The season one finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds arrives on Thursday, July 7, titled “A Quality of Mercy.” Paramount+ has released a couple of video previews.
Spoiler Warning
The below videos include SPOILERS that are especially revealing if you watch and listen closely. On Twitter Strange New Worlds writer/producer said he believed the trailer was “safe to watch” but recommended avoiding it if you want to go in “cold,” but he hyped the finale saying it “you won’t’ want to mess this many-layered conflict.”
Trailer for the s1 finale of #StrangeNewWorlds “A Quality of Mercy” is up on @StarTrekOnPPlus. It’s safe to watch IMO but I won’t link in case you’d rather go in cold. I’ll just say this: you won’t want to miss this many-layered conflict.
— Bill Wolkoff (@flying_lobster) July 2, 2022
Trailer
On Saturday Paramount+ released the trailer for the finale on social media (it is also available on StarTrek.com).
Pike and the crew of the Enterprise face an unprecedented threat which could change the Federation forever in the season finale of #StarTrek #StrangeNewWorlds! pic.twitter.com/NAVzz17Jga
— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) July 2, 2022
Clip
There are more clues on what is coming in the finale in the clip released as part of The Ready Room, which you can watch below.
More to come
We will have more details and images from the finale on Monday.
Find more news and analysis for Strange New Worlds.
Romulans
If they are Romulans,They will likely go Unidentified.
They can be identified as Romulans, simply not seen by them.
Yes, except for the fact that “Balance of Terror” established that they had not been encountered by Starfleet since the Earth-Romulan War (or so they thought). Like everything else, Akiva Goldsman can’t help himself if they are identified as Romulans. Is this going to be classified like Discovery and the Mirror Universe? lol
I guess I’m not understanding your point? They know who they are and why the neutral zone is even there so they would know who they are dealing with even if they haven’t directly encountered each other in a century.
I guess you mean it’s breaking canon since it was under Kirk when they encountered them again in BoT? That seems to be the entire point though, that history was somehow changed and it’s now Pike facing off with them and not Kirk. In fact I suspect Kirk will be there as well (really crossing my fingers on that one).
Looks awesome.
Uhura and Chapel are in uniforms closer to TOS. Uhura is no longer a cadet and wearing something close to her original series uniform, Chapel is in blue now.
Spock’s hair is also closer to TOS, no longer messy, the crews rank stripes are all gold instead of matching their division colour.
I think what we’re seeing is an alt-Future where Pike avoids the accident. Maybe an alien illusion or something.
That would be an interesting way of getting around “Balance of Terror” being the first encounter with Romulans since the 22nd century.
This is a great theory. Good catch on those details!
Okay I really don’t like being *that* fan, especially since I’ve largely enjoyed SNW, but: I don’t see how this retcon will gel with canon, in that it won’t. This clearly moves up the encounter between Starfleet and the Romulans since their war in the 2100s, making Kirk’s later encounter with them not make as much sense. Clearly the episode is riffing off Balance of Terror, so they watched it, but seemingly are ignoring the canon established by it.
I don’t love the bending of canon with the Gorn but I’m okay with it because the Gorn episodes have been really strong. But I don’t get toying with canon where the Romulans and Gorn are concerned (fwiw I didn’t like it when ENT tagged in the Romulans either). There’s a lot more room in canon for encounters with the Klingons or heaven forbid, a new alien species. The Shepherds were a great example of that from this show.
I’d prefer that one they show us new aliens instead of retreading old ones but if they’re going to retread, I wish they’d do a better job of sticking to well-established canon. IMO at times they undercut accomplishments of Kirk’s Enterprise crew: eg Arena is no longer first contact with the Gorn, Balance of Terror is no longer the first time the Romulans start an incursion into Federation space that’s thwarted by the Enterprise.
Of course I’ll reserve final judgement once I see the final product.
Your first impulse, to not be “that fan”, was correct.
Yup, you are “that person”
How about waiting to see the actual episode before jumping to conclusions.
I mean I say just that in my last sentence don’t I? But based on how they’ve colored outside the lines with the Gorn, I hardly think concern about how SNW will handle the Romulans is unwarranted.
Then why all the preamble? You could have JUST said that you’ll reserve judgement until you see it. But I guess people have to find something to worry or complain about in a 30 second preview. Oh well.
They said that in the final sentence of their post lol
Reign1701A…don’t you love to be lectured for simply expressing a thoughtful opinion?
Good grief people.
Some of the dialogue is lifted straight from BoT, it’s the same Outpost from BoT, and there is even a comet there.
I think what we’re seeing is a glimpse into a possible future where Pike avoids the accident.
The’ll fix the canon once we get the updated TOS series in a few years.
A lot of us won’t care one lick if it fiddles with canon. The franchise has been doing that since the 60’s, it really isn’t that big a deal. Really.
It’s Star Trek, it could be anything! A dream vision? Alternate timeline? Alien manipulation? My guess whatever happens will probably be reset anyway or that Pike is the only one who will remember it ala Picard in All Good Things…
We just don’t know, but I’m guessing it’s going to be a very fun and twisty time whatever it is! But yes if it actually changes canon permanently the internet will definitely be in a meltdown lol. I don’t see that happening though but I been wrong before. ;)
Spock had a dream in Episode 5. The whole crew had a book reenactment caused by alien telepathy in Episode 8. Brief clips can’t tell us if what we’re seeing is real or is a nightmare or movie or illusion or something. Chill until Thursday. :-)
Dude, all due respect, but canon is over.
Between this clip, with the overly obvious copying from Balance of Terror, and the other clip of Pike meeting the boy who will grow up to be one of the cadets who will die in the future, I get the feeling that we’re in for a “what if” style episode where Pike somehow sees what will happen if he doesn’t allow future events to unfold as they should. It looks like he’ll see what happens if he stays in command of the Enterprise instead of becoming fleet captain, remains in command of the ship during the encounter with the Romulans and things don’t end well, forcing him to accept his fate once and for all. Just a guess but I can’t believe the writers would be that bad that they would out and out just copy an existing episode (and one of the best ones at that).
