Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Season One

Buckle up. This is gonna be a long-ass review. We have a lot to talk about. I suspect many longtime Trekkies won't much like what I have to say. Or maybe they'll think I'm right. I'm not the comet in this episode. I can't see the future.

First off all, I need to talk about second episodes a bit. What my expectations for them are, and how I review them. I have found that as far as episodic television goes, second episodes tend to be MUCH more instructive about a show's eventual quality than the Pilot is. This is especially true for the second episode of episodic science fiction. They are the first regular episode of the series. A Pilot sets up so much, and a second episode shows the viewer how they can expect the show to operate from week to week. If a show is great, the second episode is almost always worse than the Pilot (and sometimes by a lot). Good shows usually take a few episodes to find their footing. This was a little worse than last week, but still pretty great. And as far as Star Trek goes, I think in a lot of respects it feels better than The Original Series. Particularly the character of Spock. Of course, Ethan Peck is not as great in the role as Leonard Nimoy was. But I think this show's Spock is better written than he was on the old show. And frankly, I think a lot of that DID have to do with Leonard Nimoy. The guy is a beloved institution for good reason, but one thing people don't like to remember is that he was VERY protective of how Spock was portrayed. In my mind too much so. If an Original Series writer had come up with the humming scene Nimoy would have certainly refused to do it. I know, "Row, Row, Row your boat.". But that scene was in a film that was directed by a close personal friend after he'd been playing the character for 25 years. I feel when it comes to Spock, Strange New World's version might wind up more interesting than the original simply because Ethan Peck is game for anything.

I also want to be very clear about something. I don't actually blame Nimoy for this. In the 1960's especially, TV stars had far too much power and input, and yeah, vanity. It was not a personal failing on Nimoy's end. The vanity involved for TV and movie actors back then was simply considered normal. They demanded a LOT from their writers and producers and also refused to do scenes they felt might embarrass them. It was a different culture and a different time. And that's why I think this version of Spock will be more interesting. What I like especially is that I don't feel like any of the things he's done so far are actually out of character. Whether Nimoy would have permitted them or not, they still feel entirely true to the character, which is kind of amazing. Nobody will ever beat Leonard Nimoy for Spock. But perhaps the writers of this show will be allowed to stretch boundaries Nimoy would never have permitted. I think that's likely at this point.

Nimoy definitely lightened up a bit later in life. His appearances on both The Simpsons and Futurama suggest he stopped taking himself too seriously at some point.

I scowled at the recap at the beginning of the episode. I hope that's the only one, and only done because it's the second damn episode. But episodic television should NOT have recaps every week. They should only have them for two-parters.

We got far more information about Nyoto Uhura in the dinner scene than we got in three seasons of The Original Series and Six Movies. While J.J. Abrams has gotten some praise for finally giving the character something to actually do, we still didn't learn too much about her (other than making her name from the novels canon). Uhura having a tragic backstory, and sort of being iffy on Starfleet, is nothing we've gotten before. I liked how cool Pike was with Uhura being unsure about Starfleet. Frankly, I think everyone in Starfleet SHOULD be viewing their career differently from one another, and I think the Universal "Starfleet is the be-all and end-all goal for humanity" in the first five series is NOT a very human way to look at things. Some people love their jobs. But some people don't. It would be weird if everyone in Starfleet DID love their jobs.

I love that the Chief Engineer is a blind Aenar. Star Trek: Enterprise IS the worst Star Trek series (sorry Discovery haters, you are wrong about that show being the worst) but Season 4 was mostly good except for the horrible series finale, and I thought the idea of the Andorians and the Aenar were an interesting addition to the canon. Considering that Discovery doesn't actually seem all that interested in Star Trek lore, that specific Deep Cut on this show impressed me. Him showing off what he could do with Spock was beyond cool.

The mission was interesting because I think even ten years later the Prime Directive would have prevented the Enterprise from interfering with a comet destroying the planet. I found Pike's bemused reactions to the Shepherd quite entertaining, but what I like especially is that as far as mysterious aliens go, the Shepherd is far easier to understand than the primitive aliens who spoke in badly-written riddles the old show embarrassingly used every other week. When the Shepherd asks Pike if he is a reasonable man, I knew the Shepherd's intentions were good, and the lesson at the end would be that Pike needs to be more reasonable. And I like that the moral was allowed to stand for Pike, because outside of the Organians, Kirk's ongoing and obnoxious dumbassery week in and week out is simply allowed to stand. And again, it was a different time and era. But I'm looking forward to a Star Trek series that might suggest we could learn as much (if not more) from the aliens we encounter than they learn for us. That was a big reason I preferred The Next Generation to be honest, and to get that in a show set in this era feels like a treat.

