‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Recap – ‘Strange New Worlds’

Written by Shae Rufe

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the series premiere of ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’.
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Paramount+ aired its newest Star Trek series this week, Strange New Worlds, following the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701), only it’s not the crew we have all come to know and love. The Enterprise has seen many come and go, most notably a certain Captain that we all associate the Enterprise with. But however infamous James T. Kirk is, he’s not the first Captain of the Enterprise to ever gallivant across the stars, breaking rules, causing mischief, and flirting his way out of danger. Christopher Pike seems to be the ideal role model for any Jim Kirk in any Trek universe, and Strange New Worlds is no different. Chris Pike might not have had it easy, he did see his presumed death, of sorts, and that has him more than a bit shaken. Understandably, he chooses to take some time off and reevaluate his life. This doesn’t last, because duty calls, and a man like Pike isn’t going to refuse that call for long.
 
Well, the main motivation is the disappearance of his first officer, Una. A very fair reason to saddle back up, so to speak. This call to action, unfortunately, interrupts Spock’s engagement celebration as T’Pring finally proposed. Like any good Starfleet officer, though, Spock is ready to report for duty, despite his fiancé’s frustrations. There are new faces, of course, La’an Noonien-Singh stands in Una’s place as First Officer during the duration of the rescue mission, something Chris is not pleased with. Erica Ortegas is at the helm, and let’s not forget the best additions to the Enterprise, Christine Chapel and M’Benga, the second-best nurse and Doctor team there is. It’s too early for Bones, but let’s not lose hope that he might show up by the end of this series. A very young Nyota Uhura is the young cadet managing communications, and really the team is solid.

The mission is simple, get to Kiley 279, the planet Una and her team were last logged, just before making first contact, and find them. This shouldn’t be too hard of a mission, right? Sadly, rescue missions are simply not that simple, especially for the crew of the Enterprise. Upon arriving at the planet in question, they discover the U.S.S. Archer, and it’s empty. Una had only come with two scientists aboard the Starship. Moments later, the Enterprise detects a warp signature down on the planet’s surface. Thankfully, La’an speaks up and has them raise shields just before they get hit with three plasma torpedoes from Kiley 279. How does an M class planet with no space colonization capabilities magically have plasma torpedoes and warp signatures?
 
It’s a question Pike has to find the answers to, and he’s going to bring Spock and La’an with him to find out. Before they beam down to the planet, Chapel injects them with just a bit of Kiley DNA to mix with their own and modify their appearance for just a bit, all so they can blend in on the away mission. It’s a brilliant way go undetected, that is until Spock’s body wears out the temporary effects too quickly. Still, with a booster shot, they’re able to get down to where Una is being held and once she and the other crew are rescued, everyone comes to learn that the battle with Control to send the U.S.S. Discovery through a wormhole to the future… didn’t go unnoticed. Because the people of Kiley 279 saw everything and figured out how to reverse engineer warp technology… way ahead of their time.

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Normally, that’s a bad thing and Starfleet frowns upon First Contact of a world that isn’t ready, but in this case, Una really didn’t have much else to work with. She didn’t know that Kiley 279 was in the midst of a civil war, split between two differing governments. It really isn’t her fault. Pike sends everyone but Spock back to the ship in hopes of meeting with a leader in order to get this resolved. Not because of the Federation’s rules and regulations, but because he won’t be responsible for those weapons killing innocent people. It’s very admirable. He does manage to get the governments to speak to each other in hopes of peace talks. Once back on the Enterprise, Chris chimes into the talks with a speech of his own. A severely dire warning. What Earth went through in her second civil, and later World War, and eventually nuclear disaster, before finally coming back together.
 
While the imploring is strong and manages to get Kiley 279’s politicians to talk peace, it does lead to a new strict regulation from the Federation. Sure, Kiley 279 joined the United Federation of Planets, only way too early in her development, really. Even so, breaking rules has resulted in the Federation renaming their Number 1 rule into the Prime Directive. Chris can live with that, since he’s decided to stay on as Captain. Una takes her place back as First Officer, and La’an is given the chief security position. The crew is shaping up nicely, especially with the arrival of Sam Kirk, the not quite-as-cool older brother to Jim.

What adventures lie ahead? Will Chris’ fate be that of what he saw (I refuse to believe it)? Can Nurse Chapel get her own mini-series? All these questions answered in due time, we hope!

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