Strange New Worlds

I spent New Year's Eve binging season 1 of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds".

Billed as a spin-off of "Star Trek: Discovery" (which is, itself, allegedly a spin-off of the Star Trek franchise), its association with "Discovery" kept me from watching it.

I tried to get through some episodes of "Discovery" while on an international flight. It was shockingly-bad. Like, horrifically bad. Weird alternate-Klingons and lots of labels that were vaguely "Star Trek" while having a show that was painful to watch.

I switched to something else mid-flight and wrote off the franchise.

A friend suggested I give "Strange New Worlds" a chance. It's a sort-of prequel to the original series of "Star Trek". Set during the time Christopher Pike commands the Enterprise, before James T. Kirk takes over. It's got a quirky and fun crew and it really captures the explorer's feel of the original series. There's sime time-travel shenanigans in it, but they keep that sparse, thank goodness. And the stories feel solid and self-contained.

I loved it. I'll have to give season two a try at some point.