Plot: The series will follow Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.
Review: One of the elements of the current Star Trek revival on Paramount+ is that each series upends the expectations left by the main franchise. As created by Gene Roddenberry, the original Star Trek was an episodic adventure through space focused on the utopian ideals of the USS Enterprise crew. Roddenberry’s follow-up series, The Next Generation, upheld these themes for a new generation, along with Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. It was not until Discovery debuted in 2017 that we got a serial drama with a fresh look and feel. Now, after an animated and TNG-era series, Paramount+ returns to the Enterprise for a series focused on Anson Mount’s portrayal of Captain Christopher Pike as introduced in Discovery‘s second season. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds harkens back to the standalone, episodic nature of Gene Roddenberry’s original series but with a revisionist bend that makes it both refreshing and nostalgic at the same time.
The shift from serial storytelling to episodic tales is noticeable from the very beginning of the premiere episode of Strange New Worlds. For those familiar with Anson Mount’s run as Pike, the Enterprise captain saw a vision of his own death while visiting a Klingon monastery during the second season of Discovery. That vision haunts him and keeps him from resuming his command until a distress signal from Number One (Rebecca Romjin) pulls Pike back to his chair on the bridge. Spock (Ethan Peck), who is spending time with his significant other on Vulcan, also rejoins the retrofitted Enterprise as it heads out to save Number One. The premiere episode does a good job of introducing the full ensemble crew of the ship including classic characters Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) and cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding). The rest of the cast are new creations including Babs Olusanmokun as Doctor M’Benga, Bruce Horak as blind Aenar chief engineer Hemmer, Melissa Navia as ensign Erica Ortegas, and Christina Chong as security chief La’an Noonien-Singh. On that last one, it does not take long for La’an’s connection to Khan to be acknowledged along with several other connections to the classic Star Trek original series.
The diverse cast echoes Gene Roddenberry’s original vision for Star Trek, including having a woman as the second in command. Romjin is excellent as both a confidante to Pike and as a leader to the crew. She carries on the great tradition of number ones going back to Spock, Riker, and even her precursor played by Majel Barrett Roddenberry in the 1966 pilot. She works well with both Anson Mount and Ethan Peck, something we saw in their scenes during Discovery, but all three actors interact well with the full ensemble cast. Each episode delivers on character development and backstory for each crew member, with an added focus on La’an and Uhura in the early episodes while also giving insight into Nurse Chapel and Doctor M’Benga.
The first five episodes of the ten-episode first season were made available for this review and feature Trek hallmarks including an away team being separated from the main crew, costumes for the Starfleet crew to blend in with a native planet, conflicts requiring specific crew members to use their expertise which also delivers on character development, and socially relevant plots that echo our contemporary world. Essentially, this new series is as close to the original Star Trek as any series has been while also being enhanced by a bigger budget and improved special effects. That is a double-edged sword, however, as there are some episodes in this batch that don’t work quite as well as others. I appreciate the callbacks to classic Trek like the reptilian Gorn and the memorable Kirk/Spock fight scene (and music!) from the episode “Amok Time”, but there were many moments watching these episodes where I felt the nostalgia was overriding the quality of the story. I also found myself torn between wanting a more serialized structure versus these more standalone episodes.
The series is solidly directed by a crew of filmmakers with each episode showcasing a different helmer. Starting with Akiva Goldsman on the first episode, the series maintains a consistent style through each standalone tale, interconnected by tangential subplots and reveals from week to week. It is nice being able to jump in without needing to have seen every episode, but watching them in sequential order does offer more insight into who these characters are. The production values are more in line with the 1966 Trek than Discovery or the big screen reboot with just enough technological enhancements to keep it from looking silly. The Enterprise is a central character all its own and references to parts of the ship, run-ins that tease Captain Kirk’s eventual command, and more lend an air of familiarity to this show. Composer Jeff Russo references the original Alexander Courage theme music frequently and the narrated officer logs make this show the Trekkiest of all Star Treks to date.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds does not offer anything revolutionary or different from the expanding canon of Gene Roddenberry’s creation, but it does give us the next best thing to a revival of the original series. With idealistic characters, a sense of fun and hope mixed with intense standalone stories, this series feels like a throwback to the type of science fiction storytelling that Star Trek always wanted to showcase despite being hampered by the filmmaking technology of the time. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds feels familiar and comforting in a way that Discovery and Picard do not. This series is a refreshing return to the original style of Star Trek through a 21st-century lens in a way J.J. Abrams’ big-screen reboot was unable to replicate. This is a fun and enjoyable show that made me smile the entire time I watched it. Trek purists will love this show and I hope new fans do as well.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premieres on May 5th on Paramount+.
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