I always seem to find the Star Trek series I really like, late. The Original Series counts in this because I wasn't born in time. I'd blame my parents, but I am too busy thanking them for introducing me to it in the first round of syndication.
The only Trek series I enjoy that I saw "real time" was the Animated Series, in my little Spock pajamas and cardboard ears.
That changed this year when Anabelle got a student rate on Paramount for Starfleet Academy, and we've all been having fun with this show. It is clearly targeted at younger viewers, but with stuff for us old Trekkies too. (More on that when the season ends.)
I had tried a couple episodes of Discovery, after several folks recommended it, and couldn't get into it at all. Unlike Next Generation, as I am older and have less patience than the gnat on acid levels I already developed back then, I did not keep trying for over five seasons, and missed the introduction of Captain Pike and his crew. Strange New Worlds sounded interesting, for several reasons:
1) The Cast
2) The "Original Series" Like Aesthetic
3) I'm named after Jeffrey Hunter, the original Captain Christopher Pike. ("A Trekkie since before I was born." is one of my favorite sayings.)
After Anabelle started watching it and praising it, Rosa and I jumped in as well. At least we'll get to see the final two seasons (or season and a half anyway) real time.
The creators behind it said, "What if we just made Star Trek?"
And they did! This show has the look, and more importantly, the feel of the Original Series, but with modern effects, storytelling, sensibilities and characterization.
It made this old Trekkie very happy. It isn't a different universe like the Mirror one or the Kelvin films were. However, they do make nods to the near constant time travel shenanigans wobbling events enough to explain inconsistencies. This is great as it gives them the freedom to reference multiple elements from past series, but be able to play with the events however they want to. Seasons are so short these days, it seems foolish not to go episode by episode, but there will be a lot of generalities tossed in along the way.
There were only three things that bothered me enough to complain about in this otherwise outstanding return to Classic Star Trek.
A) The Starfleet ranks. Yes, I know the first season of the Original Series wandered a bit, but with nearly six decades of cannon, the wrist stripe system has been established. (Do NOT make me pull out my Starfleet Technical Manual!) With the exception of some Commanders like Number One, and (later) James Kirk, everyone we meet between Ensign and Captain is called. "Lieutenant" no matter how many stripes they have.
B) The insignia "badges" are two-fer. I am irked by the fact that they are metal pin ons when they were clearly embroidered on in the original series. (Including on the away team jackets in "The Cage.") Also, I really liked how they showed every ship and base had a different insignia back then. The extras around the original Crew movies made it a big deal that Kirk and Company's five year mission on the Enterprise was so ground breaking and famous in universe, that the entire Starfleet adopted their insignia. Now the fleet all have it from before that time and the Enterprise is already the flagship of Starfleet. The refit Enterprise in The Motion Picture was the first of the "Enterprise Class" starships. The original Enterprise was "Constitution Class." (As was the Farragut, another small change.) That was a hint. And thank you, yet again, to the Starfleet Technical Manual.
These issue did not inhibit my enjoyment. They merely fueled my hobby of nerdly ranting.
Strange New Worlds
The big problem with most prequels is the audience knows a great deal about what is going to happen that the character's don't. Having Captain Pike aware of his eventual fate put an interesting twist on things. This may be the first Star Trek in a lifetime of watching where the Captain is my favorite Main Character. (There are other characters that are more "my favorites," but lacking appearances in a fair amount of episodes keeps me from considering them fully "main.") I know: the leader in his fifties with a much more collaborative and diplomatic command style than we've seen before is my favorite. Everyone is stunned. (Yet, he was still a test pilot, linking him with the "cool Sixties guy" archetypes like Captain Kirk, Hal Jordan, James Bond and Tony Stark, that this show's aesthetic springs from.) Speaking of Kirk, Jim's brother Sam is here. He's a fun character in general and to juxtapose with Spock as a much more emotional part of the science team. Shame about what will happen to him, but he's very enjoyable interacting with his boss, the rest of the crew and eventually his brother.
