A Balance of Mercy: SNW embraces Trekkies

If you are an avid Trekkie, you loved “A Quality of Mercy”, the season final for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW).

 

The episode brought tingles of anticipation, giggles of joy, and strange new worlds of wonder.

 

If you are new to Star Trek, and have just been enjoying SNW for what it is on its own, “A Quality of Mercy” was… well… “fine”.

 

That’s what I learned when my friend and fellow SNW fan finally got a chance to watch “A Quality”.

 

I had been mooning over this episode to him for weeks and begged him to watch “Balance of Terror”, from The Original Series, first, so that he could get the full effect of just how great “A Quality” is.

 

He watched it, sans “Balance”, and thought it was “fine”. A decent episode of SNW, probably in the top half of the first season’s episodes but not even close to the best of them.

 

That forced me to accept that much of my adoration of this episode is because of the homage it pays to TOS and “Balance of Terror”, not because “A Quality of Mercy” is, on its own merits, great television.

 

But it is quite the homage.

 

Henry Alonso Meyers and Akiva Goldsman get writing credits for this episode on IMDB but I honestly think Paul Schneider and Gene Roddenberry, writers of “Balance of Terror”, deserve at least a third of the credit. After all, about a third of the dialogue is word for word from the TOS episode.

 

That’s not a criticism. That veneration of the original episode, that willingness to recognise how practically perfect “Balance of Terror” was as an episode of dramatic television, is one of the main reasons I love “A Quality of Mercy” so much. It is the reason for the tingles, that became giggles that became absolute wonder.

 

Meyers and Goldsman do a wonderful job of revisiting “Balance of Terror”, of rethinking it in terms of this new series, while being absolutely respectful of the original and, in fact, giving devoted viewers new ways to think about it.

 

It reminded me of the famous Deep Space Nine/TOS “Trouble with Tribbles” cross-over episode and, even more surprisingly, of Shakespeare in Love, the romcom from the early 21^st century wherein playwright Tom Stoppard stepped in to ensure the script deliciously melded elements from the Bard’s life and the Bard’s plays with a new romantic story.

 

Where the DS9 episode featured technical virtuosity but a fairly banal story and Shakespeare In Love featured a virtuoso script with rather melodramatic performances, “A Quality of Mercy” took advantage of the strength of the basic plot of “Balance of Terror” while weaving in significant emotional development for the cast of the new show.

 

As you probably already know, “A Quality of Mercy” helps Pike work through his own psychological drama by asking the question: what if, at the most pivotal moment in Federation history in a hundred years, another captain, a very different captain, sat in the centre seat of the starship Enterprise?

 

Pike for Kirk.

 

Caution vs cowboy.

 

Brilliantly, episode writers Henry Alonso Meyers and Akiva Goldsman actually avoid making it a tale of “caution vs cowboy”. Their Pike is not so different from the Kirk written by Paul Schneider and Gene Roddenberry in “Balance of Terror”. This isn’t a clear slow-vs-fast, thought-vs-action scenario.

 

Though SNW goes to some lengths to paint the original Captain as a “wild card” who will take unnecessary risks at the drop of a hat, they sometimes remember that Kirk actually suffers the same doubts and fears that Pike faces. Kirk endures the same worries that plague Pike: if I attack and fail, then what? If I attack and succeed, might war still follow? If I permit the Romulan ship to escape, will the Romulans return in strength? With a stark choice, with the information available, with an unknown enemy, how does a starship captain make the right choice, if there is a “right choice” at all?

 

And, as those themes are explored, “A Quality” features numerous scenes and dozens of passage of dialogue that are drawn note for note from “Balance of Terror”. New actors inhabit original roles, giving their own voices to lines that were written (and originally performed) 56 years ago. In one remarkable instance, SNW recreates shot-for-shot, line-for-line, musical cue for musical cue, a good 30 seconds of “Balance”.

