Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - First Trailer(s)

[Palanan]

First episode is now out, see post #5 for more.


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First teaser trailer:








Series is promising, but trailer is eh. Not sure what they were going for here, other than playing on vague Trek nostalgia. Apparently it’s not Star Trek unless the captain’s riding a horse.

Anson Mount is great for the role, and overall I think the casting is solid. But I’m not a fan of the aesthetic for the Enterprise that we’re seeing here.

Still, if the series gets us back to the core Trek values of exploring the galaxy, one quirky system at a time, it should be a worthwhile ride. Feeling somewhat optimistic for this.

.

[t209]

Feels like "what comes around, goes around".
I mean we have one season of Star Trek Discovery resembling Andromeda, which is based on Roddenbury's screenplay.
And this was original idea for Star Trek where Pike was supposed to be the protagonist before canonized by proto-recap episode.

[Palanan]

Longer trailer just out:






Hmm. A bit heavy on the snark, and they're definitely drawing on some classic moments from TOS.

Not sure I like this version of Uhura. But I'm very glad to see Dr. M'Benga. Definitely interested overall.

[Trafalgar]

I have mixed feelings about this trailer.
On one hand, I like that it focuses on Uhura. Nichelle Nichols spoke at the first Star Trek convention I ever went to and I have always been a fan of that character.
On the other hand, I am not a fan of the new Star Trek movies. One thing a I particularly disliked about those was the whole Uhura Spock relationship. This trailer hints at this relationship.

[Palanan]

So, the first season is underway, and Paramount+ has given us the first episode on YouTube. It’s packed with all the classic Trekisms: futuristic hope, exploration and danger, first contact, cowboy diplomacy, and personal introspection which informs the current crisis.

Also, gleefully trampling on the Prime Directive, because Captain of the Enterprise.

Spoiler: About the Enterprise

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There are few ships in all of science fiction I love more than the Enterprise—no bloody A, B, C or D. But sadly this version is too glitzy and too Kelvinverse for me to enjoy. For whatever reason, the CGI here doesn’t transport me to a realm of imagination; it only calls attention to itself. Some of the snippets in the opening credits are downright fakey, and the Enterprise comes across as aggressively artificial in the exterior shots. Not just artificial, but insubstantial. There's no heft, no mass, nothing to make me believe this is a solid vessel.

On the inside, it’s afflicted with the same issue as most set design on Discovery—way too much interior space, and here it’s taken to an absurd degree. The bridge is bad enough, but the worst instance is Pike’s own quarters, which are far larger than even Picard’s quarters on the 1701-D.

Back in TOS, you could believe that the Enterprise was a deep-exploration vessel which sacrificed comfort for function, and even the captain’s quarters felt like a cabin rather than an executive suite. But here Pike’s quarters feel like a superyacht—with the absolutely ridiculous addition of a bar, of all things. And that’s not even mentioning the firepit. It’s not officer’s quarters, it’s a man-cave.

There’s also virtually no acknowledgement of the original Trek look. Although I didn’t much like the standalone Star Wars prequels, both Solo and Rogue One did a great job of fusing the classic late-70s visual designs with modern effects. That was deliberate and well-thought-out, and the result was smooth continuity in terms of the visual feel.

Unfortunately recent Trek hasn’t even tried to do this, and here we’re very much in line with Discovery, which thumbs its nose at all prior continuity, visual or otherwise. Supposedly Discovery is in the TOS timeline rather than Kelvin, but the look and feel is thoroughly Kelvinized, and Strange New Worlds is more of the same. There’s a bit of a nod to the designs in TMP, but the overall feel is overwhelmingly glossy plastic, and the bridge lighting in particular feels like it’s designed to convert to a nightclub dance floor. Set phasers to techno, I guess.

Spoiler: The Problem With Pike

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The main issue with Pike is that in order to make any sense of this episode, you have to have followed his storyline on Discovery—and in fact the stimulus to the planetary crisis revolves around Discovery as well. This is a tighter coupling with that show than I want or need.

On the positive side, there was significantly less Pike-snark than I was bracing myself for, and overall he makes for a solid captain. The navel-gazing felt like it went on for a little long, but such an intense awareness of one’s own mortality would have that effect. His Captain’s Speech^TM was generic but serviceable, and all we need now is the Pike Maneuver.

Spoiler: The Crew

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The crew are definitely a mixed bag.