Children of the Comet
This was nothing spectacular, but had some nifty ideas which are standard to Star Trek, but pulled off a new look at them. That's the problem with these short seasons. If an episode isn't spectacular, you feel cheated. It also highlighted the show's regular focus on the "Junior Officers." I'm impressed by the way they updated the technology and "flashiness" of the Enterprise inside and out, but still kept the flavor of the Original series. The uniforms got a similar treatment. They match the Original Series in general, but have more variety and detailed "fiddly bits" as is fitting an outing designed to be watched in large screen high definition. There's an overall theme of destiny in this episode, this season... and the whole series so far. The meal at the "Captain's Table" shows another reason I like this show, which makes it feel like the Original Series. To quote the most efficient Trek review I ever saw (from Scott Kurtz's dad) I like it- "Because they're friends." Cadet Uhura as the point character rotating through various roles works well, since we know what she's capable of before she figures it out. Everyone has to have a tragic back story today I guess, but it doesn't prevent her from being a key element in the story and growing into the character we know. Choosing a Tony award nominee to play a character with an established joy and ability in singing was inspired.
Ghosts of Illyria
The series follows the classic Trek "Monster of the Week" (or "Planet of the Week") format in general, but it does have threads from episode to episode. Prejudice against genetically altered folks is a big one, and that really kicks off here. There's also two other key Star Trek concepts going on. Non corporeal beings who aren't what they seem is a throwback to the Sixties series that comes up a lot on this show. Also the "Unknown virus that makes the crew act weird in an early episode" has been a staple of many Trek series. While this show does have multiple light and fun episodes, the "drawn to the light" virus shown here is, ironically, darker than most examples. A bit from a novel established Number One's race. The show does a good job of redefining the First Officer. In "The Cage," she was the emotionless second in command. Those traits went to Spock in the regular series. The transformation into the no nonsense, all business leader (partially due to a past she covers up) added a lot of depth to what could have been a one note character.
Memento Mori
The Klingons became the main recurring villains in the Original Series because their makeup was the cheapest. It's kind of funny we've progressed to a point that the Gorn (with mostly practical effects and some CGI) can be the recurring enemy race in this go around. I'm guessing the increased need for prosthetics due to changed Klingon appearances, and us knowing MASSIVE amounts of Klingon history and culture now is part of swapping them for a race with only three appearances across all Treks. (Original, Enterprise and Lower Decks) As an old Star Fleet Battles Gorn Fleet Commander, having them rise to prominence did my heart good. Their insignia was triangle based in the game, so seeing three sided ships made me smile. La'an Noonian Singh is awesome, and goes through a bunch of development as the show presses on, beginning here. Her journey is almost as much about finding her humanity, as Spock's is. However, her's is more about trauma recovery. Considering "security" in Starfleet has been often reduced to a "cannon fodder" punch line, its neat seeing the important role take on more definition in this time period. It is a testament to how fantastic Ricardo Montalban was, that Khan's legacy across many versions of Star Trek continues. Being a descendant of Khan gives La'an unique insight into the pros and cons of the prejudice against augments the show focuses on in its first and second season.
Spock Amok
We've had a lot of coolness along the way, but I felt like this is where the show hit its stride and proved it was Star Trek for a few reasons. I) It wasn't afraid to be very funny, yet without removing the drama and danger elements along the way. The Original Series excelled at this. There were still serious consequences but the path through them was silly. II) Characters we know are earlier versions of what we've seen have the spirit of those characters, but have inherent differences. This is not how the Kelvin movies handled it, with different actors playing the characters with the same core but altered by the timeline. While this Spock will land in the same role with the same connections and friendships, and has a lot of the same elements as the Spock from the original series, I don't see them "merging" at some point for lack of a better word. It allows a fresh direction (and an expanded take on the less developed characters) while maintaining what the characters are truly about. III) Characters like T'pring which had minimal exposure in the Original Series have a chance to be fleshed out in interesting ways, creating some references to what we've seen but mostly new connections and developments to keep things interesting.
Lift Us Where Suffering Can Not Reach
And C) (No I didn't miscount this list. I was waiting for this one.) This episode bothered me as using a story from a non-Trek novel created the only "real stinker" of the show so far. The characters had to be extra naive bordering on, or surpassing, stupid for the plot to work. (Not a fan of the Captain basically forgetting Marie exists for this one, either. "Open Relationship" could be claimed, but the "obviously hiding something lady" in this episode is the only other person Pike so much as flirts with outside of Captain Batel.) More importantly, it lacked any aspect of hope which is a core part of any Star Trek, but was especially true for the "I don't believe in the no win situation" era. The one good part was getting more development of Doctor M'Benga, who gets more complex in cool ways throughout the seasons.
