Strange New Worlds 2x02- 'Ad Astra Per Aspera' ~~ { ** Spoilers Within ** }

ilovesmybrick

Strange New Worlds 2x02- 'Ad Astra Per Aspera' ~~ { ** Spoilers Within ** } Warning: This thread will contain spoilers

AMKC

Just watched it :) .

That was excellent. So much true in it.

Best episode of SNW yet. Real proper Star Trek right there and at its very best. It had me happy and sad and crying too because I too know what it feels like to have to hide one's true self and how hard it can be. Thankfully I do not have to do that anymore and am living as the true me but society still has a long way to go.

It was great to learn a bit more backstory about Admiral Robert April, Captain Pike too and Commandar Una Chin Rileys childhood as well.

Can't wait for the next episode with the full crew back on board.

Agent Coulson

That was brilliant Star Trek at it's very best.

eadrom

I am so here for the emotional Star Trek courtroom drama. Absolutely loved it. World building, character building, moralising, fun, tense, emotional. Perfect Star Trek.

And god this show looks so good. Properly lit, great sets, props, uniforms, and lovely steady shots to soak it all in.

And Spock! "I regret that you had to witness that... outburst" 😂. Falling in love with this character all over again.

10/10.

corkie

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ad_Astra_Per_Aspera_%28episode%29

Very enjoyable episode and it was paced out well.

Halfway through, I thought they where going to drag it out into 2 episodes.

Edit: -

Continuity

• While on the stand, Spock mentioned meeting Una Chin-Riley for the first time and discovering her love of Gilbert and Sullivan, as depicted in ST: "Q&A".

Spear

It was solid enough, but the basic premise of it being on rails as a court room type episode was always going to limit it a bit.

They kept a decent pace and momentum to it, which would have been easy to lose in this format. A little preachy at points, but kept to a reasonable minimum, but again, the norm for a court room episode.

The main twist was well executed, and the slight detour into attacking Pike kept it a little less linear.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120748700#Comment_120748700

A little preachy at points, but kept to a reasonable minimum, but again, the norm for a court room episode.

Really? Where did you see that? I did not funded any if it preachy.

I thought it was just a brilliantly well executed Star Trek courtroom Drama episode.

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120749548#Comment_120749548

Just the speeches about past evils being legal etc. Which are valid points and all, but this is the context of me expecting a court room/trial trope episode to lay it on thick. I didn't have high expectations for this one, so saying they kept it to a minimum is me praising it.

PhiloCypher

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120749548#Comment_120749548

I think Spear may be referring to the point where Una's lawyer points out that there were laws on the books about race, gender, sexuality , customs etc and that that doesn't make a law just. It was a bit more on the nose then previous Trek shows from previous eras would have been, but given those previous Trek shows were seemingly so subtle that a worrying amount of fans didn't realise Trek has always been Woke , I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing making the implicit explicit every now and again .

ilovesmybrick

As with the above, I think it's if not one of the nest episodes of SNW, it's one of the better episodes of Trek. And it was fun, I wasnt gone on Spocks quip on the bench, but I honestly laughed when Spock apologised for his outburst early in the episode. It might be a bit of a cliche Spock move, but it landed for me and that's entirely down to Ethan Peck.

I also like that it feels like a proper team, but one that is working in a professional setting. Uhura shooting down Khans log request was a small thing, but I do think it's important. Yeah, she was to an extent protecting her friend from a legally dubious idea, but it's also the rules and I do think it's important to have that too. As was shown in the episode, rules can be broken, but there is a certain chain of command and a way some things have to be done.

Obviously riffing heavily from Measure of a Man, but what harm. That's still a great episode and if you're going to borrow some ideas, borrow from the best and implement them well. Unlike Into Darkness....I do see Spears point, but I will say this is a way to do it right, it's not like Measure of a Man was particularly subtle, but unlike Discovery you don't see them prepping the trowel to laz it on thick.

Also I loved the call back to the utterly ridiculous TOS dress uniform medals. Chefs kiss there.

breezy1985

Keep forgetting it's out Thursday now.

nachouser

Bloody asylum seekers, taking our space jobs.

But yeah, it was a fun ep. And Pike's hair has never been more magnificent.

corkie

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-dress-uniform-the-cage-costume-design-interview

“We actually call the formal dress uniforms on Strange New Worlds, ‘The Menagerie uniforms’,” costume designer Bernadette Croft tells Inverse. “It’s our colors and our fabric, but we’re really leaning into the nostalgia.”

Cool use of the uniforms in the episode.

