Star Trek: Strange New Worlds takes its crew of misfits and newbies, old and new, and shunts them across the stars in a shiny upgrade of the beloved USS Enterprise. Led by Captain Pike, a familiar name to long-time fans of the series as well as those coming in from the Kelvin-verse, the crew take on their 5-year mission to explore new worlds, a goal that hasn't been revisited since Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The crew -- comprising the iconic Spock, a young Cadet Uhura, Number One, Nurse Chapel and newcomers La'an, Hemmer, Dr. M'Benga and Ortegas -- provides a welcome mix of classic characters and fresh faces with new stories. This crew, with its visual and narrative diversity, is one of the main reasons the show feels true to the franchise's origin. The characters have depth in their personalities and stories, creating complex interpersonal relationships in the mostly episodic series.
Strange New Worlds Provides New Lore for Pike, Spock and Number One
Strange New Worlds takes place before the events of The Original Series; it's almost a direct prequel with many of Season 1's events hinting at the Enterprise's future. The central figures of the series, Captain Pike, Spock and Number One (aka Una), were originally created for the famously axed pilot of Star Trek: The Original Series, "The Cage", however, the versions of the characters in Strange New Worlds were first introduced in an episode of Star Trek: Discovery, in which Pike saves Spock's life and sees his own death in the process. Strange New Worlds then begins with a shaken, scared Pike reeling with this new future knowledge as he attempts to captain Starfleet's flagship.
Pike grappling with death becomes one of the central themes of the series and offers a compelling reason for the recklessness he sometimes exhibits, similar to Captain Kirk on The Original Series. Spock, not yet a First Officer, spends much of his time working through his internal human-versus-Vulcan conflict with his fiancé T'Pring, and Una hides a major secret from all those onboard. These underlying character threads create calamity and shenanigans similar to those on The Original Series and The Next Generation. Episodes feel like one-offs but always further the character development of each of the crew members, never losing the fun romp effect or the emotional payoff.
Fresh Characters Tie Into Classic Storylines on Strange New Worlds
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The new additions to the Enterprise are also tied into the show's established canon. Uhura, whilst a beloved character from the franchise's history, is almost a new character as a young intern aboard the ship. Her unfamiliarity with all things Starfleet creates an access point for a new audience and helps redefine her character from the beginning. La'an Noonien-Singh, the security officer, a coveted position aboard any Starfleet ship, is a distant relative of notorious Original Series villain Khan Noonien-Singh. Although she doesn't seem to have any direct relationship with him, his legacy in the story is an Easter egg that informs many of her opinions and character choices.
The series also harkens back to fan-favorite The Original Series episodes like "Amok Time" with "Spock Amok," which feature Spock having to deal with his relationship with Vulcan and his fiancé. The varied genre of each episode helps the TOS feel of the show, with convoluted and humorous storylines holding equal weight to more sinister and deadly themes. Unlike other new Star Trek shows like Discovery, Strange New Worlds also follows the TOS formula of the crew encountering a problem and working together to solve that problem, usually led astray by a single character's backstory or personal motivation. Be it through encountering new races or messing up with diplomacy, the episodes usually result in Pike having faith in his crew to get out safely.
Strange New Worlds Shares The Original Series' Goal
Anson Mount's Pike sets the tone of the show, prioritizing exploration and kindness. Similar to William Shatner's Kirk, Pike keeps a level head and follows his gut, acting mostly on intuition with the aid of Spock's logic. He is effective as a captain but maintains individuality, using rules as a guideline rather than law. Ultimately, the Enterprise's goal is to explore and offer aid to other civilizations, growing the Federation to the best of their diplomats' ability. The role of Kirk on Star Trek: The Original Series is to show the best of humanity; Pike offers similar traits but uses them to elevate those around him, human and alien alike.
Strange New Worlds breathes fresh air into a franchise with almost 60 years of content. It returns to the concepts that made The Original Series so popular, not shying away from comedy or drama, upholding character above all and telling interesting stories about distant people and places in a genre that is much more saturated now than when Star Trek first aired in 1964. The opening titles even riff on The Original Series' music. The series doesn't rely on any prior knowledge of the franchise, exploring strange new worlds and boldly going back to where we've been before.
Season 1 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is available to stream on Paramount+, with Season 2 debuting on June 15, 2023.