Line #91 Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds


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6	[[caption-width-right:350:''Hit it.''[[note]]Left to right: [[SpaceCadet Nyota]] [[CommunicationsOfficer Uhura]], [[AcePilot Erica]] [[GenkiGirl Ortegas]], [[TheSpock Spock]], [[TheEngineer Hemmer]], [[TheCaptain Christopher]] [[AFatherToHisMen Pike]], [[TheStoic Number]] [[CommandingCoolness One]], [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold Christine]] [[DeadpanSnarker Chapel]], [[PintSizedPowerhouse La’an]] [[ActionGirl Noonien-Singh]], [[CombatMedic Joseph]] [[ShellShockedVeteran M’Benga]].[[/note]]]]
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8	->''"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!"''
9	-->-- '''Captain Christopher Pike''', the OpeningNarration
10
11	''Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'' is the eighth live-action television series in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' universe. Depicting the iconic U.S.S. ''Enterprise'' under the command of Captain Christopher Pike, the series is set about a decade before ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''.
12
13	Intentionally a more [[RevisitingTheRoots "traditional"]] ''Star Trek'' series than its predecessors ''[[Series/StarTrekDiscovery Discovery]]'' and ''[[Series/StarTrekPicard Picard]]'', ''Strange New Worlds'' returns to an episodic story structure, with a core premise of exploring... well... strange new worlds. In some aspects it goes ''all'' the way back to the beginning of ''Star Trek'', with main characters who first appeared in the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original series]]' [[{{Pilot}} unaired pilot episode]] "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E0TheCage The Cage]]".
14
15	Creator/AnsonMount reprises his role from the second season of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' as Captain Pike, as do Creator/EthanPeck as [[Characters/StarTrekTheOriginalSeriesSpock Spock]] and Creator/RebeccaRomijn as Una Chin-Riley, better known as Number One. The main cast also includes several other characters from ''TOS'', including Creator/CeliaRoseGooding as Cadet Nyota Uhura, Creator/JessBush as Nurse Christine Chapel, and Creator/BabsOlusanmokun as Dr. M'Benga. Newly-created main characters include Creator/ChristinaChong as La'an Noonien-Singh, Melissa Navia as helmswoman Erica Ortegas, and Bruce Horak as Hemmer[[note]]an Aenar: a blind telepathic albino subspecies of the Andorians[[/note]] and Creator/CarolKane as Pelia down in Engineering. The series has also featured several guest appearances by Creator/PaulWesley as an up-and-coming lieutenant named [[Characters/StarTrekTheOriginalSeriesJamesTiberiusKirk James Tiberius Kirk]].
16
17	The series premiered on Paramount+ on May 5, 2022. The second season premiered on June 15, 2023, notably including a crossover with ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks''. A third season has been greenlit, but delayed due to actors' and writers' strikes.
18
19	A five issue comic book mini-series, ''ComicBook/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsTheIllyrianEnigma'', was published between seasons 1 and 2, bridging the gap between them.
20
21	'''Previews:''' [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=mc7ZWdJY6ZY Casting Announcement]],[[https://youtube.com/watch?v=nxuyzk5DUFc Teaser]], [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=wtESHd300-Q Trailer]], [[https://youtu.be/En4-2Qi_J_8 Character Trailers]]
22	----
23	!This series contains the following tropes.
24	* AdaptationalDiversity: The Original Series was already fairly diverse according to human ethnicities, but in part due to budget Spock as a HalfHumanHybrid was the only alien. It filtered into the general lore for the Next Generation era that despite an open door policy Starfleet still remains largely human-centric or human-like. Other shows, starting with ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' which by virtue of being animated could show Kirk's ''Enterprise'' with more diverse alien crewmembers (particularly a pair of recurring Caitian and Edosian bridge officers), would make an effort to display Starfleet as much more exotic, which has filtered into this show by including Lt. Hemmer, an Andorian Aenar, as the Chief Engineer [[spoiler:and Una, an Illyrian, as the Executive Officer]]. Even beyond that, there are more female than male cast members, which is a first for any series. Episode five also has one unnamed Bolian female in a science division uniform. In season 2, [[spoiler:Hemmer's death, and replacement by Commander Pelia, another {{Human Alien\|s}}, makes the cast even more mostly female.]]
