“A Space Adventure Hour”

This was fine, I guess, though it's another episode built out of parts stripped from prior Trek episode – the retro TV series was Captain Proton, the holodeck malfunctions were straight out of any number of TNG episodes, and the Spock twist was Moriarty from "Elementary, Dear Data."

I wish were were getting more real science fiction in this science fiction TV show. This is the second gimmick episodes so far this season; with only four aired, fully half are larks. Trelaine, murder mysteries, meta commentary on Trek itself....musicals last year, cartoon crossovers, and now puppets next season. Where are the real sci-fi concepts like "Children of the Comet," or even "Lost in Translation?"

For myself, this was a dreary hour of Star Trek. I struggled to get through it. Much of this had been done better in early Trek. I felt no tension in this episode as the ship's power was being threatened by the holodeck's consumption of power. Finally, one of the issues that comes with a prequel is that the audience knows how things will come to be and sometimes a thing comes along which we know will end. An example is the romance between Spock and La'An. We know that in a year Spock will be in a relationship with someone who he couldn't express his emotions with, Leila Kalomi from "This Side of Paradise", so the relationship with La'An will end by that point.

I'm gonna preface this by saying that I'm a huge fan of SNW. It captures the spirit of TOS brilliantly. I feel like a kid again when I'm watching it. (I'm a Trekkie for over 30 years now)

But ... what the fuck are they doing? They only have those short 10-episode seasons. Last week we had a lame Zombie episode, and this week we have a holodeck malfunction episode for 100th time. Why are they wasting time with this? The actors are brilliant here as usual. Anson Mount is fantastic in these whimsical roles, just as he was in season 1's "The Elysian Kingdom", and Paul Wesley was more Kirk here than in any previous episode. The production quality is insane as usual. But the story is so tiring and boring that it's a slog to watch.

I'm also not really happy with the direction they're taking Spock and La'an, both individually and as a potential couple. La'an is reduced to being Kirk's and Spock's love interest. What a waste! She's such an interesting character on her own. And Spock only ever gets romantic and comedic storylines. Just for once I want him to deal with something serious.

I'm not going into the continuity bit where we have a fully functioning holodeck technology 100 years before TNG. The timeline is malleable after all, as we learned last season. But if they kept it more in line with TAS (where the recreation room could only create environments but not people) they could have done a much funnier episode with the crew hanging out on the holodeck and role-playing in different environments. Maybe as a teambuilding exercise after all the Gorn stuff or whatever. Again, those actors are all fantastic. I'd watch 45 minutes of them just goofing around, like in the end credits.

SNW had a couple of duds before but this is the first time that I'm actually disappointed with the show. :-(

Sigh. Another gimmick episode. This episode thinks it’s a lot more fun than it actually is. This isn’t a love letter to the fans – it’s the writers and producers doing a love letter to themselves. All the meta fourth wall-breaking is quite clichéd now, and all it does is frame a story that is ‘Star Trek: Knives Out’. I can’t stand Knives Out, so I didn’t think much to this. No surprise that SNW is swiping from yet another franchise, either.

Look, of course it’s silly fun to see the cast in different roles, and Chong is truly superb – she was an excellent choice as the focus character – but is this really the best we can hope for? Uhura’s meta speech about Trek is ill-advised. It only underlines the gulf between what Trek was and what Trek has become. It is like reading history aloud and expecting us to go wow.

Introducing the holodeck isn’t a surprise at this point. The attempt at a ‘Lex Spock’ explanation at the end to try and paper over the smashing of continuity showed that Lyn knew people were going to point out Riker’s response to seeing it for the first time in 'Encounter at Farpoint'.

Other points, as if it matters: Paul Wesley actually does Shatner’s vocal over-acting surprisingly well in the teaser; I wish they would stop referring to Pelia when she isn’t there; the visual effects of the Enterprise being grazed by but evading the gamma ray burst were as excellent as one would expect from this show; Una is used very well two weeks in a row, and Romijn steals every scene she’s in – unfortunately, however, we get: ‘Do you trust Ortegas?’ ‘I do’ – mentioning last week’s key scene only to invalidate it. Lovely to hear Frakes at the end. Oh, and more young adult romance, now between La'an and Spock. Ship new worlds!

As always, some people are going to claim this is the best episode of Trek ever. But it’s getting harder and harder to take SNW seriously week in and week out. I am sure Rian Johnson feels flattered by this episode, though.

That was rough. I can't even give it one star. (sigh)

Is it fan service?
is it that the writers can't write an original story to save their lives?
is it both?

That was painful. Except for holodeck Mount, who was amazing (both his acting and his hair).
Wth is with this version of "jeune premier" Spock, the love interest of Enterprise?

I guess I'm going to buck the establishing consensus here and say I found this - far and away - the best of the first four episodes. I was suitably entertained throughout, and even mildly amused at the within-simulation version of TOS, and only figured out the twist regarding holo-Spock a few minutes before it was revealed.

The starting premise for the episode was admittedly ridiculous. The writers clearly attempted to square away several conflicting things we've seen across the Trek series (the holdeck being new in TNG, but TAS having a "rec room" and Discovery showing a combat simulator that looked a lot like a holodeck. I'm not sure this level of continuity fixing was needed, but some fans may appreciate it.

We've obviously seen holodeck episodes done to death at this point, but the episode makes the choice, similar to DS9's Our Man Bashir (a fantastic romp), to have the main cast play the alternate roles. It's not the first time SNW did this (The Elysian Kingdom was much the same, albeit under different circumstances), but it was interesting hearing Jess Bush use her native Australian accent, or Babs try and fake a London accent. I'm less sure why La'an herself began talking in a pretty good American accent when "in character" - the character herself has no acting background, after all, so I'd expect a bad accent or none at all.

Regardless, I loved the insider mid-20th century Hollywood references, and the TOS spoof was in small enough doses I thought it worked fine. In general though, I'm a big fan of these sort of "work against type" Trek episodes, so I can understand why some would find it frustrating.

At first I was confused why we kept cutting back to Scotty, but they did eventually work this B-plot into the episode. Still, it was far less engaging than the A-plot, partially because we're treading ground we already saw in the previous episode, with a slightly bumbling, inexperienced Scotty.

The one aspect I'm not happy about at all is the Spock-La'an romance. We got a little hint of romantic tension in Episode 2, and they're already smooching? Maybe they felt they did the slow burn thing with Spock and Chapel, and wanted this to cut against type, but I'm sick of Spock's character arcs revolving around his love life. I'd very much prefer if he learns how to deal with solitude and become the reticent character we see by TOS already.

On the whole, though, more like this, please.

"Do you realize how rare a show like this is? T.K. wanted to give audiences a digestible reflection of their own world with a lens of fantasy, social commentary with rubber masks and buried metaphors. You know? Science fiction!"
I mean... I just watched Andor. *That* is social commentary our "own world." *This* is social commentary for a show that came out in 1965.

This episode of television crystalized for me that Star Trek has hit a dead end. It has passed on everything it has to say, and I salute it for its efforts. But now it's just a zombie stuck in a bygone century. It's time to take its lessons and make it our reality.

I have friends everywhere.

Even Scotty can't get the freaking holodecks to work.

This episode worked for me on every level. The humor landed, the TOS-style parody felt loving, Uhura's impassioned speech, the advancement of La'an and Spock's relationship, and of course, seeing Scott go insane trying to fix the first Holodeck malfunction was great.

The script is pretty standard 'holodeck goes wrong' stuff, but it's done with such aplomb and reverence for past holodeck material that you can't help but love it. The ending where they decide these things are more dangerous and troublesome than they're worth are hilarious - as is the revelation that Mr. Scott embedded some solutions to make the Holodeck work on a Starship in his report, thus making potentially all holodeck malfunctions going forward the work of Scotty - despite La'an and the rest of the crew recommending against the installation of one, since y'know, it almost killed the entire ship.

I think people are being dishonest when they throw out snarky, made for our age comments like 'there's no NEW worlds in NEW worlds' - right, and whole episodes of 'Star Trek' occurred in one location! How dare Star Trek not TREK the STARS! However, it's fair to say that Holodeck material is overdone at this point for the franchise, so it'd be hard to forgive future outings from this series. Thankfully, the writers seem to recognize that and slam the door at the end.

Overall, it's not the best episode of Strange New Worlds, but it's a fun hour, easy to love, and I can see why Frakes spoke so highly of it.

Easily the best episode of the season and one of the top episodes of the show. Only complaint is we have seen holodeck mishap stories before, but man if this wasn’t the best of the bunch. La’an remains the best character of the show, and Chong and Ethan Peck have insane chemistry together. Think there’s nothing wrong with this episode being a love letter to TOS. 3.5/4 stars.

Also the 33mm film discontinuation line that said “many consider it the death of cinema” is so true and made me actually laugh out loud.

I wanted to like this. I was hoping nostalgia would pull me through but alas no. It was just too derivative and too meta. Paul Wesley was fun as Kirk and young Scotty is an interesting character, but you have to have some plot.

This You can't rip off classics like "Elementary Dear Data" , "Big Goodbye", or even "Our Man Bashir" without doing something new. By the time TNG ended this was tired and the Voyager did it to death. It was barely watchable by the end of Voyager and they bring back an overused trope for nostalgia. That and they pulled the Enterprise retcon move again.

