Strange New Worlds Season 1, Episode 6: "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" (SPOILERS)

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After the Enterprise answers a distress call from a ship under attack, Captain Pike (Anson Mount) finds that the vessel carries Alora (Lindy Booth), a woman he met and fell in love with many years earlier — and that the attackers may have been after a young child on board, who is destined to rule her planet.
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Directed by Andi Armaganian
Written by Robin Wasserman & Bill Wolkoff
 
We had one writer from episode 3 and one from episode 5. EP3 was more of a serious tone, which I preferred. EP5 was more lighthearted. This episode followed more of the serious tone with a little lightheartness. I liked the mixture of the two styles. You can tell the difference mostly in Nurse Chapel's demeanor. Spock wasn't laughing or yelling, just being Spock. I did find Anson to be monotone in some scenes. His performance on the bridge and transporter were not good. This could be the directors fault, because I have seen Anson in other things and he is very good. Hell on Wheels comes to mind, so It was not Anson's fault that these takes were what they got. I know he has more.
I did like seeing the crew on the bridge doing things. This episode showed more decorum which is what the show forgets sometimes. We saw Uhura used for one of her actual purposes, translation. I still don't like the way Uhura makes faces when reprimanded. It needs to be "Yes Sir", after any reprimand. Not roll the eyes or make a face.
The main problem is the story didn't really follow the child enough to feel much for him in the end. They had too many subplots going. This episode is similar to episode 3, a step in the right direction. But still not quite there yet.
 
Maybe the weakest episode so far... but only because the others have been surprisingly good. Still decent, though. Kinda had an old-school TOS/TNG vibe.
 
Damn, that went into some dark territory. But that’s good; it lets you know how serious Star Trek can be. Just hire a better fight choreographer next time!

Also, another Hemmer-free episode. Let’s keep this streak going!
 
Why does M'Benga keep whispering all the time? Why can't he project his voice?

I preferred the slightly gaudy looking planet and clothing. It was more reminiscent of something from TOS or TNG or even DS9.

I wish there were more philosophical debate. Perhaps Pike and Spock could've clashed on whether the boy should be allowed to be sacrificed or whether trying to stop it would be interfering with the prime directive.
 
I honestly thought this was the best episode since episode 2 and I hope we get more episodes in this vein where there are real stakes, and it isn't afraid to go into darker territory.

I'm glad RMB really enjoyed it as harsh as he is on modern Star Trek.
 
Weakest of the bunch IMO, but not anywhere near bad or disliked, just a bit slow. Really liked that they explored something a little darker and didn't come out the other side all too happy, but M'Benga's and Pike's stories were threaded fairly well throughout.

The fact that it's episodic and vary the characters/plots/tones means it's rewatchable or skippable to your preference and doesn't halt things in their tracks the way it would if it were a long serialised story. Doing rewatches of TOS or TNG, there's a bunch of "Oh, this one's just okay" mixed in with everything else.

I find that oddly comforting. I think I'm just still enamoured with the fact there's a good ST show again. :D

Dark Raven said:
Why does M'Benga keep whispering all the time? Why can't he project his voice?

I preferred the slightly gaudy looking planet and clothing. It was more reminiscent of something from TOS or TNG or even DS9.

I wish there were more philosophical debate. Perhaps Pike and Spock could've clashed on whether the boy should be allowed to be sacrificed or whether trying to stop it would be interfering with the prime directive.
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I think the actor really just has a raspy voice.

Agreed about Pike and Spock, that could've been fun to watch, and we really haven't seen Spock's Vulcan-ness cause conflict yet.
 
Hoo boy, that got real dark real fast! I like it. I really appreciate episodes where the Federation can't fix everything and tie it all up in a nice bow. And coming off such a fun episode as last weeks....I'm just loving the variety, tbh. That's what a good Star Trek series needs, imo.

My one complaint was I wish we'd gotten to see more from that colony that rejected their notion of this being the only way for their people, though I guess just their mere existence should be evidence enough.
 
titansupes said:
Weakest of the bunch IMO, but not anywhere near bad or disliked, just a bit slow. Really liked that they explored something a little darker and didn't come out the other side all too happy, but M'Benga's and Pike's stories were threaded fairly well throughout.

The fact that it's episodic and vary the characters/plots/tones means it's rewatchable or skippable to your preference and doesn't halt things in their tracks the way it would if it were a long serialised story. Doing rewatches of TOS or TNG, there's a bunch of "Oh, this one's just okay" mixed in with everything else.

I find that oddly comforting. I think I'm just still enamoured with the fact there's a good ST show again. :D



I think the actor really just has a raspy voice.

Agreed about Pike and Spock, that could've been fun to watch, and we really haven't seen Spock's Vulcan-ness cause conflict yet.
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Episodic Trek >>> Serialised Trek.
 
flickchick85 said:
Hoo boy, that got real dark real fast! I like it. I really appreciate episodes where the Federation can't fix everything and tie it all up in a nice bow. And coming off such a fun episode as last weeks....I'm just loving the variety, tbh. That's what a good Star Trek series needs, imo.

My one complaint was I wish we'd gotten to see more from that colony that rejected their notion of this being the only way for their people, though I guess just their mere existence should be evidence enough.
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It definitely would've been nice to see/hear more about the colony, I kinda hope the show revisits this story at some point, there's definitely more they can do with it.
 
Good to see a social issue story in the classic TOS style.

The question of “If you object to how the Dalai Lama is chosen, how come you’re okay with child labour in third world countries?” is something I’ll be thinking about.
 
Pike's biggest flaw is that he's very naive and wants to think the best of everyone and give everyone the benefit of the doubt.
 
TheVileOne said:
Pike's biggest flaw is that he's very naive and wants to think the best of everyone and give everyone the benefit of the doubt.
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True but I think in this case he wasn’t just thinking with his brain.
 
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I wish Strange New Worlds had pictures at the end during the closing credits like the original series. That's how some of those images like the Orion Slave Girl or Balok became iconic because we saw them week after week.
 
Not my favorite episode. The moral dillema kind of suddenly popped up, without much time to reflect on it. I feel that there was meant to be a scene with Pike and M'benga reflecting a little bit on what the tech would mean for them.

Loved seeing Uhura continue her rotations. La'an being a tough teacher was fun.

And the more I see the bridge in action, the more I'm agreeing with the decision to create the 3 seat bridge in TNG. I think it is kind of difficult if you have most of the major cast on the bridge.
 
seeing Lindy playing against Rebecca again is nice
 
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