25	* AdaptedOut: Absent from the ''Enterprise'' crew are Phil Boyce, J.M. Colt, and Jose Tyler. Only the former has a replacement in the form of Joseph M'Benga. As the series takes place 5 years after the events of "The Cage" they presumably did not return to the crew for the 2nd 5 year mission.
26	* ApocalypseHow: Planetary. Captain Pike shows aliens footage of what happens when a planet goes full nuclear exchange... by showing them documentary footage from Earth, circa the 2030s to 2060s. The Second American Civil War coincides with the Eugenics Wars in South Asia, eventually spiraling into the 27-year-long WorldWarIII that triggers a global thermonuclear exchange between the Western states and the Eastern Coalition sometime between 2040 and 2060. We see Paris, Washington D.C. and New York vaporized in fireballs visible from space. Pike states that a third of the human species dies in the conflict. (Don't worry, the Vulcans make [[Film/StarTrekFirstContact first contact]] in 2063 and uplift humanity out of the ashes.)
27	* AnimatedEpisode: "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS2E07ThoseOldScientists Those Old Scientists]]" is a {{crossover}} with ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', and the prologue and epilogue both take place in the cartoon USS ''Cerritos'', over a century in SNW's future. Then we cut back to the present-day ''Enterprise'', where the crew tries the Orion version of a GargleBlaster and turn into a ''Lower Decks''-style cartoon themselves.
28	* ArtEvolution:
29	** The ''Enterprise'' retains its rework design from ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', which is a(n anachronistic) halfway point between the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]]'' design and the ''[[Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture TMP]]'' redesign.
30	** Season 1 is utterly devoid of Klingons, but when the ship appeared on ''Discovery'', Klingons had the redesign from that show. Season 2's trailer depicts Klingons using the makeup introduced in ''TMP'' and used throughout the 24th-century shows, which is not the orc-esque head-bulge look used for ''DISCO'' '''or''' the ''TOS'' "AmbiguouslyBrown with distinctive hairstyles" look.
31	* BroadStrokes: The series doesn't try too hard to be consistent with the ''exact'' details of canon established in the Original Series.
32	* CentralTheme: In a return to Star Trek's morality play roots, each episode hangs on a central theme, which each subplot explores in different ways.
33	** "Strange New Worlds" asks whether Pike and the civilization of Kiley 279 can escape their fate or whether they are doomed to suffer painful and disfiguring events. (By extension, it's also asking this question about the audience, many of whom will be around to be vaporized in the global thermonuclear exchange in the 2050s.)
34	** In each plotline of "Ghosts of Illyria" the crew encounters the negative consequences of trying to be someone they are not.
35	** In "Spock Amok" the characters are forced to practice empathy and see things from a different perspective in order to succeed.
36	** In "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" Pike and M'Benga have to grapple with how much to sacrifice in the pursuit of a worthy goal.
37	* CerebusRetcon: Several elements of TOS and even ''Discovery'' get this treatment.
38	** In TOS, the [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent Gorn]] were depicted as {{Anti Villain}}s who, while unfriendly to the Federation, are otherwise are a civilized race with a government, diplomatic relations, etc. In this show, they're a race of AlwaysChaoticEvil [[TheSocialDarwinist Social Darwinists]] who raid ships and colonies for prisoners to use for [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong reproduction]] or kill for sport. "All Those Who Wander" is a blatant WholePlotReference to ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', with a trio of Gorn hatchlings standing in for the xenomorphs. Admittedly, ''Strange New Worlds'' is set eight years earlier in the timeline, where formal first contact hasn't occurred and the Gorn are still InscrutableAliens, but it's still hard to reconcile these two depictions of the species.
39	** In the ''Short Treks'' episode "Q&A," Number One advised Spock to "keep your freaky to yourself" if he wants to climb the ladder to command -- and when he asked what ''she'' has been hiding, delivered a flawless rendition of [[Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance "I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major-General."]] But here, it turns out that what she's ''actually'' been hiding is [[spoiler:her Illyrian heritage and associated genetic modifications, which if detected would have her drummed out of Starfleet and imprisoned.]]
