Star Trek Strange New Worlds Discussion Thread (Spoiler Alert!)

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
The third episode of SNW is an improvement and almost attaining barely watchable status. Wow, can you believe I said something positive about new Trek! I am cured! They copied and pasted many story elements from the past as I found myself going oh, I remember that from DS9 or TOS, etc. Genetic engineering rocks! Overall it seemed more like a mediocre Orville episode. I guess it is impossible for nepotistic, lazy and woke Hollywood to produce anything truly original. Kurtzman did put in Chapple having a self aggrandizing rant near the end, but you always have to insert a little intersectional feminism to put the man babies in their place! Still not paying for P+ and I fear my Disney+ subscription might be in peril if the leaks for Obi-Wan are true.
 
After Ep 3, I'm left with more questions about genetic modification than answers.
Are Illyrians genetically modified humans?
If not, where the heck was Starfleet Medical on the intake physical?*
Is Na'an Noonien Singh genetically modified like Khan or born before the genetic modifications?
For that matter, is Khan supposed to have been Sikh? (Singh is an extremely common Sikh surname)

* This is bothering me more and more. If Starfleet wants no genetically modified people and (relatively simple with current technology) tests could show that Number One (and Dr. Bashir from DS9) were genetically modified, why aren't new recruits tested before joining Starfleet? I suppose that Bashir's case could have been a very skillful modification that seemed like natural variation, but missing an Illyrian seems unlikely.
 
After Ep 3, I'm left with more questions about genetic modification than answers.
Are Illyrians genetically modified humans?
If not, where the heck was Starfleet Medical on the intake physical?*
(snip)

* This is bothering me more and more. If Starfleet wants no genetically modified people and (relatively simple with current technology) tests could show that Number One (and Dr. Bashir from DS9) were genetically modified, why aren't new recruits tested before joining Starfleet? I suppose that Bashir's case could have been a very skillful modification that seemed like natural variation, but missing an Illyrian seems unlikely.

THIS. I never quite got the whole "because of the (Earth) Eugenics wars, genetic modifications are prohibited..." thing. The episode with Bashir in DS9 struck me as contrived at the time because certainly by then, genetic modification will be commonplace. It's one thing to conceptually use genetics on a point basis to correct a disease (or, frankly, make some changes such as eye color or other simple things) and a whole other thing to put in place a system of eugenics. We already can do selective screening for traits (at considerable cost) and are close to being able to practically implement germ-line changes. And you can't put technology back in the bottle. It doesn't work that way. We can't stop these things; we can prevent social mandates requiring genetic changes or enforcing GATTACA style genetics-based discrimination.

And, imposing an Earth-based prejudice against a species where adaptive gene modification was commonplace, would seem to be directly against the principles of the Federation. And why would the other members put up with it?

But yes, Illyrians must essentially human stock genetically, otherwise no way it could have made it past an intake physical. "Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development" must be in full force in this case, resulting in either Illyrian-derived humanoids with remarkably similar genetics, or they must have descended from being seeded by Earth life.

I expect this conundrum to be resolved in a future episode that shows early (pre-tech) humans were taken from earth to seed Illyria, by some other species that had the capability to do so at the time.
 
But yes, Illyrians must essentially human stock genetically, otherwise no way it could have made it past an intake physical. "Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development" must be in full force in this case, resulting in either Illyrian-derived humanoids with remarkably similar genetics, or they must have descended from being seeded by Earth life.

I expect this conundrum to be resolved in a future episode that shows early (pre-tech) humans were taken from earth to seed Illyria, by some other species that had the capability to do so at the time.

I'm not hung up on the Illiryans thing. Clearly Number One easily passes as human, or M'Benga would have discovered that a LONG time ago. Why, or how? "Technobabble" is why, or how. :) Definition: https://tinyurl.com/yc8mwxdd

But as far as humans "seeding" somewhere else, well, a few Trek examples come to mind.

On Voyager, "The 37's", where some humans from 1937 , including Amelia Earhart, were taken to a far away planet. Their descendants ended up defeating their captors and building their own advanced civilization (though not space-faring.

In the show Enterprise, Episode "The North Star" had humans from the 1860's era, that had been transplanted by aliens for human labor.

In Discovery season 2, humans from Earth were taken to Terralysium, by [spoilers], because [spoilers]

May be others, just those three come to mind.
 
Last edited:
The appearance of 21st Century-style wind turbine eyesores in the pilot episode killed it for me. This is supposed to be the 23rd Century after all. There were other issues as well--thought the layout of the bridge and the crew was off canon. I'll stick with Star Trek Continues for now.
 
Episode 4 was very good. The Gorn are back, before they should be.

