![]() Just look at the IMDb ratings for the previous two episodes at the time of writing, the fourth season premiere scores a 5.8 and last week's installment scores a 5.2, both significantly below what the fans expect and what Michelle Paradise was no doubt hoping for. Those three shows represent consistent high-quality, well-written science fiction and with these alternatives on offer, "Discovery" is going to have to work hard to keep up. And in a little under a month, " The Book of Boba Fett" airs on Disney Plus. In a little over a week " The Expanse" returns on Amazon for its sixth and final season. "Lost in Space" has returned for the third and final season on Netflix. This December, "Star Trek: Discovery" is going up against some of the best contemporary sci-fi currently on television. If anything, these connections will inspire these new fans to dig into the franchise's history.In sharp contrast to last week's episode of "Star Trek: Discovery" on Paramount Plus, so much happens in the third installment of Season 4, entitled "Choose To Live," that it becomes overwhelming and we're soon swamped by subplots and side-stories. This continues in Season 2, allowing franchise fans to see legacy characters as they've never seen them before. Fans of The Original Series, however, recognize the set used in "Amok Time," down to Alexander Courage's score from the iconic fight scene in that episode. For example, in Season 1, Episode 5, "Spock Amok," the opening sequence establishes Spock's fears about how Starfleet taxes his relationship with T'Pring and Vulcan culture. Strange New Worlds remains perhaps the best series for new fans curious about Star Trek to begin with. However, it's equally focused on moving the characters and story in new, unexpected directions. The show is steeped in franchise lore, especially from Star Trek: The Original Series. The premiere is, instead, a classic Star Trek adventure with a classic franchise antagonist. Paramount released a clip of Una Chin-Riley's court-martial that clearly denotes it doesn't take place until the second episode. In fact, despite the finale ending on a cliffhanger, the Season 2 premiere touches on it but tells its own story. While Strange New Worlds Season 2 improves Season 1, the show is still everything fans love. The modern Star Trek producers knew this franchise was never one thing, and Strange New Worlds embraces all its facets. The addition of the inimitable Carol Kane as Lieutenant Commander Pelia also adds levity whenever she's on-screen. There are Spock's awkward commands from the Captain's chair, revealed in the Strange New Worlds Season 2 trailer. ![]() Yet, the series retains its sense of fun, something the early Discovery and Picard seasons did have in short supply. There are deeply serious episodes that serve as allegories to modern-day persecution of historically oppressed demographics and dealing with traumatic legacies. The show is slightly more serialized, but fans could still watch them in almost any order and follow along. ![]() There are quiet character studies and iconic Star Trek moments fans have never seen. Strange New Worlds Season 2 doesn't follow that example. Yet, for the most part, the storytellers gave fans variations on the same themes each year. There would be a big season opener and finale, sometimes even a mid-season sweeps double-episode. In fact, the show does continue to do everything viewers loved in Season 1, including "hijinks." However, Strange New Worlds also manages to look deeper at the characters and the worlds they inhabit, which ultimately reflect the present-day world.ĭuring The Next Generation era of the franchise, successive seasons of the series didn't change things too much. Had Strange New Worlds stuck with that formula for its first six episodes of the second season, fans would have been overjoyed. However, since UPN unceremoniously canceled Star Trek: Enterprise, fans yearned for a "normal" series featuring hopeful, optimistic people boldly going into the great unknown to see what's out there. Telling new kinds of stories in a universe like Star Trek's is a great way to evolve what viewers think is possible. The heavy, serialized and dark stories were meant to grow the franchise beyond what it was. Star Trek: Discovery, the series from which Strange New Worlds spun off, was neither of those things at first. However, Strange New Worlds Season 2 takes an already-great series and improves it in every possible way. All the show had to do in its sophomore outing was not mess with what had worked before. ![]() The debut of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in 2022 was a big moment for the franchise, marking a return to bright, optimistic, and, perhaps most importantly, episodic television stories.
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