Anson Mount leads a cheerful crew on weekly adventures throughout the cosmos.
Let’s get to the good stuff.
The fourth episode ofStar Trek: Strange New Worldshurls theU.S.S.
Ethan Peck and Anson Mount on ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’.James Dimmock/Paramount+
Enterpriseinto a high-tension starship duel.
Something is hunting his crew.
It’s a matter of time until theEnterpriseexplodes, unless it implodes first.
Melissa Navia on ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’.Marni Grossman/Paramount+
That’s episode 4.
Episode 5 of the new-ish series (premiering Thursday onParamount+) downshifts into loopy character comedy.
There’s a body swap, a blossoming love triangle, some neutral-zone diplomacy.
Two total badasses worry they aren’t fun enough, and that is the B-plot.
Mount exudes a casual charisma: Imagine a non-creepy professor who cares, hotly.
The whole cast has fun playing people who have fun.
Paranoid space-submarine combat followed by raucous shore-leave farce?
If, if, if.
This fifth streamingTrekseries arrives almost five years afterStar Trek: Discovery’s premiere.
It’s been a dizzy half-decade of departed showrunners and mission tweaks.
AfterDiscovery’s generally dour first year (they snapped the cool gay doctor’s neck!
I don’t know.
Technically, the origin ofStrange New Worldspredates its own franchise.
Mount was already delightful as Pike onDiscovery, and this show leans into his charm.
So, yes, this is still aStar Trekshow co-created by Alex Kurtzman.
(La’an’s a distant relation toKHAAAAAAAAAN.)
There’s no serialized narrative, something all the other recentTreks struggled with.
Instead, the originalEnterpriseis back doing weekly missions.
An approaching ion storm is weirder than the average ion storm.
A mysterious ship does mysterious things.
An infectious space disease does weird stuff with light.
That comet is no normal comet.
Some of this is fun.
It’s a kick to seeTrekrediscover the appeal of hourlong storytelling.
A couple new additions pop right away.
The vibe can get frisky.
Spock goes shirtless ASAP.
Somewhere, beyond our frail conception of reality, this is blowing Gene Roddenberry’s mind.
Fanatics will note how the 23rd century has changed sinceTrekexplored this material half a century ago.
Chapel’s eyebrows are now thick as Spock’s.
Peck’s hairless pecs make Leonard Nimoy’s chest lookpositively Bear Creek.
I do love that tunic, but the production design is generally a bit shiny-bland.
I’m talking a lot about the older shows.
How can we not?
The style is very neocon pop, so much familiar iconography reheated with maximum zhuzh.
you might bet any enigmatic aliens will have a franchise past.
Gooding is very good as a thoughtful rookie.
I think she’s on board.
On the other hand, Peck has found his Vulcan groove after hisDiscoverystint.
He has wider eyes than Nimoy, so this Spock always looks mildly shocked.
That’s a big shift fromZachary Quinto, whose Spock always looked mildly angry.
The show has alreadycast Paul Wesley as James Kirk for next season.
The theme song sounds like a public domain riff on the original theme song.
Are we strange and new, or ordinary and old?
Like I said, things get better.
Co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers worked onThe Magiciansand seems to have imported some plucky Syfy yuks.
When the warp drive is ready, his trademark command says it all.
“Hit it.”
Who wouldn’t?B
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