Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

We got a Kirk sighting

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Finds Its James T. Kirk With Paul Wesley https://t.co/5TYFp8XYMe

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) March 15, 2022

Okay, premiere episode today! Which I haven't seen yet but soon enough.

My natural scepticism kept me from fully enjoying the fan service bits. It was fine, I guess. Better a low-key opener that turns into something solid than an amazingly flashy and promising first episode that turns into me giving up on the show after a season and a half.

need a history of star trek sideburns

Yeah "low key opener" is a good way to describe it, it was fun and straightforward enough and got a reasonable amount of info dumping done. More than anything I absolutely think this nails the 'what if 1960s Big Ideas Optimistic Trek with 2020s production values' mode, so I'm already in for the rest of the season.

A little heavy handed toward the end but a solid B+, just happy to have a Trek episode where the survival of all existence doesn’t hinge on that 45 minutes.

ned otm

it succeeded in trying to do what TOS sometimes did, referring to current events but in a way that ~comforts~ the viewer, like trying to provide a modicum of hope as a mixer with the escapism & i appreciated the attempt because idk i kind of needed it right now? i finished the ep feeling like yes, this is how it should feel. i am a cornball though too so ymmv

it feels rooted in the past in ways that arent just fanservice so i hope that continues to pay off bc man i really love this cast

Feels good to be hyped for next week's ST episode instead of wondering which kind of terrible it will be this time.

also La’an Noonien Singh/Christina Chong is A+

total Camina Drummer from Expanse vibes, freaked out for a minute bc i thought it was the same actor lol

xpost otm

My mom texted me to ask if that was Drummer and if their alien modifications were supposed to make them look like Buffy vampires.

lol <3

there’s something about forehead appliances in effects makeup, maybe bc they often widen the space between the eyes, it is SO easy to veer into that Buffy look, it’s weirdly common like i think ppl just accept that its an ok look. i kinda wish we could get away from it myself. it even happens in cgi.

the spock/t’pring scenes were great

worried about la’an’s surname(s), because enough already

anson mount’s hair is v. tall

Hmm, could have handled this differently.

https://gizmodo.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-ukraine-protest-footage-1848888151

worried about la’an’s surname(s), because enough already

I get Noonien-Singh and Noonien-Soongh mixed up sometimes. I had to check which one this was. I do hope it's just a nod to tradition and it's not going to be A Thing.

Roffle

pic.twitter.com/0mgRGzBRSU

— joegross (@joegross) May 7, 2022

omg totally! same energy as the kids would say

Glad I'm not the only one thinking that was the Drummer actress. Was a bit surprised it wasn't when I looked at Imdb.

Quite fun 1st episode I guess.
Didn't quite get how much earlier it is.

i thought this was good and so regretfully suppose i will continue paying paramount plus their trek tax for the next couple of months

spent probably a little too much time yesterday mentally workshopping convoluted scenarios whereby chris pike might avoid his melty fate, which probably means that i like the character

omg that's my friend dan!!

i really like that they introduced it so early on in Discovery, because it allows Mount to do more acting-wise with the character imo

Yeah it has to be a given we know his fate, right? They cant fuck with that fact at least. Surely.

It’s canon a couple times over, and if they try to timey wimey it people will be pissed.

I thought this was fine and is a welcome change from Disco and Picard nonsense, but the limits of Trekian optimism butting heads with trying to comment on contemporary ills really showed some strain and the resolution felt way too easily gotten.

anson's gonna melt, but it's like a decade away

somewhat awkward in that, while he talks about foreseeing his death, the melting won't actually kill him

this has not gone over well with disabled trek fans

just hope these characters can do something/anything better than being diverse and talking a lot. already like that one officer complaining about shit happening on her watch

yeah we can only hope

i think that aspect adds dimension

ie pike seeing the future & ~interpreting~ it as his death

yet we know that isnt the case

No I think he knows its not his death! He said something like "I saw my death... well, the death of me as I know me" or similar, suggesting what was left might as well have been dead? Which I can see disabled people having an issue with tbrh

As for me, I cant get past thinking of it like this.

https://morbotron.com/meme/S04E12/541823.jpg?b64lines=IEdvIFsgQmVlcCBdIHlvdXJzZWxmLg==

This was good: https://thatshelf.com/star-trek-discoverys-depiction-of-captain-pikes-disability-is-a-betrayal-of-roddenberrys-utopian-vision

"Betrayal" is a bit strong (I'm not sure Roddenberry had significant enough morals to betray) but the piece makes some good points without falling into fannish entitlement

Oh and nu-Chapel seems great and I loved T'pring's retro-futurist makeup.

