Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022) - Season 2 (2 Viewers)

[Adam Lenhardt]

There's also the fact that people are comparing the new shows to their memories of shows from decades ago, and our memories have a tendency to be selective. There were plenty of clunkers in TOS through "Voyager", but with 26 episode seasons we remember the episodes we loved and don't think too much about the episodes that fizzled.

 

[Harry-N]

Having been in the broadcasting business, I certainly do undertand the "why's" of having fewer episodes, and I certainly do like the show a whole lot. It's just a minor regret that there are now so few episodes when historically, TREK always gave us a full season's worth of stories.

It wasn't THAT long ago that STAR TREK: DISCOVERY started with a 15-episode first season. For me, that length felt close to correct, but even that show paired down in its subsequent years.

So, I get why - there are more expenses with making the show flashier, and these are the realities of the streaming world - but I wonder how many of us, the fans, would have been satisfied with a good deal less flash, and more stories.

 

[Nelson Au]

I watched The Broken Circle, season 2 premiere episode on the new 4K blu ray last night.

I didn’t really like this episode that much when I first saw it on streaming. I think it is not a bad episode, it was an interesting idea to show a faction of the Klingon and Federation who don’t want the peace to sustain as it got in the way of making profit. The episode to me is also like a homage to Star Trek 3 and Star Trek 6.

As was discussed when this first streamed, it was filmed at a time Anson Mount wasn’t fully there so they made this episode largely without him. I think my main issue though is the idea that Spock had accessed a way to release his emotions and is now an emotional mess. While it doesn’t necessarily violate canon, I know it’s Goldsman’s idea to show Spock this way because in The Cage and a few early TOS episodes, Nimoy smiles. This was a time when Nimoy did not fully have a handle on Spock yet. I get that. I guess I can go with that.

On this viewing of The Broken Circle, I didn’t have as much an issue with the serum that M’Benga concocted during the Klingon War to make himself Hulk out and be a super killer. I think that because I was watching via the 4K blu ray, the visuals and audio were much better then via streaming so it added to the effect.

The one aspect of this episode I found more interesting is the behind the scenes goings on with April and his colleague who are concerned about having two war fronts that the Federation just isn’t ready to handle. And they reveal the potential Gorn threat. So it was interesting that April gave Spock a pass for stealing the Enterprise and foiling the Klingon’s plots to start a new war.

While it’s cool that this series have made the Gorn a threat, I still have my qualms about it given that in the TOS episode, the Gorn are seen for the first time, at the time we do see them for the first time. But it’s not in the dialogue that they are not aware of them. If you closely analyze it, the SNW writers were pretty careful and makes it work. Even though Spock, Uhura, and Chapel have seen the Gorn in this Pre-Kirk Enterprise, Uhura is shown as horrified at the sight of the Gorn chasing Kirk in Arena. It is what it is and this series is going all in with the Gorn.

 

[Nelson Au]

My on-going re-viewing of the second season on the new 4K UHD discs continued with Ad Astra per Aspera a week ago. I don’tt think I gleaned anything new this time as I did view it more then once via streaming. It’s still a good episode and I liked how it was constructed with the eventual twist to resolve the problem for Una. They kind of dodge a direct solution, but for one that saved face for Starfleet.

Last night, I viewed Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. At first, I didn’t want to see this episode again because I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. It’s very heavy how it ends for Lian. I did enjoy the re-view. I also could not help that after so many Star Trek episodes with time travel and how history was altered by an act in the past, I felt like this was a sort of homage to them with a pinch of The City on the Edge of Forever. Someone had to die to save the future. Also, I had a better grasp of the Romulan plot as I had sort of forgotten it.

I did enjoy the bit with Pela. As I recall, the experience Lian has with the alternate Kirk has repercussions later as Lian interacts with the Prime Kirk.

 

[Sam Favate]

They’ve wrapped filming for episode 2.

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Director Gives Season 3 Production Milestone Update From The Set

Director Jordan Canning just completed her second SNW episode.

trekmovie.com

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I watched The Broken Circle, season 2 premiere episode on the new 4K blu ray last night.

I did the same tonight, after watching a couple TNG episodes in HD via streaming. One thing is for sure: This show looks fantastic on UHD disc, better than most of the Trek feature films.

