Since losing Batel at the end of the last season, life for the crew of the Enterprise hasn’t stopped. Mainly because Pike won’d let them. Racing from mission to mission without even a water break in between, the crew are getting a little run down after six months of back to back nonsense. And it’s all because of Pike running away from the loss and burying himself in adventure to keep the grief at bay. As Admiral April pops over for a chat, and to offer Pike a promotion he doesnt seem too interested in, a break doesn’t seem to be coming any time soon.
Writers: Henry Alonso Myers, Alan B. McElroy
Director: Chris Fisher
Sent to investigate some new weird space stuff, things go completely mental when the Enterprise gets pulled into it and thrown, Caretaker style, into an unfamiliar place that turns out to be less of a strange new world, and a more familiar strange old world. Earth, 65 Million years ago. With nearly every system down, and components they need on the surface of ancient Earth, Chin-Riley leads an away team to find an alien ship while dodging dinosaurs while Pike deals with aliens deciding to take the broken Enterprise as salvage…
The dinosaurs are a bit of a gimmick here. And while it’s fun to see La’an punch a raptor in the face without any hesitation, the more intriguing part of the episode is giving a new history of Earth and the solar system long before humanity was even close to existing. In this era Mars is a flourishing, dominating world at war with their neighbours from Dol’drm. The wars not going well and the Enterprise, with technology Martian Captain Cassel has never seen before, could help tip the scales and end the conflict.
Arrogantly assuming Pike has surrendering by default, Cassel has some typical traits but avoids all the usual tropes you’d expect. For the better. Instead of arguing, fighting or uttering too many cliche’s, she boards the ship to let Pike give her a tour of the ship and state his case. Showing her a mixed crew, explaining the Federation and how it works, he almost wins her over. Which in terms of story is nothing special, but as a season opener and a weird third season prior, it’s kind of nice to get a reset of sorts to refresh the shows memory on what Star Trek is.
It also opens doors to some tough decisions for Pike. Once Cassel figures out she can quiz the computer and get more information, she begins to realise that the Enterprise is from the future, Pike is from that planet with dinosaurs and Mars in the era of humanity is a bit of a wasteland. Which all feels very classic Trek. Cassel realises theres no future for Mars, but still wants to win the fight. And Pike is stuck with the inevitable choice; save the Martians and potentially ruin the timeline, or let things play out and watch Cassel destroy her enemy with stolen tech because he knows full well that planet doesn’t exist in his time.
It’s all one big parallel to Pike’s arc. As Cassel submits to the inevitable, knowing theres no future for her planet, Pike has to confront the same is true for him and with each passing year his day will come. It also plays nicely with the pre-destination paradox game that Star Trek’s done many times before. The Enterprise’s reactors become a stolen weapon that destroys a planet, kills the dinosaurs and resets the solar system to what we as the audience know it to be.
And of course, while Pike’s moving from diplomacy to moral crisis on the ship, Una and co on the surface take the silliness of being on prehistoric Earth and make it work to break it all up with over the top action and fun.
For a first hour of a new season, Valles Marineris plays with a few different topics and themes, kind of like a taster of what Star Trek and Strange New Worlds can and has delved into in it’s balance of drama, comedy and action turning an overall silly concept into something intriguing, not too heavy, and with just enough fun to set a nice starting tone for season 4.
Highlights
- Cassel's wider language translating Pike's tone to decribe himself as a widow by accident was a harsh and perfectly understated moment.
- Pelia (and her second Doctor Who reference) seems to have officially checked out and feels like she's just coasting to let Scotty take lead.
- La'ans fears that her genetic history is coming to get her. A small moment that teases something interesting for her this season!
All Connected...
