ST: SNW 2.01. and a Babylon 5 trailer
The first episode of the new season. My feelings about s1 of SNW are that it started strong but that I had some real problems with the second half of the season, though I liked our ensemble throughout and am wishing the show well. On to the s2 opener:
Which seems to take inspiration of the opening two eps of Discovery's third season, where in the first episode we followed Michael, and in the second the crew on separate adventures until they reunited at the end, only in this case Pike takes off early on, and I expect we'll see what he was up to in the next episode while following the rest of the crew in this opening episode. (Also who the mysteries "she" is whom he and Una talked about as the one person able to defend Number One at court. This being Star Trek, I fully expect this woman to be Una's long lost sister, cousin, clone or mother.)
For the most part, I thought this was a good adventure, giving everyone something to do and introducing a new regular at the same time - Pelia, the new chief engineer. If Hammer had to be killed off way way too soon, then replacing him with a character who isn't just old in sci fi terms (even near immortal, according to Spock) but also played by an older actress who is allowed to look physically old is a good idea. Older women who aren't one episode guest stars are sadly still a distinct minority not just in Star Trek, and I like the neat subversion of her saying what the problem with near immortality is. Openly confessing she wants on the Enterprise because that's where shenanigans are bound to happen every week: A+! I also approve of her being not fooled for a second by Spock's latest Enterprise hijacking ploy. (He really does this a lot, or will in the future...)
I'm glad the show didn't drag La'an's absence out but made reuniting with her part of the episode's plot. And hey, New Trek finally mastered decent Klingon make-up again! Plus this episode's Klingons definitely would feel at home with Martok & Co., complete with blood wine drinking competitions.
This episode establishes that unlike most of the current Enterprise crew, M'Benga and Chapel did fight in the Klingon war (from Disco's first season), i.e. weren't part of the crew yet, which I'm not sure was mentioned (or not) in the first season opener (i.e. that M'Benga and Chapel were new arrivals, like Uhura). M'Benga having war trauma could go either way, but after the arc with his daughter was wrapped up in for me an unsatisfying way last season, it's good to see the actor being given challenging material to play. Yes, there's the pledge to have STNW keeping the episodic structure, but I could see the show treating this like DS9 did O'Brien's Cardassian war trauma. When relevant, it's brought up, but not in every episode, and O'Brien had no lack of stories without it, either. In any case, the comradery between him and Christine Chapel was great throughout, and I expect we'll hear more about what the mysterious super soldier serum green goo is that M'Benga has for such emergencies. (Just don't do an addict arc, show. Doing one was not one of ST: Enterprise's better ideas.)
Speaking of Christine, I'm not keen on the show doing a mutual UST arc with her and Spock, though I'm also not completely surprised (not just because of the TOS Chapel's pining for Spock, but because the "fake kiss" scene last season was a pretty blatant set up). I don't hate the idea like some other viewers seem to, either; there are other pairings on any ST show I wasn't enthralled by, and I came around to some and didn't mind others, so we'll see. This version of Christine is still my favourite so far, and the episode showcased her bravery and compassion very satisfyingly.
Nostalgia factor well used without being for its own sake: Spock getting his Vulcan lyre and Uhura coming across him playing when she delivers a message. This is my kind of homage - works as a scene in its own right, gains another layer when you know their playing/singing scene from Charlie X.
Spock suffering from a hangover after all that Klingon blood wine was an amusing note to go out on, except it wasn't the very last scene, which was instead the one with Admiral April & colleague speaking about a possible Gorn war. Guys, don't. The Gorn as Alien rip-offs was one of my problems with the last season, and you marketed yourself explicitly as the fun one. This said, if you do an arc about preventing a war, that's cool, and would make the Enterprise crew managing to do just that with the Klingons in the season opener solid foreshadowing.
Meanwhile, in my other favourite space franchise, there's a new B5 movie to be had, this one animated and with voice actors filling in for our dear departed actors:
Thoughts:Seems like JMS couldn't resist doing a multiverse story of his own, but hey, he did the world building to justify it with Babylon Squared and War without End. Which aren't solely about time travel. The future Sheridan experiences on Centauri Prime comes to pass, but Garibaldi's future that Sinclair sees, or the one of Ivanova's desperate last message never does, and yet that message was sent from somewhere, so it stands to reason that in the B5 verse, several timelines do exist. Since a multiverse story allows my guy Londo to show up without a Keeper (I presume) and maybe, crossing my fingers there, have some more scenes with G'Kar and Vir, I'm all for it. Also: if JMS works in a Bester cameo, that would be the icing on the cake. But even if it's simply a Sheridan centric story - I love Babylon 5, and I look forward to seeing it animated.
