******POSSIBLE STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!******
This past week, Paramount+ released a teaser trailer for the third season of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” (SNW), with a nonspecific summer release. There’s a lot to unpack in this short trailer, which begins with James Kirk (Paul Wesley), Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) and Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) in campy costumes aboard a colorful, retro 1950s-looking spaceship bridge; and it only gets curiouser and curiouser from there…
The Trailer
Breakdown
Most of my commentary will be within the captions of the screenshots (courtesy of Trekcore.com and Paramount+, which saved me the hassle of making my own…).
This retro-looking starship has large, clunky knob controls and reel-to-reel tapes for its computers. The ship’s layout references the TOS Star Trek bridge set (right down own to the single red/orange door behind the captain’s chair), with the stylings of the 1950s TV series “Space Patrol” and the animated comedy “Futurama” (1999-present). While I certainly appreciate the nod to 1950s sci-fi production design, the idea feels thematically similar to season 1’s “The Elysian Kingdom,” when the Enterprise was temporarily converted into a storybook fantasy realm, as energy beings offered Dr. M’Benga a new life for his terminally ill daughter, who spent most of her time suspended within a medical transporter buffer. The retro stylings of the ship also feel tonally similar to the 1930s “Flash Gordon”/“Buck Rogers” vibe of the “Captain Proton” holodeck adventures enjoyed by Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) and Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) in “Star Trek: Voyager.”
Go home, Jim…
We see glimpses of what looks like a shore leave at Starbase One in this hint of an episode; perhaps following the damage the ship will take at the hands of the Gorn in the season 3 opener (?). This would be fine if we didn’t already have an extended shore leave episode in season 1’s “Spock Amok.” For a series titled “Strange New Worlds,” the Enterprise shouldn’t be spending so much time in Earth’s backyard. Maybe we could’ve seen the tried-and-true Starbase 11 (“The Menagerie” “Court-Martial”), instead?
A smiling Spock (Ethan Peck) wakes up to Christine Chapel after a night spent together. Scenes like these in SNW are why I prefer to think of SNW as an alternate universe separate from TOS. It was obvious in TOS Star Trek that Nurse Chapel had never consummated her long-simmering crush on Spock at any time during or before that series. That prior version of Chapel once said to Spock “For so long, I’ve wanted to be close to you…” (“Plato’s Stepchildren”). She also confessed (albeit intoxicatedly) to a clueless Spock that she loved him, which caught him off guard (“The Naked Time”). Chapel later appeared surprised herself to learn that Spock had a fianceé in TOS’ “Amok Time” (somehow forgetting she’d already met T’Pring several times…?). While I certainly enjoy the chemistry between Jess Bush’s Chapel and Ethan Peck’s Spock, I don’t believe their characters will someday become the unrequited couple we saw in TOS Star Trek.
As the above line from TOS’ “Plato’s Stepchildren” (one of TOS’ worst) reminds us, we don’t usually see openly amorous displays from Vulcans, let alone Vulcans carrying bouquets of flowers. And since this particular Vulcan is being played by famed standup comedian and comic actor Patton Oswalt, one can assume this is yet another of those Vulcan comedies; or perhaps the same one alluded to in the season 3 preview we saw at last summer’s San Diego Comic Con. While I really enjoy aspects of SNW and its engaging cast, the series does not get Vulcans at all. I enjoy Oswalt’s standup, too, but this feels like more of the ongoing mischaracterization of Vulcans this series continues to dish out each season. Mocking a species that chooses to suppress emotion is contrary to the core ideals of Star Trek. Even when crusty Dr. McCoy (De Forest Kelley) would hurl a half-kidding insult at the logical Spock (Leonard Nimoy), it was usually met with a cool, worthy rejoinder.
“And I thought we were supposed to be going together.”
