What Is Starfleet?

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.

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.

This episode had the makings of a really solid Strange New Worlds entry. The core plot-freeing an intelligent life form from servitude to another race-was classic Trek, full of moral weight and the kind of ethical dilemma that has always made the franchise shine.

Unfortunately, the writers chose to present the story in a "documentary" style, with a cameraperson following the crew around and conducting interviews. For me, this pulled me out of the narrative rather than drawing me in. The constant reminder of the camera's presence made it feel less like a natural Trek adventure and more like a gimmick.

It's a shame, because the underlying story was a good one, and told in a more traditional format, it could have ranked among the better episodes of the season. Instead, the execution turned what could have been a great episode into just a fair one.

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?

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?