I think it is not a bad episode, it was an interesting idea to show a faction of the Klingon and Federation who don’t want the peace to sustain as it got in the way of making profit.

Given that neither Federation nor the Klingon Empire use currency as we understand it today, it would have taken a very specific set of circumstances for Federation citizens and Klingons to form a for-profit crime syndicate. I'm guessing the membership is a mix of draft dodgers and the dishonorably discharged.

I think my main issue though is the idea that Spock had accessed a way to release his emotions and is now an emotional mess. While it doesn’t necessarily violate canon, I know it’s Goldsman’s idea to show Spock this way because in The Cage and a few early TOS episodes, Nimoy smiles. This was a time when Nimoy did not fully have a handle on Spock yet. I get that. I guess I can go with that.

I actually enjoyed Spock's arc this season, because they acknowledged that he was acting out of the ordinary. And it helps fill out his experiences in a way that lays the groundwork of Nimoy's Spock seeking out a balance between his Vulcan and human sides. Knowing where it's heading made it easier to accept it in this episode.

On this viewing of The Broken Circle, I didn’t have as much an issue with the serum that M’Benga concocted during the Klingon War to make himself Hulk out and be a super killer. I think that because I was watching via the 4K blu ray, the visuals and audio were much better then via streaming so it added to the effect.

My issue with the ongoing PTSD from the Klingon War is more conceptual. Prior to "Discovery", I had always pictured the conflicts between the Federation and the Klingons as being more like brush fires, brief bursts of violence punctuating an uneasy ceasefire.

But "Discovery" introduced a Klingon War that played out more like the Korean War: Devastating and widespread loss of life for not much territory gained or lost by the end. Aside from Enterprise, all of Starfleet was engaged in the war, and 100 million Federation citizens died as a result of the conflict.

Given all of that, it makes sense that officers and crew of Starfleet would be heavily traumatized and hardened by the war. But that dark gritty reality clashes with the kind of show that "Strange New Worlds" is meant to be. From now through until the synth uprising on Mars is supposed to be a roughly century and a half utopian age of exploration. This is supposed to be the bright shiny hopeful vision of the future. Having so many ships crewed with shell shocked war survivors undercuts that. And M'Benga being a legacy character makes some of his actions later in the season even more problematic for me.

The one aspect of this episode I found more interesting is the behind the scenes goings on with April and his colleague who are concerned about having two war fronts that the Federation just isn’t ready to handle. And they reveal the potential Gorn threat. So it was interesting that April gave Spock a pass for stealing the Enterprise and foiling the Klingon’s plots to start a new war.

Robert April on this show has been shown as being pragmatic. By forbidding Enterprise to go, he had plausible deniability if the shit hit the fan. But he also had reason to believe that Enterprise would achieve its objectives successfully. So for him it was a win-win.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

My on-going re-viewing of the second season on the new 4K UHD discs continued with Ad Astra per Aspera a week ago.

I watched this one tonight on disc. I think it's my third time watching it, and my appreciation for it has grown each time.

The dilemma posed by Una's case brings to mind two quotes:

1. "I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didn't have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a little looking out for the other fella, too." -Jefferson Smith, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
2. "Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice." -Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated from Russian, in a letter to law students during his time as a "non-person" in the years leading up to his expulsion from the USSR.

Star Trek is an aspirational vision of humanity's future, yet Una's persecution is decidedly less than utopian. Her lawyer, a hard-charging civil rights attorney with a clear ideological and political agenda to advance, views Una's treatment as an indictment of Starfleet as a whole. Una, even from her jail cell, disagrees.

I enjoy the philosophical debate, but I love the way that debate illuminates character.

A lesser show would have had Pike and Batel shouting at each other in the aftermath of the first season cliffhanger. Instead we get to see how they navigate their relationship and maintain civility even when Pike is adamantly opposed to what Batel sees as her sworn duty.

And Batel, for her part, is sympathetic to Una. Like any good prosecutor, she sees her role as ensuring that justice is done rather than simply a conviction obtained. And she would like to shield her boyfriend from becoming collateral damage.

