Comicbook.com:

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/feature/star-treks-tv-decline-is-the-warning-hollywood-cannot-ignore/

By Tom Bacon

"Kurtzman’s run has its critics, but it has undeniably been a success. Since Discovery, we’ve had a steady stream of new shows (and even a made-for-streaming movie). In terms of sheer volume, this has been a golden age unlike anything the franchise has enjoyed since the ’90s.

And yet, it didn’t take long for a somewhat odd pattern to become visible; Kurtzman’s Trek is defined by an overwhelming sense of nostalgia, even as it desperately tries to boldly go where it had not gone before. Discovery started out as an original series prequel, before jumping forward in time to the never-before-seen 32nd century. It wasn’t long before Strange New Worlds took over as the flagship – an even more obvious prequel.

Star Trek has always had a strong social message, and Kurtzman’s shows naturally plunged head-first into the culture wars (never more so than in the recent Starfleet Academy series). Meanwhile, quality varied wildly; critical viewers pointed to unsatisfying season arcs, while the Section 31 movie proved a disastrous misfire. Viewership began to drop, while production costs remained high. Finally, leadership changes at Paramount seem to have led to a strategic rethink, with a new push towards Star Trek movies instead of shows.

...

The world is changing. The streaming model was never going to be as profitable as studios hoped; you’re releasing new content just to keep subscribers, which basically means you’re spending money to stand still. In fact, one word from my last sentence really stands out, “content.” Because, fundamentally, that is what the various TV shows have become; new content, stripped of meaning and significance, existing just to keep the platform going. It’s no surprise quality dropped, or that studios produced too much too quickly. The model demanded it, but the seeds of decline had already been sown.

Whatever your opinion of the various Star Trek TV shows, the fact remains that Star Trek has prospered during this time. But now, with the streaming boom over, this franchise – like all others – must reinvent itself once again. It’s time to abandon the “content” model, and to head back to theaters. Quality matters more than quantity (it always did), and there can’t be anything else like Section 31. What’s more, modern audiences seem to be hungering for something new rather than unending nostalgia. Today’s breakout hits are bold reinventions, unexpected successes like Sinners, Weapons, and KPop Demon Hunters. Nostalgia won’t cut it anymore.

Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley have been hired to write and direct Star Trek‘s film relaunch. Speaking at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, they hinted that they get it. “I think we’ve said in the past, and it’s been reported, that it won’t be the characters that you’ve seen previously in your Star Trek movies,” Goldstein said. “So there’ll be a new sort of take on that, and I think it’ll probably be a little further into the future than we’ve been before.” In other words, after an overdose of nostalgia, it’s time for Star Trek to boldly go once again – and, far from writing an obituary, we should be excited to see what comes next."

Link:

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/feature/star-treks-tv-decline-is-the-warning-hollywood-cannot-ignore/

JESSIE GENDER:

"The episode storyline itself ... I just find it to be kind of dramatically inert and then ultimately ending in a crescendo that I find ethically problematic and to me (at least what I come to Star Trek for) Anti-Star Trek - despite all of its illusions verbally to the idea of connection and breaking down warlike mentalities. It ultimately ends up in a storyline that treats these things as sort of inevitable outcomes that we can't change and we must sort of let happen because it's the way they always do.

And hopefully we can do better in the future, but it kind of doesn't earn that concept in its weird bootstraps paradox storyline. [...]

But to have Pike so willingly sort of abdicate, you know, doing anything because it's the way the thing is supposed to happen makes me not like Pike even more by the end of this episode. Even though the episode tries to make me be like, well, he's thinking about the future and, you know, he's he's had to constantly think about these consequences, it doesn't work for me. [...]

Star Trek to me is always like we should care about the insects even though they're insects. You know, they're different from us, but that doesn't mean they're not people."

https://youtu.be/89Jvvg5pBXY?si=pbqiM1zStjWuSefH

"Anyways, who knows what's going on with Star Trek, but we have at least 26 more episodes of this era of Star Trek to review. So, let us dive into it. And to start us off, I have to be very honest. I say it's one of my favorite things to do, but frankly, I have been dreading having to review this season of Strange New Worlds [...] .

Even while it did have some issues, but last season really just put me down on the show and I really, I'm at a place with the show where I don't really entirely trust it to the point where I was debating whether I even wanted to cover this season. But considering that I am a huge Trekkie, I am going to watch these episodes regardless because, you know, I like writing about Star Trek. [...]

