Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022) - Season 1 (1 Viewer)

[Jason_V]

^ Absent some miraculous healing powers, I think this is rather permanent. There is an image of this person falling, presumably a very long distance.

“All Those Who Wander” was very affecting for me. More than anything, it reminded me that in this new generation of Trek, anything can and will happen. There are comings and goings, the world gets upended…but life has to go on. I didn’t expect where this episode took us, but I’m very happy it did.

I am sorely going to miss this show after next week.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

TOS had the Klingons, TNG had the Borg, DS9 had the Dominion, and it feels like the Gorn are shaping up to be the most impactful recurring villains on this show.

And this episode was arguably the first time they've been photo-realistic, rather than bag CG (like "Enterprise") or an obviously fake-looking man in a suit (like TOS).

This episode was basically Aliens, and it got me thinking that more Trek stories should be horror stories. There's a lot that's miraculous and wonderful to discover out there in the vast expanse. But there's a lot of gruesome and shocking stuff out there too. This was a reminder that the Final Frontier is indeed a frontier, and frontiers are dangerous and unruly.

The Peregrine is a Sombra-class ship, but M'Benga mentioned that it utilizes a lot of the same parts as a Constitution-class and it does indeed look very similar to the Enterprise. Its registry number is NCC-1549, so it's probably only a couple years older than the Enterprise. This had the production benefit of being able to redress and reuse the standing sets for the Enterprise. But I liked the little details that differentiated it, like the use of sciences blue instead of operations red for the color highlights.

The girl who played Oriana gave a good performance. I believed both that she was capable enough to survive the Gorn this long on her own, and that she was deeply traumatized by the experience.

Spoiler

I am having a difficult time believing that the show has dispensed with the character Hemmer. Considering his affinity for cold conditions and precisely the opposite condition for the Gorn species I wonder if the bitterly cold conditions of Valeo Beta V will provide a respite for Hemmer. I sincerely hope so.

I'm thinking it will stick.

Spoiler

Much like Tasha Yar's death in "Skin of Evil", it establishes real stakes for the show. We know that Pike, Spock, Uhura, M'Benga, and Chapel will survive this series. But this episode makes it clear that we shouldn't assume the rest will all have happy endings.

Unlike Denise Crosby, who wanted out, I'm guessing that Bruce Horak signed on for only one season at the outset, and knew his run would be limited. The prosthetics required for Aenar are extensive and time consuming, and I don't know that anybody would want to do that for season after season after season.

Samuel Kirk needs to grow a set. His brother never would have panicked the way he did in this episode. C'mon man.

I like that he's not just his brother with a mustache. The more that they can differentiate Sam from Jim, the better in my opinion. We know that Sam doesn't die on board the Enterprise, because he is fated to die on Deneva in 2267. But we also know he's out of Starfleet and working as a civilian at that point. Maybe stuff like the events of this episode convinced him that Starfleet wasn't ultimately for him.

Spoiler

The title of the episode All Those Who Wander is part of a phrase from Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. "Not all those who wander are lost" - which once again makes me hopeful that Hemmer will return.

I believe the title was in reference to Uhura, not Hemmer. I have to believe that Pike would have scanned for life signs before taking off with the Peregrine, possibly even retrieve his body for a proper naval burial in space.

I am sorely going to miss this show after next week.

Me too! One of my very favorites right now.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I'm sure that you fellows (Jason & Adam) are correct. Damnit! (FWIW, I was viewing the episode with a friend and was distracted during the final scene that seems to seal the deal.)

I will most definitely be missing this program following episode ten next week.

- Walter.

 

[Sam Favate]

I really enjoyed this one. Who hasn’t wanted a Star Trek-meets-Aliens installment for the last 40+ years? And we got key character moments too. This show is firing on all cylinders.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

One other point I wanted to make:

More often than not, I really appreciate the flawed, complex captains with a compelling mix of positive and negative traits.