Finally, speaking of characters, I hate to sound like the internet trolls, but while Spock is young and throughout his older "career" he has occasionally had an impulsive streak, his character is being rewritten as a perhaps too human which is explainable but more so as a romantic buffoon.

I give this 1.5/4 stars and the 1.5 is for nostalgia only. If I had never seen the show, it would rate 0.

Poor man's Elementary My Dear Data. Not very well done at all. Tired of all the wink winks at the viewers. Ridiculous parody of classic trek. What did I sacrifice watching this episode? EVERYTHING!

This was fun. The episode was filled with great homages and nods to the totality of the Star Trek franchise. They even paid homage to Lucille Ball and the Original Series. The ending was so funny. I laughed several times throughout the episode. Great props too. Fun Trek, when done right like in this hour, is a gem to watch.

I think folks complaining about the story being "unoriginal" and "derivative" aren't getting this was done on purpose. It's tropey, as the kids say, which is why it has callbacks to Dixon Hill, Elementary Dear Data, Our Man Bashir, and Bride of Chaotica. Everything from the safeties going down, to Spock calling for the arch, to anachronistically using the yellow grid in the room.

YMMV when it comes to tropey things. My personal feeling is when stories are done straight, I don't like tropes (one reason I disliked the zombies last week). But they work quite well in more comedic outings, like this one.

Tough crowd! Jeez, and I'm the one who is supposed to be The Cynic.

Most meta (and most hilarious): We have real director Frakes directing Last Frontier's director Frakes directing the captain character as he attempts to Riker the captain's chair.

@Karl

For my part, disliking how derivative this is comes from two places:

1.) SNW has already done plenty of callbacks/call-forwards and it's starting to get old, and
2.) technobabble putting the ship in danger is probably my least favorite source of conflict for a Trek story, and holodeck malfunctions are my least favorite iteration of that trope. So it had a pretty steep climb to win me over and did not succeed.

Strange New Worlds has chosen its lane in the Star Trek galaxy. They’re carving their own personality for the show. Too many canon Nazis want SNW to be a rehash of whatever of the previous serioes they idolize.

The episode wasn’t perfect but it was a love letter to Star Trek. These episodes where people complain that they’re wasted, I’d argue this is exactly what we wanted from long seasons. They’re squeezing so much into each episode that 10 episodes might be able to seem like 16-18. I say wonderful.

The only glaring problem with the show at this point is one singular casting mistake. I have tried my best to overlook the flaws but can we just finally say it:

Ortegas is miscast. She flubs almost every line by being too earnest or too whatever she is. Ever single time I see her I’m pulled out of the trek verse and back to remembering these are actors. Ortegas unfortunately is just not growing into the role. Even today in the TOS campy remake, her lines we off and her delivery jarring. Found myself so relieved when she was murdered in the holodeck and the episode finally improved from there

Anson Mount and Romain are gems. They’re superstars and are making this series phenomenal. The doctor and chapel also.

Spock might be a little bit of a too often lover but he’s learning himself into how we will eventually see him.

Overall one of the better episodes of the season.

3.5 stars (only that high because I really want some 4 star episodes)

Have there been any 4 star episodes of the season. I know jammer doesn’t think so but I think there have been a few.

Scotty is an amazing casting choice.
Kirk has grown into the role.

*ortegas needs to go. Sulu can’t come soon enough*

Final note:

@ThatERguy:
'Ortegas is miscast. She flubs almost every line by being too earnest or too whatever she is. Ever single time I see her I’m pulled out of the trek verse and back to remembering these are actors. Ortegas unfortunately is just not growing into the role. Even today in the TOS campy remake, her lines we off and her delivery jarring. Found myself so relieved when she was murdered in the holodeck and the episode finally improved from there'

Yes, and I'm glad someone said it. I was very surprised to see Navia not even attempting to vary her portrayal of Ortegas throughout this episode, in contrast to every other cast member. As you point out, it is detrimental to suspension of disbelief. It really stuck out – it isn't the first time, either, but I found it particularly glaring here. She just sat/stood there sulking the entire time.

Huge contrast with both (for example) Bush and Wesley who threw themselves head-first into what they were doing from the get-go. Even Olusanmokun, who didn't have many lines at all, hammed it up royally. Gooding was excellent. And obviously Mount and Romijn. It was as if Navia didn't want to be there; I can only say what I felt when I watched her. I don't know what she herself was actually trying to do, of course.

I simply have palpably less and less patience for Ortegas/Navia with each episode.

Well, that was the worst episode until now

@ThatERGuy
I'm SICK of love letters and valentines to Star Trek
Especially from a show that supposedly IS Star Trek


The only time this love letter has worked for me is the brilliant Orville because I'm getting actual drama, even in the comedy episodes, and they took the universe seriously

SNW seems to have landed into very polarizing territory.

I for one love it. This episode was brilliant - and like the the musical episode, I love seeing how they do Star Trek spins on other genres. After so much GrimDark Trek in recent years, I think SNW is just great Trek. It's fun, it doesn't take itself overly serious, and the cast looks like they are having a great time.

For a show that was willed into existence by Discovery fans rejecting that show and wanting something different, this is that different (in my opinion). The fact that this show even exists is a gift, and I appreciate it every time I see it. It makes me smile, and I really love that they are willing to try crazy and genre bending stuff.

I guess I am not a slave to the canon, and I view all of this stuff somewhat like the Fire and Blood pretense by GRRM - we are catching the glimpses of a universe interpreted through multiple lenses and multiple storytellers, and it isn't always consistent, since the stories can change with the perspective of the teller.

I'm just enjoying the stories. This is one I will rewatch.

And Paul Wesley was brilliant here.

The worst valentine given to fans, imo, was the final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. I would rate this at about the same rating I would have given to Flashback. The best valentine, again imo, was Trials and Tribble-ations.

I didn't like the episode, but it's not a 0 star bad like Alternative Factor, Sub Rosa, Threshold to name a few. It's not even the worst "valentine" which goes to "These are the Voyages." We just have to accept SNW for what it is - lightweight entertainment and perhaps the best overall of the newer shows (Picard season 3 notwithstanding) but it's a low bar.

City on the Edge of Forever
Yesterday's Enterprise
Inner Light
In the Pale Moonlight

Original episodes. I miss them...

Yesterday’s Enterprise is my favorite episode of Trek, but it is def derivative of City on the Edge of Forever. People must die to prevent bad future.

I would gladly take another take on "People must die to prevent bad future" than fan fiction episodes like this one...!

I truly don't get the hate on this one - maybe I am just too into nostalgia and comfort food...

I really don't think I've seen an episode of SNW that I've truly disliked, unlike some episodes of Picard S2 that I literally feel like I suffered through.

To each their own. This is fun for me. YMMV.

I didn't hate this episode, far from it. But the Spock soap opera of the week shtick is wearing thin...

Maybe it's just that they have so few episodes and what looks like a fairly good budget...I am no doubt expecting too much, so it's my fault, really.

Two stars. This but borderline offensive parody of TOS breaks the fourth wall with self-aware snark that is more distracting than engaging. I like snark on Lower Decks, where it feels genuine, but here it feels almost mean spirited. The fake TOS show’s Captain Kirk parody and aliens with strings (which never happened on TOS, beyond the funny little puppets in Catspaw) come off as smug mockery of the first and most innovative Trek incarnation.

As a fanboy, I appreciate the episode’s live-action reminder that holodeck technology existed on the original Enterprise, as previously depicted in TAS. The concept on Tek goes back to the 70s and predates TNG. That makes it all the more odd to me that the recreation room in this episode looks more like TNG than TAS and provides the setup for a derivative Dixon Hill retread that played better on TNG with Patrick Stewart. The fantasy within the fantasy is faintly clever, but the execution feels ho hum.

All in all, this is just a reminder of SNW’s lack of originality, and another episode that makes me pine for better episodes from TOS, TAS, TNG, and other 90s Trek. Time to cancel this show.

@Sung

They’ve done that tho on SNW. More than once. A Quality of Mercy and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow are variations on that exact theme. Maybe we should stop complaining just to complain

PS — I forgot to give a little praise where it’s due: This episode is briskly paced and well directed by Jonathan Frakes, who brings his usual jaunty but efficient touch. Nice to see that again, even if the story and plot beats feel so routine and mediocre. Not his fault.

@episodenull,

I'll admit I really found the "ship in jeopardy" side-plot to be completely narratively unnecessary. I suppose the writers thought it was needed to square away why no one used the holodeck for like another century, but I think the life-or death stakes took away from the high farce that this episode was supposed to be.

That would go double for "the safeties are off" element, except it was introduced as a crisis and disposed of in like 60 seconds, so I didn't even have time to be upset about it.

I really want to like Ortegas. She loves Star Trek you can tell but she just doesn’t fit her role. With almost every single line in every context I’m taken out of my zone and remember this is a show.

Mount was superb. He has acting chops.

Number One, what else to say besides phenomenal.

I love that they’re acknowledging that Chapel is being too much of a romantic side quest for others.

An example of growing into the role is Uhura. She was fantastic. The little soliloquy might have been a little too “on the nose” but overall she has really grown on me.

Uhura really seems to have good chemistry with some of the engineers. The interaction with Scotty was completely believable and warming. Her with Hemmer was just the same way. I’m not sure if she’s had as much chemistry with Pelia.