The characters are becoming more whole. SNW seems kind of a mix of TNG and TOS with a more ensemble cast than
TOS, but more TOS story settings.

Again, I love the furniture and style cues. Very TOS.

But how did they launch the Galileo with the cargo bey all ripped up?
 
Cargo bay, not Shuttle bay. presumably two different facilities. (one hopes)
That's what I was thinking. Not sure where the cargo bay (or bays) are in a Constitution class starship....wait, let me look at the old 12-sheet Franz Joseph/Ballantime blueprints from 1975...

These show a cargo bay just above the very bottom of the secondary hull (deck 23), well forward and below the shuttlecraft hangar. What they don't show is any way to get cargo in or out save via a transporter or turbolift — no doors through the hull. But maybe they missed that detail in the drawings ;)
 
Last edited:
In original Trek, intra-ship beaming wasn't really a thing. They had to sort of work up to it (Day of the Dove). So the ship wouldn't have been designed assuming cargo could be beamed around. However, cargo could be planned to be beamed into the hold by a transporter on the ground or another ship.
 
I wouldn't say that....though she clearly is playing Chapel in such a way it is hard to see the character developing into the Chapel we saw in TOS. But then she had little to do (save for "What Are Little Girls Made Of" and a bit in "Amok Time) in TOS.

Which leads to...it will be interesting to see how the episode that's supposed to drop today will play into "Amok Time."

edit: has dropped. Both the Ready Room and the TrekCulture Ups and Downs for this episode are up on YouTube. Probably won't get to watch it myself tonight.
 
Last edited:
Chapel is growing on me. As is Ortegas, It will be interesting what the writers have in store for her.

La'an is a fish out of water, kind of not really needed. Number 1 should have her duties. I'm not sure where
they are going with her.

I'm starting to think Anson Mount's Pike is the 2nd best Enterprise captain, Pike's leadership is outstanding.
 
In original Trek, intra-ship beaming wasn't really a thing. They had to sort of work up to it (Day of the Dove). So the ship wouldn't have been designed assuming cargo could be beamed around. However, cargo could be planned to be beamed into the hold by a transporter on the ground or another ship.
Beaming from a pad to a pad shouldn't be an issue. I wouldn't qualify it the same as intra-ship beaming.
 
So, the latest episode........

spoiler space:

5

4

3

2

1


Freaky Friday!

Needed some "shore leave", and a somewhat fun episode after last week's carnage.
 
I haven't seen any SNW, but just asking about this character in comparison to Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars. That annoying? 🙃
The female characters in Kurtzman Trek are often angry, insoborinate and have a troubled back story. They also tend to have bad hair cuts and be written in a Mary Sue trope. This new nurse Chaple is, however, really appealing to my inner man baby. She just dumped her boy toy and seems to be going full bore after that sexy Spork. I am so shipping Chapspork! Even better than the slow burn Chaple-Spock relationship hinted at in TOS.

Shipping is so much faster than it was in the 60's! Back then you had to cut out the cereal box order form, fill it out, go to the bank with your lawn mowing cash and get a money order, put in in an envelope with a stamp and snail mail it in. Then wait by the mail box for what seemed forever. Now days I just use my Amazon Prime with my fancy phone and my needs are almost instantly gratified. And the shipping is free!

Chapel is tough so T'ping better watch out! Get the knives out! A Number one - La'an ship would be nice too. Star Trek is at it's best when it gets a little steamy. Lwaxana Troi and Jean Luc Picard where the best. Run Jean Luc, Run! With all the shipping I might just forget about all the annoying female character traits. Oh my, Kurtzman is a Genius! :)
 
So, the latest episode........

spoiler space:

5

4

3

2

1


Freaky Friday!

Needed some "shore leave", and a somewhat fun episode after last week's carnage.
My wife and I just loved it...and I was all prepared not to like it after seeing a little spoiler material on the web before we saw it. I think we agree with Wil Wheaton's assessment (on the accompanying Ready Room installment) that it will become a favorite episode in all of Star Trek for us, anyway. "....dangerously close to hijinks" indeed!
 
Last edited:
Ok, A silly little Freaky Friday episode. A corny, trite, frivolous episode.

It had sooooo many reasons to fall flat on its face.

But it didn't.

Well done indeed.

Loved the TOS fight music, love Pikes green tunic, love the background sounds. Heck I loved it all.


This is NOT TOS, not JJtrek, not even TNG (though close). It is it's own 2022 version of TOS Star Trek. I feel Roddenberry, Justman, Fontana, Coon, Jefferies, and Finnerman would feel right at home with this show.

I find myself Impatient for the next episode. Something that has not happened since Phase 2 and ST Continues.
 
