Tag Archives: paramount

Review of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, The First Season

snw

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

If you follow this blog, you know I’ve been reviewing, episode by episode, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Basically, it’s Kurtzman NuTrek designed to appeal to the old school “Star Trek” fan like me. Did it work?

Sort of.

First of all, let’s be clear that you can’t make a television show (or any art form) in 2022 and have it seem like it was created in 1966. All art is a reflection of its time. If you remade films like Casablanca (1942) or Gone With The Wind (1939) today, they wouldn’t be anything like the original classics because approximately eighty years have passed.

So expecting SNW to be like the original Star Trek starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy is completely unrealistic.

That said, I totally miss that era in science fiction and in television in general.

There’s almost no way to compare the two shows and yet, it begs the question was SNW “Star Trek?”

What makes Star Trek “Star Trek?”

Continue reading →

Review of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Ep2, “Children of the Comet”

uhura

Scene from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Children of the Comet”

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

I just finished watching Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 1, Episode 2, Children of the Comet.

The show starts on the surface of a desolate planet with a sparse and impoverished population of humanoids barely surviving. One of them looks up and sees what appears to be a comet in the sky.

Meanwhile, aboard the Enterprise, Uhura has been invited to join the senior staff in the Captain’s quarters for dinner. Ortega advised her to show up in dress uniform, but when she arrives, Uhura discovers that everyone is dressed very casually, including the Captain. In fact, dress is so casual, that Ortega looks like the 23rd century version of a “homie in the hood” complete with belly button reveal. On an actual Naval vessel, even if dress for an event were casual, it wouldn’t be that casual.

Ortega is shaping up to be a class A jerk which she continues to display as the episode progresses. In fact, both she and La’an seem grumpy most of the time, but the former because she’s arrogant and the latter because she’s depressed.

Continue reading →

Review of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Episode 1, “Strange New Worlds”

snw

Promotional image for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

I know I always approach these things on the late side, but I’ve just gotten around to seeing the first episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which happens to be titled Strange New Worlds. Oh, I’ve heard a lot about it, but that doesn’t translate into actual experience. Other people’s perceptions might be different than mine.

First of all, the intro scenes are fabulous. Top notch CGI. Incredible shots of the Enterprise. Worth the price of admission.

The show opens up in Christopher Pike’s (Anson Mount) home in a very snowy Montana. Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano) who apparently is Pike’s girlfriend is shown asleep while Pike is making pancakes and watching The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) on a large, flat screen TV. In fact, if I’d walked into that home, I wouldn’t have believed I was in the 23rd century at all. There was even a dial telephone next to his communicator. I surmised that Pike and Captain James Kirk (William Shatner) both have a “fondness for antiques”.

Pike looks like crap and is obviously carrying a heavy load but refuses to share it with Batel. She leaves for her ship while he says the Enterprise has another week in dry dock before he has to make a decision as to whether or not he’s going back.

Continue reading →