Star Trek: Strange New Worlds started off by blending Nu Trek with the spirit of TOS and TNG, but lately it seems to have gone off the rails.
What Is It?
Set prior to the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, this show follows the U.S.S. Enterprise as it treks into outer space, boldly going to strange new worlds with Captain Christopher Pike, his first officer Number One, and his science officer Mr. Spock in command of the ship.
![](https://www.cancelledscifi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/why-were-they-cancelled-header-ad.jpg")
Streaming: Paramount+, New Episodes Release on Thursdays
Starring: Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong. Celia Rose Gooding
Created By: Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet
Johnny Jay’s Thoughts:
When Star Trek: Strange New Worlds first premiered back in the spring of 2022, I watched the entire first season and rather enjoyed it. I wouldn’t say I became a devoted fan, but I liked it best of the Nu Trek entries because it captured the spirit of The Original Series while still bringing in some of the modern sensibilities of the newer shows. I especially liked the cast, particularly the actors playing the Big Three: Captain Pike, Number One, and Spock. The first season had its ups and downs, but it was mostly solid and ended very strong.
I stuck around for the second season, which seemed to be getting rave reviews from fans and critics, but I found myself less enamored. I didn’t like the tinkering they were doing with canon—such as Spock’s relationship with Nurse Chapel (in TOS it was established that she pined for him while he had no interest) or their encounters with the Gorn (who were presented as an unknown enemy in their TOS episode “Arena” that nobody from the Federation had previously encountered ). I also didn’t care for the CGI overload, something Trek doesn’t need if it delivers the quality of stories we expect from the franchise. I ended up watching episodes selectively that season (no, I didn’t tune in for the singing episode) and had my doubts about where it was headed.
Despite my reservations, I started watching the third season a couple of weeks ago. But by the time I got to episode four, I was pretty much done. Here’s my episode-by-episode progression through the season:
“Hegemony Part 2”: I didn’t hate this episode (which concluded the Season 2 finale), and I had pretty much accepted that they’d re-written the Federation’s history with the Gorn—though I still wondered why they didn’t just bring in a new alien species instead of relying on name recognition when these Gorn are so different from what we saw in TOS. But this installment threw CGI overload at us along with improbable escapes and rescues that substituted for actual storytelling. And while I didn’t mind them bringing in Mr. Scott (who apparently also has a history with the Gorn never mentioned in TOS) and liked the actor they picked, he is way too young. This Scotty seems to be in his 20s, while by the time Kirk takes command of the Enterprise (only a few years away), he should be in his 40s.
“Wedding Bell Blues”: I almost turned this episode off about twenty minutes in because it was going the sitcom route, similar to the Season 2 episode “Charades.” Then I kind of liked what they did with the wedding planner, and thought that had some humorous potential. But pretty quickly, I realized this guy was just a Trelane-like character (with Rhys Darby very much channeling William Campbell’s performance), and I knew exactly how the episode was going to end. After these events, canon is disrupted again, because Spock would know the existence of this god-like species and should have recognized it when they encountered Trelane in TOS.
“Shuttle to Kenfori”: I didn’t mind them introducing zombies into Trek and thought Pike had some pretty funny lines related to that. But this episode crammed in so much that each of its storylines could have been an episode in itself. It was like a firehose of ideas unleashed, with plenty of CGI excess, but none of the stories were fully explored. This one had far too much action and SFX and not enough true development, and I felt cheated by the end.
“A Space Adventure Hour”: This one started out kind of fun with a decent parody of TOS, and then worked in a humorous look behind the scenes at the infighting and political maneuvering of making a TV series. It also acted as an origin story for the holodeck/rec room, which I didn’t mind, but then they took it down the same road they always do: someone steps onto the holodeck and things go wrong. I saw it coming a mile away, and it played out exactly as expected. And might I remind us of what J. Michael Straczynski had to say about this: “If you need a holodeck to make an interstellar starship on the bleeding edge of the unknown interesting, something is seriously amiss.” On top of all that, they threw in yet another love interest for Spock at the end. When did this show become The Starship of Love?
Basically, the ending of the fourth episode did it for me, and I decided to bow out. I’d kind of like to see the upcoming puppet episode, but I’ve cancelled my Paramount+ subscription as of the end of the month because Paramount paid shakedown money to a thug and cancelled Stephen Colbert at that person’s behest (and I don’t care what you think of Colbert—no government official should be able to get someone kicked off the air just because they don’t like them). I also have plenty of other shows I am watching and enjoying, so I’ve decided I’m done with hate-watching Strange New Worlds for now.
Some people do like the show, and I’ve heard some positive buzz from the current season. But as an old-time Trek fan, this one just goes too far off the rails too often, and I don’t like the way it rewrites the show’s history. Now, can we please get a fourth season of The Orville so there’s something on television that hearkens back to the true spirit of the franchise?
And one more thing: Captain Pike’s hair is getting pretty ridiculous by this point.
What’s Next?
