Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Season 3

Sorry, M'Benga, those are zombies!

I was all on-board M'Benga having to answer for the assassination of the Klingon Ambassador, but I am NOT okay with Pike covering for him at the end after all. On the other hand, if this story ISN'T actually over, it just became a thousand times more complicated if Pike now knew and said nothing. It makes him complicit in the cover-up and an accessory to the murder. I'm pissed at how the episode ended. But it's possible the way it ended will make a future episode MUCH tougher on Pike, the crew, and the entire Federation. I can't object to that.

I don't know what is precisely what is going on with Ortegas so her insubordination is annoying to me. I don't even know if this is entirely her fault or if she even deserves blame at all. The lack of context here hurt this story as well.

Spock's mind-meld with Batel was pretty fucked up. THAT'S never happened before. Let's not do that again, m'kay?

I can't tell if Pike is the best boyfriend ever to Batel or the worst. Both, maybe?

The transporter room loses gravity and Scotty is floating for a hot minute. The show always needed to do that more, and the Secret Hideout stuff has value because the budget is big enough that it SOMETIMES can.

Okay, zombies in Star Trek are cool. And yet, I didn't like the rest of the things that happened in the rest of the episode. But I WILL concede that where Pike and M'Benga are concerned, it could lead to interesting complications down the line. I sincerely hope they occur by the end of this season. M'Benga getting away with this when the show is affirming his guilt (which we guessed, but was never proven) doesn't sit right with me at all. 3 stars.

I was disappointed by that.

That was an enticing teaser. Alternate Universe? Time travel?

Instead it's the first Holodeck fuck-up in Star Trek history. After ALL of the Holodeck fuck-ups we had to suffer through on The Next Generation and Voyager why the HELL does this show think I'd actually be interested in the very first?

I'll say this for Pike. That deathtrap almost kills his crew, he puts the entire thing in mothballs. That thing tried to kill the Enterprise D crew every week, and not only was it never removed, the very same damn people it tried to kill still go to it. To relax. For fuck's sake.

I mentioned in recent Star Trek reviews that the Roddenberry future is cold and uninviting and not one I'd like to live to see. That! That!

And apparently Holodecks were ALWAYS boring. That's not a good thing.

The Uhura stand-in giving the lecture of the value of science fiction, especially that of futurism and allegory is pretty great. And Paul Wesley does a pretty good Shatner. Save that, Paul. There will be a test later.

But the best part of the episode was Anson Mount's unrecognizable performance as the producer / Roddenberry stand-in. Because Pike is so stoic, and those are the kinds of hero roles the actor is always cast in, he never needed to stretch. It turns out he's a fantastic actor, and probably the most gifted one in the entire cast. He's a freaking chameleon with that shit right there.

The outtakes at the end did nothing for me.

Disappointing episode, but there has never been a single holodeck episode I've ever liked, and the only admirable thing about THIS one is Pike sensibly decides to get rid of it at the end like a sane person. What is Picard and Janeway's excuse? 2 1/2 stars.

There was something about Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager I didn't exactly like at the time, but I appreciated in hindsight. One of the selling points of story of the week Star Trek is the variations in tone. And those shows occasionally did a super dark, terrifying episode, with little to no comfort given to the audience during or after. It's just Trek Dark. DS9 in particular excelled at this. TNG and Voyager had their good dark stories, but more often than not (especially on Voyager) they couldn't quite stick the landings.

I see a lot of "Empok Nor" and "The Ship" in this episode. And people die because of bad decision making. I mean the ONLY reason the red shirt prison guard died is because his reaction to the creature that was Gamble was rash and stupid. The away team got as messed up as they did because they refused to do the rational thing and abandon the mission, even after they were ordered to (Twice!).

I mentioned there is no built-in-comfort in these types of stories. Which is why it's frustrating Pelia with her big personality and Carol Kane's fake accent are given "somber" moments they are. When she talking about the "heebie jeebies" in that specific voice, it's not scary, it's unintentionally funny.

The irony is that Pelia works great to release the tension at the end. Her ending monologue is kind of ridiculously torpid for that specific character, but when she asks the dude if she ought to do a second take, the comical nature of the character saves the moment, if not her entire role in the episode.

