Star Trek Strange New Worlds: Season Two – Review
Wow. Just wow. I could actually leave my review with those words. But your probably want a little more detail and so I will share a few more thoughts.
Star Trek Strange New Worlds, if you did were not already aware, follows the adventures of the USS Enterprise in the years preceding James T. Kirk as captain as we find in the original series. In this series, Christopher Pike is the captain, although we have some familiar faces such as Spock, Uhura and Nurse Chapel.
I think the reason that I love Strange New Worlds so much is that they are able to recapture the charm of the old series while including the special effects and the continuity of the more recent series.
The second season was mostly stand alone stories, something that was foundational for the original series. But even with that, we have the hints of a possible Gorn threat running throughout the season.
I am going to say that there were some cheesy episodes. One example was when Spock was accidentally changed into a human by some aliens right before meeting with his future in-laws. It was a comedy of errors and it fit in with some of the episodes of the original series and even The Next Generation.
If that was unexpected, it does not compare with Subspace Rhapsody, an episode where everyone is forced to sing as if in a musical. In general, I hate musicals, but this episode really worked. It was a satirical look at musical, even examining the rules of musicals. It was a blast.
One of the high points was the crossover with Star Trek Lower Decks. Lower Decks is an animated Star Trek that is set between The Next Generation and Picard. It was extremely well done. It blew me away how they blend these shows that use two very different mediums.
This season brought us some more James Kirk. While not yet a captain and not assigned to the Enterprise, he has some connections. One of the episodes included a time travelling adventure that brought two members to 21st Century Toronto. As a Canadian, it was nice to see Canada instead of the United States for a change.
The season finale was anything but a comedy. This was some of the best Star Trek I have ever seen. It also included the introduction of a familiar face to the series. It was a satisfying season finale that sets us up nicely for the next season.
I really believe that Strange New Worlds will go down as one of the best Star Trek series ever. People often point to TNG and DS9 but both of those series, as great as they were, were weak in their first couple of seasons. Strange New Worlds is great right from the beginning.
There is character development, a sense of place within the Star Trek mythos, great acting, incredible special effects, exciting action, a good dose of humour, and so much. Strange New Worlds is a winner.