I love the scene between Pike and April after Una's lawyer ambushed April on the stand. April is furious, and he blames Pike for recruiting her. Pike is unapologetic; his first officer deserves the best, so he went out and got the best. And yet neither of them are at any time less than polite to one another.

I especially loved the payoff for Pike keeping Una's secret. Starfleet captains have a great deal of autonomy, for good reason: Space is vast and full of unknowns. The Federation's lawmakers and Starfleet's rulemakers couldn't possibly account for every hypothetical. You give people who have demonstrated good judgement the captain's chair, and trust that they will continue to demonstrate good judgement.

Robert April was absolutely right to violate the Prime Directive on those three occasions. The Prime Directive was established to prevent interference in the natural, unassisted, development of societies. But a society can't continue to develop if it has been completely wiped out. Asserting the Prime Directive in the face of an extinction-level event is a deplorable example of moral cowardace. Pike throwing his friend and trusted top deputy under the bus for who she is rather than what she's done would be another kind of moral cowardace.

The case ultimately turns on who these people are and the decisions they've already made. Una prevails because she took a leap of faith and trusted in the better angels of Starfleet's nature, because Pike chose to offer her sanctuary rather than condemnation, because Pike and Una convinced Una's lawyer that this was a case worth fighting for.

They kind of dodge a direct solution, but for one that saved face for Starfleet.

This is one of the limitations of being a prequel. We know from DS9 that Federation laws against genetic enhancement are still on the books as of 2373, so they couldn't overhaul those prohibitions across the board.

But in this case, it felt like a limitation that worked in the episode's favor. The older I get, the less impressed I am by the idea that one inspiring speech can change the world overnight. The Eugenics Wars were a foundational trauma for one of the founding members of the Federation. Those fears and concerns were baked into Federation law from the beginning. They cannot just be discard, so they must be chipped away at slowly.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Last night, I viewed Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. At first, I didn’t want to see this episode again because I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.

I revisited it tonight, and I'm very split on it too.

As a standalone piece, it's terrific: It zips right along, is entertaining the whole way through, with bits set up at the beginning that pay off over the course of the episode. Christina Chong and Paul Wesley have terrific chemistry as La'an and Kirk. The dramatic moments really land and have weight.

But taken in the context of Star Trek as a whole, it frustrates me. It was clear with this episode that they were trying to tidy up the discrepancies in the Prime timeline that have resulted from the nineties through to today playing out very differently than the writers of the original series had projected forward. It introduces the time-traveling Romulan saboteurs as the culprits behind those discrepancies. The logic holds.

But it means that "Strange New Worlds" is in a different timeline than the original series. Presumably a timeline much closer to the timeline of the original series than the Kelvin timeline, but a different timeline nevertheless. Both La'an and alt-Kirk come from timelines that had already been altered by the Romulans' messing about with the past.

In both the original series timeline and the Strange New Worlds timeline, both Khan and the Eugenic Wars are inevitable -- the only difference is when. Given that Khan was engineered rather than naturally conceived, I can buy that. But even if we're talking about the same fertilized embryo, being born in the mid-twentieth century would still have resulted in a very different life for Khan than being born in the early twenty-first century, even if the broad strokes are the same. And given that La'an is a descendant of the Khan from the altered timeline, it is almost certain that she didn't even exist in the original series timeline. If one of our main characters didn't even exist in the original series timeline, it's hard to argue that the variations introduced by this episode are trivial.

That in turn raises the question of which shows are in which timeline. TNG and DS9 would seem to be in the original series timeline, because their versions of the original Enterprise look exactly like the original series. On the other hand, Voyager would seem to be in the Strange New Worlds timeline, because the 1997 seen in Voyager wasn't ravaged by the Eugenics Wars. Interestingly, the devices used by the temporal agents in this episode utilize the same TCARS interface as the timeship USS Relativity in "Voyager".

There's also the interesting idea raised by the Romulan temporal saboteur that time wants to happen a certain way, and that when you mess with it, it pushes back on you. The Kelvin timeline would seem to be proof of that: The destruction of the USS Kelvin had profound ripples that changed lots of things and completely upended James T. Kirk's life. And yet, the same core bridge crew were still drawn together aboard a USS Enterprise. Maybe it's fate, or maybe it's the Department of Temporal Investigations detecting these alterations in the timeline and actively intervening, however imperfectly, to yank events back toward the Prime continuity.

