#also just what a great la'an episode

[worfianism]

Listen whoever decided to pair up La'an and an alternate version of Jim Kirk in a romcom style classic time travel episode actually galaxy brained. Freaking great episode.

[anonymousewrites]

Hi there! A little random Logos and pathos is one my fav fics you are so incredibly talented with your writing! My question is if you have watched star trek strange new worlds and what you opinion on the show is. I hope this makes sense. Hope you have a great day!!

I have watched Strange New Worlds, and here is my opinion:

It is entertaining, but, like a lot of Star Trek shows post TOS, it lacks the...fun? There's an underlying current of somberness that I don't go to Star Trek for. However, I did enjoy many of the episodes.

My biggest issue with it was the characterization of Spock. There's such a focus on his "love life" when there are so many other factors of his character that are more important. I think it is a disservice to him and all the women he is being set up with in SNW to focus on that. Nurse Chapel has feelings in TOS, that's clear, but she still does her job, she doesn't run from it. T'Pring decided to separate from Spock, and the "engagement" between them was never finalized, only made when they were young. And there's something between Uhura and Spock, and that should not be there. Uhura deserves to be her confident, independent self. And there's also La'an? Maybe? I don't know.

And it also doesn't work with Spock's character to focus just on romance and to build it in the way Star Trek shows and movies do. They don't do a slow burn or gradual discovery of feelings or anything akin to bonding (unless you count the obvious homoerotic undertones of Spock and Kirk). In the AOS movies he's already with Uhura, they don't build to it. In the SNW show, he's already with T'Pring. There's never any build to romance, and a character like Spock, any vulcan or emotionally reserved character in any show, actually, needs to be given time.

It wasn't all bad, I definitely had some fun watching some episodes, but here are my rambling thoughts.

(Also, as usual, Spock is written as way too cold and calculating while TOS has underlying warmth and obvious care if you look. I need my soft boy back)

[blysse-and-blunder]

in lieu of a halloween party

~ 10pm, sunday, oct 29, 2023

if i listen really closely i can hear the quiet snoozy breathing of the sweet black cat who now lives in my room! oh, now she is purring.

(contains minor mention of the study of death/dead bodies, but also cat pictures, classical music, and minor spoilers for the end of the most recent season of star trek: strange new worlds)

reading more victoria goddard (blackcurrant fool is somehow *even* *more* for medievalist academics, they visit fantasy university and then the main character saves the day through the power of his dissertation research for crying out loud), some assorted libby holds from jenny odell and amitav ghosh, some kj charles inspired by the medieval mlm romance i finished a few weeks ago (which was great but i was so taken with the idea of posting a whole historical assessment that i scared myself out of talking about it, so maybe next time).

but the book that's been the biggest presence in my life lately has been the audio book version of mary roach's stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers, which i picked up because it had a little Moment back when it came out and i remember thinking that an approachable, sympathetic look at this kind of medical history would be fascinating. and it is! it is just as full of interesting information and humorous, humanizing turns of phrase as you'd like! roach doesn't hesitate to ask, like, intense questions of the people she interviews, nor does she ignore or downplay various gruesome topics, but the audiobook narrator has a hint of a southern accent and gets the mix of tones of voice (from ironic to earnest and back) really nicely. and also, sometimes i'm glad i'm listening to it as an audio book so i don't have to consciously continue turning pages, it'll keep playing even if i stop listening or need to disengage, because there's no shortage of actually quite challenging material. not for the faint of heart, but also, i can't regret reading it.

watching the new season of ghosts from the bbc! the second season of ofmd of course, both because it was fun and because i had to out of self-defense; uhhhh what else this month has been so long and also so fast! the musical episode of strange new worlds which was GREAT. how good were some of those songs!! like on their own, i would listen to nyota and christine and la'an's songs-- reminded me of the mix CD a friend made me for a birthday one year that mixed, like, barenaked ladies with some songs from the buffy musical episode. then the finale of this season which (minor spoilers here) i found actually so compelling, like, i've been mildly ehh about a lot of the gorn stuff (not la'an, but the concept of the gorn always feels very old-school scifi and the more serious they try to play it, the worse that effect usually) but then the monster design and movement when they finally appear on screen? excellent.

though to be entirely honest, the thing i've come back to and watched/listened to most consistently has been the new series of dimension 20, burrow's end. i managed to tune in as a campaign was starting, and actually more or less keep up! huge for me. the bear in ep 2 was all-to-close to some of the body horror i'd just been reading about with stiff, so this month has been 'so you'd like to get better about dealing with body horror?' for me in a way. unintentionally. i think i am appreciating this series more than i would have if i hadn't read and enjoyed watership down a few years back, but the added edge of, like, for-real magic from the d&d elements makes it even more fun. i love the new (to me) players, i love seeing the old ones in their new roles, i love that while the conceit seems to be 'humans are like eldritch horrors to woodland creatures' on the surface, there's also clearly something (or things?) else going on.

listening checking in on my spotify daylist lately to see what moods i've been assigned (soul-crushing once, which was wild to see as a genre, but goblincore also so. whatever i guess!) paper writing lockdown included more autoheart, more yws gwynedd, and like a 24-hour lockdown on @lessthansix's 'deferring panic' playlist, from which i share the following track as a thank-you:

playing tuned into dnd as a virtual player tonight so that i could stay home and supervise the NEW BABY aka this little (large) black dumpling of a cat who i cannot quite believe is my very own. playing such classics as 'ribbon on a string' and 'this is a ball that makes food come out when you play with it, ooooooh' and 'i hope my eyes feel normal again after i stop putting my face directly on you so much and i have not somehow developed an allergy to cat dander in the six weeks since we last had a cat come visit'. playing the classic game, 'so you think you can be responsible for another life form! and are you willing to risk an increase in your experience for loss in order to gain an increase in your experience of love?' (also while we're here: why is naming the hardest part of any endeavor. naming wifi networks, naming pokemon, and now this, a real live creature! who i want to treat with love and also humor, while showing wit and personality at the same time. hell.)

making fixed up a sweater my housemate was going to get rid of. i am not, habitually, a fibercrafter (though not for want of opportunity or, even, interest sometimes), but this made me want to find other easy and quick things to do with yarn.

before: big fuck off hole between the cowl and neck line

after: used some yarn of a similar weight /softness that i already had, so it doesn't match but it's not like you see it. hidden little necklace of pearls.

working on writing a paper for my first ever 30-min conference presentation, which is also going to be the first time i submit a paper ahead of time for someone (a professor i do not usually work with, but whose work and career and writing i admire) to read and give real comments on. this is fine. i am simultaneously trying to use this as an opportunity to squish an entire chapter's worth of notes and observations and ideas into a single presentation, and trying to not do that. but i want her take on all of it! i also...do need to write all of it. but getting a chance to slow down and take a bit of extra time with it was also very welcome. gave a guest lecture this week on a subject only vaguely related to my own work, which required a lot of extra reading (not even to know what to say, but just to be confident that i wasn't missing anything massive), and also did organize my department's halloween party, so. it's been a busy last ten days, and i'm excited to wrap some of this up.

bonus: cat pictures! thank you for reading this far, i think we will be going with luna? her grace, lunette st. cat, first marquise of dumplingdom. something.

[onwhatcaptain]

Predictions for Star Trek Strange New Worlds S2 E3 "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow"

Ahead are my predictions for the upcoming Star Trek SNW episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow." Possible spoilers below the line since I am making specific guesses derived from the stills and that one revolving door trailer which was initially bothering me.