Also episodes like this could not have been done on The Original Series because they would not have the budget for visual effects even approaching this in the 1960's. Part of me dislikes the episode for that, and for the fact that the Enterprise looks very different than it should. But unlike the Klingon make-up in Discovery, I don't think the stylistic changes or noticeably better effects and sets are done because of licensing issues. It's because they can. Yeah, I nerded out on The Next Generation episode "Relics" for building an almost exact replica of the original Enterprise bridge. And regardless of whether it feels comfortable (or even canon), I have to concede it LOOKS better here. Maybe that's enough. Maybe not for purists. But maybe that means I'm not a purist after all.

I don't suspect most of my reviews for this show will be this long, but I did feel the need to add some context about my judgments of second episodes. But I thought this was a solid week, and if this is the show demonstrating a "regular episode", I am most certainly going to be a very happy viewer most weeks. ****.

Best episode so far. That's not a huge brag as it's only the third, but it's the first one I will be giving five stars.

As a rule, contagion episodes on Star Trek suck. Considering we live in a Post-Covid era, doing one on the new show is a no-brainer however, so I don't actually begrudge them for it. I do feel this episode worked because it tied a lot of other additional interesting elements to the plague. The plague revealed new facets to the characters, and in some cases, those reveals opened up Strange New Worlds. Neat trick, right?

I mentioned before I like this show more than The Original Series. That specific opinion of mine is destined to be common. Why? Because this show is exploring Starfleet's bigotry towards Augments and Illyrians and are judging humanity harshly for it. Gene Roddenberry would never have permitted that. Correction, he WOULD be permitted the crew to hate Augments with no self-awareness that that is a form of prejudice. Roddenberry had amazing blind spots about those kinds of things, and I value this show for finding the 23rd Century humans struggling with the same crap WE struggle with, just aimed in a different direction. I seem to recall Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was considered controversial for the original cast and producers due to exploring ACTUAL bigotry using our characters. Here's a notion: That's why it has value. It's not the one Star Trek Original Series project outside of Gene's message. It's the only one that feels relevant to our world and situation, and suggests a realistic and unpleasant truth about humanity. And I like this episode for the same reason.

Surprisingly no-one, Singh is Khan's descendant. I heard people dismissing this show ahead of time for supposedly teasing Khan and breaking the continuity, but it was clear to me this was always going to be the situation. People angrily screaming "Retcon!" were mostly people unfamiliar with the canon. This is how things like this work in this franchise. Relax. Khan himself will NOT be appearing. He never was going to.

I'd be inclined to call Pike and Spock's stuff on the planet the highlight of the episode, if all of the rest of the episode wasn't great.

One of the biggest regrets about the pilot "The Cage" being retooled by NBC, was losing the character of Number One. Number One was fascinating. She originally had Mr. Spock's role as the logical and emotionless crew member (Nimoy as Spock shows a startling level of emotion in the Pilot. Witness him hilariously bellowing, "The women!") And as her character was dropped with zero explanation, we never understood the context for her alienation and quiet cool.

The show has (wisely) retconned the idea that she's logical and emotionless, but the cool, confident (and yet distant) demeanor is very well explained by giving her this specific backstory.

Dr. M'Benga's secret was also a great surprise, and added depth to a character who was basically simply "present" on The Original Series. I now care about him in a way I didn't before.

The episode was very much about people in authority showing some grace to people who have messed up, and are willing to own up to it. Number One refusing to write up Singh for striking her, Pike refusing to accept Number One's resignation despite her lying to get into Starfleet, Number One helping M'Benga keep his daughter alive despite it breaking every regulation. I like and value this show because so far, it's the Star Trek show questioning Starfleet rules and regulations. And I dig that very much.

I mentioned in a previous review it's unlikely this show will ever stir my passion the way Deep Space Nine and Picard have. But I think it DOES have the potential to be my third favorite series in my Trekkie heart. It is very crowd-pleasing and accessible (unlike both DS9 and Picard, which are polarizing). There is something to be said for a Star Trek series that is just plain easy to enjoy week in and week out. *****.

Great episode.

We don't actually see the Gorn here but we ARE given some context for them. And they are terrifying.

I love that the crew members who die on this show aren't just forgotten. They are given funerals and considered heroes. A far cry from Star Trek's Red Shirt days.