I still think it was a mistake to bring Kirk into this show. Paul Wesley has the gravitas necessary for Kirk, but he doesn't look or sound anything like a young William Shatner. That being said, this alternate version of Kirk was a great foil for La'an as well as a great love interest. Personality-wise, he's a lot closer to Kelvin Kirk than Prime Kirk. But there are some pronounced commonalities, beginning with his enjoyment of and aptitude for chess. One thing that really landed for me this time around is that this Kirk doesn't decide to help La'an until he finds out that Sam is alive in her timeline. Once he learns that, he's willing to sacrifice his reality (and even existence) to save his brother. That definitely feels like Kirk.

It’s very heavy how it ends for Lian.

Absolutely heartbreaking. Throughout the series, she has struggled to connect with others and express her emotions. By the end of this episode, she has tragically lost the first person she's fallen in love with, and she's been forbidden from talking about how that makes her feel.

Also, I had a better grasp of the Romulan plot as I had sort of forgotten it.

One thing that I didn't catch the first time around: The bridge wasn't blown up by Sera or her comrades from the future. It was blown up by twenty-first century Romulans already seeking to slow the advancement of a potential competitor in humanity. Sera and her comrades were sent back because the contemporary Romulans' efforts weren't enough. So it's entirely possible the bridge across Lake Ontario between Toronto and western New York blew up even in the original series timeline. And the reference to the Temporal Cold War suggests that the SNW timeline exists as a result of the Temporal Cold War. If that is the case, then "Enterprise" isn't a prequel to the original series, but rather to "Strange New Worlds".

 

[jayembee]

But it means that "Strange New Worlds" is in a different timeline than the original series. Presumably a timeline much closer to the timeline of the original series than the Kelvin timeline, but a different timeline nevertheless.

That's always been pretty clear. Pike's fate in the Kelvin timeline is very different from his fate in the Prime/SNW timelines.

 

[Wayne Klein]

There's also the fact that people are comparing the new shows to their memories of shows from decades ago, and our memories have a tendency to be selective. There were plenty of clunkers in TOS through "Voyager", but with 26 episode seasons we remember the episodes we loved and don't think too much about the episodes that fizzled.

Having just gone through TOS recently and Voyager, at least half the episodes either weren’t great with many bad. Now, that doesn’t mean one can’t enjoy them. Now there is something to be said for enjoying elements of them. TOS had a higher proportion of great to good episodes through seasons 1 and 2 but one can imagine excellent, higher quality episodes if they weren’t forced to put them out like a sausage factory.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I continued my rewatch tonight with "Among the Lotus Eaters". For all of the chronological and the stylistic closeness to the original series, this is an episode that highlights just how different the two series are.

Plotwise, it's one of the SNW episodes that adheres most closely to the focus and structure of the original series: The captain and a few trusted lieutenants head down to an alien planet and get swept up in the goings on down there. And yet, it's definitely not considered one of the highlights of the season.

The key difference is that the original series was idea-driven, while SNW is character-driven. The episodes where plot is driving the story on SNW are never as powerful or as successful as the ones where character is driving the story.

And after three episodes that utilized the augment reality VR stage pretty seamlessly and effectively, this was one that exposed the limitations of that technology. All of the outdoor scenes exist in a perfectly flat snowy expanse surrounded by mountains. Without a lot of midground elements to break things up, the seams between the stage and VR rendered backgrounds quickly become rather obvious.

There's also the frustration of delving into a key bit of canon, but then not reproduce that key bit of canon accurately. "The Cage" took place in the immediate aftermath of the disastrous away mission on Rigel VII, and we catch glimpses of it through the illusions on Talos IV. This episode returns to the fortress, but the fortress looks nothing like the fortress shown in "The Cage". And given that the three crew members were lost back in 2254, they should have been wearing the "Cage" style uniforms with the fabric deltas and the mock turtleneck collar. Even if we're going with the idea that the Romulan interference in the past resulted in redesigned uniforms, then they should have used the Season 1 "Discovery" uniforms. It makes no sense that Zac was left behind in a uniform style that hadn't been invented yet.