A lot of the horror Trek episodes refuse to have easy answers. If there is a high-concept sci-fi mystery attached it is usually left unresolved to make things THAT much scarier for both the viewer AND the survivors. I have to say as far as that kind of Trek horror goes, this is probably one of the best examples I've ever seen. The tension, the gross-outs, the terror, and the unsettling, unrelenting sense of foreboding and impending doom is upped to the Nth Degree for this outing.

M'Benga's defense of Gamble is heartbreaking, but I think Sam, Pelia, and Scotty had it right that he had actually been gone the entire time. I dunno. I don't feel based upon what we saw that anything was preventable once the orbs and his eyes exploded. And I might be wrong. And the uncertainty of that adds to the horror and ambiguity as well. Part of me hates every inch of the horror episodes. And this specific horror episode pushed EVERY single correct button at all times (Pelia's goofy accent excepted). Very effective horror episode of Star Trek. This franchise will never be confused for Alien. But even without scenarios or endings that dire and depressing, things can still get fucked up on the old Starship Enterprise, and good on a bad week. I prefer the weeks with Q fuckery myself, but I cover my eyes during these episodes, peeking through my fingers every time because I cannot look away. 4 1/2 stars.

This is not my favorite Star Trek show. I like Deep Space Nine, and yes, Picard more. But that's mostly due to the highs those series reached. Picard ESPECIALLY had its share of its lows. But the truth is Strange New Worlds is the Star Trek show of the most consistently high quality week in and week out. It never amazes me on the level of Deep Space Nine. But Star Trek is still one of my favorite franchises, and getting a four or five star episode damn nearly every week is a HUGE selling point to me. No, it doesn't have the political intrigue DS9 and Picard excelled at. But as far as weekly Star Trek goes, I honestly don't think the franchise has ever done it better.

I detest Captain Kirk. And what is cool about the episode is unlike last season, it doesn't retcon Shatner's versions' real flaws as selling points for Paul Wesley. The dude is legit making bad decisions due entirely to ego and prejudice. I wonder how wise it is to make the viewer question the wisdom of that here, because every time Kirk did that on The Original Series we were supposed to think he was brave, and that he was a hero. And I never did. And it's very interesting they are showing the very real flaws with that type of command style.

For the record, this is why I don't believe a Captain Kirk: Year One sequel series would ever work. The type of leader he was in the 1960's is completely out of touch with the values of most modern day Star Trek. And to give him a new show they would either have to write him entirely out of character, or basically undo the nuanced morals about humanity this show, Picard, and Discovery have taken great pains to illustrate. This is not a sci-fi hero for 2025. You can argue having a narcissistic blowhard leader totally fits in the age of Trump, but see, that's actually why it DOESN'T work. We have real world examples of the damage that does.

I find the times the show uses Kirk are almost always interesting. And yet this is NOT remotely a character who should lead a modern era Star Trek show. Captain Kirk is a literal rapist. I think Strange New Worlds has its appeal with how awesome Captain Pike is. But Captain Kirk is an entirely different story.

I mentioned the risks the show, and Discovery and Picard were taking with the nuanced view of humanity and the suggestion that both human righteousness and villainy is NOT down to evolution, but choices. The Scavengers being human and Kirk feeling entirely guilty for essentially committing genocide against them pushes that right button. And another reason Kirk is not the proper Star Trek leader for our troubled times is he ONLY felt guilt about the genocide because they were human. The racist dickbag actually admits he didn't give a shit when he didn't know they were.

Pelia is getting increasingly annoying, but I love the idea of her hooking up old-fashioned rotary telephones to the systems to bypass communication blocks. Remember the gag in Star Trek VI: The Voyage Home where Scotty picks up the mouse and says, "Hello, computer." Ortegas having NO fucking idea what a telephone was, or even having heard of the concept of wired communication before is funny for the same reason.

I don't think the writers of the Original Show OR the Berman era stuff would ever do something like that. Not because the writers were better or worse. But because during the eras of the first five Star Trek series we were still very much within the era of telephone wires. This gag actually plays now that we are in a generation or two beyond that. And it's the same gag as Scotty and the mouse. The difference there is that was kind of a joke at Scotty's expense. Here it's is sort of a mindblowing idea to realize exactly how far from 20th Century life Starfleet actually is. And this is NOT something the earlier shows could have done or shown. It's only in the wireless era do we understand how far not just Star Trek's humanity has gone, but how far we're gone in the real-world too.

This show doesn't have an amazing character like Garak or Jean-Luc Picard. Spock, yes, but this version is very much a work in progress (although as we can see he brainstorms shockingly well with Kirk). And yet it's still the one Star Trek show I seem to massively enjoy nearly every damn week. How about that? 5 stars.

This show DOES like its gimmick episodes.

I think this was MOSTLY unsuccessful. But not entirely. For genre, I have found the Holy Grail of gimmick episodes are musicals and mockumentaries. I find it incredible how invested in both mediums genre is considering neither thing EVER makes good television when attempted by a non-musical or non-mockumentary show.

Musicals, I ALMOST get. They are probably fun to make, the cast can let down their hair, and for the most part it's a break from dire happenings. But the flipside is that almost NO musical episodes from genre, dramas, or comedy EVER work. In fact, most are atrocious, and that also describes Strange New Worlds' attempt last season. Genre is VERY invested in trying to make a plausible story reason for it to happen, and since almost NO genre has a flexible enough premise to do that credibly, producers of legit shows ask their viewers to shut off their brains. I don't believe that is a fair ask.

I am 49 years old. In my lifetime of watching a LOT of television I have seen exactly THREE good musical episodes. From Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Xena: Warrior Princess, and Batman: The Brave And The Bold. And people swear by "Once More, With Feeling", but it's problematic in a lot of respects (Child Bride Dawn and the Spuffy 'ship spring immediately to mind) and I felt a bit uncomfortable with the Xena episode too for putting her and Gabrielle through the emotional wringer. I'd almost compliment The Brave And The Bold for threading the needle better, but the truth is Deidrich Bader doesn't even sing his own songs! I mentioned the genre is almost impossible to pull off? That! That!

I know this isn't a musical. I'm letting you know most producers don't see gimmick episodes as an artistic endeavor. I don't believe they even see it as a creative challenge. It's a notch on the belt of getting to as many tropes as possible. Musical episodes are genre producers believing what they are doing makes their show special when in reality the desperation of the attempt just proves the show is ordinary.

Mockumentaries are MUCH harder. I'm trying to think of a good attempt of a genre show doing one and coming up entirely blank. To be fair, there are a couple of reality show / mockumentary episodes I dug (The X-Files' "X-COPS" and Justice League "Wild Cards" for example) but as much as I enjoyed those episodes as episodes of those shows, as mockumentaries go, they both sucked ass. Justice League is ALMOST excusable. It was a kids show, a cartoon, and did better than it had any right to. But like almost ALL mockumentary outings, "Wild Cards" eventually had to turn off the camera and turn into a regular episode. In order to truly work, the mockumentary episode has to commit FIRMLY to the bit. Likewise, "X-COPS" overexplained WHAT Mulder and Scully were doing on COPS and their "investigation", without writer Vince Gilligan ever remembering that shit NEVER happens on COPS. Mockumentary outings always feel the need to break or at least cheat the format for the sake of the story.

I have never written ANYTHING close to that idea, but I would think if I attempted it, the first thing I would make sure of is that the episode should NOT be intended to answer questions for the viewer the same way a regular episode does. The documentarian should NEVER be allowed as much insight as the viewer is afforded every other week so an effective use of the trope would have the episode's plot feeling a bit mysterious and as if we aren't getting the whole story. I have never seen a TV show willing to do this.

Do you know what's amazing? I bet David Lynch could have ROCKED a Twin Peaks mockumentary episode in his sleep. And made it look effortless. Because Lynch is the guy more interested in the process than he is the answers. And that's how a writer of a fictional TV show needs to approach it.