Michael Burnham is indirectly referenced during the mind-meld. Good Discovery continuity.

Hemmer is a very interesting character. I predict he's gonna be a fan-favorite.

This show is knocking it out of the park every week. It has yet to deliver a bad episode. ****1/2.

This show has yet to deliver a bad episode. That being said, this was the weakest episode so far.

There were things I definitely liked. Here's the best exchange:

T'Pring as Spock: "I don't like hijinks."

Spock as T'Pring "Unfortunately, hijinks may be the most logical course of action."

I also laughed at Number One's "What the hell is Enterprise Bingo?"

But the moment I love most was Captain Pike's "hunch" about how the alien's empathy worked. It looks sort of like reverse psychology, but there's more nuance to it than that here. I feel like people who use reverse psychology are mistreating the people they are trying to trick. I felt Pike's honesty was cool because they were all Damn Good Points. Even if Pike scared them off joining the Feds after all, the neat thing about the speech is that it would have had them begging off the Klingons and Romulans too. The good thing about it is even if they rejected the Federation that speech gave them license to reject the bad guys too and stay out of everybody's way. Is that in the Federation's best interest? No. But them being neutral is their SECOND best interest.

Also I feel like Pike is actually right that not every planet is a good fit for the Federation. The Federation needs to stop acting like unaligned planets are like Pokemon and they gotta catch 'em. Federation membership doesn't make sense for everyone. Starfleet read Sisko the riot act for using his influence as Emmisary to the Prophets to get Bajor to reject Federation membership while the Dominion War loomed, but that was the right decision, and probably saved Bajor itself. Not every planet, and even every FREE planet should be in Starfleet. I liked the episode for questioning it.

Unfortunately, I am just about heartbroken about Christine Chapel. This is the first time we've really seen this iteration of the character up close and it is ALL wrong. It's not as wrong as the Klingon monster make-up on Discovery. But it's wrong for the same reasons. You can't say this Earthy, in-your-face woman, who successfully not only gets into Spock's head, but earns his admiration is the same character Majel Barrett played. Aside from the fact that TOS Chapel was aloof and distant, and not a people person, her every waking moment was spent pining for Spock and being hurt by his rejection (and enchanted by his mystery). You can argue the character sucks for that. I'll even agree. But you can't say this is that same character and have it fit into the canon. It simply doesn't.

I will defend La'an Noonian Singh's place on the show with my dying breath. But this Chapel is as off as anything done on Discovery.

Chapel pointed out something most body swapping episodes forget: You switch bodies with a different gender, you're gonna want to check out the equipment. Farscape got a BIG laugh by being the first sci-fi to show this true thing. If I ever switch bodies with a woman, the first thing I am going to do is masturbate. It's weird sci-fi other than Farscape doesn't seem to grasp that. But how that works in my mind is my biggest unanswered question about women, and I'm betting more than a few of them question what it is about that that makes men so dumb and irrational and would do the same. Spock as T'Pring saying he never considered that while looking down is both funny and not damn good enough at the exact same time.

I don't actually believe men and women are all that different in thought and demeanor. I reject that idea entirely, probably because I've dated a female sociopath. MY biggest questions about women are biological. I think men and women are pretty similar psychologically, even if no-one but me would ever admit that.

I'm not loving the solar sailing ship. This was an entirely different model than the Bajoran ones seen in Deep Space Nine's "Explorers", but the design looks updated and cooler, because the better modern effects are now affordable. Still, if these things are well-known, it doesn't fit the canon that Cardassians are surprised one of the Bajoran ones made it to Cardassia. Another wonky canon thing.

I like hijinks myself. I also like hunches. Do I like party animal Christine Chapel? Not even a little bit. ***1/2.

This is a significant episode. Why? Because it did something no Star Trek show has done since at least Deep Space Nine (if I'm being charitable) but possibly not since The Next Generation. Sticklers might argue since The Original Series. What? What was so big?

It did a new sci-fi convention. It was the tribute to The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, a truly horrifying story by Ursula K Le Guin made tolerable for the simple fact that a narrative for it doesn't truly exist, and it's all theoretical. And yet Star Trek doing a "new" sci-fi high concept trope hasn't been done for decades.

