the crew and their characterization and interactions are shown. Probably the main impetus in this series existing was Anson Mount's portrayal of Pike in S2 DIS, which immediately got a hugely positive fan response. Just as the sets and uniforms were distinctive from the original 1701 of "The Cage", Mount's Pike is quite a bit different from Jeffrey Hunter's; Hunter seemed to be super-serious, almost grim at times, with only the occasional smile to alleviate things, while Mount has a sly sense of humor except in his more serious moments (and this episode does have those, especially when he's contemplating his eventual fate). Everyone else gets their bits as well; Uhura picks up details of the Kileys' culture amazingly fast (and uses it well), and we get a surprising (and kind of horrifying) amount of La'an's backstory for a premiere episode. And we even get Spock and T'Pring together, with some truly unfortunate timing. Plus, of course, a head-fake WRT Lieutenant Kirk which had me literally laughing out loud once I'd realized what they'd done. Already looking forward to next week.
I agree it's a dang strong pilot—maybe a BIIIT formulaic, but there are much worse things to be.
It was totally the right call to start this show off with a PD story. Plus, now we have confirmation on the previously-vague question of whether the PD applies if a third party gives warp to the pre-warp people (it does, according to La'aaaaaaaaan).
Interesting and surprising that Pike just went ahead and told his whole crew (not to mention all of the Kylie Minoguians) about his death-premonition. I think I'd be uneasy about serving under a captain who believes he's invincible except for this one known event. I hope/expect the show will plumb this very sci-fi character quirk for some good meaty stuff as we proceed.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the direct reference to the Jan. 6 coup attempt, and not only that, but Pike connecting it to the second U.S. civil war (has he been reading the blue?!), and connecting THAT to the Eugenics Wars (has he been watching season 2 of Picard?!). IIRC, previous Trek canon somehow connected the Eugenics Wars to World War 3 already.
Everything looks great: the shuttles, the No-Bloody-A-etc., sickbay, the briefing room, Spock's torso, the cool Starfleet outpost at the end. I do miss the prominent black elements of the 1701ers' uniforms from DISCO.
Mount, Romijn, and Peck talk to Treknews.net
Ethan Peck on Nimoy's influence on his performance (/Film)
How Trek actors act Trekkish, feat. SNW crew (/Film)
EW review of the first few eps: "This feels like a retrenchment, if not an outright admission that the new stuff hasn't worked out all right."
/Film's review of the first few eps: "the best Star Trek show in decades [...] Characters are also allowed to have incidental conversations not pertinent to the plot"
SNW showrunner on Robert April
Engadget on the Earth stuff here: "it seems that Star Trek has no interest in being metaphorical anymore; too many people are missing the point." (Works for me.)
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 11:23 AM on May 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
It was totally the right call to start this show off with a PD story. Plus, now we have confirmation on the previously-vague question of whether the PD applies if a third party gives warp to the pre-warp people (it does, according to La'aaaaaaaaan).
Interesting and surprising that Pike just went ahead and told his whole crew (not to mention all of the Kylie Minoguians) about his death-premonition. I think I'd be uneasy about serving under a captain who believes he's invincible except for this one known event. I hope/expect the show will plumb this very sci-fi character quirk for some good meaty stuff as we proceed.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the direct reference to the Jan. 6 coup attempt, and not only that, but Pike connecting it to the second U.S. civil war (has he been reading the blue?!), and connecting THAT to the Eugenics Wars (has he been watching season 2 of Picard?!). IIRC, previous Trek canon somehow connected the Eugenics Wars to World War 3 already.
Everything looks great: the shuttles, the No-Bloody-A-etc., sickbay, the briefing room, Spock's torso, the cool Starfleet outpost at the end. I do miss the prominent black elements of the 1701ers' uniforms from DISCO.
Mount, Romijn, and Peck talk to Treknews.net
Ethan Peck on Nimoy's influence on his performance (/Film)
How Trek actors act Trekkish, feat. SNW crew (/Film)
EW review of the first few eps: "This feels like a retrenchment, if not an outright admission that the new stuff hasn't worked out all right."
/Film's review of the first few eps: "the best Star Trek show in decades [...] Characters are also allowed to have incidental conversations not pertinent to the plot"
SNW showrunner on Robert April
Engadget on the Earth stuff here: "it seems that Star Trek has no interest in being metaphorical anymore; too many people are missing the point." (Works for me.)
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 11:23 AM on May 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
I did appreciate the world-building, with the Second American Civil War, the Eugenics Wars and World War III all being rectified (well, smooshed) into one multi-named conflict. Real history and Star Trek renditions of history have been drifting further and further apart for decades, and I do not envy the writers’ assignments to paper over the ever-widening cracks.
La’an’s backstory makes the Gorn appropriately terrifying rather than the plastic dinosaur head guy that Kirk fought and the eighteen seconds of shadowy, iffy CGI that Archer dealt with.
Not especially highlighted in the episode, so far as I noticed: the admiral who brings Pike back into the fleet is Robert April, quasi-canonically the very first captain of the Enterprise, finally making a live-action appearance nearly sixty years after Gene Roddenberry first jotted down his name as a possibility for the captain of the ship in his space opera... still the Yorktown at that point, I think. (April appears in a single episode of the 1970s animated series, and his name in an onscreen display a couple of times in Discovery).
I like the weaving of Discovery’s fate into the plot here. Often the fallout from events is ignored or handwaved away. With a shuttle named after Stamets, it seems like confirmation that the ship has been honoured as being lost with all hands (although that having occurred a year or so earlier, it strikes me as pretty hastily to name things after nominally deceased crew).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:48 AM on May 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
La’an’s backstory makes the Gorn appropriately terrifying rather than the plastic dinosaur head guy that Kirk fought and the eighteen seconds of shadowy, iffy CGI that Archer dealt with.
Not especially highlighted in the episode, so far as I noticed: the admiral who brings Pike back into the fleet is Robert April, quasi-canonically the very first captain of the Enterprise, finally making a live-action appearance nearly sixty years after Gene Roddenberry first jotted down his name as a possibility for the captain of the ship in his space opera... still the Yorktown at that point, I think. (April appears in a single episode of the 1970s animated series, and his name in an onscreen display a couple of times in Discovery).
I like the weaving of Discovery’s fate into the plot here. Often the fallout from events is ignored or handwaved away. With a shuttle named after Stamets, it seems like confirmation that the ship has been honoured as being lost with all hands (although that having occurred a year or so earlier, it strikes me as pretty hastily to name things after nominally deceased crew).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:48 AM on May 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
I really liked this, and I'm cautiously optimistic for the rest of the season. The moral of this episode's story seemed a little on-the-nose, but hey, that's pretty normal for Trek. I like the characters, and so far the characterisation feels organic, and not like a hamfisted overcorrection. I hope that they're going to stick with a more episodic formula. (I can't believe that I'm saying that -- when I was younger I thought that the end of DS9 was amazing, so clearly it would be fantastic for a Trek series to be just one continuous arc. And the monkey's paw curled!)
I am not looking forward to the inevitable stream of hot takes that this is Good because it's nostalgia straight out of the microwave, and the rest of new Trek is Bad because it's too woke, or whatever. But I checked out of most other fandom spaces a while ago, and everyone in these threads is generally pleasant and sensible.
posted by confluency at 11:52 AM on May 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
I am not looking forward to the inevitable stream of hot takes that this is Good because it's nostalgia straight out of the microwave, and the rest of new Trek is Bad because it's too woke, or whatever. But I checked out of most other fandom spaces a while ago, and everyone in these threads is generally pleasant and sensible.
posted by confluency at 11:52 AM on May 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
Oh, and I never watched TOS except for a couple of isolated episodes, although I've read a lot of Memory Alpha. So I'm only fully appreciating some of the references after looking them up -- they're fun easter eggs, but not knowing them hasn't impacted my enjoyment of the episode. Which is a good way to put in references!
posted by confluency at 11:54 AM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by confluency at 11:54 AM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
Oh, and it strikes me as odd that with a weird five different series ongoing right now (Dis, Lower Decks, Prodigy, Picard, SNW) they are, if I recall correctly, in five different time frames. I don’t think any sort of franchise has ever tried this before.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:06 PM on May 5, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:06 PM on May 5, 2022 [7 favorites]
The ship reveal felt perfunctory, perhaps because no series will ever be able to top Lower Decks now. That ship is just one handsome lady.
posted by Molesome at 12:53 PM on May 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Molesome at 12:53 PM on May 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
Not especially highlighted in the episode, so far as I noticed: the admiral who brings Pike back into the fleet is Robert April, quasi-canonically the very first captain of the Enterprise, finally making a live-action appearance nearly sixty years after Gene Roddenberry first jotted down his name as a possibility for the captain of the ship in his space opera... still the Yorktown at that point, I think. (April appears in a single episode of the 1970s animated series, and his name in an onscreen display a couple of times in Discovery).
This has been the hot-take moment for every Trek discussion group I have seen on FB and Reddit this week. The conversations....have not gone well.
posted by briank at 1:10 PM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
This has been the hot-take moment for every Trek discussion group I have seen on FB and Reddit this week. The conversations....have not gone well.
posted by briank at 1:10 PM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
So far apart from Uhuru my fav character is the sickbay geneticist.
Also beaming things directly into a living beings bloodstream.. I wonder if that will ever come up again?
posted by Faintdreams at 3:18 PM on May 5, 2022
Also beaming things directly into a living beings bloodstream.. I wonder if that will ever come up again?
posted by Faintdreams at 3:18 PM on May 5, 2022
This was excellent. If they can tell episodic stories like this and do the same sort of character work each week, this is my ideal kind of Star Trek. (I would not want to go back to 90s TV where each episode was so standalone that there was little, if any, character growth.)
I am slightly hesitant about how much canon they are playing with - apart from the Enterprise crew, we've got a relative of Khan and T'Pring and Kirk's brother - but the quick references to Discovery were great and I already love the whole crew and that's not even nostalgia talking. This Christine Chapel isn't really anything like TOS Chapel, but this episode gave me enough to really dig this version of her.
Starting with a General Order One/Prime Directive episode was a good idea - even the reference to the nomenclature was smart and told me more about Pike. Making it a fall-out from Disco S2 was pretty inspired.
