Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022) - Season 2 (1 Viewer)

[Greg.K]

“We’re going to steal the Enterprise”

Well, that’s something new.

 

[Jason_V]

I really enjoyed her character. Completely different energy than Hemmer from Season 1. Reminded me a lot of Yoda circa Empire Strikes Back, both the ancient quality and the playfulness. It's very much a Carol Kane character, in the same continuum as Simka Gravas from "Taxi" and Valerie in The Princess Bride. It shouldn't work, but it does.

I'm assuming her backstory will come into play later on in the season; otherwise, it doesn't make sense to introduce a new species of extremely long-lived beings who are outwardly indistinguishable from humans. If her backstory doesn't matter, they could have just made her an El-Aurian.

Loved how Carol Kane is playing Pelia...brand new energy, just quirky enough to be comic relief if needed, but can be serious as a heart attack in the next breath. My only problem with her, right now, is the accent. I really had to focus on what she was saying (just as I'm able to understand almost everything M'Benga says without subtitles).

I thought they did a much better job utilizing the augmented reality stage in this episode. During the first season, the scenes shot on the AR stage stood out because the action tended to be centered in a confined area at the center of the frame. Here, they really filled up for the foreground with both people and set dressing so that the seams weren't as obvious. I'm assuming most of the outdoor scenes on the surface of the mining colony were shot on the AR stage, but no shots leaped out at me as being obviously shot that way.

I had the same thought, but it all looked very...physical and present. Sure, I know the False Federation ship didn't REALLY fly out of the ground and all...but it looked really really good to me.

I think that was part of what dampened my enthusiasm for this episode. This is very much an ensemble show, but his character is the glue that holds it all together.

I kept thinking we were going to cut back to something Pike was doing, but nope...this episode was VERY focused on pushing Spock and the rest of the crew to the forefront. No problem with that, really, on my side. Pike is the captain and the ostensible star (he is first billed in the credits), but the credits aren't "Starring Anson Mount" and "Also Starring Everyone Else." The main crew all get "Starring" billing. All previous shows (aside from TOS and Discovery) were able to sideline their captain's every once in a while for different reasons without a problem.

I really liked having the chance for everyone else to spread out a bit. No Pike and no Number One gives everyone else a bit of a chance to breathe.

The ship design felt exactly like what I remember from TOS. Looking at photos side-by-side, there are some significant differences, but still the same layout and shape as the D7-class battle cruisers from TOS. Similar to the SNW Enterprise versus the original series Enterprise, I think the changes were made to provide sufficient detail and texture to hold up to 4K resolution.

There is an shot of the Klingon ship at the top of Act III or IV (maybe V...) that was just gorgeous. I had gotten up to go to the bathroom and paused the show that point. It looked magnificent as a screensaver on my TV.

That whole sequence really rubbed me the wrong way. Apparently Babs Olusanmokun is a black belt in jiu-jitsu and the showrunners really wanted to utilize his skillset this season. But I don't want to see the chief medical officer being violent. I can believe that M'Benga and Chapel served together during the Klingon War, when the Enterprise was off on its previous five-year mission. And I can believe that they were traumatized by that experience. But I still don't buy them as soldiers.

Considering we don't know a lot about most of these characters, I'm willing to believe they have skills we don't know about, like this. I've got more of a super serum problem, but like others said, as long as it doesn't become the crutch for the series, I'm fine with it. My gut says something will come of it later this season.

I was very happy through this entire episode. Everything felt right to me, even the things we've seen before (stealing the Enterprise). This episode, and the series in general, is able to weave a largely stand along story with plot threads from last season and a new, probably season-long story. And nothing felt like it was in competition with anything else. There isn't anything I didn't like in this episode: it moved, had it's own plot, had the entire crew do something and was fun for me.

Having Jess Bush and Babs Olusanmokun doing something outside of sickbay was a treat, at least for me. They have a nice chemistry: she has a lot of the energy and he's more sedate, rational and logical.

One thing I am so freaking sick of...the tumbling camera shots. There were two or three in this episode alone. I get this is a fun thing to do and we couldn't do this a decade ago on a TV budget, but enough. Just stop. They do it in space shots. They do it in live action shots. They're probably do it if we saw characters going to the bathroom, too.

 

[jayembee]

“We’re gong to steal the Enterprise”

Well, that’s something new.

Spock gets a taste for it.

At least this time, he wasn't facing a possible death penalty...

 

[Josh Dial]

I'm on record saying season 1 is the best single season across the entire franchise.

