Star Trek Strange New Worlds is a prequel  series that takes place before the Original Star Trek show from the 60s. It focuses mainly on Captain Pike, who was the captain before James T Kirk of the Starship USS Enterprise. He was on his very own five year mission to explore strange new worlds, seek out new lifeforms and new civilizations, and boldly go where no man has gone before. This series introduced younger versions of some of the fan favorite characters like Spock, Nyota Uhura, and Christine Chapel, as well as introduced new characters such as La’an Noonien-Singh,  Erica Ortegas,  and Dr. Enbenga. This has been the best Star Trek since Picard but reminded me mostly of Star Trek The Next Generation. That’s why I love it so much. Season 3 gets off to a wild start, so buckle in and charge Phasers.

When Season 2 of Star Trek Strange New Worlds left off with Hegemony Pt 1, the Starship USS Enterprise was being attacked by many Gorn ships. and  part of the crew was stranded on a Gorn ship. At this point in the journey of the USS Enterprise, the major threat to the Federation was the Gorn lizard-like creatures. Captain Pike had a love interest, Captain Maria Batel, who was held captive and implanted with Gorn embryos. This meant this crazy scenario he and his crew found themselves in meant a lot to him.  This was a crazy way to start Season 3, but there had to be a conclusion to that cliffhanger fans were left with in Season 2.  

This season of Strange New Worlds is a bit disjointed so far. There are various episodes that focus on different members of the cast. One involving a wedding that was a bit weird. Other episodes showed that the writers were trying to flex their muscles with a lot of creativity in the stories. The writers and showrunners wanted to channel past Star Trek episodes from other shows from the past. Even fan favorite characters pop up in cameos. I did like one specific episode that had a classic Star Trek feel, though. This season isn’t as good as the past couple seasons though even though a big character from the past is finally premiering. He is one of my favorite characters.

 This season goes with a lot of strange/odd decisions regarding storytelling. In the past seasons, the writers and showrunners focused more on character studies. This season, there are a few plot points they focus on involving Spock and Christine Chapel’s relationship, the Gorn being a constant  threat and issues involving Pike and his relationship as well. I loved the character based single episode stories from the past seasons much better than the ones I’ve seen this season.  One mainly focused on La’an Noonien Singh, Christina Chong’s character was the best of this season so far. There were crazy costumes, and it involved a technological aspect to Star Trek not seen for many years. There are no spoilers here, though. You have to watch the episode to find out what I’m talking about.

The cast of Strange New Worlds is one of the strong points of the show for me. Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, and the others are one of the main reasons I watch this show. I feel the character development is down this season, though. In favor of wacky storytelling.  I get it the original Star Trek is an inspiration for this season, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of the characters I’ve grown to love in the past two seasons. A one-off odd episode is fine, but it seems every episode I’ve seen this season is some kind of strange thing, I know that’s in the title of the show. I just want to learn more about the crew members. This show has a finite number of seasons because it connects to the original Star Trek, but it gives me more character development and less weird and wacky stuff.

Over the three seasons that this series has been going on, there have been mainly two recurring villains, and those are the Gorn and the Klingons. This season has one episode dedicated to each of these evil races of villains.  The first was obviously the second part of the cliffhanger from season two, and then there was a standalone episode dedicated to a Klingon revenge plot against Dr. M’bengas character played by Babs Olusanmokun. I want to see more Klingons this season, but the show has led up to the gorn as the major threat during this show. They have been good so far, but the jury is still out on them if they are a truly evil big bad like the Borg , Romulans, or the Klingons have been in the past. With more episodes to come, hopefully, they will pop up again soon.

Star Trek Strange New World has been a delight in the past two seasons. This season, after only 5 episodes thus far, I can honestly say it’s not looking good so far. The first episode, Hegemony Pt 2, was very good, but the season as a whole has let me down. Yes, there have been a few bright spots. The introduction of one of my favorite characters of all time and  the Klingon episode have been the bright spots so far. This season lacks the character development I wanted to see, like the previous two seasons had. With more episodes to come in season 3, hopefully, things will pick from that standpoint. Right now, this season is just okay,  not great,  like the past two seasons have been.

Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 3 Will Be Streaming On Paramount + Starting July 17th  5/10 Episodes Have Been Reviewed

3 stars

Dan Skip Allen