Star Trek fans are currently experiencing a new golden age, considering how many new shows have started airing in recent years. Three live-action shows and two animated ones are enough to provide a lot of content for those who have grown to like Star Trek thanks to the older series or only recently discovered it.
However, not every new Star Trek show achieved the same number of positive reactions from the audience. Many people were quick to point out the things they didn't like about Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard. It seems that the latest Star Trek series Strange New Worlds took it to heart, and it does multiple things better than its two predecessors.
5 The Case-Of-The Week Pattern
Even though some plot points continued throughout the first season (Spock's relationship with T'Pring and Nurse Chapel, M'Benga's sick daughter), Strange New Worlds functions as a case-of-the-week piece, with each story lasting only a single episode, two at the most. That's a significant change from Discovery and Picard, which had plot lines running for an entire season or more.
What this means for Strange New Worlds is that even if the fans don't like the current storyline, they have a chance to enjoy the next one. However, if they hate the entire story of the first season of Discovery, then they might struggle with finishing the series. As a result, Strange New Worlds is more flexible and easily watchable than its two recent predecessors.
4 The Favorite Heroes Are Back
It's true that Picard has the fan-favorite Jean-Luc Picard back, alongside several other appearances from well-known characters, such as Seven of Nine. And Discovery brought back characters such as Sarek and Amanda who also played a part, albeit a smaller one, in older Star Trek shows and movies. But it wasn't until Strange New Worlds that the old and favorite heroes truly came back.
They might be wearing different faces and are portrayed by new actors, but they're still recognizable as the original characters. As a result, the fans are already familiar with them when the shows start, and it's easy to sympathize with the characters and understand where they're coming from. What's more, it's fun for the fans to watch how the younger versions of their favorite heroes will act and what they will do.
3 The Humor Returns
It's true that the world of Star Trek isn't perfect. It faces the threat of war, many dangerous villains, as well as tension-filled relationships between the characters themselves. However, the primary spirit of the original Star Trek series was that of exploration and joy at discovering the universe and everything it has to offer. So even when the crew got in danger on a regular basis, there was still space for humor, joking, and light-hearted moments.
Strange New Worlds brings this balance back, making it come across as more of a feel-good story than Discovery and Picard. Both of these shows also had some humorous moments, but unlike in their cases, it's not such a stretch to imagine that the future as shown in Strange New Worlds is something the fans might actually want to live in.
2 The Relationships Between The Characters
Whenever two characters or more led a conversation in Discovery and Picard, it was usually something about the current threat they faced or even about the potential destruction of the ship/Federation/the entire universe. As a result, there wasn't as much space for building natural relationships between the characters. Strange New Worlds takes the time to establish the bonds between the characters outside of danger and missions.
The viewers of the show can see the crew members just hanging out together, talking, joking, cooking, eating, or even playing games. They simply do everyday things that help people grow closer and become true friends and family, not just a crew that happens to work together. Strange New Worlds isn't the first Star Trek show that does this. For example, Kirk and Spock were seen playing chess together and the crew in Star Trek: Enterprise regularly attended movie nights. But Discovery and Picard forgot that life on a starship isn't always about drama, and Strange New Worlds reminds the franchise of that.
1 Everybody Gets The Chance To Shine
Something that Strange New Worlds does even better than the original Star Trek series is that it focuses on multiple characters. Most of the major heroes get an episode centered on them, and no character is forgotten. Pike is a given, but there's also an episode primarily about Spock, about doctor M'Benga, the first officer Una who's hiding a secret from her friends, and the list goes on.
Considering how focused Picard and Discovery were on their main storylines, they didn't have the time to slow down and dedicate an entire episode to a single character. By doing this, Strange New Worlds manages to better characterize its heroes and also makes it easier for the fans to decide who their favorite is going to be. Last but not least, it also gives the actors the chance to show what they can do when the attention is on their respective heroes, and not on the ship's crew as a whole.