The absolute standout is Christina Chong as Lt. Noonien-Singh. Unlike the majority of characters in this episode, she wasn’t there for a snarky joyride or to act cute and relevant; she was there to be a professional and get it done. That degree of professionalism should be the baseline for Starfleet personnel, and in Singh’s case it’s fundamental to her character. She’s competent, driven, with a brutal backstory but still with a sliver of emotional vulnerability. One of the best characters on the show.

By contrast, I hated every second of the new Christine Chapel. I can understand they wanted to develop the character in a new direction, but I’m not sure what this person is supposed to be. She was supremely irritating and acted like a hypersnarky teenager, almost as if she was written for Lower Decks and transferred to live action at the last minute. She seems to be either an intern or a prodigy, or both—but the last thing any Trek show needs is another Wesley Crusher.

Most of the others fall between these two. Ortegas, the navigator, managed to be irritating even in very small doses, while Dr. M’Benga was promising but unfortunately overshadowed by Chapel.

The new Uhura isn’t clicking for me. In some ways it’s an impossible role to fill, like recasting Princess Leia—except Zoe Saldana made it work and made it hers. That’s just not happening here. All we saw was a slightly gushy cadet who’s good with escaped aliens. But I'll reserve judgement until the character has an episode of her own.

There wasn’t much of Number One here, which was just as well, since I wasn’t impressed with what I saw—and because Lt. Singh did her job better. I’d be perfectly happy if Number One went back to her own command, but then we can't be that logical or undramatic.

Speaking of logic, we had an extended preview of this version of Spock on (sigh) Discovery, so I’ve had time to get used to him. Not brilliant, but solid. It was mildly interesting to see the dynamics of Spock and his wife, and there was the obligatory mention of Michael Burnham, but I’m concerned how much original series lore may be tossed out the window in service of retcon drama.

Spoiler: Happiest Fan Moment

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I’ve loved the Saladin-class light scout ever since it came out in the early 80s, and I’m just about giddy to see one here. I’ll even forgive them naming it Archer.

No telling if the showrunners even know that the original version was named Saladin, but the design has been kept alive in various iterations of Trek, and I’m just happy to see it here. This more than anything sells me on the era.

Spoiler: Goofy Moments

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Hands down the silliest and most pointless sequence was Nurse Chapel’s chasing after the escaped alien. Apparently it never occurred to anyone to simply strap them down? Unknown aliens, unpredictable reactions to sedatives, you’d think this would be common sense. But no, they had to contrive an escape to give us a reason to use the “Emergency Medical Transporter.”

Almost as goofy is the revelation that by the early years of this Enterprise, Federation biomedical technology had advanced to the point of replicating Polyjuice Potion, complete with awkward and embarrassing effects when it wears off too early.

It was de rigueur on TNG to modify the crew to fit in with the latex-nosed aliens of the week, and it was evidently just a matter of quick plastic surgery. Tampering with someone’s entire genome for the sake of a few eyebrow ridges just feels contrived—and also far more convoluted than simply synthesizing a few ounces of extra tissue. That was time they could've spent developing secondary characters or the political situation on the planet below.

Spoiler: But Is It Trek?

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If nothing else, and despite all the annoyances, this episode left me feeling at least hopeful for the series to come.

Unlike Discovery, which I disliked from the start and which was almost always a grind, this felt like Trek--discovering new worlds and lecturing them about how to solve their problems. (Kidding.)

Most of the characters range from good to excellent, there's the beginnings of chemistry and interplay—and best of all, technology supports the crew without providing an easy technobabble fix to everyone's problems. There's hope, there's idealism, there's exploration and the willy-nilly abandonment of regulations in favor of gut feelings. It's Trek enough for me.

.

[Peelee]

The main issue with Pike is that in order to make any sense of this episode, you have to have followed his storyline on Discovery

I disagree with a large amount of what you wrote, but this most of all. Speaking as someone who has only seen the first season of Discovery (and thus nothing that was actually referenced in the SNW pilot), I had no problem whatsoever following the plot.

[Dragonus45]

So who here has been keeping up with the new Star Trek? Talking about Discovery over in the other thread reminded me this show was due out soon, and I went to check it out since I had heard good things about Pike so I figured I would give it a shot. I'm in love. It's almost perfect. Pike has a juicy looking character arc, the question of how it feels to know that your heroic sacrifice is on a delay is an interesting one. The rest of the cast look great. Uhura in the second episode particularly has stood out, I can't wait to see some more of her. Anyways good show much wow.

[Caledonian]

The show seems to have problems thinking things through. It's not so much a matter of canon, as of common sense - which isn't being applied.