Kirk in the parody was a spot in shatner. I loved every second of it until Ortegas. If you read this I like you, but I think you should ask for a commission on a different starship.

I didn't really see Mount as Gene Roddenberry in this episode. I saw him more as Brannon Braga, it might have been because of the hair. It seemed like this episode was trying to parody other Treks (Star Trek with the theme song and Bad acting, TNG with the Holodeck and the Elementary, Dear Data troupe, DS9 with Our Man Bashir, and Voyager with the Brannon Braga stand in).

I was sure I would hate this, but it turned out to be quite good in my opinion.

I just can't with this episode.

It's the most blatant example yet of style over substance: a flashy, high-concept detour that offers little of consequence beneath the surface. Not that there's much to miss: the plot itself feels like an elaborate exercise in misdirection. Once the illusion clears, we're left with nothing that truly matters. It's fluff, and not the kind that secretly hides depth.

It reminds me of those disposable one-off episodes from TNG or Voyager that functioned as temporary palate cleansers between heavier fare. The difference is that, in those shows, you always sensed there was a core dramatic or philosophical engine running underneath the entire run of the season. SNW, by contrast, seems to treat diversion /as/ storytelling: a rotating carousel of genre experiments, increasingly desperate to prove it still has something to say, when in fact it may have already run out of steam.

I understand why some viewers continue to champion SNW as "peak Trek." Frankly, there aren't many viable alternatives. For fans disillusioned by the direction of modern Trek, SNW once felt like the last, best hope: a throwback with promise, capable of honoring the franchise's legacy while charting a course forward. And when hope becomes scarce, the impulse is to hold tight to whatever remains, even as the show slips further into pastiche and self-parody. In doing so, I think some fans have become unwitting apologists, dressing up such scraps and fluff as "bold experimentation" simply because the franchise's future feels too precarious to afford honest disappointment.

I appreciate Jammer's long-form review and his frankness. But honestly, this episode probably got more words than it deserved.

DAMN BABY! SPOCK BE A PLAYA in this SERIES!! He is juggling THREE WOMEN AT ONCE??!!?? T'Pring, Chapel, and now La'an?? When is he gonna hook up with Una, Pelia, Ortegas, Uhura and and Demon Spawn Queen of the Gorn and have illegitimate VULCAN/GORN HYBRID LOGICAL JIGGOLO BABIES?? Anyone else wonder this??

I think I would have enjoyed this more if they hadn't already gone to the Gimmick Well so many times already.

So far, SNW S3 s off-balance. Episodes are either very dark or very light. We need some episodes with a good middle ground between those extremes. And episodes introducing new themes and new places.

As far as homage episodes go, DS9 did it best with the episode where Avery Brooks was a science fiction writer in the 1950s. That was a serious piece of work with plenty of low-key humor.

Taken just by itself, I liked this episode reasonably well (though they aren't as clever as they seem to think they are).

But in context of 10-episode seasons, WTF? Time and episode slots are precious.

Just a quick correction Jammer: the puppet episode is for next season, not this season.

Yeah. I laughed my butt off during this ep, but coming here and reading this, I do recall thinking

"Wait this is a trapped on the holodeck episode?"

Let's be honest with ourselves, none of those episodes were good. "Ship In A Bottle" was alright, but come on. They've done _a lot_ of these. It's a wonder Holoprojection isn't banned in the Federation due to how often people almost get themselves killed in there. Holo-DeathChamber, golly.

My heart sinks more every week as this season wears on. I loved and was emotionally affected by some episodes early on. Now? Gimmicky horseshit and inch-deep ‘love’ plots.
If it wasn’t just TV it would be almost tragic.

This was truly Star Dreck.

I'm not really sure what SNW is actually about anymore, in the sense that I don't think the show is giving us a reason to care about this ship and this particular crew other than it's on the screen. I'm tired of franchises eating themselves either through fanservice or "deconstruction".

And if you're going to do a (sigh) holodeck-gone-awry episode now of all times, you'd better have a concept and do your best to knock it out of the park when it takes up a tenth of the season. Maybe I'm just burnt out, but the meta jabs at 60's era Trek had myself wincing and muttering "You sorry little ingrate. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for 60's Trek, warts and all."

Everyone groans about everything because there’s so few episodes and “we only have so much time” they’re “wasting” it on episodes that a fun with character development. We are getting to know these people far more than any other nutrek series. Would you rather have them explore another contrived anomaly?

Let them cook!

I have my gripes as well but many of you are impossible to please and likely get sadistic satisfaction about hating on it. You want a show to be exactly like a different show in the 1960s. SIXTY years ago.

Get over it and get a grip! SNW is the best we’re gonna get for a while. Might as well enjoy it.

@Leif, thank you for the laugh! This Spock is making OG Kirk look like an incel...

@Pike's Hair, I just can't help being disappointed. The show feels so bipolar at this point...I miss the episodes like Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach. If I had known that was the height of the series, I should've enjoyed it more.

It's like we are pinballing between Trouble with Tribbles and Balance of Terror every week. My brain can't take it!

@ThatERGuy

STar Trek used to be the pinnacle of science fiction storytelling, now it's running in place with episodes that, at best, are "fine". Why not put the them to a higher standard, especially since we are paying for it? Most of the D+ plus SW content has been "fine" but then you watch Andor and you realize why can't that much attention be paid to all of it?

@mercercreate

Yes it’s not on the forefront of science fiction storytelling these days. However, to do that require nimbleness. I’d argue Andor is able to do it largely by abandoning large amounts of the previous ethos.

Trekkies want their giant 60 year juggernaut institution to remain in the lead. Big companies the same way get sclerotic. I suppose it could be restored. But you would then have everyone even more pissed about changing foundational concepts.

Trek is now an aircraft carrier and it can’t turn on a dime. In a sense it carries the burden of 60 years.

To do what people seem to want would require them to abandon things that would equally upset long time nostalgic fans. Fleshing out the idea here but I think they need to reset.

They tried that with the disco jump and failed miserably. People didn’t like that either myself included.

My hope is that the sky dance merger will end kurtzman era trek and we can get another reset. And hopefully abandon prequels.

But until then SNW is fun and has an actual ensemble cast and episodic stories. We might be asking for perfect when that’s dare I say it an ask that is …illogical

@ThatERguy
You know, I'm definitely seeing your point. And I enjoyed some of the references and gags (4th wall breaks) in the episode. It's fine. I mean most people wouldn't mind as much if there were 20 plus episodes a season. I also get that.

I was watching a goofy Enterprise episode called "Singularity" the other day and was quite amused, even with the low stakes. I love those kinds of episodes.

I was also watching "Lasting Impressions" from Orville which is also a holodeck (ok, environmental simulator) episode and even with some great humor it had something to say about our limited time on this planet.

I don't know. I'd also love to see Trek run by others. I can't believe in the sea of mediocrity that D+ was turning for Star Wars, that Andor came a long and knocked my socks off. I just want Trek to do that again. I remember Ds9 knocked my socks off more than a few times.

TY for listening

It’s great to have a civil thoughtful conversation on here that doesn’t devolve to pearl clutching! The pearl clutchers will come soon I’m sure.

My optimistic take is that through younger elision billionaire we will get more investment in sci fi at Paramount skydance. Larry Ellison or whoever is the younger one was producer for some trek movies and is on the record saying he loves Star Trek. And in our far from trek semi dystopia reality this sci fi friendly billionaire will have more say in what happens with trek.

The kurtzman cry out your feelings era will come to a crashing end and we can get back to something Andor-esque! And I hope they can do it in the post Picard lower decks time.

But I really REALLY don’t want the anchor of Star Trek *Legacy*

That’s just more burden and sticking to the old. Star Trek legacy is not fresh and new. We want a different ship and crew. I hope we get it

This show now really feels like they are stripping the car for parts. Take everything that fans said they liked and put it all into an episode. Then they cannot help but love the episode.

Oh and stop trying to make NuKirk happen. I don't care about him. There is a captain on the bridge already and he needs something to do.

“Stop trying to make fetch happen”
-Mean Girls
-also, Star Trek cannon Nazis

@ThatERguy
Agreed. I'm not looking for something with the tone or subject matter of Andor, just something that is trying to tell a story.. a real STOORY, that will not only fit into canon, but might make me stand up and notice. Like, Enterprise was far from perfect, but Coto realized in season 4 he had a chance to set up TOS, to tell HOW the 4 founding members of the Federation (humans, Vulcans, Tellerites, and not-Cassian Andorians) came together to create a union... and he did this by using the Romulans, and talking about things like trust and paranoia ... things that resonate and point to the human condition, just like Gilroy did for Andor.

TY for a great chat!

I genuinely hope every week SNW will give us some good Trek but seeing a title like "A Space Adventure Hour" just screamed at me to get ready for an hour of stupidity. And that's what I got. With yet another light-hearted attempt at fun, one can't take SNW seriously as Trek or as a series in general -- what does it want to be? As things stand I think it is just marginally better than the terrible DSC and PIC.

I just found it hard to care about this episode for long stretches. Again SNW is borrowing from role-playing episodes like "Our Man Bashir", "Elementary, Dear Data" or the even worse "The Royale" with nothing original to contribute. There's of course the arbitrary danger of a neutron star collapsing and gamma burst which is summarily avoided -- the kind of flaw classic Trek would just throw in for added (but fake) urgency.

One thing I would say is that the cast of SNW is pretty good -- but it's just the writers and producers that absolutely suck. They don't know what Trek is and how to create it. I just hope one day I wake up and realize that nu-Trek was just a multi-year nightmare.

But I guess if there was sort of a point to this story, which "Wedding Bell Blues" didn't have (even if that was a better episode) -- is why TOS didn't have holodecks. But more importantly (and I wish this was truly fleshed out) is why the show in question here "The Last Frontier" shouldn't be canceled. There was just a couple of lines about all the great things that would develop out of it, just like what developed out of TOS. Too bad those few important lines were lost in all the nonsense.

And why is Scotty like the only person in Engineering -- where was Carol Kane again? So the show tried to compensate for that at the end with Una telling Scotty to stop working alone, asking for help etc. -- but that is not good enough. The ship was supposedly in a crisis situation. As I said, you can't take SNW seriously.

And to make matters worse, Spock and La'an are now hooking up. Are they going to be dancing together in more episodes? Spock's character assassination on SNW is truly shocking. He's a philandering womanizer and an emotional basket case.

1 star for "A Space Adventure Hour" -- terrible episode with the focus on the wrong things, just not understanding what should be achieved with Trek. Boring, mind-numbing, and even irritating and just wrong at times. What was really the point here -- to go through all this BS to establish why holodecks were not around for TOS or a couple of lines on why TOS should not be canceled? The premise and ambition is just no where near good enough. The writers/producers just want to have the cast do supposedly fun things, but it has to have at least some intelligence backing it -- and this had none. I think SNW keeps trying recreate the hit it has with "Subspace Rhapsody" but it keeps failing.

@Rahul
"or the even worse "The Royale""


My biggest guilty pleasure is the Royale. :)

:)

There are only 7 stories and with hundreds of trek episodes something totally unique that has no shades of any of the previous multiple hundreds of stories in episodes is an unrealistic e id ration. Everyone complains it’s a knockoff of this or that episode. But come on

@ThatERGuy

Maybe if the story had a point or a theme beyond "that Star Trek, pretty great, eh?" the pilfering would be forgivable. But the meta commentary serves only to put focus on just how much of this episode was lifted from other Star Treks, and it doesn't look good for the comparison. Blame the writers for the poor reception. It's not our responsibility to like every single episode of the show.

The holodeck goes haywire plot has been done to death, and better than this. Boring. One star and that only for Chang's excellent acting.

Star Trek is hitting a wall, and IMHO it is because they try to go backwards all the time. Go forwads Trek producers!

They had a wonderful opportunity to make a new series at the end of Picard, with enough return characters and continuity in Seven as captain, and enough new characters and plot opportunities. But no, lets go back again, and again, and again. Lets kill the franchise with boring "back when" stories.

Oh well, so far not impressed with season three.

@ThatERguy
"Get over it and get a grip! SNW is the best we’re gonna get for a while. Might as well enjoy it."

But that is exactly the problem. That is the way of the live-action NuTrek creators to make us accept all this mediocrity.
I love my ST, although I rarely remember the stuff other Trekkies do, and the "better this than nothing doesn't work for me". I tried hard, but "this" is made by people who do not care to deliver something good.

They must use AI asking it to make scripts with input like: we need fan service, nostalgia, mentions/guests/aliens/stories from TOS, Spock, More Spock, more fan service and add elements from other hit shows and movies (GOT, Aliens, Last of us) or even ST itself.
And the result is a mess.
And I am still there watching, cause well, Star Trek.
I mean I watched 3 seasons of Disco hoping it will get better. And SNW is better, but not much better anymore.

And it's hard and very frustrating knowing that a Studio still spends money for Star Trek, but doesn't care to make it good, just relies on ..
"Get over it and get a grip! This is the only ST you are gonna get for a while. Might as well enjoy it."

While the execution was uneven and labored, there was a smattering of lines I laughed at.

"But Captain, what if they can?"

"I'm a writer. I'm never happy about anything."

"Does no one care about my vision?" (I guffawed. Frakes knows us, guys.)

The laugh lines were better when they weren't insisted upon.

I'll side with those who seem to have enjoyed this episode. The Riker maneuver, the callbacks to several TOS episodes and more, or even to Lucille Ball,were all done cleverly and with a tangible sense of humor. Paul Wesley crushed it in this episode. It was indeed meant as an homage to Star Trek as others pointed out above (heck, Jonathan Frakes would not have directed it otherwise, lol). Jammer, great review,though I'd argue that it reads more like a 3-star one.

@theBgt

"Get over it and get a grip! This is the only ST you are gonna get for a while. Might as well enjoy it."

Reading the comments, and I saw your response and figured it was the best example to reply with. I've been thinking about this since the episode came out, how we have so many other shows with higher quality right now (Or at least the shows that I watch) yet for some reason Star Trek feels stuck in mediocrity and the common response is basically "get over it". Why can't we have a Star Trek that is as great as Severance or Silo or heck, this season of Resident Alien. Those are just three examples, but they are shows that I currently enjoy more than Strange New Worlds. You want to talk about fun, this current season of Resident Alien is all kind of fun and I'm responding more positively to it than SNW at the moment.

For me, I don't want to settle for mediocrity in Star Trek. I want it to lead the way and give us some great content. Right now SNW is not as great or enjoyable to me as something like Lower Decks or Prodigy. Basically, it could be so much more, but chooses not to be. That simply is not good enough for what I expect. It's an ok show and I even enjoyed the episode last week, but I don't want it to become gimmicky every week. I want more Children of the Comets or Lost in Translations or A Broken Circles than Wedding Bell Blues or Space Adventure hour.

@theBgt

"Get over it and get a grip! This is the only ST you are gonna get for a while. Might as well enjoy it."

I'm sorry in advance, but no. I've seen this "Shaddap and consume" mindset far too often, across too many platforms. I don't buy into the toxic mindset of personally attacking the creators and performers (see Jedi, The Last), but the idea of having to enjoy something because it has a beloved logo in front of it...yeah...nope. At some point, you stop becoming a fan of the actual property, and just become a fan of the brand.

There doesn't seem to be much agreement on this episode. But at least everybody seems to agree that Christina Chong never disappoints. I am really impressed by what she is doing with the material she is given. Likewise for Celia Rose Gooding. The wig and glasses were a bit much (not her fault), but her excellent acting as the agent made me completely forget that she was Uhura.

@John W
"but the idea of having to enjoy something because it has a beloved logo in front of it...yeah...nope. At some point, you stop becoming a fan of the actual property, and just become a fan of the brand."

I agree, but this strategy seems to work for the producers of NuTrek.
Cause people who love Star Trek are a bit like people who support sport clubs. Even if your fav sport club has a bad owner/management and a weak team you keep supporting it, cause you are 1) loyal 2) afraid what will happen to your club if its core of fans abandon it.
What if we the fans stop watching the new ST series? The studio will decide not to make ST anymore and we do not want that. So we have to support it, hoping one day they will make a good ST series again.
I bet there are fans who really enjoy the series, but I have this feeling that a big number of them is just loyal wishing the shows will get better.

"At some point, you stop becoming a fan of the actual property, and just become a fan of the brand."


I agree 100 percent.

Thanks for the review Jammer, I agree; had some good moments but overall derivative and not too exciting. I did like Una's character, (the producer, first to die) as a stand in for Lucille Ball and how she got Desilu to take on TOS and get it on TV. It took someone of her clout and perserverance to get TOS on the air and the rest is history.

Like many others I didn't hate this but I am hoping we get better episodes soon, since we are almost half way through this season and then we'll have to wait another three years for it to return.

@the BGT: I would hate also hate to see ST become mediocre, and yes, the Nut Trek producers are probably using AI to write episodes now.

@theBGT : Your anaolgy to being loyal to a bad sports team is spot on: the Oakland Raiders and A's and Chicago Bears fans can probably relate. Even when the team is struggling in the cellar we go to games, cheer for the team and hope for better days, even though the management and owners are incompetent and arrogant and have no regard for past history or for the fans. That's about where we are now. Hopefully Trek won't become like the Oakland Raiders or A's and leave town for good, leaving fans sad and feeling abandoned but at the same time saying good riddance and cursing the oafs who took a great team and shat all over it and ruined it for the fans.

@Kyle

"Like many others I didn't hate this but I am hoping we get better episodes soon, since we are almost half way through this season and then we'll have to wait another three years for it to return."

We won't have to wait 3 years for it to return. It's coming back next year.

"What if we the fans stop watching the new ST series? The studio will decide not to make ST anymore and we do not want that. So we have to support it, hoping one day they will make a good ST series again.
I bet there are fans who really enjoy the series, but I have this feeling that a big number of them is just loyal wishing the shows will get better."

Ehhhh...I get the analogy, but I also don't think it's a match. Studios can't really tell the nature of money being thrown their way, and in the end, the only way you can really have your voice heard is through your watching or spending habits. I think the creatives have walled themselves off from criticism, especially given that it's so widespread online that it's easy to dismiss, or in some cases, preemptively ignored by calling it "toxic fan culture".