 

That’s what I loved most about this episode. That’s what elevated it from “fine” to “fantastic” in the mind of this long-time Trekkie.

 

I still prefer “Balance of Terror” but, for me at least, “A Quality of Mercy” was the kind of viewing experience I crave when I turn on my television.

SNW delivers gut wrenching, heart-pounding action

SPOILER ALERT

 

They kill off a character, send another one packing and put us through a gripping mash-up of the TOS episode “Galileo Seven” and the classic sci-fi movie Alien.

 

Are the creative team between Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW) trying to kill us?

 

With “All Those Who Wander”, the SNW folks prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they can deliver drama with the best of them. They did it in “Memento Mori” and they do it again in “All Those Who Wander”, the ninth episode of season one.

 

Episode 9 is crazy tense, with enough action, suspense and drama for an entire season. The fact that writer Davy Perez manages to slip some significant character development into the mix just makes it even better.

 

But it is the loss of two major characters at the end of the episode that really hits us hard. I really want to complain about the fact that they killed off Hemmer, the enigmatic engineer played by Canadian actor Bruce Horak, but they do it so well, so strongly in keeping with the character they worked so hard to develop, and in such an important moment of the episode, I really can’t.

 

I’ve been waiting, hoping that they would let Hemmer develop into a full-fledged character, that they would let us get to know more about his past, his culture, his path that brought him into Star Fleet at a time when Andoria was just starting to become a part of the Federation.

 

But… if they had to kill him off, they did it right. He died in accordance with his values. Seeing no hope of a cure for what ailed him (a forced Gorn pregnancy, basically), Hemmer chose to sacrifice himself quickly, cleanly (and hopefully painlessly) for the sake of his crew, his colleagues, his friends.

 

And then there’s Noonien-Singh, another of my favourite characters, who apparently chooses to leave Enterprise to return a little refugee – Gorn prison planet survivor – to her family. Again, I’m not happy with this development: the security officer was an awesome counter-balance to Pike and Spock’s slower pace and tendency to over-think situations. She was fun and she was tough and you could count on her to get you out of a tight space almost before you realised you were in it.

 

But, if for some reason Noonien-Singh (or actor Christina Chong) really needed to leave Pike and crew, then this decision, this reason to leave Enterprise, makes sense. She needs to do this to wrestle to the ground some of her own personal demons.

 

My hope is that the departure of these two major characters will create room for Number One (Rebecca Romijn) and Ortegas (Melissa Navia) to get more screen time. Ortegas continues to be under-utilised, perhaps not surprising considering their role on the ship and the size of the principal cast, but could do so much more. We’ve seen hints of their character but… maybe now we’ll get to learn more.

 

And I have never understood why Chin-Riley (Number One) so often plays only a small role in each episode. As second in command, she should be front and centre. But the part she plays in “All Those Who Wander” seems typical – early in the episode, she and Ortegas take Enterprise back to Starbase K7 to deliver much needed equipment and don’t reappear until the very end of the show.

 

Maybe there are contract or availability issues with Navia and Romijn – I don’t know – but I would love to see them take on more central roles in future episodes.

 

And last… let’s talk about the Gorn. Clearly, the creative team for SNW have decided the Gorn are the perfect enemy for their series – like the Klingons and Romulans in TOS, the Borg in TNG, the Cardassians and later the Jem Ha’dar in DS9, the Gorn have assumed the central antagonist role.

 

And, as presented in SNW, they present as frightening and seemingly insurmountable a problem as the Borg. It’s great dramatically (“All Those Who Wander” is as effective as it is because the Gorn seem so completely overwhelming) but it doesn’t jive with the Gorn of TOS.

 

When we met the Gorn in “Arena”, they were big, lumbering, intelligent reptiles on approximately the same stage of social, cultural, technological and intellectual development as humans, Vulcans and the rest of our allies. They were an unknown and, until the end of that classic TOS episode, we had no idea what their motivation was for attacking the Federation outposts and then the Enterprise.

