Star Trek In Significantly Fewer Seasons, 13: Strange New Worlds

When we left the crew of Discovery, they were slingshotted nearly 1,000 years into the future, leaving behind Captain Pike, Spock, and some other members of the pre-Kirk Enterprise crew. So now that we're (sort of) done with the main timeline of TOS/TNG/DS9/VOY era, we're going to double back and find out what that Enterprise is up to, while also learning what happened after TNG & VOY as we introduce Lower Decks and Prodigy, two animated series, one for children, one not for children, into continuity.

"Lower Decks" is filled with references to the classic shows, while also being an amusing character study of the non-bridge crew of a starship. "Prodigy" is a follow up to Voyager featuring some rebellious kids who steal a spaceship that has a holographic interface which happens to be Janeway.

It's like Discovery, if the characters stopped crying for a few minutes and enjoyed being in space.

---

Season 13:
​Strange New Worlds

---

​1. Strange New Worlds
(Pike, Spock, Singh, Ortegas, 1, M’Benga, Hemmer, Chapel, Uhura, T’Pring, April)

Shortly after The Discovery fiasco waaaaaaaaaaay back in our Season Four...that's right Nine Seasons Ago in our continuity, Cmdr. Pike took a sabattical. Well, it didn't last long for him, even if it's been ages for us, and he's being called back to Starfleet to track down his missing first officer with a new crew, on his new ship, Enterprise.


2. Lost & Found (Prod)
(Dal, Gryn, Pog, Zero, Rok, Murf, Dreadnought, Diviner, Janeway)

This all-age, animated Star Trek series brings us to a new section of the galaxy where one of hundreds of enslaved aliens accidentally assembles a crew and stumbles upon a Starfleet ship called the Protostar which comes equipped with a training program: Janeway in hologram form. They set out to escape the planet and ... uhhh ...  there's probably more of a plan eventually.


3. Children Of The Comet (SNW)
(Uhura, Pike, Spock, Singh, Ortegas, 1, M’Benga, Hemmer, Chapel)

You can tell me all you want about how progressive the Star Trek universe is, and how we live in a post-racial society because we elected a Black President in 2008, but let it be known that it took SIXTY YEARS before Star Trek did an episode centered on Uhuru. Yea, yea, yea, Burnham is the lead in Discovery and she's a woman of color, but the Uhuru character has been around since the 1960s and she didn't get her moment in the spotlight until 2022. It's a really good episode about becoming part of a team, and I hope it means we'll get another Uhura-centric episode before 2081.


4. Starstruck (Prod)/Threshold (Voyager TAS)/Second Contact (LD)
(Dal, Gryn, Pog, Zero, Rok, Murf, Janeway, Dreadnought, Diviner)
(Chakotay, Tuvok, Kim, Janeway, Paris, Doctor, Seska, Neelix)
(Boimler, Mariner, Tendi, Rutherford, Freeman, Ransom, T'ana, Barnes)

A trilogy of animated episodes. We open with Hologram Janeway and the new crew of The Protostar trying to figure out what their mission should be now that they've escaped Tars Lamora. Then we go back to Voyager times (but animated this time) to see the abbreviated version of the time Real Janeway and Paris ended up evolving into ... something different. And, finally, we meet the crew of the Cerritos, whose mission is to visit planets that have had some limited contact with The Federation. Instead of the bridge crew, we spend more time seeing things through the eyes of the less-experienced crew.


5. Ghosts Of Illyria (SNW)
(1, Singh, Pike, Spock, Ortegas, M’Benga, Hemmer, Chapel, Uhura)

Invasion of the moth people! The crew of The Enterprise is sent to investigate a planet where an entire colony has disappeared. A virus spreads amongst the crew that gets them addicted to light, and we get some great background on the crew.


6. Much Ado About Bornier /Veritas (LD)
(Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford, Mariner, Freeman, Ransom, T'ana, Ramsey)

Sure, some transport accidents give you a cool clone with fake sideburns, but in Lower Decks they make it so that Bornier is slightly out of phase, so he's sent to The Farm for ... a better life? Then the bridge crew is captured and the lower decks members are put on trial to discover how good the bridge crew is at their job?


7.  Return Of The Archons (TOS)
(Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Uhura)

We go all the way back to OG Kirk/Spock times as the most familiar crew of The Enterprise ends up on a planet where a cult is all prim and proper during the day but at night it's All Purge All The Time. How is this connected to a previous Starfleet mission?


8. Crisis Point (LD)/Kobayashi (Prod)
(Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford,  Freeman, Ransom, Migleemo)
(Dal, Gryn, Pog, Zero, Rok, Murf, Janeway, Dreadnought, Diviner)

A holodeck adventure reveals a surprising truth to Boimler that we, the audience already knew. Plus, we're introduced to a villain that could only really work on this animated show. Then, Dal tries to beat the Kobayashi Maru to prove he is worthy of being the captain of The Protostar, while Hologram Janeway works with the rest of the crew. 