40	* CerebusRollercoaster: Season 2. The odd-numbered episodes grow increasingly light-hearted as it progresses (with the exception of the drama-heavy "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow"), while the even-numbered ones grow increasingly dark. It kicks off with one which starts with the ''Enterprise'' crew stealing their own ship and ends with Spock defusing a diplomatic situation with the Klingons through a bloodwine drinking contest, which is followed by a CourtroomEpisode which sees Una facing life in prison. It becomes particularly noticeable toward the end -- the last four episodes are, in order, a crossover with ''[[WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks Lower Decks]]'', an episode about war crimes and PTSD, a MusicalEpisode and an ''Film/{{Aliens}}''-esque one which sees the crew in a confrontation with the ferocious [[ToServeMan Gorn]] and the Federation on the brink of war.
41	* ContinuityNod:
42	** The first episode presents Captain Pike riding on horseback, as "The Cage" and "Q&A" presented as being a hobby of his. One of the promotional posters even shows Pike on a horse as the ''Enterprise'' hovers in the background.
43	** The full trailer features a few sound effects from ''TOS'' (such as the medical bay beeps), and the musical cues include snippets from the ''TOS'' theme.
44	** The opening theme music is recognizably the TOS theme, albeit in a much more bombastic adventurous spectacle.
45	** In the first scene Pike is watching ''The Day The Earth Stood Still'' on what looks like an anachronistic plasma TV. In "The Cage", Pike is shown to collect antique technology, including an ancient TV.
46	** The shuttle bringing Pike to the ''Enterprise'' is named ''[[Series/StarTrekDiscovery Stamets]]''. While the fate of ''Discovery'' may be classified, clearly its crew is not entirely forgotten by Starfleet.
47	** Dr. M'Benga [[spoiler:keeps his daughter's pattern in the transporter buffer to save her from an incurable disease, noting that doing so essentially keeps her in suspended animation as long as he rematerializes her once in a while so her pattern doesn't degrade. In ''TNG''[='s=] "Relics", Scotty pulled a similar trick to store himself in the pattern buffer of the ''Jenolan'' after it crashed, though he had to rig the transporter's diagnostic mode to maintain their patterns to avoid the need to rematerialize and further drain the ship's limited power. As Scotty and Dr. M'Benga served on the ''Enterprise'' together -- M'Benga actually appears in two episodes of ''TOS'' -- the implication is Scotty learned the trick from him.]]
48	** Pike's quarters features a [[https://twitter.com/TrekCore/status/1535981065034207234 photo]] of himself and Robert April in [[Recap/StarTrekS1E0TheCage "The Cage" uniforms]].
49	** "Memento Mori" purposefully evokes elements from ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' and the TOS episode "Balance of Terror" in its plot - both of whom drew heavily from classic [[HotSubOnSubAction submarine movies]]. [[spoiler:The ''Enterprise'' is ambushed with its shield down by an enemy, grievously damaged, forced to escape in a space phenomenon where sensors and shields are rendered useless to even up the score, where a game of cat and mouse ensues - all heavily resembling the plot of ''Star Trek II''. And like "Balance of Terror" the plot is kicked off by the ''Enterprise'' responding to the distress call of a colony under attack, where the survivors have been used as bait to draw the ''Enterprise'', and feature an enemy that the crew has not encountered before.]]
50	** Boimler's farewell to the landing party occurs at the moment before the end credits roll... in his native show, which leads to Mariner ensuring the plot lasts longer.
51	* CoolStarship: The ''Enterprise'' is still as beautiful as ever, featuring a bright, spacious and welcoming interior. As per being a CosmeticallyAdvancedPrequel with modern production values, technical effects, and a better budget, the original 1701 ''Enterprise'' has been reshaped to more closely resemble the Movie-period refit, such as the more robust inter-hull neck, more curvy engineering hull, and backswept nacelle pylons (making the refit far less drastic than compared to the TOS rendition of the ''Enterprise'') while still retaining the classic 1960s Sci-Fi {{Zeerust}} appeal, with the tubular red-capped nacelles, gold-plated externalized deflector dish, and white glowing dorsal/ventral domes on the Saucer hull. She also has hull section proportions far closer to the TOS model than the JJ Abrams movies' ''Enterprise'' (particularly the engineering hull).
52	* CosmeticallyAdvancedPrequel: Like its predecessor, ''SNW'' is presented as taking place before ''TOS'', but its costumes, set design and visual effects are much more advanced than the Original Series. It definitely provides an interesting contrast with both the Kelvin-timeline films and ''DSC'', especially in how it adds warmer tan and maroon coloring to evoke the color scheme of the ships interior from the original show, all while using more modern fiberglass paneling and LED lights.
