3 things Star Trek: Strange New Worlds did to restore faith in the franchise

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is the standard bearer for all new content coming out.

The world of Star Trek got a much-needed shot in the arm when Paramount launched Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. It got away from the doom and gloom of earlier Star Trek shows, focusing more on the action, adventure, and clever characters. It was a smash hit in a way that no other Nu Trek show has been.

It reaffirmed that classic Star Trek conventions can still work in the 21st century. It’s become a streaming success beyond just Paramount+ and fans love what they’re getting from it. With so much contention with past shows, there was no guarantee this one hit as it did, and the fact it did and became as successful as it did is proof that Star Trek works when it’s “Star Trek”.

So what are some of the things this series did that worked where past ones failed? Let’s discuss this.

Three things that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds did to restore faith in the franchise

Gone back to mostly self-contained stories

While some stories continued from episode to episode, they were minor in the scheme of the weekly release and could be gleamed without having to see every episode prior. They did a good job of keeping everyone up to speed despite character evolutions. This was important because when Star Trek was producing 170+ episodes per year at a minimum, keeping things fresh was important. The show is once again able to find its freshness and give fans different stories on a weekly basis. If we can now just get them to produce more of this series and less of the others, that’d be great.

Made Captain Pike relatable but also inspiring

When it comes to Michael Burnham, Jean-Luc Picard or whoever else is being trotted out these days, the one thing that really irks viewers is this trend of deconstructing the heroes of a story. To make them vulnerable and flawed to the point of being the problem. That isn’t the case with Captain Christopher Pike. Pike is flawed and human, sure, but he has that Star Trek mystique that captains should have. He knows he’s doomed but he keeps fighting and inspiring. It’s something that is lost in so much conventional media. We want our heroes to be larger than life, not drinking buddies, and Pike is as large as life can be.

Gave underused characters far more depth

If this one bothers you, I understand. Seeing Nurse Christine Chapel have a radically different personality in Strange New Worlds than The Original Series can be jarring, and while continuity is important, Chapel is so much more of a fleshed-out character in Strange New Worlds than in The Original Series. The same could be said for Doctor M’banga, George Kirk, and Nyota Uhura. While it may buck up against conventions of who the characters were nearly 60 years ago, it’s still nice to see a different side of them.