The penultimate episode of the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds arrives this week and we have details, a ton of photos, a trailer, and a clip to get you started.
“All Those Who Wander”
Strange New Worlds episode nine is titled “All Those Who Wander,” and it looks like some classic sci-fi horror. It was written by Davy Perez and it was directed by Christopher J. Byrne. SNW 109 debuts on Paramount+ on Thursday, June 30th.
Synopsis:
The U.S.S. Enterprise crew comes face-to-face with their demons – and scary monsters too – when their landing party is stranded on a barren planet with a ravenous enemy.
Photos:
Bruce Horak as Hemmer and Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Jess Bush as Nurse Chapel, Ethan Peck as Spock, Dan Jeannotte as Samuel Kirk, and Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Ethan Peck as Spock and Dan Jeannotte as Samuel Kirk of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Bruce Horak as Hemmer, Christina Chong as La’an, Babs Olusanmokun as M’Benga, Anson Mount as Pike, Dan Jeannotte as Samuel Kirk, Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura, and Ethan Peck as Spock of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Bruce Horak as Hemmer of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Dan Jeannotte as Samuel Kirk, Ethan Peck as Spock, Jess Bush as Nurse Chapel, and Jessica Danecker as Cadet Chia of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Babs Olusanmokun as M’Benga, Christina Chong as La’an, and Anson Mount as Pike of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Babs Olusanmokun as M’Benga, Christina Chong as La’an, and Anson Mount as Pike of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Anson Mount as Pike, Babs Olusanmokun as M’Benga, Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura, Christina Chong as La’an, and Bruce Horak as Hemmer of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Christina Chong as La’an of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Anson Mount as Pike of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Ethan Peck as Spock of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Bruce Horak as Hemmer and Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Babs Olusanmokun as M’Benga of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Anson Mount as Pike of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Rebecca Romijn as Una and Jennifer Hui as Ensign Christine of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Melissa Navia as Ortegas of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Anson Mount as Pike of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Anson Mount as Pike and Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Bruce Horak as Hemmer of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Chrstina Chong as La’an, Anson Mount as Pike, and Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Ethan Peck as Spock of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Christina Chong as La’an of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Bruce Horak as Hemmer of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Ethan Peck as Spock of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Anson Mount as Pike of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Bruce Horak as Hemmer of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Bruce Horak as Hemmer of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Bruce Horak as Hemmer and Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Bruce Horak as Hemmer of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Bruce Horak as Hemmer of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Babs Olusanmokun as M’Benga of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Jess Bush as Nurse Chapel and Carlos Albornoz as Buckley of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Anson Mount as Pike of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Dan Jeannotte as Samuel Kirk, Ethan Peck as Spock, Jess Bush as Nurse Chapel, and Jessica Danecker as Cadet Chia of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Anson Mount as Pike and Babs Olusanmokun as M’Benga of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Babs Olusanmokun as M’Benga of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Dan Jeannotte as Samuel Kirk and Anson Mount as Pike of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Anson Mount as Pike and Babs Olusanmokun as M’Benga of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Trailer:
The trailer is available on Twitter (also startrek.com).
You're going to want to watch the next episode of #StarTrek #StrangeNewWorlds with the lights on. pic.twitter.com/SnDnQXjF1R
— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) June 25, 2022
Clip:
The latest episode of The Ready Room includes a clip of Spock searching a creepy ship [at 28:20]. [Also available internationally at startrek.com]
New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debut on Thursdays exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., Latin America, Australia and the Nordics. The series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada. In New Zealand, it is available on TVNZ, and in India on Voot Select. Strange New Worlds will arrive via Paramount+ in select countries in Europe when the service launches later this year, starting with the UK and Ireland in June.
All episode photos by Marni Grossman/Paramount+
Some real Starship Exeter fanfilm vibes off that image of the crashed Constitution ship.
First thing to cross my mind, too!
From the audio I couldn’t quite make out the name of the ship that was crashed?
I think it’s USS Peregrine
thx!
I had the same feeling the first time I saw that image.
The first act of “Exeter’ was actually pretty damn good, as I recall. Unfortunately, each succeeding act was shakier than the one that had preceded it.
This show is hitting every spot it can. Glad they went this route. I love it.
Looks like a good episode i hope it’s better then the previous episode which i found a bit disappointing. So far this season has been good not the best season of any of the new Trek shows but still good.
