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When Pike says "Get out of town" and T'pring in Spock's body says "we are not in a town" The look on Pike's face says "Okay, I get it now." That was hilarious.
Maybe an extra Up. Una and La’an on the hull as the solar sailer went by showing a sense of wonder. Even if you live on a starship and see new stuff as part of the job, you can still have an ‘oh, wow’ moment. Nice touch.
YES. Rapture. I LOVE how this Star Trek seems to be actually paying homage to the canon of Gene, I love that and I LOVE this S.T. So much. Discovery is horrifying and Picard is pathetic decrepit. This is what I have been waiting for, Long Live Star Trek Pike. That's what I called it 😃 🥰🖖
@@wahn10 I was mostly being a doof for the sake of comedy. Jokes aside, Gia Sandhu is doing a fantastic job in this role, and it's ALMOST enough to make me forget what a manipulative psycho T'Pring was in Amok Time.
None of my favorite reviewers mentioned the brilliantly subtle “official reveal” that Spock isn’t mystified by human idioms and humor, rather, he’s teasing. Chapel: “What are friends fo?” Spock: “What are friends for?” Chapel: “It was a rhetorical, Spock.” Spock: “oh, I know. Humans are almost as easy to tease as Vulcans.”
Best one yet. They downshifted the pace. They brought the stakes down to scale. They pruned the dialogue to its essentials, and they kept it light. Best Trek writing since DS9.
Love the brilliantly assembled cast. Love them. But this is not the best writing since DS9. The people who wrote this probably wouldn't say that. They could get to that high level of course.
I've just noticed. This episode is about three stories about empathy. One about a personal relationship ( Spock T'Pring), other in diplomacy, mastered by Pike; and another about leadership (Una and crew)
Yep. You got it. One of the RU-vid Trek reviewers, Blunty I think, very nicely elaborates on this point. The theme of empathy connects all three storylines. Number One and La'an learn to see things from the perspective of the lower rank crew and, as you suggest, this may help make them better leaders.
It's nice that after having hull integrity compromised by flying into a brown dwarf/black hole to the degree that some decks became uninhabitable, they went back to a Starbase for repairs the very next episode. And referenced the previous episode.
That alone should have been an Up. Just to show that it didn't get magically fixed right away, unlike most other shows. They had to go dock for repairs.
Another up for Anson Mount's "reacting" - last week when he learned those in the cargo bay were still alive was really moving, and this week when reacting to Spock and T'Pring's "we've stuck in each other's bodies" news. Hysterical.
There is a missed reference...maybe: When Una and La'An were with the two Ensigns, Una said they would report to Chief Kyle to "micro-clean the transporter pads." I think this is a callback to the Voyager episode "Learning Curve" where the Bolian named Chell was doing micro-cleaning of the transporter pads presumably as a form of punishment by Tuvok, and Chell made a statement about the Vulcan estimation of amount of time it will take for him to finish it.
@@paulonius42 also on Enterprise bingo is recalibrating the Medical tricorder to read as a Vulcan marsupial, that happened with the Doctor on Voyager when he was trying to help Dr. Zimmerman with his disease on Jupiter station. Must be a classic medical trick!
Yeah, i caught that too. In the old episode (voyager season 1 episode 15, the final episode of season 1 i think) somebody said something like "why not just use X device" and the punished Maquis guy was like "Tuvok specifically said to use this."
I called the "hijinx" of Spock & T'Pring "Vulcan Freaky Friday". I also really loved seeing the green tunic Pike wore. Clearly updated, but retained that classic familiarity.
I get a kick out of seeing how TV shows in the 60's used bold RGB colors to highlight the sale of color television sets. Hogan's Heroes, That Girl, Gilligan's Island, and Bewitched all did the same thing when they went to color episodes.
I used to teach customer service and I used to use this theme as a symbol of what will happen to the customer's reaction to you, if things go badly wrong. LOL
Yes the sets, the props and even the opening Matte painting were all very true and reminiscent of the TOS "Amok Time". It's great to see how they honor and respect TOS while still moving the story and characters forward.
