Ups & Downs From Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2.1 - The Broken Circle 

Not gonna lie, The tribute to Nichelle brought tears. 🙏🏼🖖🏼

I’m going to disagree with Sean about the 100 million dead from the Klingon War. Considering an estimated 75 million died during WWII, the figure M’Benga gives is very believable.

The end, when it said, For Nichelle, who opened the door, damn, I couldn't hold back the tears.

You didn't mention the nod to "The Menagerie" at the end. When Adm April decides to go easy on Spock he says "next time, and there better not be a next time... it's your commission." Which explains why Spock knew full well it would be the end of his career when he hijacked the Enterprise to go after Pike. Just perfect!

I am surprised that Sean did not up the scene between Ensign Uhura and the maintenance staff who wants to modify her console. Not only did it show that Uhura has been promoted and posted full time on the Enterprise but also her commitment to her post and her duties. Remember last season she was unsure if StarFleet was right for her. Now it is clear she has fully embraced her roll on the ship and her career in Star Fleet. It was a major up for me.

Loved how Pelia saw right through the Warp Core breach ruse and then joins the scheme wholeheartedly.

I would like to give the Klingon Captain an UP! Even in his limited screentime, he nailed it. He encapsulated that TOS vibe of caged rage, cold pride and arrogance and a touch of shadyess (we in TNG got alot from Romulans) but also you can feel with him a path to mutual understanding is possible. Reminded me of a combination of Kang, Kor and Martok.

Loved that Pelia told them how to make the “warp breach” more convincing to Starbase by venting the nacelles.

I continue to be blown away by Ethan Peck's portrayal of Spock. Just fantastic. I enjoy and respect the work you're doing here, but I'm forever grateful that I cut my Trek teeth on TOS reruns in the 70s. Continuity concerns and "cut & paste" starships just wash over me, because I remember how loose it all was in the beginning.

As much as I love all the characters on SNW, I just love Peck as Spock. Never once have I felt like I was pulled out of the story by thinking nah that's not Spock. He plays him fantastically well, and is totally believable as a younger version of such a well known character (unlike, say, Alden E in Solo)

I love that we see Chapel and M'benga both have a touch of PTSD. And that they fought together during the war. Babs and Jess sell that fight quite well, too. Siblings in arms, friends, and coworkers. And la danse militaire is such a way to show their being a well fit team... But it does raise the issue of "First, do no harm"...

Can add to next week's Cetacean list: "lanthanide" is also the section of elements on the periodic table also known as "rare-earth" metals.

This episode definitely lays the ground work for how Spock becomes Revered/honored among the Klingon people…definitely can’t wait for Kirk to return 🖖🏼

I think Spock's actions in stealing the Enterprise is why you see Starfleet do repairs and refits to ships inside Space Dock instead of outside by the time of the movies. Starfleet just assumed it's a lot harder to steal a ship if it's in the garage and the door is closed rather than having it parked on the curb outside.

As far as the 100 million dead... this is the first time I thought Star Trek got that their scale right. I mean they're annexing planets.. ours has 8 billion on it alone. If anything 100Million dead is low, but its an order of magnitude better than previous estimates.

I think that APril's comment near the end, where he tells Spock about never stealing the ship again (which he then does TOS, to take Pike to Talos IV) was a great nod, and should have gotten an up.

Pelia reminds me of The Doctor in Doctor Who. It's hard not to see the parallel considering that they just introduced this new species that is very similar to the Time Lords given that they can get hundreds if not thousands of years old and the first representative of their species that we meet is somebody who got bored and wants adventure, helping to steal a ship.

6:47 spock has officially stolen the enterprise twice now I died laughing over it 😂

The episode addresses Sean's complaints about stealing the Enterprise. La'an's message says there's a major incident brewing, so they're not just going there to rescue her. And it states that the Enterprise's resources are essential to resolving the situation, so they can't just take a shuttle.

Ortega was calm during all that happened in the episode. It is almost as if she missed the war, and during the war, she got to show off her piloting skills. Just from the episode, it come across as though she learned Klingon behavior very well, from afar, while Chapel, and M'benga learned it up close.

I do wonder if another reason April was lenient was that perhaps Star Fleet was aware of what was going on. However, due to political considerations they were unable to act, at least not officially. That might explain why there was no pursuit of Enterprise, as in ST: III and the leniency.

Can we all take a moment to appreciate how epically gorgeous the SNW opening credits are, and how amazing the theme is?

When they dedicated the episode to Nichelle Nichols, I teared up for real - sadness and joy. So wonderful.

I loved La'an's interaction with Uhura, where she realized Uhura was commissioned and acknowledged it. Kind of a big deal to me that she's no longer a cadet. And it also takes us past the need for the show to have a commissioning party or anything because we're a couple months after season one ended. Straight to the point.

TBH, I'm also really struggling to sign on to your "logistical down" on M'Benga's reference to 100 million Federation deaths in the Klingon War. Well, that war lasted for around a year - and when the Discovery returned from the Mirror Universe around TWENTY PERCENT of Federation space had been occupied by the Klingons inside of nine months. The assault on Starbase One resulted in 80,000 casualties and the complete destruction of three starships with all hands. Sorry, I don't find that number remotely implausible.

The Nichelle tribute got me all tear'd up.

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel that M’Benga discussion with Spock about learning to live with anger and even rage “Like humans do” was great foreshadowing for him having to relive his trauma from the war. Down to the line he gives Chapel about not being fine but controlling it.

I think the 'extra ship' at SB1 being a down is a bit much. A continuity error at worst since it's missing later, but easily explained by the fact that ships can come and go for a multitude of reasons to the point of being a non-issue. Obviously (or at least I hope so) the extra ship being docked is not the 'same' ship as the false-flag ship later in the episode, even if it is the same digital file/model being reused to flesh out SB1 while not commiting the crime of a copy-paste fleet. Additionally, it's space and I wish there were more situations where ships were able to interact/dock without matching orientation. Being upside-down matters very little and it annoys me that basically every ship interaction has to have the same 'gravity alignment'. In fact, I'd argue the battle on the Crossfield Class that inverted the camera as they went through a plate on the floor... only for the camera to invert again because it would 'look cool' annoyed me enough to pull me out of the action. So maybe there was a down deserved for playing with spacial orientation where it wasn't needed.

Ahhh! The episode is complete! The SNW is not complete until we’ve heard from Sean!!!

I think the thing you're missing with stealing the ship (and I agree it's a bit too much, too fast) is that Doctor M'Benga just told Spock he would have to deal with his human emotions. This may be Spock acting irrationally because of his extreme emotional reaction. They didn't do a good job of connecting those plot points, but I do think they intersect.

During an episode of shuttlepod show with Ron Moore he spoke about visuals of what it would be like to be transported from the perspective of someone being beamed. I can’t help think someone from the sfx dept of SNW heard that and thought.. that would be cool and we ended up with the scene where Chapel and M’Benga getting beam back from being in space. That’s was so good to me

I agree. The “what’s your thing” is getting really cheesy now. The timing for it here was bizarre. I’m not sure why they’re even doing this as Picard, Sisko and Janeway all said “Engage”. It was never a thing that every captain has to have their own ‘thing’. I hope it’s never mentioned again in any series 😂 In saying this, I really enjoyed the episode. Can’t wait for more!

I quite love the D-7 scene when it is arming its disruptor (nacelle) cannons. That was 😘 *chef's kiss*

An addendum: I don't know how many others were expecting the 1st ep to be Una's trial but I sure was, so that this was so far from my expectations made me happy.

I'm just tickled the show is back. As a fan since the 70s, SNW is the most fun series since TNG.

Maybe I missed this but did you even mention Erica Ortegas said peddle to medel. Which was a reference to Tim Allen's galaxy quest. I laughed so hard when she said it.

I agree the "are you going to say the thing?" was awkward...but it works. Enterprise is ordered to put some distance between it and the station. So it moves away and then waits...That is exactly what the station expects. Then suddenly the ship warps away. We know they are "stealing" the ship, but the station doesn't. April may have thought something was up, but said nothing because he wanted away to help L'An without sanctioning it.

The fact that everyone on the bridge just seems to go with the Klingon's fake Federation ship being a Crossfield-class makes me think this might actually be the original or standard design for that ship. I think it's believable that Discovery and Glenn were refits with a unique secondary hull to accommodate their spore drives.

An up i would have added is the close up panning shot of the sips near the beginning, being able to see into the rooms inside the ships through the windows very well, and the angles of the perspectective of the walls and floors and tables and doors adjusting correctly as the view inside would be seen by someone going past outside. Great 3d detal work, I noticed and thought it was quite cool.