This is not as good or as ambitious as the DS9 pilot or the VOY pilot but it's stronger than TNG and ENT's first episodes.
The fact that the same guy wrote this and the Picard finale says, I think, a lot about the two different writers rooms. I also think PIC was heavily affected by COVID protocols which doesn't seem to have touched this show at all from the looks of it. (PIC had a lot of two people threads throughout, presumably to keep the cast separated in case anyone got sick.)
And this episode was fun and funny. Trek has become too serious. Even if I've come to like DISCO quite a bit, it still takes itself way too seriously.
posted by crossoverman at 4:58 PM on May 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
I am slightly hesitant about how much canon they are playing with - apart from the Enterprise crew, we've got a relative of Khan and T'Pring and Kirk's brother - but the quick references to Discovery were great and I already love the whole crew and that's not even nostalgia talking. This Christine Chapel isn't really anything like TOS Chapel, but this episode gave me enough to really dig this version of her.
Starting with a General Order One/Prime Directive episode was a good idea - even the reference to the nomenclature was smart and told me more about Pike. Making it a fall-out from Disco S2 was pretty inspired.
This is not as good or as ambitious as the DS9 pilot or the VOY pilot but it's stronger than TNG and ENT's first episodes.
The fact that the same guy wrote this and the Picard finale says, I think, a lot about the two different writers rooms. I also think PIC was heavily affected by COVID protocols which doesn't seem to have touched this show at all from the looks of it. (PIC had a lot of two people threads throughout, presumably to keep the cast separated in case anyone got sick.)
And this episode was fun and funny. Trek has become too serious. Even if I've come to like DISCO quite a bit, it still takes itself way too seriously.
posted by crossoverman at 4:58 PM on May 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
The chief engineer, Hemmer, was not in this episode.
He beams onto the ship during a montage at the end of the episode.
posted by crossoverman at 5:22 PM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
He beams onto the ship during a montage at the end of the episode.
posted by crossoverman at 5:22 PM on May 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
I think that that's a montage of coming episodes?
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:30 PM on May 5, 2022
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:30 PM on May 5, 2022
“So far apart from Uhuru my fav character is the sickbay geneticist.”
That's Christine Chapel. I kinda hated the character in TOS, so I'm very happy with this new, more interesting version with much more agency.
Melanie Scrofano ("Wynonna Earp") is playing Pike's girlfriend — I expect we'll be seeing more of her.
The opening credit sequence gave me goosebumps.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:27 PM on May 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
That's Christine Chapel. I kinda hated the character in TOS, so I'm very happy with this new, more interesting version with much more agency.
Melanie Scrofano ("Wynonna Earp") is playing Pike's girlfriend — I expect we'll be seeing more of her.
The opening credit sequence gave me goosebumps.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:27 PM on May 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
I think that that's a montage of coming episodes?
I checked Memory Alpha's episode description:
In his captain's log, Pike thinks on how Earth was his hearth, but Enterprise was his home, and considers himself a "lucky man". He arrives on the bridge, where Una reports that the crew rotation is complete, and Lieutenant Kirk is on his way up. As he enters, it is revealed that the Kirk in question is George Samuel Kirk, a friend of Pike's, who has been posted to life sciences and would report to Spock. La'an was on station as the official chief of security. In the transporter room, Lieutenant Hemmer, the new chief engineer, beams aboard. Uhura obtains clearance for departure and warp speed, and Spock reports all systems were ready. Ortegas asks what their course would be, what mission awaited them. Pike says only that their mission was to explore, to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no one had gone before, something Uhura considers "cool". Pike smiles at her as he orders Ortegas to take them out, warp factor two.
posted by crossoverman at 7:00 PM on May 5, 2022
I checked Memory Alpha's episode description:
In his captain's log, Pike thinks on how Earth was his hearth, but Enterprise was his home, and considers himself a "lucky man". He arrives on the bridge, where Una reports that the crew rotation is complete, and Lieutenant Kirk is on his way up. As he enters, it is revealed that the Kirk in question is George Samuel Kirk, a friend of Pike's, who has been posted to life sciences and would report to Spock. La'an was on station as the official chief of security. In the transporter room, Lieutenant Hemmer, the new chief engineer, beams aboard. Uhura obtains clearance for departure and warp speed, and Spock reports all systems were ready. Ortegas asks what their course would be, what mission awaited them. Pike says only that their mission was to explore, to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no one had gone before, something Uhura considers "cool". Pike smiles at her as he orders Ortegas to take them out, warp factor two.
posted by crossoverman at 7:00 PM on May 5, 2022
It went by so fast! I just wanted to linger in it all a bit longer.
I really need to watch it one more time to formulate any real opinions, but it sure was an episode of Star Trek and not some other show stuffed into a Starfleet uniform.
posted by briank at 7:07 PM on May 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
I really need to watch it one more time to formulate any real opinions, but it sure was an episode of Star Trek and not some other show stuffed into a Starfleet uniform.
posted by briank at 7:07 PM on May 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
I totally thought L’aan was Cara Gee from The Expanse!
posted by sixswitch at 8:03 PM on May 5, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by sixswitch at 8:03 PM on May 5, 2022 [13 favorites]
I really enjoyed it. If felt comforting, in a way that Discovery and Picard haven't. The elevator bit with Uhura was a really well done bit of characterization, that felt effortless. Usually shows do a "we're going to focus on characterization on this character, and mostly ignore them the rest of the time.
posted by Spike Glee at 8:50 PM on May 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Spike Glee at 8:50 PM on May 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
Ah, right you are, crossoverman! I did see Hemmer in the montage, but he was also beamed over very near the end. My apologies, I basically woke up this morning, nuked a cup of coffee, and watched this first thing.
In fact, I just rewatched it (I can't remember the last time, if ever, I watched the same episode twice in one day, which tells you something) and picked up on a few other things:
- WRT what briank said about about online discussion of April, there are also a couple of other crewmembers of color, Kyle (transporter chief) and Mitchell (navigation) who are in the same positions as white men of the same last name in TOS. Not sure if that's been picked up yet, or what people will think of that. (Mitchell's first name is Jenna, according to MA; Kyle is just Kyle.)
- M'Benga and La'an have a small gesture under their right eyes that they make to each other. Anyone know the significance of that?
- Chapel is addressed both as "Nurse" and as "Doctor"; she could have a doctorate in nursing, but a higher degree in genetics seems more likely, and both are possible of course. (She'll get an MD by the time of The Motion Picture.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:00 PM on May 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
In fact, I just rewatched it (I can't remember the last time, if ever, I watched the same episode twice in one day, which tells you something) and picked up on a few other things:
- WRT what briank said about about online discussion of April, there are also a couple of other crewmembers of color, Kyle (transporter chief) and Mitchell (navigation) who are in the same positions as white men of the same last name in TOS. Not sure if that's been picked up yet, or what people will think of that. (Mitchell's first name is Jenna, according to MA; Kyle is just Kyle.)
- M'Benga and La'an have a small gesture under their right eyes that they make to each other. Anyone know the significance of that?
- Chapel is addressed both as "Nurse" and as "Doctor"; she could have a doctorate in nursing, but a higher degree in genetics seems more likely, and both are possible of course. (She'll get an MD by the time of The Motion Picture.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:00 PM on May 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
I really enjoyed it. If felt comforting, in a way that Discovery and Picard haven't. The elevator bit with Uhura was a really well done bit of characterization, that felt effortless. Usually shows do a "we're going to focus on characterization on this character, and mostly ignore them the rest of the time.
It occurs to me that Uhura's big scenes in the TOS movies, such as she got, mostly involve her conning/fast talking /out-maneuvering people socially. This fits perfectly in that tradition.
posted by StarkRoads at 10:23 PM on May 5, 2022 [12 favorites]
It occurs to me that Uhura's big scenes in the TOS movies, such as she got, mostly involve her conning/fast talking /out-maneuvering people socially. This fits perfectly in that tradition.
posted by StarkRoads at 10:23 PM on May 5, 2022 [12 favorites]
I totally thought L’aan was Cara Gee from The Expanse!
And the guy who played Kirk’s brother was obviously ripping-off Guy Fleegman. /s
posted by nathan_teske at 10:26 PM on May 5, 2022 [21 favorites]
And the guy who played Kirk’s brother was obviously ripping-off Guy Fleegman. /s
posted by nathan_teske at 10:26 PM on May 5, 2022 [21 favorites]
I don't have a lot to say yet, but I thought the visuals were both striking and engagingly retro. The space scenes reminded me a great deal of the covers of 1980s-era sci-fi novels.
That said, I did see one big plot hole: if the Kylians were able to shoot rockets at the Enterprise when they were in high orbit, before Pike & Spock beamed down, why wouldn't they shoot rockets when the Enterprise came into low orbit so everyone could see them?
La'an's story about the Gorn was truly horrifying and I shall have to go read up on them. Yikes!
posted by suelac at 11:01 PM on May 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
That said, I did see one big plot hole: if the Kylians were able to shoot rockets at the Enterprise when they were in high orbit, before Pike & Spock beamed down, why wouldn't they shoot rockets when the Enterprise came into low orbit so everyone could see them?
La'an's story about the Gorn was truly horrifying and I shall have to go read up on them. Yikes!
posted by suelac at 11:01 PM on May 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
I squeed a LOT, starting with the view of the Saladin-class USS Archer. And, when it was over, I found myself crying. This is 100% the Star Trek premiere I wanted.
posted by hanov3r at 11:14 PM on May 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by hanov3r at 11:14 PM on May 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
Loved it.
I'm always a little irked that Star Trek casts are so human in a Federation that would presumably have humans outnumbered, even if a disproportionate number of humans join Starfleet. I'd really like to see more aliens in the cast to make Starfleet inclusive -- but that leaves less room for more inclusion of real-life human demographics, and since the audience is (presumably) 100% human, obviously that's more important. I don't know a better way to thread that needle, so I can't blame them.
I'm not sure how I feel about the Jan 6th shot in the montage. I get what they're doing, I just... I dunno. In the end, sigh, sure, why not.
But that's probably about as far as my complaints go. Again, overall, I loved it.
La'an's backstory stuff really surprised me. Given her name, I was kinda expecting some other backstory baggage--and they did allude to that in the sickbay scene. I have always wanted to see more of the Gorn, only holy shit, I didn't expect it to be that dark!
