Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x06 "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" TV Show Review

 Hey everyone! Happy Friday! I'm back for my review of this week's episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach". I don't have much else to say in this intro, so let's talk about the episode shall we? Let's get into it.

I've started to realize that some of the main plots for these episodes feel like they were lifted from the early Pocket Books novels and DC Comics comics for both TOS and TNG that were published in the '80s. Not because they ARE taken from the novels and comics, because as far as I know, they aren't, but they do feel like stories that would've been told in the novels and comics since the shows in the '60s and '80s didn't have the budgets to tell these kinds of stories, whereas a novelist or comic book writer had no problem putting these kinds of stories in the books and comics they wrote for the franchise. Particularly in the '80s and early '90s. I'm not complaining of course, because there are many stories in the novels and comics that are some of my favourite Star Trek stories of all time. But it's nice to see the franchise catching up to the imaginations of the franchise's writers without having to make alot of compromises.

Especially for this episode. Both Pike and Uhura are the focus of this episode and I am not upset about that because Pike's story is interesting in this episode, as it shows a past love he had when he was a lieutenant, presumably aboard the Enterprise under April. In other words, not Vina. 

I am honestly impressed with how tame the violence in this show has been compared to both Discovery and Picard. I mean it's not TOS cheesy, but it's also not super heavy and visceral like on the other two live action New Trek shows either. Which I appreciate because I don't like it when Star Trek is ultra violent. 

I'm not going to say too much about the rest of the main plot of the episode, but it is a pretty decent diplomatic story. I would like to talk about Uhura and her story for a bit. I really like we get to see her in a different department in every episode. Mainly because we saw Uhura do so many things in TOS. Like in some episodes she'd take the helm or navigation/weapons for Sulu and Chekov but for the most part a communications officer doesn't need to know to fly the ship or fire the weapons. But having her be on the ship and spending time in each department connects it to TOS just that much more. Plus it also ties it into what we saw with Saavik in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. She was primarily the navigator, but could also take the science station if necessary. Plus Doctor Crusher was rated for command duties in TNG. That's cool.

I also love that we went back to Doctor M'Benga's daughter in this episode, and saw a bit of progression with it. Not so much that we got a resolution to it, but enough that it actually feels like the story is being carried forward instead of being held back. Which I really appreciate. So much early Star Trek would introduce plot threads that either never panned out, or took a season or two to get back to. So to have this show introduce threads and return to them often is great.

Overall this was another solid episode of SNW. I am having such a fun time with this Star Trek series. It's honestly my favourite modern Star Trek series, which I never thought I would say because I'm not a big TOS guy. TNG has been, and always will be, my Star Trek, and while I've always appreciated what TOS did, not just as the first series in the franchise, but what it did for television in general in the 1960s and beyond, it's never been my favourite series.

Alright my friends that's going to be it for me for this week. I've got lots in store for you next week so until then have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.