The saddle is also a deep cut to TNG when Picard has a saddle and states that every avid horseback rider has their own saddle with them at all times. Starship Mine S5E18.

so years ago I had a fanfic idea of vampires being a species that lived on earth alongside humans, and eventually leaving earth. Pelia reminded me of that concept so strongly and it was exciting.

Love the return of the Klingons original look, and the return of the D7. And now we're introduced a new species, the Lanthanites.

Regarding Urura and the throwback to the movies, I felt like in this is made more sense. First of all she's obviously much younger and may not speak everything fluidly yet. More importantly she makes a point of saying that it's an obscure dialect. Yet in a short period of time she's already starting to understand it. I thought it showed how brilliant she is.

Im still sad Hemmer is gone, I hope more Aenar characters will appear

2 Missed scenes I thought would have been mentioned, 1. When M'Benga gave the side eyes to the Klingon the guy broke in 2 seconds giving up the intel, It that wasn't the most Bad A moment for a fight scene in Trek history. 2. When M'Benga and Chapel are about to go out the air lock I swear they were going to kiss.

I’m not sure if I was just dreaming, but I think when the D-7 warps in and the Enterprise crew were discussing it, the music for the scene was a subtle nod to the Undiscovered Country main theme, which makes sense given that the plot was similarly trying to trick the Klingons into war with the Federation.

I've read some so-so reviews of this episode, but I loved it. I loved that Pelia helped steal the ship, I was genuinely interested in the mystery, and I loved how it wrapped up with Spock drinking blood wine because it was the logical thing to do

I love all the characters in SNW and all the actors' performances are top notch.

Sean mentioned the blood wine mugs. Is there anyone else out there that recognizes them as 1 qt measuring cups in commercial kitchens?

One thing that actually lends even more sincerity to the "stealing the enterprise" in the TOS movies, is how easily spock did it this time, and how lightly he got off with doing it. Knowing full well if he ever did that again, hed likely get in even worse because he literally was told if he ever did it again, hed be booted from starfleet. i think my trillium down for this episode is just how much Sean kept harping on the stealing of the enterprise. Watch it again, this plan would have never actually worked if it wasnt for pelia telling them how to do it correctly. And it sets up WHY its such a huge bad thing in the future to steal a ship, even for the best or noblest of reasons.

I can't believe we get to do this again another season! Let's do this!

I was fully expecting them to warp away when they were told to put some distance between them and the base. They never specified *how much* space. 😂 Also, imagine how Sarek would take the news of *another* of his children starting a war with the Klingons.

Welcome back to Strange New Worlds 🥳🎉🎉🎉 Plus ups and downs are always fun The range everyone within this cast brings to life, is beyond words. Cannot wait to see what unfolds

I almost wish at the end the episode, that they had a scene with Pike coming back with no1, saying he's glad to have his crew back together, only to find his entire senior crew under arrezt

I don't know if you've noticed, but the Strange New Worlds opening credits have scenes pulled directly from the cover art of James Blish's Trek book adaptations, which is awesome.

I thought April saying that next time Spock does something along those lines he would get in trouble was a clear nod to the future event that happened in the Menagerie. Also, Carol Kane's character, chief engineer Pelia, no mention of her race and implications? I had to look it up because I didn't know if I was missing something, but it's not a callback, it's something new, and the whole living among humans undetected until the 22nd century is kind of a big deal not to mention.

Just a quick observation here, but... TOS Gorn: That thing is goofy. Enterprise Gorn: Did they purposefully make it look that campy on purpose? 😂 Lower Decks Gorn: Ok, this is just getting rediculous. SNW Gorn: WHEN THE #@$% DID THE XENOMORPHS GET SPACE TRAVEL!?!?!?😱 Strange New Worlds Gorn are single handedly the most terrifying species in Star Trek currently. Even more than that, they are the terrifying that the Borg were supposed to be. I'm looking forward to how this all turns out.

