celineduchain

Thank you to Paramount for a well conceived and executed story which fits properly within the Star Trek continuum and leaves plenty of openings for further episodes to come. If this sounds as if I'm damning Strange New Worlds with faint praise, I've waited too long and suffered too many disappointments to start gushing along with all the enthusiastic "tens". This season was over almost as soon as it began and, however good it was, such a meagre helping it isn't likely to achieve the legendary status of some of its forebears any time soon.

So who did we Trekkers get in return for our patience, out loyalty and our subscription fees? Let's have quick round-up, shall we?

A mature and amiable Captain figure who displays exemplary leadership qualities almost on a par with those of the best ever Starfleet Captain (Benjamin Sisko).

An interesting if underused First Officer.

A walking deity in the person of the actor playing Science Officer, Mr Spock. Personally, I think he more than does justice to the role but those phenomenal good looks can be distracting.

An extremely engaging but also underused Doctor figure.

The woeful departure of a unique and likeable Chief Engineer. (If this was done in order to introduce a Scotty character next season, as appears to have been hinted in the latest episode, then some of us are going to be very annoyed indeed).

A little firecracker of a Security Chief (I'm not too thrilled about her apparent departure either but at least the character is still alive). And she's British.

A shoehorned-in representation of the Uhura character as a cadet. The actress may be good but she's no Nichelle. Am I the only one who thinks that this was a bad idea?

Frankly, rather too many female crew members of middle rank. Now, Senior Trekker has always been a great Janeway devotee and still believes that Major Kira was one of the most inspirational characters to appear in all of Star Trek but there simply isn't enough screen time available to give so many of these ladies a chance. Perish the thought that they should be relegated to the roles of button-pushing bobble-heads like so many of the poor cast of Discovery; so either promote some of them or kill some of them off but give them some purpose whereby we can get to know them as distinct individuals.

I've got lots of episodes of the Original Series and Enterprise to catch up on now. I've enjoyed Strange New Worlds more than I expected to but see no reason to diverge from my regular score of 5.

Well, that was certainly a surprise episode. For all the unexpected plot twists (which I am not going to spoil this soon after release) this one is pure Trek.

Of course nearly the whole regular cast leave the ship to go on a dangerous away-mission. Of course some of the plot twists owe homage to other sci fi films or TV drama. Of course cast members pause the action from time to time to discuss their feelings or personal relationships - it's Star Trek, what do you expect?

In my opinion as a Trekker of more than fifty years standing, this episode of Strange New Worlds is fifty minutes of sheer entertainment in the company of people I am really beginning to like. In other words - just what I've been waiting for. It has a coherent plot, consistent characters, imaginative and beautifully realised alien vistas and a reference to JRR Tolkien. What's not to like?

Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.

Love it or loath it, this episode was pure Star Trek from start to finish. Everyone got to dress up and enjoy themselves while a fairly sound Science Fiction story propelled the narrative along. Concluding Rukiya's storyline in this way came as something of a surprise but was probably a lot more satisfying than having it drag on for several seasons.

Who cares if we've seen something similar before, The over-the-top performances helped endear us to some lesser known members of the cast, the script generated quite a few unforced laughs and it all looked absolutely fabulous. A sprinkling of light-hearted fantasy has been part of the Star Trek compendium for more than fifty years, all the way back through Voyager's Adventures of Captain Proton, TNG's Hollow Pursuits to the Original Series Shore Leave. The Elysian Kingdom is now a welcome addition to that company.

I hesitate to say that this episode is what fans have been waiting for because I'm old enough to remember that some of them never liked this kind of fantasy and their vociferous complaints have resonated down through the decades. Looking at today's reviews we can see that there are no changes there, then.

But never mind the rest; I loved every minute of it. This is what Senior Trekker had almost given up hoping for. The real thing.