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:32 PM on May 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
I'm always a little irked that Star Trek casts are so human in a Federation that would presumably have humans outnumbered, even if a disproportionate number of humans join Starfleet. I'd really like to see more aliens in the cast to make Starfleet inclusive -- but that leaves less room for more inclusion of real-life human demographics, and since the audience is (presumably) 100% human, obviously that's more important. I don't know a better way to thread that needle, so I can't blame them.
I'm not sure how I feel about the Jan 6th shot in the montage. I get what they're doing, I just... I dunno. In the end, sigh, sure, why not.
But that's probably about as far as my complaints go. Again, overall, I loved it.
La'an's backstory stuff really surprised me. Given her name, I was kinda expecting some other backstory baggage--and they did allude to that in the sickbay scene. I have always wanted to see more of the Gorn, only holy shit, I didn't expect it to be that dark!
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:32 PM on May 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
La'an's backstory stuff really surprised me. Given her name, I was kinda expecting some other backstory baggage
It’s been one episode with about four scenes she is in. Give it time. It took literally decades for Sulu and Uhura to even get first names.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:36 AM on May 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
It’s been one episode with about four scenes she is in. Give it time. It took literally decades for Sulu and Uhura to even get first names.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:36 AM on May 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
Loved this! Definitely the Star Trek vibe I was missing from the too-dark Picard. For me the nearly-in-tears moment was the ship, it’s a beautiful take on the TOS movie-era 1701, with those graceful lines and the scooping curve at the rear of the engineering section. And the space dock was basically the same as Wrath of Khan and TMP! I would have totally been there for a TMP-style ten minute flyover with accompanying fanfare, but I know that’s a bit niche. Enjoyed the rest of it, loving the large number of female officers, and the scene with Uhura in the turbolift was just perfect. She handled that so smoothly and without even a blink! Definitely want to see more of her!!
posted by dellsolace at 6:33 AM on May 6, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by dellsolace at 6:33 AM on May 6, 2022 [5 favorites]
There’s a lot I liked about it, and I’m definitely on board with a return to an episodic approach.
Chapel felt really weird to me, though. For other characters we know well from TOS, even if the personality doesn’t line up exactly, you can squint and kind of see a fuzzy outline of the original. But SWN Chapel is the polar opposite of TOS Chapel. I’d have just made her a different character, and maybe have a quieter Nurse Chapel who looks down a lot and occasionally gets caught looking too long at Spock.
Ehh, I can live with it. But she’s the one character where I can’t see the original version at all, and I found that jarring whenever she was on screen.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:09 AM on May 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
Chapel felt really weird to me, though. For other characters we know well from TOS, even if the personality doesn’t line up exactly, you can squint and kind of see a fuzzy outline of the original. But SWN Chapel is the polar opposite of TOS Chapel. I’d have just made her a different character, and maybe have a quieter Nurse Chapel who looks down a lot and occasionally gets caught looking too long at Spock.
Ehh, I can live with it. But she’s the one character where I can’t see the original version at all, and I found that jarring whenever she was on screen.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:09 AM on May 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
I am not looking forward to the inevitable stream of hot takes that this is Good because it's nostalgia straight out of the microwave, and the rest of new Trek is Bad because it's too woke, or whatever.
They spiked that by having entirely too many women on the bridge. The sort of watcher who would have the anti-woke hot takes would also have been upset by all the girl cooties they were being exposed to.
posted by Karmakaze at 9:28 AM on May 6, 2022 [19 favorites]
They spiked that by having entirely too many women on the bridge. The sort of watcher who would have the anti-woke hot takes would also have been upset by all the girl cooties they were being exposed to.
posted by Karmakaze at 9:28 AM on May 6, 2022 [19 favorites]
There’s a lot I liked about it, and I’m definitely on board with a return to an episodic approach.
Even more than the episodic approach, I'm hoping this show can represent a dramatic dialing-back of the stakes-o-meter. Discovery got so exhausting with every single encounter or discussion being about a threat to the very nature of time and space and love and existence and family and mushrooms. I'd like an episode where two dudes* who don't speak the same language have to fight a bear, please.
*dudes of any gender
posted by Rock Steady at 9:52 AM on May 6, 2022 [33 favorites]
Even more than the episodic approach, I'm hoping this show can represent a dramatic dialing-back of the stakes-o-meter. Discovery got so exhausting with every single encounter or discussion being about a threat to the very nature of time and space and love and existence and family and mushrooms. I'd like an episode where two dudes* who don't speak the same language have to fight a bear, please.
*dudes of any gender
posted by Rock Steady at 9:52 AM on May 6, 2022 [33 favorites]
Even more than the episodic approach, I'm hoping this show can represent a dramatic dialing-back of the stakes-o-meter.
Yes. I quite enjoyed this premiere, pretty much more than any other KurtzmanTrek, and if the relatively muted receptions of Discovery season 4 and Picard season 2 say anything, it's that people are getting very very tired of half-baked, drawn-out, season-long mystery box serialized plots that only keep getting written because we are stuck in a self-fulfilling loop of "that's how we make television now!"
posted by rhymedirective at 9:55 AM on May 6, 2022 [10 favorites]
Yes. I quite enjoyed this premiere, pretty much more than any other KurtzmanTrek, and if the relatively muted receptions of Discovery season 4 and Picard season 2 say anything, it's that people are getting very very tired of half-baked, drawn-out, season-long mystery box serialized plots that only keep getting written because we are stuck in a self-fulfilling loop of "that's how we make television now!"
posted by rhymedirective at 9:55 AM on May 6, 2022 [10 favorites]
Let's get as close as we can to cards of the series in the Star Trek CCG:
There was a whole set called Strange New Worlds, it has a lot of Ferengi stuff.
We saw Christopher Pike at the very end of First Edition, joining Mr. Spock, Uhura, Chapel, and Kyle. Of course, Pike is a matching commander for Starship Enterprise. These all appeared in the mostly TOS-oriented "Tribbles" or "Mirror, Mirror" sets. We got a movie version of Khan, who's related to one of the characters in this series. I've never cared for the Star Trek take on eugenics as something that's totally cool and will give you super high midiclorians or something but there it is.
posted by StarkRoads at 10:41 AM on May 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
There was a whole set called Strange New Worlds, it has a lot of Ferengi stuff.
We saw Christopher Pike at the very end of First Edition, joining Mr. Spock, Uhura, Chapel, and Kyle. Of course, Pike is a matching commander for Starship Enterprise. These all appeared in the mostly TOS-oriented "Tribbles" or "Mirror, Mirror" sets. We got a movie version of Khan, who's related to one of the characters in this series. I've never cared for the Star Trek take on eugenics as something that's totally cool and will give you super high midiclorians or something but there it is.
posted by StarkRoads at 10:41 AM on May 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
I think I am going to really like this show. They're absolutely gonna piss off the right people with the incorporation of the January 6th attack footage into Pike's lecture, and I'm for it. Also, I knew they were building up to some goofy twist with the repeated Lieutenant Kirk references, but I did not expect the twist to be Samuel Kirk! Nice to see him have a little more going on than being the dead victim of flying fake vomit.
posted by SansPoint at 10:45 AM on May 6, 2022
posted by SansPoint at 10:45 AM on May 6, 2022
if the Kylians were able to shoot rockets at the Enterprise when they were in high orbit, before Pike & Spock beamed down, why wouldn't they shoot rockets when the Enterprise came into low orbit so everyone could see them?
Because the ship was right above their own city.
I'd like an episode where two dudes* who don't speak the same language have to fight a bear, please.
One Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra coming right up; you want that bear visible or invisible?
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:51 AM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
Because the ship was right above their own city.
I'd like an episode where two dudes* who don't speak the same language have to fight a bear, please.
One Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra coming right up; you want that bear visible or invisible?
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:51 AM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
So this is the thing that's going to make me give in and finally get Paramount Plus, huh?
(I have only one request, and that is to please, please, please avoid any time-travel focused episodes for at least a few seasons. When I tried to hook my partner on TNG/DS9, I went to the high point standalone episodes--but so many of those were time travel based, and they just aren't super into time travel shenanigans. Now she thinks of Star Trek as a time travel show and I'm like, no! It's so much more!)
posted by thecaddy at 11:21 AM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
(I have only one request, and that is to please, please, please avoid any time-travel focused episodes for at least a few seasons. When I tried to hook my partner on TNG/DS9, I went to the high point standalone episodes--but so many of those were time travel based, and they just aren't super into time travel shenanigans. Now she thinks of Star Trek as a time travel show and I'm like, no! It's so much more!)
posted by thecaddy at 11:21 AM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
One Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra coming right up; you want that bear visible or invisible?
Dealer's choice
posted by Rock Steady at 11:25 AM on May 6, 2022 [8 favorites]
Dealer's choice
posted by Rock Steady at 11:25 AM on May 6, 2022 [8 favorites]
Even more than the episodic approach, I'm hoping this show can represent a dramatic dialing-back of the stakes-o-meter.
Yes! So many of my favorite moments from Trek are when the characters breathe and reflect. I'm unabashedly a TNG-centric fan, and that show allowed its characters to step back from the tension to talk quietly with each other before re-engaging (har).
I think it's maybe even an essential part of utopian sci-fi like Star Trek to explore how its characters behave when not facing imminent peril.
I saw a lot of that in this first episode. As my spouse, a fellow TNG fan, said, "That felt like a warm bath."
posted by DeWalt_Russ at 12:05 PM on May 6, 2022 [10 favorites]
Yes! So many of my favorite moments from Trek are when the characters breathe and reflect. I'm unabashedly a TNG-centric fan, and that show allowed its characters to step back from the tension to talk quietly with each other before re-engaging (har).
I think it's maybe even an essential part of utopian sci-fi like Star Trek to explore how its characters behave when not facing imminent peril.
I saw a lot of that in this first episode. As my spouse, a fellow TNG fan, said, "That felt like a warm bath."
posted by DeWalt_Russ at 12:05 PM on May 6, 2022 [10 favorites]
This was so great, I'm really excited for this show now. Casting is fantastic, characters are immediately distinct and vivid, AND I DIDN'T KNOW YOUNG UHURA WAS GONNA BE THERE and that choked me right up.
Even more than the episodic approach, I'm hoping this show can represent a dramatic dialing-back of the stakes-o-meter.
