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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike. A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike. A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike.

• Akiva Goldsman
• Alex Kurtzman
• Jenny Lumet
• Anson Mount
• Christina Chong
• 1K User reviews
• 39 Critic reviews
• 11 wins & 35 nominations total

Episodes 31

Top cast 99+

• Captain Christopher Pike …

• La'an Noonien-Singh …

• Lt. Erica Ortegas …

• Una Chin-Riley …

• Nurse Christine Chapel

• Nyota Uhura …

• Dr. M'Benga

• USS Enterprise Computer …

• Lieutenant George Samuel 'Sam' Kirk

• Jenna Mitchell

• Captain Batel …

• Admiral Robert April

• Captain James T. Kirk …

• T'Pring
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• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia Bruce Horak , the actor who plays Hemmer, is legally blind, just like his character's species, the Aenar, who are also blind.
• Goofs There are some rank insignia mistakes. Number One is introduced as "Lieutenant Commander Una Chin-Riley" yet she is wearing the rank insignia of a full commander: two full stripes. A Lieutenant Commander's rank insignia is a full stripe under a thin stripe (in TOS it is a full stripe and a staggered stripe). It is not uncommon for a ship's first officer to be a Lt. Commander if they have not been in the position long. Spock at this point is a Lieutenant but he is wearing Lieutenant Commander's stripes; a Lieutenant just has one stripe. La'an is the ship's chief of security and the ship's second officer. She is also wearing Lt. Commander stripes but is addressed as a Lieutenant, but it would make more sense for her to be a Lieutenant Commander. Either way both of their rank insignia are not matching the rank they are addressed by. Ortegas is addressed as a Lieutenant but is wearing Lieutenant Commander's strips. A Lieutenant Commander may be addressed as a Commander or Lieutenant Commander but never as just a Lieutenant, so either her rank insignia or the manner she is addressed by the rest of the crew is in error.

[opening narration]

Captain Christopher Pike : Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

• Connections Featured in Nerdrotic: Woke Hollywood is FAILING, and That's a Good Thing (2022)

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• thinkMovies
• May 22, 2022

Technical specs

• Runtime 52 minutes
• D-Cinema 48kHz 5.1
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos

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Star Trek is finally treating Spock like a human being

How the Vulcan became the most important person in Star Trek, emphasis on ‘person’

by Susana Polo

Debate is a time-honored tradition for Star Trek fans. Was Janeway right about Tuvix ? (Yes.) Is Star Trek: Discovery ruining the franchise with all that crying ? (No, it’s great; get in touch with your feelings.) Who’s the best captain in Starfleet? (The greatest captain is Picard . But the best captain is Sisko .)

What’s not debatable is that Spock is the most important person in the history of the Federation. A mixed-species science officer turned diplomat turned timeline traveler, Spock’s impact boasts an unrivaled longevity within the Star Trek franchise, born from a combination of dramatic necessity and fan appeasement.

And it’s a good thing he’s stuck around, because Star Trek is finally ready for him. Beleaguered as Star Trek: Discovery ’s journey has been from first season to final , it has shepherded the franchise into a new stage of Star Trek’s endless stumble toward utopia . And Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has shown that Star Trek can at long last allow its most famous alien crewmember to be just as relatable as his human colleagues.

The Great Spock

“The Great Spock” is how Spock is known within the Federation just a decade after his death, and for good reason. He was a foster brother to Captain Michael Burnham, who would reunite the Federation in the far future. He was second-in-command to the legendary Kirk, and instrumental to ending the cold war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire and reunifying Vulcan and Romulus. And then, in the Kelvin timeline, he ensured the success of Kirk’s enterprise in a whole ’nother universe .

And while this extravagant series of canon events is the fault of decades of Star Trek writers and directors working in tandem, you can’t really blame them. For one thing, Leonard Nimoy inarguably had the range, in a way that set him apart from most of the original cast of the original Star Trek .

This is not a slam on the rest of the TOS cast. The world of midcentury cinematic sci-fi was by necessity one of broad emotion, wide eyes, and huge physical gestures. An earnest dramatic bombast that filled the gap between plywood sets, body paint, acres of lamé, trick camera work, and crude latex masks and the audience’s immersion.

But starting almost immediately upon TOS ’ cancellation in 1969, the tone of sci-fi cinema and television evolved like Tom Paris at warp 10 (that is, it quickly became almost unrecognizable ). Boundary-pushing films like 2001: A Space Odyssey , along with adventures like Star Wars and full-blown dramatic horror like Alien , conditioned audiences to expect more subtlety and immersion from the genre (William Shatner and Ricardo Montalbán’s scenery chewing in Wrath of Khan notwithstanding).

• The evolution of Spock, from a scrapped Star Trek pilot to Discovery
• Who is Star Trek’s best second-in-command: Spock or Riker?

By the time Star Trek returned to television with 1987’s The Next Generation , it was an arena for a different kind of actor entirely, one fitted to the quieter, more humanistic emoting expected from modern dramatic television. It’s a testament to Nimoy’s range, not an insult to his peers, to say that he was one of the only members of The Original Series who could hold up their own end in scenes with, say, Patrick Stewart, in a Next Generation episode where Spock mind melds with Picard to experience his late father’s hidden feelings of love for his son. If there’s another actor with Nimoy’s range in TOS , it’d be DeForest Kelley (who even guest starred in the pilot of The Next Generation ). But Bones is… I mean, there’s no such thing as a “Doctor’s Salute.” Spock is the mascot of Star Trek. And if you doubt it, you just have to look at every time since The Next Generation that the franchise has taken a big risk.

When 2009’s Star Trek needed someone to hold down a new cast playing old characters in a significant departure from The Original Series ’ story and tone, it turned to Nimoy and Spock. And when Star Trek: Discovery placed itself in an era nearly contemporary with Kirk’s Enterprise, it was with a tantalizing reveal of Spock’s secret foster sister, and, after a rocky first season, a recast Spock himself, proving that the character’s effect now stands independent of Nimoy’s contributions: Tossing Spock into a story has become Star Trek’s go-to way to say, “Hey… don’t worry… we’re still Star Trek!”

But something else happened in this long process of Star Trek reinventing itself. It grew from a metaphor about embracing the other to a metaphor about being the other. Spock was the most important person in Starfleet, and Star Trek finally figured out that his personhood is important.

The original alien

Spock’s struggle with his combined human and Vulcan heritage has been the central tension of his character since Trek’s inception. But The Original Series placed the emphasis firmly on the alien. TOS Spock’s most iconic moments are things like the calm, utterly Vulcan way in which he sacrifices his life in Wrath of Khan , the unexpected brilliance of his smile when he realizes Kirk is alive at the end of “Amok Time,” and a whole episode where we find out that he must have sex with a specific person in the next week or he will literally die.

That he was more alien than human was the whole point. Spock provided a fictional culture clash to contrast against Star Trek’s transgressive lack of real culture clash — an American television series made in the mid-1960s in which men and women, white, Black, Japanese, and Russian people cheerfully cohabitated and co-worked. Spock is Star Trek’s original embraced (or tolerated) alien other.

No matter what kind of eyes you think Kirk is giving his lanky, loyal first officer, Spock was shown through an outside point of view. This continued as Spock was refitted as a legitimizing force, as main characters like Jean-Luc Picard, Zachary Quinto’s younger Kelvinverse Spock, and Michael Burnham had to prove themselves worthy to stand in his shadow. It didn’t stop him from becoming a point of identification for generations of fans — from the moment he showed his pointy ears, Jewish fans, female fans, queer fans, biracial fans, neurodivergent fans, and many more besides have identified with Spock in spite of his positioning as the strange alien on a crew full of humans. But with Strange New Worlds , Star Trek has finally shown that it’s ready to remove “in spite of” from the equation.