That in mind, I have to be real here: I think it was a mistake to start the season with an episode without Pike. Spock got centre stage, yes. And Ethan Peck killed it as he always does. But shows need to proceed cautiously when bifurcating their story and cast. I don't think it was the right move to do it as the season premiere.

And, beyond that, if this episode needed to be the first episode because the crew needs to be back a space dock for episode 2, then, again if I'm be real here, I think you have to scrap this entire story.

When you are breaking down a season, the creatives have to ask whether this choice was necessary. What did it accomplish? Let's boil it down to the basic parts:

• Pike left to get Una a lawyer.
• Spock faces his emotions.
• New chief engineer joins the crew.
• We get a peak into the PTSD Chapel and M'Benga share.
• La'an is "rescued".
• We learn the Gorn is the next Big Bad, with maybe a side of Klingon War 2.0.

That seems like a lot, but is it really? Did this need to be an episode, let alone the premiere AND sideline Pike?

I liked the episode. It was a solid "B-grade" Star Trek episode. But was it necessary? Ehhhh...

A minor point that continues to delight is how Ortegas actually does evasive maneuvers. Like the external shots show her spinning and moving the ship in a way that both dodges fire, and, when things can't be avoided, minimizing the damage by making sure less critical spots are struck. The show shows us that she's a good pilot.

 

[TonyD]

Carol Kane has always been someone who’s acting rarely clicks for me.

She always has an odd way of speaking.
Is that her real voice? Does she simply talk sort of funny?
Whenever I see her show up I think, Oh there’s Carol Kane, what funny accent is going to do this time.
I don’t get it.

 

[GlennC]

I enjoyed the episode but couldn’t understand a word of what Carol Kane was saying and had to but the subtitles on. I sometimes struggle with Dr M’Benga but he is not in the same league as she is.

it was a mistake though to have episode one with Pike virtually absent.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

That in mind, I have to be real here: I think it was a mistake to start the season with an episode without Pike. Spock got centre stage, yes. And Ethan Peck killed it as he always does. But shows need to proceed cautiously when bifurcating their story and cast. I don't think it was the right move to do it as the season premiere.

I saw someone elsewhere state that after the brilliant but dark and often grim final season of "Picard", they were expecting this premiere to feel jubilant by comparison. And I think that was my expectation too. Anson Mount as Pike brings a real upbeat, positive energy that is infectious to those around him. He's a big part of why the series generally feels lighter than most of the other Trek shows.

But here we got a Spock who was struggling to get a lid back on his emotions, a medical team grappling with PTSD from a short but terribly brutal war, and Lian's young charge whose parents have been poisoned by photon torpedoes.

It wasn't bad, but it was way too heavy for a season premiere. The season premiere should feel like a reiteration of the show's core, and this one didn't.

She always has an odd way of speaking.
Is that her real voice? Does she simply talk sort of funny?

It's not her real voice, but she does have an odd way of speaking. There's a featurette on her character in this week's Ready Room, and you can hear her real speaking voice in the interview. Unlike her character, she has an American accent but it's very specific. Reminds me a lot of some American women in my life of her generation who are descended from Russian Jews, for whatever reason.

 

[DaveF]

I’m here for Carol Kane in my Star Trek!

 

[Josh Dial]

I’m here for Carol Kane in my Star Trek!

Are you telling me the Enterprise is just a sideways tugboat?

 

[DaveF]

…

• Spock faces his emotions.

That seems like a lot, but is it really? Did this need to be an episode, let alone the premiere AND sideline Pike?

I liked the episode. It was a solid "B-grade" Star Trek episode. But was it necessary? Ehhhh...

Yes? “Spock faces his emotions” definitely needs to be an episode. This is a core story to be plumbed in SNW as it has been, per se or thematically (with Data and Tuvok) in Star Trek for over 50 years.

Did it need to be S2 premiere? I don’t know. It’s odd taking Pike out of the first episode of the new season. But I’m ok with less Pike, and was happy with the Pike-less bridge crew-centered episode.

And it seems likely the second episode will be all Pike and minimal Enterprise crew.

 

[DaveF]

It wasn't bad, but it was way too heavy for a season premiere. The season premiere should feel like a reiteration of the show's core, and this one didn't.

Isn’t the core of SNW Pike’s ongoing existential fear from knowing the future horror awaiting him?

The season 2 premiere packed in a fair bit of (presumably Season 2 preparatory) place setting of the essential pathos for characters beyond Pike. But that seems largely concordant with, not deviant from, SNW’s fundamental pathos.