I adore this show as madly as I adore TOS … and that’s saying something! :-)
This episode looks as if it will have a VERY different tone from the previous episode, which is one of the wonderful things about the episodic nature of SNW. Can’t wait until Thursday!
I hope the characters don’t need those goggles for very long, since I like being able to see the characters’ eyes.
The Enterprise goes to the rescue of a fellow starship in trouble! We saw that several times in TOS; let’s hope this show is like “The Doomsday Machine” and not like “The Omega Glory.” :-)
We set down on LV-426 on Starfleet orders.
s31 orders, more likely. Now THAT would be an intriguing ‘second level of sell’ to the storytelling!
Amazed that these distant shots of starships on the ground come off so unconvincing in this day and age. The long shot past Kirk of the E in Iowa in the 09 was like looking at a painting in a restaurant it was so flat and non photoreal, and based on this still, this ain’t much better.
Also think that maybe they aren’t using the LED screen as well as they should, it seems almost like watching TOS, but with an RP screen on the not-so-distant horizon line.
The use of the AR wall is clearly in its early stage of development.
We see more creative use on SNW S1 than in many cases in Discovery S4, but I suspect there will be much more extensive exploitation of the potential as the virtual and physical production designers and writers collaborate.
I did a pretty huge story on MANDALORIAN that focused primarily on the LED wall, so I just thought the resulting widespread interest would trigger off a lot of early thought on how to creatively exploit it, but it seems to be more of a budget thing than I expected. I shouldn’t have been surprised, because I remember that was the primary appeal of Magicam and Introvision, which were the early analog incarnations of virtual production.
I think we also need to consider that COVID protocols would have inhibited a lot of the more on the fly experiments on the margins of production, or interactions between the virtual and physical production teams.
When one considers that for the first episodes everything had to be drafted virtually in advance of experimenting with the the technology I’m not surprised that the result was more static and less fluid.
You have a point about Covid, but by the same token, this very process is often being used to help assemble crowd scenes that would be unsafe to do with large groups of people, by just shooting some of them as the background elements, or separate groups composited in advance and presented as the majority of figures in the scene.
MANDALORIAN did have the huge advantage of having a look from the original SW to ape that is compatible with a lot of the screen’s limitations (though I think they did a great job of pushing those limitations both seasons … it is rare that when watching the show that I even think about the backgrounds, and for me that is unusual, as I m very critical of mismatches, especially with contrast.)
I think the biggest problem creatively with this is the same one with every ‘hot’ new tool … producers trying to do one-stop shopping who don’t adhere to Scotty’s ‘right tool for the right job’ dictum. I still feel that the late 90s — when CG was being used as an adjunct to traditional VFX, rather than a replacement — had some of the best results, still overshadowing stuff that followed when whole-cloth CGI became the default approach.
Even the issue of CGI being more economical doesn’t hold much water for me, because the price of VFX seemed to skyrocket — I remember that on the first Brendan Fraser MUMMY movie, a full ONE-THIRD of the budget was VFX, which seemed insane to me, especially given that the use of miniatures on the film was pretty minimal. The line I got when doing articles was that the expense of shooting motion-control was prohibitive when it came to miniature work, but nobody ever broke that down in a way that made sense to me. The companies mostly already owned the equipment, so how does anybody benefit if they aren’t using it? The main advantage of mo-con was that a single person could program and execute a shot, whereas if you shot a model on wires, you’d need a team of people to make it happen (that’s direct from Denis Muren, BTW, a guy who would know.) So how is that magnitudes more expensive than setting up a huge render farm and all that comes with it, especially when the render times (back then anyway) made radiosity and other convincing CG approaches prohibitive? And if there are any VFX vets out there reading this who would care to weigh in, here or in an article, feel free to reach out, because this is very nearly a quarter-century-old question for me at this point.
Sure, they do a lot more shots now. But I’ve almost never equated more with better when it comes to VFX (TMP and 2001 being glorious exceptions, though TMP certainly has its share of duds, probably owing to time as much as other factors.) The 1997 LOST IN SPACE movie set some kind of record with nearly 800 VFX shots, but films triple that count now. And LiS would have benefitted from doing less shots, because they could have spent their money more wisely; the opening sequence was done with pretty low-rent CGI, as was the Blaup/Blawp/Whatever, and it got the movie off to a very shaky start. Now I like this movie more than most, largely because of the big miniature stuff on it, but when LiS is weak, it is VERY weak!