Which seems to take inspiration of the opening two eps of Discovery's third season, where in the first episode we followed Michael, and in the second the crew on separate adventures until they reunited at the end, only in this case Pike takes off early on, and I expect we'll see what he was up to in the next episode while following the rest of the crew in this opening episode. (Also who the mysteries "she" is whom he and Una talked about as the one person able to defend Number One at court. This being Star Trek, I fully expect this woman to be Una's long lost sister, cousin, clone or mother.)
For the most part, I thought this was a good adventure, giving everyone something to do and introducing a new regular at the same time - Pelia, the new chief engineer. If Hammer had to be killed off way way too soon, then replacing him with a character who isn't just old in sci fi terms (even near immortal, according to Spock) but also played by an older actress who is allowed to look physically old is a good idea. Older women who aren't one episode guest stars are sadly still a distinct minority not just in Star Trek, and I like the neat subversion of her saying what the problem with near immortality is. Openly confessing she wants on the Enterprise because that's where shenanigans are bound to happen every week: A+! I also approve of her being not fooled for a second by Spock's latest Enterprise hijacking ploy. (He really does this a lot, or will in the future...)
I'm glad the show didn't drag La'an's absence out but made reuniting with her part of the episode's plot. And hey, New Trek finally mastered decent Klingon make-up again! Plus this episode's Klingons definitely would feel at home with Martok & Co., complete with blood wine drinking competitions.
This episode establishes that unlike most of the current Enterprise crew, M'Benga and Chapel did fight in the Klingon war (from Disco's first season), i.e. weren't part of the crew yet, which I'm not sure was mentioned (or not) in the first season opener (i.e. that M'Benga and Chapel were new arrivals, like Uhura). M'Benga having war trauma could go either way, but after the arc with his daughter was wrapped up in for me an unsatisfying way last season, it's good to see the actor being given challenging material to play. Yes, there's the pledge to have STNW keeping the episodic structure, but I could see the show treating this like DS9 did O'Brien's Cardassian war trauma. When relevant, it's brought up, but not in every episode, and O'Brien had no lack of stories without it, either. In any case, the comradery between him and Christine Chapel was great throughout, and I expect we'll hear more about what the mysterious super soldier serum green goo is that M'Benga has for such emergencies. (Just don't do an addict arc, show. Doing one was not one of ST: Enterprise's better ideas.)
Speaking of Christine, I'm not keen on the show doing a mutual UST arc with her and Spock, though I'm also not completely surprised (not just because of the TOS Chapel's pining for Spock, but because the "fake kiss" scene last season was a pretty blatant set up). I don't hate the idea like some other viewers seem to, either; there are other pairings on any ST show I wasn't enthralled by, and I came around to some and didn't mind others, so we'll see. This version of Christine is still my favourite so far, and the episode showcased her bravery and compassion very satisfyingly.
Nostalgia factor well used without being for its own sake: Spock getting his Vulcan lyre and Uhura coming across him playing when she delivers a message. This is my kind of homage - works as a scene in its own right, gains another layer when you know their playing/singing scene from Charlie X.
Spock suffering from a hangover after all that Klingon blood wine was an amusing note to go out on, except it wasn't the very last scene, which was instead the one with Admiral April & colleague speaking about a possible Gorn war. Guys, don't. The Gorn as Alien rip-offs was one of my problems with the last season, and you marketed yourself explicitly as the fun one. This said, if you do an arc about preventing a war, that's cool, and would make the Enterprise crew managing to do just that with the Klingons in the season opener solid foreshadowing.
Meanwhile, in my other favourite space franchise, there's a new B5 movie to be had, this one animated and with voice actors filling in for our dear departed actors:
Click to viewThoughts:Seems like JMS couldn't resist doing a multiverse story of his own, but hey, he did the world building to justify it with Babylon Squared and War without End. Which aren't solely about time travel. The future Sheridan experiences on Centauri Prime comes to pass, but Garibaldi's future that Sinclair sees, or the one of Ivanova's desperate last message never does, and yet that message was sent from somewhere, so it stands to reason that in the B5 verse, several timelines do exist. Since a multiverse story allows my guy Londo to show up without a Keeper (I presume) and maybe, crossing my fingers there, have some more scenes with G'Kar and Vir, I'm all for it. Also: if JMS works in a Bester cameo, that would be the icing on the cake. But even if it's simply a Sheridan centric story - I love Babylon 5, and I look forward to seeing it animated.