From everything I've heard and seen of the new show, it seems pretty average at best - which makes it the best of the nuTreks, hands down.

[Peelee]

The Mod on the Silver Mountain: Wonder Mod powers activate! Form of: merged thread!

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Dragonus45
So who here has been keeping up with the new Star Trek?

I’d love to, but Paramount only gave us the first episode for free, and I’m not signing up to another streaming service for just one show.

That said, I’m very encouraged that it seems to be delivering on its promise. Like Picard, it’ll take me a while to get to it, but I’ll be looking forward to that day.

[Dragonus45]

I’d love to, but Paramount only gave us the first episode for free, and I’m not signing up to another streaming service for just one show.

That said, I’m very encouraged that it seems to be delivering on its promise. Like Picard, it’ll take me a while to get to it, but I’ll be looking forward to that day.

I'm not sure how familiar you are with Picard but uhhhh, I personally think it fumbled hard at the 1. This might still do it too, as much as I have enjoyed it there is something of a bad track record with Trek lately. The snark is at acceptable enough levels for me, but only just barely and a part of me wonders if they might be hinting at changing Pike's ending which would be disastrous. Also, even though so far everything has been episodic classic stories they can always screw up and start pushing some myth arc or another again. Plenty of places it could go wrong. Still, things are good so far. I was a bit cold towards the guy they have playing Spock but I've started to come around as well.

[Elkad]

I'm enjoying this in a generic trekkie fashion. Or was until this week. They just took it to a new level.

Regarding the latest episode (s01e07)...

13? movies and hundreds of episodes across various live and animated TV shows and they have finally accomplished something never done before.
Instead a human in a funny hat, or a monster you have no empathy for, they have a character that is actually alien and creepy and wrong in Dr Aspen.

I don't know who the actor person is, but he person deserves an award.

[Palanan]

I've been wondering how this show has been going. I've watched some clips, and for the most part I've enjoyed them, which is promising.

But I don't have much sense of how the stories are developing, or the character arcs. And no idea who Dr. Aspen is, so not sure how to take this description of him.

[Caledonian]

There are people making in-depth reviews of each episode and posting them on YouTube. You might try there.

Good news, everyone! The show is overall terrible!

[Palanan]

I'm avoiding as many spoilers as I can, and I don't much care for YouTube reviews anyway. I was more interested in a general sense of whether the show had that ineffable Star Trek spirit.

From what I can tell, Prodigy does, so I'm wondering if SNW is managing the same.

[Caledonian]

Quick summation: it's the best of the recent Star Trek offerings, which isn't saying much. It rips off classic Trek premises, motivates plot developments by giving characters the Idiot Ball, fails to think through the consequences of the story elements it introduces, completely fails to understand the nature of professional behavior and discipline on a starship by having characters constantly mouth off to authority figures, and has a vessel that is absurdly spacious and luxurious.

I don't know about 'ineffable', but if you're looking for "Star Trek spirit" you should look elsewhere.

[JadedDM]

I don't know who the actor is, but he deserves an award.

Her name is Jesse James Keitel.

[Dragonus45]

I'm enjoying this in a generic trekkie fashion. Or was until this week. They just took it to a new level.

Regarding the latest episode (s01e07)...

13? movies and hundreds of episodes across various live and animated TV shows and they have finally accomplished something never done before.
Instead a human in a funny hat, or a monster you have no empathy for, they have a character that is actually alien and creepy and wrong in Dr Aspen.

I don't know who the actor is, but he deserves an award.

Yea Strange New Worlds is nothing but bangers, one after another. The hits don't stop. They could solve the Kobayashi Maru at this rate.

I've been wondering how this show has been going. I've watched some clips, and for the most part I've enjoyed them, which is promising.

But I don't have much sense of how the stories are developing, or the character arcs. And no idea who Dr. Aspen is, so not sure how to take this description of him.

The show is largely episodic, character arcs are still developing and mostly self contained to an episode outside of Pike's larger issues. Dr Aspen is a one of character with potential to recur from this episode.

[Cikomyr2]

Are we sure Dr Aspen is to be referred as "he"? I dunnow why i assume they wanted to be identified as feminine, with all talks of "husbands".

I didn't thought of her as creepy. Just obsessed with her quarry, and willing to be very cruel.

[JadedDM]

Are we sure Dr Aspen is to be referred as "he"? I dunnow why i assume they wanted to be identified as feminine, with all talks of "husbands".

Both the character and the actor are non-binary. The character used they/them pronouns, but the actor uses she/her.