Season 3 of Strange New Worlds wraps up on September 11th, and the show has been renewed through its fifth season. It is scheduled to end at that point, though there are rumors that after the Paramount/Skydance merger finalizes the franchise could be sold off. If that happens, perhaps more adventures of Captain Pike and his crew could follow, or maybe they’ll move ahead with the Captain Kirk series that’s been discussed (Though I am not thrilled about that, either). But for now, SNW will end at the five-year mark, and we’re not certain what’s next for the franchise beyond the upcoming Starfleet Academy series (and the rumored President Jonathan Archer show, which you can read more about at this link).
Are you watching Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and do you believe it has proven to be a good entry in the franchise? Chime in with your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Well, of course a right-wing Republican Trump supporter doesn’t like Colbert. So what else is new? #1 in the late night ratings, better than Kimmel’s show on ABC or Fallon’s on NBC and just nominated for his 9th Emmy award but he sucks, right? And as far as the ludicrous nonsense this “president” wanna-be dictator spews out every single day, here’s Poltifact’s take on the Trump/Smithsonia matter: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/aug/20/donald-trump/smithsonian-museums-success-brightness-slavery/?utm_source=PolitiFact&utm_campaign=017fa1c14b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_08_21_07_24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-017fa1c14b-136808385
Not sure why this Colbert business hits such a nerve with some. The #1 slot claim is based on the Colbert team cherry-picking what they’re measuring against. Gutfeld has nearly a million more viewers. Some might argue about what constitutes ‘late-night.’ okay – I’m not particularly interested in arguing for or against. Let’s say Colbert is #1 – it still doesn’t mean that it’s profitable – especially for a company that hasn’t been doing so well financially. The same goes for ‘Emmys’ – as if being granted an award by like-minded people is an objective measure of quality. People will like things or dislike things based on their own tastes. Colbert is not to my taste – I don’t poke at anybody for liking him though. My guess is it’s likely you’re not a Gutfeld fan – that’s fine. Enjoy life – don’t worry about Trump so much. I didn’t make waves or worry to much about Biden – I just lived my life. I notice though that left leaning people seem keen on making public statements constantly and often in exaggerated or hysterical ways. Ah well what can one do?
I never even heard of Gutfeld until after I googled it. Figures, since I don’t watch the Fox Trump/Republican propaganda “news” channel. And now let’s talk about the phrase you used: “cherry-picking” when it pertains to the Nielson ratings. How can you compare ratings for a night-time talk show that airs in “prime time” (7pm on the west coast, 10pm on the east coast) to one that airs after 11:30pm? Gutfeld’s time slot is considered “prime time” where most viewers are awake and watching TV whereas many viewers are going to bed by 11:30pm to have to get ready for work in the morning. You’re comparing apples and oranges and it’s totally misleading. And comparing how terrible Biden was to you with how terrible Trump is to me is laughable. I don’t see all the things Trump is doing to this country right now and in the future compares at all to what Biden did as President. Trump tried to steal and lays doubt on the 2020 election results and he probably stole the last election when you scrutinize the illogical voting results of the battleground/swing states, thanks to team Musk’s meddling and Republican voter suppression/fraud: https://www.2024electionrigged.com/
You’re showing exactly why the left seems so irrational when one tries to have a discussion. I literally said that what constitutes late night to some might be subjective and not worth arguing and you spend half your post arguing about it. Okay, Gutfeld is not late night. Point yielded. How does that affect Colbert’s profitability on late night? Zero. The other channels are as much propaganda news as Fox – it’s just that since you agree with them you consider them ‘factual’. You clearly have Trump and Musk on the brain. Musk’s “meddling” is cause for high hysteria – but decades worth of progressive/liberal bias MSM, Hollywood, and literally every other tech company in Silicon Valley is perfectly fine and no cause for comment much less concern. Okay. What can anybody do? Trying to discuss anything regarding politics between folkson opposite sides at this point is futile, sadly. I recommend just taking a breath, relax and try to find some enjoyment in life.
You first stated Gutfeld has a million more viewers than Colbert, suggesting the Nielson ratings are “cherry-picked” to use your words. Then you said ‘I’m not particularly interested in arguing for or against’ what constitutes for late-night. Do you know the specific difference between night-time TV and late-night TV? You just wanted to call me “irrational” when I pointed out the real facts to your erroneous conjecture. And I’m not arguing about Colbert’s profitability to CBS/Paramount, you’re the one who brought it up in your reply to me. But the timing of the announcement of his future cancellation seems suspicious to a lot of people but I’m not involved in the financial goings-on of CBS/Paramount so I don’t know. The wrong-wing’s old tired charges of wide-spread “liberal bias” is baloney in most cases. How many democrats own/operate the media compared to republicans? Which cable news channel is consistently #1 in the ratings? Is the #1 podcaster in the nation a democrat? Is the #1 person on radio a democrat? And all those tech bros, didn’t they all gather together to lavish attention to our Dear Leader? And by the way, I find a lot of enjoyment in life (by you suggesting that I don’t) particularly blowing-up the skewed conservative Republican narratives whenever it suits me.