Hell, even mockumentaries that are mockumentaries the entire time like The Office and Parks And Recreation feel the need to cheat about stuff like that. But whenever the rest of television does it, it ups the cheating and unrealistic behavior ten-fold.

Let me briefly discuss how this episode stacked up to other attempts.

It stuck to the format the entire episode. It did not pull out for the last act, or even an epilogue to comfort the audience, and was pretty much a documentary the entire time. That's good. That's a positive. 9 out of 10 shows that attempt this cannot do even THAT much, which is in my mind the most essential thing.

As far as cheating goes? Tricky, unbelievable camera moves, the film crew conveniently catching conversations they had no business being near at all? The episode is just as big a mess as every other show that's tried this. And unlike "X-COPS" and "Wild Cards" (which both played the scenario for laughs) Star Trek has decided it is now Battlestar Fucking Galactica and turned Starfleet into this group of dour tortured emo soldiers. Yeah, when I write that down I see this is not the right franchise for this.

As a mockumentary it sucked butt. But I mentioned at the top the episode was NOT entirely worthless. In fact I would have really dug the story without the gimmick. I love the idea that Star Trek has spent 60 years decrying the concept of colonialism on paper (via the Prime Directive) while basically endorsing it in every other way by showing how it fucking ties the hands of the Enterprise crew every week and is always more trouble than it's worth. Star Trek: Enterprise channeling explorers like Columbus in their main title is apt because on some level Star Trek's colonialism IS as indefensible as that. It's just that Rick Berman and Brannon Braga were such a pair of clueless tools they didn't understand that comparison was negative rather than positive.

But I like the idea that there is NO part of Starfleet's mission here that is anything but colonialism, it's pure evil on every level, and the crew themselves has to say "Hold the fuck up." I like that the episode calls Starfleet on its shit. Uhura says at the end Starfleet is its people. And it better be, because while the people present are capable of steering it in the right direction in times of crisis, the truth is its first instinct is shit like that. And if I want to be completely truthful, if time wasn't such a factor, and Pike had been able to run by the brass what he planned to do beforehand, they would probably have overruled him, whether it was caught on camera or not. I think the only reason Starfleet released the classified parts of the footage they did ("in the name of transparency") is because Pike already did what he did, and took the wrong decision out of their hands. I believe if Pike had actually bothered going to them for guidance, they would have told him to shut up and follow orders, he would have, and that footage never would have seen the light of day.

Am I too cynical a Star Trek fan? I think in 2025 I'm probably actually not cynical enough.

The one-on-one interviews were a mixed bag. Christina Chong seemed to be trying a little too hard, and the idea that Uhura's relationship with Ortegas' brother was a mess caught on tape was ridiculous (documentary filmmakers don't put their personal lives in their projects). But I thought Pike's answers were kind of amazing and it's why he's up there with Picard and Sisko in my estimation. He's asked if he ever disobeyed a direct order. He closes his eyes in frustration, and then coolly smiles, "If I did, that would be classified." THAT is why Pike is awesome. I also loved when he's telling Ortegas' brother how hard it is for people to watch other people die, he pointedly tells him that it also sucks having to talk about it later when people ask questions. Also, ouch.

M'Benga's interviews are another reason the episode is failing the format. As far as murderous conspiracies go, Ortegas is VERY close to dropping the bomb on The Bad Doctor. But that's why the episode doesn't work. Ortegas changes his mind about Starfleet at the end. Documentaries always have a clear agenda and point to make. If Ortegas actually changed his mind, he simply would have cut out the shit with M'Benga and changed the entire tone of the documentary. Having the entire purpose and moral of the documentary change mid-project is rare enough (I think the last time that happened in real life was the Ren & Stimpy documentary a few years back) bit it sure as hell NEVER happens in the fucking film itself.

See, Strange New Worlds forgot it was supposed to be a documentary because it was too invested in being television. David Lynch would have ROCKED this idea in his sleep. He's dead now, and I still think his corpse would probably do a better job with the concept than any living director.

