There is a provocative trend materialising within the storytelling in Strange New Worlds and it’s important it’s explored. It would seem that this new Star Trek show, which seems to have come out of nowhere, is not just paying homage to The Original Series in tone, style, and milieu, but, it’s also simultaneously paying homage to different “science fiction” franchises laying adjacent to Star Trek.
listen to our latest episode below as we explain…
Listen To This Episode:
Synopsis Of “The Serene Squall”:
While on a dangerous humanitarian mission, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise stumbles into a harrowing game of leverage with the quadrant’s deadliest space pirate.
“Spock Amok” was the episode where this practice peeked its head up. It is the first Strange New Worlds episode that dips its toe into comedy. Not that Star Trek hasn’t attempted comedy before. The Original Series arguably lets its hair down more often than any other Star Trek show (excluding Lower Decks, of course).
Then there’s “The Serene Squall”, which feels like an amalgam of Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Firefly. These podcasters have said before that Strange New Worlds employs a novel charm and lightheartedness. But this episode goes further in its casual good humour and levity even when the characters face torture and death.
Pike is being beaten by an alien goon, masterminded ostensibly by a portly blue guy who is convinced to spare Pike from his beating with the promise of cooking. If that doesn’t sound like a Firefly episode…
It’s reasonable to say the writers took this levity a step too far. There are moments when the silliness subverts the over-arching plot of the episode, taking the air out of the drama. For example, the eventual villain who flips from being a good guy to a bad guy overplays the evilness so much that it feels like something from Guardians of the Galaxy.
Overall, it’s a good episode, and these podcasters like that the show is stretching to be something different than just prequel fodder. Hopefully, this adventurousness continues.
About The Measure of an Episode Podcast
Jonathan and Paul embark on a thirteen-and-a-half-year mission, combing through any and all episodes of Star Trek, classic and new, to discover what makes Star Trek “Star Trek”, and not just good TV. Or great TV. Or really, really bad TV. They subject their well-honed criteria to one randomly selected episode at a time. Listen in and you be the judge if we get it right.
