“Congratulations. You discovered empathy. Let me know when the rest of your Federation catches up.”
This is the response given by Neera (guest star Yetide Badaki) to Captain Pike after Pike apologizes for the great harm caused to the Illyrian people by the Federation’s old prejudices. It could also be read as an apology by Strange New Worlds’ writers for how the caretakers of Star Trek’s legacy in the modern era — beginning with either Star Trek: Discovery or the 2009 film Star Trek — have failed to use their platform to shine a lens on real-world social ills in a manner befitting the franchise’s earlier, 20th Century iterations.
To say Strange New Worlds just delivered its best episode yet is an understatement. “Ad Astra Per Aspera” is not only the best episode of the recent Star Trek television shows; it’s probably the best Trek episode of the 21st Century and may very well find its way onto some fans’ lists of greatest episodes of any Star Trek series.
As a child of The Next Generation era, some of my favorite episodes were the legal dramas like “The Drumhead,” written by Jeri Taylor and directed by Will Riker himself Jonathan Frakes, and “The Measure of a Man.” These episodes dared to interrogate the very institutions of the Federation and Starfleet themselves and challenge the crew to ask if they were living up to the very ideals in which they claimed to uphold. “Ad Astra Per Aspera” is a triumphant return to those stories, the ones I cherished the most.
My only minor quibble here is that Captain Picard typically served as legal counsel in those TNG stories — allowing Sir Patrick Stewart the opportunity to deliver some terrific monologues that have stuck with me — whereas Pike punts the lawyering role to the Illyrian Neera, an actual civil rights lawyer. This all may be for the best, however, because maybe every captain with top billing in the show’s opening credits shouldn’t be a natural-born defense attorney.
Maybe it’s better we say that was a unique strength of Picard’s and allow Pike his own different strengths. The trade-off here is the spotlight is given to Yetide Badaki, who absolutely kills it as Neera. Neera is such a well-developed character that it would be a shame if she never returns to the series.
The episode is much more serious overall than last week’s, but it’s not without its laughs. And once again, some of the best comedic moments belong to Ethan Peck’s Spock. The scene when he apologizes to Ortegas and Dr. M’Benga for his alleged “outburst” demonstrates the writers’ deft balancing of the humor with the drama.
Melissa Navia as Ortegas, Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga and Ethan Peck as Spock (Paramount+)
Before this recent renaissance of Trek on TV kicked off, I told people I was a fan who kinda hoped the Trek name was retired for good and just inspired writers to create original material merely inspired by Star Trek. When Paramount first announced Star Trek: Discovery, however, I found myself looking at the rising tide of fascism in America. I started to think maybe we do need Star Trek again — maybe more than ever — with its central humanist themes celebrating our diversity, cooperation, compassion, and building a society that works for everyone.
Though the franchise could be inconsistent and included many episodes that fell short of what the creators wanted the show to be, Star Trek at its best found the right balance between providing entertaining action while still ultimately promoting overcoming adversity peacefully. This was an optimistic story of man having overcome his tribalistic impulses, capitalistic greed, and religious dogmas.
Stories of 23rd and 24th Century problems were really stories about today. Multiple episodes of the original series spoke to the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. The Next Generation repeatedly delivered a sharp rebuke to the “greed is good” culture of its era. Echos of multiple real-world international crises could be heard in The Maquis and in the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. Deep Space Nine even took its characters back in time to the year 2024 to witness the horrors of America’s apathy towards an exploding homeless epidemic.
What I’ve found most discouraging about modern Star Trek is the sense that its writers are here simply for the entertainment factor and don’t have any real thoughts or opinions about our world at all. Modern Trek writers tend to be less Benny Russell — Benjamin Sisco’s 1950s pulp magazine writer alter ego censored for audaciously using fantastical tales of the future as a lens on which to speak about social justice in his own time — and more like the writers who delivered the mindless material that Benny’s editor wanted. In that sense, much of modern Trek has been a disappointment for me. Great art is audacious. It may ruffle feathers or be denounced today as “woke,” but that’s the risk Star Trek in its finest moments took and why I’ve loved Trek since I was 7.
Strange New Worlds‘ first season was a great start. It had moments where its writers showed they recognized the responsibility to use this franchise to speak — not just shallowly, but meaningfully — to the crises of our present world. In its first episode, the show endured online hate for using actual footage from the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol to illustrate a time when humanity lost its way and we almost destroyed ourselves.
In another episode, they used an Ursula Le Guin story as a jumping-off point to explore what evils society is willing to accept to keep the masses comfortable and happy. If season two picks up that ball and runs with it, this series could be sensational, because, while there’s enormously dangerous potential anytime you challenge the audience, I must point out that the possibility, the potential for knowledge and advancement is equally great, for as Captain Kirk once impassionately stated, “Risk is our business! That’s what this starship is about; that’s why we’re aboard her!”
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