Before anyone asks no I don't pay for this, it's 2023 🏴☠️ and extra monitors mean playing shit like this isn't as all CONSOOMing as it could be otherwise.
Strange New Worlds, or more appropriately "Star Trek: Uhura", [because that's what the show ends up being more than anything], has more ups and downs in terms of quality than the biggest rollercoaster in the world could have, despite some almost insane moments of lucidity which probably aren't intended the way they come across. Some episodes are good, some have to have been written while on something.
The newest episode is pretty much a redo of the Buffy episode where magic makes everyone sing, except it's science that makes everyone sing this time.
Song numbers include:
Nurse Chapel, who I refer to as Nurse Homewrecker for reasons relating to other episodes this season, gleefully sings and dances while she breaks up with someone in a packed rec-room with all the other patrons joining in with the smiling and dancing while the person being broken up is in the very room watching it all unfold. If you don't know the identity of this character yet stop reading and go watch the show because I specifically mention it later. Or don't, because the show is dumb.
Doctor M'Benga, who I refer to as Doctor Murder now because of how absurdly violent the characters history has made him, sings about being happy and working together as a team, the episode after stabbing someone to death in the medbay office. The fact that M'Benga is black, as the name might just give away, seems to have completely skipped the writers mind because it now means the Chief Medical Officer is a literal "angry black man" trope. This is but one of the hilarious moments of lucidity the show comes out with which seems to be completely glossed over despite being yet another character assassination as is also the case with Nurse Chapel seeing as how both of these two are TOS characters at one point.
Captain Pike: Sings to his girlfriend while on the bridge about how he doesn't want to go on vacation with her to a resort with all the frills. The fact this sequence takes the Security Officer to walk from one side of the bridge to the other and turn off the comms highlights how disfunctional the entire crew is, specifically Uhura who is sitting at the comms desk the entire fucking time and does nothing about it!
Speaking of the Security Officer, she's one of the many Girl-Boss characters of the show and in her solo she literally sings about wanting a man who will make her feel vulnerable, because apparently this is what a strong, independent woman [of the future] really wants is to be in the end according to the writers 😂
Number One: Honestly has some of the most boring parts of the episode, floats around her room with the SecChief briefly for some dumb reason, and does little except provide a springboard for the rest of the crew to do things.
Similarly nobody really cares enough about the helmsman, Ortega, because her singing was only ever part of the ensembles and she's barely in the episode otherwise.
Spock: Has been reduced to a beta/soy male who opened up with his feelings and then gets shot down in spectacular fashion this episode, in front of a whole room no less, after his squeeze decides to go off on a 4 month fellowship instead and rather than talk to him about it avoids him, does the aforementioned song and dance number, and then wonders why she gets the cold shoulder at the end when everything returns to he status quo. His singing involves being emo about being dumped [so publicly] since actual relationship communication in the future is impossible 🙄
Kirk is also in the show now and again while still only being a Lieutenant and for various reasons keeps popping back up so the writers can try to get establishing moments such as first meeting Spock, being on the Enterprise, etc. His singing was mostly ensemble as he's only really there for drama purposes.
Uhura: aka the shows Mary Sue who "fixes and helps everyone". That's literally one of the lyrics to the chorus she sings near the end as she fixes and helps everyone because she's so awesome. Episode starts with her having to do actual work for once and she looks hilariously overwhelmed but after causing the crisis of the week she also then fixes it because "Go black woman, yaaas kween!" or some other stupidity that is modern writing.
And this is just this episode! I might make a write up of the season once episode 10 is out but it will be more of the same with added examples of how Pike has more or less been sidelined or diminished, Uhura is the bestest best crewman ever, Spock is there sometimes, and the rest of the crew is sometimes in frame.
Oh and ofc the Klingon boyband scene which not only completely changes the vocal pitch of the Klingon crew heard just prior but also even causes the Enterprise crew to look on in stunned silence.
You'll have taken 4 shots within the first 5 minutes of the season 2 premier.
That scene was so fucking dumb. Enterprise is in spacedock getting refits and so tech crews are looking over things. Cue 3 male techs inspecting the bridge and Ortega, Uhura, and the other person next to Ortega all telling the techs how wrong they are.
On its own still kind dumb given the sex split, but maybe the intention is to show the techs as being stupid? 🤔
Nope, cue Pike then saying something and the one in charge of the techs giving Pike the dressing down. Ofc the chief tech is a woman so the pattern remains 🙄
The song choreography was so amateurish. There were long stretches in each song that were just the camera panning around the singer’s face while they don’t move or anything. It was like watching kids stage a musical.