53	* CostumeEvolution: The uniforms have been redesigned from their appearance in ''Discovery'' to hew closer to the ''TOS'' era, removing almost all costume quirks of the previous show (particularly a high, asymmetric collar) and focusing more on the classic look of black pants and boots with colored tunics. The primary new addition is the embroidery moved towards the shoulders, along with the tunics having visible zippers.
54	* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: Majalis is full of gold and silk and shine, looking like a royal palace from ''Star Wars''. There is no poverty, and no disease, even though it is suspended above a hostile surface of lava and acid. [[spoiler:But the hidden facility where the "First Servant" is hooked up to the power generator for this paradise has a grim UsedFuture look, not having been altered since it was built by the ancients.]]
55	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Almost every character.
56	** Captain Pike has seen his own near-death 10 years in the future.
57	** Commander Chin-Riley concealed her identity as an augmented Illyrian to get into Starfleet, a secret she kept successfully for decades.
58	** Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh gets a twofer: not only is she the direct descendant of one of Earth's most notorious warlords and therefore the target of bullying as a child, she's also the sole survivor of her colony ship which was abducted by the Gorn.
59	** Cadet Uhura was orphaned in a tragic accident, joining Starfleet to escape the grief of her family's death.
60	** Doctor M'Benga's daughter contracted a terminal illness and he keeps her suspended in a transporter to stall its progress in the hopes that ''somewhere'' in space he'll find a cure.
61	** Lieutenant Spock's adoptive sister was fired into a wormhole to the future. Also, his dad Sarek practically disowned him when he joined Starfleet instead of the Vulcan Science Ministry. Also, he was mind-boggled by the experience of viewing time non-linearly and regressed to a near-catatonic state. Spock's had a rough year.
62	** Starfleet observes "Remembrance Day" in which officers wear a pin that commemorates a lost ship or shipmate. Everyone is wearing these pins, which statistically has dark implications for Starfleet personnel. Of course, there ''was'' a recent war.
63	** M'Benga, Chapel and Ortegas were part of the Federation-Klingon War that played out in season one of ''Discovery''. M'Benga and Chapel in particular suffer from PTSD from the war, having been on the frontlines in infantry combat and witnessed horrific slaughter. Ortegas doesn't elaborate on her experience much, but it's implied she served in starship combat, given her recounting of the Klingons shouting "Remain Klingon" over the comms.
64	* DivergentCharacterEvolution: Used in an unusual way. Majel Barrett played Number One in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E0TheCage The Cage]]", and later [[YouLookFamiliar played Nurse Chapel]] in a recurring role on TOS. This series includes both characters as part of the main cast, played by separate actors. Likewise, Sam Kirk (or at least his dead body) was played by Creator/WilliamShatner with a moustache in TOS, while Sam and Jim Kirk are played by two different actors in this show.
65	* DramaticIrony:
66	** Pike is haunted by the vision of his future that he was shown by the Time Crystal, believing it to be how he dies. However, the audience knows that not only will he survive, but be taken to live out the rest of his life on Talos IV.[[note]]Given it shows [[Recap/StarTrekS1E11TheMenageriePartI that]] [[Recap/StarTrekS1E12TheMenageriePartII fate]] in at least one of those flashbacks, he regards what becomes of him as the "death" of who he is now, even if not literally so.[[/note]]
67	** Both of the ''Enterprise'' medical staff lying about how Ambassador Dak'Rah died in "Under the Cloak of War" will, in a way, eventually lead to the deaths of numerous Federation citizens, such as the crew of the yet to be constructed USS Grissom and even the son of Enterprise's next captain.
68	* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: Episode 9 establishes that the Gorn, despite being the franchise's most iconic example of LizardFolk, reproduce like parasitic wasps: they implant their eggs in captured humanoids and the hatchlings eat their way out.
69	* ForegoneConclusion:
70	** Pike is well aware of his eventual FateWorseThanDeath, and it haunts him. As the trailer shows, Spock assures him that the future is not written in stone, and it can be whatever path we chose. Unfortunately, the audience knows as well as Pike that he will not be able to avoid this. [[spoiler:S1 finale “A Quality of Mercy” really hammers this home, as a time-traveling alternate future Pike shows current Pike any attempts to avert his fate will result in disaster for the entire Federation and/or galaxy, and the deaths of Spock in every timeline. Yikes.]]