Or perhaps Pike does something to save the kid and that creates an Abrams style alternate timeline and we stick with that timeline for the rest of the series. One where Pike’s fate isn’t set in stone.
I kind of wish they would do that, just so they can chart their own course and not be either shackled to existing canon or called out every time the appear to deviate from it.
IMO if you are going to make the decision to create a prequel to an already established (and much beloved) canon, you should be aware that you will be restricted in your creative possibilities. Otherwise, you skip the prequel idea and make something brand new that won’t intersect with that continuity and limit your storytelling freedom.
Too bad that they’re clearly trying to have their cake and eat it instead.
Yeah I talked about this in a post stating that every ‘prequel’ so far hasn’t really ever been a true prequel because they keep either alluding to events in the future or go to the future themselves. All of them basically have set up the idea that future events that we already know exist can be changed. It was the entire point of the Kelvin timeline. That’s exactly why those movies were made that way so they wouldn’t be stuck to canon. It’s why I even like them personally.
And while Enterprise, Discovery and now SNW has never changed anything (directly anyway) in canon, both ENT and DIS has played with the idea and it looks like thats a possibility with SNW now.
But to be fair with SNW they set that up with Pike in Discovery the second they showed his future. So we knew they were going to play around with it, just not to what extent.
This is why I just don’t love prequels because it causes too many problems with stuff like this. You have writers that are writing prequels who clearly don’t want to stick to the concept in its truest form. Why it’s best to go forward most of the time and what the makers of Discovery realized when they got slammed with all the blow back from fans. Of course the Enterprise can’t jump into the future; at least not permanently. ;)
OMG, yes, let’s have TWENTY alternate timelines with different versions of the same characters in each. That should make things so complicated that NO ONE will ever want to become an ST fan!
Between the changes to how established characters behave, the bending of canon on stuff like the Gorn, changing the race and ethnicity of some characters and all the visual changes, I think they’ve already muddied the waters plenty.
They’ve bent canon, but they haven’t broken it. Nobody in Arena said that they were making first contact with the Gorn, it isn’t clear that Kyle on SNW is the same as on TOS, TAS is hardly an authority on what color anything is, and Star Trek has been making visual changes since the first movie.
Still they broken it enough at this point. No one knew who T’Pring was in TOS and she’s very known in SNW. Wasn’t Chapel suppose to already have a fiance before she even joined the Enterprise? Does anyone remotely believe Spock and Uhura knew Sam Kirk much less worked on the Enterprise together in Operation: Annihilate?
And I’m sorry, it was obvious Uhura or Spock had no idea who the Gorn was in Arena. It’s silly to even suggest it IMO but I’m done having that fight.
We only know that Uhura didn’t know who T’Pring was, and she hasn’t interacted with her on SNW. Chapel certainly didn’t seem to recognize T’Pring, but she never explicitly said that she didn’t recognize her. Spock and Uhura never really interacted with Sam in Operation: Annihilate, so it wasn’t really possible to tell if they knew him or not. By the time Spock and Uhura found out who their unseen enemy was in Arena, Kirk was already fighting the Gorn, and it would have been pointless for either of them to announce to the bridge crew that they recognized the Gorn. It was probably well known that the Enterprise had faced the Gorn before anyway.
LOL she hasn’t interacted with her YET! I wish people stop doing this, it’s getting more ridiculous. People made the same argument that Chapel ALSO didn’t know who T’Pring was until she met her in episode 5. We are talking 5+ years between now and TOS. Somehow we are to believe Uhura for the next 5 YEARS doesn’t know Spock is engaged or who T’Pring is but yet everyone else DOES when she works on the bridge with Spock and T’Pring literally shows up on Enterprise multiple times?
And the way that crew gossips to each other? Uhura thought Spock and Chapel had a thing going in the second episode. Spock can’t shut up talking about his life to everyone there. Just think about it from a common sense perspective instead of splitting hairs. And I give it a few more episodes before we see Uhura and T’Pring having lunch together. ;)
Same thing with Sam and Operation: Annhilate. It’s splitting hairs to a ridiculous level. Neither Spock or Uhura knew who he was in the episode. It takes one line to go “OMG, Sam!” Or ‘Hey Spock you and Sam used to work together on this very ship for like 5 years right?” Absolutely nothing.
And no I’m not buying the Gorn knew about the Federation and vice versa beforehand. Again they DIDN’T know who they were in Arena.
But of course you can certainly stick with those arguments. I just think they are silly, especially as the characters will naturally just interact more. But I’m still loving the show despite the fact it’s breaking canon.
Perhaps you should watch the ep first?
Why? Am I not allowed to speculate or have an opinion?
I guess you missed the part where I wrote “Just a guess”.
These canon-spats are hilarious. My advice? Call a friend, have a beer, fire up a joint and relax until next Thursday. We are so lucky to have so much Trek available right now. Why not just sit back and enjoy them?
I’ll just take a stress pill and think things over.
Seriously though, canon deviations really don’t bother me at all. I’ve viewed SNW as a soft reboot from the start so they can do whatever they want as far as I care.
I do think that if they just did go ahead and call it a reboot it would end a lot of the arguments once and for all but something tells me they don’t want to do that precisely because they prefer the ongoing arguments as a way to perpetuate word of mouth.
SNW’s bigger problem is that it has often been a mildly tame affair. Even last week’s Aliens knockoff (and I have no problem with cribbing classic movies as long as it’s done well) was surprisingly devoid of any suspense or tension. The pacing has been average at best all season and honestly that’s been it’s biggest failing for me.
Agree.Call it a reboot, all these issues goes away tomorrow.