From Spock’s first scene in the show — set in a Vulcan restaurant full of Vulcans on the planet Vulcan — Strange New Worlds has been committed to presenting even his alien aspects from within rather than without. The show’s first Spock feature episode, “Spock Amok,” dips directly into his internal insecurities about his most intimate relationship; next, in “The Serene Squall,” it points out that his struggle with his seemingly binary identity is emphatically not singular. The show as a whole has offered tremendous and repeated insight into Spock’s loving but doomed betrothal to T’Pring, a character TOS introduced as an aggrieved ex who forces him to take part in a traditional alien death match against his best friend.

And in just this season alone, we’ve seen Spock sweat through a meeting with his intolerant in-laws while turning to his understanding human crewmates for help. In “Subspace Rhapsody,” Spock basically says the whole point out loud, when Uhura attempts to console him after Nurse Chapel pretty much broke up with him via an elaborate musical dance number.

“Relationships can be difficult, Spock. And you’re Vulcan —” she begins, clearly about to say “ she’s human.” An implication that their relationship was destined to be even more difficult than usual.

Spock cuts her off. “But I am also human,” he says bluntly. Left unsaid: I am human, just like Chapel . And just like you. Spock and Chapel — and the rest of the crew — are more alike than they are different.

Even in a scene as momentous as his first meeting with James Kirk, Strange New Worlds roots Spock in his own environment, among his own crew. Kirk is the odd one out on this Enterprise. Star Trek has come full circle on a journey of small steps, taken with Spock, and Worf and Data, and the Doctor and Seven of Nine, and Odo and Quark, and Saru, the first nonhuman character to captain a Star Trek series’ crew. Each step brought the franchise to a place where it could more perfectly voice the message of tolerance at its heart.

Star Trek has an old habit, only recently and finally discarded by the modern franchise, of playing light humor out of its crew’s diversity. Did you know that Betazed weddings are performed in the nude? Ho ho ho, better hit the gym, Captain . Did you know Klingons eat live worms? And Commander Riker actually likes it? Yech! Just like everything else about Star Trek’s aliens, it dates back to the original one, the franchise’s mascot. Peel the latex and lamé away from Dr. McCoy’s undying quest to catch Mr. Spock in a moment of open emotion, anathema to his way of life, and you might start wondering where Starfleet’s HR department is. That kind of thing is relatable when you’ve been the odd one out, but not from McCoy’s side.

Generation after generation, Trek fans have pointed at alien characters that were created to represent a clashing perspective with the human majority around them and said, “Their othered experience is like my human one.” The whole point of the franchise is that outsiders should be embraced, and Star Trek has finally evolved enough to stop framing them from the view of the inside. To let us see ourselves in aliens not in spite of original intention, but because of it.

In 1966, Leonard Nimoy was Spock. Sixty years later, Star Trek has finally put the audience in his shoes on purpose — today, Spock is all of us.

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All About Ethan Peck, the Latest Spock to Win Our Hearts

Mr. Spock, the Vulcan science officer who brings logic and a quiet wisdom to the often chaotic U.S.S. Enterprise, has always been one of the most popular characters in the world of Star Trek . Although Leonard Nimoy’s portrayal of Spock from 1966 to 2013 is unforgettable, other actors have also taken on the mantle of Spock: Zachary Quinto, who played Spock in the three reboot films starring Chris Pine as Kirk, and most recently Ethan Peck, who portrayed Spock in Star Trek: Discovery and now plays him in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

In Strange New Worlds , Peck plays a young Spock who’s conflicted by his human and Vulcan sides. Engaged to the Vulcan T’Pring, Spock struggles to be accepted by other Vulcans, even as he wrestles with his feelings for Nurse Christine Chapel aboard the Enterprise. He also contains hints of his future self, showing his leadership skills (and a rebellious side!) when he serves as acting captain and steals the Enterprise to answer La’an’s distress signal in the season 2 premiere.

So who is Ethan Peck, exactly? Here’s the lowdown on Star Trek ‘s latest Spock.

What else has Ethan Peck been in?

Before landing the role of Spock in Star Trek: Discovery , Ethan Peck was a relatively unknown actor. After graduating from Tisch School of the Arts, Peck played the moody Patrick in the TV adaptation of 10 Things I Hate About You , along with minor roles in Gossip Girl and That ’70s Show . He also had several roles in indie and short films.

Ethan Peck as Mr. Spock

When Peck first made his Star Trek debut as Spock in season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery, viewers found out that he was the estranged brother of series star Michael Burnham. After his time on Discovery , Peck’s Spock made the jump to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in 2022.

In an interview with Esquire , Peck says that when he found out what role he was auditioning for, he was so anxious that he blacked out.

I was terrified of the audition, but also of the need to live up to this mythical icon, as Spock has become. I blacked out the very last audition—I barely remember what I did. After getting the part, I was still terrified. I felt unworthy of it. I felt I had so much personal growth to undergo in order to fulfill the needs of this character. Spock is such a vast-minded person—he’s otherworldly, hyper-intelligent, and has great integrity. I’m constantly working to live up to him.

Despite that anxiety, though, Peck quickly made Spock his own, infusing him with the same emotional depth, subtle warmth, and dry humor as his predecessors. Whether he’s kicking off a warp jump by saying “I’d like the ship to go now,” or tapping into a hidden well of anger to fight off the Gorn, Ethan Peck’s Spock is a worthy addition to the Star Trek universe.

(featured image: Paramount+)

How ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Brought Its Delightful Musical Episode to Life: ‘You’re Like, Wait, Spock Is Singing Now?!’

By Adam B. Vary

Adam B. Vary

Senior Entertainment Writer

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SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses plot — and musical! — developments in Season 2, Episode 9 of “ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ,” currently streaming on Paramount+.

Since premiering in 2022, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” has already embraced body-swapping comedy, storybook fantasy and a crossover episode with the animated series “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” So perhaps it’s not surprising that for the penultimate episode for Season 2 of “Strange New Worlds,” executive producers Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman would mount the first-ever full-on musical episode in “Trek” history.

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As Myers and Goldsman explain to Variety , “Subspace Rhapsody” was the result of more than six months of intense work by the cast and crew, as the songs were built around the actors’ respective vocal abilities by composers Kay Hanley (Letters to Cleo) and Tom Polce (Letters to Cleo, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”), in partnership with writers Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff. 

The showrunners also revealed which performance ultimately did not make the episode, and what to make of Kirk’s allusion to an it’s-complicated relationship with a woman named Carol.

How did the idea for this episode first arise?

Akiva Goldsman: The truth is it goes all the way back to Season 1 of “Star Trek: Picard.” We were sitting on set and [co-showrunner Michael] Chabon and I were talking about a musical [episode], and Chabon goes, “I know Lin-Manuel Miranda.” [Actor] Michelle Hurd was there and she was like, “Oh my God, call him!” And so then, like, three days later, Michael came in. And we said, “Did you call him?” And he goes, “Yeah, he didn’t call me back.” And so died the musical idea for that series. 

I love musicals, but know nothing about them. And then it turns out my partner Henry has done this before, and well. And so what a fucking delight! I mean, I had no idea what we were biting off. Henry clearly did.