Engineer Scott (Martin Quinn) returns, and Ensign Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) gets a nice new hairdo (in keeping with the character’s many changing looks over TOS’ three year run; as well as her feature film appearances). During the trailer, we see a flirtatious Uhura on a date with a young man, and we see Scotty and Kirk later drinking together, with Kirk telling his future chief engineer “We make a good team.” It’s a bid odd that in this alternate reality, Kirk is somehow 10-12 years older than Scotty; since the reverse is true in TOS. However, as I said earlier, I more easily accept SNW as in indirect prequel set in an alternate universe; something more or less confirmed by a time-traveling Romulan agent in 21st century Toronto from season 2’s “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.”
Uhura takes her as-yet-unknown beau to Captain Pike’s (Anson Mount) quarters where we also see Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), Pike’s Number One Una Chin Riley (Rebecca Romijn) and Security Chief La’an Noonien Singh (Christina Chong). Nice to see Pike continuing his tradition of family-style dinners with his senior staff, something that differentiates him from other captains, who had differing (yet equally valid) ways of relating to their officers.
This is where continuity bends again, as we Spock and La’an in a 24th century-looking holodeck; with La’an dressed for a 20th century murder mystery. While holodecks were supposed to be new in the 24th century-set Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), they were originally alluded to in Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS) back in 1974, with the episode “The Practical Joker” where it was simply called a “recreation room,” not a holodeck. Part of the reason for that disparity may have stemmed from the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry disavowing continuity with TAS in the 1980s. TAS has been retroactively added back into the franchise (more or less). Beginning with 2017’s Star Trek: Discovery (DSC), we’ve now seen holodecks used for tactical training in the mid-23rd century (“Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad”).
Kirk (back again??), La’an, and the rest of the Enterprise senior officers are in this holodeck murder mystery episode together. Judging by another seemingly genuine look of dismay in Kirk’s face, he’s either unfamiliar with holodeck/recreation-deck technology (maybe it’s still in the testing stage?), or something has gone seriously wrong within this murder-mystery holodeck program, which seems inspired by the 1970s board game “Clue,” or an as-yet unmade Rion Johnson movie (“Knives Out,” “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery). I have no issue with Star Trek basing its episode plots on popular movies, since that tradition dates back to TOS’ “The Enemy Within” (the various cinematic versions of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”), “The Galileo Seven” (a thinly-veiled remake of 1949’s “Flight of the Phoenix”), or ”Balance of Terror” (a scene-specific remake of 1957’s “The Enemy Below”). I only have issues when the theft is so terribly blatant.
Either Pike is throwing himself into his holodeck mystery character, or there’s some high-octane Romulan ale in that glass…
Dr. M’Benga and Nurse Chapel are also throwing themselves into their characters for this Rion Johnson/”Clue”-inspired story.
I’m guessing something goes terribly wrong in this holodeck adventure, which was already a tired cliché with TNG and VGR.
For some reason, the Enterprise has to go analog with intraship communications, and its Lanthanite Chief Engineer Pelia (Carol Kane) uses a complicated series of (no doubt stolen) 20th century telephones and cords to reconnect the ship. While I enjoy Carol Kane’s performances in TV’s “Taxi” and 1987’s “The Princess Bride,” I find the character of Pelia to be an irritating kleptomaniac. The sooner this wannabe-Yoda is replaced by Scotty, the better.
No, this is not a collage made for this column; this is a screen grab from the actual trailer, which uses 1960s-style split screen to illustrate the crew using analog telephones to talk to each other within the ship. While this is an interesting gimmick (even more so, if it hadn’t already been used in 2003’s “Battlestar Galactica”reboot), I’m hoping there’s a really good reason for it.
Pike witnesses the landing of a Klingon warship; the extra-embellished kind we saw in the early years of DSC (“Battle of the Binary Stars”). Just speculating, but I’m guessing this might be related to season 2’s “Under the Cloak of War”; an episode I have mixed feelings about.
I could be wrong, but this looks like a zombified Klingon, or perhaps one suffering from some new kind of virus (which M’Benga will cure, of course; resolving his arc with the Klingons). This zombie-Klingon is also of the spiny-headed variety; not the smoother forehead Klingons that were supposed to be more common in the mid-23rd century.
Forsaking the species’ usual swordplay, this Klingon-with-a-whip is definitely Indiana Jones-ing for somebody.