Yes, the background looks like a painting. I’ve never really minded clunky background scenery – was thinking about how TOS was somehow like theater, where you put the actors into some phony scenery or even a just a chalk rectangle and imagination does the rest! I even think make-believe sometimes works better with old-style special effects than with CGI that is irritatingly close to real but not there.
There’s a fine line for how best to employ AR walls. Avoiding filming the join with the practical floor can help, and obviously recreating a setting that looks like it could have been a location shoot subconsciously helps sell an environment (that’s part of why people were so impressed with The Mandalorian at first, they didn’t bite off more than they could chew right away)… but you can’t always do that for a sci-fi show, especially one with “Strange New Worlds” as its title! They’ll do better by its use as time goes on, but it’s still miles better than greenscreen IMO.
Now, was there budget to add visible breaths for the actors for the chilly environment? Probably not. ;)
Shots like this tend to suffer for the same reason that real dirigibles tend to look fake on film: the brain accommodating to a level of scale and distance in an unfamiliar environment. Personally, I thought the Trek 2009 visual was okay — what offended me was not the execution so much as the stupidity of the concept itself of a capital starship being constructed in an Iowa cornfield.
Boy, I think I spent more time complaining about building a starship at the bottom of a gravity well than I have on any other aspect of Trek ever (even Klingon blood color!)
And then Orci or the other guy had the gall to try to justify it as necessary because the warp engines had to be balanced in a 1-g environment. Next time when you dig that kind of hole for yourself, climb in and roll over face down before launching your argument.
Back to the aesthetic failure; it was only that wide shot I found to be a suckfest; later broad daylight close shots looked photoreal, moreso than just about anything else in the film except maybe the Kelvin hull closeups.
Oh I hope they keep S31 out of this. SNW is too good a show to bring back that hooey again.
Agreed.
Just a couple of observations: Starships that crash relatively intact remains a mystery to me. Silly me for assuming that a crashing ship has been compromised and should be reduced to bits burning up in the atmosphere. Space Shuttles reentered the atmosphere just fine, but mess up the flight dynamics just a little, and you’re cooked.
Enterprise in ST09 had enough falsework under it in the shipyard to suspend disbelief for me, but yeah, opinions are gonna vary.
Don’t F with Tri-titanium, dude. Tri-titanium always wins! :-)
A friend of mine in high school used to draw images of the Enterprise sticking out of the ground, the dish half-buried. He’d always put captions in that really worked,but the one I remember is, ‘keptin, I think the klingons have inwented a new weapon.’ There were a bunch of arrows sticking out of the hull.
Love it!!!
Doing a S31 story would be a good way to bring back Voq/Tyler.
I’ve enjoyed Discovery, but there isn’t anything from season one that needs to be revisited.
I see echoes of “Death’s Other Dominion” from Space: 1999.
Not saying that the writer(s) are familiar with that episode, or even the series, but the “space horror on a snowy planet where a ship crash landed” is strikingly familiar.
Or it’s a riff on the original Alien film. More than likely that.
Season 1, now remastered, is still amazing and weird and sad.
While the series definitely has its flaws (particularly in regards to some basic science), Season One holds up better in retrospect than when it first aired. Keep in mind that heroic, William Shatner-type acting was accepted as the norm for sci-fi TV at the time; low-key, understated performances that would be later praised in series like The X-Files were considered “wooden” then. Action-adventure was also demanded; not slow-paced metaphysical ponderings about one’s place in the universe and whether there’s a larger purpose to everything. And shockingly effective gore was also something not seen in sci-fi, particularly on TV, as this was years before Alien was released to theaters.
Once Space: 1999 attempted to mimic the standard sci-fi tropes of 70’s TV in Season Two, the series turned into a cheap-looking, Saturday morning monster-of-the-week embarrassment, and that’s largely on the shoulders of Fred Freiberger (although to be fair, not entirely–he was just following orders).
Season One of Space: 1999 is weird in some ways, which gives it a certain charm, but episodes like “Dragon’s Domain” and “Mission of the Darians” are eminently rewatchable classics.
Well, given that they switched to the TOS season three showrunner for season two of Space 1999, it’s a wonder that anything at was retained.