[Elkad]

Her name is Jesse James Keitel.

I know nothing about the person playing Dr Aspen. Except {Scurbbed} person obviously has a Y chromosome. At no point did I think female, just portraying an actual alien.

Are we sure Dr Aspen is to be referred as "he"? I dunnow why i assume they wanted to be identified as feminine, with all talks of "husbands".

We've had several husband-husband relationships in Trek already, so that didn't catch me at all. Matter of fact, I rather appreciated the fact they didn't throw it around like the directors were expecting a prize. Just made it completely normal, as it should be.

[Cikomyr2]

I just saw a meme that compared Dr Aspen to Team rocket and i cant unsee it.

[JadedDM]

She is a person, a human being, not an 'it.'

[Cikomyr2]

She is a person, a human being, not an 'it.'

Who did so?

[Elkad]

She is a person, a human being, not an 'it.'

Who did so?

I did. I was scolded (mildly, not like I'm going to run for the report button) for saying "he".

Someone upthread said "non-binary", so I used the only non-binary singular pronoun I know.

[hamishspence]

"Them" is a valid singular pronoun - even if it's rarely used.

[Elkad]

"Them" is a valid singular pronoun - even if it's rarely used.

Mrs Pingrey disagreed on my 4th grade papers.
She swung a mean paddle, I'm not going there.
(I'm also not going to chew gum where anyone can see me...)

[truemane]

Mrs Pingrey disagreed on my 4th grade papers.
She swung a mean paddle, I'm not going there.
(I'm also not going to chew gum where anyone can see me...)

I would very politely suggest that the lessons you learned one full generation ago, taught by someone from one full generation before that, might merit some re-evaluation. Otherwise, for the sake of conceptual consistency, we would have to take all the other opinions that adults had when you were nine years old and accept them at face value too. And if you're willing to re-evaluate some of those opinions, and not this one, it might give you cause to ponder why.

And failing that, I would also very politely suggest that, if Mrs Pingrey's decades' old (and incorrect, then and now) opinion on grammar feels more important to you than the humanity of actual real human beings, then it's possible that either 1. your priorities could also use some re-evaluating, or 2. there's something more at play here than concern for the perceived integrity of the English language. That might also give you cause to ponder what and why.

Either way, no matter what the reason, it would have take you less time than it took to type 'Mrs Pingrey' to Google "Jesse James Keitel" and see that she uses she/her pronouns. And, regardless of how you felt about that, it would have take zero extra effort to use those pronouns.

That you did not do either of those things is a choice. A choice that implies an opinion. You may claim you do not possess that opinion, but the only evidence anyone has for your opinions are your choices.

So, if you don't have that opinion, it's very easy to prove it. And if you do have that opinion, it's very easy to keep it to yourself.

Either way, I urge you to make a different choice next time.

[Elkad]

Either way, I urge you to make a different choice next time.

I watched the show, loved Dr Aspen's portrayal, wanted to talk about it with some sci-fi nerds.
While I don't normally hang out on this sub-forum, I thought GiTP was a good place to look, and sure enough there was a thread on the first page about ST:SNG

Dr Aspen was played by a male, I called the character "he".

Then I attempted to appease people when called out, and I get even more flak for not correcting it correctly?

So now I scroll back and read again. JJK (who I've never heard of, so I'd have to go watch the credits to even find out who to Google) apparently has more than one preferred pronoun, as both "she" and "they" were mentioned.
Oxford Dictionary agrees that "they" for a singular individual was correct 500+ years ago, but then spent recent centuries considered as incorrect until just a few years ago. Yes, my elementary education was more than "a few years ago"- it featured the Ford Presidency in Current Events class.

Had I checked Google (yes, using Google, not another engine), the autofill says "Actor"
.
edit: image won't embed (not https), but it's there.
pages.suddenlink.net/flowerdog/images/jjk .jpg (take the space out)


...and several of the first-page results are using "he".

10 Things You Didn't Know about Jesse James Keitel - TV ...https://tvovermind.com › Entertainment
He's famous for his television creations. He's the man behind “Boston Legal,” “The Practice,” “Ally McBeal,” “Big Little Lies,” and so many others. He's a ...

Now if you click the article, it's talking about someone else, not JJK, but that isn't apparent from the results page.

I repeat. Honest mistake. It was not my intention to offend anyone. My apologies. I've edited my prior posts (in a fashion that I think reflects honesty) and I'm done with this thread.

[Caledonian]

*scrubbed*