Each week I'm amazed at just how much this series gets things right. This week was no exception. Where humor has so often failed on Trek in the past, this episode seems to have nailed it. Mostly it just seems like they let it be subtle and didn't try too hard. I really hope this show serves as a template for all future Trek series.
Christine Chapel's line "we're going to get neck pinched for this, aren't we?" lmfao!!! Like he does that every time someone pisses him off! I died....
for all the ups and downs of this episode, what I really and truly appreciated was the Canon Watch segment because it really highlighted how Strange New Worlds is taking bit part minutiae and fleshing them out in satisfying and organic ways
A couple of extra ups for me: La'an excusing herself from the diplomatic meeting with the galaxy's fakest excuse was both hilarious and true to the character. Celia Rose Gooding did some amazing face acting this week. Hardly had any dialogue but her expressions said so much. I liked that there was a good reason for her to be there too - she's a cadet and learning by observing - rather than her being there just because she's title cast. Just tight writing that I appreciated.
@@stalin1701 - Who do you think Celia Rose Gooding is? edit: We are talking about different people, I think? I was talking about why Uhura was in the meeting.
Didn't Una give SIckbay a separate power source specifically to keep her pattern safe no matter what happens to the ship? I'm sure it is stored in a separate file, not just sitting in an active, in-use teleporter.
Yes.. My understanding was that they isolated that buffer and fed it power directly from the core to protect his daughter so that they could do the upgrades on the transporter that caused the infection getting onboard.
That transporter had been used earlier in the season for beaming Nurse Chapel from the bridge to sick bay in the opening episode. It has been established that using the sick bay transporter doesn't disturb M'Benga's daughter. Which only makes sense… it's one thing to store someone in a pattern buffer, it'd be quite another to do something that renders an emergency medical resource unavailable.
I think the Med transporter should be able to store more than one pattern in the buffer so the girl shouldn't be disturbed by the transporter being used. Also Nurse Chapel probably knows about her and Una probably told La'an - there's a girl in the buffer, say hi to her on the way through. La'an seems like she would be cool about it.
Whole heartedly agree with everything you said here with two exceptions, Pikes two short but glorious speeches in this one - the first to Spock (awesome) and of course the second to the alien dudes (also awesome). Love your channel, keep 'em coming!
First of all, my heart melted when I heard the 'fight song', even if it was slightly tweaked for the new show. Then, there was Una and La'an playing 'good cop/bad cop' with the two cadets...I was laughing my ass off the entire time.
I agree with everything you said, and feel this episode is the best so far in the series. Yes the first episode was chock full of that special 'reunion' happiness but this one was just super-duper wonderful on its own.
When Spock/T'Pring told Pike he should be able to recognize their differences, he was right. T'Pring in Spock's body holds her hands in front while Spock in T'Pring's body holds his hands behind him. They set this up with T'Pring holding her hands in front of her nearly every moment before the body swap.
That's what made it so funny. There were legitimate differences that Pike could have recognized, but they were also things that most humans wouldn't have picked up on, especially given that Pike isn't the TV studio audience, so he hasn't seen what T'Pring and Spock were doing this whole time. I literally loled when Spock/T'Pring made that statement.
A Cetacean Observation: Pike realizing the R'ongovian were reacting to how they were being treated reminded me of when Wesley was being tested at Starfleet headquarters when he had to get angry at Rondon because his race hates politeness.
Yeah that TNG scene was not nearly as clever as it was. Like seriously? This particular species has no manners? That’s one thing about Star Trek that’s a little dumb. Vulcans: ONLY LOGIC Klingon: ONLY FIGHT Ferengi: ONLY PROFIT Etc etc Imagine putting every human in a box like that. It’s legit racist!
I laughed and giggled and had my heart strings pulled, all through this episode. I don't agree T'Pring was a bad ass in TOS. I always saw Amok Time showing T'Pring as a person pushed to the extreme and chose combat. She even says at the end, that Spock had become too great in Star Fleet, and left her behind. She was not going to remain 2nd to that, and Stonn was there and logically she had found a way to be first in someones eyes, while keeping true to her beliefs and traditions. I think this episode really fills in that back story, fairly, and makes Amok Time an even sadder story.
she was basically planning Kirk's death and Spock's imprisonment so as to still gain the status and property of Spock's family. She says so. That's not sad, that's evil.
