Star Trek: Strange New Worlds handled *THAT* TOS debut wonderfully

Martin Quinn as Scotty in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Michael Gibson/Paramount+
Martin Quinn as Scotty in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Michael Gibson/Paramount+

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuted another Original Series character and did so wonderfully.

The season finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ second season, “Hegemony”, took some big swings. The fate of one character will hang in the balance as the season goes into its long hiatus between seasons, another crop of characters is now at the hands of the Gorn, and one of Star Trek’s most vital characters from the original series has made his debut.

And what a debut he made.

In the opening scenes of the episode, while Starfleet had officers on the planet Parnassus Beta, a Starfleet shuttlecraft is seen falling to the planet and crashing. Thinking it may have been from their ship, the Cayuga, the crew seemingly forgets about the shuttle when a giant Gorn ship arrives in the atmosphere.

Later in the episode, Captain Pike and his away team end up finding out who the pilot of that shuttlecraft was; Montgomery “Scotty” Scott.

Scotty crash lands into Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

The arrival of Scotty was one of the most intense debuts that Star Trek has ever created. Not only was his arrival a full-blown cinematic moment but the wait and patience the writers had to debut Scotty was impressive. They waited until the right moment to make a huge reveal and it paid off wonderfully.

Not only was his entrance dynamic, but his first encounter with Pike was as well. The charm and demeanor of Scotty were spot on, and not only did he show off his sterling personality, but he also showed off his ingenuity, something that has defined his character for years.

The good news is it looks like Scotty will be sticking around for a while, as he’s expected to return for some of season three, at the very least the season premiere.