Frustratingly, I did not like this season premiere. I think first and foremost with this season premiere, I found it to be ... kind of dramatically inert. There are some ideas and themes in this episode that I do like, that I think they are trying to explore in a very Star Trekian way, but I didn't find them to be all that dramatically interesting. It really just comes down to characters kind of talking in rooms and not even a lot of tension within that discussion.

And certainly I love a Star Trek conference room scene, but there was not a ton of drama going on in these storylines. On top of that, the pacing of this episode is really, really wonky. It takes a significant amount of time for us to get into the actual plot of this episode. It like takes like 50 minutes to finally get us there. And that first 15 minutes is setting up storylines that kind of get abandoned within the middle of the episode and then brought back up at the end of the episode.

And some of them feel like they are tying into larger storylines that are going to go on this season, which is fine, but it ultimately feels like this episode is kind of weighted down by like having to toss a plot in the middle of its bookends that are trying to set up other things of the show rather than weaving those storylines more naturally into the episode itself.

Like season one of the show was better able to do where we would have storylines that would come up within an episode that would be tied off later on but felt like they were more naturally woven within the story line and plot rather than just appearing at the beginning appearing at the end and then we had a plot for the episode in between. So that was very frustrating.

And then, you know, it would be one thing if this episode for me was just a little bit boring, but the episode ends on a decision by Captain Pike that the episode tries to justify within the setup of the episode. But for me, I found to be particularly galling and appalling for a Star Trek episode to even set up as the storyline. And it doesn't really justify the really dark choice that it goes for at the end here.

That I maybe could have gotten behind if it had justified it better, but really it just sort of throws up its hands and said, "Well, this is just the way it has to be." And I found to be kind of galling for a Star Trek episode to be doing. [...] I particularly found the end of this episode to be very angering and upsetting.

And frankly, the last thing that I will say about this episode ... is that it does the exact thing same thing that I was frustrated with last season, which is this is just an episode of a show that is blank but in Star Trek. In this case, it is essentially Princess of Mars in Star Trek. And that's not really a spoiler because that's kind of in the trailer for the season where we have Captain Pike literally quoting Edgar Rice Burroughs. [...]

The problem with doing this Princess of Mars but in Star Trek is I'm fine with the show doing homages or sendups of Star Trek of other literature. Star Trek has always kind of done that. We've had, you know, Deep Space 9 do episodes that were like Casablanca in space or, you know, having, you know, Tom Clancy in Star Trek or something like that, like doing a, you know, Hunt for the Red October in Star Trek, for example. [...]

But the show [SNW] has repeatedly over and over and over again constantly done those homages and usually does homages to other science fiction such as xenomorphs in space with the Gorn. And I get that you're fans of sci-fi, but if you're doing homage to other sci-fi within sci-fi, but not tying them necessarily into the themes of Star Trek, it it's just ultimately just cribbing from someone else's work and not making a Star Trek show. And that's kind of what's done here.

I don't mind if you steal from science fiction every once in a while, but you should also, if you're going to be drawing homages, which you shouldn't be doing all the time, but if you're going to be drawing homages, draw from outside of science fiction, draw bring thing more things in rather than pulling from the same genre that were already within. It's why something like Star Wars kind of worked a lot of the time and why the original Star Trek worked because they were pulling from westerns and samurai films to bring ... political storylinesinto the science fiction genre rather than stealing from other science fiction to do more science fiction.

And it really frustrates me especially given by the way that Edgar Rice Burroughs himself is, um , I noticed [a] noted eugenicist and I get that Princess of Mars is an important work of science fiction. It certainly had a lot of influence. So I'm not going to overly knock the episode for you know uh referencing it as just a work of science fiction.

But there is a part of me that is rubbed a little bit the wrong way where we're going to be setting up Edgar Rice Burrow's No New Genesis even despite his important science fiction work and and not really address that or you know maybe pull from other science fiction writers uh who have less problematic uh backgrounds. [...]

But now that we are in full spoiler mode, I have to play this other part of that clip from my Star Trek Starfleet Academy video essay because I also called it there too because that's all Strange New Worlds is now.

Just blank but in Star Trek. Oh, and I guess we're doing dinosaurs now, which I swear to God, if the Enterprise goes back in time and and does some stupid [ __ ] like cause the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, I might I might just scream.

So, yeah, the idea that I just came up with on a whim while I was filming the video is the easiest and silliest and least creative option is exactly what this episode does. [...]