How long has the Simpsons been past its glory years? There's probably still fans thinking "It'll get better, it'll get better" and maybe there are some occasional bright spots, but as long as the money keeps flowing, there's no incentive to improve.

Not for me.

Visually too dark. "Ham up" acting sub par.

All I could think about was SGA "200", and how much better it was.

This episode and the latest SFA trailer have me in a low place with new trek.

For the love of Pete, quit whoring out Spock.

1 star

Another episode, another season, another show, another moment for me to wonder: why can't they just tell us original science fiction based stories with adventure, drama, and mystery??? Where is Star Trek??

Star Trek Prodigy did a hell of a better job making straight-up Trek stories with new twists *and* satisfying callbacks. If it wasn't for that show, I'd honestly be thinking Trek ended with Enterprise.

With the latest SNW, here's another weirdly self-referential, strangely self-deferential yet also sickeningly self-infatuated episode that seeks to remind Trek fans that Trek is great - while adding nothing to the tapestry of great Trek stories. How the heck do you know if Trek is good if you can't do Trek good? Does your conscience bother you? Tell the truth.

The wedding episode rip off of Squire of Gothos earlier this season was an unimaginative rip off of a great TOS episode, but at least it wasn't going in three different directions at once. For instance, I can believe Wham! exists in the Trek universe because they literally went to our 1980's to save the world. But now I'm supposed to believe a full-on painfully obvious Trek parody exists in the Trek universe with enough detail to be a holodeck program?? Nah. Just nah, man.

Well, let's see what they do with it...

This week? This is just another holodeck episode - more tech crammed into a past now full of machine wonders that takes away from the novelty of the episodes that used it better *and* originally - all made lesser, now.

(These episodes are lesser now because someone going back to watch Trek from the starting point of SNW is not going to be impressed by the twists they already know (Holodeck can hurt you, holodeck is going to depower the ship, I need to giving examples or the SNW writer may get ideas.))

((Remember how excited you were with the idea of flying cars and supercomputers in the 90's? Holy crap, we're going to Mars and when we get back to Earth we're gonna have a robot dog! Now you have an AI arguing with you on the phone about how it's too early to ask to speak a human on the phone when you have a tech problem that is caused by a totally broken system. That's life now, and that's what this feels like: great ideas you liked as a kid turning out to be disasters in the fake flesh. This is NOT Trek.))

And what do they do with the Holodeck tech?

They make fun of Star Trek with it!

A super goofy The Last Frontier that copies the most common insults lobbed at Trek for cheap laughs. No, I don't care if they are trying to say "Hey guys, this show is actually really good despite the shortcomings," - because there are no shortcomings if you're a real fan. Yeah I sound like an idiot saying that, but holy crap, I have had so many things ruined this week that I'm just gonna say it: you don't laugh at Trek. Some stuff is goofy but the cheap, cheap, cheap parody here is not cute.

You love Trek. You saw this show in the 60's or on re-runs and loved it, authentically. You cannot honor the cheap insults of Trek because we know it's magic better than the laughers know Trek.

So The Last Frontier quite confusingly, is inside of a mystery book series from the 1960's?? Do I have that right? Or was the Trek parody a separate thing that got tossed into the holodeck blender? You know what? Knowing less is probably going to save my poor, good-Star-Trek-starved mind.

All I can say is the mystery aspect is just Paramount trying to get mystery show fans interested in Trek via the creative route of doing nothing surprising and taking no risks. That's all. It's as hollow as a hologram.

OK, so that all stunk like a gagh and bloodwine fart in a turbolift.

What are they doing outside the holodeck?

They're making fun of Scotty! Can't let a true Scotsman get uppity after helping save everyone from the Gorn. Ohhh noo. No. They need to bring him down to early 21st Century reality: you're a stupid guy, and you need the help of the wet-behind-the-ears communications ensign to fix a wacky tech problem.

What?? Is Bones out there, somewhere right now learning how to remove an appendix with the help of Kirk?

"Scotty, you have to learn to do team work," Uh, he did? Did you mean he should go up the chain of command with a problem? Agreed, but that isn't what you are admonishing him for. You are saying he did no teamwork and he clearly did teamwork.

What??? Ach!

Guess what Scotty is going to end up doing in the future, by the way?

Solve it himself!!

This must be the bullcrap Scotty went through that convinced him that the first thing he needed to do after having his soul coughed out by a transporter was... find an engineer and tell him how to game the shit out of upper management with mind games and social engineering. "Aye, tell them it will take a week to fix, and then do it in an hour! It's the only way the bastards will leave you the hell alone! I warned ye! Ehehehehehhe~!" This poor bastard! No wonder!

So, this lesson on Scotty is.... as baffling as whatever they are doing to Spock. Holy crap, he was a mysterious, alien enigma with a secret flame carried for the human race. Now he's pretty much a slab of pointy-eared meat for the women of Trek to throw themselves at, over and over, like Tribbles with an empty space. Remember that awkward as hell time somebody asked Data if he was fully functional in lovemaking? It's that moment, over and over! Maybe this is a really bad holodeck program made by a deranged Spock fan??

All the elaborate girl power plot arcing going on in this show, just so they can be involved in love triangles with men! It's as patronizing as it is paralyzed to the past.

I don't hate SNW - but they are making it hard as hell to like, and harder yet to be Star Trek for a new generation of fans.

- TOY

I think what is missing here is that the writers simply are trying too hard to be clever. I'm reminded of Geordi's analysis of Data's Poetry.

DATA: I noticed that many spectators seemed distracted during my presentation. Was my poetry uninteresting?
LAFORGE: Well, it was very well constructed, a virtual tribute to form.
DATA: Thank you. And?
LAFORGE: And what?
DATA: Did it evoke an emotional response?
LAFORGE: Well.
DATA: Your hesitation suggests you are trying to protect my feelings. However, since I have none, I would prefer you to be honest. An artist's growth depends upon accurate feedback.
LAFORGE: Well, your poems were clever, Data, and your Haiku was clever, and your sonnet was clever. But did it evoke an emotional response? To be honest, no, I don't think so.
DATA: Then I did not succeed in my efforts.
LAFORGE: No, it's not that you didn't succeed. You accomplished a lot, but, if you want to touch people, don't concentrate so much on rhyme and metre. Think more about what you want to say instead of how you're saying it.

@Sarjenka's Brother - I think I would have enjoyed this more if they hadn't already gone to the Gimmick Well so many times already.

I think you summed up very well my feelings about this episode. I dont hate it. It was fun. But I'd rather be watching more meaningful stuff. And judging by the titles on the episode list, we still have more "light hearted" episodes ahead in this season. Let's hope the remaining episodes are really good sci-fi material.

two stars is one star more that it deserves

I enjoyed segments of this episode:
* The opening. Did anybody notice it was presented in the 16:9 aspect ratio? Actually, I'm surprised they didn't "go all the way" with 4:3! (The rest of the ep is in the normal 2.35:1 wider aspect ratio -- even when they're in the holodeck.)

* There's been a lot of talk about Sherlock Holmes being an ancestor to Spock and that this ep confirms that. Not true! It was the holographic Spock that made the Holmes reference.

* All of the Scott/Uhura exchanges were great!

* They did go a little overboard with the "meta" stuff. As some other critics have stated, this could have gone over better with the fans if this had been a tribute to the 60th Anniversary of Star Trek ... which is NEXT YEAR!

All in all, while enjoyable, I have to agree with others here that this is too many "gimmick" shows when they're only doing 10 eps per season. Hopefully this is the last one of the season. (Although I see that one of the future eps is titled "Four and a Half Vulcans". Oh, well ...)

So, here we are, 4 episodes into a 10 episode season and we have YET to explore a "strange new world". Why title the show SNW if you're not going to seek out new life and new civilizations? I get that show runners are trying to push the envelope as it were, but enough is enough. It's not like these are 23 episode seasons where you can get away with a few "take a chance" episodes like this one, but we're now 40% of the way through the season, and this show has yet to live up to it's own name... SMH... 1 star.

Seems like more & more of their eps fall into "What If?" territory. That might have been better off making this an anthology series where they could explore a new concept every week.

@MercerCreate — I agree that Andor has been out-Trekking Trek. Not the science part, as Andor isn’t interested in that, but the DS9-style story arcs about talky intergalactic politics and conflicts.

Personally, I find Andor overrated and a bit of a slog, but it’s consistently interesting and is doing something new and different with the Star Wars universe. It’s tightly written and carefully developed. Meanwhile, SNW is trotting out tired retreads and tropes each week. The whole “pointless retcon” vibe makes SNW feel like more of a sequel to Enterprise than a prequel to TOS. The main difference is that, as with Discovery, there were a handful of very strong episodes on Enterprise. I honestly have to struggle to remember a single SNW story at all. Too much stuff gets thrown against the wall, doesn’t stick, and then gets buried in a faux “look how much fun we’re having, except we’re not smiling” vibe. Ugh.

Where was the real Spock while holo-Spock was creating chaos? Too special to help save the ship?

@MacMan48
Spock was helping to save ship from outside the cameras frame, because being inframe would have given away the murderer.

Come on, if you want to criticise this episode there is enough potential without having to resort to such nitpicks.