Canon is a thing of the past, Tiger. It was hard to do, but I let it go. Cheers, Happy holiday.
I would GLADLY accept this if the current braintrust running Star Trek would. Just say there is no explanation.. it’s an actual REBOOT, so this way we’re free to do what we want. The Star Trek you know and love is still out there, but this is different and new. No problem, off we go. For me, the issue is that they’re STILL claiming that this stuff fits… and it just doesn’t. So irritating.
That…would be a great fakeout.
Judging by the trailer it looks like the show has moved a bit forward in time.
I’ve read on a popular Facebook SNW page that they had seen the finale, and that it will be EXTREMELY divisive among the fans. Either one will love it or hate it.
My guess is that we will get to see Pike’s accident here and that S2 will he readying the ship for the TOS crew.
I really hope I am wrong!
Pike’s accident doesn’t happen until after Kirk takes command.
CBS already confirmed that Kirk isn’t taking command in Season 2 and not to assume anything, and that Pike is still in Season 2.
And the spoiler photos of a certain character from the season finale of Stranger Things were debunked earlier this week by Netflix and turned out to be legitimate…
Studios have a habit of saying something isn’t true and it turns out to be. Same with actors. Wasn’t this the site where Frakes said he had little involvement with Season 3 of Picard a day before the announcement the TNG cast was returning?
That being said Pike is quickly becoming my favorite Captain so I hope his journey isn’t over.
That’s a relief that Pike is in S2. I missed that piece of news. Just hoping we get to see lots of Pike (and Anson Mount) for many more seasons to come :)
Was that another anonymous poster that claimed they worked for the studio?
Lol, I love those handful of people who post on Star Trek websites who claim all these “inside knowledge” resumes. “Trust me, even though you have no idea who I am I used to work for Paramount.” Lol, sure you did, and of course you’re not that middle-age rotund dude who works as a security guard and who who sat next to me in the bronze section at a Star Trek convention last year. Lol
Even if the supposed insider is just making stuff up, they probably are right. Most episodes are divisive among fans.
It’s from an established media site who watched an advance of the episode. I’m sure Trekmovie already has seen it too, as most media sites are privy to.
There were no spoilers at all, apart from alerting readers to try and avoid any chatter around the episode from Monday, and that the episode may be very controversial among fans.
But being Star Trek fans, controversial applies to pretty much any episode lol
Several websites have already screened the episode, very likely TrekMovie among them.
I am still holding out hope for a more “exploration “ type of episode. Maybe next season: the Enterprise charts unexplored space, crew beams to a new planet, some action with aliens, strange cultures, new societal issues to discuss, etc.
I absolutely think SNW is the best Star Trek in decades. However, I do agree with you that the exploration element is missing.
True. Still missing, despite the show’s title. But it’s sort of always been missing from Trek. 80% of Trek has always taken detours from the holy monologue… be it politics, war, character comedy, shore leaves, holodecks, Q shenanigans or time travel stuff. SNW is no different, it does what TOS and TNG, VOY and ENT and certainly DS9 and DSC have done: avoiding the monologue…:-)
Yeah, it would be nice if the show could stand on its own without repeating characters and situations already in the library.
Agreed!
Ortega is on Nav. Interesting
And not an Una to be seen. To me that says Ortegas is 1st officer in this flash forward.
Looks like the Enterprise is gonna need a refit after that episode.
I wonder if they are gonna shift the look more towards the original Enterprise in Season 2?
This is the original Enterprise.
You know what I mean. They could shift the look more toward the TOS Enterprise. Keep the texture like it is, but make her more white, and make the neck longer….
More white / a paint job — yes, please!
the TOS paint job was a battleship grey. The Current model already matches that in good lighting, like when it’s parking outside Starbase 1.
Dude, I don’t care what the paint job color was labeled, it look’s white in TOS, and it sure as hell looked white when I saw it in person at the Smithsonian, and my photos I have from that have it looking white as well.
It it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and flies like a duck, it’s most probably a duck.
I didn’t mean to be that pedantic…but on most scenes the NCC-1701 looks white to me. I just would love to see the TOS-Design with modern textures. Same old shape, same old colour but with more details like she is already shown in SNW. Just go further.
That could be cool, but I don’t think it would quite make sense since The Cage is set before SNW. I think we’re just supposed to assume that this is what the Enterprise would have looked like in TOS if they had had access to modern production values.
Again with the plywood and 2×4’s?
Lol. Yep
Based on The Ready Room clip, The trailer is almost certainly a “what if” look at the cataclysm that happens if Kirk isnt in the chair when the Romulans attack. So ultimatly not only wont it break cannon, it will cement it and make Pike realize that when he took the time crystal he really did seal his fate.
This is pretty much what I was thinking. Things will be much worse if Pike tries to change his fate.
A friend and I theorize that what we’re seeing is an alien illusion, or something. Showing a future where Pike avoids his accident, but is maybe injured in the exact same way in this battle, showing his fate is inevitable, even if he tries to avoid it.
Or that him avoiding his fate leads to something worse galactically. “Only Nixon could go to china” “Only Kirk can prevent war with the Romulans”
New ship class @27 seconds or so
and its destroyed @ 31 seconds
it was not destroyed just crippled
Strange New World has been great, but I hate this 10-episode season format that streaming services have taken us to.
There is very little time for character development in a season with only 10 episodes. TNG, DS9, VOY all have 20+ episodes a season, and that allowed for significant development of the characters.
I get that the production value is much higher now with the sets, CGI, etc, but honestly, I could do without some of the special effects if it meant longer seasons with more quality stories.
I also dislike the year off between seasons – It stinks!
and the down side of 20 plus seasons is a bunch of crap episodes 10 episodes makes sense and makes sure it gives great or good episodes for all season long
it takes a long time for post production on these shows and they just finished main filming/first line production on season 2 so now is second line production and pick up shots and and adr that is needed is done and post production can start aka all the cgi the music and the editing
It less about post production and more about money. They can stretch 20 episodes over two separate series. That’s pretty much the long and short of it.
