Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, The Enterprise Crew Embarks On Their Five Year Mission — a recap of the first five episodes of the first season.
After coming to terms with his fate, Christopher Pike has decided to embark on his five year mission with his crew. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has taken the opportunity to individually focus on the characters that deserve their time to shine. It is very character driven, which is ultimately its strength as it has been proving the last couple of episodes.
In the second episode, Children of the Comet, the focus was on Nyota Uhura, on why she joined Starfleet and her strengths as a communications officer. The episode showcases her talents as she is responsible for saving an alien species living in a comet, by deciphering that it responded to music and stopping its destruction, the comet was revealed to be harmless, as its purpose was to fly near a planet and release water vapor into the atmosphere to enhance that planet’s lifeforms.
Had it not been for Uhura, an entire species would have been killed and it would have gone against the Prime Directive that was established in the first episode and that Star Trek is known for. Her being able to accomplish this was also a way for her to heal from the loss of her parents, which was the reason why she enlisted in Starfleet. At the end of the episode, Pike starts to really think about the lives of the cadets that he will sacrifice himself for.
In episode 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Ghosts of Illyria, the focus is on Una, aka Number One. She is the character that has been explored the most, and here we learn more about her mysterious past. The biggest secret Number One has is that she is an Illyrian, an alien species that is banned by the Federation due to their genetic abilities, much like the synths in Star Trek Picard. She is forced to reveal this fact after she is the only person not affected by a virus that starts taking over the Enterprise. Pike and Spock are investigating the disappearance of an Illyrian colony, as a cure for the virus is synthesized from Una’s DNA.
Pike and Spock discover that the reason why the Illyrians disappeared was because in an attempt to change their DNA to be able to be accepted into the Federation, they ended up creating the virus. The virus is cured, and the Illyrians fate is left ambiguous, but Pike and Spock return to the Enterprise, where Una attempts to resign due to the truth about who she is, but Pike refuses as she is an invaluable member of his crew. At the end of the episode, Una discovers that the reason why the virus made its way to the ship was because of Dr. M’Benga, who has an outdated transporter to keep his daughter in stasis until the cure for her mysterious disease is found.
Episode 4 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Memento Mori, focuses on La’an Noonien-Singh, the character with the most mystery behind her, since she is alleged to be a descendant from Khan Noonien-Singh, the iconic Star Trek villain and Captain Kirk’s sworn enemy. The crew is set to deliver a nuclear-powered AP350 air filter to a Federation colony, but find many of the colonists dead. La’an helps evacuate the survivors and recognizes that it is a Gorn trap; as we learn that she was the only survivor of a Gorn attack in her childhood.
A Gorn ship attacks, doing significant damage to the Enterpris, and M’Benga and Chapel resorting to 21st-century medicine to treat the wounded, including Number One, when their equipment goes offline. Spock is able to track the Gorn ship and they destroy it, but three more Gorn ships arrive. To be able to defeat them, Spock mind melds with La’an to learn about the Gorn’s communication system, and they use this to trick one ship to fire on the other.
The Enterprise then warps around the black hole, temporarily disappearing from view, and ejects the destabilizing AP350 which explodes and convinces the remaining Gorn ship that the Enterprise is destroyed. A bittersweet moment, as La’an confronted those who killed her family, and this time was able to help save her crew.
In episode five of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Spock Amok, a reference to Amok Time from the Original Series, where T’Pring was first introduced and we learn about the Vulan mating ritual. This episode follows Spock as he is reunited with T’Pring, his mate. They had gotten engaged in the first episode, and Spock had left Vulcan for his position at the Enterprise. T’Pring comes to the Enterprise after being apart for a while, to try and bond with her future husband, but Spock is struggling with his half human side, since T’Pring wants him to embrace his Vulcan side fully.
Meanwhile, negotiations with a species are underway, but they refuse to speak to Pike. Spock and T’Pring, in an attempt to better bond, practice meditation and accidentally end up switching bodies. When the species reveal that they will only talk to Spock, a predicament ensues when Pike finds out about the body switch. Rather than cancel the meeting, T’Pring says she is capable to do the meeting as Spock, because she will be able to get to know him better. The negotiations are successful, Chapel and Dr. M’Benga are able to switch T’Pring and Spock back to their respective bodies. The couple then reconcile.
Meanwhile, Una and La’an try to relax and have fun to break with the stereotype that they don’t know how to have fun by following a list made by the ensigns, since the ensigns were making fun of them because of it. At the end, Una and La’an see the spaceship from the top of the Enterprise, where they leave their mark after completing the bingo list.
Rating: 5 out of 5
NEXT: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Progressive Trek We Always Wanted
About Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS is based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series will feature fan favorites from season two of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY: Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series will follow Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds airs on Paramount+.