@WAlding it's not really a nitpick

A good writer would have found a way to let us know where he was but have it be snuck under the radar, similar to how DS9 "Inquisition" never gave us exterior shots of anything even when Bashir was beamed to the Jem, Hadar ship, and the only shot of the Defiant was on a screen. This covers for the fact that he was always on the holodeck

It did not catch my soul as some of the other episodes but I had a really fun time watching it. SNW is so tos like but taking a very relaxed position towards it.

Would I like strange new worlds instead? Yes - definetly, but compared with the horrible disco and picard that even if it was more watchable not was trek.

Getting the romance between La'an and Spock is quite clever. Continuing with Chapel woul just end with sometheing painted into a corner.

@Leif - "When is he gonna hook up with Una, Pelia, Ortegas, Uhura and and Demon Spawn Queen of the Gorn and have illegitimate VULCAN/GORN HYBRID LOGICAL JIGGOLO BABIES??"

I, too, wonder this. 😆

On his "Late Star Trek" substack, Adam Kotsko read this episode as partially about current generative ai: https://akotsko.substack.com/p/the-holodeck-episode-in-the-age-of

OMFG.

Not ANOTHER ep with Holodeck malfunction & safety protocols turned off!

Say what you want about Enterprise but since it predated this tech, they didnt waste an entire ep on yet ANOTHER "stuck in dangerous holodeck that can kill us " ep!

This was a carbon copy of The Big Goodbye anyway- mixed with "Our Man Bashir.'

Recycled stories is common in Trek. but this is one that nobody needed. TNGs "A Fistful of Datas" & The Big Goodbye" ,and VOYS 'Worst Case Scenario" was enough.

Is there a writers strike? Just when SNW was getting really good. Somebody bring back the Gorn please. Ill even take a timetravel ep instead.

TNGs pilot episode Encounter at Farpoint( ~80 years later) first introduced Holodecks anyway. Im sick that Trek constantly rewrites Canon. The TNG crew was amazed at their Holodeck abilities. But now you are telling me the Federation had this ability almost a century earlier and no TNG crew member ever knew about it?

@imajakov

"Is there a writers strike? Just when SNW was getting really good. Somebody bring back the Gorn please. Ill even take a timetravel ep instead."

Oh no, don’t you dare invoke the Gorn! Not unless they’re all somehow going to revert back into the adorkable, glorious goofy TOS variety we know and love.

Have they ever told us why there is the option to remove safety protocols in Holodecks?
what is the point?

@theBgt:
'Have they ever told us why there is the option to remove safety protocols in Holodecks?
what is the point?'

It's puzzling from a healthy and safety point of view but if I recall correctly the option is supposedly available for increased realism for those who wish to take the risk. Worf and Torres (and I believe Dax) regularly disengaged the safeties when using their programs. There is a plausible inference that there is a 'cultural authenticity' aspect to take into account here (Klingon programs have to be as 'real' as possible) – even though Worf was raised by humans, Torres was half-human and Dax wasn't even Klingon.

I agree it doesn't make much sense to have such a dangerous (lethal) opinion available, or allow staff to engage in such high risk activities on their downtime.

This might be the episode of the show that's fallen most flat for me since "Ghosts of Illyria", in season 1, and for mostly the same reasons: it puts too much focus on the routine plot mechanics and doesn't do enough examination of its ostensible central character. Which is a shame, because if you put a gun to my head and demanded I name a favourite character on the show, I'd blurt out "La'an!! It's La'an!" and then probably "Please don't kill me, what the hell is wrong with you anyway?"

Putting on my Imaginary Studio Executive hat, I'd probably send these notes to the producers:

* Don't build an episode around a murder mystery if you have don't know how to structure one. Why is (almost) the very first scene in that subplot the classic "drawing room reveal" where the detective names the suspect? We have a bunch of characters we've never met giving overlong monologues that hold no interest for an audience that is just meeting them for the first time, and thus there's no shock value to anything they say. This is the kind of thing that comes at the *end* of a murder mystery!

* What the heck are you doing, introducing *another* Spock romance just one episode after the last one ended? Is this just a function of the SNW cast having a higher female-to-male ratio*, that you don't have enough other established male characters for your female regulars to show interest in? La'an has way better - and more understandable! - chemistry with Jim Kirk.

* I'm not comfortable with the mockery of TOS, which seems less loving homage than it does just flat-out making fun of it - and by extension, your core audience of Trek fans. In particular, having Paul Wesley mock Shatner leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Although I liken this one to "Ghosts of Illyria", it also feels of a kind with "The Elysian Kingdom". The difference between them is that the characters being portrayed in "The Elysian Kingdom" were a lot funnier than the ones we get here. (Anson Mount's cowardly royal advisor was just delicious). And "Kingdom" got it right by putting the emphasis on those performances, with an almost non-existent plot.

Swing and a miss, SNW! I really hope the show lifts its game in the back half of this season. I've had some pretty major reservations with every episode so far.

*Please note I'm not bothered by this at all. I actually find it rather refreshing after all the legacy show skewed male. It's just interesting to observe how this impacts the stories the writers can tell. See also Spock's bachelor party in "Wedding Bell Blues", where the lower ratio of male characters also strains credulity. (As if he'd be hanging out with Sam Kirk after hours by choice!)

Finally, a legitimately good episode this season!

Chapel looks much prettier in the styling they did for the classic 1960s look.

All the issues Scotty laid out, with why it would be too dangerous to stop the program or break in to save them, suggests that they should have built in many more failsafes or simply warned that the holodeck project was too dangerous; yet 100 years later in TNG people were still getting stuck in the holodeck. 🧐

I suppose it's fanservice to the point of shooting fish in a barrel, but they got me with the monologue about why fandom for shows like Star Trek (or whatever it is called in this holodeck simulation) can provide people genuine connection.

That was a funny line about the discontinuation of celluloid film being to the detriment of cinema. I guess Christopher Nolan can take comfort that it wasn't discontinued until the 22nd century. But there are people like Vince Gilligan who not that long ago used to be dedicated to shooting on film, who have become converts to what you can do with the newest generation of digital cameras and postproduction equipment.

La'an really fills out that black tango dress. Funny how I never noticed how curvaceous she is, even though Starfleet uniforms are pretty tight.

Spock is becoming the Casanova of this show. Purist TOS fans are probably irritated by that, but I don't mind.

Nice touch, using the original theme music at the very end.

3 stars.

Commenters above have covered almost everything I wanted to say, but I guess I must chime in anyway. I agree with the two stars--there were things I enjoyed but the Amelia "mystery" was dull as ditchwater and this lost my interest.

I enjoyed most of the parts around it though--especially the USS Adventure. I was laughing out loud at those parts. I understand what others have said about it being more mockery than homage, but I must disagree. I'd like to think the folks making this show love Star Trek in general, and I KNOW Jonathan Frakes does, so I took it in the spirit I think it was intended.

But I was very disappointed in the direction the show chose to go. I saw the little blurb of "early holodeck testing" before I clicked play, and when I saw the ST parody scene at the beginning I thought "Oh, this could be fun." But I thought the actual crew (and Kirk) were playing characters in the ST parody holodeck program. I figured this early holodeck would have all kinds of problems like chairs failing to support someone, walls wavering, items disappearing, and somebody throwing up because of vertigo caused by the poor visuals. I was thinking it could be really fun watching them try to test this and finally deciding it needed a lot more work before it could viably be used on ships.

But then they ran with the Amelia detective story which was really dull. The Holodeck worked perfectly except, once again, "The safeties are off and we can't get out!" Yawn.

I think these are the types of episodes that disappoint me the most -- because of "what might have been." The potential was there and they instead chose to run a rehash of previous Trek outings. Someone above mentioned it seemed like they'd consulted AI to find fan service and past tropes and it sure seemed like it.

And Spock! Sheesh! Come on. I really liked his developing friendship with La'an when she started teaching him to dance and then the continuation of it this week. Why oh why did they have to turn it into a romance? When they were dancing this week I thought, "Oh, these two becoming good friends would be great! La'an is still healing from her past and Spock could be a good touchstone and she'd be a great helper in him exploring his human side." But no, I guess Hot Spock just has to always be getting some. Sigh.

Being as old as I am, it has been fascinating to watch Star Trek go from a cheesy little show to a cultural phenomenon. But SNW needs to tone down the callbacks and explore their own direction.

@grumpy_otter:
‘I figured this early holodeck would have all kinds of problems like chairs failing to support someone, walls wavering, items disappearing, and somebody throwing up because of vertigo caused by the poor visuals. I was thinking it could be really fun watching them try to test this and finally deciding it needed a lot more work before it could viably be used on ships.’

Excellent suggestion. If you’re really determined to do a proto-holodeck episode, why not explore it as an imperfect iteration one version earlier than the ‘rec room’ from TAS, exactly like you say? (I’m reminded of the artificial gravity from the last episode, which looked great.)

‘I think these are the types of episodes that disappoint me the most -- because of "what might have been." The potential was there and they instead chose to run a rehash of previous Trek outings.’

Exactly this.

The irony is that this episode actually does a decent enough job of retroactively explaining plot holes from later Trek – for example, why the holodeck famously runs on its own segregated power supply (in addition to earlier retcons of the holodeck in other series as an emergency shelter – I don’t think ‘safe room’ is a good description given how unsafe the holodeck generally is). This is like when Prodigy showed us the 3D printing of shuttles to explain the plot hole of Voyager’s endless supply of shuttles and photon torpedoes. Things like that are a good way to actually repair continuity in-universe. But here a rushed explanation is squeezed in at the end, presumably by Lyn (who I actually respect as a writer and fan), ending up relegated to the irritating NuTrek trope of ‘no more _____ – ever’.