At the end of the episode we learn the extinction event that caused the end of the dinosaur era only happened because of a stolen reactor from the Enterprise. But in Voyager we learned not all the dinosaurs died out. At least one species, the hardrosaur, survived and evolved to become Earths first space faring species. By the 24th century, the descendants of the dinosaur survivors had planed their flag in the Delta quadrant for over twenty million years and had no record of their origins. While some scientists believed they originated elsewhere, a theory corroborated by Voyager, the Voth Doctrine stated that they were the first species to evolve in the Delta Quadrant and saying otherwise was heresy
Previous
About the author
Mars Attacks! Valles Marineris; Strange New Worlds S4E01
Since losing Batel at the end of the last season, life for the crew of the Enterprise hasn't stopped. Mainly because Pike won'd let them. Racing from mission to mission without even a water break in between, the crew are getting a little run down after six months of back to back nonsense. And it's all because of Pike running away from the loss and burying himself in adventure to keep the grief at bay. As Admiral April pops over for a chat, and to offer Pike a promotion he doesnt seem too interested in, a break doesn't seem to be coming any time soon. Writers: Henry Alonso Myers, Alan B. McElroyDirector: Chris Fisher Sent to investigate some new weird space stuff, things go completely mental when the Enterprise gets pulled into it and thrown, Caretaker style, into an unfamiliar […]
Mark Mitchell; 1969-2026
It's with great sadness we report that our Director of Operations, Mark Mitchell, has sadly passed away suddenly earlier this week. Mark was one of our longest serving members and a huge part of what helped shape what SFCQ2 is today. Having served in leadership as a CO, throughout fleet support and originating the role of Director of Administration, Mark's unyielding dedication to the club and his multiple contributions over the decades undoubtedly make him worthy of his Legend handle. From writing the entire base for our modern Academy to being vital in the fleet restructure, to offering support and advice to countless members to support leadership and direction, Mark's efforts serve, and will likely continue to serve, as the backbone of everything that makes Q2 with his primary goal always being to offer the best of everything and push […]
Gamma Quarter 2403 Promotions & Citations
Throughout it’s entire existence SFC has grown, evolved and thrived due tot he commitment and passion of our officers and crew. Keen members can make a huge difference within their unit or the fleet as a whole, and we like to ensure members are rewarded and recognised for all they bring to the organisation. Starting this quarter, we're opening every new period within the fleet celebrating those who have made an impact and engaged in being a positive influence in their unit or in Q2 overall. The most obvious form of rewards comes from our naval-based rank structure. Utilising the same base rank structure seen on screen, SFC takes members through their journey as a Starfleet officer by giving members a chance to rise throughout the ranks from Ensign to Captain. Having had an active and exciting year, Lt Commander […]
A Fistful of ‘Spirk’
We've been spoiled with Spock in the past few years with Discovery introducing a younger iteration of the character long before he became the refined man of logic that made him famous, and continued that story through Strange New Worlds and his time under Captain Pike's command. As Strange New Worlds continues, giving more history to the original series line up and the early meetings of Spock and Kirk as it makes way for the beginning of the Kirk era, we thought we'd look back at some moments that made the partnership one of the most popular combinations in science fiction. JOURNEY TO BABEL TOS Season 2 Spock's got a bit of an issue with sharing. Secret brother who was shunned. Secret sister who's fate was classified. And despite trusting the Enterprise crew with his life, it was clearly only […]
Site & Service Updates July 2026
It's been a strange year as we adapt to then changing landscape of the Star Trek franchise with recent corporate shenanigans in the media industry, as well as adjusting to and anticipating new regulation sin our home base of the UK which has taken up more brain power than we'd expected!Still, despite distractions, we've been working away in the background with a revised Admin schedule to ensure at the very least every Sunday we can check off some items on the to do list and keep everyone updated on the changes whether minor, major or a bit pointless! On Screen Additions After being placed on the low priority list for a while, the On Screen Mission Log section has begun taking shape. Previously the On Screen section had it's own section per show since the launch of Discovery, however with […]
New Unit Application Guide
Account Academy Database Fleet Updates Calendar Latest Entries Explore Database Index Starfleet Academy Help & Support ⯇ DATABASE INDEX ACCOUNT HUB NEw Unit Application Guide Clarification This section is both for information and for making formal applications for creating or importing a new unit into SFCQ2. Applications can also be made directly to Fleet Administration. All applications are considered for review. × JOIN THE CAPTAINS TABLE Every Star Trek fans dreams of being the captain of their own Starship. Although running an SFC Quadrant 2 Unit is (probably) easier than commanding a starship, both roles require commitment and dedication.Unit’s are, and always will be, the core of SFC. It is within them that members can indulge in their shared interests for Star Trek and science fiction while enjoying the company of fellow fans and like minded people. At their best, […]
Related
Across The Universe And Back To Strange New Worlds!