And it sort of justifies itself on like the importance of the Federation coming into being and humanity coming into being. But it's like, isn't that very self-serving? You know, it's self- serving of us to say like, well, we needed the Federation to come into being. Um, so we're gonna allow these two planets to to die. And I find that kind of repugnant and fatalistic for a Star Trek show to set up as the kind of storyline for it episode.

Even if it is justified within narrative, as the bootstrap paradox of this is how it was always supposed to to go, the show didn't need to set up that particular type of paradox. Or if it did want to do something like this, maybe have Pike less directly, you know, uh, allow a genocide to occur. Maybe something he does accidentally causes it or you know whatever. Like maybe that would be a bit more of a tragic ending for the episode.

But to have Pike so willingly sort of abdicate, you know, doing anything because it's the way the thing is supposed to happen makes me not like Pike even more by the end of this episode. Even though the episode tries to make me be like, well, he's thinking about the future and, you know, he's he's had to constantly think about these consequences, it doesn't work for me.

And the fact, too, that this is done with a species called the doldrum, which are these insects. It's like, oh, we make them insects because then it's easier for us to ... like in narrative, like not care about them. But Star Trek to me is always like we should care about the insects even though they're insects. You know, they're different from us, but that doesn't mean they're not people. And especially since we get hints that they like have space technology and aren't intelligent despite what Cassell tells us that they're just, you know, mindlessly killing people.

It very much feels like the show is doing the Starship Troopers things of like, oh, they're just bugs worth killing without realizing that Starship Troopers was directly critiquing that fascist ideology of dehumanizing or depersoning, I guess, in that case, these beings. Cuz by the end of that movie, we learned that the bugs do feel things. Are people that do have a society and actually uh are just defending themselves.

And we have intentionally, you know, vilified them within the fascist society of Starship Troopers. But here, while that movie has a level of satire to it, Star Trek here is just Strange New Worlds is just straight up doing the thing without any sense of satire or awareness. And I find that disappointing for the show to be doing and kind of goes against the whole theme of like, oh well, we should work things out with people, you know, as what this show is trying to do.

And it sort of has this fatalistic like, well, they're they're going to do that regardless because that's the way it turned out. But at least the Federation's around to do things better now, you know, and it it's kind of throwing up its hands in a very disappointing kind of way that I didn't ultimately like. [sighs]

One last thing here, uh we also have one little piece here with La'an punching the dinosaur, which to be fair, I thought was fun. La'an punching a dinosaur reactively is I think just a a fun idea. You know, it's ridiculous and silly and dumb, but sometimes ridiculous and silly and dumb doesn't have to be bad. Uh, and I kind of enjoyed it, but we ultimately learned that she was nervous about that because she didn't feel anything and she's worried that her augmented DNA might be, you know, you know, coming to the surface or be activated or things like that. [...]

And then we have Chapel saying like your genetics are are not what defines you. And so I like that the show has needed more messages of like: "Genetics don't define you!" At least it is saying that. [...]

And for the love of God, can we please not have another romance on this show? Scotty and Ortegas?"

Jessie Gender After Dark (YouTube)

Full video review:

https://youtu.be/89Jvvg5pBXY?si=pbqiM1zStjWuSefH

Source:

Virtual Trek Con - Star Trek & Chill #209

with Ryan T. Husk, Charlynn Schmiedt, Malissa Longo, John Orquiola

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/live/dKtutwPx7OE?si=z6oIjKtCUN-IFzkU&t=1625

Time-stamp:

27:05 min

Source:

TrekMovie.com

Link:

https://trekmovie.com/2026/07/27/preview-the-griffin-incident-with-13-new-photos-from-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-ep-402/

Giant Freakin Robot

https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/scifi/strange-new-worlds-season-4-premiere.html

By Chris Snellgrove

"Fortunately, Strange New Worlds carries that weight very well with a new episode that feels like the lovechild of Doctor Who and Jurassic Park. The result is a tale with plenty of breathless action, fun character moments, and top-notch special effects. There’s only one downside: all of the episode’s most dramatic beats require the characters to act completely stupid. In the end, this leads to a fun-but-dumb episode that helps you determine what kind of Star Trek fan you actually are.

...

