One of the really great things aboutStar Trek: Strange New Worldsis that instead of being a series that follows a story from one week to the next, each particular installment is a stand-alone tale. Certainly there are things learned and remembered from week to week, there isn’t a real need to pick up one week where the last one left off. By makingStrange New Worldsthis way, the show can jump all over the map when it comes to tone and plot. That allows for the show to jump from last week’s episode, which was a bit more light-hearted, to the latest installment which took a hard turn towards horror science fiction.
The season has also been about combining the more traditional elements of aStar Trekshow with other genres. There was the show that was clearly all about politics of the day. Then there was the installment that made the Enterprise look and feel very much like it was a submarine in a standoff with a much more powerful enemy. This time around, there was a definite homage being paid to horror movies set in space that came before them. In some ways, it felt like more than an homage but even when the episode came dangerously close to straight ripping off other science fiction films, it managed to make the plot its own.
RELATED:Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 7 Review
Thecrew of the Enterprisestarts off this week’s story with much love, happiness and comradery. It turns out that a couple of the younger members of the detail are being promoted and may even be moving off the ship. That includes everyone’s favorite linguist, Uhura who believes that her tour with Star Fleet is about to come to an end. Of course, anyone who is a devotee ofStar Trekknows full well that she doesn’t leave, but that’s not really the point here. The point is to find out exactly why she stays and this episode ends up answering that particular question in a way that feels genuine and is more than just “she couldn’t leave because Star Fleet is so neat.”
While the prevailing theme of “All Those Who Wander,” is horror, the show also manages to give the audience a deeper look into Captain Pike and his leadership style. The episode also allows for people to see just why he’s such a beloved figure in Star Trek lore. That’s despite the fact that he really hasn’t been a big figure on the screen beforeAnson Mount came along. Certainly the movie version of Pike seemed like a good guy, butStrange New Worldshas managed to fill out the character more and Mount has managed to make the character quite likable both by his crew and the people who watch the show.
One of the opening scenes in the show also make the entire crew of the enterprise a little more human, even if not everyone on the crew is indeed strictly human. It allows the audience to see how these people interact with each other and it also shows that they do more than just work together. The leadership of the Enterprise seem quite a bit like a family. While this has been the goal ofmanyStar Trekshowsthat came before it, the simple mechanic of having them eat breakfast - and wash dishes - together goes further than any show that came before it to show how people who live and work together on a daily basis become as close as they are.
It turns out that making the audience genuinely like everyone that appears on-screen as a member of the Enterprise crew has another effect. When those crew members are put in danger, even if they aren’t all that well known, there’s a real feeling of worry from the audience. There’s a reason to not want someone in harm’s way. There are plenty of shows out there that should take note ofhowStrange New Worldsdoes it. Even if people like Spock and Captain Pike aren’t really going to be in danger of dying in any of these episodes, there are others in harm’s way that don’t have plot armor. That was definitely on display this week.
The show also brought the crew of the Enterpriseface to face with the Gornfor the first time. They had, of course, run across this dangerous alien race before, but only saw their starships. This time around, they are down on the planet with what passes for Gorn children. Though these aren’t cute little lizard babies. Instead, it turns out that the hatchlings are killing machines and start their life by murdering their “hosts” from the inside out.
It was explained earlier in the season that the Gorn use captured prisoners' bodies as breeding pods and that the Gorn eggs hatch inside people. It took no time at all to see the obvioushomage to theAlienmovie franchise, complete with this alien race going from tiny hatchlings to “maturity” in the span of a couple of minutes. That of course makes them quite intimidating. Those children manage to take out three members of the crew including one of the main characters of the show.
That’s also why this might be the best episode of the entire season. This isn’t a situation where the only people who ever die are characters that nobody knows. It changes the rest of the season as well as there’s a chance that more major characters are going to bid adieu. While there are some who have plot armor, likePike and Spock and Uhurait seems likely that other characters might not last the season. That means the danger is real and there’s a reason to really pay attention and root for people to get out their various dangerous situations.
That doesn’t mean that the episode was flawless. Right at the top of the list of things that seem a bit off are the Gorn themselves. It feels like the show went a bit too hard on the horror aspect for this week and forgot that the Gorn are also a race that is flying around in spaceships. The creatures shown inStrange New Worldsthis weekwere pretty animalistic. It’s quite hard to imagine them standing at the helm of a ship and ordering crewmates to fire laser weapons. The show tried to explain this away by making it clear that the Gorn are in fact, not animals and are in fact quite smart. It still became pretty hard to believe these aliens are the same ones from a few weeks ago.
Now thatStar Trek: Strange New Worldshas indeed shown a version of the Gorn that are young and a version of the Gorn safely sealed away in their spacecraft, it would do some good to show the adults up close. That’s for another week, however.