 

When Kirk finally learns their motivations, he recognises a kindred species and decides not to kill his counterpart, even if it put his own ship at risk.

 

In SNW, the Gorn appear to be technologically advanced but socially stunted – they are a hunter species and see no issue with luring other beings into traps to serve as incubators for their own young. They do not communicate with their prey and are fast-moving, fast-thinking and absolutely merciless.

 

And they are very much a part of the Federation universe, even if they continue to occupy space on the edges of Federations space.

 

How did the Gorn go from the SNW version to the TOS version in just 10 years?

 

That being said, if the creative team at SNW had simply called them “the N-Rog”, I would have no problems with them as the antagonist on SNW. As re-imagined in this latest iteration of Star Trek, the Gorn are awesome enemies.

The inevitable fairy tale episode on SNW

 

Star Trek does love a good dress-up show.

 TOS featured numerous episodes in which the crew dressed up (by choice or otherwise) in various costumes and the introduction of the holodeck in TNG created the opportunity for the casts of future series to play dress-up even without venturing to a strange new world.

 

So it should come as no surprise that, in the ninth episode of its inaugural season, Strange New Worlds (SNW) offers up its first real costume party – “The Elysian Kingdom”. Although not particularly well reviewed by fans online, I found this episode to be just goofy enough to be charming.

 

And I liked the underlying mystery: what is holding Enterprise near an apparently unremarkable nebula? Why does everyone but M’Benga and Hemmer seem immersed in a child’s fairy tale? And how are M’Benga and Hemmer going to save the ship and her crew? 

 

In fact, I was surprised at how much tension (and emotion) that mystery plot delivered, despite the fairy tale silliness.

 

For me, “The Elysian Kingdom” seemed reminiscent of the TNG episode, “The Royale”: odd, somewhat silly, but with an interesting intellectual challenge and actual stakes at the end that made it quite effective.

 

And I like the fact that M’Benga and Hemmer finally get a chance to shine. Babs Olusanmokun (M’Benga) and Bruce Horak (Hemmer) create good chemistry while playing the straight men against the silliness of the rest of the cast. I like Hemmer as a character and hope to see more of him.

 

And, although I feel the writers kind of threw away the Rukiya storyline they had been working so hard to develop, I think M’Benga already has depth as a character that Dr. McCoy only really developed by the third se
ason of TOS.

 

That being said, “The Elysian Kingdom” confirms once again that Anson Mount is not a comedic actor. His performance in this episode is annoying (his character is supposed to be annoying but his performance is unnecessarily so) and it borders, at times, on offensive.

 

Meanwhile, Christina Chong really surprised me playing the frivolous princess that she is almost unrecognisable as the strong, capable La’an Noonien-Singh. 

 

It’s nice to see Celia Rose Gooding (Uhura) get such a meaty part to play and she carries it off well. Meanwhile, Rong Fu’s role (Mitchell) in the show continues to grow, both before and during the fairy tale storyline.

 

This is not a great episode by any means. I’m not even sure it’s a particularly good one. It seems to have been written specifically to resolve the Rukiya plot and I’m not sure why. The story line, one of the few real through-lines in this episodic series, was working well, with Sage Arrindell delightful in the role of Rukiya, Dr. M’Benga’s terminally ill daughter.

 

I don’t really understand the need to resolve it so quickly… nor do I understand why the creative team would decide to do an episode that, in its heart and soul, cannot stand on its own.

 

All of that aside, “The Elysian Kingdom” is not awful Star Trek either. Through some interesting performances and a strong mystery plot, it manages to hold its own.

The Passionate Vulcan and The Serene Squall

 

Sybok is in the building!

 Laurence Luckinbill first brought Sybok, Spock’s half-brother who became known as the “passionate Vulcan”, to life in the much-maligned Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, a movie and a character that many Star Trek fans have tried very hard to forget.