Nu-Chapel seemed very familiar but then I realized it was just the Phoebe Bridgers hair, pretty sure I've never seen her in anything else.

I mean really, someone who is so disabled they cant move or speak and have to control a wheelchair with their mind and are just basically a floating head, doesnt sound like a life, disability advocacy is one thing but cmon. This isnt "the mere act of sitting in a wheelchair".

I rather liked this new episode, had the exact setup of a classic one-off but with plenty of its own distinct touches and interactions between characters.

only 5 minutes into this new ep but just dropping in to say that Christopher Pike's high hair is doing a LOT of important work on this show

already know more about pike's bridge crew than i've learned in four seasons about discovery's

take sides: pike's hair vs. spock's sideburns

i do think it's been well done so far, but i hope the entire season/series isn't haunted by pike's ~fate~. after all, he does love this job

this show is a real pleasure so far - absolutely nailing it but in an almost understated way

yep I reckon the character work is great (especially vs Disco) - that early scene in Pike's quarters had me grinning - feels like they have uncovered some ancient wisdom from a lost civilisation that "likeable characters that you wanna spend 1hr/week with" is a good TV formula

I've found the 'haunted by future' aspect quite interesting so far - feels like they might be building it into a slow burn plot development rather than just brooding about it? as you say mookieproof, it has been done with a fairly light touch thus far - I'm sure the device must have been used before? but it definitely adds something here, and I think stops Pike from being a bit one dimensional... and dare I say even adds a touch of profundity to the whole thing?

Some very bad CGI this week, not a big deal but the Shepherd captain on the view screen looked baaaaaad.

Some very bad CGI this week, not a big deal but the Shepherd captain on the view screen looked baaaaaad.

Some very bad CGI this week, not a big deal but the Shepherd captain on the view screen looked baaaaaad.

kept getting an error in Safari, oops.

tbf he was probably actually clint howard in prosthetics

no need to bang on about it milo jeez <3

Rob Bricken with a solid rave for the show that hits a lot of good points we've mentioned in the thread and elsewhere:

https://gizmodo.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-tv-paramount-plus-pike-spo-1848923327

i just noticed spock’s sideburns have a slightly arty curve to them & i hate it

pike’s hair however is majestic & i am here for it

really enjoyed this ep,

I am hoping his hair gets higher every episode.

I kept thinking of this
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/41/84/67/418467cb44c622620a11d8186fa94fdb.jpg
except I was remembering it as going up wards as well as forward.

Maybe memory incorporating bits of one or both of these which are of a similar vintage I think. Certainly saw them a couple of decades back
https://cdn.onebauer.media/one/empire-tmdb/films/45145/images/tTagCxKrhFlM5N0TEHQLqrnnf7V.jpg?format=jpg&quality=80&width=960&height=540&ratio=16-9&resize=aspectfill

i just noticed spock’s sideburns have a slightly arty curve to them & i hate it

That's how he shows emotion. When pon farr hits they turn into majestic whorls.

lmao

I thought the editing was a little slack, but as stated making these characters believable people with real personalities is a welcome change of pace from Disco.

I'm warming up to Peck, I'm pretty sure that his "I apply rigorous logic to defuse tension" was meant as a joke and his little look of disappointment at Uhura not acknowledging it was a small treasure.

yeah i loved that

i think peck is great, but i was a fan from the off when he first showed up in Disco

loved the striped lighting on pike's face when he (for no good reason at all) came forward to address his (kinda underwhelming) adversary.

lol'd school shit

I suppose Anson Mount is already Shatnering pretty well, so having someone try to go toe-to-toe with him on the same level would just be unworkable.