71	** While Spock and T'Pring are (evidently happily) engaged at the start of the series, the relationship will eventually fall apart by the time he becomes ''Enterprise'''s First Officer, leading to the events of "Amok Time". The series takes advantage of the previously established flirtation between Spock and Nurse Chapel to create a LoveTriangle where AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder.
72	* GenreRoulette: Season 2 goes crazy with this trope, from an action episode to a CourtroomEpisode to a traumatizing time-traveling romantic drama to a memory-loss episode to a whimsical episode about Spock being human to a horrifying hallucinations episode to the ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' {{crossover}} to an episode dealing with wartime PTSD to a MusicalEpisode to another battle with the Gorn.
73	* HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: This actually serves as part of the plot of "Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow" [[spoiler:as the plan by the Romulans is to kill Khan Noonien-Singh, thereby preventing the Eugenics Wars from ever occurring and the constant struggles that strengthen humanity to help become a founding member of the Federation and become a massive thorn in their side in the first place.]] It's also discussed why ''this'' doesn't end up working in the long run as it is explained that [[spoiler:even when events are successfully erased in continuity from how they should have been, either other factions or ''time itself'' will correct the actions if the original place in the timeline can no longer logically exist, as explained when the Temporal Cold War forced the Eugenics Wars to be moved up several decades from the 90s rather than cease to exist altogether — only a full blown immutable paradox (such as killing Khan himself, a historically significant figure) can drastically alter the continuity of the universe in a way that timelines wildly diverge.]]
74	* HopeSpot: Majalis' medical knowledge is so far ahead of the Federation's that the ''Enterprise's'' sickbay might as well be a medieval barber's, and could treat M'Benga's daughter--but they are bound by a Prime Directive-like stricture not to share their knowledge with "less advanced" civilizations.
75	* HotterAndSexier: Present, but downplayed. The series premiere has Pike and Captain Batel in the wake of a sexual encounter at Pike's home in Montana, while shortly afterwards, Spock and T'Pring get a case of InterruptedIntimacy when Pike calls to inform Spock that the ''Enterprise'' is returning to service early. It's certainly more explicitly present than earlier ''Star Trek'' series, while not at the sex-appeal level of, say, ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' (with its infamous decon chamber scenes) or the recent trio of [[Film/StarTrek2009 alternate]] [[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness reality]] [[Film/StarTrekBeyond films]].
76	* InkSuitActor: Inverted in Season 2; Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid, voice actors for Ensigns Mariner and Boimler on ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', reprise their roles in live-action, which is simple for them to do as their characters were designed to resemble the actors.
77	* InterruptedIntimacy: Spock and T'Pring are interrupted by an emergency call from Starfleet. T'Pring proposes marriage to Spock and he accepts, but the very same night he is called away by a Starfleet emergency. This event in 2259 foreshadows their estranged relationship and eventual split in 2267, culminating in the events of "Amok Time".
78	* ItWillNeverCatchOn: When told that the prohibition against interfering with pre-warp civilizations will be renamed the Prime Directive, Pike comments "Well, that'll never stick".
79	* LighterAndSofter: The series as a whole when compared to its immediate predecessors ''[[Series/StarTrekDiscovery Discovery]]'' and ''[[Series/StarTrekPicard Picard]]''. The showrunners consciously chose to produce a more upbeat, classically styled episodic action-adventure show in the vein of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]'' and ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'', with more talking-out of problems, less gratuitous violence, and fewer swear words (one almost-case of a PrecisionFStrike was actually a CurseCutShort). As a result, most episodes are rated "TV-PG", as opposed to the "TV-14" and "TV-MA" ratings of its aforementioned contemporaries.
