Lost in Translation

I don't get the obsession already with James Kirk. The reason this series got made was the groundswell of enthusiasm for the character of Captain Pike and the desire to see more of his time and that of the rest of the current crew on the Enterprise.

Why are the writers so desperate to give so much time to the young Kirk at this point.

I also agree that the Enterprise doesn't seem to be doing a lot of exploring of strange new worlds. They never seem to be out of reach of other federation ships!

I hope that this turns out to be symptomatic of that "difficult second season" affliction and that when the properly rewarded series writers return to work on season three they can get the series back to its best.

SNW now seems to suffer the same fate as DIS:

There is no longer a command structure on the ship, ensigns decide whether a mining facility should be destroyed and feelings are the focus and not scientific facts.

Captain Pike seems like a nice uncle and not like the captain of a spaceship. The death of two crew members apparently leaves him completely cold. Instead of sending security to catch the saboteur, the captain goes on the hunt.

Uhura watches as the saboteur blows a hole in Enterprise instead of simply using the phaser to stun him.

As a science officer, Spock is not consulted to investigate whether aliens actually live in the nebula.

And based on a gut feeling, a station is casually destroyed, without perhaps discussing the matter with Starfleet Command first.

And no one, absolutely no one, has to fear any consequences and there are no investigations into these incidents.

And Pelia as chief engineer is a joke. And a bad one. Any episode where she has more than 10s of screentime is pure torture.

SNWs follows an old theme with this episode. You will find the inspiration for it in TOS and TNG. In my opinion, the earlier franchise episodes did it better. For one thing, they kept the mystery a center piece, unlike here, where it's just a vehicle to explore more character backstories. I'm sorry, but these on the nose confessionals are tiresome. I don't want characters to tell their stories at inappropriate times. It's unnatural and it feels forced and contrived.

Everything about this episode seemed off. Nothing quite meshed. There were some huge logic holes, not the least of which was going into unknown life form territory and applying human traits to it. The sentimental ending was a cheap shot, and Pike's complete abdication of his duties as Captain is an insult to every real Trek fan.

This is one of the best episodes of the series, second only to "A Quality of Mercy" from season one. It features the first meetings of Kirk and Uhura as well as Kirk and Spock. Uhura and another Starfleet officer are hearing strange noises and seeing strange things that may or may not be real. The Strange New Worlds characters are just supporting characters as this episode focuses mainly on our favorites from TOS. While the main characters are TOS, the story is very much straight out of TNG. In fact, this is a perfect example of a TNG-style story played out by TOS characters. I'm liking this Kirk more and more.

This rather minor episode puts Uhura at center stage: not only is she the only crew member to be aware of an alien species making first contact but ultimately she is the only one who can save the day.

It's one of those cheapie segments, so important in keeping a season under budget, with very little action. Instead, we have several fan-pleasing (in a nearly condescending/pandering fashion) peeks at the iconic figures of Star Trek history interacting, notably Uhura with Kirk assisting rather than commanding, as well as Spock meeting Kirk for apparently the first time. For me, such cuteness doesn't register because new actors are playing the roles. For Roddenberry's legacy, the main theme expressed here is putting the welfare of an alien culture, even one we know nothing about, ahead of greed (in this case, Starfleet's "gas station" for deuterium mining) is rather obvious.