 

In an interesting episode that works hard to balance comedy (almost absurdity) with intense action, episode 7 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW), “The Serene Squall”, gives fans a further exploration of Spock, his struggles to find his identity and his relationships with T’Pring, Chapel and, eventually, his half-brother.

 

I give credit to writers Beau DeMayo and Sarah Tarkoff as well as to director Sydney Freeland for achieving– at least for the most part – that difficult balance of comedy and tension throughout this action-packed episode. Star Trek is known for its witty one-liners, even in the most dramatic of episodes, but the parallel plot of Pike and crew sparking a mutiny onboard the pirate ship, the Serene Squall, borders on ludicrous. DeMayo, Tarkoff and Freeland seem to understand that because, except for showing us the beginning and the end of that story-line, they focus mostly on the intense plot taking place aboard Enterprise.

 The comedy and character development of the mutiny plot are important to the series overall but, if we got too much of it, the entire episode would have lost all effectiveness.

 

Instead, DeMayo, Tarkoff and Freeland focus on the intense Spock, Chapel, Angel and eventually T’Pring plot that is as effective as any story-line SNW has introduced to date.

 

Jesse James Keitel is a revelation as the nefarious Angel. First introduced as Dr. Aspen, space social worker, she later reveals her true colours as the leader of the legendary pirate ship, the Serene Squall. The role provides Keitel plenty of opportunity to show their range – from sweet, caring do-gooder to evil space queen and just about every stage in between – and Keitel proves themself up to the challenge. 

 What impressed me most was how Keitel managed to capture that same balance I spoke of earlier – between farcical comedy and dramatic intensity – in their portrayal of Aspen/Angel. One moment, they are a soft, calming presence on screen, the next they are an evil, scenery-chewing force on par with our beloved Khan (as portrayed by Ricardo Montalban).

 

At the centre of the story, though, is the developing romantic triangle involving Spock, Chapel and T’Pring. Ethan Peck (Spock) shows good range as the half-Vulcan who is struggling to understand who he is. Jess Bush (Chapel) does a wonderful job of portraying a woman who is clearly (to everyone but a Vulcan) falling passionately in love, knows that there is no hope for that love, and is still willing to suffer the experience of it for the good of her ship and of the man with whom she is falling in love.

 Meanwhile, T’Pring (Gia Sandhu) continues to grow as an interesting equal in her relationship with Spock, proving willing to let Spock experience what he needs to experience to begin to know himself and to be able to love her truly.

 

And, of course, even as this “love triangle” grows in its complexity, we meet Stonn. For a brief moment. Knowing that, eventually, T’Pring will choose Stonn over Spock when their marriage ceremony takes place years in the future.

 

“The Serene Squall” had me worried early on when moments of comedy, bordering on absurdity, crept into a truly tense dramatic plot. Would it topple into farce? With excellent performances, a well-structured script and skillful direction and editing, it managed to avoid that trap and turned into an extremely effective episode.

And, of course, brings Sybok back from obscurity. Who knows what part he will play in Spock's life on the Pike-led Enterprise?

Where Suffering Reaches: SNW disappoints with Episode 6

Pike in love

“Brain and brain, what is brain?” Apparently, on the utopian planet of Majalis, the “Brain” required to operate the society is not the full cerebral mass of a certain Vulcan but the neural pathways of a child.

I guess the first five episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW) so impressed me that I was not prepared for an episode of such inferior quality as “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach”. I walk away from Episode 6 of SNW feeling quite deflated and let down.

 

Written by Robin Wasserman and Bill Wolkoff, “Lift Us” is apparently based on an Original Series story idea by Gene Roddenberry himself, with generous doses of TOS episodes “Spock’s Brain”, “The Cloud Minders” and “For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky” mixed in.

 

Pike appalled

Before I launch into my concerns, I will say that “Lift Us” provides one clear example of how SNW honors its Star Trek predecessors: Anson Mount, like Patrick Stewart, is awful when asked to show an emotional range beyond commanding, competent and witty. Pike’s foray into boyish romance here is painful to watch.

