Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Alien, The Thing, Predator, Jurassic Park... that was great.

"Game over, man!" - Sam Kirk

credit to sam kirk for being ~slightly~ less annoying than that one dude in The Corbomite Maneuver

but not a lot

loved this episode so much

sam kirk playing the true role of Bones in this episode ie “hey i heard you need an unhelpful jerk to stand around & make things worse”

the only thing missing was a Jonesy

I keep expecting Kirk's dad to be more like Sam Rockwell in Galaxy Quest, because of the comedy moustache.

Great episode. You know you're doing your first season right when a death is genuinely unexpected and results in the audience saying "ah, no, I really liked him!"

Looks like its James' older brother not father. I think this is like 10 years ahead of the original series so not a full generation. I thought I'd read that James himself was due to appear at some point too.

Haven't worked out exactly how this dovetails to Discovery which I'm just watching through at the moment too.

Ah ha, that makes more sense.

Chapelle and Uhura are both characters in the original series much earlier in their careers. Spock is much longer lived so might not be that much noticeably younger. Can't think if others are on the Enterprise when Kirk is captain offhand right now.

Chapelle and Uhura are both characters in the original series much earlier in their careers.

I think my problem is that I haven't seen TOS for a long time, and I can't picture Majel as anything other than maternal. I forget sometimes that she was very young in the original series (which seems obvious, but with all the reboots and recasting and re-organizing and alien DNA, it's easy to lose track of how people age).

It's remarkable that after all these years of spin-offs and expanded cinematic universes (as with every other franchise), the best move is the Enterprise on a five year mission.

Yeah, it's either going back to the old school format or veterans from TNG and DS9 that seems to lead to the good SF nowadays (FAM, Expanse).

speaking of which, this week's 'newt' is also a veteran of the expanse, because, canada

Uhura only being a lieutenant ten years in the future initially bothered me (especially since she's such a badass in SNW) but it's easier to just disregard canon clashes with Trek.

I quite like this as they are so clearly enjoying themselves

✨REGRAM! The SNW crew transform into their storybook alter egos! #StarTrek #StrangeNewWorlds
Source: https://t.co/Xjo5sV1muU pic.twitter.com/9E1myV4huU

— Star Trek Pike (@CaptainPikesEnt) June 30, 2022

I am very upset with the outcome of this episode. I really liked Hemmer.

aw

SAME ;_;

Oh balls I read this by mistake and haven’t seen the episode!! Wahh.

Unrelatedly I used to be in friends-of-friends circles with Bruce Horak in the 2000s (in a “I remember him but he would have no idea who I was” way) and he was a super nice guy and REALLY funny, which hasn’t come across much in this role. I think he was in Second City maybe, or his partner was. Would never have recognised him under the makeup.

I'm assuming this is going to be going onto a 2nd series so would be good if the interesting characters were kept on .
Or are we going to get a young Scotty next season

Pretty keen to explore new characters as much as possible, really wish we had got some more time without Jim Kirk.

Apart from anything else, it is good to have a certain proportion of the bridge crew where mortal danger actually feels dangerous - IMO Obi Wan show was a real lesson in how boring it can be when nothing is at stake (tho I understand everyone’s mileage varied substantially on that one).

After 20 years I need a rest from shows that use random main character deaths and the threat of ultraviolence to create tension and stakes. But yeah even in Memento Mori, the early Gorn one, there’s some diffusion of tension because you know that e.g. Spock’s gonna be fine. That’s the danger of prequels I guess - although one of the great things about this show is you forget it’s a prequel while you’re watching it

Chuck re said actor you mention: surely he’s often been hilarious! It’s a different kind of contextual hilarity I grant.

I can't imagine the chief engineer role opening up without Scotty being cast for it.

Just seeing reference to him not becoming chief engineer until 2264, wondered if there was a canonical date he joined the ship.
I am seeing the Cage was supposed to be 2254, is this sticking to that or possibly earlier still. Not sure if I've seen that beyond what was edited into the later episode The Menagerie..

Sorry Chuck I should have marked that more strongly as a major spoiler!

ATTN anyone else: my hidden text is a MAJOR SPOILER DO NOT CLICK IF U HAVENT SEEN EP ETC

Same day I wonder how this ties into the Cage I get the Discovery which directly references it turning up in the sequence I'm watching that. Have read that Discovery series with Pike is 2258 and this may be 6 months later.

Not sure if Scotty rose from ranks on the Enterprise or joins as the rank he maintains through original series.

xpost Ha no it's on me, I should know better

Enjoy some Gorn

https://www.startrek.com/videos/watch-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-the-gorn-reborn

Man what a great ending for the season; that's how to fanservice in a way that leaves things interesting. This show really is something else.

Hadn't thought until I saw that episode last week that they would just excerpt the 60s pilot to show earlier behaviour by the characters played by the new cast. They don't look much alike like

Neither does the inside of the Enterprise.

i don't envy him the task, but that was an underwhelming jim kirk. lol at attack pattern tiberius etc. tho

yeah i have been intrigued re how this show was gonna handle Kirk - i guess this was an alt timeline version so perhaps shaped differently by his experiences - kinda happy that he wasn't Shatting out all over the place, and how the relationship with Pike was handled respectfully...

will be interesting to see what they do with him in S2 though - i mean, has Kirk met Pike before The Cage/The Menagerie whatever that one is called - ? this latest ep kind of implies that Kirk has stuff to learn from Pike's approach - to be honest, i was sort of thinking that maybe Kirk had served under Pike on Enterprise but I don't think that's true right? anyway i am cool with the notion of Kirk as occasional visitor rather than constant flavour!

enjoyed that last Pike/Spock scene - and the extra juice it gives the TOS ep where Spock goes rogue to help Pike

argh sorry all, i fucked up the hidden text! hopefully not too spoilery

according to the cage/menagerie james kirk had never met pike, and of course no one had seen a romulan until kirk did, which remains true as that was all in a timeline that either never happened or we are choosing to ignore

i suspect that hardcore heads are gonna be bitter that pike's very starfleety instinct to talk it out presumably led to ruin, but i guess we've already gone down this road with 'the vulcan hello'

Finally, the eyebrow quirk!

Kirk uncomfortably resembled a Bill Hader impression of Kirk.

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