TELEVISION REVIEW: Star Trek - Strange New Worlds

 (Missing Earth - Hoogway)

To suggest that Star Trek's history has been a mixed bag would be a pretty massive understatement. As a television show, it's run the gamut from being whimsical to deadly serious. It's been just as varied in the theaters, wandering the extremes between sci-fi masterpieces like 'The Wrath Of Khan' to pretty much anything coming out of the Kelvin timeline.

We're here to talk about the television shows now, and rightly so. T.V. is what made Star Trek famous with the launch of The Original Series (TOS) back in the '60s. From there, Star Trek spawned seven different television shows over the years, from little-known nuggets like The Animated Series to the critically acclaimed The Next Generation. Each show had its own unique spin on exploration in the universe and each show had its own share of victories and setbacks. 

'Strange New Worlds' marks the most recent entry in the history of Trek and, if the internet is to be believed, it's the direct result of Star Trek fans wanting a show that harkened a little more back to its roots.

Does it go boldly?

THE SHORT VERSION:

Absolutely.

THE LONG VERSION:

It's about damned time.

For those who don't know, 'Star Trek - Discovery' is the show that came before 'Strange New Worlds' and it's kind of the reason that SNW exists. I'll spare you the details except to say that 'Discovery' is not your father's Star Trek. It isn't your mother's either, or your son's. It's a really lovely dark sci-fi show that sort of...just happens to be called 'Star Trek' while simultaneously missing everything important about why Star Trek was so beloved. Funny thing about that though, during Discovery's second season -- I think they're in the middle of Season 5 now? -- they run smack-dab into Captain Christopher Pike of the U.S.S. Enterprise. For a time, Pike runs the show on Discovery, both figuratively and literally, and he does it in a manner that's rather...not in keeping with the rest of the show.  He's cool, calm, collected, and not prone to bombast. He thinks before he acts, acts wisely when he does, and is flawed without being utterly compromised for it. He's a thinking man's captain who is capable of action when required and he might just be a tiny bit happy too. The response from fans was OVERWHELMING. They wanted much, MUCH more of whatever that was.

Those of us who knew simply nodded and smiled. What the fans were really clamoring for was Star Trek. Many of them just didn't know it.

And so, some time later, Strange New Worlds launched. It is almost universally loved after just three episodes. It is the highest critically rated Star Trek show ever and it's easy to see why. It would be easy to chalk the show's success up to nostalgia as there is quite a lot of that on display. Strange New Worlds isn't a reboot but rather a prequel to the OG James T. Kirk and crew and it shows. Technology is appropriately older, set designs look both old and new all at once, uniforms are appropriate, etc. etc. Indeed, Strange New Worlds is a feast for the senses in this regard but its success goes beyond that by assembling an incredible cast. They're pretty much all wonderful as individuals but it's how they act together that adds flavor.  Perhaps the biggest example of this rests with the show's use of Captain Pike himself, played perfectly by Anson Mount and Anson Mount's hair.

Seriously, look at this man's coif:

Image Credit: TrekNews.Net

While Pike is certainly the captain of the Enterprise, the show doesn't constantly revolve around him. Indeed, as the most successful episodes from Trek history have done, Strange New Worlds spends as much time focusing on other members of the crew -- usually Senior Staff, admittedly -- as it does its captain. Pike is happy to defer to the other members of his crew when it's appropriate to do so. He proceeds without ego, as does the show. It doesn't need to focus on one thing or another because it's all excellent.

I want to be clear, the show has flaws. It's trying to reach several very different audiences, unlikes its predecessors. There are things in this show that some people might not care for but that are quite necessary -- and perhaps overdue? -- in the opinions of others. One of the many remarkable things about this show is how well it succeeds in spite of those flaws. In time, maybe people will look back at those flaws and simply see them as differences instead.

Wouldn't that be something?

Strange New Worlds is intelligent and hopeful, uplifting and optimistic without wandering too far from the path of believability. It embraces diversity without effort, treating it as normal and not remarkable. It seeks solutions to problems through thought first rather than firepower. It does not talk down to its audience but is also not so lost in technobabble that it is unapproachable. It is not laden with profanity, not because profanity is bad but because it is simply unnecessary. It is subtle and nuanced at times and appropriately direct in others.

It is Star Trek. And it's about time.