80	* LoveTriangle: Spock/T'Pring/Chapel, as a CallForward to ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. In "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E01StrangeNewWorlds Strange New Worlds]]", Spock gets engaged to T'Pring (his NewOldFlame in "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E1AmokTime Amok Time]]"), but [[AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder during their duty-induced separations]] he also becomes attracted to ''Enterprise'' Nurse Christine Chapel (who carried an obvious torch for him in TOS). It comes to a head in "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS2E05Charades Charades]]": [[spoiler:Spock becomes irritated with his mother-in-law-to-be's anti-human racism while performing engagement rituals with T'Pring and her family, and reveals that [[YouKnowImBlackRight he had passed her tests while fully human]] (because of [[HumanityEnsues plot shenanigans]]). T'Pring is hurt that he didn't read her in and asks to take a break, and he ends up sleeping with Chapel OnTheRebound, only to [[DidNotGetTheGirl have her break up with him]] in "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS2E09SubspaceRhapsody Subspace Rhapsody]]".]]
81	* MultiGenderedOutfit: In "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E07TheSereneSquall The Serene Squall]]", Dr. Aspen ([[spoiler:who is actually the SpacePirate captain "Angel"]]), played by non-binary actress Creator/JesseJamesKeitel, uses "they/them" pronouns and wears an embroidered black bodystocking and combat boots. They have a couple significant conversations with Spock about his being a HalfHumanHybrid, suggesting he view being half-Vulcan, half-human as a point on a spectrum instead of trying to fully be one or the other.
82	* MythologyGag: Erica Ortegas got her surname from Gene Roddenberry's first pitch for the original series; in that pitch, the character that became Lt. José Tyler was named José Ortegas.
83	* OpeningNarration: The classic "Space, the final frontier..." narration is back, as shown in the page quote. It uses the phrase "Its five-year mission" from the original version in [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]], while keeping the updated "where no one has gone before" from [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]].
84	* PlotArmor: Pike's InUniverse future fate appears to give him this. It's part of how he knows the ''Enterprise'' won't be crushed by the black hole in Episode 4.
85	* PoweredByAForsakenChild: For reasons unexplained, the founders of [[spoiler:Majalis]] designed the mainframe of the system keeping their civilization literally afloat to require the developing neural pathways of a child. A process that is explicitly said to cause the child agony and will eventually leave said child a desiccated husk. Unsurprising, given the episode's [[Literature/TheOnesWhoWalkAwayFromOmelas inspiration]].
86	* OneSteveLimit: Played with. We have Christopher Pike and Christine Chapel on board, with the nickname for both names being "Chris" (though Christine is never called that).
87	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Pike has a limited amount of screen time in the first three episodes of season 2, allowing Anson Mount to spend more time with his wife and their newborn child.
88	* {{Retcon}}: During the original series' runs, the Eugenics Wars and World War III were distinct, separate events, the former beginning in the 1990s. ''Strange New Worlds'' changes it so that they are a single, prolonged series of events, with multiple names[[note]]though, since the "Eugenics Wars" are usually talked about in the ''plural'', nothing prevents there from having been multiple Eugenics Wars in the 1990s ''and'' the 21st century[[/note]]. The season 2 episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" reveals that the Temporal Cold War shifted the Eugenics Wars from the 90s to the 21st century. Sera suggests that ''time'' itself may also be responsible for the shift, as factions remove it from the timeline, time reinserts it back in at a later date.
89	* RevisitingTheRoots: Hard to be closer to "the roots" than taking characters from the ''original pilot episode'' and finally giving them a full series, complete with the original ''Enterprise''. The show has also chosen to avoid the heavy MythArc driven narratives that contemporary shows had skewed towards in favor of more episodic adventures like the original series.
90	* SavedByCanon: Owing to the fact ''Strange New Worlds'' is a prequel series to the original ''Star Trek'' series, whatever else happens in the series Pike, Spock, Uhura, Kyle, Chapel, M'Benga, and the ''Enterprise'' herself will survive the series.
91	* SchrodingersCanon: With only one episode to their name (until one cameoed in late ''Enterprise''), much of the Gorn was developed by Expanded Universe materials, which have been self-contradictory and were never officially canon to begin with. Gorn in EU run the gammut from misunderstood good guys to brutal-but-noble BlueAndOrangeMorality. None of this EU material is compatible with the Gorn as presented in this series, where they are described by the writer as "totally evil."
92	* SecondAmericanCivilWar: The first episode reveals that the United States has a second one in the 21st century during the lead up to the WorldWarIII.
