Entertainment Review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Episode 1

This article has been posted as Early Access content for my Patrons last week.

Hello friends! Yesterday, a new Star Trek show found its home on Paramount+ and after watching the first episode, both Alina and I are pleasantly surprised and very happy.

STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS is based on the years Captain Christopher Pike helmed the U.S.S. Enterprise and it’s a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series.

The series stars three very talented actors from season two of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY and I recommend that you watch that show before starting your adventure with STRANGE NEW WORLDS. I don’t think that is absolutely mandatory for you to watch the entire Discovery season 2, but if you want to understand some flashbacks from this episode, I suggest catching up somehow with what happened before.

Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock return from DISCOVERY and they are doing a fantastic job with this first episode. The supporting cast is also well-chosen, so fans of Star Trek will definitely be thrilled to discover some favorite characters.

The episode opens with a monologue describing a first contact scenario, which we will soon learn that it didn’t go that well. After that, we are back on Earth and find Captain Pike somewhat retired in a secluded location and very reluctant to take back command of the Enterprise, but when one of his close friends and crew members falls off the grid (we can actually say that they are lost in space, ha ha), Pike returns to the bridge of the Enterprise and embarks on a rescue mission.

I won’t go into any more details, but I can tell you that the writing is sharp, funny, and that it manages to bring back the Star Trek magic from the old series. I won’t go as far as to say that it’s something revolutionary, because it is not, but this first episode of STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS is comforting and familiar, two things that are always important in my opinion.

Very good chemistry between the actors and self-contained episodes should make this series a joy to watch. The Direction is good, the cinematography is beautiful from what Alina tells me and from what I could gather from the audio description track, so we have on our hands a high budget and very promising sci-fi series with huge potential.

To be honest, this new series reminds me a lot of The Orville, which is a fantastic thing because that show is also excellent, and yes, I know that The Orville is actually a spoof of the original Star Trek.

STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS manages right from the first episode to delight and entertain. It pulls at our hearts with familiar characters, amusing remarks and a nostalgic soundtrack. STRANGE NEW WORLDS feels familiar and new at the same time, so I think that it’s safe to say that Star Trek is back and based on this first episode, it’s as good as the classics that we all love and treasure.

We can’t wait to see Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One as they explore new worlds around the galaxy in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise!

I won’t review every episode, but I wanted to give you a sense of what’s happening with this new series.

This article has been posted as early access for my friends on Patreon and was made available at a later date to everyone else.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend ahead!

Your always friend, Victor