I assume that La’an will be meeting Captain Kirk rather than Lieutenant Kirk in this episode. This is an easy guess, because Kirk is visibly wearing a captain’s uniform in the stills. But I also theorize that she will be on some Alternate Universe version of Kirk’s Enterprise that may not actually involve the Federation or Starfleet as we know it. This being a known time travel episode doesn’t preclude it from being an alternate universe episode as well. We see Kirk wearing a non-Starfleet delta (looks more like a pentagon). And that one revolving door trailer was initially bothering me because he says “I’m from space,” as a reason why he doesn’t know how to use a revolving door, which annoyed me. But now I think he said that because he’s from space.

Obviously, our Captain Kirk isn't from space. There's a whole famous line about it in one of the films. The writers know that. Everyone knows that. The audience knows that. So it stands to reason that they were baiting us by putting that in the trailer. Maybe this Kirk is from space. And why not? AOS Kirk is from space, technically. The only real reason he would say he’s from space is because he is. It’s possible he was born there. Maybe Starfleet or the Federation doesn’t exist in his world (or isn’t the one we know and recognize). Maybe Earth was destroyed. Maybe humans have a more militaristic relationship with other species. Maybe humanity went to the stars too early for real progress, or didn’t go into it with the intentions of explorers, but for war.

So maybe Iowa doesn't really exist either—presumably La’an and Kirk return/are forced to go back to 21st century Toronto to prevent this future from being triggered by some event. So maybe revolving doors don't exist where Kirk is from in this timeline. Why would he have seen one if he was born in space? If he'd never lived on Earth at all? If Earth wasn’t even around at all in his time? He says that because in all probability, he is from space. And maybe all humanity knows is a life in the stars. Which is how he would end up in a starship even without the Federation or Earth or whatever is the major consequence of what happens that requires reversing.

I think it would grant the writers great flexibility for a few reasons. First, if La'an falls in love with a Kirk that is similar, but doesn’t really exist, it would be very convenient for the writers. I think we tend to think of Kirk as the main character when we see him, but consider that La’an is the main character and Kirk is “the woman of the week” as TOS has often introduced and left behind.

My take on it is that this AU Kirk will be Edith Keeler’d—this Kirk will be killed off. Maybe not in a literal sense, but he may be aware that his existence will be undone by time or their actions and will go through with it nonetheless. Or even more interesting would be that La’an feels she must sacrifice him, which would be a very intriguing flip on the script, since it’s him normally playing that difficult role of sacrificing others for the greater good. I think it’s quite safe to say that the SNW writers will bank on the popularity of the very famous TOS episode “City on the Edge of Forever,” and require some kind of great sacrifice. And I’ll bet it’s that fixing things undoes him, especially since the audience has a general attachment to this character.

After all, the title of the episode is "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow." Yes, it's a typical Star Trek time travel title, but it's also taken from Shakespeare's Macbeth, just like the TOS episode titled "All Our Yesterdays" (featuring the main characters trapped in several timeframes of a planet's past). This soliloquy is about the futility of life and the onslaught of time. The idea that the chance of living is snatched from you by the absurdity of the universe, which supports the idea of loss and death.

And when she inevitably sees him again, the real one? It would also explain the brief scene we see in the trailer where La’an sees Kirk (the real one, I assume) and Una says she has a “strange energy” that’s “making her sweat.” I suppose if you met a man, fell in love with him, sacrificed him/saw him killed or undone by time, and then met him again incidentally and he doesn't know who you are, maybe you'd have a bit of strange energy about it. After all, that was a very odd line to convey the idea that La'an is simply attracted to this man she's seeing for the first time.

Second, it allows them to play with continuity a bit while keeping things neat. Suppose whatever happens to alter time is carried out by the Gorn, which we know are a key player this season and we know are actually intelligent aliens and not just xenomorph monsters. Kirk is never aware of the Gorn until the TOS episode “Arena,” but to get around this, it could be possible to make this AU version aware of the Gorn, another alien species, or even a specific person he won’t meet until TOS, because it simply isn’t the same man. Or supposing that this is somehow Khan related—this is a La’an episode, and she could be a focal point which is why it must be her character who time travels to prevent this—and if it’s important to the writers that Kirk can’t know of the name Noonien-Singh until the TOS episode “Space Seed,” it’s perfectly acceptable for him to find out about her family history here. I suspect that there will be a great deal of continuity bending.

Third, it also allows them to keep things very neat if this AU means that whatever organization Kirk represents does not work with other alien species or is outright warring against them, or his Enterprise simply has an all human crew. I don’t think we would see Spock, even briefly, in this episode. I would assume the writers would think giving us an AU Kirk and Spock before the real ones even meet would be spoiling the audience's appetite and taking away the focus from La'an. It would make sense if that organization is enemies with the Vulcans/other species or first contact went very differently.

Finally, assuming all this is right, that La’an is in some AU version where her current timeline has shifted to be Kirk’s Enterprise, I would really like to see them do the following before kicking off the time travel bit. This is not a theory but a bit of easter egg/continuity I’d have written if I were writing the show, and I hope they don’t miss the opportunity.

I don’t think they will introduce any of the other major TOS main crew this early. Ortegas was meant to be the original name of the helmsman on Kirk’s Enterprise from the early pilots Roddenberry was developing. We also know that Kirk's first navigator (Gary) and Pike's current navigator (Jenna) are both called Mitchell. So I would love to see the writers give us a scene where La’an enters the bridge—immediately sees Ortegas, but there's just some ‘random guy’ in the Captain's chair and some other random guy as the navigator, neither of whom she recognizes—is baffled, and asks Ortegas, "Where the hell is Pike, where is Mitchell?" and the navigator interrupts her and says, "I'm Mitchell—but who are you?" I would love to see this because Gary Mitchell is such an underutilized character and it would be such a waste to ignore that parallel. It would also be safe to do so since it would be a delightful little "give" to the audience and would not require the casting of a major original series character, which would be a “big deal” for the story.

Okay, that's all for now (as if that wasn't a long as hell post).

[mylittleredgirl]

i have now seen strange new worlds 1x3 "ghosts of illyria"! as expected, i am enjoying this show a lot :) i know una is the big headline here and i'm working up to it but:

i loved every scene with pike and spock! my guys <3

spock was really note perfect in this. ethan peck doing mister nimoy proud with that "fascinating"

hair and makeup crew on the other hand not making mister westmore proud with spock's worm on a string sideburns. those are not starfleet issue!!

uhura and kyle are both just kind of There but i am extremely happy every second they are

having to turn every light off on the ship while having a blind engineer and not doing anything with that seems like a miss

hemmer and la'an are the craziest people on that ship. like a warp core explosion and beaming up something that's ten thousand degrees are the MOST extra possible ways to resolve a problem that could probably have been handled by cranking the dial up on a tanning bed, but that's a very good thing to know about both of them

speaking of la'an. girl.

i get that they're trying to make her off-putting and kind of unlikable as a character starting point, and that they have to work REALLY HARD to do that because whenever christina chong frowns she looks like a sad kitten santa claus left on your doorstep, but babe. after the space racism and almost blowing up the ship, i feel like you could maybe work up a lukewarm apology, if genuine compassion is off the table

i do like what it says about them that la'an didn't lie to una about how she really feels, it just Ain't About You right now

una would have been making you an accessory to a federal space crime and endangered the commission she helped you to get!!! i feel like the "why didn't you tell me" goes unsaid here

let's talk about how i am IN LOVEEEEEEEE with m'benga

(i really warmed up to spunky chapel too!! they are great together)

but M'BENGA MY BELOVED

how is he so hot and also so competent and kind

and a good dad???? are you kidding me

i am. really into him right now.