93	* SeriesContinuityError: Everyone referring to George Samuel Kirk as "Sam". It was a brief but significant plot point in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" that only Jim called him Sam. They eventually backtracked in the second season by revealing that Kirk ''thought'' he was the only one who called him Sam, [[{{Revision}} and La'an is visibly confused because he's always gone by Sam with them too.]]
94	* SoftReboot: The second season of ''Discovery'' was something of a PoorlyDisguisedPilot for this show, especially the last two episodes which ends with the ''Enterprise'' repaired from the climactic battle and heading back out to explore. The first episode of this show reimagines the events, saying it took much longer for the ''Enterprise'' (over a year compared to 4 months in ''DSC''), Pike is still recovering emotionally from the events of ''Discovery'', the supporting cast is overhauled and some other changes are made to set design and costumes. It is pretty standard when it comes to pilot-to-series development, but this is unique when applied to a ''Star Trek'' series.
95	* StarCrossedLovers: La'an and alternative timeline Kirk fall for each other, and she even floats the idea of him coming to her timeline. [[spoiler: But he dies. She contacts her timeline's Kirk, but he's a different person, shaped by different events, who’s a complete stranger to her--and [[SeductionProofMarriage he's already in a relationship with Carol Marcus]] to boot.]]
96	* SwissCheeseSecurity: In the first episode. The medical bay and indeed the rest of the ship is not locked and one of the prisoners is allowed to run around the Enterprise.
97	* TitleDrop: Inverted. The series subtitle is derived from a portion of the Captain's Monologue heard in the title sequence in previous series set on the ''Enterprise'', with ''SNW'' being the latest to use the monologue.
98	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The teaser for season 2 has several scenes with [[spoiler:Una serving as the first officer]], suggesting that the season 1 cliffhanger is likely to be resolved fairly quickly and the status quo restored. Sure enough, it happens two episodes in.
99	* TrashyTouristTrap: The teaser of "Subspace Rhapsody" establishes that Pike and Batel are planning a trip together. Pike has a ThisIsGonnaSuck face when describing Batel's chosen destination of Crivo, which he considers "cliché," "touristy" and "like my nightmare."
100	* TruceTrickery:
101	** "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E10AQualityOfMercy A Quality of Mercy]]" revisits the Romulan raids on Federation border outposts from "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror Balance of Terror]]" in defiance of the treaty, this time with Captain Pike in the ''Enterprise'''s command chair. [[spoiler:He misjudges the Romulans' intentions and a full scale war breaks out.]]
102	** Feigned in "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS2E1TheBrokenCircle The Broken Circle]]". [[spoiler:A group of [[FromCamouflageToCriminal renegade ex-Klingon and -Federation soldiers]] fly a salvaged Federation starship in a {{false flag\|Operation}} attack on a Klingon D7 battlecruiser. This is supposed to look like a breach of the ceasefire between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, meant to restart the war and [[WarForFunAndProfit increase profits from the dilithium mine the renegades are guarding]]. The ''Enterprise'' destroys the ship before it can do any damage and Spock is able to convince the Klingon captain that [[NotMeThisTime the Federation wasn't involved]].]]
103	* TrueCompanions: Each of the trailers have shown that everyone on the ''Enterprise'' views one another as family, and have faith in one another's abilities. She wouldn't have the finest crew in Starfleet otherwise.
104	* WagonTrainToTheStars: ''Strange New Worlds'' explicitly calls back to this formula embodied by TOS, TNG and Voyager, as opposed to the more MythArc based recent series like ''Picard'' and ''Discovery''.
105	* WholePlotReference: "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" is based on Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin's short story [[spoiler:"Literature/TheOnesWhoWalkAwayFromOmelas". There is an entire ''colony'' of people who have walked away.]]
106	* WorldWarIII: While Star Trek has long established that World War 3 was a devastating nuclear war that occurred sometime before 2063, we have never seen footage of the conflict until Strange New Worlds. Pike states that a third of Earth's population dies as a direct result.
107	* ZeerustCanon: The production design intentionally adopts elements of classic 1960s and 1970s Trek. The ''Enterprise'' is extremely 70s in its decor: cream and red with polymer appliances and recessed lighting. The control panels are almost as goofy and sparkly as the original. There are crisp OLED screens instead of 70s transparencies, but they [[TypesetInTheFuture kept the same font]] as the 1979 ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''. But the CGI ''Enterprise'' exterior shots are quite modern.

Context Series / StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds