Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (January 30, 2024)
In 2022, a new Star Trek series called Strange New Worlds arrived. Set not long before The Original Series, Season One introduced us to Captain Christopher Pike and the Enterprise crew who operated the ship before Captain Kirk eventually took the helm.
2023 brought a second set of Strange New Worlds shows. This three-4K set includes all 10 of Season Two’s episodes, with plot synopses from IMDB.
The Broken Circle: “A distress call from Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) compels Mr. Spock (Ethan Peck) to disobey orders and take the Enterprise and its crew into disputed space on a rescue mission.”
Season Two picks up pretty literally where S1 ended, and that means Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) leaves the Enterprise in an attempt to assist now-incarcerated second-in-command Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn). This feels like an odd choice, as one wouldn’t expect the season debut to abandon its lead immediately.
Despite that, “Circle” offers a lively launch to S2. It toys with Trek conventions without annoying self-reference and delivers a delightful debut for the year, especially via a hilarious new character from Carol Kane.
Ad Astra Per Aspera: “Commander Una Chin-Riley faces court martial, imprisonment and dishonorable discharge from Starfleet.”
After an episode away, Captain Pike returns and we follow the plot thread left loose at the end of S1. This becomes inevitable, of course, as we need to wrap up Chin-Riley’s legal issues and get her back on the Enterprise bridge.
Spoiler alert? Maybe, but I think we all knew Chin-Riley wouldn’t be eliminated from the series, so as far as I’m concerned, the quicker S2 solves her issues, the better.
Perhaps because it comes with a predictable conclusion, “Aspera” doesn’t become a great episode of Worlds. However, it manages enough intrigue to entertain, even without a lot of surprises.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tommorow: “La'an travels back in time to 21st-century Earth to prevent an attack which will alter humanity's future history.”
Trek loves its time travel shows, and that means Tomorrow comes with a challenge to do something fresh. Happily, it succeeds.
Not mentioned in the synopsis: La’an heads back in time with one Captain James Tiberius Kirk. We got a short glimpse of Paul Wesley’s take on Kirk with S1’s finale, so this becomes our first real look at his version.
Wesley seems to mesh Shatner and Pine but still feel like his own Kirk. He shows nice chemistry with Chong.
In addition, “Tomorrow” provides a good story with plenty of action, comedy, drama and cleverness. This becomes a strong time travel show.
Among the Lotus Eaters: “Returning to a planet that dredges up tragic memories, Captain Pike and his landing party find themselves forgetting everything, including their own identities as he confronts a ghost from his past.”
Captain Pike might exist as the theoretical focal point of this series, but S2’s first three episodes largely left him on the sidelines. Indeed, he barely appeared in the first and third shows.
After an opening that gives Pike some dimensionality, most of “Lotus” covers the away mission described in the synopsis. This gets a twist due to past events that haunt Pike as well as an unusual antagonist.
Some of these elements work and we get a decent episode, but “Lotus” lacks a lot of real drive. Though it keeps us with it, the show disappoints after three good programs to open S2.
Charades: “A shuttle accident leads to Spock's Vulcan DNA being removed by aliens, making him fully human and completely unprepared to face T'Pring's (Gia Sandhu) family during an important ceremonial dinner.”
The concept of a Spock sans his Vulcan half offers a gimmick, but it brings a fun gimmick. Of course, we know he’ll get “fixed” before long – especially since Worlds exists as a prequel to “TOS” – but that doesn’t harm the overall impact of the episode.
This leads to a fairly comedic program, and Trek doesn’t always pull off “funny” well. Nonetheless, “Charades” brings an enjoyable experience, even if super-hot Mia Kirscher is a good 10 years too young to play Ethan Peck’s mother.
Lost In Translation: “Cadet Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) seems to be the only one who can hear a strange sound that seems to trigger terrifying hallucinations.”
If nothing else, Worlds offers a democratic series. As mentioned earlier, one would expect Captain Pike at the fore, but instead, we get episodes that spread the love and give each crewmember a chance to shine.
As noted in the synopsis, “Lost” gives Uhura the spotlight, though it also acts as another chance to formally involve James Kirk when he comes to visit his brother Sam (Dan Jeannotte). I liked Wesley’s Kirk during his earlier experience, and he continues to add life here as well.
We get a darker episode than the largely comedic “Charades”, and that’s a good thing. Expect a solid program, as Uhura and James Kirk work to solve a deadly mystery – and look for a momentous first meeting at the end.
Those Old Scientists: “An accident while investigating a time portal sends Ensigns Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) through time from the 24th Century, and Captain Pike and his crew must get them back where they belong before they can alter the timeline.”
As far back as the very first episode of Next Generation, we got crossovers between various Trek series. “Old” gives this a twist, as it brings an intersection between Worlds and the animated Lower Decks.
Unsurprisingly, this lends a comedic tone to the episode. Also unsurprisingly, this leans “fan service” but the show still seems too delightful for me to care.
Under the Cloak of War: “Captain Pike and his crew welcome a Klingon defector (Robert Wisdom) aboard the USS Enterprise, but his presence triggers the revelation of some shocking secrets.”
To date, we’ve not seen much of Klingons on Worlds, so “Cloak” offers a fairly novel theme for this series, but not for Trek. Indeed, the concept of Starfleet crew discomfort with a seemingly progressive Klingon echoes 1991’s Star Trek VI.
This one fails to bring a lot new to the table. It offers some added backstory for Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) but the episode feels a bit stale overall.
Footnote: look for Clint Howard in a small role. Howard goes back farther with Trek than perhaps any living actor other than William Shatner and George Takei, as a then 7-year-old Howard appeared in ”TOS” Season One’s “Corbomite Maneuver”. He also worked on episodes of Deep Space Nine, Enterprise and Discovery, so Worlds becomes his sixth Trek series to date.
Subspace Rhapsody: “An accident with an experimental quantum probability field causes everyone on the Enterprise to break uncontrollably into song, but the real danger is that the field is expanding & beginning to impact other ships - allies & enemies alike.”
Back in late 2001, Buffy the Vampire Slayer created a sensation via an episode called “Once More With Feeling” because it offered a musical. “Rhapsody” follows suit – to a degree, at least, as it doesn’t consist entirely of that format.
This means “Rhapsody” can’t be called original, and the musical side of the show feels like the gimmick it is. Still, the episode offers a fairly delightful detour that works most of the time.
Hegemony: “When the Enterprise investigates an attack on a colony at the edge of Federation space, Captain Pike and the crew face the return of a formidable enemy.”
S1 offered a quick intro to the Gorn, the “formidable enemy” alluded to in that synopsis. “Hegemony” allows that species more delineation.
Which seems like a good decision. The Gorn initially appeared as a one-off in a “TOS” S1, and they feel like a group ripe for exploration.
Strange New Worlds can’t spin the Gorn too much since it needs to stay in line with what later happens in “TOS”, but the series does give them a twist. This brings us a darker than average episode and a good way to complete S2 – well, semi-complete, as “Hegemony” provides a cliffhanger to resolve in Season Three.
Note that a major “TOS” character makes a Worlds debut here.
All in all, S2 works really well. Worlds still feels a little too much like “fan fiction” at times, but it comes with too much life and energy for me to care.
