Tripwire Reviews Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season Two

Still Enterprising

Tripwire’s editor-in-chief Joel Meadows takes a look at CBS’ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season Two, available to buy on Blu-Ray now…

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season Two
Showrunner: Akiva Goldsman
Stars: Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Christina Chong, Melissa Navia, Rebecca Romijn, Jess Bush, Celia Rose Gooding, Babs Olusanmokun

Launched in 2022, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds depicts the adventures of Captain Pike, his science officer Spock and the rest of the crew on the USS Enterprise before Kirk and co took over. With one season under its belt, it can now dispense with the character introductions and jump straight into brand new stories. Season one was a lot of fun and managed to balance humour with action the way that the classic Trek series pulled off.

The opener The Broken Circle sees Lt Noonien-Singh (Chong), who has been on leave after the first season, contact the Enterprise to ask for Spock’s assistance on a distant planet run by rogue Vulcans bent on bringing Starfleet into a new war. It’s a strong opening episode although it does introduce new character Pelia, played by Carol Kane, who is a little bit of an acquired taste here.

pic: James Dimmock

pic: James Dimmock

Throughout the show, the chemistry between Mount and Peck is one of the most enduring aspects here. Thankfully, Mount’s barber has reined in his previously Mr Whjppy-like hair which was sometimes a distraction in the first season.

The second episode, which follows on from the conclusion of the first season, Ad Astra Per Aspera, gives us the trial of Una Chinn-Riley (Ramos), who has been accused of hiding her genetic alterations. It feels like classic Trek with her lawyer, fellow Illyrian Neera Ketoul, played by Yetide Bamako, stepping in to defend her honour and prevent her from being discharged from her duties and her role.

The next episode, Tomorrow And Tomorrow, has La’an travelling back in time to prevent a disaster that could alter humanity’s history. She meets an alternate version of James Kirk, played again by Paul Wesley who has cropped up here before, and they form a personal connection. It’s another very solid episode with the focus on Noonien-Singh and Kirk offering a very effective two-hander.

Next comes Among The Lotus Eaters, which sees Pike, Doctor Mbenga and Noonien-Singh trapped on Rigel Seven, a planet which has similarities to medieval Earth in its culture with a ruling class and a serf class, which saps people’s memories. Pike thought he left a crewmate behind on the planet but he is alive albeit changed. A fun episode with lots of action and a well-realised setting.

Charades turns the focus on Spock who has a shuttle accident which turns him fully human just when his fiancé T’Pring springs a ceremonial dinner on him. Peck is very good at comedy and tonally this is a light episode which also moves on the relationship between Spock and Nurse Chapel adeptly.

Lost In Translation focuses on Uhura (Gooding) who appears to be the only crew member who can hear strange noises when Starfleet decides to set up an array to extract an essential ore from a particular place in space. Gooding shows how versatile she is as an actor here and it is testament to her that she plays a younger version of one of the crew of the original series but she has made it her own.

The next episode, Those Old Scientists, is a crossover between Strange New Worlds and animated Trek show Star Trek: Lower Decks, which sees two crew members Ensign Brad Boiler (Jack Quaid) and Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) make the jump from their drawn universe to the live-action Enterprise. It’s a fun albeit rather throwaway episode of SNW with the title an allusion to The Original Series which does explore Trek history with its tongue firmly in its cheek.

Under The Cloak Of War, which follows Those Old Scientists, is perhaps the darkest episode of Star Trek and it’s certainly the most unstinting SNW episode so far. Dramatically it is the best of SNW’s second run: we flash back to the Klingon War where Dr Mbenga and Nurse Chapel first worked together under fire from Klingon general Dak’Rah (Robert Wisdom). Fast forward to the present day and Dak’Rah is now a defector from the Klingons, working with Starfleet to engender greater understanding between Starfleet and the Klingons. However the ambassador isn’t all he appears to be and it doesn’t end well.

The penultimate episode, Subspace Rhapsody, is the musical episode which for me doesn’t work. It seems that ever since Buffy, every TV show has a musical excursion and it is the weakest episode for me among the ten here in the second run.

Moving on, normal service is resumed with Hegemony, which sees the crew facing off against their deadliest adversaries, the Horn. Ever since they redesigned them, altering them from a man in a rubber suit to lethal alien parasites in the first season, they have become a very effective foe. We are introduced to a new Montgomery Scott, played by Martin Quinn, here and the season ends on a cliffhanger for its third run.

The extras here are engaging enough, covering the costume design and how they beefed up the Gorn this series.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuted as a far better Trek show than Discovery and with its second season, the showrunners have built on this. The crew is diverse but genuinely interesting with Mount and Peck deepening the chemistry between Pike and Spock. Every character here serves a unique purpose: the new version of Kirk in the shape of Paul Wesley is well-handled here, although he is a very different figure to Shatner’s Kirk, and the range of different kinds of tales works well in the second season. Pelia is no replacement for Hemmer who was killed in the first season but perhaps her character will grow in the third run. Season Two of Star Trek Strange New Worlds is funny, clever and imbued with the spirit of Star Trek, classic while still feeling fresh and new. It only made one false step for this reviewer (Subspace Rhapsody) but at least it was prepared to experiment and veer away from its formula.

The show treads that fine line between humour and adventure and Mount plays an excellent captain with character complexities that make the viewer want to continue to watch the show. It will be interesting to see what we get in its third run later in 2024.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is on Blu-Ray now