STRANGE NEW WORLDS
Beginner’s Guide: The Top Five Episodes
Classic Trek, Modern Crew
Strange New Worlds premiered in May 2022 and has been a fan favorite ever since. It follows Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the crew of the USS Enterprise in the years before Kirk takes command, with a young Spock (Ethan Peck), the first officer Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), the young communications officer Nyota Uhura, the nurse Christine Chapel and Dr. M'Benga among them. Pike was first seen in Discovery's second season, and the show grew directly out of the fans' affection for him.
Strange New Worlds is a deliberate return to the classic format: one self-contained story each week, with a new planet, a new problem and an optimistic captain who solves it by talking. It can be deeply emotional and it can be very funny, and it is happy to try out a western, a horror story or a musical. It is the modern series most like The Original Series and The Next Generation, and the easiest place for a newcomer to start with current Star Trek.
Crew advisory: Captain Pike cooks for his crew. This is the best leadership strategy in Starfleet history.
1. A Quality of Mercy
Captain Pike is visited by an older version of himself from the future, and he is offered the chance to avoid a terrible fate. In a twist on the Original Series classic "Balance of Terror," he finds himself in an alternate timeline where he must command the Enterprise through a tense standoff with a Romulan warship. It is a love letter to the classics that stands completely on its own, and it ranks first because it is the show's most powerful statement of what Star Trek believes about choices, duty and mercy.
2. Those Old Scientists
Lower Decks ensign Brad Boimler tumbles through a time portal into Pike's era, with Mariner following later, and the two meet the Enterprise crew they have long admired. It is the first Star Trek crossover between a live-action series and an animated one, and it was directed by Jonathan Frakes. The episode is hilarious, affectionate and full of joy, and it was nominated for a Hugo Award. It earns its place because it shows just how much fun Star Trek can be.
3. Ghosts of Illyria
The Enterprise visits an abandoned colony of the Illyrians, a people who genetically modify themselves, and the visit threatens to expose the long-hidden secret of Number One. The story is part spooky mystery and part character study, and it gives Rebecca Romijn her first big showcase. It is on the list because it is the episode where Strange New Worlds found its heart, and where it first showed how well it could balance classic adventure with personal stakes.
4. Under the Cloak of War
A Klingon defector comes aboard the Enterprise, and his presence unearths dark secrets from the Federation-Klingon war that two of the crew, M'Benga and Chapel, know all too well. It is one of the heaviest and most thought-provoking hours of recent Star Trek, and it ends without an easy answer. It makes the list because it shows that the show can handle serious drama, and because Babs Olusanmokun's performance as M'Benga is unforgettable.
5. Subspace Rhapsody
A subspace anomaly makes everyone aboard the Enterprise burst into song, and the crew has to figure out how to stop it before it destroys the ship. Original songs by Tom Polce and Kay Hanley carry the story, which is Star Trek's first musical episode and was nominated for a Hugo Award. It is on this list because it is the clearest example of the franchise's willingness to take a big creative risk, and the crew's sincerity makes it work.
More of the beginner’s guide: The Original Series • The Animated Series • The Next Generation • Deep Space Nine • Voyager • Enterprise • Discovery • Picard • Lower Decks • Prodigy • Short Treks • Starfleet Academy.
Not sure what order to watch in? Try our chronological watch order or the Star Trek timeline. Want people to talk Trek with? Enlist and join the crew at one of our Star Trek events around Atlanta.