https://scifanatic-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/tiy/kirk_welcome.jpg

the other captain/pike's girlfriend/una arrester is also a long-time recurring character on letterkenny (because canada)

and whenever she's onscreen it seems wrong if she's not muttering i just want to get into a cocksuckin' gin and tonic, that's all i'm sayin'

you guys this ruled SO MUCH

afterwards we went back & rewatched TOS “Balance of Terror” & there is SO MUCH they referenced in the new ep, like whole dialogue, camera angles, scenes, it’s wild. highly recommend going back, it’s really worth it.

also i think new-Kirk was mild on purpose because rewatching the TOS ep Pike is doing all the Shatner references! - i didnt realize at the time but it’s clever how they subbed him in directly for irl Kirk

I didn't really love this one. It was fine but Kirk was a dud - Anson Mount has been delightfully Kirking it up all season, the actual Kirk could have been named literally anything else and it wouldn't have occurred to me that he was playing ol' James T.. The bridge crew seemed weird in scenes like the ready room - they didn't read like people who had been serving together for seven years at this point.

I didn't find Kirk very Kirky but not 100% sure what that would be exactly. Does one have to up the wood or something.
& be a bit chubbbier.
Like not sure what qualities are not cospacial with being played by a mid 60s William Shatner. But just didn't come away from this guy going oh yeah that was definitely the same character if you hadn't heard the name and seen him engaging with his brother etc.

But enjoyed the episode and looking forward to the next season.
Interesting to hear the approximation of that familiar character's voice. Still wondering when he actually joined the ship and if his relationship to the ship doesn't indicate a longer term history than joining as chief engineer etc, So was he a lower rank on the same ship at an earlier stage.

Like obviously character had to be the one that Pike being there unintentionally replaced. So had to be there as the alternative perspective and an actor is only doing an interpretation of a character but like phenomenologically what makes that character that character. I don't really see that individual to have much on common with Shatner's

Did watch Balance of Terror last night which showed the story this was an alternative take on & why one needed a Kirk in there. But still not really seeing that version of a him as necessarily being a him. Do think there must be more to this character than an entity being played by William Shatner and assume the film from 13 years ago did find a way of channeling the character though they did alter a few other characters to some degree.
Also in Discovery where they used the footage from the Cage as teh Flashback to a previous visit to the planet as though they looked interchangeable which they don't. i now have the episode the Cage as part of what I grabbed to see Balance of Terror so can watch that at some point.
Anyway interesting seeing the 2 versions and seeing what else was changed. Like more integration of other ethnicities, guy being killed on screen appears to be Irish American or something in the TOS version and South Asian in the new one.
Also I take it that uniform with the turtleneck underlayer is canon now or still. Not sure if I've seen it since the original cast Movie series.

Not only was Pike's hair even taller, but he had sideburns too -- or were they not new?

the girlfriend outs herself as clearly suspect for preferring Pike w beard

wtf lady

i mean i like his beard but cmon

i enjoyed the detail that the background romulans in this ep also are wearing helmets! most of the romulans wore helmets in TOS bc makeup couldn’t afford/didnt have time to make multiple sets of ears for cast + extras so they just did a few sets and put everyone else in gold-painted uh watermelon hats

also romulan commander’s costume has a nod to the red shoulder drapery of the TOS Theiss wool costume (which itself seemed borne of being stuck w 7 rolls of ugly wool upholstery fabric & being told to “figure it out”)

srsly everyone go rewatch the TOS episode!

i mean i like his beard but cmon

fp

i've had no prior complaints about basically any of the new castings -- several of them, notably nurse chappell, are improvements

but despite it being a hypothetical future that (probably -- go rogue, pike!) won't happen, that kirk and that romulan commander left a lot to be desired imo

I didn’t necessarily agree with it, but found this negative take on the finale thought-provoking - which touches on the militarism mentioned above but also the canonical determinism involved in prequel storytelling

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-episode-10-review-a-quality-of-mercy-season-finale/amp/

I also rewatched BoT yesterday and was suprised how much was cribbed. Well, without the .. endless.... spaaaacess.... betweeen anyone.... talking...

