TL;DR – Star Trek tries to do a Farscape episode; it has its moments, but it had completely fallen apart by the time the credits rolled.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service used to view this series.

End Credit – There is a mid-credit scene

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review Introduction

Throughout the history of Star Trek, there has been the ‘shore leave episode’. They are a staple of the franchise, and there have been the highs of the titular Original Series episode Shore Leave and the lows of Deep Space Nine’s Let He Who Is Without Sin… Today Strange New Worlds is taking a swing at it and commits a bit too much in places and not enough in others.

So, to set the scene, back in Valles Marineris, it was mentioned that the crew has been going over six months without a break, and last week’s dive into horror, The Griffin Incident, probably didn’t help the situation. Understanding that tensions are fraught and the crew is heading into a difficult negotiation to end the civil war on Rodaxia, Pike (Anson Mount) decides that all the Alpha Shift needs to take some recreational leave. Thankfully, the hotel planet Cesnar is along the way. A planet whose atmosphere is intoxicating and brings everyone along on a journey. I mean, what is the worst that could happen if the whole bridge crew is high at the same time? Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

The Good

I am torn when it comes to this episode, mainly because there were some fantastic elements and others that fell flat on their face. What worked for me was that this was an episode that teamed up Ortegas (Melissa Navia) and Scotty (Martin Quinn), and I entirely enjoyed their journey together. Having Ortegas as the one straight man in a sea of inhibition was a good way of bringing the audience in and moving the story along. Their bonding at the end that gets at the core of why they have been antagonistic was interesting to see, and I think that element of the story was handled very well. To add to that, there were some comedic moments in the episode that did work. I loved Una (Rebecca Romijn) singing Total Eclipse of the Heart in the original Klingon, Scotty’s silly shirt, and La’An (Christina Chong) winning over a gang by becoming its leader after beating up the old leader was fun. I also have to admit, seeing the old Animated Series style animation in the add for the hotel was a delight.

The Missed Opportunity

The one thing I did feel as the episode went along was that it was trying to be this zany fun episode, but ‘trying’ is the operative word there. The closest comparison for this episode that I can think of is some of the wilder episodes of Farscape, most notably Scratch’ N’ Sniff, which shares a lot of narrative similarities. Famously, that episode needed a complete recreation in editing to work. Without that added intensity, we get an episode that is far too silly for a normal Star Trek episode but far too bland for where they wanted to pitch the tone. Dave Foley’s character was wasted as it is barley in the episdoe, much of the bridge crew only get one comedic beat, and the reveal of Spock (Ethan Peck) and Kirk (Paul Wesley) makes no sense happening back on the USS Enterprise.

The Bad

Which unfortunately brings us to the bad in the episode, which is the fact that everyone being half drunk and feeling sorry for themselves in the shuttle was not the end of the episode. Everything that happens once the crew get back on board the USS Enterprise is cringe-inducing. None of those characters, clearly still drunk/high, would/should have been allowed back on duty no matter what the situation was. If you thought the zaniness didn’t work well on the planet, it is abysmal back on the ship. The more this went on, the more I found myself rapidly detaching from the episode.

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Star Trek: Strange New Worlds? I am not sure I can. Watching this episode, I was constantly reminded of how the show can do episodes like this with Subspace Rhapsody and Those Old Scientists as good examples. However, something has clearly gone wrong in the writing, the production, or the editing of this episode, because it simply does not work. 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 Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, 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 – Yana Gorskaya
Written by – Kathryn Lyn
Created by – Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, & Jenny Lumet
Based On – Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry
Production/Distribution Companies – CBS Studios, Secret Hideout, Weed Road Pictures, HMRX, Roddenberry Entertainment, & Paramount +
Starring – Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, Martin Quinn, Paul Wesley, & Rebecca Romijn
With – Dave Foley
And – Darryl Hinds, Kirstin Rae Hinton, Alex Kapp, Kathryn Lyn, & Louisa Martin