@@markshaw7253 Actually, she lists all the possible outcomes which all leaves her free on Vulcan to be with Stonn. Logical. The original plan was Stonn to fight. He says so. But that has the possibility of Stonn not surviving (how ever small). This back story makes Amok Time so much more than a Kirk and Spock fight.
@@historybuff7491 YEAH, BUT EITHER WAY SHE WAS PLANNING ON SOMEONE GETTING KILLED!!! IF LOGIC EXCUSES THAT KIND OF BEHAVIOR THERE'D BE A LOT OF DEAD VULCANS!!! ALSO, AREN'T THEY SUPPOSED TO BE PACIFISTS??? THEY DON'T EAT MEAT, BUT THEY COME UP WITH INTRICATE PLANS THAT KILL PERFECT STRANGERS??? LOGIC DOESN'T EXCUSE HOMICIDE.
@@historybuff7491 the point is that this is not the character we saw in Amok Time. Love the new character, love the actress, but this isn't some nit picking Canon point. I need some sort of explanation. That's not even mentioning that Spock clearly stated that they were betrothed at seven and he's barely met T'Pring. I can live with them having phasers before they were invented, I can live with Pike's cabin being five times the size of Kirk's WITH A FIREPLACE!! but, help me out a little here!
One of my favorite lines of the episode was at the end whenever Spock and T’Prine switch back and what Nurse Chapel says to the doctor, “we are so getting Vulcan nerve pinched.”
Cannot wait for lower decks this season, they HAVE to have some sort of mention through the lower decks crews among all other ships..or about using the bingo.
T'Pring has been a nice surprise in this show. They could have made her high maintenance and unlikable, but they didn't. Yes, it helps that I find the actress playing her fantastically attractive, but she's also doing a good job with the character. She and Spock are trying to "get" each other and it's kinda hilarious but also wholesome. Ultimately I think the show will go the route of breaking them up to remain true to continuity, but I think it's probably going to be because their lives move in different directions. It'll be the old story about Spock being devoted to Starfleet and not having time for her, and her responsibilities/career.
I really liked that she's got a career of her own and is recognised as being as good at her career as Spock is at his. As Sean says, it makes her a character rather than a plot point.
It's bittersweet. Because she eventually does something SO manipulative and horrible I still am trying to not like her here, but OOF MARON it's getting near impossible
@@Fletchman1313 kind of. But we still don't know the path they take to get there. Plus that's years in the future, if they don't deviate from the timeline. However many seasons this show lasts, T'Pring might be around the whole time.
Maybe someone else has said this but you missed it a bit when you said that Spock was fighting his human half… That was his claim when he spoke to Chapel but he wasn’t being honest with her or himself; he was his human half in the dream and he was fighting and defending himself against his Vulcan half. I loved how they framed that scene, with his subconscious desperate to validate his humanity when he is so ashamed of it.
This is starting to be my most favorite Star Trek series. The stories, acting and special effects remind of how I felt when I saw the closing credits of Star Trek in 1969.
I love this episode for so many reasons! Most of them the ones you've told. But also loved everything about the R'ongovian, how they empathy work and how Pike did guess and resolved it, clever!
and gives new meaning to the "your mind to my mind, my thoughts to your thoughts" concept. (yes I know the katra transfer and a mind meld are not the same thing)
Also, La'an and Una... I'm so glad that they went the route of making them friends. When they first mentioned it I thought it was going to be this show's version of Sisko and Dax, but after this episode I think it's nice that they've made them closer than that. I'd like to see more of it in future episodes.
I liked that when La'an mentions not really having a childhood, Una, even though she herself was probably ready to give up finishing the list, commits to the rest of it for both of them. Both as a friend and a leader, that was a great moment.
The single story arc episodes are a thing of beauty, i missed this type of episodes for sooooo long, i mean, i love overarching narrative episodes yes, and i hope they do a few of them, but im SOOOO in for the single story arch episodes
I didn't realize Sean was gay until he used the word "twink" to describe the transporter chief. Quite certain he was not using it in the World of Warcraft sense. I just did a search and realized that info is all over Sean's Twitter feed.
Regarding the dr. M'Benga's daughter in the sickbay transporter's pattern buffer, lets not forget that in the pilot episode, he used the that same transporter to transport nurse Chapel to the bridge without any hesitation. Maybe this is a continuity issue; but, honestly, Strange New Worlds has built up so much good will within me that Im willing to give the benefit of the doubt and just assume that the transporter has a backup pattern buffer which the doctor has his daughter in, and he probably locked it out to prevent it ever being actually used. When Hemmer was inspecting it, the doctor was probably worried then because Hemmer would be about to easily recognize any such modifications.
Is it listed somewhere how many buffers the transporters have? Does it come down to how many pads it has or no? Also there's been a few times back in TNG where they're dealing with transporter plots and they go back to "check" the patterns way later. So I think there could be a pretty big "buffer" there and we just don't have the details.
As of episode 3 or 4 the Dr's daughter is in a separate "dedicated" server, buffer, etc. Per Una, once she found out. So, there would be no further issues of the like.
@@GPsarakis Where is that TNG technical manual when you need it. I knew that thing would come in handy at some point. :P Id be surprised if there werent redundencies built into the system. Then again, we also learned in DS9 that the entire stations computer memory had to be wiped in order to store the pattern of several crew members when the transporter failed mid-transport, so maybe there arent redundancies. All I know is the series up to now has been so amazing that even such minor inconsistencies dont interfere with my suspension of belief. Five episodes in and I think I can safely say this is my most favourite Star Trek series.
When the Rongovian's opened their Solar Sails and were flying the Federation flag, it was like I was sitting in front of our TV in 1966 and seeing Star Trek again for the first time. It was that beautiful and awe inspiring. Once again SNW has outdone itself.
I don't know if anyone else has mentioned it but there's a couple of extra Easter eggs. When Una and La'an are doing "Enterprise Bingo", one of the tasks is to "Sneak a Tribble onto the transporter". Also, when they complete one of the tasks and "tick" it off the Padd, it plays a quick little "Mission Complete" tune version of part of the Star Trek theme. I believe this is the first time ANY of the Trek themes has appeared in-universe!
Great video. Three quick points: I distinctly remember Chapel saying to Spock in TOS: ‘What are little girls made of’ - “Mr. Spock, have you never been engaged?” Perhaps she was teasing him. Who knows…they’re definitely establishing a close friendship here betw them. 2) They’re beautifully setting up the complexity and push-pull dynamic of the long distance relationship betw Spock and T’Pring bc we all know where it’s going. This gives her character in Amok Time as well as their relationship in that episode just that much more emotional heft! My heart is already breaking… and 3) So instead of thinking “definitive” maybe we should just stick with “original.” Bc in the end it truly doesn’t matter how many times you appear or even how well you play the character now. The fact remains that the BLUEPRINT of some of these characters came from TOS etc, so props cannot be taken away from those actors. No matter how good Jess Bush or Ethan Peck or Anson Mount are in these roles, the blueprints belong to Majel Barrett, Leonard Nimoy, and Jeffrey Hunter, etc.
You missed a beauty in the cetacean observations section: when number 1 taps the padd to tick off a task in Enterprise bingo, the tune the padd plays is the start of the star trek theme by Alexander Courage.
You missed an Up according to me: the way Pike resolves the negotiations is just brilliant and the concept of diplomacy through empathy was genius to me :-)
This episode had everything, it was pure Trek! You had humor, you had the awesome B-plot of the negotiations, and it wasn't heavy but still explored the ethos of what is Star Trek. ENTERPRISE BINGO!!!!!! I really hope we get Cerritos Bingo now on Lower Decks, because this seems like something Mariner would come up with to screw with Boimler! The green wrap around tunic! I was honestly bummed to not see you sporting the same one, but I have a feeling you have that one! Pike's defense of Spock, that was inspired, both for the negotiations and for Spock and T'Pring's relationship, and it was so well done. Followed by his closing statements to the ambassador / Captain and the look of shock on Admiral April and Uhura's faces. Also, the look of happiness and joy that Dr. M'Benga had when he was about to cast his line was fantastic! Babs Olusanmokun is just delightful, I love that he is serious with a side of fun.
