Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 6 of 60 TV series by recommenders
People recommend it for its classic Star Trek feel, self-contained episodes and better writing than other recent Trek shows. The common caveat is too many gimmicky or goofy episodes, and weaker drama in later seasons.
People recommend it for its classic Star Trek feel, self-contained episodes and better writing than other recent Trek shows. The common caveat is too many gimmicky or goofy episodes, and weaker drama in later seasons.
45 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 34
- criticize it
- 11
- approval share
- 76%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 34 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Feels like classic Star Trek
“Strange New Worlds is the closest to one of the classic shows out of the new ones”
Comment from 17 Mar 2026 in “Animated 'Firefly' Reboot in Development from Nathan Fillion, 20th TV” “Strange New worlds has had that old school trek charm personally.”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “60 years on, Paramount has ruined 'Star Trek'” “Strange New Worlds was the best thing that ever happened to trek”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Oracle’s 6am layoff emails hit staff amid new wave of cuts” - Comment from 11 Apr 2026 in “The end of Star Trek is now official”
- Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Through Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Patrick Stewart taught us the measure of a man”
- Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Writing a better reality: The case for optimistic sci-fi (2022)”
Better than other recent Trek
“Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds, and Starfleet Academy are vastly better shows than Discovery or Picard.”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “Animated 'Firefly' Reboot in Development from Nathan Fillion, 20th TV” “SNW an Academy had probably the best two season 1 performances of any Star Trek shows ever produced”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “Animated 'Firefly' Reboot in Development from Nathan Fillion, 20th TV” “Lower Decks and SNW corrected hard on earier NuTrek transgressions against the utopian future.”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Paramount Skydance has completed its $111B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery” - Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “Animated 'Firefly' Reboot in Development from Nathan Fillion, 20th TV”
Fun, optimistic and experimental
“hopeful sci-fi movies and TV are more common, like the recent "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds"”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Writing a better reality: The case for optimistic sci-fi (2022)” “Strange New Worlds has shown it's willing to do some pretty wild things”
Comment from 1 Nov 2026 in “Patrick Stewart taught us what good men do with power” “I also enjoyed Strange New Worlds (including the musical episode)”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut” - Comment from 25 Jul 2026 in “The Silurian Hypothesis (2020)”
- Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Writing a better reality: The case for optimistic sci-fi (2022)”
Self-contained episodic stories
“the episodic story telling allows to explore, well, strange new worlds”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings” “each episode is also a self-contained story”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Too many weird or gimmicky episodes
“this show was just feeling itself way too hard if they thought they could get away with like a musical episode in season 2”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “Sadly, the End of Star Trek Is Now Official” “these recent episodes are far goofier and more nonsensical than that TNG episode”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Oracle’s 6am layoff emails hit staff amid new wave of cuts” “The problem isn’t too many “weird” episodes, it’s not enough “normal” episodes.”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Through Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Patrick Stewart taught us the measure of a man” - Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Paramount Skydance has completed its $111B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery”
- Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Through Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Patrick Stewart taught us the measure of a man”
- Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “Creativity is the new moat”
Writing and drama declined in later seasons
“The writing on that show is lousy, but the sets are some of the most beautiful work in the franchise”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Panoramas of Star Trek Sets” “Strange Worlds started so strong but season 3 and 4 really took a nose”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Paramount Skydance has completed its $111B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery” “But the last couple of series was so bad for the drama.”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “Patrick Stewart has died” Weaker characters than classic Trek
“I greatly enjoy SNW, but the characters and their relationships with each other are in no way as substantial as in DS9”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “Was hoping Strange New Worlds would be more TNG like but with ethical dilemmas of our time”
Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “The pencil case model of creativity”
Other TV series people recommend
The four most recommended other TV series, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halt and Catch Fire | 166 | 20 | 89% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Babylon 5 | 86 | 21 | 80% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Silicon Valley (TV series) | 52 | 1 | 98% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Andor | 52 | 5 | 91% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Star Trek: Strange New WorldsThis page | 34 | 11 | 76% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 49 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“roughly half of SNW; and also ... half of what I don't like with season 4 of SNW”
“Strange New Worlds has shown it's willing to do some pretty wild things”
“The problem isn’t too many “weird” episodes, it’s not enough “normal” episodes.”
“I enjoyed Strange New Worlds, but it has too many "weird" episodes.”
“comes closest to scratching the nerd exploration/human experience itch”
“It’s the closest thing we have to modern TNG and DS9”
“But when you only have half a dozen-ish episodes per season, you can't afford filler.”
“Stranger New Worlds had some good things and wasn't a butcher job but not anything to write home about in my opinion.”
“But the last couple of series was so bad for the drama.”
“I couldn't believe that was an episode from a series.”
“Lower Decks and SNW corrected hard on earier NuTrek transgressions against the utopian future.”
“I liked that season 1 and 2 of SNW felt like the stakes were lower”
“I've found season 4 of SNW to be the best Star Trek in the 21st century.”
“Strange New Worlds started off strong, so I'd definitely recommend it.”
“Strange Worlds started so strong but season 3 and 4 really took a nose”
“less immersion breaking then some of the recent Strange New World episodes”
“these recent episodes are far goofier and more nonsensical than that TNG episode”
“The gimmicky episodes were highly entertaining to my decidedly non-Trekkie wife.”
“enjoying them sort of requires no longer taking the show seriously at all”
“Strange New Worlds was the best thing that ever happened to trek”
“Strange New World feels like TOS”
“fun and optimistic and knows what it is”
“hopeful sci-fi movies and TV are more common, like the recent "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds"”
“Strange New worlds has had that old school trek charm personally.”
“SNWs crime is doing the ridiculous episodes way too often.”
“Was hoping Strange New Worlds would be more TNG like but with ethical dilemmas of our time”
“The story is rather intriguing and fun to watch as well.”
“I also enjoyed Strange New Worlds (including the musical episode)”
“Strange New Worlds actually did some of that, and I'm sorry to see it ending.”
“this show was just feeling itself way too hard if they thought they could get away with like a musical episode in season 2”
“closer to the spirit of Star Trek than anything in recent memory”
“Strange New Worlds is the closest to one of the classic shows out of the new ones”
“Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds, and Starfleet Academy are vastly better shows than Discovery or Picard.”
“I disliked Discovery but I love SNW.”
“SNW an Academy had probably the best two season 1 performances of any Star Trek shows ever produced”
“there were a few good episodes in Strange New Worlds too, even though that series didn't really excite me anymore”
“the episodic story telling allows to explore, well, strange new worlds”
“each episode is also a self-contained story”
“The writing on that show is lousy, but the sets are some of the most beautiful work in the franchise”
“I greatly enjoy SNW, but the characters and their relationships with each other are in no way as substantial as in DS9”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.