So how did it finally happen for “Strange New Worlds”?

Myers: The idea for it came when were pitching what Season 2 should be. I remember, Bill [Wolkoff], one of our writers had a crazy idea, and we were like, ‘Well, that’s interesting, let’s try that!’ I did a bunch of musicals on “The Magicians,” and I did one on “Ugly Betty.” And so I just knew what a giant pain it would be — I mean, how difficult it was. I started making calls probably about six months before production.

Goldsman: We were lucky enough to suddenly have a cohort that knew how to do all these things, and they were collaborative. It was built around story and theme, and it was tailored to the vocal ranges of the particular actors. We ended up with an absurdly good cast on “Strange New Worlds.” Like, it makes no sense whatsoever. Usually, there’s a dud in the bunch. It was as if they all secretly had been coveting the idea of a musical their entire lives. So it was really good fortune how much everybody liked doing it.

There are so many threads in this episode that originated much earlier in the season: Spock and Chapel’s break-up, La’an’s feelings for Kirk, Uhura’s feelings of isolation. How did you build this episode’s the story around them?

Goldsman: We don’t break them episodically. We break the season first, so we know what our 10 episodes are — in terms of character development, really. We’re a hybridized object. We are episodic, fundamentally, in terms of plot, but serialized in terms of character arc. So we knew what the characters had to go through in the episode and that was connected to where they had come from and where they were going.

What was the most important thing for you to get right?

That was all that I came in pushing. And then everyone else jumped in and actually did it. We had someone to teach the people to sing. We had someone to teach them how to dance. The actual shooting of it, weirdly, was not as hard as you’d think, but only because it has months and months of work to lead up to it.

How much of that was happening in parallel with production and all the other episodes?

Myers: All of it! A lot of our cast were walking around set, shooting previous episodes, looking at what they were going to be singing, playing with each other. They would come in on the weekend and work on the dancing. 

How did you bridge the songs and the story?

Myers: We had broken an early concept of what the story would be, which we then shared with our composer and lyricist, and they would send it back to us and then we would give them thoughts. The two writers who wrote the episode were deeply involved in that. We were trying to make sure that all of the stuff that they were coming up with linked with what we were coming up with. They wanted the show to feel like the show, and we wanted the show to feel like a musical. So we kind of found this great place in the middle.

So, for example, who was the person who realized Spock could sing about being both Chapel’s ex and the x variable in an emotional equation?

Myers: I think that came from our composer and our lyricist. Usually, we’d say, “Here’s the emotional thing that’s supposed to happen. We know the beginning. And we know the end.” Because these are story scenes. It can’t be just a song that describes everything you know. This has to be a scene that reveals something. So we knew what was generally supposed to happen. And then we were like, “Now that you have that, go have fun. Come back to us when you have something.”

Celia Rose Gooding, Rebecca Romijn and Christina Chong are all singers, but did you know that the rest of the cast could sing as well?

Goldsman: No! Our composer played with all of them to see what their range was, and we wrote for them. I mean, I didn’t know Ethan could sing until I went, “Holy fuck, Ethan can sing!” Which is, by the way, kind of what happens when you watch the episode. You’re like, “Wait, Spock is singing now?”

Are there any musical areas that you explored that ultimately didn’t make it into the episode?

Goldsman: Well, we had one fantastic moment of contention, which we won. There’s two versions of the Klingons at the end.

Myers: And we did them both because we were like, we’ll try out everything. The other version is great, too. But this was the one that really kind of, you know, knocked us out. That’s why we wanted it.

What we see are the Klingons performing like they’re in a pop boy band, but you shot another genre with them as well?

Myers: We did an operatic one which was also great because the Klingons have a history with that. And it was also good. 

Myers: The boy band took you by surprise. It was not what you thought was going to happen. I’m delighted by it.

At one point, Kirk tells La’an that he’s in a complicated relationship with a woman named Carol, who is pregnant with his son — which “Trek” fans know is Dr. Carol Marcus, who first appears with Kirk’s grown son David in 1982’s “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” Would that suggest we’ll meet Carol in Season 3 of “Strange New Worlds”?

Goldsman: I think what we can say is the conversation about James T. Kirk’s love life is not over.

Myers: There’s a lot of known history about his love life, and this part had never really been explored. So we thought, what an opportunity. That’s really what we try to do on the show: None of these things that we know about happening later are known to the people in it.

I will ask the very nerdy question: Did you do the math as far as when Kirk’s son is supposed to have been born vis-a-vis the timeline of the show?

Goldsman: Oh, we always do the math. Anytime we can make canon work, we do. I mean, we’ll body English around it now and then for the sake of a story. But fundamentally, we really try to adhere.

So would you do another musical episode? 

Goldsman: In a heartbeat. 

Myers: Absolutely. But now that’s a high bar. It has to earn itself and be purposeful and feel like a great thing to do. But we loved it.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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How Ethan Peck's Spock became the mirthful glue binding us to "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds"

Peck's younger version of one of trek's most beloved figures deepens our understanding of the vulcan he becomes, by melanie mcfarland.

Hijinks do not separate man from beast, as any cat owner, squirrel friend or chimpanzee observer knows far too well. They are, however, one of the many stark differentiators between humankind and Vulcans. Ethan Peck's version of Spock learns this early on in " Star Trek: Strange New Worlds " when he accidentally switches bodies with his betrothed T-Pring (Gia Sandhu) and duty calls, for each of them, before they can switch back.

"I do not like hijinks," T'Pring tells Spock.

"Neither do I," he replies, "but it appears that hijinks are the most logical course of action." He's proven to be correct when each awkwardly steps into the shoes of their other half and gains a better understanding of their daily lives. Everything works out – awkwardly, but well enough.

That episode, "Spock Amok," is an instructive prerequisite to the actions Spock undertakes in the second season premiere of "Strange New Worlds," "The Broken Circle." When Captain Christopher Pike ( Anson Mount ) leaves Spock in charge of the Enterprise for a few days while he heads off on a personal mission to save his Number One, Una Chin-Riley ( Rebecca Romijn ) from imprisonment, you knew his time in the captain's chair wouldn't be uneventful.

Pike assumes it will be, since the ship is undergoing a mandatory inspection while docked at Starbase 1. What's the worst that could happen? How about this: La'An Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), who has stepped away from Starfleet to pursue her own exploits, sends a time-sensitive distress signal from a sector of the universe the Federation avoids for fear of running afoul of the Klingons . This places Spock and the bridge crew in a predicament: they can follow orders to remain where they are, the logical choice, or defy them to save a friend, which could go wrong in all kinds of ways.

This Spock chooses hijinks.

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" maintains the closest fidelity to Gene Roddenberry's vision as it was established in the original series , both in terms of its mission of the week format and episodic considerations of sociocultural matters.

The United Federation of Planets' principles are always being tested, stretched and broken as the voyages of the U.S.S. Enterprise demonstrate. Nevertheless, even when the crew's best intentions end up being the wrong ones, they learn, adapt and grow.

Future Spock is a master of subtlety; Peck's is still learning how to harness the human clown goofing about in his DNA.

"Strange New Worlds" evolves the original model by emphasizing character over scenario, a luxury the 1960s show didn't have. Back then its now-iconic characters were entirely new. Now they're like family or, if not that, someone universal enough that even people who never connected to the tales of William Shatner's Captain Kirk get any references to him or Leonard Nimoy's Spock.