I'll be honest I feel like this is one of those instant classic episodes that are great for introducing the series as a whole. It has everything that makes Trek, Trek
This episode was _so much fun._ The 'hijinks' exchange about did me in. "It would appear that hijinks are the most logical course of action." has come dangerously close to making my top ten favorite Trek lines. 🤣 Anybody else catch the typo in Enterprise Bingo? #6 is missing the 's' in "Vulcan Marsupial" This interpretation of Christine Chapel has me developing the biggest crush on Jess Bush...she's just such a joy to watch! And hey, let's hear it for _The Good Ship Chapel-Ortegas,_ huh?! 😁 Honestly, I'm here for it; they look good together and have great chemistry. (Ortegas is another great character!) Just how freakin' young were those Ensigns?? When Una and La'an first opened the airlock, I legitimately thought they'd caught a pair of teens sneaking onto the ship, lol 😂 Feel better soon, Sean! And good on ya for the words of support for Moses Ingram, they gave her an awesome role to play and she's knocking it out of the park. The haters can go suck eggs! ✊
There’s a part of me that thinks he’s already in her life. He was her professor/mentor, right? But there may not be any romantic involvement yet. The problem is the timeline. In TOS, in the episode “What are Little Girls Made Of,” Kirk tells Chapel that Korby’s last message was sent 5 years ago. From what we know, SNW’s current season is set in 2259, and Kirk’s first 5-year mission was between 2265-2270. TOS was set during those years (3 years). So exactly when do Christine and Roger get engaged? It’s gotta be between 2259 and 2262-63 or thereabouts.
@@indranidasgupta8982 Yep! There was that weird teacher-dating-a-student thing involved. She was engaged to him at some point, and did know him at this time.... and this is around the time when he would have gone out on that expedition. Maybe they have some kind of open thing? Who knows... but it would be strange if literally the only things they keep about the character are that she's blonde and is pining over Spock.
@@bjorn00000 I'm more concerned with the timeline of this whole thing. Something doesn't seem right bc in What Are Little Girls Made Of (TOS episode) where they finally find Roger Korby, Jim Kirk says to Chapel that the last message they had received from him was 5 years ago. If we're talking the 3-year window of time that's set between 2265-2270, and the current SNW season is set in 2259, then they should already be engaged. Maybe that is what Chapel was going to tell Ortega at the end of the episode but held back cos it's kind of a secret? Who knows? I'm just sick of canon issues that abound in these shows. I wish they could be a little more careful.
When that dream fight between Human Spock and Vulcan Spock happened, I let out a short squeal a little when I hear the action music from TOS. My wife looked at me with a scowl and said, "Nerd."
In TOS -JOURNEY TO BABEL, Spock's mother first mentioned his teddy bear, the sehlat, to Dr. McCoy. Dr.McCoy is tickled to hear Spock was once a normal kid with a toy, so Spock wryly tells him that his "teddy bear" was alive and had 6 inch fangs.
Una and La'An are so dead serious, that their attempts to have fun is a "fish out of water" idea - what makes it funny, is that they aren't very good at it, at first. And at the end, when they realize "Hey , maybe it is ok sometimes to let down our hair and have fun" is really a nice touch.
Is it too early to declare this the BEST Star Trek series of all? I LOVE ST: SNW!!! It feels like a very well established series and that the cast have worked with each other for years!
Yes! Over fifty six years of various series and characters now give us this opportunity to have the best Star Trek show ever. Thank GOD the original fans held on so long and perpetuated their love for ST to bring in new fans. 🖖🏻💜
Right after watching this last night, I returned to binging Doctor Who, trying to catch up before Ncuti Gatwa takes over as the next doctor. The episode I watched was "A Good Man Goes to War" from series 6. There's a character named Lorna Bucket played by a woman both beautiful and familiar. It took me a few minutes but I finally realized it was Christina Chong, aka La'an Noonien-Singh. I love coincidences like that.
