4 Star

New Cannon, New Adventures.

Paramount Home Entertainment (Paramount +) have taken the Star Trek bull by the horns and reset the timeline, in these brave new adventures in Starfleet’s history. It is the middle of the twenty-third century, and these are the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise as they explore new worlds throughout the galaxy during the decade before Star Trek: The Original Series.

The USS Enterprise is captained by Christopher Pike (Anson Mount, Star Trek: Discovery, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), and he is on shore leave, due to a shocking vision of his future that has made him rethink his role in Starfleet. But a call from Admiral Robert April (Adrian Holmes, The Cabin in the Woods, Elysium) telling him that his number 1 Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn, X-Men 2, Femme Fatale) has gone missing during a ‘first contact’ mission. It is only after talking to his science officer, Spock (Ethan Peck, The Holiday Calendar, The Honor List) about the vision of his future that agrees to get back in the captain’s chair, and go and rescue his number 1. During this mission they have to break General Order 1 which leads to the creation of the Prime Directive. (not interfering in lesser technological society’s). This leads to Pike agreeing to a five-year exploration mission. Let the adventures begin.

His crew consists of Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), who isn’t sure of her role in Starfleet, but is encouraged to use her linguistic skills to help them solve problems of meeting new races, Dr. Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun, Dune (2021), Wrath of Man), who causes great risk to the crew of the enterprise due to a very personal secret he keeps from the captain, Security chief La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong, Bulletproof (TV Series), 24: Live Another Day (TV Series)) who was the sole survivor of an attack by one of Star Trek’s most famous baddies. Also, nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush, Playing for Keeps (TV Series), Skinford: Chapter Two) the bubbly assistant to the doctor and Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia, Tower of Silence, Love Me Anyway) who claims she is the best pilot in the fleet, and has to prove it on many occasions. The telepathic Hemmer (Bruce Horak, In the Dark (TV Series), Transplant (TV Series)), an Aenar, which are an albino subspecies of Andorians, he is the Chief engineer, a wise and educated man that helps the crew out many times.

The Cannon may be new, but the series is timeless, get ready for the new five-year mission. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is well written and well executed Sci-Fi, blending old Star Trek with the new technology that the Original Series inspired, long may their journey be.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season One is available on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD