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Strange New Worlds Season 3 is better the second half of the season.
The first half is a bit hamstrung by experimentation. SNW is becoming famous for stunt episodes.
Don't get me wrong. Arguably, some of the best episodes in Star Trek History are "stunt episodes". Mirror Mirror, A Piece of the Action, even City on the Edge of Forever.
But with Strange New Worlds it seems more like "stretching the actor" exercises. As though the cast are all going for their MFAs. The old school term was "Term Paper Acting".
It is OK to deliberately stretch the actors if it is character driven, story driven, and moves the sticks in plotting.
For instance, Uhura is famous for her vocal prowess. It is in her character DNA to sing. It makes sense for her to belt out some tunes. Especially on a ship with no Holodec . . . yet.
Celia Rose Gooding is giantly talented in that regard. I'm hoping she'll do a rendition of Impossible Dream or Silent Lucidity.
And there's apparently an upcoming Puppet Episode in store for Season 4.
Gulp.
There are other items of somewhat dubious overreach.
Spock appears to be doing a Kinsey Study of Human Sexuality. He apparently intends on sleeping with everybody onboard the Enterprise. That honors Leonard Nimoy's Sixties sex symbol status. But could he really be appealing enough to max the Enterprise out as far as hooking up goes?
Though I admit I thought initially Spock and Una would be an item. But Una has eyes for another Vulcan.
Uhura does get a love life in Season 3. And her significant other has a central role in one of the "stunts" that succeeds. The Documentary Episode.
There is no indication Scotty and/or Spock will ever be notches on her lipstick case.
Erica doesn't get a love life. But she gets top billing in the best episode of Season 3. In the which a Species of Q-Continuum level arrogance makes its debut.
It is a fine homage to the old school "stunt" of having an advanced race test the character of Federation officers. Though Erica doesn't think much of her Examiners' character.
Certain heavy duty questions remain unpacked for Strange New Worlds. Elephants in the room.
Such as does Christopher Pike ever get to have a life? Or is he just a walking dead man?
What are they going to do about Khan, if anything? Is he permanently marooned in Section 31? Is anyone ever going to air him out? The Dictator who never happened? The War Crimes that never existed?
Is he the Dictator on the Edge of Forever? A job for the Guardian of Forever? Did he really mess with Klingon DNA?
Is Sybok ever to return?
Is Christine Chapel to be a permanent second banana in Sick Bay? Or does Medical Archaeology offer her a niche where she is the boss? Or does the Glass Ceiling still exist in the far future?
What becomes of M'Benga when McCoy shows up? And does McCoy ever meet his comic soul mate--Jet Reno?
When does Roger Korby become an android? Is Ruk ever going to show up?
The Old Ones. The ones who made us.
Where are Sulu and Chekov?
SNW has the tone right. Tone is apparently hard to do in contemporary Treksploitation.
Somebody once said, for instance, that Star Trek: The Next Generation was Mall of America in Space. I had a hard time getting that image out of my head.
I guess it was the Carpeting of the Enterprise Bridge. And the architecture. Was Worf Weapons Officer or was he serving Starbucks?
The place never got dirty. Never got scorched. Wires never hung out. Nothing was jury-rigged. There was no bubble gum under the desk. No silly putty holding the Jefferies Tube together.
In the Old Days, Scotty always had a dirty face and greasy fingers and scorching on the fringes of his uniform.
Strange New Worlds has the look, feel, and sound of the Original Series. People do get dirty. Get sick and die. They get banged up. Fried. Tossed like salads. Suffer bad hair days.
In Pike's case, bad hair eternities. (All right. I know. Not fair. Everybody piles on Pike's hair.)
At times the stories are true to the soul of Star Trek.
If you subtract the academic exercises, the MFA dissertations, it is authentic Star Trek.
Zeroed in. Character driven. Vintage Star Trek Stories.
