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Engadget
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' third season falls short of its second
This is a spoiler-free preview of the first five episodes of season three. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ended its second season with arguably the single strongest run of any streaming-era Trek. The show was made with such confidence in all departments that if there were flaws, you weren't interested in looking for them. Since then, it's gone from being the best modern Trek, to being the only modern Trek. Unfortunately, at the moment it needs to be the standard bearer for the show, it's become noticeably weaker and less consistent. As usual, I've seen the first five episodes, but can't reveal specifics about what I've seen. I can say plenty of the things that made Strange New Worlds the best modern-day live-action Trek remain in place. It's a show that's happy for you to spend time with its characters as they hang out, and almost all of them are deeply charming. This is, after all, a show that uses as motif the image of the crew in Pike's quarters as the captain cooks for his crew. Its format, with standalone adventures blended with serialized character drama, means it can offer something new every week. Think back to the first season, when 'Memento Mori,' a tense action thriller with the Gorn, was immediately followed by 'Spock Amock,' a goofy, starbase-set body-swap romantic comedy of manners centered around Spock. Strange New Worlds is the first Trek in a long while to realize audiences don't just want a ceaseless slog of stern-faced, angry grimdark. And if they want that, they can go watch Picard and Section 31 . Marni Grossman/Paramount+ But, as much as those things are SNW's greatest strength, it's a delicate balance to ensure the series doesn't lurch too far either way. And, it pains me to say this, the show spends the first five episodes of its third season going too far in both directions (although, mercifully, not at the same time). No specifics, but one episode I'm sure was on the same writers room whiteboard wishlist as last season's musical episode. What was clearly intended as a chance for everyone to get out of their usual roles and have fun falls flat. Because the episode can never get past the sense it's too delighted in its own silliness to properly function. Marni Grossman/Paramount+ At the other end of the scale, we get sprints toward the eye-gouging grimdark that blighted those other series. Sure, the series has gone to dark places before, but previously with more of a sense of deftness, rather than just going for the viscerally-upsetting gore. A cynic might suggest that, as Paramount's other Trek projects ended, franchise-overseer Alex Kurtzman — who has pushed the franchise into 'grittier' territory whenever he can — had more time to spend in the SNW writers' room. Much as I've enjoyed the series' soapier elements, the continuing plotlines take up an ever bigger part of each episode's runtime so far. Consequently, the story of the week gets less service, making them feel weaker and less coherent. One episode pivots two thirds of the way in to act as a low-key sequel to an episode from season two. But since we've only got ten minutes left, it feels thrown in as an afterthought, or to resolve a thread the creative team felt they were obliged to deal with (they didn't). In fact, this and the recently-finished run of Doctor Who suffered from the same problem that blights so many streaming-era shows, which is the limited episode order. Rather than producing TV on the scale broadcast networks were able to — yearly runs of 22-, 24- or 26 episodes, a lot of (expensive) genre shows get less than half that. The result is that each episode has to be More Important Than The Last One in a way that's exhausting for a viewer. But Strange New Worlds can't solve all the economic issues with the streaming model on its own. My hope is that, much like in its first season, the weaker episodes are all in its front half to soften us up for the moments of quality that followed toward its conclusion. ASIDE: Shortly before publication, Paramount announced Strange New Worlds would end in its fifth season, which would be cut from ten episodes to six. It's not surprising — given the equally-brilliant Lower Decks was also axed after passing the same milestone — but it is disappointing. My only hope is that the series doesn't spend that final run awkwardly killing off the series' young ensemble one by one in order to replace them with the entire original series' roster as to make it "line up." Please, let them be their own things.
