These podcasters took the liberty of perusing the audience comments on Amazon.com to see how the show was faring critically amongst the fans. We decided to focus on the worst 1-star reviews (15% of total reviews), since reading endless praise about a show isn’t very interesting or fun. And we’re all about fun.
Listen to our latest episode below as we explain…
Listen To This Episode:
There were a few negative comments about Pike’s hair (which we can get on board with) and a few about there being too many women on the bridge (usually from women’s posters!). But it turns out we were wrong about there likely being a diversity of complaints and gripes about the show. No, most dissenters are got their knickers in a twist about the show’s alleged “woke” milieu.
It’s unclear what many of the angry commenters actually mean when invoking “wokeness” in their reviews. There is a strong female presence in the show which people dislike apparently. The show also focuses on the historically unconventional sexuality of the characters which also vexes many of the commenters.
However, the comments generally lean political in their objections to the show, using “woke” as a signalling implement more than a descriptor of the complaint itself. (It doesn’t take long before Biden-haters materialize.) These podcasters doubt the commenters could truly define the word “woke” if screws came to thumbs.
The subtext of the negative comments seems to be an expression of what the more conservative audience of Strange New Worlds believes to be an infringement of their values. I’m not sure how a television show could be capable of threatening one’s beliefs or values, but apparently Strange New Worlds has done it!
Of course, the acerbic nature of the comments could also be attributed to the tried and true this-isn’t-the-Star-Trek-I-know reaction to new Trek, which isn’t worth elaboration since it’s been beaten to death with a dead horse on the internet already.
These podcasters do not side with the nay-sayers. We think Strange New Worlds is the best thing that has happened to Star Trek in a long time and we’re excited about the next season. Now if they could just do something about Pike’s hair…
Synopsis Of “A Quality of Mercy”:
In the season one finale, just as Captain Pike thinks he’s figured out how to escape his fate, he’s visited by his future self, who shows him the consequences of his actions.