It took a while for me to warm to Space 1999’s slower and more contemplative pacing when I was younger but now that first season is one of my favorites with some really interesting episodes (Death’s Other Dominion and Dragon’s Domain are still 2 of my favorite hours of television). The second season is still watchable but the show’s IQ definitely took a major hit.
If you like Space 1999 you may also want to check out UFO, another Jerry Anderson live action science fiction show which can be viewed as something of a spiritual prequel. It’s a bit more dated (its 1960s trappings often bubble to the surface) but still has some interesting episodes, good effects and a similar forboding vibe to that first season of Space 1999.
I grew up watching Space:1999 and I think season 1 warped my 6-year old brain… in a good way, of course. I still watch it fairly regularly and it does look amazing with the remastering. I think of season 1 as sci-fi’s answer to Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” while season 2 is the equivalent to the theme from The Love Boat. But it’s all fun and there are some solid season 2 stories.
UFO is a fun watch. I used to see it all the time as a kid, but it wasn’t until recently that I saw it through adult eyes. The early episodes, while enjoyable, are not the best. But there is a point about 2/3 of the way through season 1’s production order (air dates were all over the place) where the quality of the stories shoots up quite a bit. Basically, it’s around the time when Wanda Ventham’s Colonel Virginia Lake takes the second in command spot at SHADO.
For folks who didn’t get 1999 but are willing to give it another chance, I suggest trying to find a book from 2005 called EXPLORING SPACE 1999. I picked the book up second hand when I was waiting on a car to be repaired (I HAVE to be able to read all the time or go nuts, and this was the only thing in the whole GW store even faintly looking interesting that day), and was amazed to discover that there was an order to the eps (totally flushed by the stations syndicating it) that showed a genuine progression, and tied in with how the Alphans were literally being directed at points in their journey by MUF force or forces, the culmination being TESTAMENT OF ARKADIA as the season-ender, I believe.
ARKADIA was one of the shows that made me largely write the show off as a teen, but putting it into this intended context, it kinda makes sense to me now (not that I’ve managed to watch much 1999 since reading the book, maybe half-dozen eps from s1 and as many s2s, which are junk-food but sometimes tasty anyway.)
EDIT ADDON: in trying to find the name of that book, I came across a 2022 book on the making of the show called TO EVERYTHING THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN that sounds pretty interesting too. In the comments section, an old STARLOG writer who covered the series admits he was blown away by the new information about roads not taken on the show and the images. Think I may be tempted myself.
I’ve never cared for sci-fi horror, but I’m going to watch anyway : )
Wonder if that’s Batel voice on the captain’s log.
I wondered that too! Certainly would explain why Pike is leading the away mission and not number one. I am also liking that the pictures are indicating that this episode will have more of an ensemble feel. It’s nice to see some characters we don’t get as much of like Hemmer or even Lt. Kirk.
Ya’ll wanted a crossover. Star Trekians vs. Predators it is.
You’re welcome.
The trailer gave a bit of an Alien vibe too.
Humans are pretty tasty in any universe, apparently. Soft, creamy filling…..
…this one has me immediately interested. Looking forward to Thursday.
I’m so glad to see a lot of Hemmer in the production stills.
An Aenar should be in a leading role in an away team on an ice planet.
Hopefully he isn’t eaten….
You know, I’m actually anxious about that.
We know that Hemmer will eventually be replaced by Montgomery Scott, but not too soon I hope.
The show is already overweighted with legacy characters. It would be nice to have at least another season with Hemmer.
Planet backdrop is pretty scary
I really love this show, and this looks like fun! I hope that the series eventually mentions what happened to Phil Boyce, Jose Tyler and JM Colt. Also, since we have Robert April it would be cool to meet Sarah April.
I predicted long ago that some of those characters like Boyce wouldn’t be on the show before we knew who the characters were; but I assumed they would’ve referenced what happened to at least some of them by now. That is a little surprising but maybe we will actually have an episode dealing with 1 or 2 in time. Maybe one of them are on the ship in this episode. ;)
Circle of bloody limbs on a field of snow immediately recalls the scene from Game of Thrones? (In the trailer, the rocks are arranged in a circular fashion to achieve the visual reference?)
Gives me an Alien vibe!
This has a Forbidden Planet vibe to it.