 

[Jason_V]

So I’m gonna say something pretty controversial…and no one is likely to agree. And that’s okay.

A knock against Discovery is it’s the Michael
Burnham show to the exclusion of the supporting cast. It’s a fair criticism, but not something I spend a ton of time worrying about.

But then we have this episode and everyone is upset Pike is gone in five minutes. Sure, he’s the lead and we all like Anson Mount…but any show should be able to have their lead take a back seat (or no seat) in the story and not have an issue. Even a season premiere.

So which is it: do we want the crew outside the captain to get things to do and lead stories or do we want this to be the Pike show? Can’t really have it both ways.

I didn’t mind everyone but Pike getting to be front and center in “The Broken Circle.” I actually liked it.

 

[DaveF]

I enjoyed the Season 2 premiere. It had a good mix of humor of seriousness. Carol Kane is an odd performer, and her Russian-Jew-Alien accent was quirky and I couldn’t tell if she was changing her accent from scene to scene. But, the chaotic-good imp seeking an escape from her immortal boredom is promising. Especially the potential for her and Spock bouncing off each other. Something of a de-powered Q serving Starfleet rather than imperiously challenging all humanity. A bit of Guinan with deep wisdom, but not constrained to serving up drinks and sobriquets.

I also liked the darkness — though to my perception, even dark Star Trek is easygoing mood brightened, as I watched it after Silo to have something lighter. Without it the levity would have been too much.

Presumably next episode will be 100% Pike and Una, with the Enterprise crew mostly offstage.

This isn’t the greatest Trek episode, but it was solid entertainment.

My own concern with new Star Trek is it’s skewed into Movie Star Trek: all action and political intrigue. It’s lost something essential from TV Star Trek: it’s no longer about about science fiction / speculative fiction storytelling. I’m very much at risk of skewed perception from TNG and DS9 and Voyager being 30 years behind me, and hundreds of episodes compressed into the halcyon memory of the few greatest. But my essential sense of TNG (and spiritual descendants like Stargate) were they puzzlebox episodes: each one a little science fictional short story.

But now: I watch Star Trek for the characters and general vibes. It’s fun. It’s good storytelling. It’s good TV amidst peak TV. But it’s no longer science fiction that challenges me or gives me new perspectives. I watch the recent show Extrapolations and that’s exceptional science / speculative fiction. It presses me with new ideas and perspectives. It resonates for months following with its ideas and perspectives on our potential futures.

Star Trek no longer has that resonance. It doesn’t bring The Inner Light that changes how I understand science fiction. It doesn’t have Time’s Arrow giving me novel time travel.

Star Trek once defined televised science fiction. Now its derivative to everything built on its former genius. I wish they could stop playing it safe and rediscover the boldness of science fiction that made Star Trek not just good but the best 30 and 60 years ago.

Or maybe I’m just an “everything was better when soda machines cost a quarter” old man now. Always a possibility when trying to compare current to youthful perceptions of pop culture.

 

[Sam Favate]

I have no problem with Pike not being the focus of this episode, even if it is the season premiere. TOS had a season premiere focused on Spock, TNG had season premieres focused on Data, Wesley, Worf and Troi, DS9 had season premieres focused on Kira and Worf. And I enjoyed them all. It’s okay.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Isn’t the core of SNW Pike’s ongoing existential fear from knowing the future horror awaiting him?

I think that was more of his season one character arc than a foundational series premise. Last season began with Pike struggling to accept his fate, and ended with him realizing that it was more important to use the time he had left than it was to try to stop what’s coming.

 

[jayembee]

A minor point that continues to delight is how Ortegas actually does evasive maneuvers. Like the external shots show her spinning and moving the ship in a way that both dodges fire, and, when things can't be avoided, minimizing the damage by making sure less critical spots are struck. The show shows us that she's a good pilot.

Yes!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I didn’t mind that Pike was mostly absent from the episode, though it does seem like this would have been a good opportunity to do a two-episode premiere. One of the downsides of doing so few episodes per season from a network perspective, though, is that it’s hard to justify burning off two at once.

The stuff that slightly rubs me the wrong way - and this is stuff that annoys me in any ongoing film/television series - is false obstacles/setting up changes and then immediately undoing them. For example, La’an leaving the crew at the end of last season, and immediately rejoining at the start of this one. Uhura finishing her cadet training on the ship and leaving at the end of last season, and then being a permanent crew member as this season begins. Even the story with Una, it seems a foregone conclusion that she’ll be back and everything will be normal within a short period, just due to Romijn’s status as a series lead. This all feels like filler stuff to me that just takes up screen time but doesn’t really add to anything otherwise.