Spock stealing the Enterprise, for me tied more into when he stole the Enterprise in the TOS episode Managerie, and Star Fleet did court marshal him, plus Uhura's promotion and dedication to her station and duty. In all the episode was a lot of fun and kept the pace going between action and humor. No Star Trek episode is finished until we see Sean with the ups and downs.. Take off the down for stealing the Enterprise, this I do feel was vital to show the length Spock is willing to go out of loyalty to his crew

The Crossfield Class design featured in this episode is a callback to a class similar in design from Star Trek Legacy via Enterprise Era. It was a mission that the NX01 was assigned to find the ship while searching for the Villain Vulcan scientist.

So first, just want to say that I absolutely love these Ups and Downs episodes. I look forward to them probably as much as I do the actual star trek episode. Literally, whenever I watch a new episode of Star Trek, I immediately go next to it's corresponding Ups and Downs. You never disappoint Sean. You're awesome, and Chris' edits are amazing. Seconding...Sean, where do you get your amazing star trek shirts. The uniforms...I'm fat so those won't fit but the t-shirts man, I love 'em.

You know, I now watch every new episode of any Trek thinking to myself, "I wonder what Seán will say about this? I wonder what Seán will think of that? Wow! Seán is going to flip over this! I can't wait to see what Seán thinks of that." etc. BIG UP, lad!

IMO, the dedication to Nichelle at the end deserved this week's Latium up.. I'm pretty sure there was not a single dry eye when that came on the screen.

I love, love, love Carol Kane. I'm looking forward to seeing her in future episodes.

had to drop a comment about the shot flipping with m'benga and chapple lifting the hatch when they dropped and then it reversing when they landed on their feet, that whole scene was awesome!

Chapel planning to go off to study "archeological medicine" could be a nod to TOS S1E7 "What are little girls made of".

I always felt like Kirk's court marshal wasn't about his disobeying orders or stealing the ship, but rather it was an excuse to "demote" him to captain so he could permanently command a starship.

I'm going to say that the scene where La'an is drinking with the Klingon reminded me of the drinking game from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Loved Pelia, just the quirky weirdness was wonderful. SNW has quickly become my new favourite Trek series, it just gets that mix of fun, drama science fiction together so well.

If you think it's a down that Spock isn't facing a court martial for stealing the Enterprise, then before James T. Kirk shows again someone is going to have to explain to me how he cheated on his final and got a commendation rather than a dishonourable discharge after being expelled from Starfleet Academy.

100M casualties of war doesn't seem like an unusual number for the type of high tech weapons available. Annihilating only 5-10 big cities today would get you that number.

The quick little scene where Uhura was defending her new station definitely got an up from me after her early struggles with Starfleet from Season 1. Also, the little quip about her rank up while La'an was gone was a little up for me as well. :)

Loving Ethan Peck….wow…he was incredible in this episode. Can’t wait for more. And the Nichelle tribute….tears. I’m soooo excited for Season 2 now!

Anyone notice how Pelia appeared to get emotional each time she mentioned Spock's mother Amanda? And the part about Amanda being one of the first people Pelia "came out" to, made me think there was a strong friendship, or perhaps something more between the two women. I'm not saying Amanda was blsexual, Maybe Pelia was in love with Amanda and that love is unrequited. As for when Spock guesses the worst part of being nearly immortal is outliving everyone one loves was accurate. Pelia saying that only applies to people with open hearts, then breaking the sadness with a joke about boredom. I think Pelia has experienced a lot of sorrow, but it's not the kind of thing one talks about with people they just met.

Glad that “ups & downs” is back. I look forward to it as much as the new episodes. Great work Seán & trek culture team

I can't believe you didn't mention the transporter effect when Nurse Chapel is being transported in. I was super impressed with that.

so happy my thursdays are back to normal. New Star Trek in the Morning and some ups and down in the evening. such a great day.

I love the idea of Spock and Chapel hooking up! They are great together! I am looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

With regard to the Crossfield class ship, your theory of it being a cobbled-together vessel is certainly viable. I'm wondering though it that may actually have been the original design for the Crossfield class, with upgrades to USS Discovery and USS Glenn to accommodate the development and testing of the spore drive? Anyways, that's just my theory, for whatever it's worth. I wasn't sure Carol Kane would fit in, but I'm already loving her! Been a fan since I saw her in "Scrooged", and whenever she popped up in whatever I was watching. I can't wait to see how she works out in future episodes. And Sean, I have to say that the tribute to Nichelle Nichols, for me, would certainly have rated a dilithium Up.

Thanks Sean & company! I look forward to Ups & Downs almost as much as the episodes themselves! Great job!