Reed Birney was terrific as the main guest star in this episode. He brought a wonderful grace and pathos to his role.

I continue to enjoy the chemistry between Anson Mount and Melanie Scrofano as Pike and Batel. It feels like a grownup relationship.

Pike's decision to remove the asteroid from Rigel VII felt in keeping with the intent of the Prime Directive if not the letter of the Prime Directive. Without their memories, how can the people of Rigel VII ever be expected to progress out of the Dark Ages?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I continued my rewatch tonight with "Charades". The love triangle between Spock, T'Pring, and Nurse Chapel works way, way better than it has any right to, given that we know that both relationships are ultimately doomed.

While Ethan Peck gets the showiest stuff to do as Spock, Jess Bush is the episode's MVP. Chapel never says she's in love with Spock, but everything she does throughout the episode shows it. It would be easier for her if Spock remained entirely human. His engagement to T'Pring would end definitively, and he would be better able to engage emotionally. But she didn't fall for the entirely human Spock. She fell for the hybrid, and she knows that to eliminate his Vulcan side is to diminish him. She wants the whole Spock back, even if it means they can't be together.

I love the relationship between Chapel and M'Benga in this episode. You see the mutual respect between them, and you see the way M'Benga mentors her. He knows how smart and talented she is, and he wants to nurture her professional and intellectual growth.

I also love the camaraderie between Chapel, Ortegas, and Uhura. Ortegas and Uhura know their friend needs to do this incredibly risky thing, and they stand by her all the way. Chapel's loyalty to those she cares about begets loyalty back.

More than any SNW episode up to this point, this one really delves into the duality of Spock's existence. He is changed by the experience, and the Spock that comes out the other side feels a lot closer to Leonard Nimoy's Spock. His time as a human expanded his understanding of humanity, and left him with a greater appreciation for the humans in his life.

It was also a great Amanda Grayson episode. In D.C. Fontana's teleplay for "Journey to Babel", Amanda was described as follows:

"She's in her late fifties and still a fascinating woman... straight, slim, humor and warmth still alive in her... and guts. She married a Vulcan and came to live on his world where her human-woman emotions had no place. She has accepted every bit of the unemotionalism Vulcan could dish out with no loss of her own warmth and human caring... but it has had to be buried inside, in deference to her husband's customs and world."​

And all of those qualities are on display in this episode. Mia Kirshner is a very different actress than Jane Wyatt, but they both capture the mix of humanity and ironclad control that the role requires. Amanda is unapologetically and unashamedly human, but she knew what she was signing up for when she married Sarek and she has borne the sacrifices that choice has required without complaint. Through this experience, Spock grows to understand and appreciate his mother more.

As for the rest of it, T'Pring's expasperation with her mother is delightful, her father's amiable deference to his wife's formidable assertions hilarious, and the many cutaways to Pike's reactions were absolutely priceless.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I continued my rewatch tonight with "Lost in Translation", another episode that was even better than I remembered.

While a fairly well-trod premise, I always love stories about Starfleet struggling to communicate with truly alien aliens, and this was one another good one in that canon.

This episode features two pretty major introductions, as Kirk meets Uhura and later Spock for the first time.

Even though I'm still not sold on the idea of Kirk being so prominently featured in this series, I felt like this episode got the character right: He's self-assured to the point of being cocky, and an unapologetically ambitious ladies man. But there is genuine substance to back that up.

It's no surprise that he tries to hit on Uhura the first time he meets her at the bar. But when she shoots him down, he doesn't get resentful. Instead, he notices that she is in distress and works to help her. Over the course of the episode, we get to see why Kirk will be a captain who commands such loyalty in his crew.

I really liked how this episode allowed Uhura and Una to process the loss of Hemmer. And Carol Kane was wonderfully gentle as Pelia navigated the complexity of being the replacement for a beloved fallen comrade.

Pike's temporary promotion to fleet captain shows that they are still trying to align the show with the Prime timeline continuity wherever possible. The events of this episode, in some form at least, were referenced by Kirk in "The Menagerie".

One moment that landed even harder this time around is when Uhura pleas for Pike to blow up the deuterium refinery, and he does. And then, afterwards, takes full responsibility for the fallout. Pike and Kirk are very different captains, but Kirk got a real lesson in leadership there, one that he will go on to replicate later in his career.

This episode confirms that George Kirk Sr. was the first officer of the USS Kelvin in this timeline, too. The different being that it was not destroyed, so that Jim and Sam's father is still alive as of this episode.

 

[Nelson Au]

Among the Lotus Eaters is next on my queue to watch. I think I have more reluctance to re-watch that then Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow. I’ve not had time the past week, so I’m now falling behind Adam!

Adam, you have made some great highly well thought out analysis of the second season episode viewings. I particularly enjoyed the comments about Ad Astra Per Aspera and Tomorrow. I’ll refrain from reading your later comments until I’ve re-watched Lotus Eaters,

Regarding if SNW is in the same universe as TOS, I’ve not been as perceptive yet, but from my point of view, I accept Goldsman’s comments that SNW is in the same Prime Universe as TOS. While aesthetically visually different, I accept that as simply a modern take on TOS if TOS were made today with the new technology and costume updates. I do recognize that this series could have done what was done on Enterprise and render 1701 Enterprise as it appeared in The Cage. But they have to wow the modern audience. So storywise, I do think they are walking a very fine line maintaining canon. The Spock, Chapel and T’Pring storylines have been the most problematic for me. But it has not crossed a line in an egregious manner. But it got seriously close when Spock shows so much emotion when Chapel is saved in The Broken Circle.

My other thought is SNW is like other attempts at doing an established franchise by new people at a later time from the original material. Certain creative choices will be made. I don’t know the origin story of Ironman, I did look it up and it seems Marvel took made some creative choices for the film version.

But Star Trek is different in my mind, it feels like it’s been a constant presence on theatrical screens and the small screen since 1979 and the restart of the franchise. The Prime Universe has been there all this time until 2009 and then the whole world went whacko. That one movie I think has confused or blurred the lines for a modern audience not familiar with TOS. I chose to mark that as a line in the sand as a divergence as it was meant to be. It’s not related to anything on Paramount +.

Adam, you made a very good point about the Klingon War, that’s not something that affects the world of TOS as strongly as we’ve been aware of before. It’s only affecting this SNW world. I can see why you can see this as evidence this is not the Prime Universe. Again, I think by Kirk’s time, the war is further distant, Kirk is aware of the hostility of the Klingon’s as seen in Errand of Mercy. So I still want to believe SNW is in the Prime Universe.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I continued my rewatch last night with "Those Old Scientists", the clear fan favorite of the season and with good reason.

It actually does quite a bit to clear up the timeline confusion, since it establishes that "Strange New Worlds" and "Lower Decks" exist in the same continuity. Given the copious references to events from the original series through Nemesis, it can be presumed that by the time of the original series, the differences between the original series timeline and the SNW timeline are extremely minuscule, more a matter of details than of whole events.

It's an audacious concept for an episode, promising a fun lark with a lighter tone, so the biggest surprise is how well it works as a "Strange New Worlds" episode. Boimler and Mariner make the jump to live action more or less unchanged, yet don't puncture the reality of the SNW world too much. Their intervention into events impacts many of the ongoing character arcs in meaningful ways.

They also provide SNW a yard stick against which the show can measure itself as a prequel to the original series. Boimler and Mariner know Spock and Uhura like we do from the original series. And they show up at a time when neither Spock nor Uhura are acting much like their characterizations in the Kirk era. Their outsider status allows them to interrogate those differences a little bit, while also confronting the fact that real people are more complex and multi-faceted than the stories that are later told about them.

Spock in season two is very clearly going through something. In the first season, he was more Vulcan than Nimoy's Spock. In the second season, he is more human than Nimoy's Spock, including (for a brief period) genetically. This is a younger Spock who hasn't found the balance yet between his dueling heritages.

What makes it heartbreaking is that Boimler arrives at a moment of real happiness between Spock and Chapel. The barriers that had kept them apart are either gone or faded a bit into the distance. And Boimler, in the elevator, inadvertantly lets Chapel know that not only will things ultimately not work out between her and Spock, but the version of Spock who doesn't end up with her will go on to achieve great and important things.