One of the fundamental problems with this episode is that the writers and producers simply wanted the holodeck to be exactly the same in all respects as the holodeck in TNG, right down to the grid and the way TNG holodeck episodes always played out, and worked backwards from that.

They could have done an episode in which La’an and NuScotty intentionally see how far they can push the proto-holodeck, spooling it through various glitches and scenarios, with La’an jumping from one physical environment to the next – of which a much kinder version of the mock-Trek show was but one scene. (The visual effects in SNW are outstanding, so there would have been a lot of potential for some truly alien scenarios.)

To be fair, this did seem to be exactly what the scene with Pike introducing the prototype testing idea was aiming at, and why La’an (security chief) was chosen. Instead, the episode collapses self-indulgently in on itself and becomes a very boring whodunnit where the cast get to fool around a bit – which is nice for them to perform and Frakes to direct, but it’s not very interesting for us to watch.

Generally, as most commenters here have pointed out (even the ‘toxic lovers’ of NuTrek who cannot tolerate the slightest disagreement), the real central weakness of this episode is that holodeck episodes have been done ad nauseum and copying every previous holodeck episode from ‘Elementary Dear Data’ to ‘Bride of Chaotica!’ while adding even more fourth wall-breaking doesn’t amount to doing anything new – or, more importantly, anything particularly gripping to watch. NuTrek doing a school play about TOS really isn’t much to hang an episode on, sadly.

Terribly wasted opportunity, as @grumpy_otter says.

@ThatERguy

Every time people have to come out of the woodwork and defend a show against "canon Nazis", it's usually a sign that the show's future is bleak.

It happened to Discovery, it happened to Acolyte, heck it happened to smarter shows like Lower Decks and Prodigy. We're saturated with media and a show needs to do more than it did in the 90s to stick around.

Like it or not, enough people care about what's come before, and the details of a universe, that violating it all flagrantly will not go well.

I just rewatched TNG season 5 Conundrum. Not the best episode they ever did, but I enjoyed it immensely. I forgot about so many little touches, like Worf taking over ("Wait, I'm decorated, too!") and how smart of Macduff to volunteer for the memory recovery and fake seizing to put the kibosh on its progress. Yes, he could've made himself captain, but then the episode would've been about mutiny (it almost went there anyway). Besides, this way the blood is on Picard's hands, ultimately, which was no doubt what the aliens always intended.

But the thing I loved about it was the rich scifi aspect of the aliens. They may have had inferior weaponry, but it's ingenious, wiping short term memory to parasitically coopt the Enterprise and its superior powers. Because they were a race advanced in memory/informational manipulation, it even makes sense (I know, it's a reach) that they would know how to manipulate stored data in the computer and Data, too.

I don't mean to write a reaction to Conundrum on this SNW episode, but I'm just trying to say how much I miss the clever sci-fi aspects of some old episodes. With the limited show length they have, it seems like SNW could use a little more ingenuity...

"Like it or not, enough people care about what's come before, and the details of a universe, that violating it all flagrantly will not go well."

The whole point of paying gigantic sums of money for intellectual property and a "franchise" whether it's Star Wars or Star Trek is to benefit from a built-in reservoir of good will. This reservoir is sustained by people remembering fondly what came before which in turn means respecting canon isn't just some kind of nerd homework but is essentially something you do to maintain the brand you purchased. You don't throw canon in the garbage unduly for the same reason you don't needlessly toss the air conditioner that came with the house you bought in the trash - it is the value you paid for - why squander it?

Respecting canon isn't especially hard. Occasionally good storytelling does require a deviation or elaboration such as the the decision in BOBW to make the Borg interested in human beings and not just their technology, but it only should be in the service of an important storytelling objective.

I also agree with ThatERguy's comment that when a series begins regularly tossing continuity in the trash it's often a bad sign, not for what it is, but for what it often correlates to: lousy writers searching for a gimmick in place of good storytelling (we're going to do something NEW! Say goodbye to your grandpa's Trek!); fans using departure from canon as a proxy for bad writing and writers misaligned with the franchise they are writing for (I never liked Trek so I'm going to write a Trek story that is less like Trek

I am a bad Trekkie, apart from some very obvious things, like the Holodecks, I am not sure I could tell what is canon or not (I mean I actually just started watching TOS for the first time, I am a TNG kid).

I could blame the writers and the creators, but I think the real problem are the Studio's execs who approve of all this and have no clue what made ST such a sensation. And probably do not care, as they see ST as something that already has a huge fan base and they wanna milk it without understanding what made ST great in the first place. And here comes all this fan service and the obsession with prequels that must have Spock and Kirk and "who cares about canon?" (or ST)

@grumpy_otter, great suggestions about how they could have made the holodeck testing more fun. I also agree that the murder mystery itself was boring. Somehow I still liked (didn't love) the episode though. I guess the show set a lower bar than in the past with the first three episodes of the season. But Jammer rated it lower than others, go figure.

@Bok R'Mor: "They could have done an episode in which La’an and NuScotty intentionally see how far they can push the proto-holodeck, spooling it through various glitches and scenarios, with La’an jumping from one physical environment to the next – of which a much kinder version of the mock-Trek show was but one scene."

Also a great suggestion! You and Grumpy should write for the show.

I do wonder where the "strange new worlds" are. Did someone at NuTrek make an executive decision not to have aliens of the week? I suppose the zombies are supposed to count. 🙄

@Jason R: "This reservoir is sustained by people remembering fondly what came before which in turn means respecting canon isn't just some kind of nerd homework but is essentially something you do to maintain the brand you purchased."

Excellent point.

@Jason R.
I agree with what you are saying about intellectual property and goodwill. The reason that Andor works so well is that its story is wedged into a very important part of the established canon, a prequel to the Rogue One and the Original film, but the story itself has something to say, and it's not afraid to shake things up a bit more than we expected to do it. I stopped caring about Star Wars due to some horrifically bad or convenient storytelling, but Gilroy and his team working on Andor made me care again. I wish the people at SNW would have had the same mindset, that GOOD filmmaking is what will earn back the fans

I truly hope Larry Ellison can drive a stake into and end kurtzman era trek and we can get on to the next phase. Ellison was involved in the reboot movies, which to be fair I think trek movies are mostly awful and not the strength of the show. He has a proclivity and admiration to wards sci fi and maybe he will make getting Star Trek back on a good path a priority.

I Jsut know people aren’t gonna like starfleet academy. I’m
On the fence. I wish everything from the disco jump would be an alternate erasable timeline.


It’s gonna get worse before it gets better so enjoy what we have of a decently fun show! At least it’s carved out a lane and has an identity however goofy. If you guys want l drab melancholy that’s paint by number sci fi I’m sure there’s something out there.

The show is not as bad as you all groan about. It’s light hearted and fun. A little goofy at times.

Fear not, you’re gonna get a lot of death and stakes as they gradually kill off most of this cast that
Doesn’t fit into the rapidly approaching TOS era.

Bye Ortegas.

@Sung and @ChrisW glad my comment made you guys laugh...was hoping but seriously where are they going with Spock..maybe he will mind meld wi th the Gorn Queen during Pon Faar haha.

I really must share this masterpiece from Major Grin here:
https://youtu.be/IyGJSBNAl_A?si=XOndoqY4bw9P7fPM

Sad to agree I'm pretty bored of meta experimental episodes and comedy episodes at this point. The Trelane episode is the highlight of this season so far, which makes this comedy one a little boring in comparison.

I am praying for a Captain Angel return in the potential Sybok episode but maybe that is too much to hope for in 2025

The Orville did this so much better. Take "Majority Rule" which had an absurd premise, was sharp and funny, and actually had something to say about our reactionary culture in the age of social media.

"I truly hope Larry Ellison can drive a stake into and end kurtzman era trek and we can get on to the next phase. "


Lol. Every week the crew of Space Force One will meet a new orange hued space god who will teach them valuable lessons about crony capitalism, starving children, and cheating at golf. It's gonna be HOT!

@grumpy_otter

"But SNW needs to tone down the callbacks and explore their own direction."

This is my biggest problem with SNW. We know it's a prequel to TOS, but that doesn't mean it needs to set up everything TOS-related. It seems clear their plan is to introduce all the original series characters by the end of the show (Bones and Sulu are the only ones from the season 1 cast not there yet anyway), which makes it feel like this will be one six-year plan for a TOS reboot, which the producers have hinted at. Please no.

@ThatERguy

Just FYI, it's David Ellison, not Larry, who is buying Paramount. Larry is his dad who founded Oracle, David is the one who founded Skydance.

@Jammer provides some refreshing honesty: "Christina Chong — let's be honest — is a smokeshow". Hah, I wrote something similar before reading his review. The funny thing is, as with Chapel, I didn't really see her as such in her usual costume and styling.

Forgot to mention that I enjoyed the attempted "Riker maneuver" with the command chair.

I actually found this one better than the previous two, though that's not saying much. "Far Beyond the Stars" or "Trials and Tribble-ations" it sure ain't.

