by Nick Ferro, Editor
If you go back and read my past reviews of Strange New Worlds, you’ll see that I was and am a huge fan. Only last season did I start to waver due to some of the more questionable writing style decisions. I have long been a proponent of the idea that Star Trek is a place to tell stories and that you don’t have to make every version of the show the same. However, season four has been a wild ride of genre episodes putting that theory to the test.
This truly is the first time as a Trek fan that I’ve actually had to ponder this phenomenon because usually (and more recently) Star Trek has always kept the “goofy” or genre episodes at arm’s length with one, MAYBE two a season. Which still seemed like too many for some people being that there are now only ten episodes per season. Back in the good old days of 22-26 episodes per season, you could get six to eight genre episodes sprinkled throughout and no one would bat an eye. Each season usually had one Q episode, a couple holodeck episodes, one for Lwaxana, maybe one where the crew gets shrunk to the size of ants or trapped on a planet with Michael Mckeon as a clown. But even those episodes would remember that there was more to making a quirky out of this world episode than just being quirky and experimental. There was usually a strong focus on bringing some kind of philosophical message to the forefront that tied into what the characters were going through. Despite my enjoyment of the season overall, I think part of what was missing was that attention to a moral or message. Sometimes they had it, but mostly it was brushed to the side in the hopes of being fun.
One example is when Captain Pike (Anson Mount) has to make an insanely huge, life-altering decision in the first episode and the consequences are quickly brushed over because everyone involved needed a night off. It’s almost as if the show is saying, life is hard enough, don’t think too hard about this moral conundrum we’ve presented. There have always been strange instances of inconsistency throughout the run of Strange New Worlds and ultimately these moments don’t bug me enough to write off the show, but it does make me question what exactly is going on behind the scenes that these moments aren’t flagged in advance.
I could be reaching but it’s entirely possible the showrunners were making a plea to non-Star Trek fans, “Please watch our show, we need better ratings!” Despite having already been cancelled and no longer in production, it feels like they are desperately trying to build a new audience. I totally understand the swing because let’s face it, Star Trek has a pretty loyal fan base already, there isn’t much we won’t stick around for. But there is a lack of young blood when it comes to the franchise outside of second and third generation fans (of which my kids are already included). I had hoped that Starfleet Academy would have helped but it is incredibly hard to tell considering the massive hate campaign it received from the political right of internet keyboard warriors attempting to review bomb it prior to even being released and spreading hate regarding it honoring Star Trek’s long-time message of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (IDIC). It was particularly disappointing when my own father, the man who introduced me to Star Trek was quoting misinformation from FOX News regarding the show’s subject matter without having watched the show himself. (
But I digress…
Strange New Worlds took a huge swing this year and despite my aforementioned concern regarding the “oops all berries-ness” of the season, I still had a lot of fun. Primarily because over the years, the special genre episodes are the ones that stand out in my memory the best. I love the Robin Hood episode of TNG or the Baseball episode of DS9. But the reason why I love them is because they were little breaks from the ordinary. If they were the ordinary and traditional Star Trek episodes were in the minority, I don’t know how well this series would have survived the 90s. Of course, this goes back to my never-ending rant of how tv shows like Star Trek need to abandon the 10-episode, million-dollars-plus-per-episode season for the more reasonably budgeted 24-episode seasons. But what do I know?
In order this season we got:
- Dinosaur/Time travel episode.
- Horror/Ghost episode.
- The Hangover episode.
- Noir/Casablanca episode.
- Puppet episode (with the help of Jim Henson’s creature shop).
- 24 style episode (possibly an homage to TNG: Disaster).
- Soap Opera episode (with special guest star Diedre Hall).
- Crimson Tide episode (to be fair this one I’d count as a more traditional Trek story).
- The Princess Bride episode (Sequel to the Season One Fantasy episode).
- Time Travel Episode. (Also, a more traditional character driven story).
