Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+)

[FloatingFatMan]

On 14/05/2022 at 07:05, George P said:

Trailer for episode 3.

 

 

*sigh* Really?  They're redoing "The Naked Time" and "The Naked Now" again?!   Have they run out of imagination already?

[zikalify Editor]

On 14/05/2022 at 07:05, George P said:

Trailer for episode 3.

 

 

Lol, the light addicts seem as cranky as me when I don't get my sleep

[nerim]

I watched the first episode free on YouTube, and thought it was decent, but for a few bits. Closer to the heart of Trek in years, IMHO. The cast is refreshing, especially Anson Mount. I realize he was in some Discovery episodes, but I don't pay much attention to Discovery, My age and health have me being more careful with how I use my time, but I'd give it a 6.5 or 7 out of 10 and a cautious thumbs up.  

[Zathras5]

On 16/05/2022 at 04:28, nerim said:

I watched the first episode free on YouTube, and thought it was decent, but for a few bits. Closer to the heart of Trek in years, IMHO. The cast is refreshing, especially Anson Mount. I realize he was in some Discovery episodes, but I don't pay much attention to Discovery, My age and health have me being more careful with how I use my time, but I'd give it a 6.5 or 7 out of 10 and a cautious thumbs up.  

You should check out the season with him on Discovery, well worth it IMO.

[nerim]

On 16/05/2022 at 08:47, Zathras5 said:

You should check out the season with him on Discovery, well worth it IMO.

I did watch one or two episodes of Discovery with him in them, going back to Talos IV I think? It didn't impress me, although he's good. The young lady playing Vina was just awful. 😖 I watched the SNW pilot again, and it's mostly played for laughs, IMHO. 

[George P Global Moderator]

Episode 3 is out, good one IMO.  There's 2 (kind of 3) different plot threads in play in this episode but it works out.   Now to wait for episode 4, don't know who's going to be the main focus of it yet.  Ep3 was our Una centric episode.

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 19/05/2022 at 19:14, George P said:

Episode 3 is out, good one IMO.  There's 2 (kind of 3) different plot threads in play in this episode but it works out.   Now to wait for episode 4, don't know who's going to be the main focus of it yet.  Ep3 was our Una centric episode.

Spoiler

One thing I noticed when they were down to the surface and some of the bridge crew were able to beam back, the bridge only consisted of women 😂

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Steven P.
spoiler tags

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 19/05/2022 at 22:51, Steven P. said:

One thing I noticed when they were down to the surface and some of the bridge crew were able to beam back, the bridge only consisted of women 😂

Dude, spoiler tags

[George P Global Moderator]

On 20/05/2022 at 00:51, Steven P. said:

One thing I noticed when they were down to the surface and some of the bridge crew were able to beam back, the bridge only consisted of women 😂

Spoiler

It shouldn't be a huge shock to see more women on the ship.  It's been stated that back in the TOS era Gene wanted to have a 50/50 split on the show but the network pushed back and the best he could get was something like 60/30 iirc.  

 

Also if you're talking about the scene where Una goes on the bridge it's not all women, there's a two guys there to the left.  It's the same two guys who were in Pikes dinner in ep2, the White red shirt guy and the black yellow shirt dude.  The rest, 5 + Una, were female, yeah.     

 

The away team was mostly guys btw, if you want to keep score.

 

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 20/05/2022 at 00:16, George P said:

  Hide contents

It shouldn't be a huge shock to see more women on the ship.  It's been stated that back in the TOS era Gene wanted to have a 50/50 split on the show but the network pushed back and the best he could get was something like 60/30 iirc.  

 

Also if you're talking about the scene where Una goes on the bridge it's not all women, there's a two guys there to the left.  It's the same two guys who were in Pikes dinner in ep2, the White red shirt guy and the black yellow shirt dude.  The rest, 5 + Una, were female, yeah.     

 

The away team was mostly guys btw, if you want to keep score.