Echoing this also, though laughing at how a pilot episode about saving a whole planet from self-annihilation is relatively low-stakes for these iterations of Trek. Discovery and Picard reeeaaallly set the plot stakes too consistently high.
posted by LooseFilter at 2:11 PM on May 6, 2022 [9 favorites]
Even more than the episodic approach, I'm hoping this show can represent a dramatic dialing-back of the stakes-o-meter.
Echoing this also, though laughing at how a pilot episode about saving a whole planet from self-annihilation is relatively low-stakes for these iterations of Trek. Discovery and Picard reeeaaallly set the plot stakes too consistently high.
posted by LooseFilter at 2:11 PM on May 6, 2022 [9 favorites]
I hugely prefer serialized television, but not when it's as incompetent as it's been on these new Trek shows. So while I don't care for episodic television per se, I'm actually quite excited that SNW is going a different direction than the other shows.
“Ehh, I can live with it. But she’s the one character where I can’t see the original version at all, and I found that jarring whenever she was on screen.”
I had the same problem, except that I consider it a positive because I don't see how you redeem the TOS character. She was such a sexist trope. Well, I guess a shy, somewhat formal character who otherwise avoided the sexist stuff would have worked. But I found the SNW version to be interesting and, really, I'm not averse to drastic character revision when the original was so unsatisfying.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:25 PM on May 6, 2022 [8 favorites]
“Ehh, I can live with it. But she’s the one character where I can’t see the original version at all, and I found that jarring whenever she was on screen.”
I had the same problem, except that I consider it a positive because I don't see how you redeem the TOS character. She was such a sexist trope. Well, I guess a shy, somewhat formal character who otherwise avoided the sexist stuff would have worked. But I found the SNW version to be interesting and, really, I'm not averse to drastic character revision when the original was so unsatisfying.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:25 PM on May 6, 2022 [8 favorites]
Hey this was fun! I was kinda meh on the plot. Literally showing a clip from The Day the Earth Stood Still in an episode that's half a retread of that movie was a little on the nose. But they did a great job setting up characters, a visual look (bright! colorful!), a tone. If they have some City on the Edge of Forever level writing coming I think this good be some good TV. I'm really looking forward to some episodic TV for once; we have more than enough prestige-attempting long story form.
I totally thought L’aan was Cara Gee from The Expanse!
This bugged me. Drummer / Cara Gee is such an iconic character in The Expanse. Biting her style down to the eyeshadow seems disrespectful. Also the actress Christina Chong seems quite capable to make her own character. Presumably she's not gonna be a Belter pirate queen so hopefully she'll find her own way in this Trek show. And maybe a bit of a change in makeup and hairdressing for a unique look?
I loved Nurse Chapel. Her character in TOS was pretty uninteresting because of the sexism of the writing. I'm fine reinventing her and I like her role as a maverick civilian. I mean if we can have Horny Spock, why not Spunky Awesome Chapel?
posted by Nelson at 5:24 PM on May 6, 2022 [5 favorites]
I totally thought L’aan was Cara Gee from The Expanse!
This bugged me. Drummer / Cara Gee is such an iconic character in The Expanse. Biting her style down to the eyeshadow seems disrespectful. Also the actress Christina Chong seems quite capable to make her own character. Presumably she's not gonna be a Belter pirate queen so hopefully she'll find her own way in this Trek show. And maybe a bit of a change in makeup and hairdressing for a unique look?
I loved Nurse Chapel. Her character in TOS was pretty uninteresting because of the sexism of the writing. I'm fine reinventing her and I like her role as a maverick civilian. I mean if we can have Horny Spock, why not Spunky Awesome Chapel?
posted by Nelson at 5:24 PM on May 6, 2022 [5 favorites]
Oh yeah, the one aspect that was a BIG miss for me: the opening credits music. It was better than the generic, 2-or-3-note-motive-that's-tossed-around-over-arpeggios thing that both Discovery and Picard do. But a drum set? It sounds like the Hooked On Classics version of the ST theme, seriously.
(Lower Decks is the only one with a proper theme.)
posted by LooseFilter at 6:04 PM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
(Lower Decks is the only one with a proper theme.)
posted by LooseFilter at 6:04 PM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
“Horny Spock”
Spock did get pretty horny sometimes on TOS.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:41 PM on May 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
Spock did get pretty horny sometimes on TOS.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:41 PM on May 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
I just hope that they at least considered the idea, before rightfully dismissing it as too much of a logistical pain, of having Rebecca Romijn play both Una and Chapel, with no one in-universe ever commenting on or noticing in any way the similarity between them.
I don't know quite what to make of new Chapel yet, but I did like her rapport with Dr. M'Benga!
posted by tomboko at 6:45 PM on May 6, 2022 [11 favorites]
I don't know quite what to make of new Chapel yet, but I did like her rapport with Dr. M'Benga!
posted by tomboko at 6:45 PM on May 6, 2022 [11 favorites]
I just hope that they at least considered the idea, before rightfully dismissing it as too much of a logistical pain, of having Rebecca Romijn play both Una and Chapel, with no one in-universe ever commenting on or noticing in any way the similarity between them.
Episode 2: Recruit the Caitian Comm Officer
Episode 3: A Mission To Betazed
posted by StarkRoads at 9:03 PM on May 6, 2022 [10 favorites]
Episode 2: Recruit the Caitian Comm Officer
Episode 3: A Mission To Betazed
posted by StarkRoads at 9:03 PM on May 6, 2022 [10 favorites]
Good grief I am so jealous of Anson Mount/ Captain Pike's hair. I wonder if he and Timothy Olyphant have a competition or something. Is Mount's beard in the opener real, or a prosthetic?
Given the amount of nostalgia that being leaned on, I'm kind of disappointed that the original Enterprise ambient sounds (the woowee weewoo) sounds weren't used.
Chappel (Jess Bush) seems cool. Love her boots. Her contrast physical appearance contrast with Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) doesn't work for me for very complicated reasons. But Bush and Olusanmokun seem cool.
Not sure I'll ever accept Ethan Peck as Spock.
Neat dig at T**mp with the "leader's" hair styling.
Yeah, not thrilled at all with Christina Chong/ Noonien-Singh's makeup look. Moreso than the eyeshadow for me was her hairstyle.
Did dig that the Admiral's hook to get Pike back into the fold was to offer him captainship of the Enterprise again, and away from his wife (who wears a Starfleet uniform top as a nightdress).
High hopes for this so far.
Faintdreams Also beaming things directly into a living beings bloodstream
Isn't it not possible to beam stuff into "occupied" space? Like, beaming something into atmosphere is fine. Has there ever been beaming something into a liquid? There's a reason why there's a "meme" about hoomans being referred to as "sacks of water."
posted by porpoise at 9:11 PM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Given the amount of nostalgia that being leaned on, I'm kind of disappointed that the original Enterprise ambient sounds (the woowee weewoo) sounds weren't used.
Chappel (Jess Bush) seems cool. Love her boots. Her contrast physical appearance contrast with Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) doesn't work for me for very complicated reasons. But Bush and Olusanmokun seem cool.
Not sure I'll ever accept Ethan Peck as Spock.
Neat dig at T**mp with the "leader's" hair styling.
Yeah, not thrilled at all with Christina Chong/ Noonien-Singh's makeup look. Moreso than the eyeshadow for me was her hairstyle.
Did dig that the Admiral's hook to get Pike back into the fold was to offer him captainship of the Enterprise again, and away from his wife (who wears a Starfleet uniform top as a nightdress).
High hopes for this so far.
Faintdreams Also beaming things directly into a living beings bloodstream
Isn't it not possible to beam stuff into "occupied" space? Like, beaming something into atmosphere is fine. Has there ever been beaming something into a liquid? There's a reason why there's a "meme" about hoomans being referred to as "sacks of water."
posted by porpoise at 9:11 PM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
I loved this! This was a breath of fresh air after Discovery and the latest season of Picard. So much fun, I really hope they continue with episodic stories. I feel like they did a better job letting us get to know the crew in one episode then Discovery did in many episodes, with its laser-focus on Michael.
There is only one thing that annoyed me . . . the bloody fireplace in Pike's quarters. What is with Star Trek recently, every ship and station has open fires!
posted by fimbulvetr at 9:24 PM on May 6, 2022 [7 favorites]
There is only one thing that annoyed me . . . the bloody fireplace in Pike's quarters. What is with Star Trek recently, every ship and station has open fires!
posted by fimbulvetr at 9:24 PM on May 6, 2022 [7 favorites]
Seriously, open fires on a starship. Utterly ridiculous.
posted by suelac at 11:27 PM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by suelac at 11:27 PM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
Strong Emma Stone vibes from Nurse Chapel.
Maybe at some point we’ll see Uhura and Una collaborate on a new voice interface prototype with Una recording samples of her voice for it.
posted by sixswitch at 1:24 AM on May 7, 2022 [7 favorites]
Maybe at some point we’ll see Uhura and Una collaborate on a new voice interface prototype with Una recording samples of her voice for it.
posted by sixswitch at 1:24 AM on May 7, 2022 [7 favorites]
prop nothing notes:
- love to see single-nacelle ships get more canon references, Rodenberry Rules be damned
- colors ?! in scifi !? le gasp
- reconfigured TOS tricorder, should start working on those Raspberry Pi versions now
- TOS sick bay noises, yum
- was that a lounge? Or does Pike have a fireplace and a wet bar in his quarters?
dialect coach dickering:
Don't get me wrong, Jess Bush is killing it either way. But while we started out here both content with 'Mountain'; we realized that we were thinking of different ranges.
One of us says 'light Appalachian', like Charleston WV; the other thinks 'heavy Rockies', maybe Montana. So we looked it up. Conflicting sources show Christine Chapel as being from New Orleans (mayyyyybe?) or Cleveland (absolutely not).
I realize it would raise continuity questions later (Uhura to Chapel, 5 years from now: "Hey, didn't you used to have a Bondi Beach accent?"). But why can't we have Aussies in Space, as a treat? [It's possible I'm just still worked up over the Snowpiercer series' 'Murray, The Last Australian' plotline that I've been catching up on.]
posted by bartleby at 2:30 AM on May 7, 2022
- love to see single-nacelle ships get more canon references, Rodenberry Rules be damned
- colors ?! in scifi !? le gasp
- reconfigured TOS tricorder, should start working on those Raspberry Pi versions now
- TOS sick bay noises, yum
- was that a lounge? Or does Pike have a fireplace and a wet bar in his quarters?
dialect coach dickering:
Don't get me wrong, Jess Bush is killing it either way. But while we started out here both content with 'Mountain'; we realized that we were thinking of different ranges.