Star Trek has dealt with human sacrifice before, but only with adults, and the Enterprise always puts things right by the end of the episode. Like the kid in Omelas you aren't allowed to hand a drink of water, the child here is not saved. It's the parable of Omelas put into an actual narrative which is what makes it so horrible. And it's a perfect representation of the parable because Pike doesn't take the hard road and stay and fix it, or devote his life to doing so. He walks away. In Le Guin's fable, people who know the truth about Omelas and walk away supposedly go to a better place, possibly Heaven (it is left ambiguous). But I disagree with Le Guin's conclusion. The people who deserve Heaven aren't those who wash their hands of Omelas. They are people like the colonists and the guard here who are actively trying to fix the horrible situation, even if it makes Omelas fall. Le Guin never offers the true opinion that Omelas deserves to fall, and that anyone who defies the scenario instead of either accepting it or walking away from it is the actual righteous person. The people who have left to regroup on a crap planet to figure out way to stop this obscenity are the heroes, and people who merely walk away (or like Pike, beam away) are not. I believe the true parable of Omelas is not the strength of will to reject a gruesome situation. You have to be willing to do something about it. To let the walls of Omelas fall and give that dirty disabled kid a drink of water. Because they deserve to and it's the right thing to do. The true moral to Omelas, and this episode, to me is simply that the ends don't justify the means. And Pike is not willing to put in the work to fix it. Because he has a LOT else going on, granted, but him walking away is not a moral victory. Not like the kid's father pledging to join the insurrectionists.

I initially thought that guy was the worst father ever. But he treats the kid badly because he's not supposed to get attached to him. But he can't help it. He's his son. Which is the right reaction.

The stuff with M'Benga was interesting, and I like that the kid forces a half-smile out of Spock. But truly, the only subplot worth remarking on is Noonian Singh's security officer slave driver training. Kirk could have used Singh. Her rule of "use your tricorder for examination, and NEVER touch anything," would have saved the lives of roughly 80% of the Red Shirts on The Original Series.

Most of the episode was a bit dry until we get to the meat of the Omelas scenario. This show has yet to deliver a bad episode. Even the dry episodes wind up pretty amazing, when all is said and done.

Is this the last new sci-fi trope Star Trek will ever explore? Could be. But if you asked me before tonight I would have said there weren't any left. And I could never, EVER have pictured this franchise doing Omelas because every earlier incarnation would have either chickened out or bought it back. Are there similar hardcore sci-fi ideas out there Trek might be willing to try in modern times? I don't know, but the fact that there might be excites me like nobody's business. ****.

This is going to be an overwhelmingly positive review with a couple of major negative notes. I think I won't either start with them, or save them for last. I'll try to talk about them as organically as possible.

I have to say I love Captain Pike more than Captain Kirk. By like a lot. It's genius that he offers to cook the Pirates a good meal. He's not just a good Federation captain, he's a shrewd diplomat in being instantly able to size up what a person needs or would value. Him being a good cook isn't outside of Star Trek Captains either (Sisko was bit of a gourmand).

I am very happy with that Sybok ending. And I give Eugene Roddenberry a LOT of credit for overriding his father about that. By the end of his life, Roddenberry was making things as uncomfortable and complicated for the franchise as possible. One of the ways he did that is declare parts of Star Trek V, specifically Sybok's lineage. "apocryphal", which is undermining the entire franchise. It was such a dirtbag thing to do, so of course Brannon Braga, the worst thing to ever happen to Star Trek, attempted to say Voyager's "Threshold" wasn't canon either, but out of embarrassment, rather than spite. I love Star Trek: Lower Decks for having the courage to make a liar out of Braga years later, and I similarly punch the air for this episode reiterating, "Everything we saw back then actually happened." Does the series and the Kurtzman era play fast and loose with canon? Absolutely. And it pisses me off. What I like about acknowledging the hot messes of Sybok and "Threshold" is the Kurtzman and Roddenberry Jr. era is not dismissing people who worked hard on a previous Star Trek project, simply because the producer didn't like it. If Braga was truly ashamed of that "Threshold" script, he shouldn't have submitted it, much less brought it to air. Since he did, he has an obligation to stand by it (as stupid as the story was) and not basically tell the director and actors on the show they don't matter. A canon exists as to what is on-screen (for good or ill). If Discovery or Picard (or this show) does a retcon, I like that the Sybok thing is suggesting that is a failing (or conscious decision) of the current stuff. As far as the producers are concerned, all of the original stuff happened, even if some of the writers haven't seen everything, and their work lazily contradicts stuff. I much prefer knowing the Kurtzman era is wrong, and Star Trek V and Voyager are now official parts of the canon, no matter what those whiny producers said at the time. That's a win for honest storytelling.

Memo to show: Whatever Sybok stuff you show, keep Uhura out of it. That will be a tall order, but it will be a necessity.