SPEAKING OF HOT AND COMPETENT...

for the hero of the hour....

una is truly great and i trust her with my life

and thank god i do because y'all really love her, and i wasn't sold on her in her discovery and short trek appearances, so i was really holding out hope that i would see the light and BOY HAVE I

it's fascinating to me how little of the Una In Command episode took place on the bridge. like who's got time for that with all the new sets to explore, i get it, but i wonder about that moment when she seemed so hesitant to sit in the big chair??

she kicks so much ass and pike likes to endanger himself on the regular so this can't be a rare occurrence

OHHHHHH maybe it's because she's having Am I Worthy Of This Uniform When I Lied To Get It thoughts. ok. i get it now.

anyway. oh to be fireman carried by una for a long hero shot down an empty hallway

and yeah i WILL be replicating that manicure as soon as humanly possible

her phasering hemmer was so great i fuckin love when problems get solved that way. Just Stun That Guy

okay here me out on this one though: i am really torn about the ending, but this is more of a story choice than a character choice

so many people know about una's illyrianity now that it would be pretty impossible to keep that from pike without a conspiracy endangering the careers of multiple officers, so her telling him personally and him accepting it is the way the episode had to end, and it was a good moment for both of them

(even though? all those officers are actually STILL probably on the hook for this, come to think of it)

pike would absolutely want to know regardless, and una knows him well enough to know that he would

BUT i would REALLY have loved for this to be resolved with somehow only una and m'benga knowing, so they could keep each others' most important secrets for a while

i do realize this unravels some of the episode and takes out chapel and la'an's moments but go with me

picture m'benga saying he won't tell anyone, or "here's my medical log on what happened" and it's not that, after una has just offered him the same deal

because she IS endangering pike's captaincy by bringing him into this secret, because she must also know him well enough to know that he won't really arrest her

MOSTLY una and m'benga were fantastic together in every scene. they are both extremely competent and mature, and to have them share this... i just think it would have been potent and cool, especially if they let these threads drop for a while before giving other characters a reason to suspect

last thought: illyrians are so cool as a concept though?? terraforming yourselves? DANG how did it take us 600 hours of star trek to come up with that one!!

last last thought: are we just going to like. leave the screaming disembodied illyrian ghost friends there tho. without even trying to communicate and see if they need help. after they saved your lives????? i guess so!

deleted scenes:

hmm, i think it would have improved the episode to include the rundown on who the augments were up front, and specifying that the illyrians are a separate deal who didn't start out as humans (OR DID THEY???? like una saying "illyrians are their own people" seems to imply that they did not, but it seems kind of wild that una is an actual alien and NO ONE EVER NOTICED?)

but that guy clowned about it too hard so i see why they cut it. it could have worked well with a little more dispassionate starfleet othering and superiority though.

that said, it would have been HILARIOUS exactly as written if that guy were kevin thomas riley

imagine if they had created a canon where kevin thomas riley was on the enterprise for a wholeass decade, never getting promoted because he sucks but never sucking enough to get full on fired

upon further consideration:

OKAY I WATCHED THE UNA AND LA'AN STRAWBERRY SCENE AGAIN and it's pretty sweet actually. i can get behind this. i can ship it, i can friend-ship it, i'm in. keeping my eyes on this one.

not seeing the sexy pikeuna chemistry quite yet but i'm keeping my eye on that too

who else should i be 👀??

[captainofthestrangestship]

Spoilery thoughts on that new SNW clip

I've felt pretty meh about Paul Wesley's Kirk this whole time but something about this 15 second clip has made me really excited for next week's episode. Literally no idea why, maybe Kirk is just more appealing to me when not interacting with Pike?? Is it the silly time travel hijinks they'll get up to?

Though I do agree with @lenievi that it would have been great if he just sorta looked at La'an like, what do you want random Lt Commander who I totally knows works on this ship, why are you not at your post during a yellow(?) alert. So hes kinda annoyed but is doing that polite thing where you pretend you definitely know the name of the person you're talking to. And then La'an has to be like who are you, you're not the captain.

Also I'm assuming this is in a future timeline as Jim has captain stripes and he is not a captain in SNW unless this a really weird timeline, so like I wonder what happened to make it that Ortegas stays as pilot maybe navigator? cos shes on the other side? . Also Uhura's here but the other woman who sits at the conn(?) is not there and it's a random guy. Theres a part of me that would love if he was supposed to be Sulu but hes in a red shirt so its probs just a random new guy.

This is real wishful thinking on my part but like if this is the future they could introduce Bones as the CMO??? Or maybe this is a timeline where M'Benga stays on as CMO and Bones is just Doctor on the Enterprise. Because that would really change the dynamic between Jim and Bones. But that would be a lot to do in an episode that should really be all about La'an. I will be annoyed if Spock is his FO and theres just no mention of Bones, I dont care if the timeline will be destroyed after this episode.

I have watched this clip too many times

[los-ninos-tortugas]

I know you said it probably won't be addressed in the fic, but I LOVE the idea of Donnie being considered an augment! There's so many layers to it too - like the fact that even here, where humanity has opened its arms in acceptance to so many different species, he is Wrong. Or the the fact that he didn't start as a person who was augmented - the augment MADE him a person. He was created in a lab to be a supersolider, a weapon of mass destruction. Does he have rights under Federation Law? The Federation may try, but they are not perfect, and there are always those willing to push the boundaries. I keep thinking of the Next Gen episode "Measure of a Man", and I know it's not the same because Donnie is organic, but I can see arguments being made that he doesn't have a right to himself because he was Made To Be A Weapon. Add in knowledge of his Ninpo, and I can very readily imagine an argument as to whether he should be used as a weapon, or locked away to protect everybody else. Or just looking at the affects aboard Voyager - do people start treating him differently once they find out? Do they trust him less? And Donnie is going to want to know why - is going to want to understand. Imagine him looking up the Eugenics Wars; imagine him reading the phrase "superior ability breeds superior ambition". The original Augment's greatest flaws were their aggression and their arrogance; traits Donnie himself is not lacking in. How would that make him feel?

(Sorry, I just think it's neat to think about <3)

Hmm... I'm trying to figure out how to answer this without also giving spoilers for the next ficlet I'm working on.... cuz yeah after giving it some thought this is something that i DESPERATELY want to get into (so it may just end up in the main fic after all)

"Measure of a Man" is a great pull for this as it does share some similar themes, but I am also now thinking of "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" both because it's incredibly recent and because it tackles this feeling head on through La'An and her struggles with her family legacy. At home Donnie knew he had to hide, but I don't think he ever felt ashamed of being a mutant, but I think he would find the parallels between his own creation and the creation of the augments to be disturbing.

Then thinking of how this goes down on Voyager... on any other ship the crew would be very beholden to procedure, hell in DS9's "Doctor Bashir, I Presume" the precedent is set for a parent taking responsibility for performing genetic modification on a child who couldn't consent. But Janeway has often struggled when it comes to matters of law while they're so far away from the federation, and their ultimate goal is to help Donnie get home, so at a certain point they might just have to decide that the law is neither here nor there, they don't really have the jurisdiction. What it really becomes is a matter of the crew... Would Janeway try to keep Donnie's status as an augment a secret from everyone other than the senior officers? What happens if it gets out? There's a lot of potential for drama but I'm gonna just hold it for now so I can write it properly later.

[ploppythespaceship]

Strange New Worlds (Season 2) - Thoughts & Review

I don't think I've been so mixed on a season of Star Trek as I am with this one. The things this show does well, it does extraordinarily well, and when it's on point, it's some excellent television. Unfortunately, the things this show does wrong are doing their damnedest to drag everything else down. Most of those issues stem from the fact that this is a prequel, and the things they're doing with established characters are really fighting against their original characterization. The individual episode quality is also wildly all over the place.

As a result, I can't come to any one conclusion. I liked some parts, I hated other parts, and it's all just a bit of a mess.

Spoilers under the cut.

What I Liked

The show is very well-produced. It looks great -- the production design continues to find a perfect balance between honoring the TOS look while updating and modernizing it -- it's well-directed, well-cast, etc.

Speaking of the cast, this is one of Trek's strongest group of actors. I particularly want to shout out Christina Chong as La'an -- I frankly didn't like her character much in season one, but she won me over this season, and that's largely due to the performance. Ethan Peck also did an excellent job, especially with some of the more comedic scenes.