When you look at the list reduced to its most basic elements, it really stands out as a departure from the norm. And while I believe if you were to insert any one of these episodes into a different season of Strange New Worlds, they would fit perfectly and no one would bat an eye. However, even my limits of tolerance were pushed by the time we got to episode nine Once La’an a Time. As much as I loved Carol Kane’s reference to the chef, Max, being a miracle worker, there was a lot in that episode that didn’t make sense for La’an to be the primary. I love that this show has done a lot to focus more on character driven episodes, rather than season long “end of the universe” arcs, but to take a character episode from season one that focused on Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) and give the sequel to someone else felt weird. It also required an entire scene for the doctor to explain to everyone else (who lost their memories of that episode): “Last time on Star Trek Strange New Worlds…” which is a contrivance that annoys me in any show. But again, and I’m starting to sound like a broken record, despite my annoyances surrounding this episode, I can’t believe how beautiful it looked from the locations, sets, and costumes.
On the flip side, I really loved the two “standard” Star Trek episodes this season in Orders of Magnitude and Tomorrow’s Enterprise. Orders of Magnitude was the classic “Bad Admiral” episode where an Admiral of questionable morals uses his position to put our characters in peril. Venerable actor Joe Morton finally made his on-screen Star Trek debut and absolutely crushed it as he went head-to-head with Commander Kirk (Paul Wesley). It may have borrowed heavily from Crimson Tide, and Wesley is no Denzel, but it gave us a glimpse into Kirk’s past which is always welcome. As for Tomorrow’s Enterprise, which borrows its title from the all-time great TNG episode Yesterday’s Enterprise, I appreciated it being character driven while paying homage to another classic “time travel” episode. Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Scotty (Martin Quinn) take center stage and deliver some excellent performances while giving long time fans another chance to glimpse another peak into legacy character’s lives.
Each entry in season four was done with the same level of care and excellence that I have come to expect from the cast and crew. Once again, after season three, it was the inconsistency of the writing staff that had me scratching my head. Perhaps, after fifteen years, I just can’t seem to square the round hole that is modern writing styles in Star Trek. Although, I will toot my own horn, in that I called out early how much the writing in several episodes felt like Lower Decks this season. So, I was pleased to learn that a few Lower Decks writers were transplanted to the SNW team for this season. Which is probably why I enjoyed it much more than what I am seeing from fans online. Lower Decks is my favorite new era Star Trek show, and my fondness of its style of humor cannot be understated. Getting to have just a little more Lower Decks after its unfair cancellation made me happy.
(Hmmm… I may need to write a retrospective review for season one of Lower Decks to complete the above series of links.)
Season four of Strange New Worlds will absolutely not be for everyone. In fact, if the show hadn’t already been cancelled, I fear this season would have done it in, for sure. But perhaps that knowledge gave the writer’s room a chance to relax and have fun. Do something that no other Star Trek show had the ability to do in the past: Get creative and weird. I for one had a blast with the experience, however I do want it known that I do not want this to become what Star Trek is moving forward. If Star Trek is a place to tell stories, then I want it to do that in any way that it can, but it shouldn’t do so at the expense of what makes Star Trek unique in the first place. Tell a goofy puppet story where the computers don’t work because they don’t recognize felt hands, and Orions take over the ship, but maybe don’t chicken out and make it “all a dream” by the end. Star Trek exists to shine a light on the problems of our modern world through the lens of science fiction and while right now the world is on fire and sometimes, we need an escape, I don’t think Star Trek needs to become a Saturday Moring Cartoon.
With all that said, I believe they now have the runway to make their final six episodes something truly special to send this iteration of the “No Bloody A, B, C, or D” crew into the sunset. After the shakiness of season three and the wackiness of season four let’s hope season five is focused, well written, and continues to deliver the level of excellence that Strange New Worlds is known.
Rating: High Side of Liked It
Strange New Worlds is currently streaming on Paramount+
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