The costume and sideburns worn by comic actor Rhys Darby are definitely evocative of demigod being “Trelane” (William Campbell) in TOS’ “The Squire of Gothos,” but the finger-snapping is much more in keeping with TNG’s similarly godlike nemesis “Q” (John deLancie). There was a TNG novel I once read by author Peter David called “Q-Squared” (1994) which confirmed (however non-canonically) that Trelane and his parents were indeed members of the Q Continuum. While I’m tentatively okay with putting the two demigods into a single species, it also makes the Star Trek universe feel a bit smaller. I’m assuming that Trelane/Q’s appearance has something to do with the retro-style spaceship seen earlier, as well. Trelane and Q are both very effective and memorable characters, but their use in this prequel series has “TOO SOON” written all over it.
Much of what I saw in this trailer looked like callbacks to other movies or TV series (“Knives Out,” “Clue,” “Futurama,” “Space Patrol”), or rehashes of things we’ve previously seen on Star Trek, such as Klingons, Trelane/Q (one and the same now?) as well as another Vulcan ‘comedy,’ which is becoming a SNW cliché. SNW began with such great promise (I still love that pilot episode), but it’s since become as problematic as other recent live-action Star Treks, such as “Discovery” or “Picard.” The worst thing about the teaser is that failed to get me stoked for the new season. It’s more like I’m waiting for a damage report.
Maybe that same magical hypospray could be used to help Vulcans cheat at the mental disciplines of Kohlinar?
Despite the glut of callbacks in this trailer, it feels as if current Star Trek is less concerned with earnest storytelling, and more about mining laughs at the franchise’s expense (see: “Star Trek: Lower Decks“). The Vulcan comedy trailer unveiled at last year’s San Diego Comic Con lacked any understanding of Vulcans. It was also implicitly racist, by obfuscating Vulcan genetics with Vulcan culture. Vulcan logic is a painfully acquired discipline, not a gene to be activated–just as learning to speak German doesn’t come from having German ancestry. Once again, SNW does not get Vulcans at all…
After SNW’s hit-and-miss second season, it feels as if the series continues to veer away from thoughtful, more allegorical storytelling towards a more navel-gazing and self-parodying future. The show’s writers don’t seem to be drawing much from personal experiences, or even from current events/issues impacting the world. It’s more like they’re rehashing what they saw on TV as kids, including a lot of material from earlier incarnations of Star Trek. They’re making copies from copies.
I’m not actively rooting for SNW to fail. Quite the opposite. I have too much personal investment in and affection for Star Trek’s near-sixty year history to wish for that. However, nothing I saw in this latest trailer made me enthused for this series’ new direction. Despite my personal misgivings, I still hope this teaser trailer was simply lacking context. Maybe SNW will find its creative spark. Perhaps season 3 will surprise us all. I’d love to be wrong, of course.
I guess we’ll find out sometime this summer. Stay tuned.
Where to Watch
“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” is available to stream on Paramount+ with subscription. As mentioned above, no specific release date for season 3 is available.
I really enjoy SNW- far more than I should do. It gets so many things right- I love its retro-future ‘look’ and it just.. well, the cast is pretty great, and the Enterprise is the stuff of TOS-fan dreams. I don’t get annoyed by continuity issues because I treat it like a ‘stealth’ reboot, and wonder that maybe (if they are brave enough) the creative team and Paramount might spin it off into this Kirk’s adventures in a ‘new’ TOS when the reboot thing will become absolutely clear.
And believe me, I hold TOS up on a high pedestal as the definitive Trek and so, yes, I should be mortified at the very idea of remaking/rebooting TOS (as much as I would if Disney announced they were making Star Wars). I suppose SNW just seems mostly harmless to me; I enjoy its wild fancies, its one-off episode structure. I very much prefer it to to JJ Abrams’ appalling Kelvin Timeline films which just feel wholly wrong in so many ways that SNW curiously doesn’t.
Good points, all around.
I guess my biggest issue is remaking TOS is that it’s not exactly “boldly going where no man has gone before”…