Whoever decided that Carol Kane should play the ship's weird ass immortal engineer is a genius. Please give them a raise.

It was only a few scenes in the last episode, but I liked the guy playing Scotty. I was not expecting him to show up at all, but I couldn't stop grinning.

One of the advantages of being a more episodic series is the ability to easily explore many different tones and genres, and this season takes full advantage of that. One episode will be very silly and comedic, and the next will be a dramatic character study, and it just pings back and forth. I love that it has the freedom to explore that much variety.

What I Didn't Like

Spock and Chapel are the single worst thing about this season, and their relationship is definitely something I am going to pointedly ignore going forward. It makes sense to take their TOS dynamic and flesh it out more, but what the writers came up with makes both characters into the worst possible versions of themselves. Now Spock is canonically an adulterer, and someone who's chosen his emotionless affect because a woman broke his heart -- which uproots all of his characterization for the rest of the franchise. And Chapel just comes across as a bitch, particularly in the musical episode. I really hate that for her. It's deeply unfair to both characters.

I am sorry to say that I still don't care for Paul Wesley's Kirk. I appreciate what he's trying to do, playing more to Kirk's intellectual side, but there's a certain level of charm that's just not there. I think he's just miscast.

Number One continues to be incredibly boring, and the weakest link in the cast. I regularly forget that she exists and am surprised when she shows up.

Ortegas desperately needs a spotlight episode. She's the only main cast member who hasn't had any kind of focus or development, and she really sticks out as a result. The few tidbits of development she does get are repetitive -- she flies the ship, and she fought in the war. I know that her role was likely reduced this season due to the death of her partner, but they could have at least tried to add variety to the small moments she does get.

I love that this show is committed to the more old-school episodic style, which gives everything a more classic Trek feel. But with such a short season, I feel you need to be much pickier about which episodes you produce. The shorter seasons mean that bad or even underwhelming episodes have a much greater impact. If three episodes of a twenty-two episode season aren't up to par, that's easy to shrug off. But if it's three episodes of a ten episode season, that's two-thirds of your content. And this season unfortunately had quite a few episodes with major issues holding them back.

Individual Episode Thoughts

This season really does come down to its individual episodes, which as I mentioned are wildly all over the place.

The Broken Circle — This season did not get off on the right foot for me. This one wanted so badly to be the big, action-packed season opener, and everything about it felt incredibly forced as a result. Everything from Spock's abrupt decision to steal the Enterprise, to the threat of war that came from nowhere and was immediately forgotten about, to watching the medical characters take drugs and start beating the shit out of people... it all just felt off, and never clicked into place.

Ad Astra Per Aspera — Much better! This one should have been the season opener. It's a modern take on the classic Trek court episode, which immediately invites comparisons to some of the franchise's best. And while it doesn't live up to something like "The Measure of a Man" or "The Drumhead," it's still pretty solid. It has important things to say, and it says them well. It's simply held back by its resolution being complete nonsense. I understand that as a prequel, the writers can't fully resolve the augmentation debate without completely undermining future series. But I thought they'd find a more coherent loophole than "she requested asylum." She did not request asylum, that makes absolutely no sense, and it sort of makes things fall apart.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow — I loved the time travel plot, I loved the great focus on La'an as a character, and I am actually okay with them subtly changing the franchise's timeline around by re-dating the Eugenics Wars. It was clearly something done intentionally to give the writers some greater freedom, and I can appreciate it. Unfortunately, I just wasn't sold on the romance between La'an and Kirk, which felt incredibly rushed. Without that to tie everything together, the episode never quite clicks into place. But I still respect what it tried to do and don't take too many major issues with it.

Among the Lotus Eaters — Easily the one I have the least to say on. Decent enough premise, competently executed. Not a standout as either good or bad.

Charades — Absolutely hated this one. The writers took a great concept and fumbled it. The direction they chose to go with human Spock baffles me, and doesn't make sense within their own canon. If Vulcan emotions are stronger than human ones, why does Spock becoming human suddenly make him too emotional to function? And why would he forget his Vulcan upbringing and need to be reminded how to act Vulcan? Then of course all of this is just done to further the Spock/Chapel relationship, rather than be the obvious Spock character study it should be. It's awful. Least favorite episode of the whole show, by far.

Lost in Translation — I really like the premise and overall vibes of this one, as well as the greater focus on Uhura (who might be the only legacy character that I take no issue with). Sadly, this episode is let down by some pretty poor pacing. Everything drags for longer than it needs to, and plenty of scenes felt like padding. It could have used another pass in either the writing or editing room.

Those Old Scientists — I was fully prepared to hate this one. I don't like Lower Decks, so I figured the crossover would be more of the same. But to my great surprise, this episode was excellent. Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome perfectly translated their characters to live-action, and the characters are much funnier when they have regular people to bounce off of. I laughed out loud multiple times. But it's not just a jokefest, and has some good character beats as well. A very pleasant surprise.

Under the Cloak of War — Ehhhh. I appreciate what they were trying to do, but it never quite clicked. The Klingon general turned ambassador simply isn't fleshed out enough for the debate of whether he's truly reformed to have any weight. And M'Benga calling himself the Butcher of J'Gal just confuses things unnecessarily. I actually had to look up an episode summary to understand the ending, and when I did, I kinda hated it. For them to act like M'Benga killing a few enemy Klingons in an effort to stop mass bloodshed is on the same level as someone ordering the genocide of civilians, including children... that's frankly insulting. There was a good story somewhere in here, but it needed a couple more passes in the writing room. (Or you could just watch DS9's "Duet" instead.)

Subspace Rhapsody — The musical episode! I won't mince words. This is arguably the best episode of the show, and one of the best musical episodes I've ever seen, second only to the Buffy episode which so clearly inspired it. The songs are largely excellent, well tailored to fit both the characters and actors, and the cast is fairly talented. But it's not just silly songs for the sake of being fun. The writers understand that musical episodes should take advantage of the format to explore characters in a very unique way, and as such, most of the songs are character-driven. And the final resolution being that music needs to bring the crew together, in an ensemble number led by Uhura... that's so perfect. Only the Spock/Chapel stupidity brings this one down. Otherwise it's an A+ all-around. I've had "Status Report," "How Would That Feel," "I'm the X," and "Keep Us Connected" basically on repeat since seeing it.

Hegemony — An action-packed finale that I really enjoyed. They've done a fairly good job reimagining the Gorn to be actually threatening, and this episode expertly keeps the tension high. I've been seeing a lot of comparisons to "The Best of Both Worlds," and while it wouldn't go that far, it's certainly a solid finale.

[ltnsingh]

scattered post - episode ( la'an centric ) thoughts under the cut. there will be spoilers!

una. from the jump, I'm glad she had una in her corner, even when una couldn't possibly have picked up on more than just ' la'an has feelings for james kirk and something is off. ' la'an has consistently been deeply private, even before her adventure to the AU 21st century, and has gone to such great lengths to keep everything she's been dealing with to herself. that she has a mentor in una ( a trusted superior, but also a friend who she can confide in ) is incredibly important.

the watch. la'an's trauma from the days she spent with au jim aren't only about him. in my view, she kept his watch as a keepsake, a painful reminder not only of the first man that ever looked at her without reproach because of her name and khan's legacy of mass murder and pain, but that while the other timeline vanished with him, she still lived it. it still happened to her. la'an needed the reminder that she liked how it felt to have someone, not just him; that she still protected her genocidal ancestor and killed someone to do so with a real bullet — and that he was just a little boy who, in the moments she spent with him, had no idea who he'd become. she needed the reminder that what she felt for au!jim ( the beginnings of what could've been love - a first for la'an that obviously had to be dashed as soon as she'd come to grips with it ) was still real, even though no one else was there to witness it.

la'an telling prime jim the truth. I don't think la'an was expecting jim to reciprocate in the way she wanted him to — but more than anything, she needed to let go of the nagging, painful thought that maybe he would to begin to move on from her james t kirk: a jim who doesn't exist and never will again.

