Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

The only thing strange about this series is the notion its radically different from Picard and Discovery. As far as I'm aware it utilises essentially the same team, who created the other "new Trek" shows. In my opinion, its writing is mediocre, full of plot holes and predictably woke. Sure, the political correctness has been toned down but it's still there, in all its fussy, lecturing, needy, simpering glory. I tried one episode and that was more than enough for me to walk away. To my mind, this is original Star Trek "dress up" devoid of the quality story telling, wit and honest charm, that made the original series a sci fi cult classic. Sorry but this "aint Jim Kirk" or anything even close......

This series is a great relief from the altogether forgettable drama arcs in the most recent of the 2020s Star Trek series. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds throws back to the episodic 'Lesson of the Day' format familiar to and loved by the fans of TOS, TNG, and VOY. The episodes are written in the same style with somewhat standard plot lines that make the series feel fresh with takes on modern morality and a broad range of character archetypes. Watching the series feels like a welcomed step back in time. Stories can be told in 45 minutes without needing cliffhangers to keep the audience engaged. Character development is well integrated. Writing this at the end of Season 1 the series has yet to prove itself a more worthy prequel than Enterprise in the question of revisionist history. There are many pitfalls to avoid for any prequel series and so far Strange New Worlds has navigated them with few questionable decisions. The first season was truly great Star Trek. I have hopes that the second season will be just as great or better than the first.

***** Some folks should not write reviews. Their negativity so obviously reveals their desperate need to sound cultured and knowledgeable; straining to sound relevant as if they have an opinion that matters because of their vast experience as a filmmaker. All the while taking a break from playing video games in their mom's basement to try to find problems with a program they streamed. Each of the Star Trek series had their own personalities, their own charms and attractions, and their own foibles. The common thread separating them from other sci fi being a fable daring the viewer to think about their preconceptions and the things that they believed are true. This isn't "woke", it isn't preachy. Its putting a story in front of a shallow, narrow minded audience (like those who use labels like "woke" and "preachy") and challenging them to first even recognize what's happening and then to think about it and their own world view. I remember watching the original Star Trek series on my parents black and white tv. Each week seemed like another message that challenged my young views and beliefs. And it seemed that, like now, so many think more about critiquing the medium and never consider the message. I've watched and enjoyed to varying degrees all of the trek series (even the animated one!). This Trek is different. Its not Next Gen, its not Enterprise, its not DS9 or voyager. Its not even Discovery even though it seems to have grown from that branch. No, this Trek is the first one that feels like the original series. It took nearly 60 years, but i think they finally re-captured the lightening in the bottle that made Gene Roddenberry's "wagon train to the stars" so special. Sadly, like the original Trek, the average shallow viewer focuses on minutia and just doesn't get it. I fear that, like the original Trek, this one will go the way of the pearl before the swine. I hope its not the case, because this one, perhaps more than the others that were commercially successful, deserves to go the distance.