It only does make sense if you avoid filler episodes, but not if you extend 3 episodes into 10-13 episodes. That’s basically the opposite of how it should worked.
From what I’ve seen, I think SNW did a better job developing its characters in ten episodes than VOY did in twenty. YMMV, of course.
Visually this seems to be a major “Balance of Terror” rehash (the flaming torpedo, the outpost destroyed) but I think that’s a red hering. This probably isn’t “Balance of Terror”, it’s “Yesterday’s Enterprise”…
If the events of “Balance of Terror” happpen about 7 years too early, this may mean we are in an alternate timeline here. Maybe a timeline in which the Romulan War didn’t turn out the way it did in the original timeline because an important player was removed from history… someone like Archer or the entire NX-01…
This may send the Federation on the brink of losing everything in this reality (“end of the world stuff”) and maybe the goal is to return things to normal by sending Archer or NX-01 back in time… Then things can play out like they used to on TOS but that will als mean Pike has to have his accident, which may not happen in this bleak reality… Pike’s accident is Tasha’s death so to speak. Pike may be able to spot the difference (Guinan’s part) because of his contact to the time crystal.
Some of the dialogue is also word for word from BoT. So yeah, I think we’re seeing an alt-Future, one where Pike wasn’t injured.
Looks like it could be a really good episode. I hope it is as this season while i really enjoyed 5 of the 9 episodes(the other 4 not so much) has not met the hype surrounding it imo. Don’t get me wrong it’s a great and enjoyable show that does respect to the franchise but it doesn’t reach the high quality of writing/acting that Discovery has set which has been the best Trek show since DS9 again all imo.
I assume they’ll do what Enterprise did and not have any of the main cast actually see the Romulans. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Balance of Terror, but wasn’t that weapon supposed to be new in that episode? Does anybody remember if they explicitly say that the conflict in Balance of Terror was the first conflict between the Federation and the Romulans since the war? However it works out, I’m glad that SNW won’t be the first Trek (apart from Prodigy, so far) to leave out the Romulans.
Pretty sure what we’re seeing *is* Balance of Terror, but from an alt-timeline where Pike isn’t injured.
Some of the dialogue in the trailer is taken right from the TOS Episode.
That could be cool. Then Pike might even see Romulans in that episode, and Pike just has to keep their appearance a secret because of the temporal prime directive. That does make it odd that Ortegas is still around, and M’Benga seems to still be CMO instead of McCoy in the trailer. But I guess anything can change in an alternate timeline.
I always figured McCoy came to the Enterprise with Kirk. Perhaps not immediately, but Kirk asked for him.
That makes sense, but I always assumed that Piper predated Kirk.
The german dub of TOS circumvented that problem and gave Dr. Piper the line: “I’m here as substitute for Dr. Mc Coy” :-)
Keeping things classified has become a time honored tradition in NuTrek. ;)
And if it is an altered timeline then it can change everything of course. Maybe because Pike stayed on the Enterprise a series of events changed as well and people like Sulu and McCoy just never joined.
Cliffhanger to the end the season!
Just as I predicted.
Basically this season builds up to Uhura and Chapel earning their uniforms by season finale. Nice approach.
They have the right to cannibalize or bastardize “Balance of Terror,” and oh boy, you better believe I have the right to hate them for it.
I dunno, my initial reaction was similar to yours, but I suppose they could do something interesting with it. “Trials and Tribbleations” went back to a classic TOS episode and I thought that was pretty good. Could happen again, fingers crossed.
“Trials and Tribble-ations” had a couple of things going for it: 1) it was a Paramount or Berman edict to do an anniversary episode for Trek (Voyager did their Star Trek VI-Tuvok-Sulu story either the week before or week after) 2) it was in year 9 of the TNG-era of Trek storytelling and was, like, the 105th episode of DS9, so the writers had told enough stories on their own (using their own characters and situations) to finally revisit TOS stuff. Neither situation applies here. SNW has been a TOS remix, largely absent of originality. It’s plausible they could do something interesting with it. I’m not sure of the probability of it happening, though.
Sure, it was a special anniversary episode and all that, but my point is they did go at the iconic TOS episode at a different angle, involving revenge and time travel and so forth. It wasn’t simply a remake with a Tribble outbreak on DS9, bar fight at Quark’s, etc.
SNW may go at BoT at a different angle as well. We’ll see.
You have every right to hate them for that, or anything else, just as I have the right to think that hating on anyone for a segment of television, let alone one you haven’t even seen yet, is pretty over the top.
Absolutely. I never claimed to be a rational person. I am, after all, a poster on a Star Trek message board.
To me, I truly love the idea if that’s what it is and they somehow fast forwarded to the future to Balance of Terror. I think it’s pretty cool. We’ve done a few time travel episodes where crews have traveled to the past to be part of a previous story like Trials and Tribbulations and Flashback as you mentioned but this would be the first flashforward to a story. Only in this story Pike is the one still leading the Enterprise. That’s pretty unique!
You have the right to hate, HATE, I say, them for it. Man, I hope you never get audited.
It’s a TV show. Take a pill.
I will say if it does revolve around Balance of Terror and it’s a permanent change,then yeah prepare for a melt down lol.
But I don’t see them doing that. My guess is whatever it is (assuming it is a time jump) will be rectified in some way. It will just call everything into question. I just don’t see why they would do that to themselves but then again it is the same group that gave us British Khan and told us it was suppose to be the same original guy so yeah, anything is possible.
The ‘Balance of Terror’ / ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’ point is a fine one. Or perhaps it’s ‘the Inner Light’ — but ending up as a bad dream.
*
It seems pretty clear that there’s a significant jump forward in time. The rank-stripes on the sleeves are different (helpfully).
Uhura is a full lieutenant.
