STAR TREK
Dylan Roth Jul 7, 2022. 9 minute read
Strange New Worlds Stumbles at the Finish Line With “A Quality of Mercy”
When Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was first announced, my biggest fear was that it would feel like fan fiction. Fan fiction, of course, comes in myriad stripes and at all levels of craft, but by definition fan fiction is created by and for a pre-sold audience who is looking…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth Jun 30, 2022. 7 minute read
“All Those Who Wander” is Strange New Worlds at its Most Cinematic
In contrast to the two previous live-action Star Trek series, Discovery and Picard, Strange New Worlds has distinguished itself by maintaining an episodic format and restraining the scale and scope of its stories accordingly. It is deliberately not blockbuster, “anything can happen” television, and it’s all the better for it.…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth Jun 23, 2022. 8 minute read
Strange New Worlds Gets a Holodeck Episode in “The Elysian Kingdom”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has stood out from the current pack of space sci-fi television (and Trek shows in general) by embracing camp with open arms. In just the past four weeks, SNW has given us a screwball romcom, a goofy pirate adventure, and with its latest installment, a…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
FOLLOW US
Dylan Roth Jun 16, 2022. 9 minute read
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ ‘The Serene Squall’ Has Won Me Over
Since Star Trek returned to television in 2017, I’ve been mostly enthusiastic about the new generation of shows. I’ve written extensively here on Fanbyte about my experience of watching Discovery, a show that I enjoy despite it being a frequently cringey experience, and I’ve warmed significantly to both Lower Decks…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth Jun 9, 2022. 7 minute read
Strange New Worlds Gets Tough in ‘Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach’
The Star Trek franchise is famously optimistic, set in a utopian future where anything is possible and no one is left behind. The aim of many Star Trek stories is to inspire us to do better, to be brave, compassionate, and curious. But it’s a compass, not a map, and…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth Jun 2, 2022. 8 minute read
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Goes Silly with ‘Spock Amok’
A few months ago, while reviewing the Star Trek: Discovery episode “All In,” I commented on how modern era Trek has isolated the many flavors that have made the franchise so rich for the past half-century and siloed them each into their own series. Discovery and Picard are tonally distinct…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth May 26, 2022. 6 minute read
With “Memento Mori,” Strange New Worlds Goes USS-571
Strange New Worlds is easily the most approachable new Star Trek series of its generation, so far requiring no previous experience with the franchise or even a linear viewing order. So, it’s funny that the most natural way for me to discuss the show has been in comparison to other…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth May 19, 2022. 7 minute read
In “Ghosts of Illyria,” Strange New Worlds Tackles Tolerance and Hypocrisy
Yesterday, the trailer debuted for a new studio romantic comedy called Bros, written by and starring comedian Billy Eichner. In the trailer, Eichner’s character describes being invited by a movie studio to create a “straight-friendly” gay romcom that demonstrates that gay relationships are really just like straight relationships. Except, he…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth May 12, 2022. 8 minute read
Strange New Worlds Proves That Classic 90s Star Trek Still Works
In 2017, when Star Trek: Discovery first launched, Star Trek’s fan community split nearly in half over the new show’s vastly different approach to the franchise. It was practically a rehearsal for what would happen to Star Wars fandom when The Last Jedi hit theaters a few months later, with…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth May 5, 2022. 8 minute read
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is Classic Trek, for Better and Worse
Ever since Star Trek was relaunched on streaming television in 2017 with the glossy serialized adventure series Star Trek: Discovery, the franchise has been expanding in multiple new directions, each a bit further afield from the familiar. The latest new series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, has been pitched as…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth Mar 17, 2022. 9 minute read
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 13 “Coming Home” Review
At its best, Star Trek: Discovery is a thrilling, emotionally-charged space drama that deeply invests in its lead character’s path to becoming a righteous space hero. At its worst, it’s a cloying, self-important product that is mortally afraid of hurting its audience’s feelings. Discovery’s fourth season finale, “Coming Home,” contains…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth Mar 10, 2022. 7 minute read
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 12 “Species Ten-C” Review
For weeks, Star Trek: Discovery has been building towards the fateful first contact between the United Federation of Planets and the mysterious extragalactic beings they call Unknown Species 10-C. Now the moment has finally come, but are Captain Burnham and company ready for its Arrival? That’s right, this week’s episode,…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth Mar 3, 2022. 8 minute read
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 11 “Rosetta” Review
This week on Star Trek: Discovery, Michael Burnham gets bad vibes from an alien graveyard, Ruon Tarka kidnaps a respected stand-up comedian, and Keyla Detmer gets a traumatic backstory of her very own. “Rosetta” is a strong episode that inches us closer to the season’s climactic confrontation but loses points…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth Feb 24, 2022. 8 minute read
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 10 “The Galactic Barrier” Review
When Paramount announced last month that Star Trek: Discovery would be picked up for a fifth season, they were explicit that this next batch would consist of ten episodes, rather than thirteen or fourteen. Fans have speculated that this is due to Discovery no longer being co-financed and distributed by…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth Feb 17, 2022. 9 minute read
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 9 “Rubicon” Review
This week’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery fires on all cylinders, as Captain Michael Burnham finds herself locked in a deadly battle of wills with the love of her life. “Rubicon” is another high water mark for the season, packed with high emotion, stunning space action, and an affirmation of…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth Feb 10, 2022. 9 minute read
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 8 “All In” Review
Back in the days when Star Trek was episodic television, each individual series would feature a variety of different flavors of stories. Even on Deep Space Nine, the darkest and most grimly serious of the classic Trek shows, the heavy material would be contrasted by light, pointedly silly comedy episodes.…
READ MORE >
REVIEWS
Dylan Roth Feb 3, 2022. 5 minute read
A Conversation with ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Creators Kevin and Dan Hageman
Back in November 2021, I reviewed the two-part series premiere of Star Trek: Prodigy, the first Star Trek series specifically aimed at kids. It follows the adventures of a group of young people who escape imprisonment aboard the USS Protostar, a derelict vessel with an experimental engine built by some…
READ MORE >
FEATURES
Dylan Roth Dec 30, 2021. 8 minute read
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 7 “…But to Connect” Review
Star Trek: Discovery’s fourth season began with great promise, and after a few rough weeks it now feels like the show is back at full speed. “…But to Connect” is one of the strongest episodes of Discovery to date, conjoining a classic Trek “message” plot with some tense character drama…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth Dec 23, 2021. 7 minute read
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 6 “Stormy Weather”
All season, the producers of Discovery have seemingly tried to incorporate more classic Star Trek flavor into the new show’s recipe. The results have been mixed, as Discovery’s format of juggling self-contained stories alongside chapters from ongoing arcs hasn’t always allowed for the old school “dilemmas of the week” to…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM
Dylan Roth Dec 16, 2021. 7 minute read
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 5 Review: “The Examples”
For the past few weeks on Star Trek: Discovery, the storytellers have struggled to deliver self-contained adventures while still dedicating time to advancing the season’s ongoing character arcs and mystery plot. There’s still not quite as much meat on the bone as I’d like, but “The Examples” succeeds where the…
READ MORE >
TV/FILM