Star Trek Strange New Worlds, what did you think?

[Rabulias]

It's all relative. Compared to Star Wars, Star Trek is hard sci-fi.

 

[Hex08]

Hard sci-fi only in the sense that it is (usually) actually sci-fi in a world where a lot of space fantasy gets called sci-fi.

Hard sci-fi, as I understand it, is a type of sci-fi that tries to make the science credible and does it's best to adhere to actual scientific concepts with some level of accuracy. Obviously, sci-fi generally can't be a slave to actual scientific accuracy since some story concepts may be needed that may not be scientifically accurate but are necessary story elements. The Expanse novels and show are a good example of hard sci-fi, when possible they strive for accuracy but when technology like the protomolecule is introduced science goes out the window. Star Trek is more traditional sci-fi where scientific accuracy isn't really relevant to the story but tries to be somewhat internally consistent but certainly isn't "hard sci-fi". Science fantasy is some thing like Star Wars, because it's has things like space wizards. I would argue that just because Star Trek isn't space fantasy that doesn't make it hard sci-fi.

Good examples of hard sci-fi, other than The Expanse, that I have read are the Revelation Space books by Alistair Reynolds or The Martian by Andy Wier.

edited to add - Here is a good definition of hard sci-fi and examples that I found.

Hard Science Fiction: 16 Examples of Hard Science Fiction - 2024 - MasterClass

Some science fiction novels take painstaking care to imbue their pages with scientific accuracy. This has led to the rise of a subgenre called hard science fiction, or hard sci-fi.

www.masterclass.com

 

[bloodtide]

S1E3

Well, this is a mixed up episode. I think it might have been a rough draft written on a napkin and they had to make episode three for some reason.

Pike goes on this Away team just so the plot can happen...sigh.

And like many sad "new" type shows...they have to have "action" ALL the time so a certain type of person in the aduiance does not get bored. Like where Pike and Spock "run" from a storm......

Guess they waited three whole shows before they started to ruin characters with New Trek Problems. As everyone must have 'secret problems' that make them different.

So Number One gets effected by something....and lies about it. Just like every idiot character ever in fiction.

So Chief Engineer says he will run a "level 5 diagnostic" that will take all night ....um, does someone not know the Star Trek diagnostic scale goes from 5 "just look at it" to 1 "take offline and disassemble"?

Is there some reason no one says the word quarantine?

So cadet quarters are unisex? And are HUGE!

But cadets sleep in tiny closets? That room could hold several king size beds.....

So why does Hemmer think a glowing part of the mantle will be "so bright"? Artifical light is way, way, way, way more bright then any natural light. They have lamps one billion times brighter then the sun.

The "she carries the man down the hallway" sure is a long bit.

And now they ruin Una....she was an interesting strong female character....and sigh, now she is just a silly Super Hero. Guess she is now like a Captain Marvel rip off now? How lame....

And sure Una hid her race and augment status....somehow?

And...er....why do some people just turn on a light to get more light....and some are like "blow up the ship!"

I guess Una walked to the warp core to stop Laan? Wonder why she did not fly with her super powers?

Wonder why the warp core is not connected to the computer voice control? Or why could not Una, even more so as "acting captain" not over ride the warp core tampering? Or localize the command codes?

Pike worries the storm might flatten the house.....the house that has stood for years and years of storms?

And they cure the crew in seconds?

And sigh the broken doctor has been hiding his daughter in the sick bay pattern buffer? So they can't use that transporter, right?

And did M'Benga guard the room 24/7...even during the refit?

And does now broken and ruined and criminal Una tell Pike about broken and criminal M'Benga? Or does she further ruin her character by keeping another secret?

And...um...when Doc beams his daughter out to read her a story....um, does not her skicness spread? He just said a couple minutes ago the transport kept her in stasis...

And Pike seems a little odd not caring he was tricked and lied too by someone he THOUGHT he could trust.

Or will Pike join with the rest of his criminal crew and hide Una from Starfleet?

So, now half the crew are criminal lying disloyal selfish monsters.....and the creators think this is a good thing? Like it's cool?

 

[Umbran]

Hard sci-fi, as I understand it, is a type of sci-fi that tries to make the science credible and does it's best to adhere to actual scientific concepts with some level of accuracy.

No term goes unwarped by use. Originally "Low fantasy" meant "fantasy that is set within our real world" and "high fantasy" meant "fantasy set in a different, fictional setting". But that's not how the word is generally used now.

So, yeah, since there are things out there like Star Wars, that blur the lines, folks wind up using the term in a highly relative way, in whcih their baseline is so "soft" a sci-fi that the "hard" is still very squishy.

 

[Hex08]

No term goes unwarped by use. Originally "Low fantasy" meant "fantasy that is set within our real world" and "high fantasy" meant "fantasy set in a different, fictional setting". But that's not how the word is generally used now.

So, yeah, since there are things out there like Star Wars, that blur the lines, folks wind up using the term in a highly relative way, in whcih their baseline is so "soft" a sci-fi that the "hard" is still very squishy.

Sure, language and concepts change over time, and I have no problem with that which is why I find it helpful to provide a definition so others know where I am approaching something from. However, if the definitions become too squishy they become useless. If Star Trek is hard sci-fi compared to Star Wars does that make The Martian harder sci-fi compared to both? Or is The Martian still just hard sci-fi relatively even though Star Trek is too?

I also get that the differences may not matter to some people, they read/watch what they like and define it based on their preferences.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

So, I have thoughts.

We are now three episodes in. Personally, I thought the most recent episode was the worst of the three, but it was still a good Star Trek episode. And that's when it hit me...

This is the Trek I've been waiting for. I love prestige TV. I love season-long arcs. But ... you know what else I love? THIS.

It's good. It's optimistic. It's what we aspire to. And each episode is mostly self-contained. And the cast and crew is ... enjoyable. The show it serious, but it never takes itself too seriously. And I genuinely like the characters! And the various crew members are getting time so that I get to know them! And then there's the whole Pike/Spock dynamic, which is working (not to mention the Chapel/Spock dynamic, which is fun).

It's as if they crossed the best of TNG and TOS. Which is high praise ... and I hope they keep it up.

I still like Discovery, which genuinely got better the last two seasons. And Picard is like a warm cup of Earl Grey- soothing .... Yeah, I know the last season had its rough spots, but it was totally worth it for the scene at the end with Q and Jean Luc (that's all I'm going to say).

But BNW is exactly what I needed.

(I am glad that they seem to be moving away from the whole, "Pike is preoccupied with how he is going to die" thing, because that doesn't seem to add much to the gestalt of the program.)

 

[Mort]

So, I have thoughts.

We are now three episodes in. Personally, I thought the most recent episode was the worst of the three, but it was still a good Star Trek episode. And that's when it hit me...

This is the Trek I've been waiting for. I love prestige TV. I love season-long arcs. But ... you know what else I love? THIS.

It's good. It's optimistic. It's what we aspire to. And each episode is mostly self-contained. And the cast and crew is ... enjoyable. The show it serious, but it never takes itself too seriously. And I genuinely like the characters! And the various crew members are getting time so that I get to know them! And then there's the whole Pike/Spock dynamic, which is working (not to mention the Chapel/Spock dynamic, which is fun).

It's as if they crossed the best of TNG and TOS. Which is high praise ... and I hope they keep it up.

I still like Discovery, which genuinely got better the last two seasons. And Picard is like a warm cup of Earl Grey- soothing .... Yeah, I know the last season had its rough spots, but it was totally worth it for the scene at the end with Q and Jean Luc (that's all I'm going to say).

But BNW is exactly what I needed.

(I am glad that they seem to be moving away from the whole, "Pike is preoccupied with how he is going to die" thing, because that doesn't seem to add much to the gestalt of the program.)

Nicely summed up. I have the same opinion. I particularly like that 1) It's very optimistic 2) It's serious without taking itself too seriously (nice way of putting it btw).

If it continues in this vein I'll be very happy!

 

[damiller]

As I said upthread, I am digging it. EP3 was a little cramped, but its what you get I think with a show trying to be episodic. The thing I really am enjoying is that is is sci-fi with a point. They are like TOS was (and TNG i think didn't watch much of it): morality plays. The science part of the fiction is just so WE don't know they are REALLY talking about RIGHT now. That's what I think Trek does best, and its what I consider "classic sci-fi" from an American perspective*. For me its the Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke of Science Fiction.** At least of what I've read of each.

*and if not American pov, my pov.
**yes I know clarke isn't an american.

 

[Ryujin]

So, I have thoughts.

We are now three episodes in. Personally, I thought the most recent episode was the worst of the three, but it was still a good Star Trek episode. And that's when it hit me...

This is the Trek I've been waiting for. I love prestige TV. I love season-long arcs. But ... you know what else I love? THIS.

It's good. It's optimistic. It's what we aspire to. And each episode is mostly self-contained. And the cast and crew is ... enjoyable. The show it serious, but it never takes itself too seriously. And I genuinely like the characters! And the various crew members are getting time so that I get to know them! And then there's the whole Pike/Spock dynamic, which is working (not to mention the Chapel/Spock dynamic, which is fun).

And until it came along, the best source of TOS style Star Trek wasn't Star Trek at all, but "The Orville." Now episodic Trek, with a moral, is finally back.

It's as if they crossed the best of TNG and TOS. Which is high praise ... and I hope they keep it up.

I still like Discovery, which genuinely got better the last two seasons. And Picard is like a warm cup of Earl Grey- soothing .... Yeah, I know the last season had its rough spots, but it was totally worth it for the scene at the end with Q and Jean Luc (that's all I'm going to say).

But BNW is exactly what I needed.

(I am glad that they seem to be moving away from the whole, "Pike is preoccupied with how he is going to die" thing, because that doesn't seem to add much to the gestalt of the program.)

And the funny thing is that we, who watched the original series, know more about that than does Pike. Don't know if I should spoiler that, in a spoiler thread, for those who have never seen TOS

 

[Hex08]

I just rewatched the first three episodes and have really grown to like the new take on Nurse Chapel. At first she just seemed "off" to me, just too different than the character from TOS but I am really enjoying the more upbeat but very confident version we are getting in SNW. La'an is another character that is really growing on me, she is fierce and loyal with a lot of historical baggage I am looking forward to being explored. So far the only two characters that I am ambivalent towards are Hemmer and Ortegas but maybe as they get more screen time they will grow on me.