I hope it’s not the Gorn, honestly. The episode looks visually stunning, but I’m worried about the story. But, I’m usually wrong.
Since this series is not a story arc, and as such doesn’t require the writing lead time and some of the other long-term prep that story arch genre shows need, I’d really like them to start pushing for either 15 episodes seasons, or to have a new 10-ep season every 9 months.
“I’d really like them to start pushing for either 5 episodes seasons, or to have a new 10-ep season every 9 months.”
“I’d really like them to start working 24x7x365 for either 5 episodes seasons, or to have a new 10-ep season every 9 months.”
Now, I do not disagree with you, but Iiiiii don’t think this is going to happen. ;-)
I don’t think so either. Most streaming shows seem to be getting less and less episodes, not more. 8-10 episodes seems to be the norm these days and I don’t see that changing with any shows including Star Trek. Discovery just went from 13 episodes to 10 next season. As I said it’s going the opposite way. And since we now have 5 Star Trek shows they probably don’t see it as being necessary since the point was to make enough Trek to have it on practically every week of the year.
I was surprised when I heard Prodigy had 20 episodes a season but that’s probably being produced by a cable network. I would love for LDS to also get 15 episodes a season in time but I don’t see that happening either unfortunately.
I agree with your point on that being a trend. However, most series, including DSC are serial, not episodic. I think episodic should make is easier to add eps. I don’t see why we can’t get at least 13.
Am I pretty much whining like a spoiled fan because I want more eps from this great series? You damn right I am! LOL
I agree of course, I think it would be nice to have a few more episodes. Maybe 15 is unrealistic today but yeah 13 seems plausible. But I am now thinking of every new show on Paramount+ and I can’t think of a single show that has over 10 episodes right now. It is crazy how much lower these episode counts are today. At least it’s not Marvel or Star Wars where the average seems to be 6 episodes. I don’t think that will happen but I do think the opposite may happen and we will get less episodes, especially if they try to squeeze in another show in the year. But they could eventually all drop to 8.
This topic came up on Reddit recently when someone posted they miss having 25 episodes a year for Star Trek (those were the days lol) and someone popped in saying it has to do with optimum viewing habits with streaming shows and determined how many episodes a typical viewer is willing to binge watch in one sitting for a season. Apparently that number is around 8-10 episodes. It looks like all the streaming sites are running with it because every new show seems to have that episode count now. Apparently even 13 episodes was deemed too many.
For people complaining the show has been too light and/or comical, this one looks like the first real one that will be deadly serious (no pun intended. ;)). I don’t love horror stories at all but it’s another big tradition in every Trek show, especially TOS. So looking forward to it. I’m guessing the Gorn has returned, or maybe they found some really aggressive augmented tribbles! ;D
Yes the tribbles are out for revenge on all humanoids after the Klingons tried to exterminate them in, as Odo called it, the great tribble hunt!
Seriously I expect the last two episodes will be much more dramatic indeed.
Man, I can’t believe there are just two weeks left of S1!
LOL that would be an amazing tie in! And Klingons show up on the scene to finish the job but things get really out of hand. I think the next two episodes will end on a high note (unlike Picard. Discovery was better but only a little IMO).
I’m curious what is coming next and when? It’s crazy we haven’t heard when the next Star Trek show is up now that this one is over next week. I’m guessing (and hoping) it will be LDS next!!! Hopefully it will only be a 1-2 week break but I’m really excited for that to return now.
The Gorn-Tribble Alliance.
Ok, that made me choke-laugh.
LOL! This should at least be a thing in Mirror Universe!
There have been some bizarre creative choices with this show:
– The underuse of Una. Fans have been desperate to know more about this character and she has sidelined WERK after week aside from Episode 3. Rebecca Romijn is being wasted in the role.
– Hemmer disappearing for weeks at a time and when we do see him, he comes across as rude and arrogant.
– We know next to nothing about Ortegas other than she’s a first rate pilot and likes to be quippy.
– Spock getting crowbarred into every storyline and plot going. He saved the day in Uhura’s big episode, he’s always on hand to dispense wisdom and he’s usually heavily involved in the denouement of each episode. I get Ethan Peck is doing a wonderful role, but the continued insistence on forcing the character down our throats at the expense of other characters is becoming tired.
– Pike’s fear of his fate all but disappeared after the first episode, save for an out of place conversation with Una and a quick look at the cadets he will save as children. This kind of thing doesn’t really go away and yet it’s not been featured at all- robbing the character of a dramatic arc.
– Sam Kirk. What’s the point. He turns up in the dying seconds of the pilot, gets knocked out about 15 minutes into the second and then provides Uhura with a solution before disappearing several episodes later. It just feels… pointless.
– The underuse of Una. Agreed. I wonder if this was an availability and/or COVID issue.
– Hemmer disappearing for weeks at a time and when we do see him, he comes across as rude and arrogant. His character is supposed to be arrogant, and I like the fact that they’re not trying to make him into the “grouch with a heart of gold” stereotype. As for his lack of screentime, Bruce Horak was originally introduced as a recurring cast member.
– We know next to nothing about Ortegas other than she’s a first rate pilot and likes to be quippy. She’s the one character/actor who really has gotten the short end of the stick. And to be honest, the role just isn’t that important.
– Spock getting crowbarred into every storyline and plot going. Well, let’s face it, Spock is the franchise character in Star Trek.
– Pike’s fear of his fate all but disappeared after the first episode, save for an out of place conversation with Una and a quick look at the cadets he will save as children. I’m kind of glad they’re not dwelling on it. Honestly, having Pike navel-gaze about his fate in every episode would get really old, really fast.
– Sam Kirk. What’s the point. Agreed. It seems that his only real purpose was to provide a bit of misdirection in the first episode.
Got Underline?
Agreed on almost all counts. I like the Sam Kirk joke. He’s a recurring joke, more than a character. And I’m happy with that. First, to play with fans’ fears; then, the moustache thing, and the bad luck thing; then the in with a joke and out thing… I’m super okay with that. Tongue-in-cheek sometimes is nice. :-)
It’s possible they’re underusing Una because they can’t figure out what to do with her.
If I’m remembering correctly, the character of Number One was originally intended to be the captain’s right-hand woman who was logical and emotionally distant. But now, unlike The Cage, SNW has the more-familiar less-shouty version of Spock we all know and love. He too is logical and emotionally distant. Plus we have variations on this same character with Hemmer and La’an.
Could it be this ship has one too many stoic characters? Or at least to the point where the writers are scratching their heads trying to figure out Una? They gave her a backstory, which was a first step. Now what?
Could it be that we are only 8 eps into the first season of a new series and both we don’t have enough eps yet to draw these types of conclusion, plus the writers haven’t got fully into their comfort level yet?
Plus, as I commented to M1701, a lot of these critiques are simply because they are following TOS model of storytelling, so were not suppose to get the full ensemble type of cast use that we got in TNG…sure, they are doing it more than TOS did, but by design. the “ensemble focus” of SNW is never going to approach the level we saw on TNG. And you can’t do that anyway with only 10 eps per year.
Besides, this is best S1 I think since DS9. And to be frank, most Trek S1’s are pretty piss-poor.
No, 8 episodes is enough for me to ask questions and have theories, not so much conclusions.
Fair enough!
“Could it be that we are only 8 eps into the first season of a new series and both we don’t have enough eps yet to draw these types of conclusion, plus the writers haven’t got fully into their comfort level yet?”
– Discovery barely made it past the first two episode before fans were rushing to judge the show, the diverse cast and to declare that it wasn’t “Star Trek”. So I think eight episodes is fine to offer some constructive criticism.
In other words, it’s just like episodic TOS…which is what it’s modeled on. Weeks went by without some secondary characters getting much time, Spock frequently saved the day, certain guest characters not used as much as fans want.
Just like TOS. That’s the point, dude.
I will say Una is the oddest one since she is the first officer and they made such a big deal of her being an Augment alien in episode three but then it hasn’t been brought up since! Not even in passing from what I can remember.
Maybe it is a covid issue but I doubt it. As you said Spock is front and center in every episode basically (but which I’m fine with because he’s Spock lol). But I think Una oddly has been given a lot less to do. And I was thinking about this the other day and how I originally thought this show would play up the three character dynamic which TOS became famous for with Kirk, Spock and McCoy. I thought they were going to imitate the same relationship with Pike, Spock and Una. But that hasn’t been the case at all. I can barely think of any scenes the three has been together outside of just being on the bridge. Maybe that was just my assumption but I felt that’s where they were originally going with it. And I guess it’s not as important since there is zero conflict between those three versus the same way it was with Kirk, Spock and McCoy or later when they did it with Archer, T’Pol and Trip on Enterprise.