One of us says 'light Appalachian', like Charleston WV; the other thinks 'heavy Rockies', maybe Montana. So we looked it up. Conflicting sources show Christine Chapel as being from New Orleans (mayyyyybe?) or Cleveland (absolutely not).
I realize it would raise continuity questions later (Uhura to Chapel, 5 years from now: "Hey, didn't you used to have a Bondi Beach accent?"). But why can't we have Aussies in Space, as a treat? [It's possible I'm just still worked up over the Snowpiercer series' 'Murray, The Last Australian' plotline that I've been catching up on.]
posted by bartleby at 2:30 AM on May 7, 2022
Porpoise: Has there ever been beaming something into a liquid?
Not beaming INTO a liquid, per se, but you can beam liquid itself - Scotty did it in "The Voyage Home" when he brought George and Gracie aboard the Klingon bird of prey. He beamed aboard not only the whales, but several million gallons of water.
posted by Roger Pittman at 3:04 AM on May 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Not beaming INTO a liquid, per se, but you can beam liquid itself - Scotty did it in "The Voyage Home" when he brought George and Gracie aboard the Klingon bird of prey. He beamed aboard not only the whales, but several million gallons of water.
posted by Roger Pittman at 3:04 AM on May 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Watched a second time last night and I think I liked it even better on rewatch, but I still feel like the episode felt very rushed. There really wasn't any dramatic tension to speak of, they just waltzed in and out of the building where Number One was. Maybe it would have played better to have Spock get captured when his ears popped out and that's how they find Number One. It might also have given them a chance to include an actual scene with her rather than just have her essentially make a cameo appearance. And maybe Kiley leader Margaret Thatcher was a little too qucik to accept Pike at face value about everything he said.
posted by briank at 5:50 AM on May 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by briank at 5:50 AM on May 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Oh yeah, the one aspect that was a BIG miss for me: the opening credits music. It was better than the generic, 2-or-3-note-motive-that's-tossed-around-over-arpeggios thing that both Discovery and Picard do. But a drum set? It sounds like the Hooked On Classics version of the ST theme , seriously.
(Lower Decks is the only one with a proper theme.)
(ST Prodigy theme isn't too bad.)
The common denominator with the snoozy themes is Jeff Russo, as LD and PRO themes were composed by two different other people. I really wish they would fire him or at least give them theme compositions to someone else. His episode scores are mostly okay.
posted by rhymedirective at 6:12 AM on May 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
(Lower Decks is the only one with a proper theme.)
(ST Prodigy theme isn't too bad.)
The common denominator with the snoozy themes is Jeff Russo, as LD and PRO themes were composed by two different other people. I really wish they would fire him or at least give them theme compositions to someone else. His episode scores are mostly okay.
posted by rhymedirective at 6:12 AM on May 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
Watching now and LOVING IT. Intro music was amazing, near brought me to tears. SO many wonderful references to TOS and goosebumps every time. Mount is great as captain. BONUS: opening scene in Montana - Big Sky represent! And remember - we are just 40 years or so away from First Contact IRL here in Montana!
posted by davidmsc at 12:04 PM on May 7, 2022
posted by davidmsc at 12:04 PM on May 7, 2022
I signed up for Paramount Plus! I don’t regret it yet! My wife turned to me when they talked about the battle from the end of S2 of Discovery and whispered, conspiratorially, “is this about time travel?”
Anyway, so far I’ve only watched the pilots of each of the new series (otherwise I’ve been following along in the threads here) and this hit the spot in a way that the other two didn’t. Guns were brandished but not fired; war is regrettable and a thing to be avoided. This is the Star Trek I’ve been waiting for.
I agree that the set design is incredible, and I squeed when I realized that they did a plausible redesign of the TOS tricorders (were those really not a thing on Discovery?). I did really like the designs from a couple years ago better than these, but I suspect that they were harder to make and not super comfortable (not the first time that the costumes were changed for such reasons).
I also would have liked this to be a double episode. I think the situation on the planet could have put the crew in more danger to talk themselves out of, and the resolution was a little pat. We’ll see what happens; this show might be more episodic than the other shows, but I’ll be surprised if the Kylians don’t play into the season finale for a little thematic bookending.
The fire in the quarters doesn’t bother me, since we know this future of Star Trek has way better holographic tech than the original series did. I did NOT like having the Enterprise hover above a city like this is the Star Wars sequel series. It’s a space ship! It’s okay that a space ship stays in space!
On the whole though, this was great. I really needed some optimism in my life right now and this really beamed it straight into my veins.
posted by thecaddy at 1:23 PM on May 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
Anyway, so far I’ve only watched the pilots of each of the new series (otherwise I’ve been following along in the threads here) and this hit the spot in a way that the other two didn’t. Guns were brandished but not fired; war is regrettable and a thing to be avoided. This is the Star Trek I’ve been waiting for.
I agree that the set design is incredible, and I squeed when I realized that they did a plausible redesign of the TOS tricorders (were those really not a thing on Discovery?). I did really like the designs from a couple years ago better than these, but I suspect that they were harder to make and not super comfortable (not the first time that the costumes were changed for such reasons).
I also would have liked this to be a double episode. I think the situation on the planet could have put the crew in more danger to talk themselves out of, and the resolution was a little pat. We’ll see what happens; this show might be more episodic than the other shows, but I’ll be surprised if the Kylians don’t play into the season finale for a little thematic bookending.
The fire in the quarters doesn’t bother me, since we know this future of Star Trek has way better holographic tech than the original series did. I did NOT like having the Enterprise hover above a city like this is the Star Wars sequel series. It’s a space ship! It’s okay that a space ship stays in space!
On the whole though, this was great. I really needed some optimism in my life right now and this really beamed it straight into my veins.
posted by thecaddy at 1:23 PM on May 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
I also would have liked this to be a double episode. I think the situation on the planet could have put the crew in more danger to talk themselves out of, and the resolution was a little pat.
I'm glad it wasn't! I'm perfectly satisfied with lower stakes situations resolved in 45 minute for this show.
Did dig that the Admiral's hook to get Pike back into the fold was to offer him captainship of the Enterprise again, and away from his wife (who wears a Starfleet uniform top as a nightdress).
Hmm...she was a fellow Starfleet captain who definitely wasn't wearing it as a nightdress--she had on her full uniform for breakfast because she was going to be off to duty on her ship right after. Also not married as far as I heard--they just get together when they're both in port between missions.
The fire in the quarters doesn’t bother me, since we know this future of Star Trek has way better holographic tech than the original series did.
Yeah, I figured that was a future version of the kinda silly faux fireplaces you can find built into media consoles you'd put a tv on nowadays.
posted by Pryde at 3:28 PM on May 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm glad it wasn't! I'm perfectly satisfied with lower stakes situations resolved in 45 minute for this show.
Did dig that the Admiral's hook to get Pike back into the fold was to offer him captainship of the Enterprise again, and away from his wife (who wears a Starfleet uniform top as a nightdress).
Hmm...she was a fellow Starfleet captain who definitely wasn't wearing it as a nightdress--she had on her full uniform for breakfast because she was going to be off to duty on her ship right after. Also not married as far as I heard--they just get together when they're both in port between missions.
The fire in the quarters doesn’t bother me, since we know this future of Star Trek has way better holographic tech than the original series did.
Yeah, I figured that was a future version of the kinda silly faux fireplaces you can find built into media consoles you'd put a tv on nowadays.
posted by Pryde at 3:28 PM on May 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
And remember - we are just 40 years or so away from First Contact IRL here in Montana!
I noted a while ago that we are now closer to First Contact Day than to the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Some time in the next few months we’ll be closer to FCD than to Wrath of Khan.
Do I dare to eat a plomeek?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:28 PM on May 7, 2022 [10 favorites]
I noted a while ago that we are now closer to First Contact Day than to the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Some time in the next few months we’ll be closer to FCD than to Wrath of Khan.
Do I dare to eat a plomeek?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:28 PM on May 7, 2022 [10 favorites]
Was the entire crew of the ship being rescued comprised of the 3 people who ended up in the cell?
posted by Marticus at 3:15 AM on May 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Marticus at 3:15 AM on May 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Was the entire crew of the ship being rescued comprised of the 3 people who ended up in the cell?
Yes: on rewatch, I noted that they established this in a mission briefing. Remember that this very Enterprise was crewed by like four guys in Search for Spock, and the Saladin-class is presumably a lot smaller. Might even be smaller than an Oberth.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 4:26 AM on May 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
Yes: on rewatch, I noted that they established this in a mission briefing. Remember that this very Enterprise was crewed by like four guys in Search for Spock, and the Saladin-class is presumably a lot smaller. Might even be smaller than an Oberth.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 4:26 AM on May 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
A chimpanzee and two trainees could run her.
posted by Molesome at 5:19 AM on May 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Molesome at 5:19 AM on May 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
BTW - I checked out the subreddit for SNW - reviews are pretty unanimously full of praise. I don't recall any other debut show (of any genre/channel/etc) garnering such good reviews.
posted by davidmsc at 11:18 AM on May 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by davidmsc at 11:18 AM on May 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
me: starting with the view of the Saladin-class USS Archer.
CheesesOfBrazil: the Saladin-class is presumably a lot smaller.
Memory Alpha is listing the Archer as a Hermes-class, the scout-type variant of the Saladin-class destroyer. The Saladin carries six phasers in three banks of two, as well as two photon torpedo launchers; the Hermes is limited to a single bank of two phasers. The original Star Fleet Technical Manual lists the crew compliment of the Hermes as 20 officers and 175 ensign-grade personnel.
posted by hanov3r at 11:46 AM on May 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
CheesesOfBrazil: the Saladin-class is presumably a lot smaller.
Memory Alpha is listing the Archer as a Hermes-class, the scout-type variant of the Saladin-class destroyer. The Saladin carries six phasers in three banks of two, as well as two photon torpedo launchers; the Hermes is limited to a single bank of two phasers. The original Star Fleet Technical Manual lists the crew compliment of the Hermes as 20 officers and 175 ensign-grade personnel.
posted by hanov3r at 11:46 AM on May 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Might even be smaller than an Oberth.
