What Is Starfleet?

I'll say this about this episode: it's clever and unusual to do a faux-documentary about Starfleet (can't recall that this has ever been done before) and critiquing the militaristic aspect of Starfleet does address a longstanding controversy: are Starfleet officers explorers or warriors?

Trouble is, there isn't much to this critique. If you want to explore, you will run into surly aliens who will shoot at you. Case closed.

The ending of this episode slammed right into a different and more interesting critique, right under the writers' nose: Starfleet is a bunch of moralizing prigs who get themselves into trouble by steamrolling over alien cultures who don't live up to their lofty standards.

The original series wasn't guilty of this too much but it's been in evidence from TNG onwards. Remember all the obviously-wrong aliens that Picard lectured and then flew away? Remember how the Federation used the Bajoran wormhole to colonize what turned out to be Dominion space and then rather than just sensibly retreat, decided to fight about it?

No wonder Starfleet officers have to be warriors with that kind of high-handed attitude. They can get away with it because they have a big alliance and a lot of firepower. That doesn't make them right or smart.

What's going to happen the next time the Federation want something from the Lutani? They're going to get a cold shoulder, that's for sure. Maybe they'll become allies with the Klingons.

I was waiting for some kind of rationale why Starfleet was even getting involved in somebody else's war. I figured they didn't want the combatants to ally with the Klingons or they had a moon made of dilithium or something.

A little more detail about the warring sides, and how desperate each might be, would be warranted. If the Lutani were battling for survival, that puts a different spin on their moral ambiguity and makes Starfleet look like a bunch of jerks.

Someday maybe Star Trek writers will develop more self-awareness in their writing. It's pretty unsophisticated and surface-level right now.

Leave it to the writers of Strange New Worlds to come up with a pretty decent premise for an episode but then proceed to screw it all up. The episode has an Encounter At Farpoint feel to it, but unfortunately the story kept getting interrupted with this documentary style episode. Ortega's brother is such a pointless character, which made the episode kind of pointless. You never really feel for the creature as the story is constantly interrupted. Just 3 episodes left in season 3. What else can the writers screw up?

This really could have been an excellent story. But the concept/format allowed it to go to waste. It's as simple as that. Now that there are only 10 episodes per season it seems to me, there isn't time for all these gimmicks. We need good rock solid stories straightforwardly told (which this could easily have been) please.

Strange New Worlds employs another gimmick. It is the documentary episode but at times it seems more like found footage.

Beto Ortegas is the director and angry at Starfleet. He does not see Starfleet as a benevolent peaceful organisation. Beto is also angry at them for taking his sister Erica away.

Captain Pike is on a top secret mission in a war between the the Lutani and the Kasar, where the Lutani ha suffered massive casualties.

There is an ethical dilemma as Pike learns that the Lutani are using a lifeform called the Jikaru as a weapon, against its will.

The documentary aspect is too gimmicky although Beto scepticism is worth exploring. The new Star Trek series is not shy about exploring the dark side of Starfleet.

The attempts to communicate with the Jikaru and its aftermath redeemed the episode somewhat.

OMG, what kind of maudlin horse manure are they peddling? For goodness sake, can we get some actual science fiction instead of these low-rent psychological explorations? Yeah, there are moral and ethical implications to what the Federation does, but anytime your takeaway involves saving misunderstood sea creatures, or whatever the hell that thing was, you're pandering to the most simple-minded sentiments of overly sensitive middle-schoolers. How about hiring some actual writers instead of these clueless hacks?