Being I chef I love the Klingon mugs, knowing they are just metal measuring cups. I used to have a gallon one when I worked in a banquet center

My theory about the Crossfield class is maybe it was a name applied to a new design that Starfleet introduced to sort of help in the coverup of the Discovery incident. So they renamed this new in-development class the Crossfield to take attention away from the real class and they sort of just sneakily change all references or documents to include this class instead of the “original”. It seems like way too intentional of a name drop to be a dumb mistake. There has to be some lore reason why the writers went with that.

All great observations, Sean. For me, all the Downs were canceled out by the addition of Carol Kane. Loved here since here days as Simka om "Taxi".

Welcome back Sean, good to see your enthusiasm and positivity again! Keep up the great work to all at Trek culture!! 🖖🏽

Your little quiff has a live of its own Sean, love it and the work you do. ❤

Pretty sure stealing the Enterprise was not causing a big stink is for the reasons mentioned in the final scene. There's a lot more going on right now that most don't know about and obviously Enterprise and her best will play a big role in it. Would be pretty stupid to disrupt that over an incident that ended up working in their favor. Don't forget, every other time the Enterprise has been stolen in both TOS and Next Gen it ended up much ado about nothing when all was said and done.

Thank you for another most excellent Ups & Downs! 🌸🖖🏼

Your unending enthusiasm is truly amazing. That you were able to find so much to get excited about in what was, frankly, not a very good episode, is incredible.

My Covid recovery made even more pleasant and my Friday complete, Welcome back SNW and welcome back ups and downs. Thank you Captain Sean.

There is one thing that bugs me in the scene where the Enterprise is chasing the false flag ship, and that is if they are already concealed and the point is to hide both ships from the Klingons, why didn't they just target the ships engines and render them immobile while still hidden? I mean, "Target their engines" and "Target their weapons" are probably two of the most spoken lines in any Star Trek space combat scene, so it's just weird that they didn't even try do it (and the scene could still play out he same way, just get a throwaway line that the engines are unstable and would destroy the ship or have them target the engines but they are only able to penetrate the shield once the ship is already detected)

I kind of wonder if the Enterprise references might also be a hint at the solution to things with Una...because Archer's piracy went unresolved there and might be a very good reason for issues to be handled. Especially with the dead/ascended Illyrian colony from last season as well. Plus if they're Illyrian, then the argument could easily be made for them not being under the augment ban...after all there are a few other species that have augmented themselves such as the Denobulans that are Federation members

I was dying with Carol Jane's accent being so close to her Simka accent from Taxi.

Seán! Thanks again for another great recap and, as always, a positive message. Live long and you know the rest!! 🖖

I love these vids. Sean definitely said what I was thinking about the stealing the enterprise plot being convenient. Also, Pelia is going to be an interesting character almost a bit of River Song vibes there.

I was totally expecting them to reveal that the cartel was led by the Ferengi. It's something they would def do, and they almost quote the 34th rule of acquisition, war is good for business. Also, if i had a nickle everytime they stole an Enterprise from spacedock, I'd have 3 nickles. Which isn't a lot, but weird it happened three times.

You're criticism of the "steal the Enterprise" plot is spot on. It really bugged me the entire episode.

Great to have Star Trek back and great to have you back, love love love your take on the episodes :)

Is the super soldier serum an established thing? Because it felt like it came out of absolute nowhere.

My biggest down from the episode (that you did not mention Sean!) Is that Spoilers: - - - - YOU DO NOT FREEZE TO DEATH IN SPACE M'BENGA!!! It's around two minutes before you are dead from lack of oxygen and as you rightly said, 15 seconds before you pass out from lack of it (at least that's a cited number and has a real world case that shows that). But you are dead from that long before you freeze. There is nothing in space to conduct or convect heat away from you, only losing heat by radiation! I did some calculation with the assistance of online calculators and came to five minutes to lose a single degree of heat, making it roughly 33 minutes before you would freeze to death even where the temperature is near absolute zero! As a Physicist that annoyed me the most, sure the stealing of the Enterprise was something and a yes a down for me (how many times does The Enterprise get stolen now?), but that was just terrible. Star Trek should not be propagating such nonsense!

The emotion given by these actors are among the best I've ever seen on TV or film.

Thanks for these, I look forward to the review every week.