******STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!******

After being renewed for its 4th and 5th seasons, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW) has debuted the first two episodes of its third season, offering two radically different types of stories; a dark alien invasion drama and a wacky comedy. And if the season trailer we saw in April is any indicator, we can expect a lot more silliness over the next few episodes of this ten-episode run.

Directed by Chris Fisher and written by Davy Perez & Henry Alonso Myers, “Hegemony Part 2” is the conclusion to season 2’s “Hegemony,” which saw Original Series (TOS)-era villains the Gorn set up as this series’ new Borg; an invading menace that uses humans as both breeding sacks and food (shades of Kenneth Johnson’s “V”). Directed by Jordan Channing and written by Trek novelist/producer Kirsten Beyer with David Reed, “Wedding Bell Blues” is a TNG-style “Q” story with the romantic fates of Spock (Ethan Peck) and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) used as playthings for the near-omnipotent Q-offspring known as “Trelane” (Rhys Darby, previously played in TOS by William Campbell).

For a Star Trek series that promises us “Strange New Worlds,” the third season has just opened with a pair of reused villains from 59 years ago.

“Hegemony, Part 2.”

Concluding the season 2 cliffhanger, Captain Pike takes an electronically-disguised Enterprise on an offensive into the Gorn’s native binary star system to probe for a weakness in this enemy, while Chapel and Spock work through their feelings for each other to save the life of Pike’s lover, Captain Marie Batel–who is impregnated with deadly Gorn parasites. Meanwhile, a captured Enterprise landing party affects their own rescue from the belly of a Gorn ship. Enterprise engineers Pelia and Scotty frantically rejigger the ship’s energy output to duplicate a solar emission which places the Gorn into a false hibernative state. With the Gorn out of action for now, the landing party and the majority of abducted colonists are beamed back. The coda sees a recovering Capt. Batel in sickbay with Pike at her side, after Spock and Chapel successfully dissolved her Gorn parasites.

Note: Pike, admittedly under intense pressure and clouded with concern for his crew and Captain Batel, experiences an unflattering moment of indecision, which is broken up with alternatives presented by his exec and navigator. This echoes the indecision he experienced in an alternate reality from the season 1 finale (“A Quality of Mercy”) which replayed the events of TOS’ classic episode, “Balance of Terror.” Pike’s differing choices from Kirk’s in that alternate reality led to a war with the Romulans. I realize this series is working itself toward Kirk’s era in TOS, but does it have to make Pike look bad for Kirk to shine later on?

Note: While I’m slowly warming up to SNW’s version of Scotty (Martin Quinn), a real Scotsman, I’m still not fond of the ship’s irritating, kleptomaniac Chief Engineer Pelia (Carol Kane; an otherwise terrific actress). Pelia keeps the show too grounded in comedy, which has been the bane of modern Star Trek for awhile. I realize the character is a fan favorite, but she just annoys the hell out of me.

Note: I appreciate SNW’s character rehab of Nurse Christine Chapel (formerly played by the late Majel Barrett), who was previously seen in TOS as a doormat who forever pined for the late Leonard Nimoy‘s aloof Mr. Spock, and only occasionally showed a spark of initiative. SNW’s rehabilitated Chapel is a brilliant geneticist and a doctor in all-but-title, but SNW has now turned Spock into a hopelessly moping simp for Chapel. It was understood throughout TOS that Spock deeply admired Chapel, but he simply wasn’t in love with her. “I am sorry,” he tells her as she confesses her love for him in TOS’ “The Naked Time.” SNW has turned that dynamic around; diminishing one character to boost another.

Note: This younger version of Scotty (too young, in fact) retains one of the character’s key personality traits; he’s a born workaholic. In TOS, we saw where Scotty was ordered to relax, which he did by combing through technical manuals or tinkering with his beloved engines (“The Troubles and Tribbles“) or getting into trouble (“Wolf in the Fold”).

