The first episode of Strange New Worlds gives its hat to the Star Trek movies

The first episode of Strange New Worlds has scenes that fans will find familiar.

Nevertheless, he launches a brand new Star Trek series, “Strange New Worlds” – his aptly named first episode Star Trek: Strange New Worlds—Should feel very familiar to longtime fans.

I’m referring to something more than the obvious fact that the series brings back the characters and cast from season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery—Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Spock — which sparked fan demand for a “Pike’s Business”Series in the first place.

Most notable, the Strange new worlds The first episode covers almost the same ground as “First Contact” did in its fourth season Star Trek: The Next Generation. Just as Commander Riker changed his appearance to become a native of Malcor III, so do Pike, Spock and La’an to pass among the people of Kiley 279. In both episodes, our crew covers inflate – in fact, the woman who spied on Spock’s ear transformations in the elevator in Kiley, a little earlier, made love eyes on Pike in a way that reminded Bebe Neuwirth’s Lanel putting the moves on Ryker.

And just as Malcorian society was written as a subtle foundation for the United States of the late 20th century, Kiley society is an even more visible mirror of the early 21st century in the United States.

But in much more specific places, Strange new worldsThe first episode boldly goes where Star Trek has gone in the past – not in some specific TV episodes, but in the franchise feature films.

The first episode of The Strange New Worlds is about travel from all eras

Following is a brief introduction to the USS Sagittarius reaches Kiley 279, “Strange New Worlds” begins with Captain Pike — still refining the look it’s Discovery episode “Through the Valley of the Shadows” —makes breakfast in a cabin in Bear Creek, Montana, where he is vacationing with Captain Batel (Ink Screw).

The spectacle of one Business The captain makes breakfast for a woman he loves in a rustic but comfortable environment can only remember the circumstances under which Captain Picard finds Captain Kirk on the Nexus in Star Trek Generations.

It is true that Pike prepares pancakes, not Ktarian eggs and toast. We will meet Captain Batel. we heard but never saw Kirk’s favorite, Antonia. And Pike is not in a literally “happy place” like Kirk was on the Nexus. But both sequences revolve around urging a captain to return to duty – Picard urges Kirk in Kirk’s case and both Batel and Admiral Robert April in Pike’s case.

When Pike returns to Businessapproaching the ship, which is in a tank for repair, just as Admiral Kirk approached the Businesswhich was in the tank for its repair, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Pike’s journey on the ship does not last as long as Kirk’s will years later. But it takes a long time to see it Business reflected in his face through the bus window, just as it will be reflected in Kirk’s face through his travel pod window in ST: TMP Director Edition. This reflection spoke to Kirk’s love for Business and its mission. But concerns in “Strange New Worlds” speak to the concern that Pike is feeling, at this early moment, about his return to space.

But until the end Strange new worldsIn the first episode, Pike has made at least a temporary peace with his future. He quotes some of the best lines of the episode: “Until the end, life must be worn flawlessly. Because, until our last moment, the future is what we make “. And his eloquence continues. When Ortega asks him, “What is the mission?”, Pike replies, apparently spontaneously – because Uhura reacts as if he has never heard it – with the last few lines of what became known in Star Trek Into Darkness as “The Captain’s Oath”, Star Trek’s iconic monologue culminating in “Or Where No One Has Been Before”.

All three Kelvin Timeline films end with characters uttering these famous words: Leonard Nimoy’s Spock in Star Trek (2009), Kirk in In the darknessand the entire main crew, taking different phrases, inside Star Trek Beyond. In addition, Nimoy’s Spock was (somewhat) the first to announce them at the end of a Star Trek story, in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; and William Shatner’s Kirk recites them at the end Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (changing “no man” to “noone”, although Pike uses the most comprehensive language in “Strange New Worlds”).

Maybe the creative team behind it Strange new worlds The first episode felt like they had to repeat Star Trek movies many times because, no doubt, a wider audience knows the movies from the various TV series. Or maybe they just decided that these moments gave the most effective and efficient impact.

Either way, I will be clearly looking for more Star Trek movie references like Strange new worlds goes on.