I guess my point is that I thought the whole episode was dumb (if not dumb fun), and I'm glad that it was essentially written off at the end.  I'd rather have a dumb/fun episode that is pointless than a dumb/fun episode that stretches the line beyond the point of insanity.

But that's just my opinion.

Is Strange New Worlds too silly?

I think yes. I appreciate big swings, but there's a line somewhere between bold and goofy.

*SPOILERS*

It helped somewhat that the puppet episode ended up being a dream, but it really was a step too far for me. Even the noir episode was a bit silly, with the contrived reason for being in black and white and the number of coincidences that had to occur for the plot to hold together. It seems more like they're trying to do as many genres as possible, rather than just making good episodes and if that takes you in an unorthodox direction, so be it.

Its very clear that these guys love their work and love each other and have a ton of fun, but it's somehow more cartoonish than Lower Decks.  Well, maybe at least as cartoonish.

I think it's still well done and fun, but it feels like Legends of Tomorrow.  Or even seasons 3-5 of Sliders in the ways it stretches the premise to do wacky things just so they can do wacky things.

I get that it's fun and exciting to have some new rules and new players, but I just wish it felt more familiar.

Understood. Or at least made more sense. Particularly on Academy, there were a lot of deep cuts, but then there'd be something out of left field that made you wonder if they'd really watched the source material.

Yeah I agree with all those points.  I wonder why Darem's species had to have a second look anyway.  He only does it once the whole season - couldn't he still look human but have extra powers?  Superman doesn't have a second look.

I had the same thought about the Doctor.  I watched the TrekCulture easter egg videos, and the host remarked that the Doctor didn't even deal with that trauma in Voyager.  So it's weird that it bothered him so long after.  It's also weird that he didn't choose a name, despite that being a thing he did in the Endgame timeline.

One thing about new Trek that bothered me (also brought up by TrekCulture) is that everything has to be a galaxy-threatening event.  Even with the Klingon stuff, the idea that the Klingons (who seemingly owned a huge chunk of the galaxy) were nearly wiped out by the Burn is a little crazy.  Wouldn't it have been just as good if they'd simply been weakened because they weren't technologically impaired?

I get that it's fun and exciting to have some new rules and new players, but I just wish it felt more familiar.

I had mixed feelings. I bought Holly Hunter as a teacher, but not as a Starfleet captain. They never explain why Cadet Scales and the people on his planet appear human most of the time, rather than their natural appearance. I get that the real reason is the cost of CGI, but what possible in-universe reason could there be? Also not sold on JayDen. Sure, Klingons are not a monolithic species, but would someone that different have survived in Klingon society? SAM is much better post-reboot. I appreciate the Doctor being around and the addressing of his trauma from losing his family on Voyager, but would it really take 800 years for him to deal with that? I think the S2 finale shows why the producers wanted Tig Notaro as a series regular, even though she didn't have time in her schedule.

I get what you're saying about not knowing the status of many of the worlds or powers we knew from before, but that's actually something I appreciate. It takes advantage of the time jump and opens story possibilities that weren't there before due to existing canon.

I think the plan was to have more 'mission'-style episodes each season as the series progressed. They mention Tilly was with the 3rd years in the beta quadrant. I don't know how you would justify the chancellor of the entire academy leaving campus for that long, but that was my impression.

I'll watch S2. I thought the series got better as we got deeper into the season. Unfortunate that studio politics has cut short another show.

And I don't know what it is about the new century, but I'm struggling to feel comfortable with how things work in this time period.  I know we spent a lot of time in the TNG era, but it felt like we understood where everyone is and who the major players are and all that.  We know that the Federation was fractured.  We know that the Klingons are almost gone.  The Romulans and Vulcans have reunified.  But are things in such disarray in the Federation that everyone's kinda focused on themselves?  So the Cardassians or the Ferengi are out there but also cleaning up their own space?  It just feels like the villains in a lot of these seasons (even like in Picard) are pirates and random small sects that are causing issues.

STRANGE NEW WORLDS will have a fourth season and a short and final fifth season.

It looks like, because CBS' contract with Alex Kurtzman and Secret Hideout is expiring and they haven't decided whether or not to renew it or find a new producer or studio with all their mergers and purchases, Secret Hideout is producing up to the limit of the contract with these final seasons.

I don't think Season 4 is going to be a wrap-up; that's going to be the six episodes of Season 5.

Ah, I was unaware that there was going to be a shortened season 5.  Good to know!

I don't think Season 4 is going to be a wrap-up; that's going to be the six episodes of Season 5.

**

THE ORVILLE seems to have stalled. There was talk of pre-production beginning on a fourth season, but all the actors denied having been signed or resuming filming, so it's not happening, although it's not clear if it's not happening yet or not happening at all.

Adrianne Palicki says she got a call about Season 4 and her availability, but then the strikes happened and all Season 4 talk ceased and never resumed.

https://movieweb.com/adrianne-palicki-t … -season-4/

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So I think this is an instance where more episodes would have been useful.  The big bad for the season was introduced midway through the season and then wrapped up in a single hour.  In a pre-streaming Trek season, the finale would've at least been a two parter, and I think you could argue that it could have been longer.  Even commercials vs non commercials, a two-part finale would have been 82 minutes-ish vs 60 minutes-ish.  And I think we probably needed those additional twenty minutes.  Some of the episode felt very rushed.

I think you could argue that maybe you get rid of the documentary episode or the "everyone is turned into a Vulcan" episode and give more time to this.  You could've probably done an entire episode of the future scenes if you wanted and give additional weight to Pike's life with Batel.  I know the crew probably had fun doing the Vulcan episode so they'd probably vote to get rid of something different, but I wish they'd used their time a little more wisely.  And, honestly, I thought they got the opportunity to ham it up on the proto-Holodeck episode (and that episode also covered "why Star Trek is important" which was sorta covered by the documentary episode).

And when there's going to be a muppet episode next year when they're going to be trying to wrap this whole series up, I have concerns.

But again I really liked what they aired.  It had a lot of heart.  Like Pike, I wish there was just more time.