Uhura’s song was all about how awesome she is because she has it sooooo hard yet still EVERYONE looks up to her to solve all the problems. My favorite part is how during the song she isn’t doing anything other than walking around, then after three seconds at a console there’s a burst of mathematic calculations in the air around her and she has figured out the solution to their problems. Which Spock wasn’t able to do after spending significantly longer.
Fuck the Klingon scene. Yet another example of lore getting shit on for a gag that doesn’t have any impact beyond the moment. They could have done something super serious and operatic which would still contrast with the rest of the episode’s music—this would be appropriate for the series since Star Trek has always leaned into more classical arts—but instead they had them sing a forgotten Earth style.
Star Trek these days is being shit out of a collective anus. Sometimes it’s almost edible, but at the end of the day even Picard season 3 is covered all over by the slimy feces that coat the entire franchise.
Your last paragraph is spot on. I watched season 1 of Discovery & season 1 of Picard and that was enough for me...but I was able to be roped back in for season 3 of Picard because I grew up with TNG in it's first run.
I will admit I did enjoy season 3...at first. What's most interesting to me in hindsight, is that as soon as it was over, I was over it. It left practically no residual impression on me. There were a lot of pretty solid guest performances (Ensign Ro's return being the standout) but in the end it did wind up being nothing but memberberries and filler. A high calorie meal with no nutrition, no real sustenance.
Contrast that to TOS, TNG, and DS9 which all still have profoundly effecting & evocative moments that I reflect on even after many repeated viewings across the last nearly 40 years. I remember how satisfied I felt in 94 after watching "All Good Things..." which was a wonderful note to leave on, especially considering in my opinion Season 7 is the weakest of TNG.
Even when Nutrek is somewhat good, and the only instance of that is Picard season 3...it is still a poor simulacrum for the genuine article. In fact Data in season 3 is a perfect analogy: a golem with every related character stuffed into one body that is less than the sum of it's parts and at it's best is still just a pale imitation of something with far more heart, soul, and staying power.
Before anyone asks no I don't pay for this, it's 2023 🏴☠️ and extra monitors mean playing shit like this isn't as all CONSOOMing as it could be otherwise.
Strange New Worlds, or more appropriately "Star Trek: Uhura", [because that's what the show ends up being more than anything], has more ups and downs in terms of quality than the biggest rollercoaster in the world could have, despite some almost insane moments of lucidity which probably aren't intended the way they come across. Some episodes are good, some have to have been written while on something.
The newest episode is pretty much a redo of the Buffy episode where magic makes everyone sing, except it's science that makes everyone sing this time.
Song numbers include:
Nurse Chapel, who I refer to as Nurse Homewrecker for reasons relating to other episodes this season, gleefully sings and dances while she breaks up with someone in a packed rec-room with all the other patrons joining in with the smiling and dancing while the person being broken up is in the very room watching it all unfold. If you don't know the identity of this character yet stop reading and go watch the show because I specifically mention it later. Or don't, because the show is dumb.
Doctor M'Benga, who I refer to as Doctor Murder now because of how absurdly violent the characters history has made him, sings about being happy and working together as a team, the episode after stabbing someone to death in the medbay office. The fact that M'Benga is black, as the name might just give away, seems to have completely skipped the writers mind because it now means the Chief Medical Officer is a literal "angry black man" trope. This is but one of the hilarious moments of lucidity the show comes out with which seems to be completely glossed over despite being yet another character assassination as is also the case with Nurse Chapel seeing as how both of these two are TOS characters at one point.
Captain Pike: Sings to his girlfriend while on the bridge about how he doesn't want to go on vacation with her to a resort with all the frills. The fact this sequence takes the Security Officer to walk from one side of the bridge to the other and turn off the comms highlights how disfunctional the entire crew is, specifically Uhura who is sitting at the comms desk the entire fucking time and does nothing about it!
Speaking of the Security Officer, she's one of the many Girl-Boss characters of the show and in her solo she literally sings about wanting a man who will make her feel vulnerable, because apparently this is what a strong, independent woman [of the future] really wants is to be in the end according to the writers 😂
Number One: Honestly has some of the most boring parts of the episode, floats around her room with the SecChief briefly for some dumb reason, and does little except provide a springboard for the rest of the crew to do things.
