Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 8 is the eighth instalment of an American scifi space opera television drama created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet for the streaming service Paramount+. A spin-off of the Discovery series, Strange New Worlds features the USS Enterprise captained by Christopher Pike and set a decade before the events in the original Star Trek TV series. Arguably, Discovery’s second season – which introduced Anson Mount’s version of Pike – has been the best so far, so it’s no surprise that this series is now a reality.
S P O I L E R S
Entitled “The Elysian Kingdom”, Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 8 utilises a common Star Trek trope for its premises. Basically when the ship’s crew is transported either in time or by scientific or magical means. Star Trek: The Next Generation presented many adventures in the holodeck, where the crew could be taken out of the usual setting to generate different types of stories.
READ OUR ANALYSES OF STRANGE NEW WORLDS.
In Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 8, the crew become characters in a children’s story with only Doctor M’Benga and Hemmer being aware of the transformation. We found this trope to be very faithful to classic Trek but ultimately tiresome and somewhat boring. Sure, it was entertaining to see the crew dressed up in ‘fancy dress’ and the cast certainly enjoyed doing something very different from the usual fare but the enjoyment only went so far.
Thematically, the episode served to highlight M’Benga’s dilemma with his sick daughter, where due to her illness is stuck in the transporter device in sickbay. While his daughter was given an opportunity to be healed, her consciousness had to bond with the alien entity that had brought her storybook fantasy to life. M’Benga had to let his daughter go, so that both of them could live life, albeit apart. Certainly heartfelt but somewhat predictable. An average outing overall.
Now streaming on Paramount+.
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