 

Spoiler

Sure, they were there off to the side  

 

But this was the shot:

 

[George P Global Moderator]

On 20/05/2022 at 01:27, Steven P. said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Sure, they were there off to the side  

 

But this was the shot:

 

Spoiler

Eh, they're just there to fill up the seats, you don't even get names for any except 1.  I bet next episode it'll be another batch of characters.  Next ep is yet another away mission.  

 

[dwd999]

Well its called Strange New Worlds so yeah, you need to get to them with another away mission. Plus different characters mean lower cost actors which you have to expect when the majority of the budget is sets and CGI effects.

[George P Global Moderator]

On 20/05/2022 at 04:21, dwd999 said:

Well its called Strange New Worlds so yeah, you need to get to them with another away mission. Plus different characters mean lower cost actors which you have to expect when the majority of the budget is sets and CGI effects.

The older shows, TOS/TNG, always shuffled between bridge crew aside from our main 4-5 who are mostly always on the bridge.  TNG would shuffle different helm people, often female, from episode to episode.   The thing that was weird to me, specially in TNG, is how all these no name space filler characters never actually talked.   Not even a "Yes, sir." when given orders.  So damn weird.

[FloatingFatMan]

On 20/05/2022 at 05:55, George P said:

The older shows, TOS/TNG, always shuffled between bridge crew aside from our main 4-5 who are mostly always on the bridge.  TNG would shuffle different helm people, often female, from episode to episode.   The thing that was weird to me, specially in TNG, is how all these no name space filler characters never actually talked.   Not even a "Yes, sir." when given orders.  So damn weird.

Talking roles get paid more...

[FloatingFatMan]

*sigh* So much to comment on, so much to rip apart because of all the... just.. *sigh*  And they started off OK too...

 

Spoiler tags time I guess!

 

Spoiler

First we have a virus made of light, that can somehow affect biological systems to such an extent that it makes them seek out more light so that the virus can spread more (a virus's purpose) and can even make them transport planetary core matter onto the ship via a transporter that's been disabled by the ion storm, and later to try to cause a warp core breach that would instantly destroy themselves, the ship AND THE VIRUS, in a flash!  Except we find that Uhura is fine because she "had a nap in a dark pod" which killed off the virus and made it so she can't get reinfected again right afterwards...

 

Then, there's Una.... Aaah, lovely Una... The augment who's immune system is so amazing that it can not only fight off a virus made of light (whut?), and does do by making her internal organs glow (whut?), but can also handily negate lethal doses of radiation (which isn't a disease) in both herself and anyone she happens to be touching (WHUT!?)... How convenient!!!  Never mind that she lied to Starfleet about her heritage and broke dozens of laws in doing so.  Stupid, bigoted, ridiculous laws yes, but still laws.  That's all fine.  Captain Pike will smooth that all over, no worries!

 

Oh, and the colony... Who are apparently so technologically backwards that they store their data in huge and unwieldy cylinders of "light" containing some kind of LCD screen with their journals on them...

 

But on top of this, we have the message that well... The message that it's NOT OK to be "different" in the Star Trek universe!  If you are, you will be shunned and reviled by everyone; made into an outcast because you were born a certain way that you personally had no control over.  It's SO bad, that an entire group decided to alter themselves so drastically as to accidentally kill themselves in an effort to "conform" with what the wider society expects of them, just so they can "belong" (because hanging around bigots is what everyone wants, yeah?).  They try to dress it up with the whole eugenic's wars thing, but at the end of the day, at its very core, we have the fact that being different is bad and that to be accepted, you must conform with the majority.  What kind of dumbassed message is that to be sending people, especially in current times?

 

Star Trek has always prided itself in its claims of "progressiveness", but then, every once in a while, they produce a stinking pile of felgercarb that proves it's anything BUT "progressive".  And it's not just SNW that's guilty of it either.  TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY... They've ALL done the same nonsense as well.  Hell, DS9 is probably the worst culprit of this with Julian Bashir and the other augments who were basically kept in prison for their entire lives just because of their genetic neuro-divergence from societal norms. Only kept around because they can be useful sometimes, but otherwise reviled and kept hidden away from the "normies" instead of being given help so that they can function in society...

