Strange New Worlds: Valles Marineris

It appears that the modern incarnation of Star Trek -- a nearly decade-long run of overlapping television series of a variety the franchise has never known before -- is coming to an end soon, a victim of corporate consolidation and meddling. But there are still a few more filmed episodes of television working their way through post-production, and we're now getting some of them with the return of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. It kicked off season four this past week with "Valles Marineris."

The Enterprise is critically damaged by an interstellar phenomenon, and transported to an unknown part of space. After a shuttle crew departs for a nearby planet to collect vital resources, the ship is captured by aliens. Pike must convince their militaristic leader of Starfleet's peaceful intentions. But once it becomes clear where Enterprise has really been taken, he must engage in a subterfuge that is sure to fuel the aliens' distrust.

It's kind of impossible to talk about this episode without getting into spoiler territory, so here's your warning to back out now if you haven't seen it. It's an episode that risks being almost goofy in taking on such a wild, big story -- that Enterprise has been taken to Earth 65 million years in the past, to a time of dinosaurs and interstellar Martians.

Frankly, the episode sometimes is a bit goofy. Number One stunning a T-Rex might be one of the wildest things Star Trek has ever presented... at least, until 15 minutes later when La'An straight up punches a velociraptor in the face. The not-terribly-veiled reference to Doctor Who made earlier in this episode feels right at home; it feels to me like just the sort of "not quite taking this seriously" sort of storytelling you get from that show.

Except... Strange New Worlds mostly does take this story seriously. Despite those Doctor Who-like trappings, the core story here is Star Trek through and through, an examination of the opposing ideas of cooperation and suspicion. And it all culminates in a classic science fiction paradox to tickle the brain. (Or... does it begin with one?!) Yeah, it's edging "almost silly" again to explain the barrenness of Mars, the extinction of the dinosaurs, and the existence of our solar system's asteroid belt all in one fell swoop. But the earnestness with which Strange New Worlds generally approaches it all pulls me along for the ride.

Along the way, there's effective and subtle acting from Anson Mount -- particularly opposite guest star Saffron Burrows. Ongoing threads of character building are woven into the self-contained story of the episode, as this series always does so well. And the production values feel just sky high. There was a time where a slow-motion horseback ride through a vast alien landscape would be the major centerpiece for an entire episode. Here, it's only an amuse-bouche before an episode that gives us a dangerous space cloud, a planet's destruction, and... did I mention the dinosaurs?

Strange New Worlds remains my easy favorite of the live action modern Star Trek series. I'm grinning ear to ear to be getting more of it. I give "Valles Marineris" a B+.