I have to say that I've been pleasantly surprised with the slate of shows from Paramount+ in 2022.

Mostly, I picked up the streamer for Star Trek, as I really got into Discovery in Season 2 when they brought in Anson Mount as Chris Pike for the season's captain. I kept it, as they had some cool bits in Discovery, but the show's been just 'alright' for me since S2. But then we got Picard, which I thought was a great nostalgia-fest in S1 that didn't really nail the landing at the end. Season 2 just finished and it's been just as nostalgic, but I think they really nailed the end and I can't wait for Season 3.

Now we have the new Star Trek show, Strange New Worlds, with Anson Mount reprising Chris Pike as the Enterprise captain some point after the events of Discovery (and well after The Cage), but also well before Kirk's time as captain. The premier episode was very much a return to the 'classic' episodic storytelling of the original Trek and TNG series, and extremely well done. It's like they took the aesthetic of the Abrams Trek movies and said, "You know, let's actually make Star Trek with this look." So I think this is gonna be my new go-to show.

A sleeper show for me has been Halo, of all things. I started watching it a month or so ago, as I've played the games and find the concept interesting, but the show didn't really hook me until Episode 4 or 5. Now I'm on board and am looking forward to where they are going with this. They also have an actor - Kate Kennedy, in the role of Spartan Kai-125, who I think would make an amazing Monstress if they were ever to make the Reboot Legion into live action.

Anyway, enough of me ranting on this stuff. If you like the sci-fi, check it out, but if you do it as part of a trial run, wait until Strange New Worlds is done airing so you can binge that. My hunch tells me that will be the jewel of the Trek bunch running now.

I really love Lower Decks, but also liked the first episode of Strange New Worlds, both seem like just the right mix, for me, of nostalgia and new.

Picard is generally a miss for me, since I'm not a fan of leaning so heavily on nostalgia (while whistling past continuity, like ignoring that Picard had a brother, or that Q had more of a relationship with Janeway and his son Q2 than with Picard). Reading the online reaction, I'm pretty much on the other side, so it's definitely not a show made for me. (I don't get the hate for the Raffi character. I never liked Q and wasn't super-jazzed to see him. I actually liked the actress who played young Guinan. Etc. I suspect at least half of the dislike for Raffi or young Guinan comes from the crowd that hates black women being in Trek, which seemed to leap into prominence with Michael Burnham, on Discovery, who is, admittedly, an annoying character.)

But yeah, Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds are great, for me. Lower Decks is just pure geeky fun. It gently makes fun of all those classic Trek-isms, much like the Galaxy Quest movie or that Orville show, being fun for Trekkies, but not 'punching down' and making fun *of* the property (or it's fans), so much as having fun *with* it.

With just the one show to judge by, Strange New Worlds looks good. I'd kind of like more aliens, on the crew, but at least it looks like we are finally getting an Andorian (or Aenar?) in live-action. The closest we've had was recurring appearances by Shran, in Enterprise, played by Jeffrey Combs (whose played a ton of different Star Trek aliens, including Vorta and Ferengi).

The whole aspect of "where's Picard's brother" in all of this was initially in my head, but then I realized that whether Robert was in this story or not, and in fact his absence whether its him literally not being in the house or JL just editing him out mentally may go a decent way into explaining part of their strained relationship. Same with the scene from Where No One Has Gone Before when Picard sees his elderly mother; its just an idealized version of who he wished to see. All that to say it was able to work for me, and once I got that set in my mind as I watched the show, I dug it a lot more. Especially having James Callis as his father. Great seeing him in a classic Sci-fi again.

Also really liked Q in this. Even though Q was used in the other Trek shows, it didn't seem to me the relationships had quite the same vibe as with Picard, which is why the bookends of the TNG series work so well together, with this being a nice coda to that.

And I heartily agree about Raffi & Guinan's respective actresses. I loved them both. Also, loved the Raffi/Seven relationship and how they were able to patch it up at the end.


It's funny how we're flipped on Picard/Lower Decks. I tried Lower Decks and couldn't get through the first season, and I think its mainly because I can't gel with Beckett's character. She gets in the way of me enjoying the stories. I've seen a lot of great clips and things, and the premise is awesome, but I've just not been able to continue. Maybe I'll give it another try.


I think the new chief engineer is Aenar. If we don't get Combs in some form in this show, there's something seriously wrong going on here.

Lower decks is hysterical. Strange new worlds fun. The rest...meh.