I thought the reveal that holo-Spock was the killer kind of clever, and I enjoyed the "blooper reel" at the end, as silly as it was.

Other than that... Meh. Pretty by-the-numbers fluff, and as others have said, there have been too many fluff pieces on this show already.

My thoughts ....

1 - Trying to replicate an overly hammy Kirk was decent, I had a chuckle at it. He is a terrible Kirk so at least here they made fun of it. The outtake/gag reel at the end was fabulous

2 - I did not like the holodeck tech to be essentially identical to TNG other than being able to sustain it with power and and processing power in the confines of a starship. It should have been more rudimentary. They tried to give a reason for it to be shelved from ships for 100 years (although Scotty already has a way to solve it, and why can't someone else figure it out) , but the fact it even exists at this level of detail 100 years before TNG and yet Riker was in awe of it , is a stretch to say the least. They could have done the same thing but maybe something like it has to be in the size of the physical deck so only one room, not this endless minecraft style landscape that goes on endlessly. I dont know the right answer, but the tech should have been restrictive.

3- I like the deal with Spock. Jumping into another relationship so quickly is a very human thing to do. He is trying to push into his human side in order to be with women. It actually is a good backstory to why he finally said "F this human crap" and went full on Vulcan by TOS. I think people are too harsh on this. And, there does seem to be a more romantic connection between these two than the awkwardness of the Chapel relationship. This one will hit Spock alot harder when it ends and maybe thinking Chapel was his reason to abandon human emotion was a swerve.


4 - Christina Chong - please give us more of her. Not just because of her fitness levels, she also is a very good actor.

5 - With only 10 episodes in a season, I do not like silly fluffy episodes like this coming up. If they had 20, different story .They don't have a lot of time to play with.

The best part of this episode was the outtakes at the end of the episode.

So far this season has been very underwhelming, especially after a 2 year hiatus. Seems like just rehashing plots with holodeck malfunctions and Trellane.

Better than the zombies, but far from peak SNW. They need safeties on the Holodeck safeties, with maybe additional safeties on those extra safeties. Easily the most dangerous tech on the ship.

It was also interesting that the simulation was started with a prompt, I feel this was an intentional nod to modern generative AI

I do wonder if part of the reason for an episode like this is the show's budget and what the more spectacular episodes cost to make. I get the sense that the days of Paramount throwing big money at Star Trek is over now that the streaming wars have largely ended, it took two years to get this 10 episode season to air and season 5 of Discovery was also cut down to 10 episodes.

An episode like this should be cheap since most of it is filming in a hotel or existing sets with main cast members, zero extras, and minimal special effects. We didn't even get the typical door to the holodeck opening from TNG, probably because that would have cost extra in SFX money and they spent it on episodes like Hegemony II and Shuttle to Kenfori instead.

The big news is that just yesterday Paramount announced they are spending $10 Billion to secure the streaming rights to UFC starting in 2026, they have their new tentpole to get viewers to sign up for Paramount+ and it won't be Star Trek, it's not surprising given the poor reception shows like Discovery and Picard have received.

@JPaul:

Interesting info about Paramount+ – thanks. You write:
'[...] it won't be Star Trek, it's not surprising given the poor reception shows like Discovery and Picard have received.'

Indeed, yet: S1 and S2 of PIC were simply a colossal waste of everyone's time, effort and money (cast, production staff and viewers alike). DIS became even more notorious in wilfully giving established Trek the middle finger. Prodigy barely had any audience (sadly and unjustly) and ultimately ended up as a tax write-off. It's truly incomprehensible to me that the powers that be didn't have a better plan heading into all this considering the millions of dollars and brand recognition at stake. At the very least.

One star, a Clue “mystery” without many clues or much mystery, with a half-baked ship in jeopardy tie-in. The visuals for the resolution were great, and I enjoyed Chong and Mount’s performances. While I thought the opening from the TV show fell mostly flat.(yes, Wesley channeled Shatner fine, but it was still an unnecessary Shatner), I loved the in-show cheesy alien design.

One positive in that the writers are finally giving Singh a personality.
Other than that, a good holodek story usually has an interesting plot, interesting setting and interesting characters. This had none of that.
The holodek malfunction was telegraphed.
And finally, it's bad writing to attempt to build the tension of impending doom with characters that the audience knows have to survive because they already exist in the future.

This episode wants to be Far Beyond The Stars (ds9) and Muse (VOY). It misses the mark by trying too hard. Also, what’s with Spock being such a player?

Oddly, it made Paul Wesley more believable as James Kirk. I can see him as a captain now.

The acting is strong, the look is great, Frakes' direction is as usual well-paced and crisp, the effects are well-done, and there are several nice bits of writing/dialogue. The last bit with the gag reel was a fun treat. Some bits were way too on the nose. I don't hate fun treats, but I want the show to aim higher.

I don't care that much about continuity or canon if you are changing it for a good reason. There was a line in Turnabout Intruder about women not being captains. That was some 1960s BS, so ENT, DISCO, SNW, all felt free to ignore it. Fans come up with lots of explanations to make it all fit, but I don't care. Similarly, TNG completely redid the Klingons and canon didn't say a peep as to why until decades later. I know why they did it, the TOS Klingons were silly-looking (and possibly racist against Mongolians?). I didn't need a formal retcon because Michael Westmore's Klingons are way better.

So if the writers wanted to bring a holodeck into SNW because they were going to do something really good with it - have at it! @grumpy_otter had some great suggestions for a fun episode full of physical comedy. Or a new holodeck is installed. To create a data set to work off of it begins pulling from the ship's computers, including personal logs, personal correspondence, classified records, etc. These true but private elements are incorporated into the programs, and layered with AI inventions, leaving the crew to wonder just who they are serving with.

I don't know if the above ideas would work, but I would prefer to try for something that hasn't already been done 10 times on Trek.

@Harry_H wrote: "Oddly, it made Paul Wesley more believable as James Kirk. I can see him as a captain now."

I've got to agree. Ethan Peck, from the beginning, captured the essence of Leonard Nimoy's vocal performance without sounding like a caricature or a slavish imitation. But Paul Wesley chose not to channel Shatner's voice at all... until now. I honestly didn't think he had it in him to sound like Jim Kirk.

I hope Wesley will take something useful from this experience, and put just a little more Kirk into his Kirk.

Kinda thought it was obvious that Spock turned out to be a hologram on the holodeck.

There is a fine distinction between making a show that is fun for audiences, and making one that is fun for the cast. The cast is clearly having a grand time with this episode, but sadly the laughs just don't land as well at home. I give them credit for trying, but I think they tried a bit too hard, and too often turned the subtext into text. It is trying to do a double homage - to the original series and to the holodeck episodes of TNG, but that might be just a bit too much water to carry. By aping Picard's Dixon Hill, they highlight that this is a pale comparison. TNG did noir. DS9 did Bond. Voyager did 50s sci-fi. They should have had La'an find a genre of her own.

The La'an/Spock Argentine Tango is the sexiest thing that has ever been on Star Trek.

It was one thing to have a your average useless-but-harmless holodeck episode in the middle of a ~24 episodes season, back in the days. It is entirely another now.

This is a complete waste. Besides, when you want to play with other genres, you ought to do them at least respectably well. This one was a cringe-inducing bad whodunit.

0/5 stars.

Oh gawd. The Big Goodbye 2: Arthur Conan Noonien Singh Edition: Exercize In Formulaic Mediocrity

The fact that even La'an can't save this ep for me, says it all. Holodeck-history? Oh, it drained too much power so we put it away for 120 years, becauze we culdn't figure out a workaround? A-ha. I'm suposed to belive that? Fuck you writers.

La'an's 'detective' outfit was ATROCIUS! How the ever loving FUCK, did they manage to make someone so naturally gorgeous, coordinated, elegant, and confident, to look and act like a nerdy, awkward, cringey librarian, is beyond me.

The cast of characters in the holodeck was funny in there campiness, vhich was the point I guess. Holo-Spock taking the role of Moriarty in the end, did catch me off guard I admit. Good job there. But it all resolved a little too... formulaicaly.

Idk... 1.5/4?

Oh and that last half a star vas solely for La'an and Spock tango session.

I just cannot wrap my mind around the fact that people are not just watching this show, but paying to watch it.

I grabbed season 3 off of a pirate site and I cannot make it through a single episode without fast-forwarding. I don't know if it would be possible to make a worse season of "Trek" than what we got with Picard, but I'll be damned if this season of SNW didn't come close.

It's just shit. Just absolute shit.

@Black Oatmeal

Same. Watching it all on YesMovies, i'm not paying for this slop. Then again I havent really paid to watch anything for the past few years, its all avaliable for free if you look hard enogh. XD

Surely at least some the writers from the TNG era must still be alive and working? Can't they just hire them?

I know when I watched TOS my first thoughts about Spock were “he must have been such a ladies man, probably dated all the sr staff”.

Also - that sledgehammer speech…I mean “inspirational” speech about Star Trek…maybe this show could try reaching that standard on occasion instead on playing costume party Clue, Dancing with the Star Trekkers, and the singing Vulcan and his Women.

Hey, maybe next week they will go to a new planet or something. Perhaps encounter a moral grey area. Might even allow Pike to act like a captain if that isn’t too offensive to the women on the ship.