The Beat’s STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS midseason 3 roundtable

Welcome to The Beat’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Midseason 3 roundtable discussion. After watching the first half of Strange New Worlds Season 3, Comics Beat Star Trek team members Avery Kaplan, George Carmona 3rd and Ollie Kaplan gathered in Stately Beat Manor’s observation lounge to discuss the first five episodes. What do you think of the season so far? Be sure and let us know in the comment section or over on social media.

What did you think of the first five episodes?

AVERY KAPLAN: I thought they were OK. One of the things I really liked about the first two seasons of Strange New Worlds is that there were moments where they unapologetically did “message” episodes. Like the climactic allusion to the “failed” United States in the pilot (including the January 6, 2021, insurrection), or season 2’s “Ad Astra Per Aspera.” I feel like these first five episodes are lacking anything like that, and I’m worried it is an ominous foreshadowing of what the Franchise will become in the wake of the Paramount/Skydance merger.

GEORGE CARMONA 3rd: I agree, this season had more great moments than episodes, and most of them weren’t on that soapbox giving us warnings of our future, except for those damn holodecks. With Lower Decks gone, they are definitely leaning into the Trek that is all about the wacky adventures, which can be fun and entertaining like season 1’s “The Elysian Kingdom” or season 2’s crossover with Lower Decks or the musical episode “Subspace Rhapsody.“ Looking at the schedule, I’m expecting the even episodes to all have a wacky shenanigans vibe. 

OLLIE KAPLAN: This is definitely the weakest season yet. Although I appreciate that the series is still taking risks, not all of those risks have resonated with me. What made “Subspace Rhapsody” work so well is that it moved the series forward, putting the Enterprise crew on the road to becoming the characters we all know and love from Star Trek: The Original Series. In that episode, we understood why Spock and Chapel’s dynamic is what it is on TOS, and there were also major hints about the woman Uhura becomes once she settles into her role as the ship’s communications officer.  

Did you have a favorite episode?

AVERY: “A Space Adventure Hour” is easily my favorite of these first five. I love the way it forms a perfect compliment to Jonathan Frakes’ previous directorial entry on Strange New Worlds, “Those Old Scientists.” While the holodeck element of the episode may not have broken too much new ground, it was used well. And the thematic and metafictional elements of the episode more than made up for the reliance on holodeck tropes.

GEORGE: “Adventure Hour” is a solid episode, but my money’s on “Through the Lens of Time.“ This one has all the makings of a great Trek episode: weird technobabble, an away mission gone bad, good versus evil, and Pelia with the comedy gold. We get a lot of personal development for our characters, like Uhura being the level-headed officer helping the scared newbie, or whatever’s going on with Spock and Chapel, there is some undercurrent of messy there. 

OLLIE: Can I choose an episode from season 2? Just kidding. Honestly, my favorite part of this season, thus far anyway, has been the fan event at San Diego Comic-Con with the dancers, and how into the performance the whole cast got. Other than that, I am honestly struggling to remember what episode was what this season. But the good thing is, I remember that they were enjoyable enough, and I’m eager to return to the episodes and re-watch them. If I have to choose before my rewatch (and I do), I will agree with Avery and go with “Adventure Hour,” as I also loved the meta elements of the episode. Paul Wesley did a great job matching William Shatner‘s unique cadence and speaking patterns, and he did it in a way that felt respectful.

I think George said it best in the first question. While there are no stellar episodes in this season so far, there are stellar moments. Spock and La’an’s dance sequence. Give me more, please! And then, Chapel’s style has really leveled up this season, as well as the style of many of the other crew members. In general, SNW season 3 costume designer, Bernadette Croft, has been killing it when it comes to the design of the crew’s futuristic, non-Starfleet attire, and I love how it channels all of the cheese of TOS costume designer William Ware Theiss.  

A least favorite episode?

AVERY: The season premiere, “Hegemony, Part 2,” was a bit disappointing to me. The big selling point of Strange New Worlds is the variety of different genres and tones between episodes. So, it felt like a misstep to me to open the third season (which we’ve been waiting two years to see) with an episode that maintained the flavor of the season 2 finale. That being said, the scenes on the Gorn ship were good, especially the gruesome injury sustained by Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia).

GEORGE: “Wedding Bell Blues” takes that honor for me. This episode and “Adventure Hour” are well executed, but in the end, they make the same mistake that Enterprise did in referencing things from “future” shows, so we can fan out, and that’s a problem for me. They have their premise and mission, and they can find “Strange New” things without having to pre-hash touchstones from other shows. 

OLLIE: I agree with Avery. I was not a fan of starting the season with the conclusion of season 2’s cliffhanger episode. Nothing against those types of episodes, but two-parters aren’t generally my favorite Trek episodes. Of course, there are exceptions, but this wasn’t it. I am also upset about Ortegas’s hand injury. An injury like that, even with Starfleet technology, would be traumatic, and I would like to see some follow through on this in the second half of the season.

A favorite or least favorite character?

AVERY: I am really enjoying how La’an Noonien Singh (Christina Chong) is developing. Allowing Chong to bring in her dancing prowess in such a big way this season is also a welcome development.

I have also been in the “Moretegas” camp since season 1. And while it does seem like we are getting a bit more of Ortegas in these first five episodes, I hope she gets to star in her own A-plot (for the first time) in the back half!

GEORGE: Crazy as this sounds, but insecure Scotty isn’t working for me. I know the crew we see in the TOS is ten years out, but there isn’t even a glimmer of that brash LT. Commander who’s third in command of the Enterprise and a regular drinking buddy of Kirk and McCoy in what Martin Quinn is given to portray. My concern is that they’ll be “fridging” Pelia (Carol Kane) to put Scotty on the path to command. Hopefully, we’ll get an episode where he goes off to command school instead. 

OLLIE: Please don’t fridge Pelia! As aggressively heterosexual as they have made this season, I am enjoying the relationship dynamic between Spock and La’an anyway. They work so well together, and the relationship makes sense to me as a viewer. However, the real star is the return of Spock’s chest hair. But I can’t sum up all my feels on Vulcan hair in a single paragraph. 

What do you hope to see in the back half of the season?

AVERY: Some queer narrative elements, characters or even allegories. Strange New Worlds Season 1 had Jesse James Keitel as a guest star (Captain Angel, who should be a returning character), Strange New Worlds Season 2’s premiere had Oriana’s parents and the trial of Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), which can easily be read as a trans allegory. But so far, Season 3 seems bound and determined to be aggressively heterosexual and cis-normative.

I will admit that I find the chemistry between La’an and Spock (Ethan Peck) compelling, particularly in the dance scene that closed out “A Space Adventure Hour.” But the world needs Star Trek to unapologetically display its IDIC philosophy now more than ever. Remember: we only get to the future together. This has been a core component of the Franchise since Star Trek: The Original Series. There’s no way around it, and there’s no way to justify capitulating to fascists, like Disney did with Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and Win Or Lose.

GEORGE: In terms of off-beat episodes, I hope that they can stand on their own like The Elysian Kingdom or Subspace Rhapsody. Avery covered the Spock and La’an relationship, so I’ll look for more growth from Scotty and Uhura, plus some serious therapy for Ortegas and her PTSD. She’s gone from a carefree, swashbuckling conn officer into a hard, bitter person. More healing for her, please. 

OLLIE: I have already touched on how I feel about what Avery and George are saying in my previous answers. However, I want to elaborate on the queer elements too.

The Star Trek Universe has always been a home for those of us who aren’t normative, and I think that is exactly why it has always done so well. Like, who doesn’t relate to Spock? I meet people from all backgrounds who are like, “Spock’s my dude because he’s part alien, part human.” And now more than ever (at least in recent history), we need characters like Spock who represent the best of what we can be, no matter how hard it can be to find common ground and work towards something better. And to me, telling queer stories in a popular franchise is part of the work that’s necessary to make these fantastic sci-fi stories become our reality. 

New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are released on Thursdays on Paramount+.

Keep up with all of The Beat’s Star Trek coverage here.