Many critics and fans would probably agree that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is the best television series to come out of the Star Trek franchise in decades. It arguably had one of the strongest first seasons of any Star Trek show in the franchise's history. The second season will debut on Paramount+ later this year. Another Trek series that will continue on Paramount+ later this year is Star Trek: Picard. The show saw its third season debut on February 16. and will also see the return of another popular Trek television show, Star Trek: Discovery. However, one aspect that is holding back Strange New Worlds is the notion that the series is canon to the original series and films, set as a prequel before the events of the original 1966 television show. But perhaps it would be an improvement for Strange New Worlds to assert its role as a series featuring the Enterprise and iconic legacy characters within a separate, alternate timeline rather than trying to adhere to some notion of canonicity to the original series.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds wants to have its cake and eat it too. It desires to hit those nostalgic elements by using the Enterprise and iconic legacy characters of classic Star Trek mythology, but it also wants to tell its own stories without strictly adhering to existing mythology. Strange New Worlds can accomplish this goal, but the show would be better off abandoning any strict idea that this series is a definitive prequel, setting up Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley in SNW) and his five-year mission as Captain of the Enterprise. The writers of Discovery and Strange New Worlds have tried to skate around continuity issues from these major turning points that have never been referenced before in Trek history. They accomplish this by having the Starfleet redact all information about the Discovery and its crew, including Spock’s (Ethan Peck) sister, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), due to the sensitive nature of their mission.
A Tale of Two Kirks
The first season of Strange New Worlds pushes its grasp on credulity much further than necessary through a few aspects. George Samuel Kirk (Dan Jeannotte) is made the science officer of the Enterprise in the series premiere, and he serves as part of the crew throughout the first season. This is important because George Kirk is the older brother of one James T. Kirk, the longtime captain of the Enterprise, portrayed by William Shatner in the original television series and later films. In "The Menagerie, Part 1" of the original series, Captain Kirk discovers the fate of his ship’s former captain, Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter in the original series). In the episode, when Commodore Mendez (Malachi Throne) is bringing Kirk, Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelly) to see the permanently disabled Pike, Mendez specifically asks Kirk if he’s ever met Pike. Kirk responds, "We met when he was promoted to fleet captain." He later adds, "I took over the Enterprise from him. Spock served with him for several years." While Spock was in Kirk’s presence in the scene, it feels odd for Kirk not to mention that his brother served on the same ship along with Pike. The fact that George Kirk served aboard the Enterprise under Pike is not something his brother would forget, and it would be something worth mentioning in the episode.
To be fair, in the mid-1960s when Gene Roddenberry wrote "The Menagerie," he was not writing the two-parter with the forethought that over 50 years later, Strange New Worlds would write in that George Kirk would serve as the science officer of Captain Pike (Anson Mount in SNW) aboard the Enterprise. But if Strange New Worlds is truly a prequel to the original series, the aspect of Spock as Captain Pike’s first officer makes sense. It’s logical and fits in with the original series because as Captain Kirk points out in "The Menagerie," Spock was Pike’s first officer when Pike was still the commander of the Enterprise. When Strange New Worlds says George Kirk was also the science officer on the Enterprise, they are taking a bit more creative license than necessary, and it simply doesn’t line up with what Kirk described in the classic television episode.
All About the Gorn
The other major issue with Strange New Worlds' loose grasp on continuity involves the Gorn. The Gorn are set up as the major recurring villains of the first season, and that will likely continue well into Season 2. The Gorn race made its first appearance in the first season of the original Star Trek TV series, in the episode titled "Arena." This episode makes it clear that the Federation, Starfleet, and all the members of the Enterprise, Spock included, have no idea who or what the Gorn are, and they have never encountered the Gorn before. No meeting or record of the Gorn had ever been recorded before this episode either. Yet, in the first season of Strange New Worlds, the Enterprise and its crew have multiple encounters with the Gorn in the episodes "Memento Mori" and "All Those Who Wander."
In Strange New Worlds, Enterprise Chief of Security La’an Noonien Singh is already familiar with the Gorn when she joins the crew. Her knowledge and experiences with the Gorn are crucial to the Enterprise and her crewmates’ survival in multiple episodes. At one point, Spock even performs a Vulcan mind meld with La’an to gain her knowledge about the Gorn. Also, while few have survived encounters with the Gorn or even seen them at this point in Strange New Worlds, the Federation, and Starfleet are aware of them. They have written records of the Gorn, and the Gorn are named. So how is it that by the time the episode "Arena" takes place that both Spock and Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) have suddenly forgotten all about the Gorn? Do the Gorn have galactic-wide telepathy, and have they erased their perceived existence from the minds of Starfleet? The Gorn are formidable and elusive, but even that ability seems beyond them.
It’s not wrong for Strange New Worlds to use the Gorn and expand the mythology. However, the continuity here does not match up to the original canon. This brings up the most viable solution. Strange New Worlds should have the freedom to play around with the characters and concepts of Star Trek lore without having to definitively line up with the original timeline. It would make much more sense for Strange New Worlds to operate under its own unique, alternate timeline, similar to the branching Kelvin Timeline that resulted from the J.J. Abrams films.
Making Strange New Worlds a unique timeline would allow the writers to explore this area of Star Trek mythology at their leisure without having to worry about adhering to strict continuity. Otherwise, the previously mentioned problems will continue. Strange New Worlds is still early in its run and building its own identity. The series has all the building blocks to become one of the best and most iconic Star Trek shows ever, but its continuity doesn’t need to lead directly into the original series. If it can officially operate without the shackles of the original series, Strange New Worlds can continue building its own identity, using legacy characters and playing with classic Star Trek storylines, episodes, concepts, and lore elements. But with a break from maintaining classic canon, the writers are free to explore putting their unique spins on these ideas. That way, the creators can stage a knockdown, drag-out war between Starfleet and the Gorn, without some magical Deus ex machina redacting all memory of the event. Or perhaps, what if the Metrons were to show up again to erase such an event from existence, so "Arena" can unfold later on without issue? Those solutions would not be satisfactory. Strange New Worlds works better when it can loosely play around with continuity and lore rather than strictly adhering to it. Making the show a separate, alternate timeline would reinforce that goal.
New episodes of Star Trek: Picard are debuting weekly on Thursdays on Paramount+. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will debut its second season on the streamer later this year.