User Reviews

Hey, guys. Just because it's Star Trek doesn't mean it can't be goofy. 90's Trek certainly had its share of silly moments in the holodeck.

The difference is that those episodes always had a side-story that brought us back to the sci-fi. While all the actors clearly had a good time playing alternate roles for this episode, I found myself mostly waiting for the silliness to be over so we could get back to the show about space ships.

But, gosh-darnit, they really tugged on my heart strings at the end.

Even then, I found the doctor's choice a little too quick, easy, and unlikely... but I was happy to see his story move forward.

Thanks for taking creative risks, Paramount. I remain a huge fan of this show.

Three things every father wants to hear from his daughter. This originally aired the week of Father's Day in the US.

This episode is not as strong as the rest of the season thus far, and the direction is very disjointed, as we're dropped into the rabbit hole without any real preparation. Things don't start to get weird and get worse, no, we're dropped straight into worse without knowing how we got there.

Nothing makes sense at all, until the end. It's not quite deus ex machina, it's just there's is no real mystery that can be figured out, until the end when all is revealed.

Then it all makes sense, and it's satisfying.

I am sorry to see a promising arc end, but at least they ended it well. Very well.

Happy Father's Day, everyone. Especially to every daughter's father.

I loved the episode. As a father of a young girl, I especially loved the storyline with the Dr.'s daughter. I understand the negative reviews, but this delay like a real TOS era episode. I cried at the end, very heartfelt.

I could maybe forgive the production team for going for this type of thing, IF Paramount had been constantly delivering quality Star Trek for years. However, this move doesn't exactly inspire confidence. We are still discovering and adapting to the new characters and premise of this show as an audience. It doesn't make sense to spend your limited time in a first season on filler and not have the characters being themselves. Although I wasn't particularly invested in the fantasy (this type of episode is normally relegated to the Holodeck or Q encounter), I still acknowledge the budget spent on costume and set design. I just treated it as a comedy, as Star Trek does this type of thing occasionally. Another gripe I can express is that too much time is being spent on the doctor's daughter. Hinting at it to revisit for later seasons would have been far more effective, as they did with Worf's arc throughout TNG.

Although this was your typical TOS or TNG holodeck episode, it came far, FAR too early in the series. The point of these types of episodes is to juxtapose who a character normally is with something completely out of character (think Warfs "I am not a merry man!")

Problem is, we don't know who these characters are yet. I think we could have (maybe) made this episode work this early in the series, but the writing for the episodes before it would have needed to be perfect, as would the acting. The writing wasn't, nor were the actors, who have been uneven and still feeling out who they're supposed to be.

Earliest this kind of ep could have worked would be sometime in season 2....or even season 3 if the character development continues to be as uneven as it has been thus far.

I still have hope for this series, but the last 2 episodes have shown either a lack of experience, lack of awareness, or most likely, a little of both.

I just keep reminding myself how rough the first season of TNG was, however, TNG was made at a time when studios knew how to self correct. Short of this seasons Stranger Things, I can't think of another example in the past decade of a show able (or sadly willing) to do the same.

Dont get me wrong I like(-d anyway to this point) the doctor because he was a bit quirky and strange. Unlike many viewers who found him difficult to understand and weird. I thought it gave him a character, some charisma. I guess I was wrong. In this episode he was given plenty of space and time to show his acting talents but unfortunately the guy failed beyond miserably. There was nothing coming from him, no passion, only whispering, constantly hunched over, unsure, unconvincing.

Also the episode wasnt particularly interesting. The acting from the doctor combined with no feeling of any tension or urgency, not to mention no chemistry between doc and alien Scotty as they go along solving the problem. In general bland atmosphere where it was felt the plot was dragging along rather than developing, made the whole episode a boring event.

And lastly, alas, the sci-fi foundations again take the backseat until the last couple of minutes, if that, where they tried to make it up in that little convo between doctor and daughter.

Overall not interesting and poorly directed episode, lacking in vision and wider scope plot narrative.

This episode evokes episodes like "Plato's Stepchildren" and "Shoreleave" along with TNGs "Qpid", it is much more lighthearted with a sad undertone that hits hard at the end.

It wasn't this seasons best episode, but it was good, and allowed some growth for Dr. M'Benga and Lt. Hemmer.

I enjoyed it.

Every Trek series that have episodes like this...it just drives me up a wall. Couldn't wait for it to end. The only reason I stuck it out was in case something in it came to matter in a future episode.