Elsewhere, Mariner provides an avenue to explore the differences between Celia Rose Gooding's Uhura and Nichelle Nichols's Uhura. Both are smart, talented, hard-working, competent communications officers. But, to quote a certain "Silicon Valley" character, Nichols's Uhura fucks. Whereas Gooding's Uhura is much more of a studious, Type A apple polisher. What's the difference between the two characterizations? Nichols's Uhura has had that many more years to develop into a more fully rounded person. And we see here some efforts to coax her out of her shell a bit.

There are a number of great gags in this episode, but my favorite this time around was Mariner's disapproval of identifying rank via stripes on the sleeve. That wouldn't work at all for her, given that her sleeves are habitually rolled up.

I liked Ransom's brief appearance in the animated closer at the end; it feels right that the two first officers who are married in real life would both make an appearance in the unexpected crossover between their very different shows.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I continued my rewatch tonight with "Under the Cloak of War", a powerful story well told that I still contend was not right for the retro space age optimism of "Strange New Worlds".

Babs Olusanmokun gives a towering performance here as Joseph M'Benga, who is revealed to be a tragic Rambo-like figure with the severe PTSD to show for it. But again: Did this show really need a tragic Rambo-like figure?

I will say that the flashbacks to the MASH on J'Gal are probably the most effective war scenes that Star Trek has ever done, even though we don't actually get to see any of the battles. By the end of the episode, I dreaded hearing the computer's voice announcing incoming transports. Those scenes also help us understand the remarkable closeness between Dr. M'Benga and Nurse Chapel, a markedly different dynamic than Chapel's working relationship with Dr. McCoy on the original series.

And I love Clint Howard's casting as the MASH's chief medical officer, who is just trying to keep the whole operation together. It's a rare opportunity for SNW to cast an TOS vet, and it's the kind of character that Clint Howard (with his unique appearance) rarely gets to play.

I also love Robert Wisdom's performance as Dak'Rah. He defected out of shame, took on this role as ambassador out of desperation, and then genuinely came to believe in what he was doing. His mistake here was to drastically misread M'Benga.

One thing that stood out to me this time around is that Pike is concerned about M'Benga well before the fatal encounter in the sickbay. When Number One comes in to request a course change to get the ambassador to his destination more quickly, Pike is reviewing M'Benga's war records.

It also makes a certain amount of sense for the USS Enterprise to be tasked with safely delivering the ambassador, since it has the lowest percentage of war veterans in the fleet. And whoever made the assignment couldn't have know that M'Benga was the Butcher of J'Gal.

Another thing that stood out to me with the final encounter between Dak'Rah and M'Benga is that M'Benga firmly requests that Dak'Rah leave twice before drawing the Butcher's blade. Unfortunately for Dak'Rah, he didn't know he was in a three strikes, you're out scenario.

Likewise, it was more clear to me this time that Nurse Chapel came in mid-struggle, and only saw their silhouettes through the privacy partition. While she obviously lies in her report about the circumstances leading up to the confrontation, to protect M'Benga's secret, I don't think she knew that M'Benga attacked first.

I also find the final scene between M'Benga and Pike quite chilling. M'Benga as good as confesses to murdering Dak'Rah, and Pike knows it. But M'Benga knows that Starfleet is not going to want to drag the mythical infamous Ghost through a very public trial, and Pike chooses to accept that his chief medical officer had good reasons for doing what he did.

But it still doesn't sit well with me that the show just continues on with a war criminal and murderer as its primary doctor. I don't think M'Benga is evil, but I also don't think he should be in the position he is in. He has a lot of unresolved guilt and trauma that needs to be dealt with before he should be entrusted with the lives of Starfleet's best and brightest.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

While it’s cool that this series have made the Gorn a threat, I still have my qualms about it given that in the TOS episode, the Gorn are seen for the first time, at the time we do see them for the first time. But it’s not in the dialogue that they are not aware of them. If you closely analyze it, the SNW writers were pretty careful and makes it work. Even though Spock, Uhura, and Chapel have seen the Gorn in this Pre-Kirk Enterprise, Uhura is shown as horrified at the sight of the Gorn chasing Kirk in Arena. It is what it is and this series is going all in with the Gorn.

