Utopia series streaming8/18/2023 ![]() It was revealed last season that Commander Chin-Riley is Illyrian, and Starfleet does not admit Illyrians. To recap, last season’s finale saw Number One/Una Chin-Riley arrested for lying on her Starfleet application. ![]() It’s a bold move to upend 55 years of canon. I don’t think Star Trek has ever shown racial prejudice to be alive and well, as well as institutionalized in the Federation. Still, previously this has meant a single rogue malicious agent or someone taking desperate measures in desperate times. We’ve known for over 30 years that some of the best Trek stories are about the cracks in the Federation’s utopian facade. Although those rules have fallen by the wayside over the years, I can’t think of another episode that’s broken them quite so hard. The legendary showrunner of the show that kicked off the Star Trek franchise famously had a set of rules for writing the show that ensured that the United Federation of Planets was always portrayed as a utopia, free of things like war, money, and racial prejudice. The action unfolds as a new pandemic arises, with the unsavory wrinkle that someone seems to be using the virus to experiment on children – another area where “Utopia” tiptoes up to a pretty treacherous line, creatively speaking.Hear that whirring sound? That’s Gene Roddenberry spinning in his grave over the direction that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has taken this week. The mystery of “Utopia” hinges on the fact that the original comic, Dystopia, somehow predicted the threats to come, including outbreaks of deadly diseases. ![]() Much, much mayhem follows, constructed in a way that allows those relationships to steadily grow – including a sweet, awkward romance – while delivering regular surprises and building suspense. That forces the central quartet – a likable if eccentric bunch, played by Ashleigh LaThrop, Dan Byrd, Jessica Rothe and Desmin Borges – to go on the run, soon joined by a mysterious figure (Sasha Lane) with particular knowledge about the comic’s origins. Yet when they go to a convention known as FringeCon to negotiate a sale, that attracts not only the extended online group but shadowy forces seemingly determined to erase any knowledge of its existence. “Utopia” starts with a young couple discovering the comic – left in their new house, as collectibles sometimes are – yielding a feeding frenzy to buy it. The clever set-up hinges on the fact that clues to what’s transpiring reside within a hallowed, secret comic, one that produced a devoted cult of geeky enthusiasts engaged in a mad quest for its pages, before being suddenly thrust into the sort of real-life adventure that has occupied their fantasies. That said, a disclaimer: Although the producers have said the violence is toned down from the original, the amount of gruesome torture, extremely high body count and threats to children clearly aren’t for everyone, and the even-remotely squeamish should be forewarned. Steeped in comic books and pop culture, it’s an especially appropriate companion for what has fast become Amazon’s signature drama, the dark superhero satire “The Boys.” In this case, it’s a pandemic tied into conspiracy theories advanced via a comic book, with the unsettling twist that the world-imperiling threat is very real.įor the most part, this Amazon series – adapted by “Gone Girl’s” Gillian Flynn from a 2013 British show created by Dennis Kelly – works by quickly establishing a distinct dramatic life, offering a bleak prism into an alternate reality. ![]() The timing for “Utopia” is either incredibly good or atrociously bad, depending on one’s tolerance for fiction that parallels current events. ![]()
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