Category: television

‘Strange New Worlds’ mixes the maudlin and irreverent

The following article discusses spoilers for The Elysian Kingdom. There’s a genre of writing best embodied by the serial escalation of premises found on forum threads in certain corners of the internet. It’s the sort of energy that imbues this week’s Strange New Worlds as it takes a one-episode detour…

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‘Star Trek: Picard’ could only exist on a streaming service

The following contains mild spoilers for the finale episode of ‘Star Trek: Picard’ season two. Picard has always been an outlier in the Star Trek franchise. It’s not a show about a particular ship and its crew; the title indicates that at its heart, it’s about this one character and…

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‘Discovery’ fully clicks into the philosophy of Star Trek with its fourth season finale

The following contains minor spoilers for season four, episode 14 of 'Star Trek: Discovery.' Season four has been an interesting one for Star Trek: Discovery. The show finally embraced a more episodic format, only to slide back into an ongoing storyline in the back half of the season. But today’s…

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Star Trek: Discovery’s faster ship travel comes at the expense of its supporting cast

The following contains spoilers for season four, episodes eight and nine of 'Star Trek: Discovery' and season one of 'Star Trek: Prodigy.' In the initial pitch for Star Trek, way back in 1964, the series was described as “Wagon Train to the Stars.” This was mostly in reference to its…

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With its mid-season finale, ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ charts a new course

The following contains minor spoilers for episode ten of 'Star Trek: Prodigy.' One thing that’s become increasingly common among genre shows is the idea of the “mid-season finale,” where a program goes on hiatus for a bit, but not before shaking things up for the rest of the year. Even…

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‘Star Trek: Discovery’ finally embraces standalone storytelling in its fourth season

The following contains minor spoilers for season four, episode six of 'Star Trek: Discovery' (and vague discussion of episode seven). There’s a bit of a trend or tradition among Star Trek shows, starting with The Next Generation. Somewhere around season three or four the show finds its way and actually…

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