If you look closely at a photograph in Pike’s quarters in the Season 1 finale, you’ll see the answer. In the photo, Pike and April are rocking very velour, retro Starfleet uniforms. But, Croft reveals this wasn’t a Photoshop trick.

CastorTroy

Not that I've seen them all, but I do enjoy court episodes of Star Trek, for some reason.

Have the Eugenic Wars featured in a season of Star Trek outside of being talked about or having the likes of Khan show up? Surprised it hasn't been done in a multi part time travel series of episodes. Or is it a case of no one would want to do it?

corkie

@CastorTroy Have the Eugenic Wars featured in a season of Star Trek?

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/0f0dfb38-1a66-4cc2-a169-0b7e4cff10fa?s=u

There were a series of (non-canon) novels by Greg Cox that reimagined the 1990s where the Eugenics Wars were happening behind the scenes, but it appears the Picard team decided it’s best to just fudge with the numbers a bit so the Eugenics Wars didn’t happen in the 1990s, so they don’t need to be addressed in the 2024 seen on the show.

Note: - Above link is AI Powered search result.

Has only been talked about, but don't think it has been show. Augments featured in a few episode of Enterprise.

Back to the episode:-

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/89c1d68f-ad90-488b-8d5e-203066e0b896?s=u

Note: - Above link is AI Powered search result.

fritzelly

Wasn't expecting to enjoy a court room based episode but surprisingly entertaining - even the arguments in court

breezy1985

I really enjoyed it. I hadn't really liked Una last season but she was good in this.

I was really expecting the big reveal to be that the lawyer ratted Una out to get her big day in court (although thinking about it they ain't gonna sht on a civil rights lawyer)

Good decision to have last week being able the other officers seeing as this week was very Pike and Una.

Evade

Pretty good episode. It could have easily gone down the too preachy route but kept it to a necessary minimum. Nowthat the crew's all back together hopefully they get out into space for the rest of the a season.

This episode brought up a little more confusion about L'aan. She's descended from the original augments and if she's worried about going all megalomanic doesn't that mean she's still an augment and should also be barred from Starfleet?

TheValeyard

Been a while since we had a court room episode.

Wasn't that fantastic, no pew-pew or boom boom, just dialogue and debate.

Great episode.

corkie

From the wiki entry about her: -

La'an never demonstrated the abilities of an augment, like Khan's enhanced strength, suggesting that after many generations his superior genes had diminished in her family. Also, La'an would not have been allowed to serve in Starfleet if she were enhanced, since the Federation had banned genetic engineering.

Evade

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120751656#Comment_120751656

So it's just an irrational fear then?

Slydice

That was grand. I thought the court bits didn't feel particularly ground break but I really liked how much it reminded me of the Star Trek Prodigy season finale. They even had the Tellarite judge which was nice.

DoctorEdgeWild

Another excellent outing for SNW. This is when Trek is at its best for me. Didn't lay the moralising on too thick, managed to generate some believable TV 'peril' for the crew and the supporting actors were particularly good.

It all worked for me, as has SNW as a whole so far. Looking forward to it every Thursday like I used to look forward to new TNGs and VOYs. Excellent.

These writers get it.

squonk

Really loved this episode. It really brought me back to watching TNG as a kid where you forgot about canon and went along with the laughs and the serious points being put across. I even find myself questioning if I lived up to the ideals of the federation watching this. I think there’s good trek like we get at times and deep core good trek that we get less often and this episode is one of those. Someone I’m going to sit down and compile my top 10 or 20 trek episodes and this could well be featuring.

~Rebel~

That was excellent, thoroughly enjoyed. Really strong start to the season.

MarkR

Pike with 2% oxygen level left: I'll wait. :-)

Great episode. Great world building, the supposed conversation between spock and mean vulcan prosecutor was hilarious, with spocks outburst.

The LGTBQ+ force was strong in this episode, from the passing phrase, to the straps on Una's leg brace.

On passing, Una and her lawyer looked as human as each other. What was the passing stuff?

corkie

The wiki changed the link or something so posting this corrected link: -

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ad_Astra_per_Aspera_(episode)

Evade

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120754358#Comment_120754358

I think the greenish makeup on the receptionist was intended to be her natural appearance but it didn't really work because it just looked like gaudy makeup.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120750679#Comment_120750679

Set my alarm for 6pm, back to the good old BBC2 days, no adverts, brilliant.

CramCycle

Fantastic episode,

muckwarrior

SNW continues to be the best Star Trek since the 90s.