Ortegas seem to be the only main character so far that hasn’t been given a back story of any kind other than she’s a really good pilot. She’s becoming the Detmer of this show. I’m sure she will get more in time and as long as it’s not super sad or she will start crying every time she thinks of her father. ;)
As for Hemmer, someone pointed out the character was marked as recurring from the beginning and not a main character. No idea how true that is but would make sense since he’s really only been in half the episodes so far. And I read it takes a lot to deal with the actor being partially blind and with his make up. Again who knows how true this is but I read he needs at least 3 assistants to get him around in scenes. And with the Covid situation, that may had an impact on how to use him.
They should address the underuse of Una in S2 by having her in charge more, either on away teams without Pike, or having her in the command seat when Pike in off-ship. Easy fix.
Ortegas is basically Sulu on this show. She will get used periodically for some kick-ass lines and comedy, but she’s never going to get a lot of screen time. I think those of us fans of TOS are fine with that, but I totally get why fans who grew up with TNG ensemble approach to Trek storytelling want to see more of the lesser, supporting characters…but I just think that this expectation is unrealistic for this series, especially at only 10 eps per season.
But Sulu wasn’t a main character, he was basically a recurring one. Sure the show is set around TOS but it is set up as an ensemble show like all the spin offs were. I mean every episode has focused on a different character so far and also doing A and B story lines as well like TNG. That was never the case on TOS outside of Kirk, Spock or Bones majority of the time.
But I agree when you just have 10 episodes a season there is only so much you can do. All the other shows had 25 a year average so they had luxury to spotlight many characters multiple times a season. And even then fans complained some didn’t get more like Beverly or Chakotay. So yeah that complaint still came up regardless.
Ortegas will probably get her own episode but it doesn’t look like it will be this season unless the next two surprises us. But it will probably happen in season 2.
I disagree slightly in that this is set up as an ensemble show to the extent of what we see in other new shows and the Berman-era shows. Sure, it’s more ensemble than TOS, but I don’t think it’s suppose to be the level of ensembleness (lol) of TNG?
And even if it is, well, at only 10 eps per season, fans are going to have to patient then and wait 2-3 seasons before concluding that certain supporting favorite characters of theirs are covered enough. And you commented similarly, so I think we agree on this.
But the point is she is a main character in the credits, Sulu never was. And I’m not saying it has to be on the level of TNG because as stated, it’s only 10 episodes. But when you are considered a main character on a show in 2022, then yeah people expect to see real development of some kind eventually. Episodic TV is still much more serialized today than it was even when TNG was around. SNW is following today’s standard for sure. We never got a recap of a character arc on TNG every episode for instance because it didn’t build character arcs that closely like today. Characters had their own story lines but only loosely followed until a story called for it. They might go back to a particular arc in a season or it’s never resolved at all.
So SNW is much closer to today’s character building and not TOS at all really since TOS NEVER built up character arcs in the season as this show is doing even with Kirk and Spock. But that’s common in every show today including episodic ones.
So how you look at it, it’s more character driven than TNG was but yeah it’s also a lot less episodes so you can only do so much with any character every season. I think that’s why some didn’t like the previous episode because it rushed through M’Benga’s arc with his daughter too fast. I had no issues with how it was resolved but maybe they could’ve done a little more with it and resolved it in season 2.
But I also mark it as being a new show and they are trying to find a balance with all the characters like all the previous spin offs. Some eventually got it really right like DS9 but most still had trouble with it like Voyager. Fans have to simply recognize that too but of course and it takes time. But of course they will bring it up.
While she may be categorized in the credits as a “main character” for this series versus Takei not getting that credits listing in the 1960’s, to me she’s the modern Sulu, who is a supporting character, and is not one of the main characters.
In watching the show to date, if you asked me what my assessment would be of watching the screen time and roles of the characters who the main characters are, four rise about the rest: Pike, Spock, Una and M’Benga. The rest come across to me as supporting.
Well the show runner in an article confirmed Ortegas is getting her own episode with her backstory next season as I predicted. Again, it’s just more common for characters today. It’s not the 1960s anymore.
In one interview on Deadline, Akiva Goldsman really surprised me by referring in passing to there being two principal actors.
