Review: “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” 1 x 02

The second episode of Strange New Worlds is also good old Trek tradition. We see in our country spoiler review A little more under the hood.

While the Pike was the main focus in the first episode, this episode also focuses on the strengths of “Star Trek”. Because this time around, Uhura can really shine here. But the other characters also get good scenes.

Uhura in particular cuts a great character in this episode, starting with her visit to the Captain’s dinner. Here her background is expanded further. And yes, she will obviously need her skills later on. However, this is how the character’s introduction works and not in lines of dialogue casually drawn from the past (as in “Discovery”).

In this way, Ohori is also relieved of her insecurities in the beginning. Her interaction with Spock scores particularly well, because in the end she’s not entirely convinced either, but she’s made a huge step on the scale of her development. No sledgehammers but believable character development – one could almost forget the “NuTrek” writers could still do it.

Needless to say, Uhura can also go on a remote mission and test her skills there. Here too, the conversation with Spock points, who argues quite logically and thus shows that he’s not the person we know from TOS yet. But it’s only on the way there. So Spock also learns a thing or two here and is allowed to – relatively uncharacteristically – let out a brief laugh at the end. Additionally, the music scene lays the groundwork for Spock and Uhura to compose music together on the original series. Simply awesome!

But as mentioned, the other characters don’t miss it either. So Chapel is allowed to show the beginnings of her affair with Spock, which of course is only acknowledged by Uhura. But Ortegas can also shine in console and show what you’ve got. Una is still a bit short, but at least she can talk to Baek’s conscience. But what it is not, it can become.

The other part of the main story revolves around the comet of the same name that passes a planet here. Here, too, is the typical “Star Trek” short discussion of whether or not one should participate.

As a reminder: in the days of TNG, one could simply fly further, and here one intervenes, which I personally like very much. Of course, this isn’t entirely easy, because the culprit is hiding a secret.

The interior seems strange enough to be considered an extraterrestrial environment, even if you return, as for Kurtzman, to the dark realms. Even poor Samuel Kirk (Dan Ginot) quickly. The solution with the melody, as mentioned, is very successful and strange enough (and even reminds us of a certain DS9 episode in which Bashir also sang along with other songs).

But that’s not all, with the Shepherds there are also aliens who worship the comet and make it difficult to intervene. What initially seems like a constructed coincidence is well integrated into the plot, as the aliens are not evil per se.

Here a good game of punk develops with Pike and the alien leader, which ends in a short space battle. Like Kirk later, Pike cheats here and gets away with it. In the end, you part with the aliens in peace – in the old Trek tradition. So this thread is also compelling.

The only thing that remains a bit strange is what Spock did to the shuttle and how did that change the trajectory, and above all how he managed to escape unnoticed. But you can overlook these little mistakes if the rest is correct.

The ending, which makes the comet even more mysterious, makes up for it. Maybe he will reappear at some point? Last but not least, Pike will face his own demons and prove that the people in “NuTrek” probably can’t count. Because all the children he wants to save were born in 2247 or 2248. But right above all of them is the line “Age: 8-10”. But SNW plays 2259. These strange time shifts must be in different colonies…