Note: I’ve already vented my frustrations (at length) with the ‘reimagined’ Gorn, who are now little more than bug-eyed variations of the “ALIEN” xenomorphs, right down to copying their life-cycle. With that out of the way, the second half of this two-parter does nothing to offset my issues with the ‘xenomorph-Gorn.’ I simply can’t believe this bug-eyed race of screeching parasites mastered transporters, warp drive and technological sophistication on a par with the Federation. I could see them hijacking advanced races and using them for transport (like the parasites seen in TOS’ “Operation: Annihilate!” or TNG’s “Conspiracy”), but nothing about them convinces me these creatures could create advanced technology. They’re simply too primitive. They’re also inconsistent with the slow-moving, technologically-advanced reptiles seen in TOS.

Note: Equally unbelievable is that a seriously wounded Erica Ortegas could somehow pilot a radically unfamiliar Gorn ship to the point where she could outmaneuver experienced Gorn pilots in hot pursuit. I’m glad to see Melissa Navia get a rare spotlight, though she has to repeat that stupid line “I’m Erica Ortegas, and I fly the ship” (S2’s “Among the Lotus Eaters”). For every step forward, this show seems to take one or two backward.

Note: I realize M’Benga has been abducted by the Gorn, but given the size of the modern Enterprise sickbay in SNW (“Ghosts of Illyria”), it seems impractical to have only one doctor to perform surgery in emergencies. Granted, Chapel is very qualified (at least this version of her), but she’s a nurse, not a surgeon. Neither is Spock, for that matter, though he is the ship’s science officer, at least. Even in TOS’ considerably smaller sickbay, Dr. McCoy had former Enterprise CMO Dr. M’Benga (then played by actor Booker Bradshaw) as a backup in case of emergencies (“A Private Little War,” “That Which Survives”).

Note: I appreciated that the otherwise underused Number One (Rebecca Romijn) had something critical to do in this story, even if it’s simply donating some of her genetically-engineered Illyrian blood (illegal or not, it saved a life). I’m surprised Una’s blood is safe for humans, let alone with the compatible antigens. ‘Magic blood‘ has been a trope of modern Star Trek (and sci-fi), as seen with the use of Khan’s blood in 2013’s “Star Trek Into Darkness” (one of the dumbest Star Treks ever made). Also, the crew’s plan to fake a solar emission to put the Gorn into hibernation reuses the “put the Borg to sleep” gimmick from TNG’s “The Best of Both Worlds,” Part 2.” Not exactly a novel solution.

Note: An interesting character choice to confirm that Pike is a former altar boy in Star Trek’s traditionally secular universe, as he begins reciting the Lord’s Prayer at the bedside of a recovering Capt. Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano). It’s one of the rare fitting nods to TOS chronology in a series that otherwise twists or ignores it. In the original TOS pilot “The Cage” (footage of which was used in “The Menagerie”) we see Pike tormented in what appears to be a vision of Hell supplied by the telepathic Talosians (complete with flames and sulfur), who tell Pike the illusion came “from a fable you once heard in childhood.”

“Wedding Bell Blues.”

A wild shift in tone from its predecessor, this episode opens with the Enterprise orbiting Starbase One for the Federation’s centennial celebration, where it’s also been undergoing extensive repairs for the past two months. Anticipating a romantic reunion with Nurse Chapel, Spock learns to dance with Security Chief La’an Singh. Meanwhile, Uhura romances Beto, the visiting documentarian kid brother of helm officer Erica Ortegas. Chapel returns from her sabbatical with an unexpected new beau; the brilliant scientist Dr. Roger Korby, for whom she’s been apprenticing. A heartbroken Spock attracts the attention of the mischievous, omnipotent Trelane; another returning antagonist from TOS-era. Trelane soon places everyone in an alternate mindset where they suddenly believe that Spock is marrying Chapel. Realizing something is wrong, Spock and Korby find that intense emotions break Trelane’s romantic conjuration. With the spell broken, Trelane’s energy-being ‘father’ arrives to take his ‘son’ back to the Q-dimension. An unrelated coda sees Ortegas suffering PTSD after her traumatic experiences with the Gorn.

Note: Despite my issues with SNW, its production value are incredible. The establishing shots of Starbase One are amazing, as are the use of the LED virtual wall for backgrounds. Long gone are the days of styrofoam rocks, sand, and gel-lit skies on soundstages. It’s easy to see why there are so few episodes a season, as each episode is of near-feature film quality.