Like musical episodes, mockumentaries are something genre television needs to stay away from. But the truth is despite the fact that most musical episodes suck ass, the truth is most of them at least follow the premise (more or less) correctly, even if the story is ass, the cast can't sing, or worst of all, the songs are shit). Mockumentaries? TV REALLY wants to stick its nose in this premise, but it absolutely fucking REFUSES to offer the level of commitment and ambiguity needed to make a credible "news" episode of their show. I think TV would be better off not attempting something nobody has EVER succeeded at. Or at least if they DO attempt it, have the balls to understand that is a trope you need 100% commitment in for the audience to remotely believe it. The half-assed mockumentary thing TV like this episode does isn't actually making great television. It's instead making poor mockumentaries.

Do better, TV. Or better yet, just stop doing this shit. 2 1/2 stars.

Boy, that tag makes me forgive a lot.

Honestly, although that tag was perfection, I didn't quite know what to make of the rest of the episode. Fans of the show could claim the wackiness and fun is the show at its best. Critics could say the randomness of the premise is essentially the show at its worst. And honestly, both boosters and detractors would each have a good point. The episode is a lot better than it could have been. It also was nowhere NEAR as good as it should have been.

I feel like for me, the fans have it better this week than the critics, so I'll lean into the fact that I mostly liked it. So in doing that I'll talk about what annoyed me first and not dwell too much on it. But I mentioned the premise is random. And it is. And that's a problem. Star Trek is a science fiction series. And it seems to me this show has stopped coming up with high-concept sci-fi premises and simply started picking wacky random ideas out of a hat. To be fair, that's kind of the point of the Vulcans hilariously solving the entire mission in seconds, but I think this is how the writers of The Simpsons come up with new stuff currently too. Scenes from a Hat is good for improv. Sometimes it's even good for animated comedies. I don't see much good it can do for science fiction.

Let's talk about the good. Patton Oswalt's role as the Vulcan Doug is pretty much perfect. And the reason I love it so much is because he's really the last actor who should be playing a Vulcan. But they twistedly said Doug is a different Vulcan not just for being a human fanboy, but for secretly being a smoldering hunk able to induce uncontrollable lust in Rebecca Romijn's Uno... while still looking like Patton Oswalt. What I'm saying is they made the humorous situation work for the actor. The comedy of manners between him, Spock, and Una was quite funny and well-written.

The tag is not just funny. Some of the gags Spock teaches Doug like the high five and pull my finger are relatably 20th/21st Century nonsense. Gene Roddenberry had a weird (and in my opinion foolish) tendency to believe the characters in Star Trek using 20th Century expressions and slang would feel unnatural and maybe date the franchise. That's not actually what happened. By doing that, the Star Trek humans simply felt alien and unrecognizable to me. The Kurtzman stuff takes the opposite approach.

Biggest thing going for a potential Star Trek: Year One: Kirk and Scotty's chemistry is incredible. It's almost unbelievable. But Paul Wesley seems to vibe better with Martin Quinn than he does Ethan Peck.

Pelia thinking that looks fun is why Pelia is weird.

Anson Mount continues to be this show's acting MVP. Give the guy ANYTHING, and he'll nail it. He is the most versatile actor on the show.

La'an and Spock's fight turning into a dance sort of gave the show's detractors ammo about its cloying cutesiness. I wanted the second half of the review to be mostly positive, but there's no getting around that.

I love that Batel was promoted for telling Pike and the Admiral off, and Chris is all like, "Am I forgiven now?" When he says at the end of the episode, "I have made some bad choices," you understand that Vulcans actually ARE jerks. They are racist, they are rude, and they are pretty much assholes to anyone who isn't a Vulcan, and STILL sort of dicks to other Vulcans too. That's partly why Doug is so refreshing to begin with.

It's funny, but although this aspect of Vulcans was mostly dreamed up by the prequel series Enterprise, I feel like this episode is the first thing to REALLY sell that and say we weren't misreading things there.

I'm giving that a healthy (and probably overly generous) four stars out of five, but even though I LIKED the episode, if someone turned to me immediately afterwards and told me they hated it instead, I'd actually totally get why. Suffice it to say, I don't actually believe great television ought to be giving such great ammunition for people who hate it. But the episode was pretty alarmingly sloppy in that regard. 4 stars.