Similarly nobody really cares enough about the helmsman, Ortega, because her singing was only ever part of the ensembles and she's barely in the episode otherwise.
Spock: Has been reduced to a beta/soy male who opened up with his feelings and then gets shot down in spectacular fashion this episode, in front of a whole room no less, after his squeeze decides to go off on a 4 month fellowship instead and rather than talk to him about it avoids him, does the aforementioned song and dance number, and then wonders why she gets the cold shoulder at the end when everything returns to he status quo. His singing involves being emo about being dumped [so publicly] since actual relationship communication in the future is impossible 🙄
Kirk is also in the show now and again while still only being a Lieutenant and for various reasons keeps popping back up so the writers can try to get establishing moments such as first meeting Spock, being on the Enterprise, etc. His singing was mostly ensemble as he's only really there for drama purposes.
Uhura: aka the shows Mary Sue who "fixes and helps everyone". That's literally one of the lyrics to the chorus she sings near the end as she fixes and helps everyone because she's so awesome. Episode starts with her having to do actual work for once and she looks hilariously overwhelmed but after causing the crisis of the week she also then fixes it because "Go black woman, yaaas kween!" or some other stupidity that is modern writing.
And this is just this episode! I might make a write up of the season once episode 10 is out but it will be more of the same with added examples of how Pike has more or less been sidelined or diminished, Uhura is the bestest best crewman ever, Spock is there sometimes, and the rest of the crew is sometimes in frame.
Oh and ofc the Klingon boyband scene which not only completely changes the vocal pitch of the Klingon crew heard just prior but also even causes the Enterprise crew to look on in stunned silence.
Wow. I think I’ll just re-watch old Trek. I have a ton of Trek books to read as well
If you want to die a quick death make a drinking game out of SNW and take a shot every time a male character gets talked down to by a female one.
You'll have taken 4 shots within the first 5 minutes of the season 2 premier.
That scene was so fucking dumb. Enterprise is in spacedock getting refits and so tech crews are looking over things. Cue 3 male techs inspecting the bridge and Ortega, Uhura, and the other person next to Ortega all telling the techs how wrong they are.
On its own still kind dumb given the sex split, but maybe the intention is to show the techs as being stupid? 🤔
Nope, cue Pike then saying something and the one in charge of the techs giving Pike the dressing down. Ofc the chief tech is a woman so the pattern remains 🙄
The song choreography was so amateurish. There were long stretches in each song that were just the camera panning around the singer’s face while they don’t move or anything. It was like watching kids stage a musical.
Uhura’s song was all about how awesome she is because she has it sooooo hard yet still EVERYONE looks up to her to solve all the problems. My favorite part is how during the song she isn’t doing anything other than walking around, then after three seconds at a console there’s a burst of mathematic calculations in the air around her and she has figured out the solution to their problems. Which Spock wasn’t able to do after spending significantly longer.
Fuck the Klingon scene. Yet another example of lore getting shit on for a gag that doesn’t have any impact beyond the moment. They could have done something super serious and operatic which would still contrast with the rest of the episode’s music—this would be appropriate for the series since Star Trek has always leaned into more classical arts—but instead they had them sing a forgotten Earth style.
Star Trek these days is being shit out of a collective anus. Sometimes it’s almost edible, but at the end of the day even Picard season 3 is covered all over by the slimy feces that coat the entire franchise.
Your last paragraph is spot on. I watched season 1 of Discovery & season 1 of Picard and that was enough for me...but I was able to be roped back in for season 3 of Picard because I grew up with TNG in it's first run.
I will admit I did enjoy season 3...at first. What's most interesting to me in hindsight, is that as soon as it was over, I was over it. It left practically no residual impression on me. There were a lot of pretty solid guest performances (Ensign Ro's return being the standout) but in the end it did wind up being nothing but memberberries and filler. A high calorie meal with no nutrition, no real sustenance.
Contrast that to TOS, TNG, and DS9 which all still have profoundly effecting & evocative moments that I reflect on even after many repeated viewings across the last nearly 40 years. I remember how satisfied I felt in 94 after watching "All Good Things..." which was a wonderful note to leave on, especially considering in my opinion Season 7 is the weakest of TNG.
Even when Nutrek is somewhat good, and the only instance of that is Picard season 3...it is still a poor simulacrum for the genuine article. In fact Data in season 3 is a perfect analogy: a golem with every related character stuffed into one body that is less than the sum of it's parts and at it's best is still just a pale imitation of something with far more heart, soul, and staying power.