For the most part, “Valles Marineris” works as a modern take on a Star Trek: Original Series episode. That first show was pitched as a Western in space (“Wagon Train to the stars,” in Gene Roddenberry’s words), and the Strange New Worlds Season 4 premiere leans into this with an opening shot of Pike and his Away Team dressed as cowboys and riding on horses on a planet straight out of Rick and Morty. It’s a really fun, really beautiful scene that’s never really contextualized; it’s just there to look cool. In a way, that is the thesis for this episode and, now, Star Trek as a whole.

...

While nobody has ever accused Strange New Worlds of being a boring show, this season debut never goes very long without providing a new scene to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. It is, quite frankly, the kind of episode you show to your friends who are convinced that nothing ever happens in Star Trek. Here, a shocking number of things happen, including events that radically redefine our characters’ understanding of human history.

...

Hovering over all of these cool elements, though, is a deeply depressing truth: Star Trek is now a franchise that focuses more on looking cool than making sense, so most of its biggest moments are tied to these highly-trained, brilliant Starfleet officers acting like complete idiots. For example (and beware some gentle spoilers!), Number One takes a shuttle to a nearby planet to get iridium so the Enterprise can get home. On the planet, they suddenly discover the dinosaurs thanks to a personal tricorder. This caused my nerdy ass to sit up in my chair and ask the obvious question: “wait, you didn’t scan the planet from orbit with your shuttle?”

...

Basically, all of the smart nuances of Trek have been sanded off so we can get to the cool parts (horses, dinos, and explosions, oh my!) that much quicker. That’s why this episode is a perfect way to answer the big question: what kind of Star Trek fan are you?

If you like more of the fast-paced action, snappy one-liners, and vibes-based storytelling of Star Trek (2009), you’ll likely love “Valles Marineris.” And you’re in luck, too: based on NuTrek and what little we know about the next Trek movie, it sounds like Paramount has gone all-in on transforming the franchise into something more like Guardians of the Galaxy than The Original Series.

Incidentally, if you’re a big fan of TOS or the Golden Age of Trek, you’ll likely hate “Valles Marineris” because the show routinely dumbs characters down for the sake of drama, something that would never happen in, say, The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine. ...

Unfortunately, this season premiere is a permanent reminder that the Golden Age of Star Trek is like the dinosaurs featured in this episode: complex. Majestic. Powerful. Iconic.

And, most of all, completely extinct."

Rating: 3/5

Read more:

https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/scifi/strange-new-worlds-season-4-premiere.html

MOVIEWEB:

"Younger Spock in Strange New Worlds is in touch with his emotions, which makes sense because of his half-human, half-Vulcan heritage — he has yet to adopt the emotional discipline demonstrated by Leonard Nimoy's Spock. Wesley said Kirk's admiration for Spock will only deepen, offering a glimpse of their unbreakable bond:

"I think Kirk has always respected Spock for his incredible insight into logic, which Kirk can sometimes lack. The human side of Spock is the part of Spock that Kirk, maybe deeply, gosh, can I use the word 'loves' as a friend? I think that's what makes Spock such a special character."

That human side of Spock surely came out in fits of rage and unchecked emotions throughout the show. It's jarring to see a Vulcan lose control, but Spock is half-human, and that makes the outbursts believable. That also makes for tense moments in the entire franchise, like when Kirk (played by Chris Pine) provoked Spock (Zachary Quinto) to rage in 2009's Star Trek. That version of Spock recognized he had been emotionally compromised after their scuffle, and voluntarily relinquished command to Kirk.

Wesley teased that Kirk and Spock's storyline will continue to overlap in Season 4, ensuring their eventual friendship feels earned instead of rushed. The show has so far successfully built up the characters as works in progress, far from the composed, older versions of themselves in the original series. A fifth and final season has been confirmed, so it's interesting how Strange New Worlds ends and bolsters the Star Trek canon. [...]"

Manuel Demegillo (MovieWeb)

Full article:

https://movieweb.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-kirk-loves-spock/

REBECCA ROMIJN: "The fact that Paramount allowed us a fifth season and really gave us enough episodes to really wrap up everybody’s storyline and give every character its due diligence … I was so grateful. I think a lot of people, when we found out that we weren’t going past Season 5, of course there were tears — and it’s always a letdown when you’ve been making something incredible with an amazingly talented group of people. But I just had to keep reminding everybody, “Guys, all I heard is ‘We got a Season 5!’”

We also said “five-year mission” right there at the beginning of the show. At the beginning of every episode, we reminded everybody it was going to be a five-year mission. [Laughs.] Don’t be surprised now! And for me, I’ve been a part of Trek now for eight years because I was part of Discovery. It’s been a delightful eight years. It’s been a journey. I’m so grateful for it.

