Space...The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.... Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has aired its Season 1 finale and this writer couldn't be more thrilled. I need to preface the rest of this article by saying that I don't remember not being a Trekkie. There isn't a series that I didn't watch and enjoy to some extent. Except for the 1972 Filmation series which I had aged out of by the time I could find a copy.
I grew up in a time when there was always a new Star Trek on TV (1987-2005). From 92 to 99 there were 2 Trek series running. It stung when Enterprise ended in '05 and a few years before there was more Trek. Now, we live in a time where there are four Trek series running, with a fifth in the perpetual rumour mill.
None of these series (except for Lower Decks which reaches me in other ways) has me as excited as Strange New Worlds. SNW has capitalized on one of the better plot lines in Discovery and Original Trek, built upon it and breathed new life into it.
SNW has the right blend of drama, action, and thought-provoking stories wrapped up in the best production values an unproven streaming service can buy. Where Discovery and Picard have opted for season-long arks that have usually become convoluted, confused and confusing, SNW returns to the planet/adventure of the week. It uses adventure to reveal the characters to the audience, while Picard and Discovery attempt to force character development into a murky arc and each is bent to serve the other.
At this point, the reviewer must admit his own bias towards SNW. I have been lucky enough to work on Discovery. I have a few old friends who work on SNW, and it’s made in Toronto. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I’d get a chance to work on Star Trek, let alone get to work on Star Trek in my hometown, Toronto. I’ve worked as an AD for close to 10 years and it was always a treat to go to work on Star Trek.
I’m getting a bit personal when I get into the background performers. One of the duties you have as an AD on set is placing the background players in the scene. The industry in Toronto is still small enough that you get to know a lot of the performers over time because you see them from show to show. There are a lot of familiar faces on board the USS Enterprise. It was heartwarming to see so many colleagues, whom I don’t see too often anymore, working on a fantastic show.
THE EDGE
SNW will run the risk of falling into the same trouble spots that any prequel Trek runs into; conflicts with existing canon. As of this writing, episode 10 has aired and there isn’t anything too egregious, at least nothing that I can't live with.
This may sound like a strange critique…..but the show almost looks too good. There are many who
would argue that Star Trek’s best moments were when the show was struggling to stay on budget. Rarely on 90-2000s trek do you have space suit scenes, they couldn’t afford to build them. Now, no problem. If you want a space suit, you can have 10! The net result is more big beautiful space scenes which are stunning and well produced but can overshadow the characters and the plot. Orson Welles said “[the] enemy of art is the absence of limitations."
One of the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation is season 2s "The Measure of a Man". In it, a hearing is convened to determine if Lieutenant Commander Data, an android, is property. Spoilers if you watch the clip below
The majority of the episode takes place in that courtroom, which is a redress of a standing set. But, with dialogue and performers like that, you could have put it in a room with 4 white walls and it would compelling. Now compare TNG's Measure of a Man to this to a scene of similar gravity in SNW's premiere episode.
Great dialogue, great performer....but we cut away from Anson Mount's performance to a few crowd scenes and some terrific VFX. There is a lot of money spent on that scene, but did you need it? The dollars they spent were not egregious and did help to sell the story. Could we have sufficed with some dialogue tweaks and let Mount do his work?
There isn’t a ton of drawbacks to SNW. Even my wife enjoyed it and she does not even pretend to be a sci-fi fan.
THE LOWDOWN
There are a lot of great things about working on a Star Trek. You become a small part of a massive franchise that started before you were born and will more than likely still be around after you pass on. Most shows you’ve worked on don’t have that amount of history.
Working on Star Trek means you’re indoors in the studio 90% of the time, which is great. You can control your environment, the only thing holding back your schedule is the movement of humanity. I can easily say that some of the most pleasant days of my career were spent working on Discovery. The cast we're some of the most professional and warm performers I've ever come across. The food was great, and with a few exceptions, the hours were manageable. The budget was also large enough that you could always get the right number of people you needed to get a day done properly.
THE JIST
SNW is the best Trek outing since the first Abrams Trek in 2009. It skillfully pulls all the best parts of the Trek franchise into a familiar blend that will capture the die-hard fanbase and, with any luck, attract some new viewers. Not to spoil too much but the last episode of the first season is probably the best episode of Trek that has been produced since Enterprise was cancelled in '05.
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