While he didn’t name them, it was implied that he meant Mount and Peck.
So, I’ve been really hoping that TrekMovie or some other Trek-focused site would follow up on this.
While I’m very pleased that there was a decision to have more of an ensemble approach than in TOS, I never would have expected it to be primarily at Romjin’s expense.
The other thing is that the over use of Spock has undermined some of the best things we saw in Discovery about Pike’s style as a captain. As Anson Mount described it, in Discovery, Pike used his bridge crew as a bigger brain, consulting all the officers (even if Burnham got the last word). In SNW, we’ve only seen this once. It’s usually only Spock who is consulted and occasionally La’an pipes up with a security view. Ortegas interacts with Pike, but he’s not asking her input, he’s commanding and she’s verifying, and he’s shot down her suggestions.
I suppose it’s possible that Romjin’s contract doesn’t require her to be on set every day. Kind of like what Scott Caan had on Hawaii Five-0.
She left her twin daughters and husband in LA to shoot this (other than a visit). It would be surprising that she would take a reduced contract.
Actually, I would think that’s a good reason for a reduced schedule (it was Caan’s). And reduced schedules aren’t terribly unusual: Tom Selleck has been very open about his three days every three weeks schedule on Blue Bloods.
This year, it would make sense, but in S1 they weren’t able to return to the US during production as Canada had COVID quarantine requirements until people were fully vaccinated.
I actually don’t want too much info about the backgrounds of the characters and what they think and feel that is forced into the plot of a particular episode. That is a dead end in Trek for now. (Think about how many jokes we were making about Discovery: if someone talks about themselves, they are about to be written off)
Let the action speak to character and let the character of the action speak to the imagination.
I think the biggest reason they haven’t focused on Ortegas yet is because WE… AIN’T… READY!
The LED Wall in Star Trek doesn’t really work for me. It often looks like really bad greenscreen work. You just need people who know how to make propper use of the technology and it seems like there aren’t that many. Hell even the Obi-Wan Show had those problems and you’d think ILM has enough experts to handle two shows using that thing.
It’s a completely new and different way of producing effects through virtual staging.
My spouse and w are actually quite impressed because there have been several situations where the AR wall is being used and we didn’t realize it at all until a rewatch.
We should expect that it will take time to make best use of it, and the crews are constrained to be learning with all the limitations of COVID protocols.
That said, I find the still photos from production look much less real than the actual video. The video cameras and lenses used for production are specifically designed to work with the wall. It’s clear that the still photography isn’t capturing the same thing.
So, we won’t be able to judge the quality of the virtual production until we see the stream.
Ooooh this looks great. I love a good away mission episode with shuttlecraft. Very reminiscent of The Galileo Seven, which is one of my fav TOS eps. Plus, loving the goggles ala The Cage. The crashed Constitution reminds me of the promo art for the game Star Trek: New Worlds (2000).
I have a feeling this is gonna be the Galileo six… :-o
I can’t believe the first season is over in 8 days!
Does anybody know what comes next?
I thought they might start Lower Decks or the next batch of Prodigy episodes but you’d think they’d have announced it by now.
Discovery has started filming so I suspect they still plan to run that across the turn of the year as for the last two seasons and then release the final season of Picard afterwards.
If there’s another live action show replacing Picard I would expect to hear soon because they’ll need to start pre-production work at some point in the not too distant future.
I can’t see S5 of Discovery streaming before well into 2023 even with shorter post production timelines due to use of the AR wall.
I suspect the sequence will be Lower Decks S3 this summer once SNW S1 is finishing its run on P+ in the UK, then Prodigy S1 part II September, Picard S3 late fall and finally SNW S2 once S1 is released in the remaining markets.
That said, the lagging global rollout of P+ and commitments to Amazon Prime for Picard and Lower Decks means that they don’t have full control of the release schedule.
Looks like it’s going to be an exciting episode, one I’ll watch Thursday during the day and not at 11:59 Wednesday night right before bed as I tend to.
So many pictures, this post borders on spoiler alert, IMHO.
This show can do no wrong right now, long may it continue.
Pity it’s taken them this long to get it right
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Well this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a constitution class stuck on the surface. xD
Anyone remember the game Star Trek: New Worlds?
I’m ready to talk about this one, but won’t yet. I’ll wait for the review. Beware Spoilers out there folks!