[fiadorable]

100 Great Things in "All Those Who Wander" (SNW)

Star Trek Strange New Worlds season one episode nine... 🧀🧇🥓☕🥶🦖😱💀 nobody talk to me after this

Strange New Worlds | Children of the Comet | Ghosts of Illyria Part 1 & Part 2 | Memento Mori | Spock Amok | Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach | Serene Squall | The Elysian Kingdom | All Those Who Wander

Adding a cut because this is long and mostly me being verklempt and overusing the words "tension" and "growth" in unsexy ways.

I had to delete the first three things on my list because they weren't great things about this episode they were me complaining - so good job me on keeping this positive while dying on the inside 👍😊👍

I am in love with this opening shot, the slow push through the breakfast spread 😍

Love the simulation of morning in Pike's quarters. The forest background is configured to be sunrise instead of night as we usually see it. The shades are up on the windows to let in the light of whatever star they're nearby, and it looks like that's most of the lighting in there right now. It's very cozy and ambient and I could very easily forget they're on a starship.

Uhura's personal log is a nice beginning to the end of her season one arc - she's still questioning her place on the Enterprise, even though she has served with distinction during her time with them and the entire crew has embraced her.

Number One taps her wrist to signal Pike that it's time to wrap things up even though I haven't seen a wristwatch in Star Trek… like ever (someone prove me wrong!). Reminds me of the way I still use my thumb and pinky to mimic answering a landline telephone.

Number One is the stage manager of the Enterprise and I love her for it.

I tried so hard not to meta myself out of the story in this episode the first time around, but it's really hard with a setup like this. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WAS ANOTHER CADET HERE THIS WHOLE TIME? She's toast.

Pike looking directly at Uhura as he talks about being bonded together forever by the family that is Starfleet

Also Pike is a jerk with that intro to Duke's promotion, but I love the way everyone crowds around Duke as he puts on the new rank stripes, congratulating him. No formal ceremony or pomp and circumstance. This crew is a family and big announcements are made at the family barbecues.

Uhura hides behind protocol with Ortegas the same way Number One does with Pike sometimes. Also this scene made me a big ol' Ortegas/Uhura shipper. 😍

Ortegas gracefully extracting herself from the conversation as Pike comes over. Dad will get her straightened out.

"There will always be a place on Enterprise for Nyota Uhura" 🥹

Number One immediately extracts herself from the party to join Pike once Spock comms.

BREAKFAST TROUBLESHOOTING fangirling intensifies

I love the breakfast briefing. Everything about it. I love everyone helping wash up. I love The Look Number One gives Pike when she says (rightly) that Starfleet needs to give the mission to someone else because the K7 mission is already a Priority 1 mission. I love Grumpy La'An fresh off a counseling session coming into the briefing all prickly and slowly unwinding as she's force-fed love and caring from the command team with an assist from M'Benga. I love Pike's "I'm so proud of you" smile as La'An gives in and eats breakfast and enjoys it, doesn't just eat it, but really enjoys it (People survive. Well there's surviving and then there's living). I love Spock's self-conscious glance at La'An as Pike tosses the apron over his head. M'Benga's sass about emergency landings never being scheduled as he works through his breakfast (I imagine he's also working through some Things after last week's episode, taking advantage of the Healing Power of Pike's Food). Una knowing that La'An is stumbling around looking for more cheese. La'An's sass as she lays out her recommendation that Pike has already decided on, probably, and Pike doling out bacon like gold stars. Una's "the fuck you mean 'us' Chris, where the fuck you think you're going?" okay, you're the boss, but I got a bad feeling about this and being completely unimpressed with his little smile and nod that it will be fun little road trip for them all. (RULE #1: IT IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA TO SPLIT UP THE PARTY). Pike's insane dad energy with the tongs and "do not make me turn this car around" and La'An's completely unimpressed teenager look as a response gives me life.

The mission brief is not only on the PADD La'An is holding during breakfast, it's also on the forest screen. Also, close up shot of a mission brief!

Peregrine was off grid, gathering data in uncharted sectors. Were they looking for something? General exploration? I need to know. Somebody write me a fic about the doomed mission of the Peregrine (I love the ship's name, too - what an elegant way to class up a Constitution Sombra class ship)

Splitting up the mission with the captain and first officer is an incredibly smart thing to do, although it absolutely should have been Una on the planet and Pike going to K-7, but for the particulars of this story, it needed to be done as it was. Good job not unloading the entire senior staff onto the planet.

THE ART IN THIS EPISODE IS SO GOOD omg seeing Peregrine on the planet is GORGEOUS 😍

Uhura dying in the cold as Hemmer is like "oh what a nice spring day in ice hell" is everything, and I absolutely adore the grumpy person and their sunshine friend role reversal here

I don't know much about science, but ions seem to be the next biggest threat to Starfleet after the Borg and Illyrians

Human drinking games. Where are the challenge coins?

Gaaaaah the ship looks so freaking cool I cannot get over it!

M'Benga and the time honored tradition of shaking your tech when it doesn't work

Wow, already at 25 things and we're just now to the opening credits. The title sequence is also very beautiful. I have missed it. waits impatiently for season two

Always fascinated at the ways you can gain entry to a starship from the outside

Shipwreck troubleshooting!

Peregrine's crew fought hard against the Gorn. There is blood everywhere, yes, but there are so many last ditch attempts to survive and keep others safe. I salute their crew. I mourn their loss. I am asking again, somebody write the story of the Peregrine and her crew.

Jump Scare! Love seeing Pike unnerved behind the command mask as La'An climbs into the ship. Mount does such a great job showing Pike's humanity underneath the role of the captain.

La'An bringing the captain's commbadge to Pike

"Captain's Log, Stardate… I'm not even sure" 😭

IT'S THE GORN IT'S THE GORN IT'S THE GORN AND PIKE SENT THE ENTERPRISE ON TO K-7 OH NO 🦖

Holy shit, I mean, I have seen this episode a few times now and the part when they're listening to the captain's log is always so tense and wonderfully done. And Pike directing M'Benga and Spock to go get the others from outside always gives me Jurassic Park's Muldoon vibes.

Pike immediately turns to his security officer and asks her what she wants to do. I love it. I'm here for it. So different from Memento Mori where she had to convince him that she was right. And you can see her growth so much in this episode in everything she does, from the counseling to acknowledging that yeah she wants to kill all the gorn but she understands getting survivors off the planet is what they should focus on and then to her interactions with Oriana throughout the episode, and then eventually her leave of absence at the end. This season was La'An's journey just as much as it was Uhura's.

I LOVE THE BLUE ALIEN SO MUCH. I could not tell if he was CG or makeup at first, but I believe it's entirely makeup and costuming and it is PHENOMENAL he is my FAVORITE alien in season one.

La'An 😠: "The universal translator isn't processing it. Uhura, do something." Uhura 🤨: "That's not how linguistics works!"

Uhura taking the lead on this encounter vs trying to hide from it on the comet is beautiful. Pike and La'An both trust her at this point. Uhura is able to walk out in front of the captain and calmly, confidently get Buckley to back down. She is growing into herself as a bamf Starfleet officer whether she recognizes it or not 🥹

Chapel and Spock lamenting over Duke's inattention

The way Spock says "one does not take pride in logic" communicates the exact opposite and Chapel finds this endearing

Hemmer and Uhura having a moment together. He is such a good mentor for her. He calls her on her bullshit and sees exactly who she is and lays down some heavy, heavy advice that is good for us ALL to remember, that we are stronger in our love for one another than separated and alone and that pain is a part of life 😭😭😭 ignore me

La'An and M'Benga's traumas clashing in sickbay before everything goes to hell. I like the continuity that M'Benga is very much Not Okay after his daughter's… nebulafication? And I like that he is the one that pushes La'An to help Oriana, to reinforce the fact that La'An has changed, she has grown, and she will be able to help Oriana in a way that M'Benga or anyone else on the ship cannot.