Looks like Mitchell is a full commander in this time period.
Looks like Spock is a full commander, too.
No sign of Una in this time period.
It looks like the broader BoT scenario is similar — but there are a lot of differences: each side has a fleet, rather than the one-on-one cat-and-mouse.
The voice we hear speaking for the Romulans sounds female; the commander in BoT was male.
*
I’m sure i’m not the only one speculating that after Pike sees this younger version of a cadet in the accident shown on Boreth, he decides essentially to ‘break faith’ with the time crystals and redirect the future.
So, he blows right through to the TOS time frame — perhaps aligning with season 1, and this occurs at or near the time when his accident was to take place.
That may land a bit later than BoT, as the Federation and Romulan fleets are far more substantial. War breaks out, and all sorts of things we know don’t happen in the ‘prime’ timeline.
Seems that resolution will come if Pike fully accepts his fate and things reset.
*
‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’ scenario: Somehow, by connecting with Pike, ‘Time Crystal Magic’ ensues’ and the timeline resets. The message to us, the viewers, that everything is ok, would be a glimpse of Kirk in the chair during that timeframe.
’Inner Light’ scenario: Somehow, by connecting with Pike, the time crystals can show him the future if he screws around with the Boreth timeline. So, Pike lives out the future (how he dies, perhaps) while riding the turbolift or something.
*
Either way, the time crystals are being endowed with enormous power. I don’t think anybody is better off for it.
Also, this is a lot of time — in a 10-episode season — to devote to the theme of Pike/fate, rather than other ideas.
However, (a) i could be wrong, or (b) it could be a heck of a lot of fun anyway. The rest of the season sure has been!
WEIRD AND TRIPPY STAR TREK! FOURTH TIME THIS SEASON!! I’M IN PAKLED HEAVEN!!!
I was so excited when I saw the trailer. I didn’t even understand what I was watching first time I saw it but when I did I automatically became thrilled over the possibilities! I’m guessing it is an alternate timeline where Pike is still in command of the Enterprise when Kirk is suppose to be and starts a war with the Romulans trying to avoid his fate. We may even see other TOS characters show up (yes like Kirk ;)) or even McCoy or Sulu. Won’t get ahead of myself.
It could be a time travel story. But maybe it’s nothing more then a dream/vision Pike has? Maybe it’s the Talosians giving him the visions? Hell it could even be Q showing him his future! Obviously I don’t think it is but it’s Star Trek anything is possible. I’m up for anything!
Adding to the theory of a time jump, uniforms are different. Uhuras is most notable, but in the trailer the uniforms all have gold rank strips. In the series thus far the stripes are the same color as the uniforms and in the longer ready room clip spocks arm can be seen with no gold strips but the trailer shows gold stripes on Spock briefly indicating a uniform update between the clip and the trailer.
Season 2 Kirk leaks show La’aan with the Red strips still so it isnt mearly a mid episode uniform update that sticks around. So I say definetly a time jump “What if” situation. Evidence says it cant be anything else.
Could also tie into S2’s Kirk appearance somehow. Cliffhanger? Maybe that picture of Captain Kirk in the chair is on the Bridge of the Enterprise during the restored Romulan encounter.
Either way, a time jump a definetly whats happening.
Ship Spotting: If you pause at exactly the right moment at the 11 second mark Romulan ship just appears as its firing.
Yeah this might all be part of a bigger story line going forward. Maybe the Kirk we meet will just be Kirk from an alternate timeline. And if that is the case, they can then do anything they want with both characters. Again may not be but if so I think that’s a brilliant idea. We can have a big ‘what if’ scenario and see how everyone interacts but don’t change canon in the process. It would be cool to have an alternate timeline where Pike and Kirk are actually fighting the Romulans together in the future but Kirk is Captain of the Farragut instead.
I like the whole time jump idea. They already said time travel will be part of this show (like every Star Trek show lol) and this would be a unique twist on it. Sure we’ve had forward time jumps before (in Discovery’s case, a big one lol) but never in a known time actually. It’s always been a future we haven’t covered yet like in Enterprise and Discovery since those happened in the 30th century.
I see some people freaking out over it and I can’t be more excited lol. THIS is the kind of stuff I love what Star Trek does. And my guess is it will all be reset by the end if we are jumping to the Balance of Terror story line.
They should have James Frain as the Romulan commander.
Why?
I like SNW, but now they’re playing with fire.
Wow after seeing this yesterday, all I can say is that I am not exactly sure what I am watching! All signs point to Romulans, but I am pretty sure nothing may be as it seems!
I expect we are in store for surprises and I am not ready to make any assumptions about what the finale is going to deliver next Thursday! All I can say is I can’t wait!
Same, caaaannn’t wait!
For me personally, it’s exciting to shake up the universe a bit. Yes obviously you still have to think about canon but I like the idea of time jumping to a known event in the future (if that’s what it is). And if it Romulans, it’s really going to shake things up!
Buuut, I will also say this is probably why they should’ve just rebooted the show as a whole. I know you hear me say this a lot but in a rebooted universe you can just do things like this and not have people losing their shit over it lol. That’s why despite my issues with the movies themselves, I really love the idea of the Kelvin universe. Unfortunately they have greatly squandered that potential but it started off great with destroying Vulcan and taking the Federation and those characters in a different direction. But unlike the Kelvin movies though, chances are whatever this is will get the good ole infamous Star Trek reset button; but just to even do it would be pretty cool IMO.
Just thinking about this offhand, but I don’t think Star Trek will ever have a ‘prequel’ in its truest form. It’s just too hard to do it now when you have literally centuries of stories ahead of you and you’re constantly calling back to them even if your story takes place before them. Technically there has been 4 prequels (if you count the Kelvin movies as well) and every single one of them found a way to flash forward to the future or simply gone there on their own.
Enterprise had the Temporal Cold War and referenced the Federation many times and of course Archer jumped ahead to several different periods like the 26th and 31st centuries.