Note: This story, co-written by otherwise first-rate Trek novelist Kirsten Beyer, smacks of bad fanfic. In the opening act, you see Spock being taught to dance by a blood relative of Khan Noonien Singh in order to woo Nurse Chapel (!). Spock never reciprocated Chapel’s romantic feelings for him, and he barely knew any specifics of Khan Noonien Singh (“records of that period are fragmentary”) until he consulted the ship’s library computer in TOS’ “Space Seed.” Not to mention his out-of-nowhere impulse to learn dancing, which feels borrowed from TNG’s “Data’s Day.” Sure, it makes a nice opportunity for Christina Chong to show off her considerable dancing skills, but it feels wildly out of character for Spock.

Note: Two months after the events of “Hegemony Part 2,” we see Captains Pike & Batel sharing a lazy day together in his quarters. It’s suggested that her career is moving forward and that she wants Pike at her side, but we know that a radiation-scarred, immobilized Pike ends up on Talos IV with Vina in a few years (“The Menagerie” Part 2″), so this romance of theirs is slated to go nowhere.

Note: Nice to see characters like Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Ortegas being given more business, and even some romance. My nit is that we barely get to know Beto (Mynor Luken) before Uhura turns on the charm. It then becomes less about the Ortegas siblings and more about an Uhura fling. Maybe they could’ve saved that pairing for a followup episode (?). As is, the Uhura-Beto romantic subplot feels shoehorned into the story with very little setup, let alone payoff.

Note: Chapel’s new boyfriend and future fiancé is of course, Roger Korby; the future power-crazed mandroid of TOS’ “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” He’s gone from a silver-haired, middle-aged, bookish New Yorker (played by actor Michael Strong) to a much younger, Irish-accented hunk (Cillian O’Sullivan). It’s also odd that Spock doesn’t recognize Korby’s voice in TOS since he and Korby shared so much interaction in this ‘prequel’ episode, including punching Korby in the face. I wish that were the worst of this episode’s missteps…

Note: Once again, the roles of Chapel and Spock in TOS are reversed, with Chapel now forced to console a lovesick, moping Spock. Not crazy about rehabbing TOS Chapel’s poorly-served character at the expense of Spock. Spock has been reduced to sad-faced ex-boo and comic character, and I can’t say I’m digging it. On a side note, the off-duty clothing of Uhura and particularly Roger Korby are very 21st century-looking, but then again, we saw TOS Enterprise crew members in 1960s tennis skirts and Bermuda shorts in “The Cage,” so there’s that.

Note: The reintroduction of TOS antagonist Trelane (Rhys Darby, and previously played by William Campbell) is where this episode jumps the shark for me. Why wouldn’t Trelane’s audacious visit to Starbase One be logged in Starfleet’s records anywhere? It’s ridiculous that future Enterprise captain Kirk would have to ‘rediscover’ both the Gorn and Trelane over the next few years for himself simply due to bad record-keeping (?). Darby also plays Trelane far too lightly, with none of Campbell’s menacing undercurrent. Not to mention fans already know Trelane is just a spoiled child, which destroys any surprise this frothy installment might’ve otherwise had.

Note: Trelane’s fantasy of Spock and Chapel’s now-pending nuptials only adds to this episode’s ‘fanfic’ vibe. Everything in this story is just an excuse to make these characters do silly things, and not to advance their stories. Roger and Spock’s discovery that strong emotions break Trelane’s spell is a weak sauce callback to Capt. Kirk’s discovery of strong emotions as an antidote for the spores in TOS’ “This Side of Paradise”; a vastly superior and genuinely touching Spock love story rewritten by the late, great Dorothy Fontana (1939-2019).

Note: The only semi-surprise of this episode comes when Trelane’s energy-being father crashes the ruined wedding and takes his ‘son’ home. The scales are canonically tipped towards establishing Trelane as a Q, since his dad is voiced by none other than John de Lancie, the actor who first played “Q” in TNG’s pilot “Encounter at Farpoint” and would play the character in many more incarnations of Star Trek, including “Deep Space Nine,” “Voyager,” “Picard” and “Lower Decks.” The non-canonical Star Trek novel “Q Squared” by Peter David previously established a history (and relation) between Q and Trelane.