But right now, when the real world feels so tumultuous and disheartening, tuning in each week and getting to spend an hour with a competent, empathetic, collaborative and unreservedly decent captain like Pike has been so vitally comforting.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the original series premiered during similarly fraught times: The rapid escalation of the Vietnam War and the resulting protest movements, the civil rights movement, the ongoing Cold War tensions. When the future seems scary and uncertain, an optimistic and aspirational vision for what we could achieve feels important and even radical.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Wish fulfillment

Hemmer falls into a snowbank which cushions his landing alleviating the worst of the fall damage. He is partially immersed in the snow. The initial immersion lowers his body temperature which rids his system of the Gorn eggs. As he lays in the snow it acts like a blanket with his body heat slowly warming him and permitting him to survive. Another alien species is performing a survey of Valeo Beta V and rescues Hemmer. Ultimately he returns to Star Fleet.

- Walter.

 

[jayembee]

My reaction was "Wow. This puppy went full Aliens." I was half expectingly Oriana to say, "They only come out at night. Mostly."

 

[Johnny Angell]

I watched the Ready Room after the episode.

Spoiler

The actor was told upfront, his role was a one season and done deal. I really liked the character and I’m bummed they killed him. The RR also went backstage to show how they created the Gorn. Why did they have to be Gorn? The image of that lousy reptile costume kept popping into my head. They could have called them anything.

We potentially lost two regulars in that episode. I know she’s a kid, but the girl didn’t lift a finger to warn her rescuers what was coming when the alien started to convulse. She could have spoken up. Would it have killed her?

During the episode I was getting vibes of Alien and Predator. The factor limiting the tension was knowing that certain characters had to live. Even the death of Hemmer was not terrifying. Sad and pissing me off, though.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Apologies for being an Aliens stickler, but the quote is: "They mostly come at night. Mostly."

Yeah, I know she was traumatized but a little bit of a heads up from the girl would have been helpful.

- Walter.

 

[Nelson Au]

This episode was definitely Aliens! It was quite well done. Like last week, they did a great job of re-using, re-dressing the existing Enterprise sets.

I like how they are continuing to portray Pike as the more involved in his crew type of Captain. I do like how they are exploring the Gorn more, but I have concerns there are some retconning going on. Pike and Spock here have direct experience with them. So they know all about them. In Kirk’s time, Kirk himself might not have had any first hand knowledge of them. So it’s not really breaking canon. Not that I’m that nitpicky about it. They were using Sam Kirk as the Hudson character too. There never had any characterization of Sam before, so this is such a contrast to Jim Kirk.

The Alien type of reproduction they are portraying was surprising to me. I guess it was different because the Gorn spewed venom. But they still gestated in a living body.

The Gorn younglings are quite fast and nimble. The Gorn Kirk fought was slow and lumbering. Maybe it was because it was older. Oh yeah, there was a bit of Predator going on with the unique vision point of view shots. I did like how they figured out the best way to find the Gorn were to make the ship cold and only warm where they wanted to coral them to. And the solution was much better then blowing them out an airlock.

The subplot with Spock feels like it’s a TOS type of situation where an external situation causes Spock to experience emotions. But in this case, they are exploring his emotional control and his half human side. I guess that’s ok. Oh yeah, and it seemed quite obvious what was going to happen to the newly promoted officers, Duke and the girl.

I have not re-watched the last three episodes yet, this one I’m probably going to rewatch. By the way, during the scene when the Gorn is trying to break through the cargo container to get to La’an, my Apple Watch Taptic went off and was vibrating. It gave me a start! That was a good way to make you feel the intensity of the scene. My co-worker is overseas in Asia and was sending me a message via Microsoft Teams. So it was an alert his message was coming in.

Finally, I was wondering if they would have been able to raise the ship from the surface. It was a cool shot of the Enteprrise towing the Peregrine, but it sure looked CGI which is a surprise as the CGI has been always high quality.

This episode felt like a season finale, they closed the thread for Uhura as she was wandering up to this point, so it was nice to see the theme of destiny fulfilled for her and Hemmer. I hope next year, we don’t see a young up and coming Montgomery Scott come aboard. Seems too soon. And they are tugging on the Spock/Chapel thread a little more.

 

[Walter Kittel]

The Gorn younglings are quite fast and nimble. The Gorn Kirk fought was slow and lumbering. Maybe it was because it was older.

