Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Readies Uhura to Become One of Its Brightest Stars – Gizmodo

Its *so* the right time for genius.Image: Paramount

Star Trek, from its very beginning, has been about a lot of things, but one thing above all: beautiful people performing competence porn. The idealized future utopia, the spaceships and costumes, the action and adventure, the sci-fi of it all, that can be brushed aside if Star Trek gives you people who really enjoy being good at their jobs. So what do you do when you take one of its brightest and imagine them in a place where theyre not quite sure theyre that good yet?

Thats what Children of the Comet, the second episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, is about at its core. On the surface, of course, its a bit of classic Star Trek storytelling that Strange New Worlds relishes in emulating, even if it doesnt really have more to add to it: the Enterprise has come across a comet in danger of wiping out a pre-warp civilization on the planet Persephone-3, and finds itself having to navigate a rescue mission that puts it at odds with a technologically advanced ship that believes said comet is a life-giving divine entity.

Youve got your space anomaly, youve got tough first contact with an unknown species called the Shepherds, and, dont get too hot under the collar just yet Trek fans, but theres even an away mission gone wrong thrown into the mix as well. When the Enterprise dispatches a teamUhura, Spock, Laan, and newcomer sciences officer Sam Kirk (yes, Kirks brother, no, sadly not played by season twos Paul Wesley with a fake mustache in homage to William Shatner, but by Dan Jeannotte)to the comets surface, they promptly get trapped by a mysterious shield system on the comet, and find themselves trying to solve the mystery of a glowing, egg-like core within its cavernous structures so they can beam out. Things get bad to worse, like all good Star Trek mysteries, when Kirk is injured and the aforementioned aliens begin firing on the Enterprise for trespassing on the comets sacred grounds. But, also like all good Star Trek, our heroes work out a way to resolve everything amicably and the day is saved. The comet is diverted, the away team get, well, away safe, and both the mysterious Shepherds and the aliens on Persephone-3 are all satisfied, the latter mostly because they werent wiped out by a comet, instead having it pass by their planet close enough to bring atmosphere-altering rainfall to the desert world.

G/O Media may get a commission

Save $70

Apple AirPods Max

Experience Next-Level SoundSpatial audio with dynamic head tracking provides theater-like sound that surrounds you

Its all very simple, and thats what Strange New Worlds is very good at so fara simple, tropey plot that you check in every week to watch get resolved, no matter how briefly tense things get, because you know youre watching a Star Trek show, and above all, youre watching a Star Trek show about the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, so you know everythings going to work out well. What makes Children of the Comet really spark, however, that all that is layered over a really important journey for one of its most potential-laden characters: Celia Rose Goodings young Nyota Uhura. Children of the Comet really is Goodings show to steal, and she does it with aplomb, giving us an incredible performance that navigates a side of Uhura that were very familiar withthe confident xenolinguist who knows she can get her job donewith one that were really not: a young cadet who came to Starfleet more out of curiosity than honor and inspiration, and one who suddenly finds herself surrounded by the best and brightest the organization has to offer, and likewise begins to find herself thinking like shes increasingly out of place.

From an impromptu Captains quarters dinner for the senior staff that opens the episode, to Uhura going on her first official away mission to join the team on the comet, to her eventually being the one that unlocks the mystery of the comet to help save the day, Uhuras arc in Children of the Comet sees her grow from this young cadet unsure shes in the right place for where she wants to be in her life, to something closer to the proud, charismatic young woman we met in the original Star Trek. And sure, we know that things are going to turn out OK for her, even when Uhura repeatedly tells people around her that shes not sure her future is in Starfleet, or is shocked when her fellow officers turn to her for advice and expertise, because, well, shes Nyota Uhura. Her fate, just like Pikes in a way, is a done deal.

But even then, theres something incredibly satisfying to watch the seeds of the character that weve known for over half a century at this point beginning to flourish through Goodings take on the character. Her curiosity, her passion for languageand a cute nod to her passion for song when she realises that the comets core can communicate through harmonics after idly humming a folk songher assuredness in herself after she eventually learns, with a little push from Spockwhen things start getting dicey, to trust in the fact that she wouldnt be where she was if she wasnt good at her job. It all comes together to give Children of the Comet and its otherwise pretty basic Star Trek premise a real sense of heart, in spite of the inevitability of its outcome.

If thats what Star Trek: Strange New Worlds wants to deliver week in, week outwell-executed plots of the week with a heartfelt exploration of one of its key characters, a familiar face or otherwisethen Children of the Comet is already setting a gold standard for the rest of the show to match. And if it does, like its Starfleet heroes, then Strange New Worlds can take a lot of satisfaction from a job well done.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

View original post here:

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Readies Uhura to Become One of Its Brightest Stars - Gizmodo