v6/site_test/tv/star-trek-strange-new-worlds.md

```
title = "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds"
```

<!-- episode "S01E01" 2022-05-13 -->
lmao, the single nacelle ships look as ridiculous as ever

"Are you naked?"
"No, I am not."
"He was about to be."

Pretty sure this is the first time someone's said "Space, the final frontier" since TNG.

La'an Noonien-Singh seems a lot like Drummer on The Expanse.

I like Nurse Chapel

"both civil wars" oof

they really get a lot of mileage out of the TOS theme

That was _fantastic_. By far the most Star Trek-y of the new shows. No over-arching plot—but not a lack of character development. No universe-ending danger. Just Star Trek. I'm so happy

<!-- episode "S01E02" 2022-05-16 -->
“I am familiar with Yahtzee”

“Aliens worship a comet” and “the comet communicates with music” was very sci-fi in a way that Disco usually isn’t and it was great

The flight through the comet’s tail was awesome

That comet does not seem big enough to be able to dump planetary climate-altering amounts of water into the atmosphere

I like Pike’s continued character development regarding his inevitable death

I don’t have much to say, I just really enjoyed that episode. It’s nice having actual episodic, science fiction Star Trek again

<!-- episode "S01E03" 2022-05-19 -->
the illyrians, dang. I wouldn't have recognized that name if I hadn't watched that ENT episode just a few weeks ago

also, they used an officer's log to frame the episode rather than just summarizing what we already know (like Discovery does)

I like that the new design for engineering retains the trapezoidal shape of the TOS design

ayy, an alien virus. that's some classic Trek

if i had the last name of a genetically engineered, genocidal dictator, i would simply give my child a different last name

everyone reflecting and talking to each other at the end was done a lot better here than it would have been on Discovery.

this was a great episode

<!-- episode "S01E04" 2022-05-27 -->
it makes me unreasonably happy that they have meetings around a conference table and come up with plans.

Although I object to the idea that the Enterprise could survive inside of a brown dwarf star, I did greatly enjoy the first Star Trek submarine battle in eons

i don't think the pressure differential over 100m or whatever is enough that the. bottom decks of the enterprise would get crushed but the top is okay

Hemmer's point about pacifism was great

Also the ship definitely couldn't survive inside the accretion disk of a black hole either

Speaking of, is this the first time we've actually seen a black hole in Star Trek?

wow, the ship got really beat up

Another knockout episode. A solid, self-contained plot but not without character development

<!-- episode "S01E05" 2022-06-02 -->
they're doing the Vulcan ritual combat thing from TOS! with the gongs! and the weird spears! and THE MUSIC :D

ayy, Pike's wearing the same style of green shirt as Kirk

"As you can clearly tell from the difference in our mannerisms"

i have a small (🤏) crush on nurse chapel

separate A and B plots, just like the old days

what the aliens were doing was obvious from like the second meeting. Pike's solution of just being honest with them was very Trek-y

this is very much foreshadowing Chapel's infatuation with Spock

another great episode. it was slow and character focused, and a nice change of pace from the past few weeks

<!-- episode "S01E06" 2022-06-09 -->
did nobody think giving the cadet the phaser controls during a battle was a bad idea

this was a very good, very star trek-y episode. i don't really have much to say about it

<!-- episode "S01E07" 2022-06-16 -->
captain angel's acting was more than a little bit hammed up, but it wasn't too bad

poor nurse chapel and her unrequited crush

sybok, lmao

these posts keep on being short because i have nothing to complain about. i once again thoroughly enjoyed this episode

<!-- episode "S01E08" 2022-06-25 -->
I thought this was the weakest episode of the season so far, but I still liked it.

Anson Mount was clearly having a lot of fun hamming it up

also, that the author of the book in the universe is Benny Russell is a very cool reference:

![Dr. Mbenga holding the book "The Kingdom of Elysian" by Benny Russell](https://social.shadowfacts.net/media/19e022a0-592b-4bc6-8b9e-f7941e492748/image.png?name=image.png)

<!-- episode "S01E09" 2022-07-05 -->
lol, in-universe justification for how the other ship is just a kitbashed Enterprise

“Do not make me turn this car around!”

Wow, they actually made the Gorn scary after the ridiculousness that was the TOS Gorn. Though I’m not clear on how these Gorn have the ability to build starships

daddy kirk’s a bit of a baby, huh. james t wouldn’t have had a freak out like that

that was a good episode. not much more to say about it

<!-- episode "S01E10" 2022-07-08 -->
Pike looks good in the maroon uniform with the puffy collar

They're doing Balance of Terror!

ooh, that Scotty-bait

and that connection at the end (Spock/Pike's friendship) to The Menagerie is nice

is The Cage cannon? if so, Una will definitely be back

this Kirk was pretty good, though we didn't see enough of him to make a judgement

and all the musical cues? damn

holy shit, that was an incredible episode and a great finale

<!-- episode "Season 1 Conclusion" 2022-07-08 -->
This was easily the best first season of any Star Trek show. (Lower Decks is up there, but I think SNW edges it out because it's going for (and achieves) a much more classic Trek vibe.)