I’m not thrilled with the idea of the Gorn being a recurring threat, both because this show was promoted as not being heavily serialized, and also because Starfleet just shouldn’t know too much about them at this time. Star Trek Discovery began with a Klingon war we’ve never heard of before being turned into a major event; I don’t need the centerpiece of SNW to be a Gorn war we’ve never heard of before.

I’d like to see more episodes like Children of the Comet - self-contained stories that concern space exploration and the mysteriousness of space.

I don’t think it was a bad premiere by any stretch but I think there was a little bit of a mismatch between what I wanted to see and what they were trying to do, and I’m trying to judge it only on what it set out to achieve rather than what I might have wanted it to be.

 

[Nelson Au]

I finally had a chance to watch the premiere last night. I also enjoyed it. I have similar concerns as have been brought up by you guys, so I won’t repeat them

Though I did have a thought constantly ringing in the back of my mind. I think this has likely been mentioned before. It’s interesting that this series and some recent Star Wars films have been based on and built-up from a single line of dialogue or a character. The Kessel Run in less then 12 parsecs, and Rogue One. Obviously Pike is Captain PIke from The Cage, it’s great we get to see what this character could have been. And I agree it’s cool to see Robert April come to life. But April is of course an earlier name for the captain of the Enterprise during the early development of the show. He is only canon from TAS.

What kind of bugged me a bit is the writers, and I’m going to guess Akiva is a big culprit, is why show us where Spock’s Vulcan harp came from? It works out in the episode and they made it make sense. But I liked in my imagination, in Charlie X, Spock enjoys playing music for relaxation. there was no explanation and I did not need it, it is what it is. And similarly, it was odd the writers came up with the backstory for Chapel. If I recall correctly, she commented she was leaving Enterprise at the end of last season for research work. That I assumed was going to be about Roger Korby. But perhaps they will ignore that and this iteration of Chapel is a veteran of the Klingon War. I did forget what Uhura was going to do, but yes, she’s part of the bridge crew now. What bothers me a little is Uhura was shown as very smart and capable, and I was worried she would be desk bound as a telephone operator. But in this series, she does get off the bridge.

These are nits and I’m sure in the producer and writer’s minds, and I believe these guys are real Star Trek fans who know canon, I suspect this series has to do what it does to reach out to a broader audience and engage them more so then us. We will watch this show because we are Star Trek fans. I do appreciate they are doing a better job then JJ Abrams films do.

Oh yeah, the Spock thing. Two thoughts, I can appreciate that the writers are trying to bridge the The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before Spock who smiles and raises his voice and the production Spock when Nimoy and Director Joseph Sargent had the character more contained. So the contrivance of the emotional block Spock had lost from the Gorn incident feels a bit contrived. But I’m going to see how this plays out. ( And yes, I am worried how the Gorn are being shown as a potential enemy this season and why Jim Kirk doesn’t know.

And the humor of the scene where Ortegas is waiting for Spock to say something, like Hit It, that was fun. I was expecting Engage as Pike says that in The Cage.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’m going to guess Akiva is a big culprit, is why show us where Spock’s Vulcan harp came from?

I’d also guess that’s Akiva Goldsman based on prior interviews and commentaries. He just loves dragging in every tiny thing he likes from TOS and trying to make a larger story out of it. I think the comparison to how Disney made two complete films out of what were essentially throwaway lines in the original Star Wars is a very astute comparison.

 

[Museum Pieces]

So the contrivance of the emotional block Spock had lost from the Gorn incident feels a bit contrived. But I’m going to see how this plays out. ( And yes, I am worried how the Gorn are being shown as a potential enemy this season and why Jim Kirk doesn’t know.

Yes, and not only Kirk, but Spock would never forget the Gorn after that emotional block experience, so it seems things already don't jibe with TOS. Spock doesn't seem to have a clue who the Gorn are in Arena.

I just don't get it. I don't see how this is being credible to the Spock character, and potentially the Kirk character, or the continuity of these characters. One of the reasons I care about Spock is because this the same Spock I know and love from TOS; he's just younger. If that's true, then the price for that are certain limitations of not violating what comes later in Spock's life. Otherwise it just feels like more DSC disrespect or JJverse alternate timeline stuff. The continued obsession with the Gorn makes me scratch my head. They're not even that scary. It kinda just comes across as "Alien" on ST. Do something original.