The first episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been released.
It has been nearly two years since the world learned that the next live-action Star Trek would see Anson Mount return as the captain of the ship.
The last time we saw Captain Christopher Pike was in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery, three years ago.
In the episode Through the Valley of the Shadows, we learn that the planet Boreth is notable for two things: a monastery and a rare mineral. To be granted permission to take a time crystal, Pike had to consent to being exposed to a part of his future.
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In approximately 10 years, we can see that in an old class J starship, a baffle plate broke and exposed many helpless trainees and cadets to deadly delta-particle radiation. The cadets are dragged from the danger but are crippled by the rays. He eventually returns to Talos IV with Spock's help. Since that very powerful vision, this has been a cause of distress for Pike.
The premiere episode, also entitled Strange New Worlds, is a veritable Aladdin's cave of Easter eggs and all the technology has been updated visually. It looks stunning and hopefully we won't have to suffer through too many just-for-the-sake-of-it visual effects.
The overall look and feel of this new show is very much a mix of The Original Series and the 2009 movie.
The casting looks promising with lots of new faces to old characters that hopefully we will become invested in them over the next 10 weeks. There is a lot of room to expand the history for all of the main cast and the seeds are sewn almost immediately, beginning with Pike as we see him riding his horse through some stunning snowy scenery before arriving at an equally stunning wooden winter lodge.
The finale of Star Trek: Picard will leave you feeling short changed.
The updated short-range shuttles look gorgeous as the first captain of the ship, Robert April, instructs Pike that his first officer, Una Chin-Riley, has gone missing. This is the first time that Adm. April has been changed, so to speak, adding to the richness that is slowly building with all of these characters.
Booker Bradshaw and Babs Olusanmokun played Dr. M&Benga in "The Original Series", but he only appeared briefly. This is also true for Nurse Christine Chapel and we think Jess Bush, who plays her now, will have a chance to bring even more depth to the character.
Mr. Spock has made that role his own. As a special treat, we get an insight into Vulcan courting rituals as we find him moments away from consummating his engagement to his long time partner T&Pring. It is a great scene with great dialogue. When Number One is in trouble, even a night of no-holds-barred hanky-panchy with a view of the Voroth Sea from the clouded shores of Raal has to get put on the back burner.
Ever actor who has ever played our favorite character on Star Trek, Spock.
Along the way to planet Kiley, we are introduced to other new members of the bridge crew.
While this is understandable given this is his first time back in the center seat since the Discovery sped off to the future, it seems to be presented to us that he is still having difficulty dealing with his post-traumatic stress as a result of the experience on Boreth. It could have been carried over a number of episodes. It is still early days, so it could still happen.
The crew of the Enterprise found Chin-Riley's starship in high altitude. The surface scans are consistent with pre-warp society and there is a warp signature on the surface. We learn that it is not a warp drive but a warp bomb, which brings us to probably the only real criticism in this episode.
The beings on this world were able to observe the hullaballoo with Control through ground-based telescopes. Number One calls it the "zero point" in space where Discovery opened up a wormhole to the future and it is only one light year from this planet. It is further than the distance from Earth to Pluto. Number One explains that the various telescopes were good enough to see us. They collected enough data to reverse engineer a reactor.
The basic plot captures the spirit of any number of The Original Series episodes by incorporating disguise, infiltration, capture and escape, then it is back to the Enterprise for tea and medals. Sam Kirk, brother of James Tiberius Kirk, arrives in the first episode of the new season to bring a moral message from Pike to the people of Kiley.
The opening credits are exceptional, along with a theme that masterfully adapts The Original Series. There are many Easter eggs, ranging from fairly obvious to second time around. The production team is using their augmented reality wall to great effect. It feels like it could've been a two-parter, but we don't like having an episodic format, so much so that it feels like it could've been a two-parter.
A lot of the very best of Star Trek was crammed into the first episode of the new show. Every episode should feel like it has something to give. This could be the best Trek on TV.
The rating was 8/10.
The entire second season of Star Trek: Picard and the first episode of Strange New Worlds are now available on Paramount Plus. Outside of North America, the Pluto TVSci-fi channel is available.
The Sky Cinema subscription for the UK cable provider will be included in the price of Paramount's streaming platform, which will launch in the UK and Ireland on June 22.
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