Star Trek executive producer wants more Strange New Worlds episodes, and I’m nervous ( screenrant.com )

HobbitFoot , 10 months ago

That might be good, but I don’t think the actors would be able to take it. There are already bottle episodes like “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”.

williams_482 , 10 months ago

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is definitely not a “bottle episode”. Bottle episodes are episodes which require minimal or no additional budget for SFX, sets, etc beyond what is already available from previous/upcoming episodes. They exist as a money saving device which was necessary for shows to run 26 episode seasons and shell out for expensive productions while remaining within their budget. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow wouldn’t have been the most expensive episode to film, but there’s still a lot of exterior scenes, VFX, etc which make it quite a bit pricier than an episode almost entirely confined to a handful of existing sets.

It is a happy accident (whether by chance, or because the format forces an emphasis on the stories Trek has been best at telling) that Trek bottle episodes tend to include some of the best writing and character moments of the various series. This naturally leads to some confusion about what a “bottle episode” actually means.

Strange New Worlds has not had any true “bottle episodes” to date, although they certainly have been able to work in a lot of high quality character moments.

HobbitFoot , 10 months ago

If you look at the issue being actor fatigue instead of cash, the episode looks a lot more like a bottle episode.

The main character for the episode is someone who would be considered to be supporting cast. The only other characters from the show with significant screen time are also supporting cast.

It is an expensive bottle episode, but the scenes take place in a modern day city with a deep film industry. That is one step above TOS having an episode in a Western setting because the soundstage for it was already built.

riley0 , 10 months ago

I liked seeing La’an’s character develop in this one.