Speaking from personal experience that sounds about right.

Oh yeah, and it seemed quite obvious what was going to happen to the newly promoted officers, Duke and the girl.

New character(s) introduced in opening moments + scary location = almost certain death.

- Walter.

 

[Harry-N]

I was reasonably happy to have Uhura exit the program as a cadet, and would hope that the producers avoid too many more intersections with the Kirk-Enterprise crew. These stories can survive on their own with random crew-people that we don't know. We already know too much about Pike's future, Spock's future, Chapel's future, and even M'Benga's future.

But it was a really nice moment at the end where Uhura looks down at the communications array on the bridge.

 

[Sam Favate]

But it was a really nice moment at the end where Uhura looks down at the communications array on the bridge.

...where she will spend the next 30 years of her life!


BTW, season 2 has completed production:

Production Has Wrapped On ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 2

Shooting began in early February.

trekmovie.com

 

[Johnny Angell]

Maybe it was because it was older.

Yeah, I sure that was the only reason.

seemed quite obvious what was going to happen to the newly promoted officers, Duke and the girl.

Am I the only one who saw the “Dead Man Walking” sign above his head. If the script had been a boxer, you would have had a lot of time to avoid that telegraphed punch.

 

[joshEH]

I hope next year, we don’t see a young up and coming Montgomery Scott come aboard. Seems too soon.

Actually, in D.C. Fontana's seminal TOS novel Vulcan’s Glory (from which Number One/Una's backstory as a genetically-engineered Illyrian was canonized this season), Montgomery Scott was assigned to the Enterprise for a time as a junior engineer, in 2253, shortly after his Starfleet Academy-graduation (about a year prior to "The Cage"), so this is a notion that's been around for a few decades now, and it's entirely possible that we'll see the TV show follow the novel's lead once again in some form, here.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I like how they are continuing to portray Pike as the more involved in his crew type of Captain.

There's definitely a strong contrast between Pike and captains like Picard and Janeway, who relied heavily on their executive officers when it came to personnel matters.

In fact, given Number One's prickly demeanor, Pike probably has more of a personal relationship with most of the crew than she does.

I do like how they are exploring the Gorn more, but I have concerns there are some retconning going on. Pike and Spock here have direct experience with them. So they know all about them.

They definitely know more about them than most in the Federation do, but I wouldn't say they know "all" about them. They never came into contact with the adult Gorn directly in the previous encounter, and the young Gorn are significantly different than the adults.

Even though the Gorn look reptilian, they have a lot in common with amphibians, too: They're ectothermic, which is why they hate the cold, and they're larval stages are markedly different than their adult forms. So the events of this episode expanded the Federation's knowledge of baby Gorn, but they've yet to really encounter the Gorn civilization.

I hope next year, we don’t see a young up and coming Montgomery Scott come aboard. Seems too soon.

Agreed. We already have a lot of legacy characters on this show. And this episode demonstrated the advantages of new characters whose fates aren't already decided.

 

[TJPC]

My wife and I have watched and enjoyed all but the last fantasy episode of this series. She found it incredibly stupid and I watched the second half on my own.

Now we get to episode 9. My question is: How Gory Is It? If it is too bad, I’ll be watching all future episodes on my own.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Episode nine isn't wall to wall gore, but it does have its moments. Fair amount of blood, some body parts and some genuinely gory effects are all present.

- Walter.

 

[Johnny Angell]

My wife and I have watched and enjoyed all but the last fantasy episode of this series. She found it incredibly stupid and I watched the second half on my own.

Now we get to episode 9. My question is: How Gory Is It? If it is too bad, I’ll be watching all future episodes on my own.

The Movies Alien and Predator have more gore. This not an R rated show, maybe PG. There genuine scares and tension but not to the level of the movies I mentioned.

 

[jayembee]

My wife doesn't like a lot of violence, horror elements, or just plain scary films. She didn't express any upset about this episode while we were watching it. Just to be sure, I just this minute asked her how she felt about it. She said that one should be prepared for moments of intensity, but overall she didn't think it was gratuitous, and gives the episode a thumbs up.