Good god I never want to see Spock afraid again I cannot handle the tension (I do not watch horror movies often because the amount of dramatic irony in a lot of them initiates a warp core overload and melts down my dilithium matrix, and to cope I pick apart and over analyze everything which just pisses off everyone around me)

M'Benga teasing Spock about being jumpy… has everyone on board figured out that teasing Spock is hilarious?

Oh fucking hell, my favorite alien is toast as well

I might be wrong, but I think Buckley is trying to tell them he's infected with the eggs. He says that same pattern of words earlier, too.

Traumatized child running away as the alien gets more and more sick is the first sign that you should RUN THE HELL AWAY

Buckley has this little spherical amulet necklace thing with some inscriptions on it that we get to see right before the chest-bursting scene. It feels religious to me? And I love seeing the character building they put into him even though he is the delivery mechanism for the horror plot.

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THE GORN ARE XENOMORPHS (that's a direct quote from me on my first viewing) and they are ugly as sin freshly incubated

Also, Chia, darling, sweetheart, run. I'm begging you, ru—oh, oh no, yeah, she's, yeah… has anybody in a red shirt died this season or is it all blues and yellows golds?

Chapel freaking out as the baby gorn ransack sickbay, well done Jess Bush

Gorn vision!

Sam Kirk and M'Benga scolding and teasing Duke and Pike and Spock trying to cheer him up

Also Duke sitting in the hatch made me so nervous and I am very vindicated that this is how he meets his demise

OH SHIT those little baby gorn ripped Duke right out of Spock's hands. Also, the flip from Pike ordering them to hold Duke still so that he doesn't hit the lieutenant to firing blindly as he's dragged away because he'll either save him or give him a more merciful end (might be reading a bit much into that part, but this is my post and my head canons)

Spock looking at his hands afterward. Reminds me of: "They look like big, good, strong hands, don't they? I always thought that's what they were." -Rockbiter in the Neverending Story

Chapel is in shock and La'An is surprisingly kind about it, taking over scanning for the biosignatures. Also I am curious about La'An's statement that the gorn have found a way to evade their sensors as it implies this wasn't only the case? Is she suggesting the Gorn have evolved in such a way, in such a short time, that renders them invisible to Federation scanning technologies? Uh, because shivers. I don't think that's the case, but there are a few moments from her character this episode that don't mean what the writers intend them to mean imo.

Oriana confirming that the Peregrine's crew sacrificed themselves to kill the rest of the gorn

La'An connecting with Oriana and getting her on their side, earning her trust, overcoming that PTSD flashback and focusing on Oriana, on the present in a way she struggled with during Memento Mori, using her lessons from Pike on how to get a miracle out of your crew and THEN QUOTING PIKE'S SURVIVING VS LIVING FROM EPISODE ONE AND I AM NOT OKAY 😭😭😭😭

oh shit, I just realized Hemmer and Uhura have no idea about the baby gorn at this point when they turn the power back on, presumably at the same time Duke is meeting his end

M'Benga offering to sedate Kirk 😂 and Pike gently insisting that he's fine

I admire the calm, even tone Pike has when telling everyone to get back to sickbay

The gorn falling out of the ceiling like a pile of bricks in Engineering will never not be funny to me 🤣

Hemmer pushes Uhura out of the way as the gorn starts to spit the acid egg slime. He yells, "No!" and he is so worried that Uhura will get hit by it, you can hear the way his voice trembles. He shoves her and takes the hit. He saves her life. He does it willingly and intentionally. He is the best of them. 😢😢😭😭

Watching the crew in this pressure cooker of an episode is really fascinating. Nothing bothers or flaps Hemmer. Kirk gets angry. Spock shields himself in knowledge and logic. M'Benga is quietly sarcastic. Uhura gets shaky but brilliant. Chapel gets quiet.

Pike yelling "Hey" when the kids start fighting in the backseat and regaining control, constantly reinforcing, like Hemmer, that they are stronger together and they will only make it out of here alive by working together.

M'Benga carries Oriana on his back and then puts her in the captain's chair 😢

Pike and M'Benga are dadding up the bridge omg

This is a positive post so I am not going to expound upon everything that is wrong and irresponsible about Pike's command codes, but just so you know it fills me with rage

Also M'Benga knows Pike's command code from way back when and I need more stories of them from way back when

"…I will do what I must to protect the lives of this crew." I don't know if he suspects what's wrong at this point or not, but Hemmer… Hemmer…. 😭

Watching everyone get ready for this plan is like watching Macauley Culkin rig the Home Alone trap, but with Alien music instead of Christmas!John Williams.

Gaaaaah the gorn is crawling sideways on the wall

Kirk yelling "We got one in the chute!" is very funny to me for some reason, but I think it's just all the tension making me a bit slap happy at this point

Kirk telling Uhura she really is good at everything and Uhura just being like "mf-er shut up I just outran a gorn let's get out of here"

Spock has Buckley's weapon! I love it so much. I want to use it in a video game. It's amazing. So much more interesting than the phasers and the compression phaser rifles Starfleet uses.

Spock releasing his anger is… intense. I get chills every time I watch it. Ethan Peck slams it right out of the park. I watched this scene so many times to write a fic and it does not lose its power on repeat viewings. And even once the gorn are trapped and fighting each other you can tell he is Not Okay.

Kirk having a moment listening to the gorn turn on each other, just as they were starting to do earlier before Pike pulled them all back

La'An literally facing her past, her fears, her trauma. La'An screaming in the face of danger and that which has controlled her life for so long. La'An remaining in control despite all of this, saving her crewmates. La'An taking back her life as she shatters the frozen gorn. La'An is doing so good. 🥹

Freeze dried gorn 🥶

jesus fuck the look on Pike's face when we cut back to the bridge and M'Benga says "It's dead, Chris" and Pike has to look at him to confirm he heard right

Hemmer locking the door so no one else can get in and try to save him. He knows he's a dead man walking. And I think he knows that La'An will be able to kill him if he's not able to get himself away quick enough. And La'An knows that, too. The trust between them in this scene is not stated at all through the dialogue, but I can feel it in the acting.

If the Enterprise wasn't at K-7, then they might have been able to save Hemmer. Maybe. But that's a stretch. Because if this season has taught us anything, it's that Starfleet medicine is not the be all end all it's portrayed to be in later Trek series, and taking chances with the gorn? I don't know. I don't know. This is a crew desperate to save their friend, though, and they would have tried hard.

The goodbyes. The… the goodbyes. Spock acknowledging the logic in Hemmer's decision. Hemmer's last advice to Uhura, to open herself to others and find joy more than sadness, and Uhura's quiet Hemmer, please, please as she cries for her friend, her mentor, and Chapel just wraps her up in a hug.

just. like. andoria.

just like andoria

I AM NOT OKAY

Hemmer turning around to face his crew, his friends, the people he loves most. Making eye contact with La'An. Her turning away as he lets himself fall. The exterior shot of him and the ship and the planet and light. It's a lot. A lot a lot a lot. Of both good and bad things, but this is a post about good things, so thanks for the emotional throat punch, Paramount.

That wide shot of the bridge and Pike slumped in the captain's chair 💔

Enterprise towing Peregrine away also make me giggle, but that is 100% just because I am in severe emotional distress and my body can no longer process appropriate reactions at this point. Although I really do love this shot, the way Enterprise feels solemn as it tows escorts Peregrine, the way Peregrine's warp nacelle is busted to hell and the deflector dish doesn't even exist anymore. It's a very quiet, calm shot after a lot of frenetic energy in this episode, and it feels comforting. Enterprise came back. And it wasn't in time for all of them, not by a long shot, but they came back and now they are going to go home and tell everyone what they saw, what they experienced.