Time has certainly flown by as Strange New Worlds penultimate season is just days away. Things have been a little guarded since the show was announced to be ending with a shortened 5th season, but it gave the production plenty of warning to wrap things up and bring an end to the original Captain and his crew! With some cast announcements for Season 5 seeing new additions including Thomas Jane as Leonard McCoy, as well as knowing it'll a shorter season to bring the show to a close, the fourth instalment feels a little bittersweet. But from recent hype from Paramount, we might just be in for a fun time. Season 4 Episode Titles Ahead of the series launch, the Star Trek social media team have been hard at work with some teases including short clips of each of the […]
Boldly Go One Step Closer: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85nfSzEho68In season four of the Paramount+ Original Series, the crew of the USS Enterprise – led by Captain Christopher Pike – embark on a series of thrilling and emotional adventures across the stars. As they journey to strange new worlds, they will battle inner demons and external threats, encounter colorful new characters, reunite with familiar faces and confront terrifying aliens. Through it all, they strive to embrace a bright, hopeful future.The series returns to Paramount+ in the UK and Europe as part of it's (near) global release on Thursday July 23, and runs ten weeks through Thursday, September 24th.Members can join the weekly episode discussion threads at our Contionuing Mission Facebook Group. Starbase Europa will remain spoiler free for anyone who likes to wait! Continuing Mission Episode Discussion Starbase Europa Fleet Group More Strane New Worlds trending_flat Strange New Worlds […]
New Cast Welcomes Aboard for Season 5 of Strange New Worlds
As the media hype is starting to ramp up for Academy's debut, Strange New Worlds is adding the finishing touches and along with cast such as Anson Mount saying goodbye to their Enterprise, we have some new names announced to have joined for the final season. Acting as a prequel to the original series, Strange New Worlds has helped to expand legacy characters having brought over Ethan Peck's younger and less refined version of Spock, the first career steps of Nyota Uhura, a completely revamped Christine Chapel and smaller parts – such as Dr M'BEnga, Samuel Kirk and T'Pring among others – being revived for the new era. Since then we've also spent some time with a young Jim Kirk, even seeing his first time in command last season, and Scotty's joined the lower decks of Engineering. As the show […]
All You Need Is Love; New Life and New Civilisations. Strange New Worlds S3E9 Review
Following from Through the Lens of Time, Dr Korby is following the trail of the Vezda all the way to Skygowan; a world that worships the evil aliens found buried in a hidden temple. But the Vezda Scotty captured in the transporter buffer after possessing Ensign Gamble survived, escaped and is now fully reconstructed leading the planet and about to unleash hell throughout the galaxy. And of course, it's up to the Enterprise to find out how, why and chase down the demon to save the day. Writers:Dana Horgan & Davy Perez Director:Marja Vrvilo There's something quite nice about the idea of this episode. Strange New Worlds has leaned on retelling the 23rd century era for a lot of it's main hooks, whether that be revisiting the Gorn, Vulcan romance or going to the length of an alternate history […]
Girls Gorn Wild; Terrarium. Strange New Worlds S3E9 Review
There's weird stuff going on in an uncharted region of space, and the Enterprise needs a closer look. To figure out why gravity waves are being especially weird, the crew strip down a shuttle to make it light as possible, and keep the crew levels down to one pilot: Erica Ortegas. But all their caution isn't enough as a wormhole appears out of nowhere and sucks the the shuttle into a dangerous, far sway hellscape from which there is no escape. Writers: Alan B McElroyDirector: Andrew Coutts Erica Ortegas is one of the most under utilised characters in Strange New Worlds. Giving the sarcasm and being the annoying one who argues – a point they hammered home is a family trait earlier this season – she's often laid out as a star pilot and war hero, but the most focuses […]
Highly Illogical; Four And A Half Vulcans. Strange New Worlds S3E8 Review
When a local planet is in trouble, it's Enterprise to the rescue. Or usually would be, but it's a pre-warp civilisation and the no contact rule applies. But there's a loophole. The planet Tezarr runs on an energy system gifted by Vulcan explorers way before the Federation existed and now it's breaking down. Starfleet can't help, but Vulcan's barged their way onto the planet before those rules were made. They just need a few Vulcans to help... Writers: Dana Horgon & Henry Alonzo Myers Director: Jordan Canning One of the earliest released details for Season 3 was 'The Vulcan Episode' that would introduce the crew to Vulcan Logic the hard way. The set up for all of this is a little shaky. The pre-warp Tezzar planet has high levels of tech outside warp drive and with no Vulcans on […]
