Brief Story Line
After a bit of hiatus, Christopher Pike (Anson Mount - Visions, Inhuman TV series etc) was called up by the Starfleet to re-navigate USS Enterprise on a special mission. Despite his reluctance, he agreed to do so as it involved the rescue of his old friend. Captain Pike would be assisted by science officer Spock (Ethan Peck - 10 Things I Hate About You TV series etc), chief security officer La'an (Christina Chong), Doctor M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokum), Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), Chief Engineer Hemmer (Bruce Horak) and helmsman Ortegas (Melissa Navia). There was also a new cadet named Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and later they would be joined by Number One/Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn - X-Men trilogy, The Librarian TV series etc).
During their exploration, the crew would find various different worlds, species and adventures where some were great to add experience but few were dangerous. Meanwhile Captain Pike also had to deal with what he found out earlier about his future.
So what would happen to Pike and his crews of the Enterprise? You could find out in the first season of this series.
End of Brief Story Line
Oh my, this series was exactly what I was hoping for in a Star Trek series. It was focusing on exploring new worlds and civilization, just like what the captain narrated in the opening scenes similar to my favorite series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was what made me loved Star Trek in the first place as we could see the different planets and life forms in each episode. Plus of course the interesting story of the crews, although in here some were given larger screen time than others.
First time I saw Pike, Spock and Una were when I watched second season of Star Trek: Discovery that made me appreciate the series better after watching that first season. The ending of their story arc was absolutely intriguing and fans seemed to like them as well. Which was why the series creator Alex Kurtzman decided to expand the universe with this spin-off series. And the rest as they said was history.
If you have read my posts about TV series before, you would know that I usually prefer ones that have large story arc to make it more interesting and eager to find out more. However, I realized also that it was not applicable for a Star Trek series. That's why even though the large story arc was only involving Captain Pike's future, I still enjoy watching it a lot. The characters in here were portrayed wonderfully by the cast. Majority were unfamiliar faces for me, except obviously Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn plus Ethan Peck (though I only have seen him as Spock). Mount was awesome as the down to earth Pike and Peck was convincing as young Spock (episode 9 showed a different side of him). I also like this version of Uhura and Nurse Chapel was a refreshing character too.
Aside from the main cast that I mentioned above, there were few guest stars too. However, only one that really stood out for me, that is Paul Wesley (who played Stefan Salvatore in Vampire Diaries TV series) as he portrayed an iconic character. There was also a vulcan named T'Pring (Gia Sandhu) who played an important character. Other than those, I was only familiar with André Dae Kim (Vampire Academy TV series etc) as Chief Kyle, the one in charge for teleport in USS Enterprise.
The first season only consists of 10 episodes with duration between 45-55 minutes. As we know that each episode has different tone and story, it would give different vibe as well. The first episode was the lovely opening, especially with the ending. I love episode 4 as it was pretty intense, until I saw episode 9 which was very suspenseful and felt like Alien movies. Episode 8 was my least favorite and was only salvaged by the emotional ending. Now the final episode was amazing as we were introduced to that special character plus it also had great story with strong Star Trek feel and the appearance of the race which would have significant impact in future. Btw, second season will be airing very soon.
This series has become a personal favorite of mine. I might be biased as I am fan of the Star Trek franchise, but it looked like critics adored it as well with very high rating. It got some nomination and won few awards as well. And those hard core fans of Star Trek also seemed to enjoy it. So if you are one of those, I am sure you have watched it. But those who are not sure yet, you can start watching it and I have a feeling you would love it too.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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