My bad for getting all this started, but I am going to see if I can steer the conversation in a slightly different direction. While there is no direct proof that Trump told CBS to cancel Stephen Colbert’s show, there is plenty of reason to believe that he put pressure on them, and he is openly calling for Seth Myers, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon to get booted. Can we at least agree that it is wrong for a person and/or show to be removed from the air for purely political motivations? That certainly seems to violate the freedom of speech and the press which was my initial reason for being unhappy with the actions of CBS/Paramount. I do not consider myself a Democrat or Republican, and if a Democratic president coerced somebody like Gutfield off the air simply because they did not like him and/or took offense to any criticisms he directed their way, I would be against that. Trump is doing far too much to try and control the media, largely because he does not believe in free speech and cannot deal with criticism. That is a direct violation of one of our most core Democratic principles and I will speak out against any party doing that.
Whenever a new Strange New Worlds episode pops up I tell my fiancee: “There’s a new Pike’s Peak episode to watch.”
This is shit now! Who let the woke idiots in the writing field of these.. From musical to interviews UGH, PU!
You do realize that Star Trek has been on the leading edge of “woke” pretty much since it began. I use that term very loosely, but you can definitely see traces of it as far back as TOS: “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” – condemns racism, “A Private Little War” – anti-war and condemns imperialism with a particular eye to the Vietnam War, “Plato’s Stepchildren” – first interracial kiss on television, etc., etc.
No. This is a common misdirection repeated about Star Trek again and again by folks who support the modern left. There is a difference between modern ‘woke’ and what was going on in the 1960s. At the time of the show there was real, legal discrimination against Blacks. There was a war going on where kids were getting drafted. Most of the civil rights issues were grounded in things that most rational well-meaning people would agree with if their attention was drawn to it. Fast forward to the modern woke era and it is entirely different. There really are no comparable civil injustices at this point. Woke is really the attempt at elevating fringe ideas to a level of prominence, by force and coercion, that they do not deserve and subsequently gaining the ire of a significant proportion of the population.
My bad for opening the floodgates, but “woke” does not directly apply to the earlier incarnations of Trek because the term as it is referred to these days had a different meaning. But you see some of the same aspects in shows like Star Trek (and even Gunsmoke) going back into the 60s. They were pushing back against regressive, restrictive views and trying to present a more forward-thinking option. Take “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” as an example. The people at that time who were not receptive to the idea of racial equality and who wanted to return to systems like segregation would certainly consider that episode “woke” or “liberal” or “pinko commie” or whichever term was popular at the time. Now lets fast forward to today and consider that very same episode that seems rather mild in its commentary by current standards. I’m guessing a president who pushes back on teaching that slavery was a bad thing just might consider it pretty damn woke. The same goes for a governor who claims that African Americans learned many great skills from the system of slavery that denied them their freedom. Star Trek pushed the boundaries with episodes like this one and continues to do so today. I would not disagree with Allen that Nu Trek leans heavily in the “woke” direction these days (and The Orville Season 3 is “woke” central), and I don’t always agree with the way they choose to resolve the issues. But I look at it as a way to make people to think about the possibilities and engage in real discussions. We don’t have to agree, but we should be open to other ideas and perspectives. This is very much what Trek has been about from the beginning, and it has continued with that to various degrees throughout the years. Sometimes I felt like even TNG and DS9 pushed things a bit far, but again, that is the point. Pushing the boundaries, considering the options, and moving forward to a brighter future.
So again it’s there’s this highly emotionalized narrative without care to look at detail and nuance. For example – my understanding of the Presidents comments were that he was specifically objecting to the use of the 1619 Project’s curriculum/material on the slavery issue – not the discussion of slavery as a whole. The 1619 project is fundamentally an attempt to re-contextualize the entirety of American History through the very tiny lens of the slavery issue. There are plenty of legitimate objections to such a racially-politically biased narrative – accuracy being one of them.
“Detail and nuance”? Donald Trump? Here’s his exact words: “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”
I’ve been in that museum and it pretty much gives the facts on slavery. It definitely also highlights the successes of this country, and I don’t remember any displays about how horrible the U.S. is. But I say we just agree to disagree at this point and move on. No since bickering on this when there are plenty of sci fi shows to discuss instead. And I will restrain from the politics as best I can moving forward.
Ahhh, you had to go political….
I do try to avoid it, but what Paramount did really annoyed me. And it is a dangerous move for a media outlet that has such presence in a free and democratic country.
Even other people in media agree that Colbert lost money and the firing was inevitable given the reality of late night ratings. I’m sure they are out there but I’m hard pressed to find anyone that thought Colbert was even funny – at least not in a long long time. I think it’s more a question of a shift in the cultural tide and economics that led to the firing. I think more firings and changes will come. Conversely, there have been conservatives who have been black-balled in Hollywood for their political beliefs for decades and nobody cares because the propaganda machine is in support of it.
Colbert was losing money for CBS? Perhaps. But that may have had more to do with audiences drifting away from late night shows in general, not so much him in particular. And I am always dubious when the entertainment industry claims a property is losing money. According to Lucasfilm, Return of the Jedi never turned a profit even though it pulled in $475 million in revenue vs. a budget of $32 million: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting#1980s