I love Ortegas' speech. We never got to see her and Hemmer interact, but it rings true.

Uhura's speech… Uhura's… I can't 😭😭😭😭

breathes

okay

Uhura has literally lost every single person in the world that has meant anything to her except for her grandmother in the last five years. And instead of becoming bitter and using Hemmer's death as an excuse to continue shielding herself from the pain of living and connection she lives his purpose: to fix what is broken, by surrounding herself with people she loves. And while we do not condone fridging people for character growth... she would have gotten to this point eventually with Hemmer alive. It may have taken a little longer, but she was already on this path.

Angry Spock and Conerned Chapel. Goddamn he punches the shit out of that wall panel.

Its subtle, and I'm not sure if its supposed to be a Thing or not, but during their confrontation in the hallway, Spock has some serious five o'clock shadow verging on actual stubble going on, which is Very Unlike him. He is always very clean shaven. That is a Vulcan cry for help.

Chapel and Spock hugging in the hallway, and Spock's relief at the momentary validation of his feelings that Chapel grants him in this moment before he slams the door shut and walks away.

Pike drinks a lot in season one. He drinks liquor like Picard drinks earl gray and I really need it to be commented on because at this point it looks like he is self-medicating with it. Blah blah blah the gorn blah blah blah deserves to relax after that blah blah blah look it's a thing and can become a crutch and an addition without you even realizing it and it deserves to be acknowledged.

La'An and Pike's conversation. 😭 Pike telling La'An that however long it takes to help Oriana find her family, to come back to the Enterprise, come back to them, come home. La'An calling him Chris for the first time, thanking him for everything. Such a good scene. And if you compare it to their conversation in the first episode, it's such a great bookend for their relationship. In the first episode, they don't know each other. He is the captain, she is the security chief with a chip the size of the Federation on her shoulder. Other people are challenging for her, she says. He folds her into the flock. Mentor, mentee. And here in this conversation, there is such a great sense of time passing, the weight of their shared experiences coloring their interactions. It's quieter, more meaningful. They are more like equals than captain and subordinate. They are friends. Marvelous acting and writing here.😭

Uhura stepping onto the bridge again, filled with wonder, and, I hope, a sense that she belongs there, that she is included in that exultation of greatness and achievement represented by the Enterprise crew she spoke about in her opening personal log.

[hummiscellanea]

my initial thoughts on SNW S2E6 "Lost in Translation:"

i liked it! one of the better ones in season 2 so far. i have a lot of things to say about it

-yippee uhura-centric episode!

-the whole "that thing is actually alive!" plot is very star trek. personally i love this plot so i don't mind seeing it again! i think the hallucination aspect makes it unique enough. however, we consumers of sci-fi television will see it coming from a million kellicams away. since we're genre-savvy and the characters aren't, that has the unintentional consequence of making uhura look kinda dumb, since it took so so so long to get to the foregone conclusion of a reveal :(

-"lost in translation" made me so excited because yippee! translation! (i love linguistics) i really liked the part where uhura "translated" the aliens' message but it was very short. if it were up to me, that would take up more of the episode

-KIRK!!!! i don't know who had to sell their soul to achieve such good kirk characterization on strange new worlds of all shows, but a soul well spent!! he makes me so happy whenever he's on screen because that's him! that's James T. Kirk! (if only spock made me feel the same way...)

-really i will defend this hill. kirk is written (and acted!) SO well on this show!!!

-"but what about kirk slash spock???????" i'm hesitant to touch that with a ten foot pole. i have Opinions on this snw kirk/spock discourse but i won't discuss them here

-similarly spock and chapel. their scene was kinda weird??? and i'm also hesitant to touch this discourse so i'll leave it at that for now

-i think it's nice to revisit hemmer. like his death is still affecting the characters because of course it would!

-la'an my beloved <3 <3 <3 it was just one scene but <3 <3 <3

-chief kyle mention????????? (only the tos girlies care about that one. actually more likely only a very small subset of the tos girlies care about that one. but i do)

-pelia and una's subplot was good! stuff dealing with hierarchical/military discipline and the friction that can create when one adheres far more strictly than another? right up my alley! also pelia is awesome

-ok so this episode wants me to believe that Una is super strict and by-the-book and only cares about orders and regulations? actually laughed when pelia said that. NO ONE on this damn show cares about discipline! pike does not run a tight ship! it's a pet peeve of mine. i wish this were more than just an informed attribute because that would make me like una a lot more. imagine this: Pike, the laid-back captain, with his tight-laced Number One. what a great dynamic that would be! i mean it's kiiiiiiinda implied to be the dynamic but i'd like to see it

-the music in this episode was even better than usual. so so good. really good.

-also the refinery looked really cool

-i was really convinced that we wouldn't get a kirk and spock interaction in SNW.....i had hoped that we wouldn't......but alas, it has happened. right at the end. torn about the execution of this. on the one hand, it could have been worse. commiserating about sam is funny i guess. on the other hand this is an important moment, and it's almost unceremonious. then again if it had pomp and circumstance it would probably suck. so i'll go with "ok it could have been worse"

so yeah i had a lot of thoughts!

[pencilscratchins]

Have you watched the first episode of Strange New Worlds yet? I wanna know your thoughts

THANK YOU FOR THE OPPURTUNITY, DISTINGUISHED PANEL OF JUDGES (spoilers, seriously do not read if you havent watched it! its so good, you should do it unsullied)

okay so first and foremost: i fucking loved it. it was the best live action pilot of a star trek show since DS9- i thought the writing was so fun and energetic, and the characters/ cast are POPPING off the screen. im so excited for this season, i think its going to be a return to form in a lot of ways and i think that'll be a breath of fresh air. (i know some people are sad SNW doesn't seem to be taking risks, format wise, and you know; i like that picard and disco did something new and broke the serial mold that DS9 cracked for them. but i also love episodic television and i think having SNW be episodic functions as a great connective tissue between DISCO and TOS!)

the cast is FUCKING STELLAR!!!!! THEYRE SO GOOD! we know i love ethan & anton & rebecca's takes already, but what little we got of everyone else has me DROOLING. also im in love with ortegas already so. lesbian me, confirmed. (also set design & lighting is so much better than disco... holy shit)

i also loved the choice to open with a mission that the Red Angel incident caused; i think its a great way to introduce how that situation is still heavily affecting both pike AND spock, as well as how Starfleet was clearly not equipped for that level of conflict and now have to grow as well.

now... that's not to say i don't have critiques. because obviously, im not pleased with the spock/ t'pring stuff. i don't like how either character was written in their interactions and i think their scenes weaken the relationship we see in TOS. i know im a gay spock truther and people love to give me shit about that, (which you know... is another issue we wont get into here) but setting my personal spock truth aside; it was still a weak choice. i think tpring and spock work best when presented as foils and peers who are forced into a bad situation. the way they both get OUT of that situation (their engagement) is what defines both them and the fundamental difference b/w vulcans & humans: tpring functions within the traditional system to dissolve their union, as where spock breaks form completely and creates a new solution. framing their relationship like they did in the pilot weakens that decision on a whole. (& im not someone whos like "oh you have to stay totally adherent to established canon!" either but these interactions also felt out place when compared to how t'pol's engagement went? or is that just me?)

however, im also holding judgement. because i think one way to interpret this spock trying to follow michael's final advice (yeah yeah i have michael brain rot, sue me i dont care.) in spock's head, tpring IS the person farthest from him (she, again, represents the archetypical vulcan and everything about that society that he doesn't fit- and, they don't really like each other. they were forced together, they did not chose this.) this is spock reaching out, trying his damnest to respect what his sister wanted for him, even though she meant something totally different (canonically, or metacanonically at least, she was talking about kirk-) so it could very much crumble into the relationship we see between tpring and spock in TOS.

