I second many of your points. And, also…

“the purple D”

Had me immediately thinking, “Well, STO vanity shields are canon now, I guess.”

The mugato was an excellent choice!

The intent behind my original reply was to complain and hope for a change in how dark recent Trek shows have been, except SNW. I know we all have our favorites; I’m just not at all a fan of this trend of the bad guys being cool in Star Trek. Again, in Star Trek. The casts, the acting, the production are all great and I’m glad more Trek exists; I, personally, just wish it was a bit more shiny.

Do I want those shows not to exist in the first place? No. I just don’t rewatch them like I do others, thus I don’t care to make pumpkins about starring characters who are not the characters I’d want in humanity’s future.

That’s great! My original en-edited reply congratulated you, but then I thought, “This is the internet. Burrito Trucks can’t carve pumpkins…” LOL

My favorite is the Mugato.

Fair point and well done (to the artists)!!

How about we carve a Spock or Picard or Mariner or really anyone else who isn’t a genocidal dictator? Hmm? Maybe?

No? Perhaps my dream for Star Trek has too much hope for humanity’s future? Not enough grit, tears, and flashy booms?

Agreed. I would have loved to have that kind of callback to the story.

That was a lot of fun to watch. Thanks for providing the links to the various segments!

Agreed. I’d say that Nemesis theme with Blue Skies is a close second. “A New Ending”

Now I have the ahhh ahhh in my head again. I like the OG opening, but hate the choral part.

Here’s an addendum with a few great episode examples which might pass my “test”.

• TOS: “Amok Time”, (arguably) “The Galileo Seven”
• TNG: “Brothers”, “Lower Decks”, “The Measure of a Man”
• DS9: “It’s Only A Paper Moon”, “Improbable Cause”+“The Die Is Cast”, “The Magnificent Ferengi”

Other shows also have great episodes that pass, but I want to stop here for my examples so as to avoid showing my hand (too much) and stating which show(s) I think fail.

I don’t think you need to watch Discovery to enjoy Strange New Worlds. There might be a few things established in the lore/backstory from Discovery, but any “confusion” from those references will quickly dissipate. SNW makes it easy to see it as a distinct show in a new/expanded telling of a known crew/time.

I will add that there will be stylistic choices in the production that will take a little getting used to, but remember that just about every Star Trek show has done this. Enjoy the story!

I wholeheartedly agree. Well said!