Because of this, Peck had the toughest needle to thread in picking up Spock's mantle. The second most difficult undertaking in that regard is shouldered by Celia Rose Gooding, who expands Nyota from the version Nichelle Nichols originated.

But as central to the Trek legend as Nichols is, Nimoy's Spock is on par with Shatner's Kirk as the personification of the franchise. In hindsight, J.J. Abrams lessened that burden for Zachary Quinto by setting his adventures in an alternate universe, the Kelvin timeline. He acquitted himself well enough.

Peck is the third actor to take on the role and the one who's spent the second longest amount of time in Spock's skin. His portrayal holds the challenge of plausibly maturing Spock in a way that connects the character's past to who he eventually becomes – as in, the Starfleet officer we already know. Therein rests the delight in what he brings to "Strange New Worlds," in that he's a half-human, half-Vulcan figuring out the balance of who he is and who he strives to be.

Season 1 of "Strange New Worlds" is a trip through destiny – Pike's specifically. In the original series, Pike was introduced as a disfigured character kept alive inside by a boxy apparatus through which he could communicate with a blinking light. In this one he's a silver-haired Space Zaddy who cooks for his crew and commands from a place of mutual respect and understanding. During a mission undertaken on " Star Trek: Discovery " Pike is made aware of this terrible fate that awaits him. It continues to haunt him in this series.

Through a glimpse at a another possible fate that his future self presents to him, Pike is made to realize that what awaits him has to happen. If he prevents it, not only will it rip apart the Federation, it will kill its best chance at attaining peace with its Romulan adversaries. Which is Spock.

Season 2 widens its lens to build the case as to why that will be by focusing initially on Spock before diving deeper into other figures and their backgrounds, with a connecting thematic refrain that one's legacy should not necessarily determine one's prospects. (A newly introduced Starfleet officer named Pelia, played by Carol Kane, is a mirthful reminder of that for reasons best discovered by watching.)

She and others point out, in a complimentary way, that Spock is not like any other Vulcans they've encountered. He still follows logic above all else while understanding that occasionally doing what's right and best for the galaxy, and his fellow crewmembers, requires going against logic.

"Hijinks are the most logical course of action."

Venturing deep into his self-realization journey allows us a peek into how Nimoy's half-Vulcan mastered the art of dry-to-nearly-invisible humor and brainy sarcasm without breaking his deadpan expression or violating who we expect Spock to be. Future Spock is a master of subtlety; Peck's is a superbly capable leader who's still learning how to harness the human clown goofing about in his DNA.

His Spock's story is one of becoming which, like the premiere's mission, presents many opportunities to lurch sideways. This is why when "Star Trek: Discovery" announced its intention to bring Spock into the storyline, I was not hopeful. And I don't think I was alone in that feeling. Not initially anyway.

Spock's essential prominence in the "Star Trek" universe is one of those traits that can be equally beloved and exhausting; there is no lazier way to buy the fandom's affection than injecting him into a plot. In fairness, that was an inevitability in "Discovery." Its main character, Michael Burnham, is Spock's adopted sibling.

But Peck defied those assumptions by building the character from the text instead of following prior depictions. The resulting Spock is plausibly more emotional than his future self is while allowing his devotion to logic to play on the borders of comedy.

"Strange New Worlds" directors accentuate this whenever it makes sense; even in the gloomiest junctures can be somewhat softened by Spock's eyebrow dancing into its quizzical arch.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter , Crash Course.

There is a fear these new episodes may over-index on that charming quirk. It is prominent in the first two episodes, and when it pops up in the second episode its usage is a bit too cute for the moment.

But in the premiere, when the crew asks for his Warp catchphrase, explaining that it announces what kind of commander he is – Pike's is "Hit it," for example, and Burnham's is "Let's fly" – Spock's best at a moment's notice is also totally in character. "I would like the ship to go," he commands, cocking that eyebrow before adding, "Now."

Then, when they get to the mission at their destination, hijinks ensue. This time they are terrifying and bring the Federation to the precipice of war.

With Spock at the helm, there is never a time when the audience is made to feel that the situation won't work out, and that's true even when a couple of characters flirt with death. "Strange New Worlds" proved its willingness to off series regulars in the first round of episodes, so the possibility of that happening was very real. So too is Peck's connection with his human side's eruption of fear, panic and sorrow. 

Spock dials these back in upcoming episodes, both earning and boosting his comedy side. As a character tells another, Vulcans convey their true feelings not through words but in the way they comport themselves. You have to watch them closely to comprehend the nuances of their expression. Those who didn't get that from Nimoy's performance may gain a better understanding by spending time with Peck's Spock, which is one of the sweeter assignments a viewer can give themselves.

Season 2 of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" premieres Thursday, June 15 on Paramount+. New episodes debut on Thursdays.

about the Trek universe

• Goodbye to Trek's greatest generation
• Why Star Trek characters still cook
• Star Trek boldly goes where canon won't

Melanie McFarland is Salon's award-winning senior culture critic. Follow her on Twitter: @McTelevision

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‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Cast Breaks Down Kirk, Spock, And Uhura’s Iconic First Meeting: “Oh My God”

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• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

‘The Acolyte’s Cancellation Begs The Question: What Do Audiences Even Want Out of a Star Wars Show???

Stream it or skip it: ‘star trek: prodigy’ season 2 on netflix, where the ragtag group of teen starfleet trainees join janeway on a dangerous mission, ‘star trek iii’ at 40: the story of how (and why) leonard nimoy brought spock back after being killed off in ‘the wrath of khan’, ‘star trek: strange new worlds’ renewed for season 4 at paramount+.

While Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is no stranger to callbacks and Easter eggs, for the most part, it’s aiming for the mission in the title, to present a fresh new take on a fictional universe that is several decades old. But there are some moments too iconic to not lean into with a wink and a nod. And there’s no better example of that than the first meeting of Kirk ( Paul Wesley ), Spock ( Ethan Peck ), and Uhura ( Celia Rose Gooding ) at the end of this week’s episode.

In the hour, titled “Lost in Translation”, Uhura is afflicted with horrifying hallucinations. Luckily, she has Kirk by her side, helping her stay even and figure out this mystery in the middle of spiraling insanity. At the end of the tense episode, Uhura and Kirk are relaxing over a drink when who walks up but Spock — who, mind you, hasn’t formally been introduced to Kirk yet. Of course, Star Trek fans know that these are three of the core cast of characters of Star Trek: The Original Series … But the characters don’t know that yet.

[NOTE: The following interviews were held in May before the current SAG-AFTRA strike , where actors are currently fighting for the compensation and rights they justly deserve.]

“When I was cast as Spock, I did a lot of work to not think too much about how my performance will be perceived,” Peck told Decider. “And so by that point in time I’d already been so practiced in not overthinking these amazing scenes that we get to do with these iconic characters, right? Because it can be quite heavy.”

Adding that he tried to play the scene “sort of casual,” Peck also noted that Spock does express, “skepticism about this very charming, intelligent, fierce man that Paul inhabits so beautifully as Kirk.”

Wesley, meanwhile, had no chill.

“In the opposite of Kirk-like fashion, the opposite of the antithesis of what Ethan just said, I totally over-analyzed it,” Wesley said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re meeting for the first time. We got to make a big deal out of this!’ And rightfully so Ethan and the director were like, ‘Yeah, don’t make a thing out of it.’ … Kirk and Spock don’t know what they’re what the future holds, right? We have to play in the moment. And in the moment, it’s just two guys meeting.”