 

And then, right at the end and for no obvious reason, we find out it's all the Doctor's fault, because he didn't let the medical transporter be upgraded to filter out stuff like this virus as he was illegally storing his sick kid in the transporter buffer.  Can someone explain why he was doing this on the QT, instead of using his position as CMO to officially have her placed in life preserving transporter suspension?  Pike is a nice guy, he'd have said sure thing... But noooo.... Instead we get that other criminal, Una, handwaving it and just saying we'll get you a separate power supply for her...

 

So, going forward, we now have 2 criminals on the crew who should both be court martialled, and the Doctor absolutely should be in the stockade for endangering the crew.  And a Captain who is.... OK with that.

 

My rating for this episode.  3/10.

 

[George P Global Moderator]

On 20/05/2022 at 10:54, FloatingFatMan said:

*sigh* So much to comment on, so much to rip apart because of all the... just.. *sigh*  And they started off OK too...

 

Spoiler tags time I guess!

 

  Hide contents

First we have a virus made of light, that can somehow affect biological systems to such an extent that it makes them seek out more light so that the virus can spread more (a virus's purpose) and can even make them transport planetary core matter onto the ship via a transporter that's been disabled by the ion storm, and later to try to cause a warp core breach that would instantly destroy themselves, the ship AND THE VIRUS, in a flash!  Except we find that Uhura is fine because she "had a nap in a dark pod" which killed off the virus and made it so she can't get reinfected again right afterwards...

 

Then, there's Una.... Aaah, lovely Una... The augment who's immune system is so amazing that it can not only fight off a virus made of light (whut?), and does do by making her internal organs glow (whut?), but can also handily negate lethal doses of radiation (which isn't a disease) in both herself and anyone she happens to be touching (WHUT!?)... How convenient!!!  Never mind that she lied to Starfleet about her heritage and broke dozens of laws in doing so.  Stupid, bigoted, ridiculous laws yes, but still laws.  That's all fine.  Captain Pike will smooth that all over, no worries!

 

Oh, and the colony... Who are apparently so technologically backwards that they store their data in huge and unwieldy cylinders of "light" containing some kind of LCD screen with their journals on them...

 

But on top of this, we have the message that well... The message that it's NOT OK to be "different" in the Star Trek universe!  If you are, you will be shunned and reviled by everyone; made into an outcast because you were born a certain way that you personally had no control over.  It's SO bad, that an entire group decided to alter themselves so drastically as to accidentally kill themselves in an effort to "conform" with what the wider society expects of them, just so they can "belong" (because hanging around bigots is what everyone wants, yeah?).  They try to dress it up with the whole eugenic's wars thing, but at the end of the day, at its very core, we have the fact that being different is bad and that to be accepted, you must conform with the majority.  What kind of dumbassed message is that to be sending people, especially in current times?

 

Star Trek has always prided itself in its claims of "progressiveness", but then, every once in a while, they produce a stinking pile of felgercarb that proves it's anything BUT "progressive".  And it's not just SNW that's guilty of it either.  TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY... They've ALL done the same nonsense as well.  Hell, DS9 is probably the worst culprit of this with Julian Bashir and the other augments who were basically kept in prison for their entire lives just because of their genetic neuro-divergence from societal norms. Only kept around because they can be useful sometimes, but otherwise reviled and kept hidden away from the "normies" instead of being given help so that they can function in society...

 

And then, right at the end and for no obvious reason, we find out it's all the Doctor's fault, because he didn't let the medical transporter be upgraded to filter out stuff like this virus as he was illegally storing his sick kid in the transporter buffer.  Can someone explain why he was doing this on the QT, instead of using his position as CMO to officially have her placed in life preserving transporter suspension?  Pike is a nice guy, he'd have said sure thing... But noooo.... Instead we get that other criminal, Una, handwaving it and just saying we'll get you a separate power supply for her...

 

So, going forward, we now have 2 criminals on the crew who should both be court martialled, and the Doctor absolutely should be in the stockade for endangering the crew.  And a Captain who is.... OK with that.

 

My rating for this episode.  3/10.

 

Spoiler

A virus moving around using light out of all the whacky stuff in close to 60 years of Trek seems weird to you all of a sudden?  A series that's known for just pulling crazy out of thin air and trying to mask it with technobable, come on.      The Ion storm doesn't cover the whole planet either, so Hemmer could have just as easily been using it to beam from a part of the planet were the storm wasn't having a effect, or, because he was also struggling to get it to transport to begin with, the storm still had some effect but it doesn't matter because you're not trying to beam up living people but molten rock.     Uhura not being effected tracks, but we never see her again after that initial interaction with Una, and they never say she can't get re-infected, I'll give you that they skim over that possibility in the rush of everything else.

 

Una glowing was just a fancy FX way to show her augmented immune system "burning" the infection out, which is what your body does, thus why people get high temps when sick.    Besides, we have next to nothing canon wise about Ilyrians and their systems, it's a clean slate to write on, lethal doses of radiation for them could be totally different, or their system can correct the damage to their cells.  Fact is you can come up with any whacky thing for them because there's nothing set in stone (till now) outside of that one lone episode of Enterprise back in season 3 iirc.

 

And as far as Pike not caring, this is the era of cowboy diplomacy, captains were acting fast and loose with regulations.   We've went over it time and again how often they break the rules and the prime directive.  Not turning Una and the Doctor in seems pretty minor in comparison if you want to get picky with it.  

 

[FloatingFatMan]

I can ignore all the little plot points; they're not the end of the episode by any means, just annoying. But what I cannot ignore is the main thrust of my post... The underlying message sent by the episode as a whole.  Earlier Trek did not-dissimilar things it's true, but they did it AFTER already being long established and SNW doesn't have that luxury.  Quite the opposite in fact.

[George P Global Moderator]

On 20/05/2022 at 11:35, FloatingFatMan said:

I can ignore all the little plot points; they're not the end of the episode by any means, just annoying. But what I cannot ignore is the main thrust of my post... The underlying message sent by the episode as a whole.  Earlier Trek did not-dissimilar things it's true, but they did it AFTER already being long established and SNW doesn't have that luxury.  Quite the opposite in fact.

Spoiler

The message in the episode, aside from the stuff about bigotry which has always been in Trek, is multiple ones IMO. What I took away first is what Una said at the end in her log entry about others excusing things because you happen to be one of the "good ones" or a hero.  It makes you take note because it's something that happens irl actually.  One mans monster is another mans hero, or the old version that says one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter.     The other bit about not prejudging someone has always been in Trek so that's not new.    You say the message is about not being different to the pre-established "normal" but I didn't get that overall.  To me Pike not caring about it and pointing out that she's the best first officer in the fleet goes counter to that message and if anything points to the idea of having and enforcing outdated rules/laws that even to this day you still find going on in the real world as being what's in the wrong here.   It's weird, and probably done on purpose by the different writers between the different shows, that how you always run into some high ranking admiral in star fleet, or group, who so clearly hates or wants to get rid of some "enemy" of the Federation.  I figure it's done so that our main characters/captain can stand up to them and take the moral high ground.  

 

Makes you wonder how they got put in charge though.   It's the whole bases for the plot of ST6 for one thing.  