 

Beyond that, my criticisms of this episode are numerous and varied. On first viewing, I was concerned about how the episode seems either to leave numerous questions unanswered or to demand a sequel:

·      The Prospect VII situation;

·      The medical knowledge that Majalis refuses to share;

·      The possibility of future attempts by rebels to destroy the “First Servant” tradition;

·      Pike’s own abhorrence of the “First Servant” tradition and his apparent commitment to do something about it.

 

The First Servant's present....

I am also concerned about numerous plot developments that are implausible or internally contradictory:

·     Alora, who is apparently the leader of the Majalins, breaks numerous protocols and traditions to permit Pike to visit the planet, witness the preparatory ceremonies for the ascension of the new First Servant and then actually attend the barbaric process wherein the child First Servant is absorbed painfully into the planet’s machinery – for reasons beyond my understanding, Alora basically invites Pike’s condemnation and probable future interference;

·     An entire colony, along with several members of Majalin society, appear ready to sacrifice themselves to save the First Servant and, by doing so, destroy the entire Majalin way of life, without providing any alternative – why? What is driving their sacrifice? Is the wish to protect a single child sufficient for so many people to risk, and sacrifice, their own lives?

·     In an investigation of the first attack cruiser’s crashed remains, Spock and Alora manage to spot (with their eyes, not with any kind of equipment) two small but key pieces of evidence within feet of each other among the rubble;

·     Spock states clearly that the First Servant’s life signs confirm he is aboard the attack cruiser just before it blows up; he later tells Pike the First Servant was never on the attack cruiser but instead was beamed directly to a box in the bowels of Enterprise.

 

The First Servant's future

And then there’s Pike himself. For a woman he had a brief flirtation with several years ago, he will change his entire approach to leadership, challenging his officers, responding with irritation when they propose to bring important information to him and attempting on several occasions to dismiss their legitimate concerns. He proposes posting a guard, then accepts the role of guard himself, only to abandon his guard post to sleep with the person under his protection.

 

Argh…

 

And what’s with the two separate instances where a male character refers to an adult, accomplished, intelligent female character as a “girl” without anyone challenging it? Pike calls the leader of an entire, advanced planet a “girl” who can’t fly a shuttle and then the father of the First Servant calls Uhura a “girl” in attempting to dismiss her research… and no one objects.

 

“Lift Us” is a poorly constructed, plodding episode that undermines much of what SNW has been trying to create in its first five episodes. It’s political messaging is heavy handed – smooth transitions of power are cornerstones of Majalin society, we learn, for example. Hmmm… do you think they’re referring to any recent events here on 21^st century earth?

 

And, after taking an 11-year-old child, coercing him into sacrificing himself for the good of his people and sentencing him to a lifetime of suffering and a grotesque death, Alora actually gets to preach at Pike:

 

“Can you honestly say that no child suffers for the benefit of your Federation. That no child lives in poverty or squalor while those who enjoy abundance look away. The only difference is we don’t look away.”

 

The premise of The Original Series that we thought SNW was designed to support was that, thanks to the Federation, poverty, disease and need have all but been eradicated among member worlds.

 

So Pike should have been able to respond to Alora by saying, “Yes, I can.”

 

Instead, we get violins and self-flagellation. 

 

Again I say arghh.

Strange New Worlds gets it right with "Spock Amok"

They are getting it right.

In almost every detail, large and small, they are getting it right.

I don't know how to express it better than that: the creative team behind Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW) is getting it right. From musical cues to visual jokes, from the humour to the drama, they are capturing what Star Trek is all about.

The latest episode, "Spock Amok", is their first attempt at creating an episode where fun is at its core and they hit every note almost perfectly. The fun is fun, the characters develop and yet we still have a decent dramatic plot.

That's not easy to do and credit must go to the writers of this episode, Henry Alonso Myers and Robin Wasserman, the director, Rachel Leiterman, and the many actors whose characters are featured in the show, especially Gia Sandhu (T'Pring) and Ethan Peck (Spock).