The kelvin movies exists due to Nero and Prime Spock coming from the 24th century and telling them what happens in the future.
Discovery literally jumped to the 32nd century.
SNW looks like it will time jump a few years but the entire show is based on the fact Pike knows what is already going to happen to him in the future. I won’t be surprised if one day this show either jumps to the 25th century to meet Picard and the gang or some of them jump to the 23rd century with all the crossover talk lately.
Wel, not only is this true, prequel ventures into soap opera teritory.
I love this show but I would have been very happy if there were fewer callbacks, and more strange new pieces of art.
I still would love to see a prequel set between Enterprise and our time with an approach to more realism. Let them explore and colonize our solar system, discover the first exo- planets on their own. You just know the vulcans and nothing more. Earth is far away and it akes months to get back. No FTL-subspace communication possible. No stick to canon necessary because there still is no federation and no contact to other known species. That would be a true prequel.
100% with this. Star Trek: Enterprise really missed the chance to show the grittiness of early space travel. Never should have been called Enterprise to begin with, nor should they have used that ship. So many missed opportunities to show real human drama; all we get is lazy writing and rehashing old ideas.
They originally wanted Enterprise to take place on Earth in its first season and build up to the first mission heading out into space. The ship wasn’t going to even be built yet but fast tracked once the Klingon crash landed on Earth. We were going to meet the new characters throughout the season as Archer went around trying to find people to fill his ship and the last episode of the season would’ve had them launching into space to take the Klingon back to Kronos. I imagine season 2 would’ve showed them trying to reach Klingon space and so on.
But UPN didn’t want that at all. In fact I found out through a video that researched all of this UPN originally wanted a show set in the 26th century. The producers wanted Trek to go 200 years in the past but the network wanted to go 200 years into the future and you can see where the conflict was on day one. ;)
In fact, that’s how the TCW became born because the network still wanted the future to be referenced and mention future story lines fans already knew.
That is the irony about Enterprise, it’s the first prequel but one the network never wanted. And I will say that as a fan as well. I really didn’t like the idea of a prequel at the time and going so far back just did not interest me at all. I eventually came around and love the show today but it took a long time for me. I had the same issue with Discovery too but I came around to that show much faster by its second season.
Interesting, I never knew the network wanted it set in the future. It’s funny that they didn’t learn their lesson with Discovery.
Exactly! I won’t say Discovery had the same issues as Enterprise…but close enough. ;)
I guess the other issue with Discovery was losing the show runner who put Discovery in that time period in the first place. It was obvious no one else working on the show really wanted it to be a prequel and why it felt like such a bad one and they ended up moving it anyway.
That’s essentially The Expanse
I know. But I could never get into that show and stopped after few episodes. I thought more of Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Universe stylewise, though their premises are different.
The first couple of episodes are definitely not hook and grab you sizzle reels. You should give it another shot, though. At least until the MCRN ship takes on the stealth ships. If you don’t find it interesting after that, then yeah it’s not for you. I found it to be the best space opera since TNG/DS9. Yes, even better than BSG (which I really like, too, but its ending sort of tarnishes the whole thing — at least, to me)
I watched this trailer and I can’t wait to watch this episode now. I see people are saying that it’s the Romulans and I say we’ll see. Personally, I think it’s the Tholians. The voice speaking to Captain Pike is female.
Every time the Tholians have been encountered, their voice has had a feminine inflection to it. Also, the Federation just had a war with the Tholians not too long before SNW started. It was touched on on Short Treks. Yes, I know the dialogue sounds like Balance Of Terror but maybe that’s what they want us to think?
Perhaps there’s some type of time travel going on here and Pike is an alt-timeline where Balance Of Terror takes place with the Tholians as the antagonists instead of the Romulans? Plus, the Enterprise is near Tholian space or at least it was when they were dealing with the Gorn last episode and that’s another reason why I think that it’s the Tholians. But even if it is the Romulans, then it’s not what it appears to be and it might all be a Talosian illusion to get him to come back to Vina sooner than they expect him to return. Or maybe this will be a psychic projection from the new Sybok that we’re supposed to be getting, Sybok 2.0?
Perhaps this is an illusion that Captain Pike created in his own head, a no win scenario, and Sybok has got Pike stuck in his head playing out this scenario? Last time we saw Sybok he had the ability to make people come to terms with their sorrow and grief. He could be capable of a lot more and we just don’t know it. Well, we’ll see on Thursday, right 🙂?
Live long and prosper, Trekmovie 🖖
This isn’t a bad theory but this video breakdown on the trailer makes it pretty conclusive they are in fact fighting Romulans:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JulU942M9MU
I think I watched this trailer about a half dozen times and maybe caught a third of that lol. I never actually saw any of the Romulan ships until this video pointed it out. He even points out specific scenes and dialogue pulled from Balance of Terror.
Me too. I have watched that trailer more than other ones and slowed it down. I discovered one romulan ship. And there is another video with another scene were you see a map with the neutral zone…
Thank you for giving me the link to the video, Tiger2. I checked it out. But like I said, even if it is the Romulans, not everything is what it appears to be. Remember it was a woman’s voice speaking to Captain Pike? It could be Captain Angel and Sybok in stolen Romulan vessels. It could be Sybok forcing Captain Pike to suffer some sort of psychic vision of future events.
All is not what it seems. Live long and prosper, Tiger2 🖖.
We also had a fictional future showing the romulans in TNG which ended up a fantasy of a lonel boy. But in this case Sybok and Angel would have to extrapolate future unknow incidents which happen to be similar to Balance of terror… too many coincidences….
Well, we’ll see on Thursday 🙂. Everybody’s just making assumptions. “Oh, they must be remaking “Balance Of Terror just because I see one Romulan Warbird”, you know how ridiculous this sounds? Everyone should just use some logic for real.