Yet that is not Nurse Chapel. That is a different character with the same name. They took an existing character and just changed her into a different character. So TOS ceases to be relevant. What a pity.
Oh ... and the FREAKY FRIDAY scream face when T'Pring and Spock were changing back toward the end. And T'Pring's response to Spock confessing to having punched the dude, "That was logical." Both had me howling.
I just loved the return of the capitan green shirt also even if these show is absolutely awful In the future which it isn't looking like that at all I'm totally down for this show to go on for 7 years just to see Anson mount as pike for 7 years because he truly is amazing as a captain
Hi there! I have a couple of points: 1. Love your videos! 😊 2. I did not think Spock’s ears looked so bad. 3. Love the music when he was fighting himself! Incorporating original Star Trek music was sweet! 4. Gotta get that Captain Pike green jacket! ❤️ 5. I agree with you on the Doctor’s daughter being stuck in the transporter! 😢 6. Love Admiral April’s voice! Very sexy! Just had to add my two cents! Keep up the great work! 😊
Just an amazing ep all round. Didn't get much mention but the diplomacy part of it and the whole bit about empathy and Rongovians' negotiation style was pure undiluted Trek. Also Spock and T'Pring's relationship is one thing where I'm not gonna care if it gets retconned.
I didn't catch the Spock's ears after the dream, but now seeing it I'm kind of okay with it. To me even though Spock had woken up from the dream, he was still coming out of the dream state and it was he who saw his ears as fake because he didn't feel he was Vulcan enough. We were seeing through Spock's at that moment. That's my takeaway.
I honestly didn't focus that closely to notice what Sean did. As he was ragging about it I also had the same thought you did as an explanation: i.e. what you see in a mirror in a half awake state.
I know the video can only be so long but loved in the open that some of the fight moves were identical to those in Amok Time right down to human Spock getting slashed across the chest exactly as Kirk was. Also, as to the pattern buffer, Una told him he’d get a dedicated power supply for his daughter and I’m sure they took other steps so the buffer could be protected and the transporter could still be used.
A Cetacean Observation Sean Missed: Dr. M'benga had a Flox moment... How did you miss that? Gushing over the medical application of flora/fauna. THAT was funny.
My wife dislikes Freaky Friday plots with a passion, and shouted out very loudly "That's a down from me" when Spock and T'Prin switched. We do see these plots a bit too often in various other franchises, but I found it a nice fit for the more "Original" episodic structure they are going with in Strange New Worlds. Thoroughly enjoying the show and various call backs, hope they remain this consistent :)
With the pattern buffer thing, I wonder if the pattern buffer for sickbay's transporter has multiple buffers as a potential thing to delay/contain issues to let them handle triage situations more manageable there. Also, the emotional Vulcan might also tie into Vulcan groups such as those the Sybok was part of, they didn't agree about the logic part and showed emotion there
You should do a top 10 of “Most OP life forms in the trek universe”. Q, the child, the caretaker, DS9 wormhole aliens, V’ger, 10-C, the borg; to name a few.
Anyone who loved Spock Amok. Take a moment to freeze frame and appreciate the dress and headresss Gia Sandhu...Tpring is wearing on vulcan during the battle. It is astounding!!!! It has this liquidy flowing random strip pattern that is form fitting and bracketed in the same pattern with something that resembles jaguar heads. And that headress.... Has anything like it been more beautiful? It shouldn't even win a television award for costuming. It should win an Academy Award.
Two things I find myself looking forward to each week - ST: SNW episodes, and Ups & Downs From Star Trek: Strange New Worlds from TrekCulture. I only wish each were longer. Great job, guys!
Today is fantastic for TV shows! A new episode of Strange New Worlds AND a new episode of The Orville!!! Despite all of the horrors in the US over the last couple of weeks, it is nice to have some fun and outstanding TV.
Yeah my dude: I usually don't do a lot of RU-vid comments but this episode gave me life. I'm with you. This might be one of my favorites from all of the new joints. I was feeling as hyped as you sounded. Feels like classic Start Trek yet modernized. Ending the episode with "I'm Looking" by Kings and Queens.....gets a platinum up from me.