 

 

 

[FloatingFatMan]

On 20/05/2022 at 10:17, George P said:

  Hide contents

Spoiler

The message in the episode, aside from the stuff about bigotry which has always been in Trek, is multiple ones IMO. What I took away first is what Una said at the end in her log entry about others excusing things because you happen to be one of the "good ones" or a hero.  It makes you take note because it's something that happens irl actually.  One mans monster is another mans hero, or the old version that says one mans terrorist is another mans freedom figh

ter.     The other bit about not prejudging someone has always been in Trek so that's not new.    You say the message is about not being different to the pre-established "normal" but I didn't get that overall.  To me Pike not caring about it and pointing out that she's the best first officer in the fleet goes counter to that message and if anything points to the idea of having and enforcing outdated rules/laws that even to this day you still find going on in the real world as being what's in the wrong here.   It's weird, and probably done on purpose by the different writers between the different shows, that how you always run into some high ranking admiral in star fleet, or group, who so clearly hates or wants to get rid of some "enemy" of the Federation.  I figure it's done so that our main characters/captain can stand up to them and take the moral high ground.  

 

Makes you wonder how they got put in charge though.   It's the whole bases for the plot of ST6 for one thing.  

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Individuals can be better sure, but the problem is the society and how its portrayed.  We see that with La'an, and how she was treated by her peers as a child.  Vilified and hated because even though she's not actually enhanced, she's Khan's descendent and therefore, an augment anyway.  It's so bad that she attacks Una once she learns she IS an augment, and as someone who's been on the receiving end of that kind of hatred in childhood back in the 70's/80's, I can tell you that such treatment only happens when society itself doesn't care about stopping it.

 

So, as for wondering how bigoted individuals get put in charge... Well, that happens when society either approves, or just doesn't care.

 

[George P Global Moderator]

On 20/05/2022 at 12:30, FloatingFatMan said:

 

  Hide contents

Individuals can be better sure, but the problem is the society and how its portrayed.  We see that with La'an, and how she was treated by her peers as a child.  Vilified and hated because even though she's not actually enhanced, she's Khan's descendent and therefore, an augment anyway.  It's so bad that she attacks Una once she learns she IS an augment, and as someone who's been on the receiving end of that kind of hatred in childhood back in the 70's/80's, I can tell you that such treatment only happens when society itself doesn't care about stopping it.

 

So, as for wondering how bigoted individuals get put in charge... Well, that happens when society either approves, or just doesn't care.

 

Spoiler

I've had my own experiences growing up so I can relate but that started to go away almost completely by High School when people are older and you hope have more common sense and aren't as stupid.   As far as before then, well, kids are evil, nothing new.  Even if society doesn't hate you that's adult rules and kids don't know.   Bullying still being around even in the 23rd and 24th century wouldn't surprise me.   

 

I think the La'an making it into starfleet even with her lineage is something positive.    Anyway, the ban on genetic manipulation is canon so we can't exactly side step it though we can still face it/bring it up.    I think the writers took the chance to build on Unas character, using beta canon as reference, so I give them credit for that and giving us some more lore about Illyrians.  

 

[+primortal Subscriber²]

Wife and I finally caught up on all three episodes and loving it so far as-well-as the characters; nurse Chappel gives me a "mad scientist" vibe 😛

 

The details in the ship's interior are spectacular and I'm glad they didn't go with the brewery for engineering

[George P Global Moderator]

Episode 4 has dropped, just seen it.   

 

Spoiler

It's got a mix of Arena (minus the epic Kirk hand to hand combat), and some ST2 + Balance of Terror vibes going.  

 

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 20/05/2022 at 08:12, FloatingFatMan said:

Talking roles get paid more...

And union membership.

[techbeck]

Didn't like how preachy last episode got compared to current events.  Hopefully next episodes tone it down. I watch too escape the day to day not to be reminded of it. 

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 26/05/2022 at 21:44, techbeck said:

Didn't like how preachy last episode got compared to current events.  Hopefully next episodes tone it down. I watch too escape the day to day not to be reminded of it. 

Yeah a TOS episode wouldn't have

Spoiler

centered around a remembrance day I don't think. And I don't recall any of Trek using pins for remembrance days. I can only think of Captains Day as an event on the Enterprise D for kids.