regardless, i like how spock was written outside these scenes and you can tell ethan loves playing him. and the tpring actress is really serving, i hope she gets more outside of spock! uhura is already a delight, i cannot wait to dive more into her and see what celia does because theyre so talented; i love la'an's voice and presence and i can't wait for her and #1 to have scenes together! pike is so charming and well written and i love how he interacts with his crew. chapel is deranged and i love that choice, m'benga is such a good CMO. i am so pleased with this episode, i really am!

oh also this is a sam kirk stan blog now. called it, i called it SO HARD. AGAIN I CALLED IT AGAIN--

[scentofdriedflowers]

I liked the episode but not my favorite, it was big on the ethical meaning plot jfc a bit heavy! That kid!! But crew relationship speaking, this episode was a little meh, not much interactions between the crew. Very little Una and me is sad😥, happy to see her sitting on the captain chair twice tho😎, 0 scenes with her and La'an me super sad (last episode was a bliss they had to skip this one lol!). They had so much FUN last episode that they got back at terrifying people in this one lol, when Spock told Una that they couldn't speak to the captain or beam down to the planet he was liiittle bit afraid of her reaction😂, loved it!👌

And what I really liked was La'an in 'teaching' mode with Uhura, she's a bit rough but that's La'an, not surprised and I liked it (she said Una terrify people but she doesn't joke either😂), at the end tho Uhura rocked as always and La'an praised her and acknowledged her result and made her take the credit, that's a good teacher, and most importantly.... she let her skip lesson number 7😂 lol! Loved the moment 'my promising cadet just busted your ass basically'. Also liked the b plot with m'benga I love that man, he's such a sweet soul.

But give us more interactions with the crew!!! For example this could have been a great opportunity for Una-Spock scenes since Pike was always away!! Or to know more about Lt Mitchell she was back on the bridge! or Hemmer where is Hemmer?!!! Ugh this show needs more than 10 episodes per season!

[andromedaa-starss]

*sigh* ok look i really want to like strange new worlds. i really do. i've been watching every episode as it comes out and i think it's got some great concepts, but there's just something about the execution that feels off. the plot doesn't feel as connected as it should.

i think the most recent episode illustrates this. it feels like they took three different plot points, smushed them together, and then tried to extrapolate a theme from that. it also seems to try and take itself too seriously, when it really should have leaned into being wacky and a tad stupid (bc let's be real, star trek has always been silly and stupid). we never really saw t'pring try to be spock. we only saw a snippet of spock trying to do t'pring's job. and then the whole thing with la'an and una felt hamfisted in. instead of devoting their attention to the main plot it felt like they tried to focus on everyone, and the episode suffered for it.

idk. what do y'all think? i'm very aware that snw is just on its fifth episode, and it has the ability to grow. i'm just stating what i observed, but i do want snw to get better. i really do, and i can't wait to see what snw had in store. i just think rn the plots are a bit shaky (and ep5 was wasted opportunity lol)

[fiadorable]

46 Great Things in Strange New Worlds (S1E01)

I decided to write down all the things I loved from each episode of Strange New World's first season.

Strange New Worlds | Children of the Comet | Ghosts of Illyria Part 1 & Part 2 | Memento Mori | Spock Amok | Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach | Serene Squall | The Elysian Kingdom | All Those Who Wander | A Quality of Mercy

Pilot episode things to love include:

Seeing first contact with the Federation from the POV of an alien species with Una's log overlaying the opening

Star Trek tradition of character being in love with really old American television/movies continues, this time with The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Pike's pancakes look divine - and the gentle way he spatulas them onto the plate! This is a person who is skilled and takes great care with delicate things.

I oddly love Pike referring to Batel as "Captain Batel" during breakfast and have this headcanon that he does so while she's in uniform to kind of draw the line between the personal and professional relationship they have

But also like shame on her for saying the pancakes were good BUT STILL LEAVING MOST OF IT ON HER PLATE

Calling the communicator a phone is weird - but I appreciate the effort they are making to bridge the way life imitated art and gave us cell phones before warp drives

Loving the way they are showing the relationship between Batel and Pike here, the friend/coworkers with benefits, call me when you get back in town but with no expectations thing - it feels realistic given their careers

Good god I love the music in this series please give me a soundtrack

What an absolutely gorgeous theme song and title sequence. It feels very Lower Decks visually, but definitely pays homage to the TOS sequence.

Say what you want, but I love seeing playful Vulcans. Tuvok had some excellent lines on Voyager, but seeing T'Pring and Spock dance around the engagement question is delightful.

"I'm going to have to ask you two to do that somewhere else." 😂😂😂

"Matrimony and duty. The two will complement each other." "I remain skeptical." As you should, girl, as you should

Oo, I do like the communicator plugging into a video display though. Nice blend of the 60s tech with modern tech.

Pike reviewing La'an's file and the Gorn report on the way to the Enterprise. Weird thing to like, I know, but this comes up later in my list.

I love that Enterprise is a learning ship and the cadets rotate through the departments

Pike has a goddamn fireplace in his quarters. He has a kitchen.

I love Pike's conversation with Spock on the way to Kiley 279, questioning how the knowledge of his accident will live in him and direct his actions in the years leading up to it - and the season finale answers that question which makes for a nice narrative circle shaped thing

Bridge troubleshooting sessions are the best

I love Nurse Chapel - she is the manic pixie dream girl of the show while still being extremely competent - and I love her introductory exchange with La'an and how Pike is just sitting back and watching them circle each other

"Well there's surviving and then there's living." I like that he left the decision to take the sedative up to La'an (and now knowing her backstory it makes sense but the first time I saw this episode I was like goddamn girl)

Obligatory "history of the United States" reference

Also loving the rivalry between Spock and La'an down on the planet… new coworkers are hard

Delta Scorpii Seven

"Always when I'm in the captain's chair" - This whole exchange is when I knew Ortegas was gonna be one of my favs

I love that Uhura is the one who is able to settle the rabbit - bonding through sports is the fastest way to get your alien captive to relax

The flirtatious lady in the elevator who sees Spock morphing while Pike pretends he has no idea what she's freaking out about - this man is a complete awkward dork around women how the hell did he get Batel into bed 😂(

"Somehow I figured you might" 😍 I don't ship them I don't ship them

"Can you not jinx it?" More of Una and Spock, please, I beg of you

Also the way Pike is holding her 😍 GODDAMMIT I DO NOT SHIP THEM

Spock screaming as his genome reverted was intense and I like it because it means my girl La'an is a fucking BEAST because she went through all of that without a sound on the ship which is horrifying

Shades of Janeway and the Caretaker's array in Pike's decision to interfere despite General Order 1 because without their original unintended interference there would be no secondary interference necessary - it's a parallel I am comfortable with

La'an calling Spock "the science officer" 😂

What a power move bringing Enterprise into lower orbit and I love the air raid sirens on Kiley that go off as it descends

"The true cost of a civil war is abstract"

"Right up until the very end life is to be worn gloriously"

Ok, ok, we get it, this is the bad place 🙃

The Kiley montage is weird like what is even happening in it are they worshiping the Enterprise at the end there with their paper doll cutout of it?? Aliens.

Renaming General Order One the Prime Directive

I like Admiral April - he is a solid dude

Pike knowing exactly what La'an is about at the end of the episode is the best. He's read her file, he knows all of this already, but he's letting her come to him and tell him in her own words and that's great.

"Other people are challenging for me." me too girl me too

Ugh this musiiiiiic 🥰

I just like watching this crew doing their jobs. The set is pretty, the people are pretty, the dialogue is crisp.

We are all Uhura saying "Cool!" on the bridge

Pike's almost knee-high boots

Ending credit music!