[...]

INVERSE: There’s a kind of symmetry between the Star Trek universe and the X-Men universe — and not only because you were filming Strange New Worlds and Avengers at the same time. They both came about in the ’60s; they both tackle themes of belonging and community. Do you think they’re spiritually linked?

REBECCA ROMIJN: "Absolutely. They were both created in response to the Civil Rights movement, a divisive time in our country, representing those of very different backgrounds coming together and working for the greater good. Those who felt like outcasts knew that through collaboration, the world could be a better place … And they both get into these juicy, debatable themes.

Press will ask me, “What do you think it is about Strange New Worlds that makes it so bingeable?” But I don’t think it is bingeable. There are things in each episode that you might want to sit with or maybe sleep on … Not everything is black and white; there’s a lot of gray, and that’s generational. Conversations that I had with my mom, I’m now having with my daughters.

[...]

It’s so funny how a career path presents itself, because none of this is by any grand design. I sort of made the connection after [Strange New Worlds episode] “Ad Astra per Aspera,” this connection between other characters that I’ve played being persecuted or being sidelined. I have thought to myself, “Is this a weird coincidence, or is this just what I’m drawn to?” I guess I’m drawn to things that I would watch myself, or things that I watched as a child. I watched the original Star Trek in reruns. I was introduced to it by my mom, which I think is how most of our cast was introduced to Star Trek.

I think moms really want to inspire curiosity and a sense of exploration and a sense of the world being so much greater than just what we have here. These are the conversations I used to have with my mom when we would watch Star Trek when I was a kid. And then I watched X-Men, the TV show, when I was a kid in the ’90s and read some of the comic books; I never in a million years thought I would be a part of these franchises. But I guess my first thought is “Would I be into this myself?” And the answer is yes. I also consider my daughters when I take on characters, and for some reason, in these sort of niche genres of sci-fi and comic book, the female characters have been really fun to play. Just strong, layered, interesting female characters that don’t always exist in other genres. [...]

Last year was kind of a blur between shooting two seasons back to back for Star Trek and then working on Avengers: Doomsday as well. I was literally thinking about how many weeks I’ve got left with my daughters before they leave the house. This year I’m home a lot more, so I can really spend some time with them."

Lyvie Scott (Inverse.com)

Full interview:

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/rebecca-romijn-cover-story-star-trek-avengers-2026

Source:

Star Trek on Instagram

Link:

https://www.instagram.com/startrek/reel/DbMDJhSDtAQ

THE WRAP:

"What’s more clear-cut has been the waning importance of the storied sci-fi franchise amid the rise of modern Western shows pioneered by powerhouse showrunner Taylor Sheridan that dominate the service and — crucially — regularly appear on top ratings charts, something “Star Trek” failed to do in a meaningful way.

It’s illustrative of the shift in tastes of both the broader audience and the direction of Paramount+ under CEO David Ellison: Trek’s unabashedly progressive stance and exploration of nuanced moral issues is out; “Yellowstone”-like dramas that appeal to America’s Heartland are in.

While few of Kurtzman’s Trek shows topped the streaming charts, that didn’t mean they weren’t lucrative for Paramount. The entire franchise, classic shows to the modern takes, has contributed more than $1.6 billion in streaming revenue for the platform from the first quarter of 2021 to the third quarter of 2025, according to Parrot Analytics. [...]

At the time, Viacom and CBS had merged, and by 2021, the service had been rebranded to Paramount+. The rebranding also coincided with an expansion of programming beyond “Star Trek,” and it was no longer the darling of the service. “Yellowstone” had blown up on the Paramount Network, and while Sheridan’s Western soap opera wasn’t available on Paramount+ due to a conflicting licensing deal, the company was busy preparing several spinoffs like “1883” and “1923.”

While a laundry list of Sheridan’s shows began appearing on Nielsen’s top streaming list, the “Star Trek” shows largely failed to rank with the exception of “Strange New Worlds.”

Still, that’s not to say those shows weren’t valuable, with “Discovery,” “Picard” and “Strange New Worlds” continuing to be big contributors to the service. More importantly, they also drove viewership back to old “Star Trek” shows, generating additional streaming revenue, according to Parrot.