I think you are reaching hard to justify the break in continuity with the Gorn. They were clearly an unknown race in Arena, yet in season 2 of SNW, they are a persistent threat to the point of attacking a colony and destroying a Star Fleet vessel (unsure class).

Uhura's reaction in Arena doesn't matter. Any number of scary things chasing Kirk might cause that reaction.

Spock's reaction is a complete lack of familiarity and destroys continuity.

It is completely inexplicable that the captain of one Starfleet's ~dozen strongest (USS Constitution class) ships on the frontier would be completely unaware of a powerful enemy race that was in conflict with them 6-8 years previously. This is not your grandfather's (100+ years ago) war against a race never seeing the opponent (Romulan war as per Balance of Terror). So Kirk would have known and would have had need to know to do his job.

OK, so what if the Gorn were made top secret (good luck with plenty of other border settlers aware of the Gorn), like Talos was post The Cage? That secrecy would have been lifted out of necessity as soon as the Enterprise headed near Gorn space (Cestus III), Spock would have briefed Kirk and told him to check a bunch of existing logs and data in their own ship's memory banks.

Defending Star Trek continuity is akin to standing on quicksand. There is a reason in-depth discussion of Trek since the days of TOS includes the acronym YATI. Yet Another Trek Inconsistency.

 

[Nelson Au]

I think you are reaching hard to justify the break in continuity with the Gorn. They were clearly an unknown race in Arena, yet in season 2 of SNW, they are a persistent threat to the point of attacking a colony and destroying a Star Fleet vessel (unsure class).

Uhura's reaction in Arena doesn't matter. Any number of scary things chasing Kirk might cause that reaction.

Spock's reaction is a complete lack of familiarity and destroys continuity.

It is completely inexplicable that the captain of one Starfleet's ~dozen strongest (USS Constitution class) ships on the frontier would be completely unaware of a powerful enemy race that was in conflict with them 6-8 years previously. This is not your grandfather's (100+ years ago) war against a race never seeing the opponent (Romulan war as per Balance of Terror). So Kirk would have known and would have had need to know to do his job.

OK, so what if the Gorn were made top secret (good luck with plenty of other border settlers aware of the Gorn), like Talos was post The Cage? That secrecy would have been lifted out of necessity as soon as the Enterprise headed near Gorn space (Cestus III), Spock would have briefed Kirk and told him to check a bunch of existing logs and data in their own ship's memory banks.

Defending Star Trek continuity is akin to standing on quicksand. There is a reason in-depth discussion of Trek since the days of TOS includes the acronym YATI. Yet Another Trek Inconsistency.

Philip, I’ll plead guilty. I’m trying to put myself into the head of the writers and Goldsman for how they are justifying the introduction of the Gorn. They could have just called these aliens a new alien. But how they’ve fleshed them out, they sure seem like a certain alien seen in LV-426. So maybe they are calling them Gorn to avoid totally appearing like the Xenomorph.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

One could argue that any inconsistencies between this series and the original series are the result of the Romulans mucking about in Earth's past. Perhaps the current conflict with the Gorn is the result of one of the butterflies from those changes. The events of "Arena" still happen, but the background for them is slightly different.

The main thing they need to do on this series is not have Starfleet be able to communicate effectively with the Gorn. Once communication is possible, as facilitated by the Metrons in "Arena", the Federation and the Gorn can come to an understanding on their territorial boundaries, and there will no longer be any need for conflict.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

As a side note:

Apparently in the Mirror Universe, the Gorn were known of at the time of Enterprise. We were watching that and I had forgotten the slave master used by the Tholians to run the crew of workers/slaves on the USS Defiant was a Gorn. Archer fought with him later, he was hiding plasma relays (or what not). The more I think about it, the Tholians would have needed aliens who would be used to working in the ship at the temperature its life support operated. It would have to be a royal pain to do that work in environment suits.

That postulates mirror universe humans traveling in Tholian space, which I think was a hard no-no by the time of TOS or maybe that was the first run in with them in TOS. I forget the details of The Tholian Web, I have always thought of it as a slow episode and not one of my favorites. Probably because its Kirk alone on the empty Defiant for long stretches of time.