'Strange New Worlds' Trailer Is Totally Your Parents' Star Trek, And That's Okay

Contemporary Star Trek is very good. If you’ve slept onDiscoveryorPicardon Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access) you’ve missed some quality TV that combines great sci-fi with serious adult drama. That said, if you’re only a very casual Star Trek person, the tone of the newer shows may not remind you of the happy-go-lucky vibe ofThe Original SeriesorThe Next Generation.

But not anymore. In the new trailer for the upcoming seriesStar Trek: Strange New Worlds, the concept of childlike wonder and adventure is, once again, the central driving force of the final frontier. In fact, the trailer even makes a point at reminding all of us that the voyages of theStarship Enterpriseare, very often, something that fires the imaginations of little kids. After we see a bearded Captain Pike (Anson Mount) literally get back on the horse to start boldly going again, a voiceover narration points out that notions of space travel are often the grist for “children’s stories.”

In this way, the vibe ofStrange New Worldsfeels like the kind of Star Trek many of us grew up with. The new series is set in a time just before the classic 1960s show and will feature the classicUSS Enterprise, boldly going where no one has gone before. As the trailer proves, it’s an intentionally retro series. And, just in case you weren’t surehowretro this is going to be, consider this:Strange New Worlds— very muchunlikemost big TV these days – will be primarily episodic. Yep. That means you’ll have standalone episodes of space adventure, every week, just like when you were a kid.

Star Trek: Strange New Worldshits Paramount+ on May 5, 2022.Star Trek: PicardSeason 2 andStar Trek: DiscoverySeason 4 are both currently airing on Paramont+.