Star Trek: Strange New Worlds First Episode [Review]

Paramount+ has been cranking out plenty of new Star Trek content as of late.

Star Trek: Discovery is four seasons deep, and recently Star Trek: Picard wrapped up it's second season.  We were also given the cartoon Star Trek: Lower Decks which I was hesitant to watch at first but was pulled in pretty quickly.  As much as I am enjoying Star Trek: Picard, highly anticipated for me and many other Star Trek fans was Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

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Introduced in the second season of Discovery was Captain Pike played by Anson Mount, and of course the Enterprise and some of her other crew.  This introduction opened the door to a potential spin-off series and Paramount delivered.  Mount's portrayal of Christopher Pike stole the show from the Discovery cast that whole second season.

Strange New Worlds is supposed to go back to the different planet or different exploration stop every episode of the series, much like previous Trek.  The shows as of late like Discovery and Picard have been telling one long story across the whole season.  Both can be good, but we're long overdue for a return to old school, like we had in TOS or Next Generation.

I've watched the first and only released episode of Strange New Worlds twice now.  Debuting on May 5th, 2022, it's for the most part what I thought it would be, the Star Trek content we need.  I see many people complaining online about
"New Trek", stating for example how in TOS which was filmed in the 60s, the tech was different than now.  Well, yeah, it was filmed over 50 years ago, tech is different, film is different, and acting is different.  You can't expect Paramount to rebuild 1960s Trek sets using switches and buttons on the Enterprise just for a nostalgia factor for the die hard fans.  It won't sell in today's market, so I say we take what we can get.  Any Trek is good Trek, if you're truly a fan.

Episode one of Strange New Worlds had action, decent acting, and a storyline picking up sometime after season two of Discovery.  At least the back story, and some issues characters are dealing with.  It was still a one-off "Planet of the Week" episode, and I can dig that.  I'll add that between Anson Mount as Pike, Ethan Peck and Spock, and Rebecca Romijn as Una or Number One, we have a hell of a cast that should make for an entertaining show.