Gooding, who gets to play a weary Uhura after a nearly deadly and emotionally draining day also tried to keep her cool in the moment. “Celia, as an actor felt that very heavily of, this is Spock and Kirk meeting for the first time,” Gooding recalled. “Don’t mess it up. Don’t play it. It’s too crazy. Keep it casual. Keep it low stakes, especially after the episode that has that is episode 206.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum from Gooding the actor, for Uhura it’s a chance to take a “breather” and introduce her friend Spock to Kirk, who helped her stay even during a difficult day. “For audiences to have all that information and then download the realization that this is probably the first time these three are hanging out in canon… High stakes, low stakes, huge deal but also no biggie. It was a balancing act and I hope we did it well.”

Even with the trio of actors trying to make the moment work in the show, Wesley did admit he added a little bit of a wink to the future of the franchise in his performance as Kirk.

“There is a little kind of intrigue or sparkle in his eye,” Wesley said. “He’s just like, hm this guy is interesting. I don’t know if it’s because he fulfills some of the logic that Kirk maybe needs in his life. I don’t know what it is. I think there was a subconscious sort of, ‘hm there’s something about this guy and I want to get to know him.’ You know, in a platonic way, of course.”

“Yeah,” Peck agreed. “Platonic love at first sight.”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

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Ethan peck "heartbroken" to say goodbye to human spock after star trek: strange new worlds season 2.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Update: Production Start & Possible Release Time Frame

“don’t try to outdo shatner”: anson mount remembers recording star trek speech while william shatner was in space, pike was not the first to wear star trek: strange new worlds’ captain’s uniform.

• Spock's experience as a fully human character in season 2 allowed him to express the emotions he usually keeps hidden, and Ethan Peck enjoyed playing this version of the character.
• Spock's transition to embracing his Vulcan side will continue in season 3, and Peck is pondering how human Spock's memories and experiences will affect his journey.
• The upcoming season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will likely delve deeper into Spock's journey to becoming the logical Vulcan seen in Star Trek: The Original Series.

Ethan Peck, who plays Lt. Spock on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , reflects on the experience of playing human Spock in season 2. After being delayed due to the Writer's Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Strange New Worlds season 3 is now in production . The Strange New Worlds cast recently got together on Zoom for a Q&A in support of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. Although they couldn't speak much about the upcoming Strange New Worlds season 3, they spent time discussing some of season 2's best moments.

In Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 5 , "Charades," powerful aliens mistakenly remove Spock's Vulcan DNA after he is injured in a shuttle accident. Now fully human, Spock must wrestle with more intense emotions, while also performing an engagement ceremony with his Vulcan fiancee, T'Pring (Gia Sandhu). "Charades" allows Spock to express the emotions he always keeps below the surface and embrace his more human tendencies. Ethan Peck particularly enjoyed playing this version of Spock and was sad to see him go at the episode's end. Read his full discussion with Number One actor Rebecca Romijn and check out the full Q&A below:

Ethan Peck: "At the end of that episode, I was really kind of heartbroken to say goodbye to human Spock because obviously, those emotions exist beneath the surface, and so to wear them on his sleeve was such a relief. And to put it all back away was really sad for me. It was a really interesting experience. Really wonderful. And again, [I’m] so grateful for that script and so appreciative of receiving that."

Rebecca Romijn: "Ethan, I have a question."

Ethan Peck: "Yes, Rebecca."

Rebecca Romijn: "Does Spock remember what it was like to be human Spock?"

Ethan Peck: "Rebecca, that’s a very good question. That’s something that I’m kind of rolling around in my brain as we head into season 3. How human is Spock now on his path to becoming Leonard Nimoy’s Spock at the beginning of The Original Series ? How human is he now? I was thinking about this the other day with Chris Fisher, our directing producer. And I think he remembers all of it. But it’s like he’s taken drugs and he’s had this otherworldly experience. And so he can’t really inhabit it like he used to, but there’ll still be the information, I imagine."

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 is set to start production. Here's what we know about the current timeline and when new episodes could release.

Spock Will Fully Embrace His Vulcan Side By Star Trek: The Original Series

Throughout Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Spock has been torn between his human side and his Vulcan side, often struggling to contain his strong emotions. Although Star Trek: The Original Series' Spock would occasionally have emotional outbursts , they were generally caused by an outside force. Leonard Nimoy's Spock had fully embraced his Vulcan side , pushing his human emotions much deeper below the surface. Strange New Worlds has only shown the beginning of this journey, which became most obvious in Star Trek's first musical episode.

In Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 9, "Subspace Rhapsody," Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) breaks up with Spock via a rousing song and dance number . This leads to a responding song from Spock, in which he sings: "I've betrayed my core philosophy. Unbending reason must be my true north." Chapel's actions deeply wounded Spock, and he responds by deciding to embrace Vulcan logic. This transition will surely have its ups and downs, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 will likely show more of Spock's journey to become the ever-logical Vulcan introduced in Star Trek: The Original Series.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is available to stream on Paramount+.

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It’s a Spider, Not a Doctor, Captain or Vulcan

On their mission to seek out new life, scientists have named three new spider species Kirk, Spock and McCoy — after characters from the original “Star Trek” series.

By Christine Hauser

Star Trek fans and spider enthusiasts have unexpectedly converged on a new frontier.

Scientists in Brazil announced that they had identified three new species of spiders and subsequently named them Kirk, McCoy and Spock after some of the main characters of “Star Trek.”

The trio of spiders are part of the Roddenberryus genus, a taxonomic classification named for Gene Roddenberry , who created the 1960s science fiction television series that spawned decades of films, sequels, comics and a community of devoted Trekkies.

Mr. Roddenberry, who died in 1991 , “inspired generations of kids to pursue scientific careers,” wrote Alexander Sánchez-Ruiz, a zoologist, and Alexandre Bragio Bonaldo in their article in European Journal of Taxonomy , published on Sept. 6, explaining how a science fiction franchise became the basis for the spiders’ names.

The nomenclature was not entirely frivolous. Dr. Bonaldo, a researcher at the Paraense Emílio Goeldi Museum in Brazil, said in an interview that the spiders’ wide, fused heads and thoraxes, known as the cephalothorax, and long abdomen of the spiders “make them ideal candidates for names inspired by the Star Trek universe.”

“They somewhat resemble Star Trek spaceships,” Dr. Bonaldo said. “Arachnologists have a long tradition of giving interesting scientific names for new genera and species, as most of us believe it is a great opportunity to acknowledge people or draw parallels with pop culture and local customs.”

Once Dr. Bonaldo and Dr. Sánchez-Ruiz agreed to call the genus Roddenberryus, naming the three species after the main characters “became, as Spock would say, ‘only logical,’” they said. “Kirk” honors James Tiberius Kirk, the captain of the series’s spaceship, the U.S.S. Enterprise. “McCoy” was named for Dr. Leonard McCoy, the ship’s chief medical officer, and “Spock” shares a name with Kirk’s pointy-eared Vulcan First Officer.

McCoy, Spock and Kirk now belong to a family of spiders known as Caponiid, which is unique for having only two eyes instead of the more common eight, and rows of teeth, bristles, orange carapaces, pale abdomens and claws.

The spiders are found across the Americas, Africa and Asia, but they are commonly within a single location, such as on an island or in another strictly defined area. Roddenberryus Kirk is from the Guanacaste and San José provinces of Costa Rica, while Roddenberryus mccoy hails from Baja California Sur in northwest Mexico. Roddenberryus spock is found in Campeche and Quintana Roo in Mexico.

