It’s the new teaser for Season 1 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: a cadet has to have some pretty impressive credentials to end up with a bridge crew assignment on a Federation starship. Cadet Nyota Uhura, played by Celia Rose Gooding speaks 37 languages.

It’s not much in terms of length, but it’s heavy on substance. Cadet Uhura comes to the bridge of the Enterprise, commanded by Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and demonstrates the serious talents she has to offer. She is welcomed by Spock (Ethan Peck) wearing some of the longest pointy sideburns we have ever seen on any Star Trek character^!.

Lieutenant Nyota Uhura broke stereotypes since the series premiered in 1966, at the height of the struggle of African-American communities for their rights, having such an impact that Dr. Martin Luther King himself asked Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played her not to leave the show. His thought was that a character like hers, a woman of color in a command post could contribute to people not being judged by their skin color in the future.

Nichelle Nichols‘ performance inspired a young Whoopi Goldberg, who went on to play the role of Guinan on Star Trek: The Next Generation. She remembers calling her mother to the television as a child, saying, “Momma come look, there’s a black woman on television and she ain’t playin’ no maid!”

The series puts the Enterprise back in the role it was created for, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new civilizations, and to boldly go where no-one has gone before. We theorize that the whole thing is set up to put Captain James T. Kirk back in the big chair, because of course we know that Captain Pike’s fate is sealed according to Star Trek canon. The character of Kirk is being introduced in the first season in the person of Paul Wesley, presumably as a lieutenant, so he’ll have time to learn his chops and eventually assume command. We can expect a lot of storylines to involve Paul Wesley’s Kirk in the next few seasons.

Star trek: Strange New Worlds stars Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Ethan Peck as Spock, Rebecca Romjin as Number One, and premieres on the Paramount Plus streaming service on May 5,

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¹ Frankly we think this is an art direction overstep, and it reminds us a bit of the long wing-tip collars of the 1970’s. Lee Majors would have been right at home in these.