Tag Archives: Christina Chong

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Through the Lens of Time [S3E5] – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is one of those episodes that, structurally, I should love, but is filled with these moments that pull you out of the narrative.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

The away team down on the planet.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Introduction –

Today, we are looking at a bit of a frustrating episode of Star Trek, because it is filled with incredible highs and, unfortunately, deep lows. It is one of those contrasts that can derail an episode, which is what happened here to an extent. It is filled to the brim with all these classical elements that make it shine, but which crash against serial elements that pull it all apart.  

So, to set the scene, the USS Enterprise have been invited by the M’Kroon to the planet Vadia IX. The M’Kroon are a very wary people and have politely declined Federation involvement in the past. But Roger Korby (Cillian O’Sullivan) has found a magnetic anomaly in one of their most sacred locations. After much work from Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) and Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), the M’Kroon have allowed a small landing party to explore the site. Only to discover there may be more to this place than meets the eye. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – A Space Adventure Hour [S3E4] – TV Review

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TL;DR – Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Adventure. Its episode-long mission: to make meta commentary; try and outdo Lower Decks with a Riker reference; and serve shade on William Shatner like never before!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Maxwell Saint

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

Today, I might have watched one of the profoundly odd episodes of Star Trek that has ever Star Treked across the universe. That is, on one hand, a deep love letter to the Original Series in all its camp glory. But it is also a strong critique of the era, while it skirted the edge of canon. It is an episode where you spend most of the runtime wondering: just what did I watch?

So, to set the scene, while the USS Enterprise is at station watching a pulsar starting to collapse, the admiralty thought that this would be the perfect time to test the new holodeck, because if ships are going to be away from base for more than five years, they will need more entertainment opportunities. Thinking of the best candidate to test the holodeck to the limits, there was only one candidate, La’An Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong). So, she decides to base it on the Amelia Moon novels that she loved as a child. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Shuttle to Kenfori [S3E3] – TV Review

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TL;DR – It is time to get our Horror on as something creeps in the dark, waiting to strike. Oh, and the Klingons are here too. 

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The USS Enterprise approaches Kenfori.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

One thing you need to know about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is that it is not afraid to take wild swings in tone and also go “how about we do an ‘insert x’ episode? The sort of episode that makes no sense being in a Star Trek show, but goodness, do they pull it off more times than not. Sometimes this can be a musical episode, but today it is time to dip our toes in some straight-up horror.  

So, to set the scene, back in Hegemony Part II, Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano) caught a bad case of Gorn larvae, and while they thought they had cured the infection, unfortunately, the Gorn are resilient. She didn’t have much hope left, save for one Hail Mary, a Chimera flower only found in Kenfori. There was once a Federation research base on the planet, but it was evacuated during the Klingon-Federation War. Now, it is in the Restricted Zone drawn up after the war. Which means they must undertake a black ops mission, and Pike (Anson Mount) and M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) take a shuttle down to the surface. The research station is still there, and so is the flower. But why is there no animal life on the planet? And why is there a Klingon beacon blasting a warning above the planet? Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Wedding Bell Blues [S3E2] – TV Review

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TL;DR – A profoundly silly episode about love, amazingly silly, yet that is what makes it such a joy.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

The USS Enterprise at Starbase One.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

One of the great strengths of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been its ability to shift from genre to genre on a dime. Sure, everything is still couched in that Sci-fi/Star Trek world. But last season we got Those Old Scientists, Under the Cloak of War &Subspace Rhapsody back to back, and it worked. Well, last week’s episode, Hegemony Part II, was all about war, trauma, and potential harvesting into food by the Gorn. This week, we have a wedding episode. Okay, maybe there isn’t that much of a difference after all.

So, to set the scene, the USS Enterprise has been stuck at Starbase One getting repairs for three months thanks to their battles with the Gorn in Hegemony Part II. But it is coming up to the Federation Day Centennial, and it is time for a ceremonial gala. For some, this is a time of un. But for Spock (Ethan Peck), it is a time of nervousness because Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) is coming back from her three-month fellowship. He is taking out all the steps to make a grand emotional gesture, even getting dance lessons from La’An (Christina Chong). Buuuuuttttt, that doesn’t consider Chapel bringing Dr. Korby (Cillian O’Sullivan) back with her… as her date … Sure hope some entity with cosmic powers doesn’t want to mess with everyone right now. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Hegemony Part II [S3E1] – TV Review

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

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Shields at 30%.

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.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Hegemony & Full Season 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – A tense end to a remarkable season.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

La'an looks through blood stained glass.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

Well, it has been a rollercoaster of a season, with episodes flying, time-travelling shenanigans, and cross-overs happening, but we have now come to an end for now. So in our review today, we will first look at the season finale, Hegemony, which brings up back to the Gorn question hinted about back in The Broken Circle, before looking at how the season went as a whole.

So to set the scene, the USS Cayuga, under the command of Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano), is visiting a new colony on Parnassus Beta just outside of Federation space. The colonists wonder if Federation Membership is the protection they need or the target on their backs. But the subspace communications go down out of nowhere, shuttles fall out of the sky, and a Gorn battleship appears in orbit. Admiral April (Adrian Holmes) cautions Pike (Anson Mount) that this could cause a war between The Federation and The Gorn, and he is only to engage in reconnaissance to see what happened. But that is not what Pike has planned. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Subspace Rhapsody– TV Review

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TL;DR – Look, this was just fun from start to finish.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The USS Enterprise near the subspace fold.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

Voltaire once periportally said, ‘Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.’ And I have seen many examples when that rings true. So, you would think that suddenly dropping a musical episode would be a significant risk. But My Musical from Scrubs and Once More, With Feeling from Buffy has shown that you can shine if you put your all into it.

So to set the scene, the USS Enterprise has found a subspace fold that could be used to boost subspace communications across the sector. Many attempts have failed, and Spock (Ethan Peck) and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) are at their wit’s end when Pelia (Carol Kane) recommends trying music. It causes an effect, just not the one they were looking for when the whole crew starts singing, which is most peculiar. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Those Old Scientists – TV Review

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TL;DR – This episode brought a smile to my face from the moment it started till the second those end credits rolled.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

The Strange New Worlds title sequence done in the style of Lower Decks.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

A cross-over episode used to be the mainstay of network television, with some franchises building their worlds upon it. But for every Brooklyn Nine-Nine/ The New Girl moment that is so perfectly placed that it lives on in memes. You have a sea of awkward messes that fail to elevate either side. Star Trek saw this and went, you know what, let’s take this issue of trying to get two different shows with different vibes to work and add the extra difficulty of both shows being a different medium. But does it work? Oh, yes, it does.   

So to set the scene, it is 2381, and the USS Cerritos has arrived at Krulmuth-B to take a regular scan of the portal on the surface. It has not been active since the time of Pike, but you always need to make sure. Ensigns Boimler (Jack Quaid), Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Tendi (Noël Wells), and Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) beam down to the planet to make sure. It was all going well until the portal is accidentally activated when Boimler is posing for a photo and is sucked in before Mariner can grab him. Waking up after being jettisoned, Boimler looks up to see himself in the sickbay of an old Constitution Class ship to see the one and only Captain Pike (Anson Mount) staring down, and well, he ain’t in Kansas anymore. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Charades – TV Review

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TL;DR – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, but in space is a good set-up for a fun story.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Something is very wrong.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

One of the best choices for the first season of Strange New Worlds was to delve into the relationship between Spock (Ethan Peck) and his then fiancé T’Pring (Gia Sandhu). We only got one episode of this in The Original Series, so it makes sense to shed more light on it here. This led to the amazing Spock Amok and now its follow-up Charades.

So to set the scene, the USS Enterprise is making a slow loop through the Vulcan sector as they explore a moon of the extinct Kerkhov species before visiting Vulcan, where Spock will have a V’Shal dinner. However, Spock and Chapel (Jess Bush) get sucked into a vortex while exploring the ruins. When the Enterprise found the shuttle, it had been repaired from the crash, but when they put Spock back together, they made him fully human. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – TV Review

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TL;DR – An interesting episode on its surface narrative, but even more intriguing once you think about the ramifications.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

The USS Enterprise.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

If there has been one thing that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has excelled at, it is making the most out of its ensemble cast. Nearly every central cast member gets to play a role in the A or B story for the week. However, they also make sure that everyone gets their own focus episode. [well, almost everyone, shout out to Ortegas (Melissa Navia)]. This week it is La’an turn to shine as we get whisked away from the Enterprise to somewhere a bit closer to home.  

So to set the scene, La’an Noonien-Singh’s (Christina Chong) role as chief of security means that she has the unfortunate job of knowing everyone’s business, even when they don’t want it, which is amplified given her mixed emotions regarding Una (Rebecca Romijn) and her behaviour when Una came out as a modified Illyrian. But as she was walking the deck of the USS Enterprise, a white light exploded out from another room, and a gentleman in a suit and a gun wound walked out, talking about an explosion that she had to stop. He disappears in another bright light, but when La’an makes it to the bridge, James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) is now the captain and no one knows who she is. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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