Dr. Bonaldo added that the discovery of new genus and species provided the team with material to study the evolution and diversification of their subfamily, Nopinae, “and potentially illuminate the intricate biogeographic history of Central America and the Caribbean.”

It is not unusual for arachnologists to name newly identified spiders after a celebrity, pop culture icon and now, even a fictitious human-Vulcan hybrid. The climate activist Greta Thunberg was the inspiration for spiders of the Thunberga genus of Madagascar in 2020. Peter Jäger of the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, said the spider named after Thunberg was meant to draw attention to the threat that climate changes pose to species diversity in Madagascar and elsewhere.

In 2022, Dr. Jäger announced that he had named a genus of spiders after the music of David Bowie , adding 54 new species including Bowie ziggystardust, Bowie majortom and Bowie heroes , the latter referring to ground-dwelling spiders from the Himalayas, Papua New Guinea and northern Australia.

He said in a statement that he meant to “commemorate this incomparable artist who left us much too early, but what matters most to me here is the idea of conservation.”

“We only protect what we know — and an attractive name is much more likely to be remembered,” he said.

Dr. Bonaldo said that his favorite unique names include Strotarchus beepbeep , a fast-moving spider named after the Road Runner cartoon from the Looney Tunes series, and Myrmecium oompaloompa , which mimics ants and can be found in cocoa plantations in the Brazilian state of Bahia.

More than 51,000 species of spiders have been identified worldwide thus far — according to the World Spider Catalog — representing about a third of the estimated 150,000 to 180,000 species, said Linda Rayor, a behavioral ecologist at Cornell University. Now, more than 1,000 species are identified each year, up from about 200 in 1925, she said.

“Enormous numbers of spiders are being identified constantly,” said Dr. Rayor, who is also the president of the American Arachnological Society.

“Within that context, arachnologists have a recent history of giving them cutesy names,” she said.

As voracious eaters and top predators, spiders are hugely important to the ecosystem. “To me, the identification is less exciting in and of itself,” Dr. Rayor said about the relevance of the Star Trek-themed spiders. “Far more important is conserving habitats.”

Christine Hauser is a reporter, covering national and foreign news. Her previous jobs in the newsroom include stints in Business covering financial markets and on the Metro desk in the police bureau. More about Christine Hauser

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Star Trek: All 3 Spock actors ranked from worst to best

By kimberley spinney | jul 25, 2023.

Spock might just be the most iconic Star Trek character of all time thanks to the men who have brought the character to life.

When it comes to iconic Star Trek characters there are perhaps none that stand out quite so much as Spock. While he may not have been the captain of the Enterprise or acted as rear admiral like his friend, James T Kirk, that doesn’t mean that Spock wasn’t just as beloved and well-known among Starfleet.

And when we think of Spock, what or who comes to mind? Honestly, there have been a number of actors who have either portrayed or voiced the character of Spock over the years, however, there are three prominent actors who stand out for their live-action portrayals.

The three actors that have truly embodied the character and brought him to life on our screens are Leonard Nimoy , Zachary Quinto, and Ethan Peck. These are the three men we truly see when we think of Star Trek and Spock.

But which of these actors has been the best of the best when it comes to playing Spock and who is perhaps third in our hearts? Honestly, number one is hands down the easiest choice of all time, but it was definitely the second and third place picks that were a struggle. After all, these three actors have each brought something different to the role and the character. They have each made Spock their own and we have to thank them for that.

So which Spock is our favorite? And which Spock is perhaps not quite as dear to us?

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Star Addresses Possible Retcon of Captain Pike's Fate

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Anson Mount discusses a possible retcon of his iconic character's tragic fate.

Per ScreenRant , Mount opened up about the possibility of a return via retcon during a Q & A session alongside fellow stars Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding, Carol Kane, and Melanie Scrofano. When asked about his character Captain Christopher Pike's future in the series, Mount responded quite carefully, noting, " I have to preface this by saying what we think doesn't really matter. It's not our wheelhouse. It’s not our department." Mount added, "But I will say, we have not been with ourselves too specific about where we are in that particular timeline."

'You Can't Tell It's Me': Legend of Zelda Voice Actor on Star Trek: Discovery Cameo

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Mount continued, "Nor are we specific about how long a season is in fictional time. So there’s a lot of give and take. So, depending upon what the network wants, which we only find out year-to-year, as a project, for my own… I have much more specific ideas about it, but I don't want to say anything about it. But in general, I think I would like to stick with canon, and just, maybe, from a different point of view . Maybe from Pike's point of view. So that's all I'll say about that."

I have much more specific ideas about it, but I don't want to say anything about it.

Anson Mount's portrayal of Captain Pike kicked off with the series premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in May 2022. The series follows Pike and the rest of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise as they were over a decade prior to the events of 1966's original Star Trek series. Alongside Mount, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds stars Jess Bush as Christine Chapel, Christina Chong as La'an Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose Gooding in Nichelle Nichols' iconic role of Nyota Uhura, and Paul Wesley as Captain James T. Kirk, a role made famous by original Star Trek star and Hollywood icon William Shatner. The series also introduced Ethan Peck's Spock , originally portrayed by the late Leonard Nimoy.

The Next Star Trek Series Has Officially Started Production

Production officially begins on the next entry in the long-running and beloved Star Trek franchise.

Fans Are Still Waiting for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3

Fans of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are currently eagerly awaiting the release of the series' third season which is set to premiere sometime in 2025 following delays related to the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Mount previously discussed what Season 3 has in store for audiences, noting that he believes it is going to be the show's "best season so far" in terms of storytelling, development, and its more technical aspects. Mount also promised an upcoming musical episode that, surprisingly, "will not be the craziest thing that we did or we have done by the end of this. We’re feeling more ownership over what it is that we’re doing and realizing that it continues to resonate."

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently available for streaming on Paramount+.

Source: ScreenRant

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Published Apr 6, 2023

Spock's Future is Clear: How Spock Learned the Rules of Time Travel

Episodes like 'The City on the Edge of Forever' show us that the younger Vulcan's path on Discovery has always had a purpose.

StarTrek.com / Rob DeHart

In the Star Trek : The Original Series episode “ City on the Edge of Forever ,” Dr. McCoy steps through the "Guardian of Forever," and the Federation ceases to exist. Captain Kirk and Spock follow McCoy through the Guardian’s time portal, chasing him to New York City circa 1930 in a desperate attempt to fix whatever he changed in time.

StarTrek.com

On Star Trek: Discovery , then-Lt. Spock has been given a vision of an apocalyptic future, where all sentient life has been eradicated. [ I find it incredibly symbolic that he sees Vulcan explode, but gets a chance to prevent it, while neither version of Spock could save Vulcan in the first J.J. Abrams film, Star Trek (2009) .] The vision, which guides the second half of Discovery ’s second season, is delivered by the Red Angel, the being responsible for seven signals that the U.S.S. Discovery tracks down throughout the galaxy.

Both shows throw Spock into situations where millions of lives are at stake, with no clear or easy answer on how to save these lives — mysteries with the highest possible stakes. In this context, it’s interesting to look at the older Spock from “The City on the Edge of Forever” as someone who has learned from his experiences on Discovery .

Michael Gibson/CBS ©2018 CBS Interactive, Inc.

