Is that also the first 32nd Century Klingon we've seen?

I think 'The Devil in the Dark' from the Original Series would be a good option. As would "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" from Strange New Worlds.

I would have it run until Kirk takes over as captain. Then jump forward to just after The Motion Picture.

This not only gives them about a decade of time before TWOK that’s barely been touched by the screen canon, they can do a design revamp to freshen the series up using TMP as a starting point, and they handle the fact that with a series per year the actors are going to quickly age ahead of their characters.

It’s also been suggested in the beta canon that the Gorn are made up of multiple reptile variants. The ones in SNW seem to be raptor based. It’s possible the less agile more tank like variants might show up later.

At a minimum the script editor should have asked the writers hard questions about the Chapel and Batel subplots to justify their inclusion.

I would have dropped the two subplots and used the screen time on La’an who was strangely reduced to giving color commentary for an episode that she should have been front and center on.

(Ignoring sloppy writing as the reason…)

Star Fleet seems to like to compartmentalize information. Examples:

At least post ‘First Contact’ they had hints of the Borg before ‘Q Who’ but kept it quiet. Similarly the Genesis device information was on a need to know basis (although probably for good reason). There was also that Voyager episode based around the Omega directive that only Janeway knew about.

La’An theorises the Gorn have a weapon capable of rendering their enemies blind by interfering with comms, sensors and transport. In TOS: “Arena”, they were capable of faking subspace transmissions to lure starships in.

In Arena while pinned down by the Gorn landing party, Kirk also mentions that communications are being interfered with.

I've long accepted that SNW is basically an ensemble anthology show and TOS crew and others will rotate in and out as needed. The only fixed character is the Enterprise.

A lot to unpack here. Definite 'Best Of Both Worlds' vibes. Great end of season episode. Hopefully this time they have the resolution to the cliffhanger written.

I figured Batel would suffer the fate she did, even before the episode started. It was lazy writing that she should end up in the situation she did and so it happened. The writing team can and should do better than this.

Scotty appearing was a nice touch, and was well played by the actor. Given that Chapel is probably going to be rotated out for a while I think pairing him with Pelia for season 3 might be fun.

The Gorn were also well done, although the Aliens homages are getting tiresome and unless they are going completely retcon 'Arena' then there isn't a huge amount more than can be done with them. Thankfully so far they seem to using them sparingly. Hopefully they will move onto other TOS races in season 3. The Tholians, for example, have a unique feel and less alpha continuity to worry about.

Chekov was on the Enterprise during s1. Continuity with TWOK requires it. Plus some of the star dates for s2 episodes that starred Chekov where set before the star date for Space Seed.

But yes at this point we are ~6 years before TOS so Chekov would be in his late teens.

Anyone else notice that the 2 people on the shuttle down who didn't have plot armor (Ortegas and La’an) were wearing red shirts?

TNG: 'Q Who'

DS9: 'In The Pale Moonlight'

Voyager: 'Scorpion'

Enterprise: 'Carbon Creek'

Discovery: 'Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad' or 'Die Trying'

(I also have a soft spot for parts of Picard season 1)

Yeah. There is definitely several stories that could play out here, for both M’Benga and Chapel.

Continuity wise McCoy didn't join the Enterprise until after the first couple of episodes of TOS s1, Mark Piper was the CMO for those so there is definitely a thread they could pick on prior to Kirk taking command of the Enterprise.

For Chapel we know she gets engaged to Roger Korby at some point. Will be interesting to see how they move the character to line up with 'What Are Little Girls Made Of?'

A bit of whiplash from the switch in tone from the last episode but this was a masterpiece. Strange New Worlds seems to be successfully synthesizing all the Trek shows that have gone before it to create something that is classic Trek, but also something new.

I wonder if the first episode of the season would have worked better if this had been before it in the running order?

The whole ensemble got something to do, except Ortegas who slowly turns into SNW’s Travis Mayweather: that one cast member that is just there physically but doesn’t get anything to do.

I get the feeling the writers don't really know what to do with Ortegas beyond that she "flies the ship".