The fact that the episode is also visually breathtaking is just the icing on the cake.

I have to admit, the episode title "Spock Amok" had me worried. It seemed both silly and somewhat insulting to the powerful TOS episode from which it draws much of its inspiration: "Amok Time". But that opening sequence -- Spock's dream in which his Human and Vulcan halves battle under the Vulcan tradition Koon-ut-kal-if-fee -- was an immediate salve to my concerns.

I'm sure fans of TOS recognized almost immediately that every detail in that scene, other than the people, recreated the Kirk/Spock battle from "Amok Time". The gong, the bells, the music, even the choreography of the fight, were intimately familiar to TOS fans. It was almost chilling.

And the fact that Spock's two halves fight (a wonderful way to represent his own inner turmoil) is psychologically significant. It sets the tone for the entire episode's consideration of the challenges Spock faced growing up, in his current relationships with T'Pring and with Star Fleet, and in his daily life. The issue, key to the character, is addressed in "Spock Amok" in a respectful, deft and subtle way -- while other editions of Star Trek have hammered character development home with a hammer, SNW uses an artist's brush.

I found it interesting, for example, that when Spock tells Chapel about his dream later in the episode, he says something like, "I had a dream where I fought my Human half". Spock, who later says he is incapable of lying, is not truthful here. In that dream sequence, he was his Human half -- his Vulcan half was foreign, dark and alien. He fought his Vulcan half.

I think this is significant: Spock struggles to accept that his Human side is as much at the core of who he is as his Vulcan side. Chapel later tells him he needs to "be true to himself" including accepting his bi-species nature and the importance of both species of origin to who he is. This is a lesson he continued to learn in TOS and, especially, in the TOS-inspired films.

On other issues, it would seem that the creative team is still struggling to figure out who Ortegas and, to a lesser extent, M'Benga are. Both get significant screen time in "Spock Amok" but both play support roles to Chapel. Chapel is the centre of each story in which she is involved: Spock's struggles, M'Benga's shore leave and her own relationship issues.

We are witnessing the slow development of Chapel's infatuation with Spock that is presented, in a fairly superficial way, in TOS, though in this rendition Chapel is much more an active participant.

I like Ortegas and want to see more of her. Melissa Navia has a sparkle to her on screen and I think Ortegas could grow into a central character on SNW, if she is permitted to do so.

The subplot involving the Hyphens (Noonien-Singh and Chin-Riley) is charming and fun but I think Rebecca Romijn struggles to hold her own on-screen with Christina Chong. I am willing to accept that perhaps this is intentional: Chin-Riley is, after all, labelled "Where fun goes to die", but she seems bland and uninteresting when compared to Noonien-Singh. They clearly have a strong relationship, of course -- it just seems unequal.

"Spock Amok" ends with breath-taking visuals and a satisfying end to each of its plots. It gets things right.

An Instant Classic: SNW scores with "Memento Mori"

Enterprise under pressure

Wow. That was intense.

"Memento Mori", episode 4 of Star Trek: Strange New World's inaugural season, is a thrill ride from start to finish. It's an instant classic, taking its place among the best Star Trek episodes of all time.

Ortegas proves herself again

Writers Davy Perez and Beau DeMayo pay homage to two classic TOS episodes -- "Arena" and "Balance of Terror" -- while adding some of the strongest features of the 1957 Robert Mitchum film, The Enemy Below, upon which "Balance of Terror" is based.

With Dan Liu's skillful direction and some amazing sound work by Supervising Sound Editor, Matthew E. Taylor, and his team, this SNW episode "Memento Mori" does more than pay homage -- it does justice to those earlier television masterworks.

Even more remarkably, the creative team manages to deliver a deeply suspenseful episode while incorporating significant character development without slowing the pace.