After all, the Spock (Ethan Peck) in Discovery is a Spock in the process of becoming our Spock, crafted first by Leonard Nimoy. When Admiral Cornwell administers a lie detector test to Spock, there’s some discussion of why a time traveler would give Spock, of all people, the vision of the future. Spock doesn’t know. It’s a startling reminder that the Spock we were introduced to in 1966, who has saved the universe repeatedly, come back from the dead, and become a legend in his own right, hasn’t come to be just yet. He’s a much younger man on the U.S.S. Discovery , struggling with both his sense of self and concerns over mental illness, which the Red Angel’s vision only made worse. What’s a perfectly ordinary, maladjusted, half Vulcan, half human Starfleet officer supposed to do when he’s burdened with the future of all sentient life?

The vital lessons that Spock learns with the Discovery crew now seem like perfectly crafted Easter eggs from the writers' room that inform who he will become. One lesson quickly becomes apparent — information is key. The Discovery crew is constantly at a disadvantage through the season. They meet multiple setbacks due to receiving the right information just too late. It is by staying curious and diligently pursuing the truth that they finally start to gain the upper hand.

In “The City on the Edge of Forever,” Spock works night and day to construct a rudimentary computer to help parse tricorder data and determine how the timeline has changed. When Kirk learns that Edith Keeler is involved, and assumes she needs to live, Spock reminds him that they don’t have the whole story. He then works even harder to make sure they have it. Spock knows the cost of not knowing all the facts.

Spock and Kirk eventually learn that if Edith Keeler lives, she will spearhead an American pacifist movement that will indirectly allow the Nazis to develop the atomic bomb and win World War II. As improbable as that is, Spock’s experiences with Discovery must have taught him how seemingly small changes to the timestream can have a massive impact on the future. Gabrielle Burnham’s most effective move against Control is altering the gravity of the Sphere. Michael Burnham sets seven simple signals that lead the Discovery on a critical path. A friendship forged over ice cream is a critical factor in their final battle against Control.

Each small choice can alter the future. But these choices also offer an even more crucial lesson — saving the future is not a win-win scenario. Gabrielle Burnham gives up on saving her husband to save the universe. Pike sacrifices the right to choose his own destiny. Michael and the Discovery crew leave behind everything they’ve ever known in order to get the Sphere data to the future. Each chooses the needs of the many over the needs of the few, and there is no room for compromise in that choice. There is no room for error in changing the future, especially when so many lives are at stake.

When Spock says that Edith Keeler must die, Kirk retorts that he’s in love with her. He doesn’t want to see her die. ( To be fair, none of us would be happy if we learned that our perfectly nice girlfriend would one day be responsible for Nazis ruling the world .) But Kirk’s previous experiences with time travel have been all fun and shenanigans — using time travel to undo the effects of “ The Naked Time ,” and running around the 1960s with an Air Force pilot in “ Tomorrow Is Yesterday .” Spock has the benefit of experience, which is why he insists; Edith Keeler must die.

You only have to save all sentient life once before the lesson sticks.

This article was originally published on June 6, 2019.

Cindy Massre (she/her) is based out of Florida, where she works with public libraries and nerds out on the regular. Cindy talks about Spock on Twitter @yipp33kiyay.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are currently streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the U.K., Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 are also available on the Pluto TV Star Trek channel in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Discovery is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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The 5 Worst Character Names On Star Trek

It should be stated right up front that the below list is not meant to be taken as a commentary on the strength of certain characters, the talents of the actors playing them, or the quality of the show from which they hail. Indeed, most of them come from legitimately great TV shows and/or are played by very talented people. Some of them may even be among the greatest characters in "Star Trek," and I do not mean to suggest, even for a moment, that they should be removed from the franchise or altered in any way.

Except for their names. "Star Trek" is full of futuristic aliens and evolved humans that need to be named by modern-day screenwriters, and, well, sometimes those screenwriters come up with some pretty silly ideas. It's natural now to accept Brent Spiner's android character from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," but it feels very childish to name that character "Data." Human beings, after all, don't have names like "Synapses" or "Information." Why not give an android a human name? There is a deep-seated illogic to Data's name that has long since been ignored by Trekkies thanks to common usage. Now we just accept it.

Ditto for the Borg, which is, as far as I can tell, an abbreviation of "cyborg." That's not terribly creative, and one might wonder why a species of cyborgs would give themselves such a specific nickname. We also ignore that the last name of the Japanese character Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) isn't a Japanese word; there's no "L" sound in Japanese. But I adore Data and Sulu, and think the Borg were once one of the coolest, scariest things to come from "Star Trek."

Today, it is only the names we shall nitpick. And, golly, there are some strange ones. Let's take a look at some of the silliest, worst, and most confusing alien/future names in all of "Star Trek."

5. Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

In the original "Star Trek" pilot, "The Cage," the U.S.S. Enterprise was commanded by Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) and his first officer was an unnamed character he merely called "Number One." Number One was portrayed by Majel Barrett and played a notably large role in the episode. When the show was retooled to feature Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Number One vanished and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) took over the first officer role.

It wouldn't be until the publication of "The Autobiography of Mr. Spock" in 2021 that the character would finally be given a name. Her name was carried over to her reappearances in "Star Trek: Discovery" and then, later, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" ( where she was played by Rebecca Romijn ). Her name was revealed to be Una Chin-Riley, and perhaps a few Trekkies let out a groan.

Una, you see, is Spanish for "one." Her first name means one. Know that first officers are called "number one" because they are the first officer, not because it's a nickname. By naming the character "Una," the makers of "Star Trek" seem to have forgotten why Number One was called Number One — for even what a first officer was — and seemingly backward-engineered a reason for the appellation.

Something similar happened in the 2009 "Star Trek" film when Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban) make a crack about losing everything but his bones, leading Kirk (Chris Pine) to nickname him "Bones." The problem with that is that "Bones" was already a nickname for a doctor. During the Civil War, doctors, because they sawed off soldiers' legs, were called "Sawbones." In 1966, that's why Kirk referred to Bones as "Bones." A mistaken origin story for something that was already explained.

And don't get me started on "10 Forward" and how it was manhandled on "Star Trek: Picard."

4. Hugh (Jonathan del Arco) on Star Trek: The Next Generation

In the "Star Trek: The Net Generation" episode "I, Borg" (May 10, 1992), the Enterprise-D rescued an injured Borg from a crash. With an abundance of caution, the crew took the Borg onto the Enterprise, treated its wounds, and locked it in the brig. The Borg have a shared machine consciousness, so the single Borg became confused, unable to hear the hundreds of other Borg voices in its head. Eventually, the Borg begins to develop a consciousness, impressed by the calm and gentle treatment he received from the Enterprise crew.

When his personality began to emerge, Geordi (LeVar Burton) and Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) decided he needed a name. Dr. Crusher pointed at him, brainstorming. "You are ... You ..." she pondered. Geordi, inspired by the word "you," I guess, decided he should be named "Hugh."

The name didn't have to have any particular meaning, of course — they could have named Hugh anything — but not only is it an unpoetic name (apologies to all the Hughs of the world), it was also unbearably clumsy the way Geordi came up with it. True, Geordi is an engineer and not a poet, but surely he could have come up with something better than a word that rhymed with "you." I suppose we should be grateful that Data's creator didn't name Hugh, though. He might have been called "Eyepiece" or something.

Of course, I'd be the smart aleck to name him Björn , so maybe don't listen to me.

3. Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui) from Star Trek: Prodigy

Again, I want to clarify that I have no issued with Rok-Takh as a character, nor do I have any criticisms of Rylee Alazraqui's performance. Indeed, the appearance of Rok-Takh in "Star Trek: Prodigy" was notable for being the first time in "Star Trek" history that a character or an alien species invented for one of the franchise's many tie-in novels migrated into official on-screen canon. Rok-Takh belongs to the Brikar species, which first appeared in Peter David's book "Worf's First Adventure" in 1993.