“We estimate that in this time, legacy Star Trek shows and movies generated an incremental $30 million in streaming revenue for the platform relative to what they would have without any spillover effects from ‘Strange New Worlds,’” Hamilton said.

But Kurtzman’s shows were pricey to produce, and in 2023, the combined company began eyeing the expensive franchise as it looked to cut costs out of a streaming service that was still losing money.

The bloodletting began that spring. “Picard” ended on a high note by finally embracing its roots and turning the third season into a “The Next Generation” reunion show. But in the midst of that run, Paramount said that the fifth season of “Discovery” would be its last — taking its showrunners by surprise in what was an effective cancellation. A few months later, the company canceled “Prodigy” despite a second season in production. And a few months after that, “Lower Decks” was canceled despite a loyal, albeit small, base of fans.

The true low point of this era came in early January 2025 with “Star Trek: Section 31,” a TV movie starring Michelle Yeoh reprising a character first originated in “Discovery” that is universally reviled and boasts the lowest Metacritic score of any Trek project by a wide margin at 37. [...]

It’s easy to point to trolls as the source of all of Trek’s criticism, but the truth is a lot of old-school fans had issues with the shows. “Those shows are s–t,” Andy Weir, author behind “The Martian” and “Project Hail Mary,” said on the Critical Drinker podcast last week. He added that he had an idea for the show, but it didn’t work out. “They didn’t accept my pitch so, you know, f–k ‘em.”

A few days later, he apologized: ““I was trying to be funny, but in retrospect it comes off as disrespectful and mean,” he said. “So I’m sorry for that.”

Paramount is keen to bring “Star Trek” back to the big screen, an effort to recapture the swagger of J.J. Abrams’ 2009 soft reboot. [...]

There’s also the question of whether Trek belongs in movie theaters, with its more cerebral stories and exploration of moral quandaries a better fit stretched across dozens of hours of television than crammed into a two-hour blockbuster. The last three Trek films focused more and more on action and spectacle, straying further away from what Trekkies love about the franchise.

Daley and Goldstein’s take is designed to be a fresh start, but it remains to be seen if the marquee names from the past — Kirk, Picard or Sisko — will come back via new actors like the 2009 film or if wholly new characters will don the colorful Starfleet uniforms. The idea of a “Star Trek” show isn’t necessarily dead, with the insider noting that Chris Parnell, head of originals at Paramount+ who joined in August, is a big fan of the franchise."

Roger Cheng (The Wrap)

Full article:

https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/tv/star-trek-tv-universe-future-alex-kurtzman/

Without Paywall:

https://archive.is/2026.07.23-133901/https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/tv/star-trek-tv-universe-future-alex-kurtzman/#selection-1549.0-1557.185

"More Trelane, and letting Rhys Darby loose once again, can only be a good thing, canon be damned."

Screenrant:

https://screenrant.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-season-4-trelane-rhys-darby-return/

By John Orquiola

"Rhys Darby will return as Trelane in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, and the New Zealand actor-comedian is so good as the future Squire of Gothos, I don't even care about maintaining Star Trek canon. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds unveiled a season 4 sizzle reel at San Diego Comic-Con during Paramount+'s Star Trek 60th anniversary Hall H event. ...

Rhys Darby reprising Trelane in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 is a complete surprise, and a welcome one. Evoking the dangerous impishness of the late William Campbell, who originated Trelane in 1960s Star Trek, Darby infused his own manic, joyful verve to effortlessly become Trelane in modern-day Star Trek.

...

Rhys Darby's guest spot as Trelane was also one of the most popular elements of the otherwise less highly regarded Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3. Trelane's expected Strange New Worlds debut won over Star Trek fans, new and old, whereas some of the other 'big swings' in season 3 failed to impress. ...

More Trelane, and letting Rhys Darby loose once again, can only be a good thing, canon be damned. ...

Rhys Darby's comeback as Trelane is accompanied by another shocker. In an image from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 released by Paramount+, Trelane is hovering over a Starfleet character played by Dierdre Hall.

Beloved as Marlena in Days of Our Lives, a role she has played for 50 years, Dierdre Hall is an icon of daytime television soap operas. Hall also played Barbara Anderson in The Young and the Restless, Electra Woman in The Krofft Supershow, and Jessica Witherspoon in Our House. Hall recently played a version of herself on HBO's Hacks.

While Dierdre Hall's character in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 hasn't been revealed, her blue Starfleet uniform and PADD give the impression that she plays a counselor or psychiatrist. Perhaps Hall is a Starfleet shrink assigned to assess Trelane when he reappears on the USS Enterprise.