Stonn appears, which is great, although if the show does it right, they won't really show an evolution or love story between him and T'Pring. I think that probably only happened once Spock roundly ignored her during Kirk's tenure. He's still quite an attentive fiance here, which if you think about it, makes Amok Time Spock's treatment of T'Pring even more horrible in hindsight. You kind of got the idea that Vulcans kept their love lives and professional lives SO separate they only had sex every seven years, and never saw their loved ones in between, which is a ridiculous notion. Nerdy fans are gonna complain that it's out of character that Spock is not ashamed of sex here, but being so is actually illogical. Yeah, it involves emotions and attachments, and it's hella messy. But it's also a part of the biological experience, and a truly logical species would understand that. The Star Trek novels (which are admittedly hit or miss) have shown Vulcan romances and sex encounters that weren't Pon Farr before, so I won't hear people saying this is outside of the franchise. And even if it were, I think that was a franchise weakness that should be ignored, if I'm being honest.

One of the two things I didn't like was the reveal that Aspen was actually the head pirate Angel. Tell me if my anger is unjustified there. But my logic goes, I don't like feeling shammed. It's one thing to show characters being taken in by a con, but to have a character so fully fool the audience doesn't feel like a clever twist. I feel as embarrassed and betrayed as Spock does. I don't actually believe it is out of line for writers and producers to take a viewer's feelings into account about things like that. She was TOO good of a therapist and TOO healthy for Spock, so I'm way more pissed than if the betrayal had occurred during more standard non-personal interactions with the crew. There is a difference between a surprise twist you don't see coming, and being deliberately made to feel stupid. And I did. I was going to comment in my review how dumb it was for a counselor to wear a face tattoo, an ear full of rings, and a belly-shirt, but truthfully Troi's boobs hanging out every week made that plausible. I don't like being made the fool in such a bald way. And yeah, I argue that writers SHOULD take the audience's feelings, (and even pride) into account about things like this. I will never thank or praise the show for making me feel stupid. And I feel that that's what a lot of praise for similar unexpected twists is for. A series making you feel dumb doesn't make the series smart and clever. It makes it less enjoyable. You can feel free to disagree about this, but I'm not going to change my mind.

The other thing I didn't like was the kiss between Chapel and Spock. I half-appreciated that they cooled it at the end, and that Chapel was much more, well SANE, about the subject than she ever was on The Original Series. But really, that's also my problem with it. This level of emotional maturity should not be occurring ten years before the hot mess Majel Barrett played. Basically, in this episode Spock gave Christine everything she ever wanted for Christmas, so if I keep this episode in mind when I rewatch the old show (and I will) I'll have to think TOS Chapel is crazy. And I will. Because the Sybok stuff says everything we saw back in the day actually happened. It simply appears Chapel is going to devolve and go bonkers, which as bad a message as the character already sent on the first show, somehow makes it even worse.

Yeah, Pike, no pirate impressions at the end. You have become my third favorite captain after Picard and Sisko (in remarkably short order, no less) but that's painful.

I'm loving and enjoying this show. And one of the things I love most about it is it's imperfect and gives me controversies worth talking about. It's great. ****1/2.

I liked this the least of all of the episodes so far. It definitely did some things right. But I was disappointed to the resolution of the story of Dr. M'Benga's daughter. It was a BIG ending, which is good, but I also feel that it came too soon. I was looking forward to him having an arc of finding a cure for her.

I thought the fairytale stuff was more stupid than it was amusing. But truthfully, Anson Mount and Christina Chong are far more game for silliness than you'd picture those characters being.

I would have liked it better if Pike's "jinx" had been allowed to stand at the beginning. It's SUCH a cliche, and it would have been refreshing to acknowledge that superstitions aren't true. But of course, it IS Star Trek, and the ship DOES need to go on an adventure, but it's still kind of aggravating.

I'll tell you one thing it did right that most current genre refuses to do. It committed to the premise. I seem to recall a recent episode of The Flash had a similar unexplained high-concept mystery, but they spoiled what was going on because they felt the need to do a flipping B story. This is Star Trek, damn it! It COMMITS to the high-concepts. Cutting back to B stories is the kind of weak, punkass move that's appropriate for trash like The Flash, not freaking Star Trek. We take our inexplicable nonsense VERY seriously, thank you very much. And, no, that's NOT a tribble on Mr. Shatner's head. It's just his perm. They are both equally fictional though, so I see the confusion.

