Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It seems that making La'an a Khan descendant is a rather unnecessary contrivance. Not only does it shine a light on a cannon issue that sorely needs very inventive retconning, but La'an already has another deep backstory issue that is sufficient on its own.
Action-packed and suspenseful. Good use of the blackhole to set up the "finest hour." Would getting sucked up by one mean certain death? The lack of appearance for the Gorn makes for more ambiguity.
My big rant, and I rant this rant often with every one of the new Trek series:
Starfleet has horrible mental health care; unfortunately, Discovery, Picard, and now SNW hang much of their plots on trauma that Starfleet ought to be formally and medically addressing.
Heck, the US military is beginning to do that now. Even TOS had episodes in which the plot hinged on the mental health of the commander, so it wasn't unknown even in the writing of the 1960s.
Hanging 24th century plots on 20th century trauma issues is like hanging 24th century plots on 20th century racism issues. Just as racism is a solved problem in Starfleet, PTSD should be a solved problem in Starfleet. At the very least, it should be a recognized problem with standard and consistent treatment.
Starfleet officers should not be left to deal with their trauma on their own. La'an, Pike, and Picard should all have been in mandatory therapy, considering what they've gone through. Having them "go it on their own" just to milk their trauma for drama is just perpetuating the myth that "strong people handle their own problems."
Yup. Look. I get it. Conflict is the heart of drama, and nothing is more gripping than personal conflict. And Star Trek has always strived to address the issues of its era.
But modern Star Trek characters seem entirely too self-obsessed and navel gazey. I don't think that means so much that our present culture is more self aware. I think it means we're more self obsessed. Me! Me! It's all about me!
I get the irony in the following scene. I also get Tony's frustration.
Yup. Look. I get it. Conflict is the heart of drama, and nothing is more gripping than personal conflict. And Star Trek has always strived to address the issues of its era.
Here is a critical difference: In TOS, the issues were displayed as solvable because the Federation had solved them. Thus, we did not see, for a couple of instances, racism within the Federation or poverty within the Federation. That was the display of hope for a better future. But we did see such issues in the civilizations that Starfleet encountered, and there was where the issues of the era were addressed. That was a notable difference between Trek and most other popular media science fiction of the future of its day.
What we see in current Star Trek is that none of the problems of this era get solved even by the 24th century. They aren't showing a healthy Federation confronting an unhealthy galaxy. I think that's a valid complaint of a lot of people--the current Federation is actually a dystopia, or at least as dystopic as society today.
Here is a critical difference: In TOS, the issues were displayed as solvable because the Federation had solved them. Thus, we did not see, for a couple of instances, racism within the Federation or poverty within the Federation. That was the display of hope for a better future. But we did see such issues in the civilizations that Starfleet encountered, and there was where the issues of the era were addressed. That was a notable difference between Trek and most other popular media science fiction of the future of its day.
What we see in current Star Trek is that none of the problems of this era get solved even by the 24th century. They aren't showing a healthy Federation confronting an unhealthy galaxy. I think that's a valid complaint of a lot of people--the current Federation is actually a dystopia, or at least as dystopic as society today.
It is totally a valid complaint. I get it. I'm just not sure I entirely share it, because as a student of history, I never bought in to Roddenberry's utopic vision of the future. Homo sapiens have not fundamentally changed in 2 million years. Our tech has improved, but we still have the same brains as our ancestors who walked out of Africa in the Stone Age.
So my own view on humanity is actually more in keeping with the imperfect view of humanity's future as shown in modern Trek. But I totally understand why fans feel it is a betrayal of the franchise. They're not wrong. If the creators of these new shows wanted to reinvent the wheel, they should have just done a new show inspired by Star Trek.
---
Caveat: Some fans I think choose to forget that Star Trek of past decades strayed from Roddenberry's utopia-tinged view of the future.
Remember Next Gen's season 4 episode "The Drumhead?" Great episode, and it showed that even Starfleet was not always above the occasional witch hunt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drumhead
Captain Pike has a unique personal issue concerning his mental health in that he knows the time and date of his horrible disfigurement. It's a great plot device. The show has so far been a cut above Discovery & Picard.
It's also nice to get back to an episodic Star Trek series.
Great episode tonight probably one of my favorites for the entire franchise. Hijinks indeed.
I agree, this was a fun episode. They're leaning a lot on old plot staples, but they're getting good mileage out of them. I wonder how long it will take for them to get to the time-loop plot.
However, T'Pring behaved very much like a human woman.
I like Anson Mount's Pike. He is his own captain, not trying to imitate previous actors. And he doesnt seem like the best tactician. He called for shields not realizing and remembering he has the space tube attached to another ship. He has to rely on his subordinates instead of having all the answers himself.
Who smacks ugly puppies? What a terrible image and thought to place in peoples's minds
Sorry, but words are powerful. (I know it was said as 'fun'.)
Exactly. I see anyone smacking a dog around, ugly or puppy or adult, and I would have to be restrained from having, at minimum, very loud words with the person.
So, last night and tonight, I finally watched Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
My impressions on superficial matters (characters' appearances) -
What have they done with Captain Pike's hair? C'mon, people, Anson Mount is one of the best-looking actors ever to play a Starfleet captain and they've moussed up/swirled back his hair? Why? His hair was perfectly reasonable and attractive and straight when he appeared in Discovery? If the actor has gone bald, find him a better wig. He's still hot, though, particularly with that little hint of a smile that often breaks through under stress, except when he contemplates really bad stuff (like the horrible fate that eventually awaits him).
In a similar vein, who came up with the stupid idea of putting so much lip gloss on Number One's lips? She's got a very nice-looking mouth that does not need so much lip gloss to be attractive or even visible, it just seems silly. (and they should ditch that ridiculous upswept bun they sometimes inflict on the character's hair unless they really want to make a woman as beautiful as Rebecca Romijn look like she's 60 instead of almost 50)
Other impressions -
Do Dr. Mbenga and Number One have an understated thing going on? I hope so; they are very believable as friends/maybe more than friends. And he's hot as well as smart; any intelligent woman would go for him. I have a feeling there's going to be an episode centering on that child he's parked in the transporter stream - this has been done before and it usually doesn't end well for the scientist/doctor's offspring. Hope they'll change that ending; no one wants to watch a child die even on a TV drama.
I love the running Enterprise Bingo game. I was ROFL watching Officer Khan Noonien Singh and Number One going Good Cop Bad Cop and the hapless (stupid teens-I-mean-ensigns) young officers.
Younger Spock is more human/emotional than Original 1960's Spock. Interesting. The recent movies had me convinced of his passion for Uhura; now he's hitting the hay with T'Pring (though Younger T'Pring seems to be a young lady who is going to definitely lose patience with a long waiting game; I can see why she'd turn to another man when Spock left her alone while continuing his 5-year mission).
Spock Amok is my definite favorite of the first five episodes. I think there some plotholes; but I was enjoying the episode too much to get bogged down in them.
I am happily anticipating the rest of Season 1; and hoping they give Pike better hair in Season 2.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