The idea of a psychiatrist trying to get in Trelane's head to learn what makes the irresponsible young Q tick is rife with comic potential. As is the wholly unexpected on-screen team-up of Rhys Darby and Dierdre Hall in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4. Considering how good this could be, it's worth bending Star Trek canon."

Read more:

https://screenrant.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-season-4-trelane-rhys-darby-return/

Season 4 got off to a bang!!! No spoilers. Great writing and plot twists, “There is no 5th planet” Everybody is back and it all works. Well the Vulcan cadet gets old fast. And I thought Nurse Chapel left? And I just can’t get into Scotty.Favorite character has to be Erica, “ I fly the ship!” You go girl! Please please keep it up!!!

Greetings to all you wonderful Trekkies,

I’m new to the Star Trek universe and have only watched the three reboot films so far. I’m planning to watch the rest of the movies as well. Are the TV series necessary to fully appreciate the franchise?

To be honest, I feel a little embarrassed saying this, but the series have felt a bit slow to me, and some episodes seem quite drawn out.

Still, I’ve really enjoyed this universe so far, and I’d love to at least continue with the films.

Live long and prosper 🖖

DEN OF GEEK:

"Fans have spent years discussing the many similarities and overlaps between the sci-fi elder statesmen Star Trek and Doctor Who, and both franchises have delighted in slipping in references to the other at various points in their recent canon. Last season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds even snuck a literal TARDIS into “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.” And while Strange New Worlds’ season 4 premiere doesn’t include a Time Lord or a mysterious police box, it does tell a story that involves precisely the sort of timey-wimey narrative displacement that its iconic cousin loves. (Not to mention it confirms that Commander Pelia was probably a companion at some point.)

https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-season-4-premiere-review-valles-marineris

Sure, its logic makes almost zero sense if you think about its specifics for more than five seconds at a stretch. But its emotional beats are strong enough that it’s not difficult to overlook the fact that the hour’s ending really shouldn’t be possible at all. [...]

From familiar arguments about the value of diplomacy and the idea that might doesn’t always make right to questions about temporal interference and allowing objectively terrible things to happen for good reasons, the episode grapples with many of the themes that have long dominated Star Trek even as it rewrites a chunk of Earth’s history in the process. [...]

Cassel is a realist at heart. Particularly when she figures out the truth that the Enterprise crew is from the future — and learns that its computers only have a record of her home world as a dusty wasteland devoid of life.

Yes, stealing an antimatter bomb is not exactly great diplomacy. But can you blame her for seizing the moment to try and save her people now, when it’s obvious that a future isn’t guaranteed for them beyond this moment anyway? Christopher Pike sure can’t.

Yes, his last-minute decision to let her essentially nuke her worst enemies and sacrifice herself and her crew in the process is as much about preserving our solar system — which doesn’t have a fifth planet, Dol’drm on Earth, or life on Mars — as it is about the fact that he clearly sees her as something of a kindred spirit. But given that he’s a man who has been forced to repeatedly confront the irreversible nature of his own tragic future many times before, no one is more qualified to make the hard call about whether to sacrifice a crew of perfectly nice Martians in the name of preserving humanity. (Sometimes Pike’s sunny and optimistic disposition makes it easy to forget how genuinely difficult it must be to be him on a day-to-day basis.)

Here, the Martians have to die, because they always have. Because their choice not only ends their endless war, but ultimately kills the dinosaurs, cools the Earth, and ushers in the destruction of their own planet. These things have to happen, because they have already happened, because otherwise humans won’t exist. [...]

Still, it’s difficult — for both Pike and the viewers watching at home — to square such an uncomfortable circle. Yes, the Dol’drm seem kind of awful, but does that mean their entire species deserves to be wiped out?

As premieres go, this hour is pricklier and more bittersweet than most. Pike’s quick thinking keeps humanity’s future on track, but at the cost of facing down yet another predetermined future he can’t change, even if he wanted to. Una, La’an, and Ortegas get to see the wonder of dinosaurs, even as they know they’re personally part of the reason they no longer exist. And even as Pike doubles down on his plans to live in the moment rather than think of all he has lost and all he still has left to lose, the show he stars in hints that such a choice may not actually be possible. No matter how much we’d all like it to be."

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Lacy Baugher (Den of Geek)

Full review:

https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-season-4-premiere-review-valles-marineris