Ugh, I wouldn't recommend using the Oberth class as a scale for anything. It's kind of famously impossible at every scale. (The joke is that it's the product of a Federation/Gallifrey joint project.)
If it's supposed to be a Saladin or Hermes class, then the saucer section would be the same size as the saucer on the Enterprise, which has a crew of around 300, which means it takes 3 shifts of 100 people to operate it. A Saladin would have less interior saucer space since you have to jam the engine room in there too; but I don't think you can fly one with just 3 people. Like hopping in a nuclear submarine and taking it for a solo joyride.
I resolved it in my head by assuming that they mistook a Hermes class ship named Archer, for an Archer class scout ship. Then I punched myself in the arm and called me a nerd.
posted by bartleby at 2:01 PM on May 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
Ugh, I wouldn't recommend using the Oberth class as a scale for anything. It's kind of famously impossible at every scale. (The joke is that it's the product of a Federation/Gallifrey joint project.)
If it's supposed to be a Saladin or Hermes class, then the saucer section would be the same size as the saucer on the Enterprise, which has a crew of around 300, which means it takes 3 shifts of 100 people to operate it. A Saladin would have less interior saucer space since you have to jam the engine room in there too; but I don't think you can fly one with just 3 people. Like hopping in a nuclear submarine and taking it for a solo joyride.
I resolved it in my head by assuming that they mistook a Hermes class ship named Archer, for an Archer class scout ship. Then I punched myself in the arm and called me a nerd.
posted by bartleby at 2:01 PM on May 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
I liked the episode. Now I need to watch the first episodes of discovery again, leading up to the split.
posted by Oyéah at 5:11 PM on May 8, 2022
posted by Oyéah at 5:11 PM on May 8, 2022
I skipped the final episodes of Discovery S2 because I just wasn't enjoying the show back then. I'm going to go back just to enjoy the Enterprise crew as it was back then. (I hate leaving Star Trek shows unfinished, although somehow there are still episodes of VOY that I've never seen.)
posted by crossoverman at 9:22 PM on May 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by crossoverman at 9:22 PM on May 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
BTW - I checked out the subreddit for SNW - reviews are pretty unanimously full of praise. I don't recall any other debut show (of any genre/channel/etc) garnering such good reviews.
It all comes down to a good 5-year marketing strategy.
Paramount laid the groundwork for Strange New Worlds' success back in 2017 by starting a new flagship series that undid decades of Star Trek philosophy with endless dystopian catastrophization sowing discord amongst fans. By the time this marketing scheme had run its course, audiences were primed to delight in any Star Trek series that was, you know, actually a Star Trek series.
posted by fairmettle at 10:01 PM on May 8, 2022 [9 favorites]
It all comes down to a good 5-year marketing strategy.
Paramount laid the groundwork for Strange New Worlds' success back in 2017 by starting a new flagship series that undid decades of Star Trek philosophy with endless dystopian catastrophization sowing discord amongst fans. By the time this marketing scheme had run its course, audiences were primed to delight in any Star Trek series that was, you know, actually a Star Trek series.
posted by fairmettle at 10:01 PM on May 8, 2022 [9 favorites]
They're absolutely gonna piss off the right people with the incorporation of the January 6th attack footage into Pike's lecture, and I'm for it.
Reality has a notoriously liberal bias.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:01 AM on May 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
Reality has a notoriously liberal bias.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:01 AM on May 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
I hate leaving Star Trek shows unfinished,
As a little kid in the seventies, I was preternaturally attuned to the syndication schedule in my city for the repeats of TOS (Monday to Friday at 4:00; Saturday at at 2:00, if my memory serves me well), and watched them endlessly (six slots, 52 weeks in a year, 79 episodes, two or three years of being a big fan... the math suggests how many times I saw each one).
As a young adult and subsequently an old adult, my options were even more plentiful. By the time TNG had rolled around, VCRs existed so I could see episodes repeated if I had previously taped them. Then later DVDs and streaming made it easier still, even as the amount of content got higher and higher.
At this point the only Star Trek I have not seen is a couple of the seventies animated ones (and Prodigy, because I keep forgetting it exists... so I have seen it but not yet). There are a few things I have not seen twice (Star Trek V, some of Voyager and Enterprise, and a couple of the more tired last-season TNG episodes.
Weirdly, though, there was a single early episode of TNG that had eluded me: “The Outrageous Okona.” I am not sure how I missed it in first run, but I did and somehow none of my friends had held onto a taped copy. It wasn’t until well after the run of the series that I finally saw it: the last new TNG episode for me.
On her one hand, I have read that Bill Campbell (Okona, and previously the title role in The Rocketeer) was the first runner-up for the role of Riker, so it was a great chance to ponder what might have been. On the other hand, Data creates a holographic Joe Piscopo as a comedy tutor. Ye gods.
I can think of few people who have gone from being as prominent as Piscopo was in the early eighties (along with Eddie Murphy, the only survivors of the direst SNL season ever) to as obscure as he has been since the late eighties. I doubt most millennials even know who he is now. Probably just as well. Not that he has any unconscionable behaviour shadowing him (so far as I know); just a weird and inexplicable result of how the media happens to roll the dice on who gets to be famous.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:24 AM on May 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
As a little kid in the seventies, I was preternaturally attuned to the syndication schedule in my city for the repeats of TOS (Monday to Friday at 4:00; Saturday at at 2:00, if my memory serves me well), and watched them endlessly (six slots, 52 weeks in a year, 79 episodes, two or three years of being a big fan... the math suggests how many times I saw each one).
As a young adult and subsequently an old adult, my options were even more plentiful. By the time TNG had rolled around, VCRs existed so I could see episodes repeated if I had previously taped them. Then later DVDs and streaming made it easier still, even as the amount of content got higher and higher.
At this point the only Star Trek I have not seen is a couple of the seventies animated ones (and Prodigy, because I keep forgetting it exists... so I have seen it but not yet). There are a few things I have not seen twice (Star Trek V, some of Voyager and Enterprise, and a couple of the more tired last-season TNG episodes.
Weirdly, though, there was a single early episode of TNG that had eluded me: “The Outrageous Okona.” I am not sure how I missed it in first run, but I did and somehow none of my friends had held onto a taped copy. It wasn’t until well after the run of the series that I finally saw it: the last new TNG episode for me.
On her one hand, I have read that Bill Campbell (Okona, and previously the title role in The Rocketeer) was the first runner-up for the role of Riker, so it was a great chance to ponder what might have been. On the other hand, Data creates a holographic Joe Piscopo as a comedy tutor. Ye gods.
I can think of few people who have gone from being as prominent as Piscopo was in the early eighties (along with Eddie Murphy, the only survivors of the direst SNL season ever) to as obscure as he has been since the late eighties. I doubt most millennials even know who he is now. Probably just as well. Not that he has any unconscionable behaviour shadowing him (so far as I know); just a weird and inexplicable result of how the media happens to roll the dice on who gets to be famous.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:24 AM on May 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
Apparently this establishes that yes, if you want to captain the Enterprise, you must own a horse (or a saddle) or at least be able to ride one. Archer is the only Enterprise captain who I can't recall having a horse-related scene, although that might just be my faulty memory. It also could be the horse-factor doesn't count for NX-01 designated ships, only NCC-1701 ones.
I mostly enjoyed the show, but I was bothered by some aesthetic decisions. The haircuts and hairdos, for one, seemed way, way too modern. I was really looking forward to seeing how a modern show interpreted 1960s or pre-1960s styles. Sadly, it seems I won't be getting that.
I do have to laugh, however, as lately I've been talking to people about that late 1970s/early 1980s sci-fi uniform look of white/silver/grey and sure enough, we've got it in nurse Chapel's outfit. It's a look that definitely is part of ST:TMP, but it's not one from ST:TOS. Actually, I felt that a lot of the effects and general vibe felt cribbed more from the early Star Trek movies (that rainbow-coloured warp effect for one) rather than from the original show. Again, this is annoying me just a tad, because I wanted to see how a modern F/X crew would interpret 1960s screens and consoles and technology and set decoration and design.
I'm fine with the character of Uhura being involved, but the actress playing her doesn't give me Nichelle Nichols vibes at all. New Spock feels more like Kelvin Spock. As for nurse Chapel, I'm with the posters who say she is in now way recognizable as the original character. While there is nothing wrong with this character, I would have been curious to see how a more prim and proper and formal and reserved character fit in with the gregarious new doctor. And yes, she's oozing with Emma Stone vibes, sixswitch.
I always liked the Jeffery Hunter version of Pike, and Halloween Jack is absolutely correct. This guy is a lot less tightly wound. I don't know if that's because this version is older than the character we were originally introduced to and he relaxed as he got more comfortable with command or if we're just supposed to forget the TOS version. (I'll admit, it's my first encounter with him and Number One and new Spock, as I gave up on Discovery pretty early on). I'll take New Pike, however, as the actor has a great ST swagger and attitude that is in a similar vein to Kirk's but different enough to not be a copycat.
Okay, I feel like I have to be the one who says it even though I don't want to: I would have been happier if we didn't start off with bumpy-headed aliens with TNG-era styling. That really felt like a jump too far into the future.
Again, I'm nitpicking because overall I enjoyed the episode. If I hated it, I'd have a lot more to say about the writing or the structure or the approach, and I don't. I think, generally, it's off to a good start. It's definitely a palate-cleanser after the mess that was season two of Picard (and especially the last few episodes).
posted by sardonyx at 7:49 PM on May 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
I mostly enjoyed the show, but I was bothered by some aesthetic decisions. The haircuts and hairdos, for one, seemed way, way too modern. I was really looking forward to seeing how a modern show interpreted 1960s or pre-1960s styles. Sadly, it seems I won't be getting that.
I do have to laugh, however, as lately I've been talking to people about that late 1970s/early 1980s sci-fi uniform look of white/silver/grey and sure enough, we've got it in nurse Chapel's outfit. It's a look that definitely is part of ST:TMP, but it's not one from ST:TOS. Actually, I felt that a lot of the effects and general vibe felt cribbed more from the early Star Trek movies (that rainbow-coloured warp effect for one) rather than from the original show. Again, this is annoying me just a tad, because I wanted to see how a modern F/X crew would interpret 1960s screens and consoles and technology and set decoration and design.