This whole scenario could be so that Captain Pike comes to terms with his destiny and that should be the biggest take away from this episode, if that’s the story they’re telling in the season finale. Whether it’s the Romulans or the Tholians or Sybok and Captain Angel or the Talosians, who cares!
The episode is going to be another great episode and a sure fire one at that. Everybody thought they were redoing “Arena” with the Gorn and they’re not.
There’s more stuff going on here than meets the eye and that’s the point I’m trying to make. Everybody’s assuming it’s the Romulans just because you see a Romulan ship. Well, it would be pretty easy for a pirate, like Captain Angel, to hijack a ship from the Romulans and turn it against the Federation. Or how about the Klingons?
The Romulans stole their battle cruiser from them, the D7, so why can’t the Klingons steal a Bird Of Prey from the Romulans? Nobody even saw a Romulan and everybody is just making assumptions. How about watching the episode first before criticizing it, that’s all I’m saying here.
Live long and prosper, Dave CGN🖖.
It isn’t just the Romulan BoP making people think that.
There’s dialogue in the trailer taken directly from BoT, the outpost being attacked is the same one from BoT (Outpost 4), they have the Plasma weapon from BoT which was unknown at the time of that episode.
I don’t think this is a retcon/direct remake, but Pike witnessing an alt-future where he avoids the accident.
It could be. It could be the work of the Organians or someone like them. I think all that is just Easter eggs or red herrings to distract us from what’s really going on here. One, Outpost 4 didn’t just come into existence during TOS.
It’s probably been around for a long time so there’s a good chance that Outpost 4 exists during Captain Pike’s time as Captain of the Enterprise. Two, the Bird Of Prey could be a prototype that’s been stolen by the Klingons because the Romulans and the Klingons were embroiled in a war at this time in the TOS-era. Remember the Romulans stole a D-7 from the Klingons during TOS so maybe that was in retaliation for the Klingons stealing a Bird Of Prey from them first? That’s a possibility, right?
The Romulans did not have a war with the Federation in TOS. That was the Klingons. The Romulans had a cold war and some skirmishes and that is much different than having an actual full blown war which is what the Klingons had with the Federation in Errand Of Mercy. And, yes, I know Spock said that the Romulans crossing the Neutral Zone was considered an act of war but they went back inside the Neutral Zone so that war was averted.
The only war the Romulans have had with Earth is the Romulan War during Captain Archer’s era. Every other encounter with them has been a skirmish. The Federation wanted to avoid another war with the Romulans at all costs. So they may not be fighting the Romulans in this week’s finale of SNW.
It might be the Klingons because they are supposed to be involved in the next season of SNW, remember? Maybe this is where they’re gonna reintroduce them again? Just some stuff to consider. We’ll see on Thursday, right 🙂?
Live long and prosper, Tuskin38 🖖
As I said myself on several posts here, I don’t think they simply just jumped through time either. It probably is some kind of manipulation by someone else or just an alternate timeline of some kind. But it’s no doubt they are dealing with Romulans though and not Tholians. It would be interesting if it’s Sybok as well but I think if it’s someone who is doing it, it’s a more powerful being in general. Either way, it’s really exciting!
True, true, Tiger2. I can see what you’re saying. But maybe consider this: if it is someone more powerful, then maybe we’re seeing the Klingons during their war with the Federation from Errand Of Mercy? If someone powerful, like Q, is involved, then why can’t it be the Organians?
The Federation never had a war with the Romulans during TOS. They had a cold war and some skirmishes, yes, but not an actual war. The Klingons had a war with the Federation during Errand Of Mercy and they even said as much in the episode. So it still might not be the Romulans.
The Klingons could’ve stolen a Bird Of Prey from the Romulans because they had a war going on with them as well as the Federation at that time. Remember the Romulans stole a D-7 from the Klingons during TOS? Perhaps that was in retaliation for the Klingons stealing a Bird Of Prey from them years ago during Captain Pike’s time? I’m just saying anything is possible.
It might not be the Romulans is all I’m saying. And they might be using dialogue from “Balance Of Terror” as either an Easter egg or it’s a red herring to distract us from what’s really going on here. Just stuff to consider. We’ll see on Thursday, right?
Live long and prosper, Tiger2 🖖
OK, that’s all fair but I just don’t see the point of pretending it’s another group either. They showed in the clip a map of the neutral zone and that scene looks like it’s before the fight starts. I just don’t understand the point of it NOT being Romulans but someone just pretending to be them? Sure it could be the Klingons but when has the Klingons never wanted to show their face lol. It’s always the opposite with them they always want their enemy to know exactly who they are fighting. Unless you’re suggesting they are trying to start a war between the Romulans and the Federation? I don’t think that’s what you’re suggesting but as stated we see them fighting BOP so it’s either them or someone pretending to be them and I don’t see the point of that at all.
But yeah I agree completely someone could obviously be manipulating Pike or just a dream/fantasy sequence. None of it could be real. And yeah we have aliens like the Q and the Organians as a possibility (although both of those are not met in canon until later, but yeah I know it doesn’t mean they can’t show up obviously). Of course another possibility (and it would be directly relevant to Pike himself) is that the Talosians can be behind it. And we also have to remember the Talosians can see the future too according to ‘If Memory Serves’ when they showed Burnham the galaxy getting wiped out in the future. So maybe they are showing Pike a future if he in fact tries to waver from his destiny.
I don’t think it’s them either but as always said you can’t rule anyone out in these situations. So yes lots to consider. I didn’t think I would be so excited for this episode but now I’m just a fanboy hyped on sugar lol.
Yes, I agree, it could be the Talosians. They can see the future so it could be them. The Organians can project themselves through time as well. Perhaps Captain Pike wants to change his destiny but the Organians show him just how crucial it is that Captain Kirk becomes Captain of the Enterprise because of the pivotal role he plays in the Organian Peace Treaty and that, without Captain Kirk, there won’t be a peace treaty and there will be untold bloodshed spilt on both sides in the upcoming conflict between the Federation and the Klingons?