The Serene Squall
Orion Pirates! Woo Hoo! Yes the crew needs to be a bit more naive than Kirk's crew to get fooled in this one, but it is a younger, more idealistic galaxy. This is a fantastic example of showing how well this crew works together, and another combination of keeping the drama high stakes while still having the story be a great deal of fun overall. Since I haven't mentioned her anywhere, Lieutenant Ortegas is awesome. The combination of her, Uhura and Chapel as "Besties Version 1.0" adds a lot to their characterization. The early Original Series episodes had a fair amount of "down time" scenes in the much more austere "Rec Room." Following the Next Generation's "Ten Forward" or Quark's on Deep Space Nine, and showing a full bar on this ship adds a great deal to the friendship of this gang. And a Sybok reference! Here's hoping we get more about that odd and undefined loose end. Captain Pike climbed even higher in my estimation for his goofy pirate speech at the end. Arrrrrrrr!!!
The Elysian Kingdom
Speaking of a fun one! Star Trek actors getting to cut loose in the hammiest possible way and play different characters is a staple of the franchise. Watching "Pike" constantly freak out as a sniveling coward, while Uhura dripped evil, and La'an did princess twirls was constantly hilarious. Plus, any day the Enterprise Helmsman has a sword is a good day. One of Trek's many "Sentient Clouds" was the culprit this time. It reached a bittersweet ending to the thread of M'Benga's daughter, but that wouldn't have worked dragged out over year or more. Doctor M'Benga was given a very cool upgrade in characterization. He went from being in only in two episodes of the Original Series, where his key moment was slapping Spock in a recovery bed, to being one of the most layered characters on the show. We'll learn a lot more about his complex past (along with Nurse Chapel's connections to it) in later seasons. Having the Doctor and Chief Engineer Hemmer both unaffected added to both the comedy and the suspense.
All Those Who Wander
Since most of the first season of the Original Series stories (and many after that) could have come straight out of EC Horror Comics, its nice when the franchise returns to that genre. This episode is an Alien movie, and it is terrifying. I wasn't sure about using the Gorn as Xenomorphs at first, but besides it being done really well, and a solid "done in one," it is also an early step in to showing that there is far more than initially apparent about the "monstrous" Gorn. Star Trek sneaks in yet another message about the dangers of prejudice. Though not in enough episodes for me to consider him a Main Character, Hemmer was my favorite. (I know: the experienced and cranky engineer who is also an excellent mentor figure is my favorite, everyone is stunned.) Losing him was a huge blow, but not completely surprising as he was the Mentor on Uhura's Hero's Journey. Obviously, she wasn't going to leave Star Fleet. Fortunately, his replacement is even better.
A Quality of Mercy
This is how you reference a past series. I'd easily rank this one up there with DS9's "Trials and Tribbilations" but taking a dramatic instead of a comedic tack. They did an excellent job revisiting "Balance of Terror" one of the best Original Series episodes. The Romulan Commander looked nothing like Mark Lenard, but really captured the essence of the character. Bonus- bad future Admiral Pike showed up in a fancified "Maroon Monster" uniform. Woo! There were shot for shot, word for word, musical cue for musical cue moments, but it told a different tale. What it did not do was show Captain Kirk's command style was inherently better overall than Captain Pike's. As the series continues, Pike becomes an excellent mentor to the future most famous Starship Captain. Following the show's theme of destiny, it highlights there are certain situations where specific people and tactics are correct for that instance. Similar to Chris Pine (and yet in no specific way similar) this is James T. Kirk, without being a William Shatner impression. Oddly, the vibe I get out of him is if you removed all the William Shatner exaggerations and impressions from Jim Carrey's Star Trek parody turn, and added a extra layer of energy and competence. This was a spectacular way to end an excellent first season. (Ignoring "the stinker" of course.) And the show only got better from here.
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