Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Somehow the way “Strange New Worlds” addresses our present moment feels the most effective narrative choice to date.

What “Strange New Worlds” brings back is some of the Buck Rogers brio of the original series. ... There is enough of William Shatner’s puckishness in Mount that one may easily forget that this is the Pike and Spock Show, and not the Kirk and Spock Show. ... It is in the “Star Trek” way of things to get a little cornball, a little goofball, a little silly. This is more feature than bug. Earnestness has the edge over sense; science, if you want to call it that — it often amounts to magic here — just serves the drama, the philosophy and the themes.

I’ve asked for Kurtzman and company to just let Star Trek be Star Trek. With Strange New Worlds, they finally have, and the power of possibility is palpable throughout.

The show looks great, moves quickly, and does everything it can to keep the audience entertained. At times, its excess of charms can border on cloying, and some of the attempts at moral lessons are distractingly ham-fisted, but everything passes by so smoothly it’s hard to hold a grudge. The going may not be as bold as it once was, but it’s fun and rarely insulting, and most of the time, that’s enough.

Overall, Strange New Worlds is absolutely nailing the basics of what used to make Star Trek great – and I can’t wait until they boldly go to seek out new civilisations (i.e. officially announce when it’s coming out in the UK) so I can see more. Hit it!

“Strange New Worlds” is at its best in its fifth episode, which delivers more cheeky fun and short bursts of character development with economy that are more meaningful than the paragraphs of breathless character exposition found in the first four episodes.

This latest Trek marks the fullest embrace of the canon's history ever, really. ... Mount was already delightful as Pike on Discovery, and this show leans into his charm.

While existing within that canon, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” leverages audience familiarity in a manner that’s welcoming rather than suffocating. As the title implies, this is a loving throwback to the spirit of exploration and derring-do so intrinsic to the brand over the past six decades (right down to Mount reciting a version of the “Space, the final frontier” narration that both Shatner and Stewart had a go at in previous incarnations), while pointing toward a future full of possibilities.

[Star Trek: Strange New Worlds] gets back to basics, closely hewing to classic Trek with an old-school vibe and an episodic alien-of-the-week format. (It even brings back the traditional uniforms and opening narration from the original series.) It’s a throwback, to be sure… and a welcome one.

A direct prequel populated by younger versions of characters like Spock and Uhura, it’s hardly a bold construct but it’s mostly an entertaining one.

There are installments that hit and others that are completely forgettable. But the series has successfully and quickly established a small ensemble that’s easy to care about and a hopeful ethos that harkens back to the original Star Trek series and the more procedural aspects of various popular spinoffs. It’s an amiable and entertaining throwback by intent and in execution.

The first six episodes are fun, light, and well-crafted, but much of what Strange New Worlds offers can’t help but come off as clever franchise strategizing.