TL;DR – it is time to bring the battle to the Gorn, if they can save everyone from a gruesome death.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

It is that wonderful time of year when I get to welcome some new Star Trek. After the smorgasbord of shows in 2024, it has been a bit of a wait, but I am now and always will be here for more Strange New Worlds. We may only have three seasons left of the show, but I am ready to enjoy each and every episode, starting with the follow-up to last season’s cliffhanger.  

So, to set the scene, after hinting for two seasons, the Gorn are here, and not only are they here, but they have also started taking Federation planets. Fighting across the planet to save the colonists, while Starfleet headquarters called them back, it is what Enterprise crews are made of. The only problem is that when they beamed out all the survivors, some of the transporters were green, and the Federation does not use green transporters. Now, Captain Pike (Anson Mount) must work out how to save his crew and the woman he loves before they fall to the Gorn. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

What I liked so very much in this first episode is how each of the cast members had their moment to shine. Pike was in deep shock, but he still had time to support Scott (Martin Quinn) and Pelia (Carol Kane) and tell them he believed in them. Indeed, the moment he broke down and started reciting the Lord’s Prayer was this surprisingly touching moment that I was not expecting at all. Admiral April (Adrian Holmes) could have just been the obstacle the crew had to get around, but he listened to what Pike had to say, understood the threat, and acted accordingly. La’An (Christina Chong) is put into one of her nightmares, but she steps up and faces her fear. Even if it was just Spock (Ethan Peck) finding a bit of faith, every moment both fit the show and the characters.

Then we have the continued reworking of the Gorn that brings more and more depth to a race that spent much of the last fifty-odd years being a footnote. They are a species that didn’t build their ships with the same type of technology as most of the other species in the quadrant, which makes them have both interesting strengths and weaknesses. There are aspects that I can feel drawn from the Scarran of Farscape and the Wraith from Stargate Atlantis, but they bring it to a slightly horrific, Collectors from Mass Effect place. Finding how their biorhythms were impacted by stellar activity was a very Star Trek solution to the problem.      

Now, it has to be said that the show continues to be one of the most stunningly beautiful sci-fi shows out there at the moment. The opening ramming scene between the Enterprise and the Gorn cruiser was amazing to witness. You felt the impact, the destruction. This is helped by the set design that feels like it could be real; it removes all of your suspension of disbelief. The musical score also sung this week in a way that brought up emotions while listening to it. Now, some of the impact of this episode was weakened by the fact that it was stuck following the big cliffhanger of  Hegemony while also airing after all the trailers for season 3 had to be released, which removed a lot of the tension about whether people would make it out or not. But I will say, even with that, there was a moment, just a moment, where I actually thought that they would risk killing off Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia). I mean, they didn’t, but you got me thinking for a second.   

In the end, do we recommend Star Trek: Strange New Worlds? Yes, we do. It did get stuck being the holdover from the last season, and you can feel everyone is ready to get stuck into the next season, but they had to tick this off the list first. But it was still a bunch of fun, and I look forward to everything else we get this season. Have you seen Star Trek: Strange New Worlds yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments below.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Directed by – Chris Fisher
Written by – Davy Perez & Henry Alonso Myers
Created by – Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman & Jenny Lumet
Based On – Star Trek Created by Gene Roddenberry
Production/Distribution Companies – CBS Television Studios, Roddenberry Entertainment, Secret Hideout & Paramount+
Starring – Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, Martin Quinn & Rebecca Romijn with Adrian Holmes, Melanie Scrofano, Dan Jeannotte & Carol Kane and Rong Fu, Matia Jackett & Alex Kapp