Even though this may not be one of the greatest Star Trek episodes there is one thing that you cannot deny, this episode was quintessential Star Trek. Every other series; Orginal, TNG, DS9, VOY all have episodes like this, and it wouldn't be Star Trek without them.

So, for these other reviews that say they are disappointed, or that it was lazy writing, you really don't know Star Trek at all.

Again, this episode may not go down in history as one of the greats but it was definitely enjoyable, with many funny parts and with an ending that put a tear in my eye.

Love it or loath it, this episode was pure Star Trek from start to finish. Everyone got to dress up and enjoy themselves while a fairly sound Science Fiction story propelled the narrative along. Concluding Rukiya's storyline in this way came as something of a surprise but was probably a lot more satisfying than having it drag on for several seasons.

Who cares if we've seen something similar before, The over-the-top performances helped endear us to some lesser known members of the cast, the script generated quite a few unforced laughs and it all looked absolutely fabulous. A sprinkling of light-hearted fantasy has been part of the Star Trek compendium for more than fifty years, all the way back through Voyager's Adventures of Captain Proton, TNG's Hollow Pursuits to the Original Series Shore Leave. The Elysian Kingdom is now a welcome addition to that company.

I hesitate to say that this episode is what fans have been waiting for because I'm old enough to remember that some of them never liked this kind of fantasy and their vociferous complaints have resonated down through the decades. Looking at today's reviews we can see that there are no changes there, then.

But never mind the rest; I loved every minute of it. This is what Senior Trekker had almost given up hoping for. The real thing.

What even was this. Made it about 25 mins in and just had to stop. Probably the worst episode across all Star Trek series that has ever been made. Think of the worst campy Christmas or Halloween episode of a show and then make it ten times worse. That's what this was.

Okay, I agree this episode would have been better in season 2 or 3 after we got to know the characters better. It's also an old, sci-go trope.

But...

It's a classic sci-fi trope, old though it may be, and really wasn't done badly. It's also important to remember that Strange New Worlds is much more like TOS or even Lower Decks than it is Discovery or Picard. It's obvious the cast enjoyed their roles.

This was the first episode where I liked the Hemmer character, which is saying something.

***Minor spoiler ahead***

The "Crimson Guard" may be the best gag ever on a Star Trek show/ movie.

I was getting TOS vibes. It felt nostalgic. The writers are differently pulling all the stops. I have to admit, I was getting impatient, but it paid off at the end.

This kind of fantasy episode is very common in Trek shows. But this is just too soon. It feels unearned. Especially since we're just getting to know this crew. Second season would have been more fitting.

I don't mind when shows try something. This just didn't work. Shore Leave is one of my favorite TOS episodes so I don't mind weird when it's done correctly. Maybe if the rest of the ship was less campy and played it straight with a few quips it might have worked out better overall.

Seriously. This was a very bad idea poorly executed. If you do make a farce or, at least a comedic episode, hire somebody who can write comedy AND who knows Star Trek history.

For fans of a certain age and fans of the original series, this episode resonates like an old friend. The beauty of Star Trek and of science fiction in general, allows us to throw rules out the window and play, explore, reinvent. I enjoyed the characters' alternate selves, love the fun the actors had in the episode, and enjoyed the ending with the significance of the father/daughter storyline. Give it chance and allow yourself the fantasy part of the genre and the series.

Reality on board Enterprise becomes entwined with a fantasy story.

This is easily the oddest entry in the show so far, as it mixes a mostly goofy crew role-play fantasy with some seriously emotional scenes involving Dr M'Benga's sick daughter.

I like Star Trek episodes where the cast are free to play other characters in a humorous way, but personally I do not think the material is funny enough for it to work here. As good as the actors are, particularly Christina Chong, Bruce Horak, and Celia Rose Gooding who are the standouts for me, they alone cannot raise the premise above that of novelty value characterisations.

Thankfully when it gets to the serious final act the quality increases tenfold. Being a father of a little girl of similar age to the character Rukiya, the dilemma faced by Dr M'Benga connects with me. The emotion generated here is quite powerful thanks to good material and performances of all. Babs Olusanmokun does his best work of the show so far in these exchanges.

The visuals are great as always and although I am not a fan of the fantasy world scenes, the costumes are fantastic, especially U'Hura's dress.

Haven't we learnt from this in the past? Holodeck and other such episodes from Next Gen and TOS.

Really is hard to sit through.

I have been enjoying SNW so far but, this is really disappointing.

I recommend skipping this episode.