‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Vs. ‘Strange New Worlds’ — A Difference Of Plot And Characterization
by Frank Martin
When looking at the two main vehicles for Star Trek on Paramount+, it’s clear they are Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New World. Of course, there are other shows like Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Lower Decks. But Discovery and Strange New Worlds exist to explore and establish a new era of Star Trek for the streaming service, so it’s inevitable that the two would be compared to one another. From an evolutionary standpoint, Discovery came first and Strange New World is a spin-off of that show’s second season. But they are both very different in terms of their focus and approach, so it’s worth examining deeper.
Following Discovery’s tumultuous first season, the ship lost its captain and is in need of a temporary replacement. Enter Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) from the U.S.S. Enterprise. While his ship is under repairs, he takes control of Discovery and works with Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) to locate Spock (Ethan Peck) after the Vulcan goes AWOL. The result is a wild and crazy season that ends with Discovery jumping 900 years into the future. Pike and Spock are left behind, where they resume their duties on the Enterprise for what will become the first season of Strange New Worlds.
There’s a lot to enjoy about both of these shows, but they are formatted very differently despite having numerous connections. From the onset, Discovery is primarily a plot driven show. It has a lot of characterization, too, but its character growth is secondary to moving the plot along fairly rapidly from episode to episode. Meanwhile, Strange New Worlds takes the opposite approach. There is little long form plotting across a season; most episodes are standalone plots that focus on individual premises. Characterization is the driving factor as the intricate relationships of the Enterprise take up a huge focus. So while both shows do have their fair share of plot and characterization, a closer look at each will show that they both move at different paces.
Star Trek is now streaming on Paramount+.