And it totally could be someone trying to start a war between the Romulans and the Federation and it could be the Klingons. Who would have the most to gain if the Federation and the Romulans went to war again? The Klingons. The Klingons do the spy stuff, just like the Federation and the Romulans. They have their own people undergo surgery to make themselves appear like the race they’re trying to infiltrate, just like the Romulans and the Federation do.
So I dispute you, Tiger2, about the Klingons being “only in your face”. Look at Arne Darvin for one from Trouble With Tribbles. Look at the genetic experimentation they were doing back in Captain Archer’s time that caused a whole subset of the Klingon population to look more human. So the Klingons do subterfuge, Tiger2, and I refute that point.
We just haven’t seen it as much. It’s even mentioned in Star Trek III that the Klingons have spies in the Federation and that’s how Kruge wound up finding out about the Genesis Device. So it totally could be the Klingons trying to start a war between the Romulans and the Federation so that the Klingons can go out and expand their Empire without any interference from the Federation or the Romulan Star Empire, which was their main goal at this point in the Star Trek timeline. And I am just as excited as you are for Thursday to get here because I have this feeling we’re gonna get our first look at Paul Wesley’s Captain Kirk this Thursday 🙂. Live long and prosper Tiger2.
Those Klingon situations are different though. In those cases, they are spies, the point is NOT to be noticed. But when they are blatantly fighting someone, they don’t hide who they are for very long. It didn’t take long to reveal themselves at the battle of the binary stars because for Klingons battling is all about honor. There would be none pretending it’s someone else or hiding that fact. That’s why I have a hard time seeing its the Klingons. But of course it doesn’t mean it can’t be exceptions so this could be one of them.
But hey this is fun lol. This is why I usually come here, to speculate all the nutty possibilities. I’m usually wrong 90% of the time too but it’s all in good fun of course. So I’m up for anything just as long as it’s good.
And yes I suspect we will see Kirk pop up in the finale. Even if they pull a Discovery season one and he pops in the final minute of the episode, clearly this story line is the way they are bringing him into the show.
And if it’s done through a dreamlike situation I think that will make it easier on some fans not happy with him being on this early. But I also think it will be more of an alternate timeline situation because that way you can get the REAL Kirk, but just in a slightly different reality so it doesn’t break canon but you can still do anything you want. The best of both worlds!
IS IT THURSDAY ALREADY??????
No, you’re not wrong, you just like the Klingons a lot 🙂. But there’s a lot of backstabbing involved in the Klingon culture, just take a look at the Duras family for one. A lot of Klingons do fight with honor but not everybody. Martok and Worf and Kor did but the Duras family didn’t.
A lot of Klingons are motivated by doing what’s right for the Empire and some are simply motivated by doing what’s right for their house. Everyone sees something different when they watch Star Trek and that’s why it’s fun when you can discuss Star Trek with another Trekkie and get a different point of view. But we’ll see on Thursday. I really can’t wait to see Captain Kirk return myself ❤️!
If people get mad, let them get mad. All that matters is what you think of it but you know people are gonna complain. Just read all the comments on this page where people are assuming that the Romulans are coming. Nobody knows for sure but people are getting mad about it.
That’s why I say watch the episode first and then if you don’t like it, say something afterwards. But don’t say something when you don’t even what the show’s about, you know? Just like with “Memento Mori”, the episode that reintroduced the Gorn. Before it even came on, everybody was saying “Oh, they’re redoing “Arena” “.
No one had even seen the episode yet but because La’an said “It’s the Gorn, sir”, everyone started saying “Arena”, “Arena”, “Arena”. You can’t please everyone and all that should matter is whether you like it or not. I for one am highly anticipating the appearance of Captain Kirk. I don’t care who it is they’re fighting, I just want to see Captain Kirk again 💖!!!!!!!!!!!!
Live long and prosper, Tiger2 🖖
for a split split second @ around the 11 second mark you can see a romulan ship firing the plasma torp. its blurry bu its definetly a silver BOP
you can see BoPs in multiple shots in the trailer. In one you can see the glow of the Bussard collectors, and they match the ones on the BoP in Picard Season 1.
That video shows several BOP from the trailer, so it’s pretty cool. Romulans are one of my favorite species in the entire franchise. A big reason why I don’t like prequels is because that usually take Romulans out of the equation from the start. But it’s Star Trek and of course they still found ways to include them in Enterprise and the first Kelvin movie and happy they found a way in SNW even if it turns out to be a one and done story line.
Now they just need to show up on Prodigy.
The Last Time they nostalgia baited in a trailer it was with a “Tholian” Web. So my money is on Cpt. Angel again …
Its 100% romulans. I spotted their ship very briefly in the trailer. Its also a time jump becasue of distict uniform change that happen between the Ready Room clip and the trailer footage. and since spy photos show the unchanged uniforms for season 2 its going to be one of those what if stories that gets corrected. In this case what if Pike avoids his accident and stays on the Enterprise. We are going to find out that Kirk being in command when the romulans show up was pivitol in avoiding war that Pike does not manage to avoid.
There’s also dialogue in the trailer taken directly from BoT.
Why are the costumes/uniforms suddenly different?
According to a writer over at Comic Book Resources (cbr.com), James T. Kirk appears in the finale. I have no idea how he knows that.
Was it the comic book guy from the Simpsons? And shouldnt it be “James R. Kirk”? 🤔😏
His last name is Patton. Since the TAS “Bem”, I think they’ve just gone with Tiberius as Kirk’s middle name.
I just found out, that the name of the other female member at the helm is Jenna Mitchell… interesting…
Jeez Oh Man. Balance of Terror on Steroids??
Woo hoo, more legacy references and stories plagiarized from the old series, so stoked