Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review: Strange New Worlds (Season 1 Episode 1)
Like any well-known and enduring franchise, Star Trek has had its ups and downs. In the past few years, with Discovery and Picard, those have come in fairly equal measures. Both have at varying times been accused by fans and critics alike of not feeling like Star Trek, whatever it is that means.
With Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 1, “Strange New Worlds,” (because that isn’t confusing we have gone back all the way to the beginning, in terms of chronology but also in structure. There’s a way of looking at this that is of the show proofing itself from that criticism that the property has received recently.
That’s a cynical way of looking at this but ultimately not inaccurate. This is Star Trek boiled down to its base element. You have a crew of colorful, compelling characters and we’re going to different planets every week. It’s returning to a format that is known to work and that is by no means a bad or negative thing.
It’s a counter to Discovery and Picard, which have been much more serialized in their approach as a way to weave Star Trek into modern television methods. With Strange New Worlds, at least based on this first episode and a general impression of what is to come, we get a series that is episodic and Star Trek in its purest form.
At the same time, there’s a worry that Star Trek‘s need to go back to its roots and not charting new and unexplored paths might be somewhat limiting. ‘If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,’ is all well and good but how much is the franchise able to grow if it is just going back to old wells?
This is the way that Discovery started, going back to the time prior to The Original Series with some very trying levels of success in that area. It wasn’t until it abandoned that and jumped far into the future that it really branched out and became something truly interesting that has been able to play around with the legacy of Star Trek.
That being said, we probably don’t have to worry much about that. Even while all of that is accurate to an extent, constraints are often were really fascinating writing can be found. Tell someone that there is no horizon and you might later find that you wish there had been. Putting a writer in a box and then seeing how they navigate that can lead to something really great.
Almost as integral to a Star Trek series as anything else is the presence of a really strong crew and Strange New Worlds seems to have that in spades so far. Partly, this is helped by the inclusion of crew members that we met from Discovery or The Original Series.
Spock (played by Ethan Peck) is the most notable — other than Captain Pike (Anson Mount — and the two have a really good working chemistry together. There’s a built-in dynamic here that implies a long professional history without necessarily having to say it out loud.
The thing that works to Strange New Worlds‘s benefit is how inessential it is to have watched Discovery but is supplemental. The episode gives the audience everything they need to know to understand the series, even as it references Michael Burnham or the battle at the end of Discovery ‘s second season.
Other returning legacy characters are Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), which are both interesting interpretations of well-known Star Trek figures that both fit seamlessly into the series. Rebecca Romijn’s Una (or Number One) is given little to do but even she is a standout.
New to the franchise is Na’an Noonien-Singh (played by Christina Chong), who shares a name with an iconic villain and adds a needed sense of antagonism to the crew. She most resembles Ensign Ro from The Next Generation, a woman who is likewise prickly and difficult with a specific code but a lot of loyalty.
Chong is giving a lot to what is a rather understated but well-written character that is delivering one of the more compelling performances on the show.
“Strange New Worlds” is a strong start to what is hoping to be an excellent iteration of Star Trek.
What did you think of this episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds airs Thursdays on Paramount+.
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Drew Koenig
Drew has an ongoing, borderline unhealthy obsession with pop culture, but with television in particular. When he's not aggressively trying to get out of a perpetual state of catching up, he can be found passionately defending the ending of Lost. More of his online work can be found at The Lost Cause and he also co-hosts The Lost Cause Pod.