Geek Girl Authority
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS: Paramount Announces Fifth and Final Season
Paramount+ has renewed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for a fifth and final season. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds The news comes shortly before Season 3 arrives on the streamer. Season 5 will only have six episodes. Paramount+ has announced that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 5 is on its way. However, it will be the final season of the popular cross-genre series. So far, only two seasons have been released. The first debuted in May 2022, while the second arrived in June 2023. Here's what we know about the show's final season, as well as what you can expect from the Franchise in the meantime. Cover photo credit: Marni Grossman/Paramount+. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 5 Currently, Strange New Worlds Season 3 is just around the corner. The first two episodes will stream on Paramount+ on July 17, 2025. And the season will make its debut on Saturday, June 14, at Tribeca Festival 2025. RELATED: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Will Debut at Tribeca Festival 2025 Back in April 2024, Strange New Worlds Season 4 was announced. This news came concurrently with the news that Star Trek: Lower Decks would conclude with its fifth season. And it also came as Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 was airing its fifth and final season. However, there is one major distinction between the final seasons of Lower Decks and Discovery and the final season of Strange New Worlds . The cast and crew of both Lower Decks and Discovery didn't learn they were canceled until they were deep into making their respective fifth seasons. By contrast, Strange New Worlds Season 4 is currently in production. This means that they will know Season 5 is their final season when they begin work on the episodes. RELATED: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Trailer Promises Romance, Action and Exploration However, there is a catch. Strange New Worlds Season 5 will be comprised of only six episodes. This is unlike previous seasons, which were comprised of 10 episodes each. Considering the variation between episodes is a key component of the show's success, fewer episodes in the final season is disappointing. Meanwhile, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1 is set to arrive for streaming on Paramount+ in 2026. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Seasons 1 and 2 are currently available for streaming on Paramount+. STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS Season 3 Releases Episode Titles and More Posters Avery Kaplan is the author of several books and the Features Editor at Comics Beat. She was honored to serve as a judge for the 2021 Cartoonist Studio Prize Award and the 2021 Prism Awards. She lives in the mountains of Southern California with her partner and a pile of cats, and her favorite place to visit is the cemetery. You can also find her writing on Comics Bookcase, NeoText, Shelfdust, the Mary Sue, in many issues of PanelxPanel, and in the margins of the books in her personal library.
Boston Globe
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
From ‘SNL' to the big screen: A list of 11 sketches turned into movies, ranked from best to worst
The undisputed godfather of 'SNL' films wasn't based on a sketch at all, but it did spring from the show. The Blues Brothers, Jake ( Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Advertisement 2. Coneheads (1993) Our favorite 'SNL' extraterrestrial family was a natural fit for feature film treatment. Beldar, Prymaat, and Connie Conehead (Dan Aykroyd, Advertisement Dana Carvey and Mike Myers in the 1992 film "Wayne's World." (Paramount Pictures) Paramount Pictures 3. Wayne's World (1992) The feature film version of this 'SNL' sketch was an instant classic — and with good reason. True to its TV origins, the 4. Wayne's World 2 (1993) The follow-up to the hit film original goes bigger and beyond the original premise of Wayne (Myers) and Garth's (Carvey) public access show. They still break the fourth wall and the wordplay jokes and sight gags are nonstop, but now Advertisement 5. Blues Brothers 2000 (2000) The Blues Brothers sequel starts off by acknowledging Jake's death in prison (in real life, Belushi died in 1982). Soon after, Elwood (Aykroyd) embarks on a whole new adventure of putting the band back together. To fill the void left by Jake, we 380395 27: Billy Dee Williams as Lester in Paramount Pictures "The Ladies Man." (Photo by Marni Grossman/Online USA) Marni Grossman/Online USA 6. The Ladies Man (2000) This funny, raunchy big screen Leon Phelps tale Advertisement 7. A Night at the Roxbury (1998) The head-bobbing Butabi brothers Doug (Chris Kattan) 8. MacGruber (2010) The MacGruber (Will Forte) character began as a spoof of MacGyver on the small screen, but gets reimagined as an R-rated 'Naked Gun'/'Hot Shots' inspired-comedy for the big screen. It's another extra raunchy 'SNL' comedy romp, this one packed with sexual innuendos and poorly aged sex jokes. Advertisement MOLLY SHANNON stars as Mary Katherine Gallagher, the quintessential Irish-American Catholic schoolgirl, in Superstar, a film directed by Bruce McCulloch. (Chris Helcermanas-Benge/Paramount Pictures) Chris Helcermanas-Benge/Paramount Pictures 9. Superstar (1999) Al Franken and Laura San Giacomo in the 1995 film "Stuart Saves His Family." (Paramount Pictures) Paramount Pictures 10. Stuart Saves His Family (1995) With veteran writer and Julia Sweeney and David Foley in the 1994 film "It's Pat." (Touchstone Pictures) Touchstone Pictures 11. It's Pat (1994) During the '90s, the Advertisement Ronke Idowu Reeves is the Globe's SEO Editor, and a contributor to the books "Oprah: A Celebration at 70" and "PEOPLE Books: Special Edition Barbie."
