Today marks the official release of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Rotten Tomatoes has already awarded the Paramount+ original series with a perfect score. Seeing a new show granted the "Certified Fresh" ranking from Rotten Tomatoes on its premiere day is cause for celebration since it can be hard to get a group of approved critics to give a debuting series a unanimous approval rating. There has already been a tremendous amount of excitement behind the new Star Trek series, especially after The Vampire Diaries alum Paul Wesley was announced as Captain James T. Kirk.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has 23 reviews as of this writing, and it still has a perfect 100% on the Tomatometer. All 23 reviewers gave Strange New Worlds a Fresh rating, with the Audience Score coming in at 94% with 66 ratings.
There have been a lot of questions concerning how long Anson Mount will play Captain Christopher Pike considering we know Wesley's Kirk will eventually take over the captain's chair of the USS Enterprise. Mount addressed the rumors that he will only be on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for one season.
"We wanted to do a true prequel — PREQUEL — to the original series, and that is couched in the Pike years. But, as you know, in the world of TV scripting, one season does not necessarily correspond to one year," Anson Mount told Cinemablend. "As we get into the show, there's really... I'm not sure we've really demarcated how far time is progressing between seasons. So, I don't know. We'll see where it ends up. But, yeah, no, that would be a very different show."
ComicBook.com spoke to Mount and asked what it's like playing a character who knows his fate and whether it's affected him personally at all. The second season of Star Trek: Discovery showed Pike a vision of his future, which included how his career will come to a tragic end.
"I'm a fairly practical actor," Mount said. "I think I spend more time thinking about how can I bring my life experience into my work rather than worrying that my work is going to affect me. I think that the great American myth of actors is that we are some sort of shaman that channel alternate personalities, and we can be affected greatly by our work and it's just bull**** to be honest."
Mount continued: "But to answer the other part of your question, Pike's very clear vision of his future is something that we wanted to face head-on and make a part of the development of the show rather than just kind of, 'Oh, that's a difficult plot point, let's just steer around that.' Really, what does it do to a person, particularly a leader who's in charge of hundreds of lives that serve under him? Can you be an effective leader? Is this going to affect your judgment in any way? So, it's a big part of season one."
Continue reading to see what some of the Rotten Tomatoes critics had to say about Season 1 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Thelma Adams - TheWrap
Oh, joy! A "Star Trek" origin story that captures the humanism, humor and impulse to connect of the original while smoothly "assimilating" into the larger "Star Trek" universe.
prevnextAlan Sepinwall - Rolling Stone
It's almost startling how effective the old format is after all this time. The early episodes of Strange New Worlds have a little bit of everything the franchise has tried over the years: exploration, diplomacy, action, even comedy.
prevnextDan Fienberg - Hollywood Reporter
After a string of spinoffs characterized by gritty darkness or twisty mythologizing, Paramount+ may have cracked the Star Trek code with a new series that's bright, optimistic and fundamentally episodic in nature.
prevnextSam Stone - CBR
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is finally here and breathes new life in classic characters and elements from Star Trek history to great effect.
prevnextZack Handlen - Variety
Strange New Worlds is content to fall back on the basics: a likable cast traveling the galaxy, having wacky sci-fi adventures, and generally having a hell of a good time. By and large, this approach works.
prevnextEmma Stefansky - Thrillist
The possibilities for this show are, quite simply, endless. Part of the reason why it works so well is the cast and the way the show follows all their charming interpersonal relationships.
prevnextBrian Lowry - CNN.com
A direct prequel populated by younger versions of characters like Spock and Uhura, it's hardly a bold construct but it's mostly an entertaining one.
prevnextRick Marshall - Digital Trends
Just one season of Strange New Worlds delivers enough memorable moments and stirring performances to put Christopher Pike in the conversation when discussing the franchise's most revered captains.
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