Nu-Uhura even asked if she could have the big hair for this ep but i guess they didnt have time so she went with big nails instead <3

kirk and that romulan commander left a lot to be desired imo

I can't remember if Sarek has made it into the Ethan Peck Spockosphere yet (stopped watching Discovery). It would be neat if the Romulan commander was the same actor.
Like everyone else, we also rewatched (or, in my husband's case, watched for the first time) Balance of Terror, and watching Kirk running his fingers over the consoles in the same way that Pike does, I wondered if some of the swagger that Kirk has is to do with being captain of the Enterprise? Is there just something about being in that position, with Uhura and Spock at your back, that gives a person that heft and that's why Kirk-in-this-timeline doesn't quite have it? (I am not very serious about this.)
He did have a great mid-Sixties look about him, though. Like, he could plausibly appear in an Elvis film.

Sarek was all over the first season of Disco, and it was a different actor than the Commander.

james frain played sarek in discovery; i thought he was fine

Sarek was all over the first season of Disco, and it was a different actor than the Commander.

Jesus, my memory is terrible.

Well Disco is terrible (sorry Trayce!) so I don't blame anyone for trying to forget it.

Nice short interview with Paul Wesley

https://ew.com/tv/paul-wesley-captain-kirk-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-finale/

We've been watching Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and I'm having two reactions:

1. Ooh, this must be how people watching TOS felt! 😍

2. OH NO THEY'RE ALL HOT 😳 pic.twitter.com/JyQ7DQ2Z2i

— Just Very Fucking tired, Man (@jvfriedman) July 10, 2022

LOL Leee. I agree some parts of Disco were terrible, dont worry. The whole Klingon storyline/first season. All the sighing and crying and gnashing of teeth and talking when the World is Ending.

But eh its still fun. Meanwhile I'm watching DS9 with reasonable enjoyment but bitten tounge due to all the BLATANT B5 THEFT mutter.

this guy apparently fucking *hates* the show, which is semi-reasonable up until he both praises disco/picard in comparison and also concludes that nothing in this scenario can possibly be new, and therefore the attempt itself is offensive

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/star-trek-strange-new-worlds

OK I'll bite, but JMS himself has said that he doesn't believe that DS9 ripped off B5, and they're tonally pretty distinct.

3 mins into the first ep and im here to say i did not expect to be ambushed by the wait-that-can't-be of combination long hair with a centre parting and a federation uniform

why do i think this, i have no idea

Is it because you associate that hairstyle with the OPA? (Guessing you're talking about not-Drummer.)

maybe, i don't know! i will have to think abt it

Yes please!

The Enterprise just got a new senior officer. Meet Chief Engineer Pelia, played by the incomparable Carol Kane in #StarTrek #StrangeNewWorlds Season 2! #StarTrekDay pic.twitter.com/EEB40RYhiv

— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) September 8, 2022

Hemmers replacement is going to be Carol Kane! This is awesome!

https://intl.startrek.com/news/star-trek-day-carol-kane-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-season-2

Oh damit xpost hahaha

sweet!

The excellence

My screenname is not what it is for nae reason.

Carol Kane! Love it.

Finally got round to watching the season finale — enjoyed it but I hadn’t seen “Balance of Terror”, so a lot of the cheesy references from TOS went over my head and just seemed, well, cheesy.

Love this show; the only disappointment was how quickly the storyline with the doctor’s daughter got resolved — I was expecting something more epic several seasons down the line.

OK this is cute:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvX8ktHtfYU

Per this post, season 2 back mid-June, and already renewed for season 3 too.

Buried at the end of that story was the fact that Discovery was ending with S5, which is news to me! Can't say I'm heartbroken but I did feel the tiniest twinge of some kind of human emotion.

Disco news has been out there for a few weeks now, scuttlebutt is that it's a cost cutting move.

Also Disco's set up in such a way that nothing's stopping it from dribbling on forever really (as it wont break any canon) so they might as well wind it up or it'll Simpsonsify.

Oh hell yeah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjWBj9CGgGI

Carol Kane better be a regular

She's the new engineer so I'm rather guessing yes.

Guess that means #1 doesn't stay in prison long.

absolutely psyched - still can’t believe they worked out how to make a good star trek - esp from this least vibey of premises - all praise to Nu-Pike for being charismatic enough to hang a TV show around

Pretty stoked for this - I really tried and like 1/2 of Disco, but Strange New Worlds first season was some fun sci fi/ Star Trek canon.

Hijinks! Lower Decks! Etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69mzZqcM0qw

Also, unexpectedly, second season Picard.