I also liked seeing Hemmer wasn't effected, because it raised the stakes and mystery to find out it was actually happening, and realize that it's not just a hallucination on M'Benga's end. I would have liked it if he been allowed to remember what happened at the end though.

It was all right but imperfect. Television in a nutshell. ***.

That was the best horror movie Star Trek ever did. Really leaned into the TV-14 aspect of it all.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I DO believe Hemmer's death probably counts as the first good Star Trek death EVER. Data and Q got good exits on Star Trek: Picard too, but not like this.

I think Hemmer is probably the fan-favorite character, and I think the show knew it, which is why killing him is such a gutsy move. And he imparts on Uhura the lessons she needs to learn. To be honest, I would prefer it if Uhura takes a sabbatical from Starfleet until Kirk's era. Any future Sybok stuff will be MUCH less messy if she isn't on-board.

Speaking of Kirk, Samuel fills me with distaste. I don't know if the show was taking a legit shot at Kirk himself for making his brother so loathsome and racist, but it's not lost on me the first cruddy Starfleet member on this show is named Kirk. I don't consider that a coincidence.

I think they overpowered the Gorn here. Now it makes no sense that one seemed evenly matched with Kirk on The Original Series.

Lotsa interesting Spock stuff going on. But I'm still unhappy with Chapel's portrayal.

I like that when Pike schedules an impromptu meeting, he cooks something nice. That is a really cool facet to give that character and I'm glad they are returning to it.

I will miss Hemmer but the episode he sacrificed himself during will go down as an all-time classic. *****.

I loved the episode and I'm giving it five stars. And yet part of me just doesn't buy what the episode is selling about James T Kirk. First of all, Kirk is shown in this episode to be far more cunning, intelligent, and reasonable than he was in every single episode on The Original Series. And that's not even a question. So if you want to argue Pike is a lesser Captain for the moment than THIS specific Kirk, I get it. But the Kirk on The Original Series blundered through the galaxy, and I think really, if he made the "correct" decision in "Balance Of Terror" it boiled down to a coincidence that the Romulans of that era were as brash and stupid as he was, and respected that. Many times Picard's reasonableness has seemed VERY attractive to the Romulans, so Pike getting stuck with an insane populist Praetor seems more like rotten luck than anything else.

I think what budged me in favor of accepting the scenario is knowing Future Pike had indeed tried to game things out several ways and each time led to the death of Spock, who is frankly the biggest wheel down at the cracker factory regarding the Romulans. No peace would have ever been possible without him. First him (and then Picard) are basically the reasons Vulcan was reunified. And knowing Spock's death seems to be a fixed point if Pike lives means him telling himself that lets him know that isn't gonna work.

I have very curious about the Klingons at the monastery Future Pike came from. Are they Turtle Headed Klingons from the movies, Next Generation, and Deep Space Nine? Or the Augment Klingons from The Original Series and Enterprise? Or the appalling monster Klingons from Discovery? Considering Future Pike's Uniform, I hope they are the Turtles Heads (although I'll accept the Augments in a crunch). I hope like hell we never see the monsters again. Holy crap were the first two seasons of Discovery an utter mess.

Have I noted in a previous Star Trek review how awful the movie uniforms have always looked? I love Wrath Of Khan and The Voyage Home as much as anybody. But the costuming was outright dreadful.

Starfleet taking Una Riley in custody at the end feels extremely unjust and another example of the show showing seamier aspects to Starfleet and the Federation than we were used to. I never really bought that Julian Bashir was in THAT much real trouble over the fact that he was essentially an Augment. This episode tells me his fears about both his career and freedom were well-founded. Whatever Starfleet was in the 22nd Century, and whatever the humans there were, they were still far less evolved than Picard's era. And that's how society works. I think until this show we had simply assumed that once humanity reached its supposed full potential it plateaued and everything past that was sunshine and farts. In reality, the humans from Kirk's era happened to be less evolved than the humans from Picard's era. And Una Riley being arrested for who she is is proof positive of that.

How is the guy playing Kirk? He doesn't have the voice or the Shatner cadences down right. He's better than Chris Pine, but so is a kick in the head. Also, not to be indelicate, but he's far too lean and thin. Kirk was also notable to me because he seemed to have an actual weight problem at times. Shatner's body type went a lot of different places during his tenure. Except for the skinny, lean body type. He never had that.

We hear Scotty, but it's wise we don't see him. If they bring him in in the future, that just means they can cast who they want.

That was great finale. I don't love this show as much as I do Star Trek: Picard. But it's my second favorite Kurtzman era show by like a MILE. I look forward to Season 2. *****.