Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

By now, Strange New Worlds knows what kind of show it wants to be, and the first five episodes of season 3 (which were provided for review) have something for everyone to love.

For now, Strange New Worlds is here to remind us just how much fun it is to spend time with this crew.

All things considered, Strange New Worlds continues to do an excellent job at adapting Star Trek to this era of television, maintaining the series’ episodic structure and unvarnished optimism while introducing modern production value and overarching character narratives that tie the season together.

“Strange New Worlds” remains committed to stretching its legs and exploring wilder tones than the franchise often allows itself. .... What’s remarkable about these whiplashing tones is that showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, and their own crew of writers, manage to navigate that asteroid field with particular aplomb, letting each episode have its own feel without making it feel like it’s a different show each time.

A space saga that has defied television gravity and continues to soar.

Anson Mount takes Pike to new highs (or is that lows?) as he deals with more tragedy, but the storyline involving the crewmembers who have been captured by the Gorn is less compelling than the rest of the episode.

For “Trek” aficionados, hewing to canon is important and necessary, but the episode’s A story is something “Trek” fans have seen too many times before. Episodes three and five are episodic away team missions, a welcome return to the show’s roots. .... The best story so far is found in episode four, an offbeat outing directed by Jonathan Frakes.

Season 3 continues to be smart, but is never quite thought-provoking.

What Strange New Worlds continues to offer is less a new type of Star Trek and more a kind of Star Trek smoothie. It’s got all the most pleasing parts of whatever’s been thrown in there, and boy is it sweet. But it may also leave you with the sneaking suspicion that it’d be better for you to just eat the banana it was made from.