I am sorry to admit how much this delights me but the creative team also manages once again to suggest that Star Trek: Enterprise is NOT CANON.

In "Into a Mirror, Darkly", Berman and Braga's catastrophically awful series, Enterprise, brings a Gorn on board the ship and Captain Archer actually wrestles with it. This earlier in-person encounter with the Gorn does not come up at all in "Memento Mori". 

Chapel and M'Benga get creative

No one on Pike's Enterprise, except Noonien-Singh, knows what a Gorn looks like. The data bases have no visual records.

Noonien-Singh states categorically that, other than herself, the only members of Star Fleet ever to see a Gorn died shortly after seeing it. These facts make it clear that Archer's exploits are not part of Star Fleet history, or records.

"Memento Mori" represents the first time we see Pike, his ship and his crew under intense, unrelenting pressure -- Pike consistently assures his team that "Enterprise can take it" but it is his crew, as much as his ship, that proves itself under pressure.

Archer wrestles a Gorn: Best left forgotten

Uhura and Bemmer overcome fear and injuries and learn to work together to deal with a crisis in Engineering. M'Benga and Chapel reach for every tool in their medical bag (including some that belong in the 20th Century) to keep injured crew members alive. Ortegas embraces hope and innovation in proving herself, once again, one of the best pilots in the fleet.

And Spock and Noonien-Singh combine forces to develop new strategies, new innovations, to help take down an overwhelming, unrelenting foe.

"Memento Mori" also introduces to Star Fleet tradition "Fleet Remembrance Day" -- the day each year when Star Fleet crew wear the insignias of previous ships upon which they have served to honour the crew mates, scientists, explorers and civilians who have been lost in the service of human exploration of the galaxy.

Bemmer and Uhura -- Teamwork

Based on the British Commonwealth tradition of "Remembrance Day", upon which people in Canada and other commonwealth nations take a moment to remember members of our military, as well as civilians, lost in war, "Fleet Remembrance Day" adds a certain formal depth to Star Fleet and its history.

I thought it played well in this episode and now wish it had appeared in Star Trek series that have already been completed.

Facing her past

As I write this post, I worry that I have become so enamoured of Strange New Worlds that I am less critical of it than I have been of other Star Trek series. But it has been a long time, a very long time, that I have spent a week actively anticipating the next episode of a television series, that I have set aside time to watch it uninterrupted, to savour it thereafter.

The Naked Ghosts? SNW returns to familiar stories

Romijn as Number One

Let’s see: a landing party brings an unknown virus back to the Enterprise, infecting the crew and putting the entire ship at risk.

 Is that “The Naked Time”, the fourth episode of season one of Star Trek (TOS)?

Is that “The Naked Now”, the third episode of season one of The Next Generation (TNG?)?

Is that “Ghosts of Illyria”, the third episode of season one of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW)?

 

Well, in fact, it’s all three.

 

In these three episodes, from three different series, the mysterious virus brings to the surface secrets members of the crew had long kept hidden. In all three, the mysterious virus causes affected crew members to behave strangely, often violently. In all three, one affected member of the crew goes after the ship’s warp engines and puts the Enterprise and her entire crew at risk.

 

Is this repetition a conscious thing? A way to link SNW more directly to TOS and TNG, its episodic ancestors, early in its run, rather than to Deep Space 9, Voyager, Enterprise, Discovery or Picard?

 

If it is, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. After Dr. McCoy appeared briefly in TNG’s two-part premiere episode, “The Naked Now” represented another early strategy by the creative team to cement the connection between the new Star Trek series to its legendary inspiration, TOS, in the minds and hearts of its viewers. 

 

And, as the people behind SNW have made that connection clear – in tone, in philosophy and in structure, SNW is a throwback to TOS and TNG, moving away from the darkness, pessimism and extended plot arcs of the later shows – it should come as no surprise that SNW’s third episode echoes early episodes from TOS and TNG.