​
9. Arena (TOS)
(Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhuru, Scott, Sulu, Lesley)

There's a reason we skipped over this episode when we were deep in The Original Series. It is TERRIBLE. The acting, the fighting, the alien costumes. Just one of the worst episodes of the series. But comically The Worst as  opposed to The Most Boring. And while I don't remember the Metatrons returning, we do encounter The Gorn again in Strange New Worlds, so I figured we should check out their terrible origin.

10. Momento Mori (SNW)
(Pike, Singh, Spock, 1, Ortegas, M’Benga, Hemmer, Chapel, Uhura)

Oh hey, look, it's The Gorn again! This time, instead of a slow moving fake looking alien, they're an unseen dangerous menace who wipe out entire colonies. Luckily, Singh has some experience with them and can help try and save The Enterprise from imminent doom.


11. The Samaritan Snare (TNG)
(Riker, Laforge, Troi, Picard, Wesley, Data, Pulaski, Worf)

In addition to cringey TOS episodes, we also skipped over some seemingly mundane TNG episodes that ended up being relevant to the current crop of shows. In this one, we meet the Pakleds, an unevolved race that seeks the immediate satisfaction of technology and weapons. But, alas, Picard is away getting surgery, so it's up to Riker, Data, Troi, Worf, and Pulaski to rescue Laforge when the Pakleds take him hostage.


12. No Small Parts/Kayshon, His Eyes Open (LD)
(Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford, Freeman, Ransom, Riker, Troi, Migleemo)

This is an absolute blast of callbacks. We travel from "Return Of The Archons" to "The Samaritan Snare" to "The Most Toys" to "Darmok" to "Second Chances" in this delightful pair of episodes where Boimler accidentally outs Freeman as Mariner's mother and then tries to get a promotion to the Titan with its Captain Riker, and Number One Troi.

13. Squire Of Gothos (TOS)
(Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhuru, Sulu, Scott, Leslie)

Spoiled children of the idle rich are always a disaster. And this alien is no different when he tries to turn Kirk into the target of The Most Dangerous Game. It's delightfully terrible with a Rennaisance Theme, which we will come back to in the next episode.


14. An Embarrasment Of Dooplers/Where Pleasant Fountains Lie (LD)
(Boimler, Freeman, Rutherford, Mariner, Tendi, Billups, Ransom, T'ana)

A race of aliens who multiply whenever they're embarrassed send an emissary to Cerritos which results in some Tribble-esque duplication. Then, Billups, who has had minimal screen time gets to be the focus of an episode when his mother, a member of a very Rennaisance style race, needs his help to save the planet where he is supposed to be the next ruler.


15. Spock Amok (SNW)
(Spock, T'Pring, Chapel, Pike, Singh, Uhura, M'Bega, 1, Ortegas, April, Kyle)

It's classic body swap shenanigans when Spock's fiance visits during a very important diplomatic meeting with a race of moody aliens who are trying to decide whether to align with Starfleet or The Klingons. Oh, and the two "fun-killers" on staff play Enterprise Bingo to get a better emotional connection with the crew.


16. Time Amok (Prod)/I, Excretus (LD)
(Dal, Gryn, Pog, Zero, Rok, Murf, Janeway, Dreadnought, Diviner)
(Boimler, Mariner, Freeman, Tendi, Rutherford, Ransom, T'ana, Shaks, Borg Queen)

The crew of the Protostar gets stranded across time in The Enterprise and have to work together without being able to communicate with each other. While on the Cerritos, the crew is tested on how well the bridge crew would function as lower decks crew, and lower decks crew would function on the bridge. 


17. Lift Us Where Suffering Can Not Reach (SNW)
(Pike, Spock, Chapel, 1, M'Benga, Uhura, Ortegas, Sam Kirk, Kyle)

Pike's old girlfriends don't seem as dangerous as Kirk's old girlfriends, and yet, when one shows up asking for help protecting the messiah of her paradise planet, everything quickly falls apart.


18. All Those Who Wander (SNW)
(Pike, Ortegas, Hemmers, Uhura, Spock, Chapel, 1, M'Benga, Sam Kirk, Kyle)

A regular old, every day, let's respond to a distress signal mission turns into an homage to Ridley Scott's Alien. It's another great example of how this series manages to seem fun and light, despite having sometimes greater consequences than the very dreary "Discovery" series that preceded it.

19. A Moral Star (Prod)
(Dal, Gryn, Pog, Zero, Rok, Murf, Janeway, Dreadnought, Diviner)

It's the conclusion to our Prodigy arc as the crew returns to the planet where they were enslaved in order to exchange the Protostar for the freedom of the remaining prisoners. That's when the doublecrossing begins.
​
20. A Quality Of Mercy (SNW)
(Pike, Pike, Spock, Kirk, Ortegas, 1, Uhura, Chapel, M'Benga, Sam Kirk, Kyle)

"Lower Decks" isn't the only series that gets to do callbacks this season, as our season finale of SNW is a retelling of "The Balance Of Terror" (the very first episode of our continuity!) but with Pike in the captain's chair. Oh, and Kirk is there, too, as the captain of another vessel. How will Pike's differing techniques change the outcome of this pivotal TOS moment? And is this somehow connected to the next season where the Romulans are about to become Super Important again?