“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” season 3 ended, and the show remains surprisingly very. His creatives did a wonderful job to explore each of the main characters in the series during the season, giving them each little arc that was explored from the start of season 3 to its final. Captain Pike (Anson Mount), in particular, received a fantastic romantic flower in Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano), while Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) had to fight with an episode of SSPT. And although some may like the amount of romance that Spock (Ethan Peck) has experienced, I think it was managed with tact. However, there was a tonal question that deserves a discussion.
Throughout its race so far, “Strange New Worlds” has fortunately cleaned closely to an episodic structure “Crisis of the week”. This has, among other things, the series to waver in the tone. An episode can be a story of horror on the strange ancient ghosts with the crew of the company, while another can involve the company swallowed by a massive vessel which seems to escape a number of the Heavy Metal magazine. Similarly, several episodes of the series have been downright comical, competed with social clumsiness and romantic misunderstandings.
Indeed, looking back on season 3, three of his 10 episodes were direct comedies. In the episode “Wedding Bell Blues”, an episée deity (Rhys Darby) forces Spock and nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) to think that they are in love. Likewise, in the episode “A Space Adventure Hour”, the company is recreated on the Holodeck for a mystery of whimsical murder. Then there were “Vulcans four and a half”, an exit in which four of the human crew members of the Enterprise were processed biologically into Vulcans, leading to a wacky clumsiness. We could even count the elements of “the Sehlat who ate his tail” as a comic, as an engineer Pelia (Carol Kane) was forced to wire the phones sheets in the communication systems of the company.
These episodes are all fun, of course, but we could notice that a complete third of season 3 ended up being comical. Really, it feels like “Strange New Worlds” pushed to the line with regard to the comedy it can manage.
More than a quarter of the new strange worlds are the comedy
This does not mean that the “Star Trek” franchise should not include humor. Far from it; “The Original Series” only presented many excellent comic episodes which are now considered classics. There was a “coast leave”, which saw Starfleet officers interact with the samurai, the knights and the white rabbit of “Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland”. And then there was “The Disorder With Tribbles”, an episode featuring a fanciful infestation of adorable wheels. Heck, even “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” included episodes of comedy on occasion. “The Next Generation”, for example, transformed the members of the Enterprise crew into “Robin Hood” characters for the “Qpid” episode, while the episode “Take Me Out to the Holosuite” paused in the basic drama of the depth space with a light baseball game.
No, the comedy has its place in “Star Trek”, and it is good that “Strange New Worlds” courageously experienced episodes of fairy tale, episodes of exchange of body and musical episodes. The tone of “Strange New Worlds” is, compared to other “Star Trek” series, impregnated with an unbearable lightness to be, it is therefore just appropriate that it is devoted to several episodes to the Manigances involving love, the slapstick and even a crossing with the animated working comedy “Star Trek: Lower Decks”.
The problem is that we are now dangerously close to “Strange New Worlds” to be a science fiction show with comedy elements to be a comedy show in a science fiction universe. Indeed, he has the impression that the series is getting closer and closer to resemble the comic of Seth McFarlane “Star Trek” Homage Show “The Orville” with each passing episode. Ironically, “The Orville” himself went in the opposite direction, increasingly approaching being a “Star Trek” riff with a right face and far from its coarse comic origins. At this stage, “The Orville” and “Strange New Worlds” essentially have a overlapping Venn diagram.
It’s not that there is too much comedy on “Strange New Worlds” … but we are the most AAAAAAAL at this point.
Star Trek comedy episodes are better when they are rare
It should be recalled that, from the 1960s to the mid -2000s, the “Star Trek” shows were mainly presented in 26 episodes. They have run every week since fall – usually from September – throughout the following May. Their writers had to find dozens of stories and tended to focus closely on an episodic structure, because this was more friendly for the agreements and reruns of syndication. When there were 26 episodes per year, it was more tolerable to have three or four comic outings in the mixture, because it allowed a break in the routine. The characters of the “Star Trek” franchise tend to be rigid and professional, and the public generally see them when they are on the clock, commanding a vessel. The atmosphere was formal and intelligent.
The episodes of comedy have therefore become the exceptions “let your hair” in the rule. Trekkies tended to love them for this same reason. They were special for their rarity.
But the modern series “Star Trek” – that is to say the streaming emissions that have been presented since 2017 – have shorter seasons. With only 10 episodes each time, “Strange New Worlds” has much less latitude to play and tell stories. After three seasons, in fact, “Strange New Worlds” barely exceeded the number of episodes for a single season of a series “Star Trek” before 2017. More specifically, there have been eight episodes of fanciful comedy of the show so far, which represents very close to its 30 episodes in total. Can you imagine a season of “The Next Generation” which sported eight or more episodes as “Qpid?”
Basically, when comedy episodes become as common, these are no longer exceptions to the rule. To be clear, the most humorous episodes of “Strange New Worlds” have so far been, on the whole, well done, well considered and quite good to start. But they would sing much stronger if there were 16 additional episodes on the theme of science fiction in a season. Trekkies like comedy, but we have definitely pushed ourselves against the wall.
“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” is in trouble on Paramount +, season 4 should be presented in preview in 2026.