But, golly, I hate that she's named Rok-Takh, as it sounds like the phrase "rock talk," which is a ridiculous name, given that her skin looks like rocks. She's a talking rock, so her name is Rock Talk. And her species is Brikar, which sounds like "brick-ar," and she's brick-red. It all feels very "Sesame Street."

Throughout "Star Trek," there are occasionally alien species who use proper nouns that just happen to sound exactly like certain English words. The Ferengi, for instance, can boast character names like Quark, Brunt, and Nog. The Ferengi get away with it, though, because Quark (Armin Shimerman) isn't a subatomic particle, Brunt (Jeffrey Combs) isn't dull, and Nog (Aron Eisenberg) isn't a holiday drink. Rok-Takh, in contrast, is a talking rock. It's too silly a coincidence to ignore.

That said, I hope Rok-Takh becomes an effective, happy Starfleet officer, and she is driven, gentle, and intelligent. I have no issues with the character, apart from the name.

2. Garth of Izar (Steve Ihnat) from Star Trek

The "Star Trek" episode "Whom Gods Destroy" (January 3, 1969) implies that all mental illnesses have been essentially cured thanks to modern medicine and super-advanced psychology. Indeed, there is only one institute for the criminally insane left in the entire federation, and it houses only a small handful of inmates. In later "Star Trek" spinoffs, multiple characters would be depicted with disabilities or mental illnesses, but instead of "curing" said characters with a magical injection or something, their disabilities were merely accommodated. The dramatic conceit of "curing" disabilities or mental illness with magical technology begins to tilt dangerously close to eugenics.

But in the original "Star Trek," it was implied that there are no longer any made criminals, except for the few who live in the hospital on Elba II. Recently, however, the lunatics had taken over the asylum. They were led by Garth (Steve Ihnat), a disgraced former captain who, bafflingly, had taught himself how to shapeshift. With his instability and his superpowers, Garth declares himself to be a Master of the Universe and he attempts to hijack the Enterprise from Kirk. The episode is pretty over-the-top, even for "Star Trek" standards.

And, come on ... "Garth?" You expect me to quiver with fear in front of a supervillain named "Garth?" I understand that Penelope Spheeris' teen comedy "Wayne's World" wouldn't be released for another 23 years, but I can only think of the nerdy, neurotic Garth played by Dana Carvey in that film. Garth is a "nerd" name, like "Cyril" or "Percy." It's hard to take the episode seriously when the villain has such a unique and unthreatening moniker.

1. Moopsy (Roan K. Lai) from Star Trek: Lower Decks

I hate to be a killjoy, but I hate Moopsy (Roan K. Lai) from the "Star Trek: Lower Decks" episode "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee" (September 7, 2023). In the episode, several crew members of the U.S.S. Cerritos visit a high-tech, deep-space zoo, overseen by the living root vegetable Narj (Carl Clemons-Hopkins). They are warned that the animals on the station are all dangerous, but kept safely behind forcefields. Narj panics when he sees that Moopsy, a small, marshmallow-like critter, has escaped. It seems that Moopsy's species can inject its victims with a chemical that liquefies their bones, allowing the little puffball to drink them.

The "a small cute critter that is unexpectedly violent" is an old trope that "Star Trek" should have stayed away from, and "Lower Decks," I'm sad to report, didn't do anything with the trope to make Moopsy stand out. Moopsy is more or less a Pokémon, able to say its own name, possessed of deathly superpowers, and more intelligent than it looks.

"Star Trek" already fulfilled its "dangerous little furry thing" quotient with Tribbles back in the 1960s, so it didn't need something like Moopsy to make the gag more obvious.

Also, I understand the writers of "Lower Decks" were deliberately trying to give Moopsy a silly, innocuous name, but they were too successful in this case. "Star Trek" has always been good about giving animals more scientific-sounding names, or at least a planetary origin. "Star Trek" logic should have dictated Moopsy be called, say, a Jorusian Bone-Drinker.

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See Spock Back In Command In Preview Of ‘Star Trek: Defiant’ #3

| May 9, 2023 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 11 comments so far

Tomorrow IDW releases the third issue of their new ongoing  Star Trek: Defiant series, a spinoff from their ongoing flagship Star Trek series. The new series features Worf leading a “The Dirty Dozen” type crew on the USS Defiant. The Star Trek: Defiant series is written by Chris Cantwell ( Iron Man , Namor , Star Wars: Obi-Wan ) and drawn by Angel Unzueta ( Iron Man , Star Wars: Poe Dameron , The Flash ). We have a 5-page preview and all the covers for issue 3.

Star Trek: Defiant #3

Amid a ruse gone wrong, Worf and his away team of B’Elanna Torres and Ro Laren find themselves imprisoned by Orion pirates wary of the supposed Maquis separatists. Meanwhile, in the captain’s chair of the Defiant, Spock struggles to defend the ship with Lore’s musings of chaos in his ear.

Cover A by Angel Unzueta (also available in black and white)

Cover B by Rod Reis

Cover C by Louie De Martinis

RI Cover by Jake Bartok (also available w/ lettering)

Credits/Setup: 

Five-page preview: 

Defiant  continues on Wednesday

Star Trek: Defiant #3 arrives on May 10. You can order issue 3 or upcoming issues at TFAW . Or pick up individual digital editions at Amazon/comiXology .

Keep up with all the Star Trek comics news, previews and reviews in  TrekMovie’s comics category .

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A bit off-topic, but dropping a line to say that the Lower Decks comic from IDW is awesome.

Our trade paperback omnibus arrived last weekend, it’s instantly our favourite IDW Trek offering.

It seems to back more of a punch per page than the more serious ones.

This Defiant crossover series seems to pack a different kind of ‘what if?’ punch. Definitely will pick up the trade paperback when it’s available.

Aye, the tension is good. This “crossover” (as long i could read these free pages here) is well made

I love how the phaser B’Elanna is holding is dead-ass accurate. These are really well drawn and well written.

VERY well drawn. I like how they drew the cloaked Defiant as well. Based on what I’m reading here in this preview, I’m not so sure they captured Spock’s temperament or “voice,” however. It’s all too militaristic~like Mirror Universe stuff almost.

Spock says, “I give the orders. Do not make me regret this temporary collaboration”? That’s entirely out of character. He would never say anything like that.

I don’t follow Star Trek comics, haven’t paid much attention to the blog’s coverage of this one, and get that these are fantasy football mashups of characters from different eras, but still…

I had no plans to read this, and plan to continue those plans. The Lower Decks one was pretty good, though, and the Strange New Worlds one was alright.

I’ve not been a fan of these comic books and the associated godkiller story, almost everyone acts drastically out of character. The writer has even had the audacity to go on conventions and say that his comics are canon, probably without any permission from CBS/Paramount.

Just one example, you can take a look at the clone Emperor Kahless in these comics and he’s not anything remotely like the character who showed up in TNG.

Well, there is still the “some mirror world” save exit out of not hurting the current world canon. Please give comics this free of tell their stories

As I’ve said, there’s no Academie Francaise that decides What Is and What is Not Canon.

The only person who could really stake a claim to that is Gene Roddenberry, sadly no longer with us, at least not in corporeal form.

Orion costuming and ship taken right out of the animated series, awesome!

I am so delighted to see how much love TAS is getting these days.