So, episode 6 is out.

Spoiler Space..... do not read this post if you have not seen it.

5


4


3


2


1

So...... it turns out that Kirk was not the first "horn dog" captain of the Enterprise!
Heck, makes me wonder now about Admiral April. :)

We saw in episode 1 that Pike already has a love interest. Or, a "fellow friendly officer with benefits", at least.

I suspected something was up, but not just what, that the female Majalan leader might be hiding something. Certainly did not want them to investigate the ship that fired on them and they destroyed. BTW - I'd think a bigger reason to investigate, according to Starfleet regulations, would not be as much about the ship that shot at them, but the fact that Enterprise (unintentially) caused it to crash after shooting it, and apparently killed everyone on board.

Beyond the ship thing though, she was not exactly trying to hide other stuff. That she thought Pike would have no problem watching the boy "ascending" in that way, eventually dying sometime. Of course, some similarities with TOS' "Spock's Brain" episode, the kid seems to be sort of like "The Controller".

So, this episode had a frustrating ending for Pike. Regulations would not allow him to interfere. And unlike other situations where he, Kirk, other ST captains (and even Spock) break regulations anyway.... this time... no.

As for the boy, a shame that had to happen. I was expecting a different thing. That the other planet 2 light years away, might have a more legitimate claim for him, like say he might have been from that other planet and was kidnapped. And/or had special unique powers. But that wasn't it.
I did half expect, once things ended at Majalan, that Pike would have Enterprise go over to that other planet, to speak with their leaders and perhaps try to smooth over destroying their ship, and that he was not attempting favoritism (at least not outside of the bedroom).

I kind of expect that Enterprise will return to Majalan, but not this season.

Good to see that there may be progress on solving Dr. M'Benga's daughter's medical issues. Even though not a cure in sight yet. I do now sort of wonder if Number one told Pike about the daughter or not.

Uhura was learning security stuff this week. Then got put to use in her specialty in translating that data and discovering elements of common language between the two planets.

And we saw Sam Kirk for a few seconds. He didn't get gravely injured this time, either.

And now, I stay up a few more hours to see the first episode of the 3rd season of "For All Mankind" (drops at 3 AM Eastern time Friday morning). I've got the day off.....
 
Last edited:
I just watched this episode today, pretty much your agree with your post.

Not bad, but not as strong as others so far.
 
The current episode was not the resolution I expected to Dr. M'Benga's daughter's storyline. I feel like the episode as a whole suffered from being too much like bad children's literature/movies, like the writer/director hadn't ever seen the good stuff.
 
The "powerful alien child-being with godlike powers" theme has been overworked.
Remember Trelane in ST TOS "The Squire of Gothos"?
But it was interesting to see the characters exhibiting completely opposite personalities.
Pike as a coward running away.
La'an as a girly girl princess instead of a stoic head of security.
Cadet Uhura as a ruthless queen.
But overall,
Yawn.
 
S1 Episode 7 - "The Serene Squall" was pretty funny. I LOL - and almost ROFL at that one scene (still laughing) w Spock and "Nurse Chapel" - I say "Nurse Chapel" because it really should mean "Security Chief Nurse Chapel"! She kicks butt!

There were some great lines:

T'Pring: "Spock, your failing to communicate effectively" LOL

Number 1: "Oh man, not "Alpha Braga 4?" Captain: "yes, Alpha Braga 4"... "Alpha Braga 4 works every time"

Ortega is really a great character, she is really growing on me: "What does 'fire gently' even mean?"

Captain (in a pirate voice): " Arr me mateys, if we ever cross angels (?), we should make them walk the plank, arr..." LOL

Some (kinda) sad lines: "You're a good friend Mr Spock"

Spoiler!

Spock says "Ambassador Sarek had a child out of wedlock... my half-brother Sybok..."! 😲 I did not see that!
 
Last edited:
Gotta say I absolutely LOVE ST:SNW!

I am an old-school (TOS) kid, so for me TOS was "Star Trek".

TNG was okay, (primarilly because itr was a Direct-Roddenbery creation) Still not TOS, but ok... and all the rest were spin-off garbage and not ST.

Never watched really watched any of them nor even acknowleged them as being even ST. They didnt feel ST
(Okay I did like ST:Enterprise but still not quite all ST)

But ST:SNW is AWESOME!

It ties - for the most part - forward to TOS. Its Capt. Pike, so its a new set of tales, and while there are some continiuity points here and there, it feels ST.
Again, its Capt. Pike, so its a direct tie.

Anyway, love it!

I just want to know when Ensign Colt is going to make an apperance.... ;)
 
Back
Top