7th July, 2023: “Among the Lotus Eaters”.
Yes: it’s Friday, again.
And … ?
I’m grateful I’ve got food in the fridge-freezer.
Life on benefits is not exactly what you call load with cash.
So?
Why we’re supposed too eat fish and chips on Friday isn’t as important as the fact I’ve got some.
I have to admit to a certain amount of envy, though.
My building’s had a few Uber deliveries!
Heigh ho!
~≈🖖≈~
At any rate … ?
It’s Friday: and dinner’s almost ready.
Which means that, once that’s done … ?
I’m going to watch “Among the Lotus Eaters”, the next episode of Star Trek Strange New Worlds.
And?
Letting you know what I thought, once I post my reviews of it, tomorrow night.
You’re going to be reading this piece, then.
So, to quote the old phrase … ?
Now read on …
8th July, 2023.
Episode 4 — “Among the Lotus Eaters” — opens with the now familiar summary of earlier episodes.
Then shifts: to show us Captains Pike and Batel (Anson Mount and Melanie Scrofano) trying to have dinner together …
Only to be constantly interrupted by messages from their respective ships.
Including one for Batel: to let her know she’s not got the promotion she wanted.
Something Pike feels is due to his presence in her life: he feels they should give their relationship a rest, so she can concentrate on her career.
Captain Batel … ? Angrily storms off.
To make Captain Pike’s day worse?
Number One (Rebecca Romijn) gets in touch,
The USS Enterprise has received priority orders about Rigel Seven: and a mission Captain Pike led to the place five years ago.
A mission that went severely wrong: it killed three crewmen, left Spock seriously injured and left the people of Rigel Seven carving Federation symbols into their castle.
Captain Pike knows exactly what’s happening.
Starfleet is ever so politely telling him to clean up his mess …
~≈🖖≈~
Now …
What did I make of “Among the Lotus Eaters”?
First things first, the introduction to the story?
Showing us that Pike has to re-visit a planet he’d made first contact with, many years ago?
Was a nicely done piece of work: it lets us see a little of how Starfleet Command works.
The basic plot device?
A planet whose population are deeply affected by radiation, in a way that — temporarily — mimics dementia? With that radiation also affecting visitors? And a rogue Starfleet officer who’s exploiting the place for his own ends?
Were novel: or, at least, new to me.
We get to see Pike, Noonien-Singh, M’Benga, et al, drastically warped by a sudden lack of memory.
I don’t know if you’ve seen a classic series episode called “The Naked Time”, or a Next Generation episode called “The Naked Now”, but both feature a similar idea.
The crew of the Enterprise are deeply affected by something in the immediate environment: and have to battle its effects, before they’re able to move on.
I’ll be honest, though: neither the original series, nor The Next Generation handle the idea as well as Strange New Worlds does, in “Among the Lotus Eaters”.
Nor as scarily.
After all, the two Naked episodes took place relatively early in their respective series: so we didn’t know the characters as well as we later would.
By contrast, in “Among the Lotus Eaters”? We’ve had a whole fourteen episodes to get to know this crew of the Enterprise: and seeing the change, seeing them lose themselves because they’ve lost their memory, makes “Among the Lotus Eaters” far more frightening than either earlier episode.
Melissa Navia’s performance as Ortegas?
Was possibly a case in point: watching her walk down a ship’s corridor, scared out of her wits, with no idea who or where she is, only to feel safe when she gets to her unrecognisable quarters?
And repeating “I pilot the ship, I pilot the ship”, as a way of remembering who she is?
Was both affecting … and terrifying.
~≈🖖≈~
Petrifying? Terrifying? Affecting?
Yes, very much so.
That doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve not marvelled at other things in the episode.
The exterior shots, for example?
I don’t know where those were filmed: obviously, somewhere mountainous, snowy and gorgeous to look at.
I just couldn’t tell you exactly where it was filmed.
Just that it looked beautiful.
And, with the addition of some sort of violet filter on the camera lenses: or possibly something in post-production, made both beautiful, and alien.
Combine that with the interior shots of the castle*?
A castle that’s supposed to shield the planet’s rulers from the radiation making their population ill?
Frankly, we have another, superb episode in a remarkable strong series.
~≈🖖≈~
Yes: before you ask!
I was deeply impressed and moved by “Among the Lotus Eaters”.
And yes: I want to see if Strange New Worlds’ can keep up the incredibly strong quality they’ve produced, so far.
With that in mind?
Yes.
Friday, 14th July will see me watching “Charades”: and posting my written and video reviews of it by Saturday, 15th July.
In between now and then?
I’ll be watching “The Spies”, Chapter 24 of The Mandalorian on 10th July, 2023: and giving you my written and video reviews on the 11th July.
I’ll see you then!
“Among the Lotus Eaters”★★★★
* I don’t know if the castle interior was an already standing set, an especially built studio set, or the inside of a building in Ontario, where the series is filmed. But to me, it looked like the interior of a church: that’s been redressed for the episode. If you’ve any knowledge about that? A comment would be welcome.
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