Anson Mount is excellent, and all the other actors are pretty good too.

Even the weakest episode of the season was still enjoyable.

It's hard to overstate how happy I am that monster of the week/self-contained episodes are back. I like long, continuous plot arcs too, but not at the expense of everything else.

And in spite of that, there was still continuity and character development from episode to episode.

I have no notes. That was _fantastic_. I'm probably going to rewatch the whole season in a few weeks.

<!-- episode "S02E01" 2023-06-15 -->
lmao, spock looks terrified

So that would make it two times that Uhura's stolen the Enterprise? nice

I continue to oppose how hard they're trying to make the catchphrases a thing for literally everyone. Lower Decks can be meta about it but it's weird when other shows do it

Starship in a cave is very Prodigy of them

is that super-strength drug new or did it show up last season? I have no recollection of it

aww, Spock you big softie

So Pike was there at the beginning basically to say "yeah, yeah, we're getting to Una, just hold your horses"

Overall I quite enjoyed this episode, though the protracted fight with Chapel/M'Benga didn't really do it for me.

<!-- episode "S02E02" 2023-06-23 -->
wait is that Mrs McMurray? was she also in S1 and I just completely missed it?

love a good courtroom episode, that’s what i always say

<!-- episode "S02E03" 2023-06-30 -->
Ooh, love a good time travel episode

James T. Kirk!

Isn’t this the timeframe that there should be sanctuary districts? I would love to finally see anything else connected to that DS9 arc

pick a more conspicuous car, james

So how did they manage to cross international borers

Holy shit.
smh, can’t believe they retconned Khan to be from Toronto

that was very “this is not over” music at the end there

This was a truly phenomenal episode. Christina Chong and Paul Wesley were both fantastic.

<!-- episode "S02E04" 2023-07-06 -->
This was a thoroughly enjoyable, no-frills monster of the week episode. I loved it.

<!-- episode "S02E05" 2023-07-15 -->
how has anything near Vulcan not already been scanned into oblivion? weren’t the Vulcans canonically spacefaring for hundreds of years before first contact with earth

ooh this is very disconcerting

damn t’pring’s dad is a pushover

Pike has an absurdly fancy bathroom

Spock and Chapel are way better than him and T’Pring (and Jess Bush is great), too bad they’re doomed (not that his relationship with T’Pring isn’t also doomed)
<br>
This was a fun episode

<!-- episode "S02E06" 2023-07-20 -->
I would not have given a phaser to the person who can’t trust what she’s seeing regardless of whether that was caused by something else

aww, look at the gang getting together

This was a pretty good episode. As the weeks go by, I keep hoping that this one will be the Lower Decks crossover episode.

<!-- episode "S02E07" 2023-07-22 -->
\*chanting\* lower decks! lower decks!

the new animated version of the enterprise looks great

boims stop saying things, you're going to break the future

so we have quintotriticale, quadrotriticale, and now tritriticale

Is that the first reference to the Bell Riots outside of DS9?

lmao @ Mariner beings even more of a weirdo than Boimler

Domjot! this episode is as crammed full of references as a Lower Decks one

That was a excellent episode; Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid were both fantastic

<!-- episode "S02E08" 2023-07-28 -->
Raktajino, lmao

Clint Howard!

This was a very good, very dark episode.

<!-- episode "S02E09" 2023-08-04 -->
I’ll admit, going in, I am skeptical. The Short Trek in which Spock and Una break out into Gilbert and Sullivan was fun—but an entire episode of them singing?

The ADR when they’re singing does not seem great

How would an explosion propagate through the comms

Ayy, Carol Marcus mention!

Credit where credit is due, this episode swings _really_ hard for the fences. That said, this episode does not do it for me. I found it just… tolerable.

<!-- episode "S02E10" 2023-08-23 -->
It would be nice to be able to see anything in this episode. It is possible to light things such that everyone is visible and it still looks dark.

I quite like new Scotty so far.

Surely there are other survivors on the saucer section that they're about to obliterate.

I greatly enjoyed this episode, and that it ended on a cliffhanger in true Trek fashion (though who knows how long we'll have to wait for the conclusion).

<!-- episode "Season 2 Conclusion" 2023-08-23 -->
This whole season was extremely good—there was only one (1) episode that did not work for me. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow was probably my favorite—though Those Old Scientists is a close runner-up.

SNW does a really good job of the episodic-style of Star Trek, and does a fair job of updating it so it doesn't feel out of place. It has a good balance of standalone stories and character development/plot arcs that continue through the season.

As with the first season, I have nothing but good things to say about it. I eagerly await its return.