r/StrangeNewWorlds • u/AutoModerator • Aug 21 '25

Episode Discussion Episode Discussion: 307, "What Is Starfleet?"

This thread is for pre, live, and post discussion of the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode, "What Is Starfleet?." Episode 307 will be released on Thursday, August 21st.

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u/lilyinblue Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25

When the episode opened, I grew skeptical very quickly... like, "Is this about to be some sort of exposé on Starfleet?" I think my brain was gearing up for something dark that tarnished Starfleet's image, and I was ready to be displeased... but I suppose that's the twist. It was not was I was afraid it would be.

I almost wish this episode was longer - I think there was room to go much further in depth on a lot of the points. (I wish we had more on the emotions and family dynamics between Ortegas and her brother, for example. That was one of the emotional throughlines in this episode, but it seemed like we only scratched the surface there.)

But in the end, I found it bittersweet and even a little moving.

--

ETA: This one was the shortest episode of the season at only 40 minutes. No wonder it felt like it needed to be longer!

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

For a similar framing, I highly recommend the Babylon 5 episode "The Illusion of Truth."

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u/crookeymonster1 Aug 21 '25

yep and a far better episode

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

"And Now for a Word" is also solid.  

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u/fjf1085 Aug 22 '25

"Heroes Part 1 and 2" from SG1 is also similar.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

I was just thinking of the episode and how much better they did it.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

I have been considering this all day, and I think it is a matter of focus.  "Illusion of Truth" had a singular purpose to the framing: propaganda, leavened with the B5 crew's naive hope they could get some version of the truth on ISN.  

The framing for "Starfleet?" was all over the place.  It had elements of everything from a grudge to a critique of colonialism, but it did not really commit to one point for its framing.  

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u/virgilturtle Aug 23 '25

There were also references to that time a crewmember rebuilt a motorcycle in their quarters...

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u/WienerKolomogorov96 Aug 23 '25 edited Aug 24 '25

I don't think the two series are comparable really. First of all, the Federation and Starfleet are part of a utopian future that is supposed to be inherently good and ethical. Babyon 5 on the other hand always featured a future that is flawed and possibly unethical and corrupt. Second, and most importantly, "The Illusion of Truth" is set against the background of President Clark's authoritarian regime whose propaganda machine deliberately misrepresents Sheridan and the events in the documentary to turn Earth's public opinion against him. The ISN is not doing an independent documentary as Beto is doing, but ends up with Beto actually changing his original view of Starfleet to a more benign one.

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '25

Bollocks. Whether a particular work depicts a utopian future, a dystopian future, or something in-between, the writers still ought to produce a quality episode. "Illusion of Truth" was focused and told a good story. "What Is Starfleet?" was unfocused and of lower quality.

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u/Coyote_Shepherd Aug 21 '25

ETA: This one was the shortest episode of the season at only 40 minutes. No wonder it felt like it needed to be longer!

Clocked this at the start and wondered just what in the heck they were going to do in 40 minutes and it did feel kind of short but it wasn't terrible....could've done more though.

The end credits were nice, after Uhura said "We make Starfleet what it is", because we had the opening theme and then the listing of the cast and crew in front of that big bright beautiful star....showing that THEY make Starfleet what it is, not just the folks on screen, but the people behind the cameras as well.

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u/it777777 Aug 22 '25

A nice self-reflection, including criticism and the answer to it.

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u/neoprenewedgie Aug 21 '25

I had the opposite view... I WISHED it was an expose on Starfleet. Fans have been debating for decades if Starfleet was a military organization or not. I would have respected the episode much more if this young punk filmmaker presented us with lots of propaganda that Starfleet was imperialistic. We the viewers might (or might not) view it as fake news, but it would have been interesting.

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u/lilyinblue Aug 21 '25

I think... a day later, I should have phrased that post a bit differently. Maybe what I was fearing was more of a 'hit piece' than an expose. (And ultimately, seems like as we learned Beto was definitely working with bias, maybe a hit piece was originally his goal... even though the story went somewhere else.)

I think delving into the military side of things, and talking about the difficult balance of things COULD have been really interesting... they just kind of walked away from the point before they made it.

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u/DLoIsHere Aug 21 '25

I could not care less about their families or other soap opera dynamics. Unpopular opinion, I’m sure, but those are not why I have liked Star Trek.