I'm fine with the character of Uhura being involved, but the actress playing her doesn't give me Nichelle Nichols vibes at all. New Spock feels more like Kelvin Spock. As for nurse Chapel, I'm with the posters who say she is in now way recognizable as the original character. While there is nothing wrong with this character, I would have been curious to see how a more prim and proper and formal and reserved character fit in with the gregarious new doctor. And yes, she's oozing with Emma Stone vibes, sixswitch.
I always liked the Jeffery Hunter version of Pike, and Halloween Jack is absolutely correct. This guy is a lot less tightly wound. I don't know if that's because this version is older than the character we were originally introduced to and he relaxed as he got more comfortable with command or if we're just supposed to forget the TOS version. (I'll admit, it's my first encounter with him and Number One and new Spock, as I gave up on Discovery pretty early on). I'll take New Pike, however, as the actor has a great ST swagger and attitude that is in a similar vein to Kirk's but different enough to not be a copycat.
Okay, I feel like I have to be the one who says it even though I don't want to: I would have been happier if we didn't start off with bumpy-headed aliens with TNG-era styling. That really felt like a jump too far into the future.
Again, I'm nitpicking because overall I enjoyed the episode. If I hated it, I'd have a lot more to say about the writing or the structure or the approach, and I don't. I think, generally, it's off to a good start. It's definitely a palate-cleanser after the mess that was season two of Picard (and especially the last few episodes).
posted by sardonyx at 7:49 PM on May 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
I was really looking forward to seeing how a modern show interpreted 1960s or pre-1960s styles.
Have you seen DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations"? They do this and it's kind of brilliant.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:26 PM on May 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
Have you seen DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations"? They do this and it's kind of brilliant.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:26 PM on May 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
Apparently this establishes that yes, if you want to captain the Enterprise, you must own a horse (or a saddle) or at least be able to ride one. Archer is the only Enterprise captain who I can't recall having a horse-related scene, although that might just be my faulty memory.
The 24th-century Andorian author Thrandasar Shrev wrote about this aspect in a magisterial two-volume survey on the crafting of the Articles of Federation: The Fall of the Beagle and Horse Ascendant.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:09 AM on May 10, 2022 [9 favorites]
The 24th-century Andorian author Thrandasar Shrev wrote about this aspect in a magisterial two-volume survey on the crafting of the Articles of Federation: The Fall of the Beagle and Horse Ascendant.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:09 AM on May 10, 2022 [9 favorites]
It is kind of brilliant, Halloween Jack, but it's also a bit of playing match-game: they had to make it all look seamless. They were bound by the existing aesthetic.
Given that this show is 10 to 15 years (I think Pike said his "death" is a about a decade away, and we know that it wasn't the first mission under Kirk that Spock "mutinied" in order to get Pike his reprieve in TOS, I was hoping for for styles and technology that could be seen as pre-dating the TOS aesthetic, but done in such a way as to make us think, "I can see how that evolved into this." I don't quite get that with the look of this show, and I also think the technology is more advanced than it should be. (Can communicators be voice-activated when they're closed? I didn't think so. That precise transporting seemed a bit too advanced. And so on.)
ricochet biscuit: that is also just brilliant!
posted by sardonyx at 7:20 AM on May 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
Given that this show is 10 to 15 years (I think Pike said his "death" is a about a decade away, and we know that it wasn't the first mission under Kirk that Spock "mutinied" in order to get Pike his reprieve in TOS, I was hoping for for styles and technology that could be seen as pre-dating the TOS aesthetic, but done in such a way as to make us think, "I can see how that evolved into this." I don't quite get that with the look of this show, and I also think the technology is more advanced than it should be. (Can communicators be voice-activated when they're closed? I didn't think so. That precise transporting seemed a bit too advanced. And so on.)
ricochet biscuit: that is also just brilliant!
posted by sardonyx at 7:20 AM on May 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
I do what I can.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:03 AM on May 10, 2022
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:03 AM on May 10, 2022
Archer is the only Enterprise captain who I can't recall having a horse-related scene, although that might just be my faulty memory.
I’d nerdishly interject that it is only the iconic ones (save Archer) who get the horse. So far No horses for April, Will Decker, Spock, Jellico, Garrett, Halloway, etc.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:08 AM on May 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
I’d nerdishly interject that it is only the iconic ones (save Archer) who get the horse. So far No horses for April, Will Decker, Spock, Jellico, Garrett, Halloway, etc.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:08 AM on May 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
Archer is the only Enterprise captain who I can't recall having a horse-related scene
I thought he played water polo. Y'know, with ponies in scuba gear. Wait, is that not how it works?
posted by bartleby at 8:38 AM on May 10, 2022 [9 favorites]
I thought he played water polo. Y'know, with ponies in scuba gear. Wait, is that not how it works?
posted by bartleby at 8:38 AM on May 10, 2022 [9 favorites]
I’d nerdishly interject that it is only the iconic ones (save Archer) who get the horse. So far No horses for April, Will Decker, Spock, Jellico, Garrett, Halloway, etc.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:08 AM on May 10
It could be that their lack of equestrian skills was the key indicator that they would not be either long-term or successful Enterprise captains. I suspect this is a thesis topic for a Star Fleet command candidate (with major references to observations by Thrandasar Shrev).
posted by sardonyx at 9:09 AM on May 10, 2022
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:08 AM on May 10
It could be that their lack of equestrian skills was the key indicator that they would not be either long-term or successful Enterprise captains. I suspect this is a thesis topic for a Star Fleet command candidate (with major references to observations by Thrandasar Shrev).
posted by sardonyx at 9:09 AM on May 10, 2022
Remember that science fiction is not really about the future, it's about who we are right now. And our technology TODAY is more advanced than Trek of the 60s, save the faster than light drive. So it's not surprising that the past of the future of now looks way more advanced than the future of the past of now. I'm mean it'd pretty much have to.
Anyway, that brain teaser not withstanding, I really liked this.
posted by Horkus at 11:46 AM on May 10, 2022 [4 favorites]
Anyway, that brain teaser not withstanding, I really liked this.
posted by Horkus at 11:46 AM on May 10, 2022 [4 favorites]
Remember that this very Enterprise was crewed by like four guys in Search for Spock,
How did that go?
posted by biffa at 1:47 PM on May 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
How did that go?
posted by biffa at 1:47 PM on May 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
Using galaxy ending stakes is a cheap way to create drama when you don’t have a good story or characters. Using random sparks and flames is a cheap way to try to make action exciting. Unlike other recent series, this episode did neither of those things and I think that’s a good sign. I hope it keeps up.
posted by snofoam at 5:02 PM on May 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 5:02 PM on May 11, 2022 [2 favorites]
After watching E2 last night, my roommates and I went back and watched the Pike-era Short Treks. In "Q&A", one of the questions Spock asks Number One on his very first day on the Enterprise is "Have you ever considered that the prime directive is not only not ethical, but also illogical, and perhaps morally indefensible?" and I'm struggling a little to reconcile that against April's statement, "They're doubling down, renaming it to the Prime Directive".
For a show that's working its hardest to maintain a ton of canon, I'm a little disappointed that basically the same set of writers couldn't keep this straight.
I'm also a *little* irked at the Gorn stuff because "Arena" makes it clear that they were not known to the Federation in Kirk's time.
posted by hanov3r at 12:37 PM on May 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
For a show that's working its hardest to maintain a ton of canon, I'm a little disappointed that basically the same set of writers couldn't keep this straight.
I'm also a *little* irked at the Gorn stuff because "Arena" makes it clear that they were not known to the Federation in Kirk's time.
posted by hanov3r at 12:37 PM on May 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm struggling a little to reconcile that against April's statement
I feel like I’m competing for a No-Prize, but General Order No. 1 might have been known informally as the prime directive before it got formalized (and capitalized) as such.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:18 PM on May 13, 2022
I feel like I’m competing for a No-Prize, but General Order No. 1 might have been known informally as the prime directive before it got formalized (and capitalized) as such.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:18 PM on May 13, 2022
"They're doubling down, renaming it to the Prime Directive".
It makes you wonder whether the whole thing is an economic decision and once they started interfering they would exceed their available resource, stop being post-scarcity, stop being able to focus on the handily 'mature enough for warp technology' and feel morally obliged to support cave men, who are no value to the Federation in their expansion. Perhaps there is even a darker thought there, that had they not had the Prime (Economic) Directive the Federation might not have been in a position to repel the Borg or the Dominion.
posted by biffa at 8:04 AM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
It makes you wonder whether the whole thing is an economic decision and once they started interfering they would exceed their available resource, stop being post-scarcity, stop being able to focus on the handily 'mature enough for warp technology' and feel morally obliged to support cave men, who are no value to the Federation in their expansion. Perhaps there is even a darker thought there, that had they not had the Prime (Economic) Directive the Federation might not have been in a position to repel the Borg or the Dominion.
posted by biffa at 8:04 AM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
so uh now that I am feeling more articulate the day after, I am feeling very optimistic about this direction for this new show! I too am very much feeling like "a new Star Trek show that is a Star Trek show" has become a fresh, bold direction for the franchise, especially after being left kind of meh with the last few seasons of Discovery and Picard. Lower Decks was a heartening reminder that they could in fact still make a Star-Trek-shaped Star Trek if they wanted to (and so far it's still been my favorite — the pace enabled by the animation meant they could get the same number of story beats in as an episode of TNG, in half the time).
Really, I'm just enjoying the willingness to do a return to form with unsubtle episodic morality plays set in space! I fully agree with the "warm bath" comparison above.
Lower Decks still has the most Star Trek theme song of any of the new shows, though.
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:33 PM on May 19, 2022
Really, I'm just enjoying the willingness to do a return to form with unsubtle episodic morality plays set in space! I fully agree with the "warm bath" comparison above.
Lower Decks still has the most Star Trek theme song of any of the new shows, though.
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:33 PM on May 19, 2022
La'an's backstory stuff really surprised me. Given her name, I was kinda expecting some other backstory baggage--and they did allude to that in the sickbay scene. I have always wanted to see more of the Gorn, only holy shit, I didn't expect it to be that dark!
I noped out after that backstory. Sorry Strange New Worlds.