Note: After Roger is changed back from a dog (!), the assembled guests simply choose to awkwardly ignore everything that they just saw, as Pike sheepishly kicks off the Federation centennial party instead. Such uncharacteristic and silly storytelling gives this flyweight episode the same level of consequence as your average episode of TV’s “Bewitched.” This is typical of modern Star Trek’s increasing shift into broad comedy, which feels more farcical than character-driven.

Note: Nice to see an Edosian in live-action, as a nod to ‘Lt. Arex’ (voice of James Doohan) from Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS). It might’ve been nice to end the episode right there. Instead, we see Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) working through some serious angst in the ship’s gym, as she experiences a flashback of a Gorn; suggesting she now suffers PTSD. It also suggests a reason behind her character’s later xenophobia, as seen with her distrust of Romulan-looking Spock in the alternate future of season 1’s “A Quality of Mercy.”

The End.

Summing It Up

For a series titled “Strange New Worlds,” the first two episodes of this ten episode run have offered uninspired, reused antagonists from the 1960s. With twenty percent of the season already streaming, we’re seeing mainly the same old faces in different clothes. So where are the ‘strange new worlds’ suggested by the series’ title? I can’t say I’m exactly overwhelmed.

There’s also the dual-edged sword of the series’ prequel format. While it gives us a chance to explore life on the Enterprise under Captain Pike (Anson Mount), it’s also limited by outcomes that more or less have to happen in order to align with Star Trek’s long established chronology. Following a sensational pilot episode in 2022, the first two seasons of SNW offered some interesting ideas and new species along the way, but now we’re getting closer to the time when James Kirk takes the reigns, and the series is starting to chafe at its restraints. There’s a lot more canon-bending (beyond the usual aesthetic upgrades) that simply don’t gel with the show’s own future-past, let alone common sense; such as the entire crew simply choosing to ignore first contact with a demigod alien (Rhys Darby) at Starbase One during the Federation’s bicentennial celebration (?). You’d think that little detail would’ve made entries in a few logs…

There’s also the retrofitting of characters like Spock (Ethan Peck), whose dignity and stoic Vulcan demeanor have taken a serious pounding in SNW. Spock’s now been reduced to a teary-eyed, pining ex-lover after he’s been dumped by a much-improved, liberated Christine Chapel (Jess Bush); a woman he was never really in love with during TOS (see: “Naked Time”). While I’m grateful to see Chapel so smartly revised, it’s unfortunate that her fulfillment had to come at the expense of Spock; a character who’s come to define Star Trek itself. Captain Pike’s affair with Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) is another relationship slated to go nowhere, since the series began with Pike fully aware of his fate as a horribly burned mute living out his remaining days in a life-supporting chair. Fans of both classic and modern Star Trek know that Pike will wind up on Talos IV with Vina someday (Star Trek: Discovery; “If Memory Serves”), so his pairing with Batel is doomed right out of the gate.

Speaking of pairings, we also saw Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) getting flirty with Beto (Mynor Luken), the kid brother of Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), but since we never see Beto in later Star Treks, it’s safe to assume will be another dead end storyline. It’s also disappointing to see his sister Erica falling into modern Star Trek’s PTSD trap; where nearly every core character in SNW is defined by a horrible tragedy or great trauma (Uhura’s entire family dying in a shuttle accident, Pike’s future fate, and now Ortegas nearly turned into Gorn food, etc). This is a cheap shortcut to character growth that chooses to simplify Uhura based largely on the single worst day of her life. It’s also a slap in the face to those trauma survivors (like myself) who detest being defined by their worst moments.

With modern Star Trek’s tonal shift towards comedy and contemporary tropes over earnestness and its own mythology, perhaps this is the end of the road for my own long association with this franchise; which began for me as a kid back in the 1970s. To those who truly enjoy the direction Star Trek has taken, I honestly hope the series continues to enthrall, but for me, I’m starting to feel more than a bit ‘aged out’ from this new direction for the show. I’ll stick with it for as long as I can, but, as Scotty says in TNG’s “Relics”; “There comes a time when a man finds that he can’t fall in love again. He knows that it’s time to stop.”

Live long and prosper, folks!

Where to Watch

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” is available for streaming via Paramount+.