 

The Fight in Engineering

That doesn’t mean “Ghosts of Illyria” is itself a strong episode. It is not. Slow moving, marked by clunky dialogue, in-your-face moralising and a confused plot, “Ghosts” seems to lose track of what SNW is supposed to be: exciting, plot driven, episodic science fiction television. So focused was the creative team on sending a message and revealing character that they seemed to have forgotten to fine-tune the story.

 

Still, “Ghosts” has its strengths.

 

In her first real chance to take the centre seat, Number One (or Una Chin-Riley, played by Rebecca Romijn) shows real strength and leadership. I can’t help but compare her to the Number One character from TNG (William Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes) and Romijn’s character emerges as the clear Number One.

 

Chin-Riley is decisive, commanding and effective. When she learns new information about the virus, she responds immediately – putting the ship into lockdown (ahh, pandemic language emerges), shutting off the lights. When she is faced with a physical challenge, she leaps into action – showing off her combat abilities and her muscle in taking down a deranged La’an Noonien-Singh.

 

There is no clear fall-off from the absent Captain to the commanding Number One and there is clearly respect and admiration flowing in both directions in their relationship.

 

Olusanmokun as M'Benga

It is also nice to see that SNW’s crew is finally following protocols. The virus gets aboard despite all appropriate decontamination protocols being put into effect.

I find it disturbing that Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) could so blithely refuse to permit his medical transporter to be upgraded and get away with it, putting the entire ship at risk. But, other than his almost catastrophic breach, everyone else on the Enterprise followed established, well-designed protocols in relation to the return of landing parties from unknown planets and in relation to identifying, reporting and responding to threats that appear onboard ship.

 

It has long been the subject of mockery among me and my friends how many Star Trek plots hinge on one or members of the crew completely ignoring basic Star Fleet protocols: exposing themselves to contagion on a planet, failing to report equipment failures, ignoring odd behaviour in themselves or in other members of the landing parties, etc. It is nice to see SNW actually trying to avoid that trap.

 

"Ghosts" also gives us a chance to see more of the new Engineer, Hemmer (played by Bruce Horak). He is apparently a genius, which is great, and he brings a sardonic aggression to his role as Chief Engineer. But he doesn’t seem to have any crew in Engineering, since every task, small or large, falls to him and to him alone.

 

Horak as Hemmer

I can imagine this is something of a thankless role for Horak: hours in make-up every day so as to become completely unrecognisable; dialogue that is so filled with techno-babble as to be as difficult to memorise and deliver as it is incomprehensible to the fans; and a limited emotional range within which to shine as an actor.

 

Perhaps there’s more to come from Hemmer as he becomes more and more integrated into the crew.

 

I find it fascinating that I have now written 800 words of this blog and not yet mentioned in any significant way the two main characters of the show: Pike and Spock. Trapped on the planet’s surface for the entire episode, they have almost nothing to do with the plot. I don’t understand why they never actually contract the virus that afflicts the crew on its return to Enterprise (does the planet shield them from its effects? If yes, how did it then affect the Illyrians?)

 

And then there is the moralising. Yes, SNW has dedicated itself to returning to the optimism of TOS, to reintroducing the idealism represented in the philosophy of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations that Spock introduces in the original series.

 

But, my goodness, can we not find a more subtle, more graceful way of addressing issues of prejudice, racism and inclusion? “Ghosts” basically introduces us to the Illyrians, who are committed genetic adaptors in contravention of the Federation’s commitment to genetic purity (boy, that doesn’t sound good, does it?), informs us that Illyrians just want to be loved by the Federation, and has the crew of the Enterprise come to realise their prejudice and start the work of addressing it, all in the space of one dialogue-heavy hour.

 

That being said, I like the relationship that is being developed between Chin-Riley and Noonien-Singh and the discovery that they are both, in their own ways, genetic creations deepens and adds texture to that relationship.

 

In other words, “Ghosts of Illyria” may not be a great episode but it still gives us a lot to think about as SNW develops through its first season.