And I really liked Pike's "nobody dies today" speech and how his foreknowledge of his own "death" is a nice counter to Kirk's more Zapp Brannigan-ey tendencies when it comes to redshirts suffering horrible fates.
Why can't we have a Star Trek series where there isn't horrible death lurking in outer space?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:51 AM on May 20, 2022
I noped out after that backstory. Sorry Strange New Worlds.
And I really liked Pike's "nobody dies today" speech and how his foreknowledge of his own "death" is a nice counter to Kirk's more Zapp Brannigan-ey tendencies when it comes to redshirts suffering horrible fates.
Why can't we have a Star Trek series where there isn't horrible death lurking in outer space?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:51 AM on May 20, 2022
I'm psyched to realize that Capt. Freeman has alluded-to horse-riding skills, and thus may one day be qualified for command of the 1701.
posted by Navelgazer at 6:14 AM on May 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 6:14 AM on May 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
Apparently this establishes that yes, if you want to captain the Enterprise, you must own a horse (or a saddle) or at least be able to ride one. Archer is the only Enterprise captain who I can't recall having a horse-related scene, although that might just be my faulty memory.
Archer played water polo, so we know that he has an aquestrian background.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:33 PM on May 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Archer played water polo, so we know that he has an aquestrian background.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:33 PM on May 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Number One, the executive officer of the Enterprise, who gets a full name, Una Chin-Riley.
Number One's actual first name being Una gave me some strong Major Major Major Major vibes.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:38 PM on May 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Number One's actual first name being Una gave me some strong Major Major Major Major vibes.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:38 PM on May 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
And I really liked Pike's "nobody dies today" speech and how his foreknowledge of his own "death" is a nice counter to Kirk's more Zapp Brannigan-ey tendencies when it comes to redshirts suffering horrible fates.
Seems a bit grim for his first speech back, on a milk run to say hello to the neighbours.
“Let’s go to the shops. We’re coming back. With milk. Nobody dies today.”
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:51 AM on May 25, 2022 [6 favorites]
Seems a bit grim for his first speech back, on a milk run to say hello to the neighbours.
“Let’s go to the shops. We’re coming back. With milk. Nobody dies today.”
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:51 AM on May 25, 2022 [6 favorites]
Nobody dies today.
I guess the crew will eventually learn to look out for when he doesn't say it and can go sick.
posted by biffa at 1:26 PM on May 27, 2022 [4 favorites]
I guess the crew will eventually learn to look out for when he doesn't say it and can go sick.
posted by biffa at 1:26 PM on May 27, 2022 [4 favorites]
So I'm trying to start this, because seeing more from Number One and Uhura seemed promising, and on report that it was much less "the Federation sucks and always sucked" than other current live action Trek. But the whole "I am a manly man with the beard and the chick and the horse and cryptic angst" opening is boring me silly. Should I skip to episode 2? Or is there a point in this episode I should jump to?
posted by tavella at 11:03 PM on June 18, 2022
posted by tavella at 11:03 PM on June 18, 2022
Just fast forward 10 minutes or so.
The Angst Beard opening is just to remind us that Captain Pike has been shown (back on Disco) his own future gruesome death and when it happens, and he's kinda messed up about it.
That's gonna be his thing, the Captain that knows he's gonna die and what he does with that.
He lightens up considerably once he gets back to space. Jump ahead a few episodes, and you can join us in making fun of his Johnny Bravo hair.
posted by bartleby at 11:58 PM on June 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
The Angst Beard opening is just to remind us that Captain Pike has been shown (back on Disco) his own future gruesome death and when it happens, and he's kinda messed up about it.
That's gonna be his thing, the Captain that knows he's gonna die and what he does with that.
He lightens up considerably once he gets back to space. Jump ahead a few episodes, and you can join us in making fun of his Johnny Bravo hair.
posted by bartleby at 11:58 PM on June 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
They spiked that by having entirely too many women on the bridge.
Yes, for all that the lead is McAngsty WhiteDude, I was genuinely delighted in the first under way scene, when everyone else, or at least everyone with a speaking role, were women, including WoC. Particularly because we are currently watching The Expanse, where it took halfway through the first season before two women were in the same room with even the ability to speak to each other... and one of them died like five minutes later. Expanse has somewhat improved in that a couple of other interesting women characters have turned up second season, but they are still all solo women in their own story threads, surrounded by masses of men. So that SNW bridge scene was seriously refreshing.
They still did have to make a genuflection to the "the Federation sucks" at the end there, but overall much closer to what I love about Star Trek.
posted by tavella at 2:56 PM on June 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
Yes, for all that the lead is McAngsty WhiteDude, I was genuinely delighted in the first under way scene, when everyone else, or at least everyone with a speaking role, were women, including WoC. Particularly because we are currently watching The Expanse, where it took halfway through the first season before two women were in the same room with even the ability to speak to each other... and one of them died like five minutes later. Expanse has somewhat improved in that a couple of other interesting women characters have turned up second season, but they are still all solo women in their own story threads, surrounded by masses of men. So that SNW bridge scene was seriously refreshing.
They still did have to make a genuflection to the "the Federation sucks" at the end there, but overall much closer to what I love about Star Trek.
posted by tavella at 2:56 PM on June 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
I can't stream where I am, so, based on you guys' enthusiasm, I waited and bought the DVDs when they became available and watched Episode One last night. So we accidentally travelled in time and gave these people warp technology before they were ready for it, and because they are ruled by Margaret Thatcher, they are about to destroy themselves? And Pike intended to simply sneak in and free the captured crew members, but instead gives a "Kirk Speech" and solves the problem?
I was OK with that until I realized that the strangely 1990s Nurse Chapel made an idiotic decision to let Spock take a medication that, with his metabolism, was going to be temporary. It forced me (for the 4000th time in the history of Star Trek) to affirm that there is absolutely no reason why the Captain and Science Officer need to go on these missions at all; using crewmembers who had a good reaction to the medication would have led to a successful outcome. Which would have led to the destruction of the planet thanks to the Prime Directive. At that point, I just gave up and hoped the second episode would be better.
I liked Pike, but wonder if his gimmick of knowing his own death is going to pan out. I mean, I know I am going to have diabetes and heart disease like my father did, but has that really changed my eating habits? A little, yeah, but the dramatic tension you are expecting is just not there. Also, not having seen "Discovery", I am imagining Pike having a long happy old age frolicking on Talos IV with Vina, and that must NOT be what they mean? I liked Spock, particularly the effort the actor took to sound like Leonard Nimoy, only younger. I have to say, though, that younger Spock seems much more mentally healthy than old Spock, particularly about sex, so I can't really see the one turning into the other. I liked Uhuru and the rest of the crew, but like you, was thrown by Nurse Chapel. OK- finally- the Enterprise. Why is it made from unpainted aluminum? This bothered me more than anything else.
posted by acrasis at 5:08 AM on April 8, 2023
I was OK with that until I realized that the strangely 1990s Nurse Chapel made an idiotic decision to let Spock take a medication that, with his metabolism, was going to be temporary. It forced me (for the 4000th time in the history of Star Trek) to affirm that there is absolutely no reason why the Captain and Science Officer need to go on these missions at all; using crewmembers who had a good reaction to the medication would have led to a successful outcome. Which would have led to the destruction of the planet thanks to the Prime Directive. At that point, I just gave up and hoped the second episode would be better.
I liked Pike, but wonder if his gimmick of knowing his own death is going to pan out. I mean, I know I am going to have diabetes and heart disease like my father did, but has that really changed my eating habits? A little, yeah, but the dramatic tension you are expecting is just not there. Also, not having seen "Discovery", I am imagining Pike having a long happy old age frolicking on Talos IV with Vina, and that must NOT be what they mean? I liked Spock, particularly the effort the actor took to sound like Leonard Nimoy, only younger. I have to say, though, that younger Spock seems much more mentally healthy than old Spock, particularly about sex, so I can't really see the one turning into the other. I liked Uhuru and the rest of the crew, but like you, was thrown by Nurse Chapel. OK- finally- the Enterprise. Why is it made from unpainted aluminum? This bothered me more than anything else.
posted by acrasis at 5:08 AM on April 8, 2023
Archer is the only Enterprise captain who I can't recall having a horse-related scene
Yeah, but Archer had a dog with him on board the ship. I think that beats a horse scene handily.
SNW just showed-up on Prime this week, so I’m finally getting to see it for myself. It’s so, so good! They’ve really hit the feel of TOS, but updated it for modern tastes and sensibilities (and production budgets LOL)
posted by Thorzdad at 11:01 AM on June 6, 2023
Yeah, but Archer had a dog with him on board the ship. I think that beats a horse scene handily.
SNW just showed-up on Prime this week, so I’m finally getting to see it for myself. It’s so, so good! They’ve really hit the feel of TOS, but updated it for modern tastes and sensibilities (and production budgets LOL)
posted by Thorzdad at 11:01 AM on June 6, 2023
Also beaming things directly into a living beings bloodstream.
Didn't they say Spock's beamed down treatment was "an eye salve" rather than an injection? Still a stretch, but marginally more credible, I guess.
Like everyone else, I thought this was pretty good. My only fear is that they're going to rely on the sort of "magic wand" plot fixes that Dr Who reaches for whenever the writers need his sonic screwdriver to get them out of a plot hole. Suddenly revealing there was an "emergency medical bay transporter" just when such an unlikely device was needed struck me as pretty shameless.
posted by Paul Slade at 2:59 PM on August 26, 2023
Didn't they say Spock's beamed down treatment was "an eye salve" rather than an injection? Still a stretch, but marginally more credible, I guess.
Like everyone else, I thought this was pretty good. My only fear is that they're going to rely on the sort of "magic wand" plot fixes that Dr Who reaches for whenever the writers need his sonic screwdriver to get them out of a plot hole. Suddenly revealing there was an "emergency medical bay transporter" just when such an unlikely device was needed struck me as pretty shameless.
posted by Paul Slade at 2:59 PM on August 26, 2023
They stopped installing those after a budget review showed it was used exactly once for a completely avoidable reason.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 3:15 PM on August 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 3:15 PM on August 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
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If the admiral uniforms aren't behind the curve would it even be Star Trek
posted by StarkRoads at 9:53 AM on May 5, 2022 [12 favorites]