Electricity is crackling in the sci-fi ether as anticipation mounts for the premiere of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" coming to Paramount Plus on May 5.
This "Star Trek: Discovery” spinoff harkens back to the classic "planet of the week" format seen in the original "Star Trek" series from the 1960s and chronicles the intrepid adventures Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Number One (Rebecca Romijn), and Spock (Ethan Peck) as they go galaxy-hopping in search of exotic new destinations and alien civilizations.
To build upon the geeky revelry surrounding the launch of "Strange New Worlds," this bold new space opera series will receive its first official tie-in novel next year from New York Times bestselling author John Jackson Miller and Gallery Press.
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The High Country" finds Captain Pike and the valiant Enterprise crew marooned on a planet where their advanced 23rd-century tech becomes useless.
You can check out our Star Trek streaming guide to see where to watch "Star Trek: Discovery" online to catch up on the characters you'll meet in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
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Miller, a seasoned "Trek" novelist, penned "Star Trek: Picard: Rogue Elements," "Star Trek: Discovery: Die Standing," and the 2019 "Star Trek: Discovery" tie-in novel "The Enterprise War," which explained just where the Enterprise was located while the Klingon-Federation War erupted in "Discovery’s" debut season. "The High Country" will showcase the entire current Enterprise crew as depicted in “Strange New Worlds,” including Cadet Nyota Uhura.
"When I was asked to write the first 'Strange New Worlds' novel, I knew I wanted to tell a story that offered Captain Pike and his companions a real challenge," Miller tells Space.com. "They're called upon to understand a place that’s both bizarre and deadly — and they have to do it without their technology, drawing instead upon their own talents and knowledge. They’re completely immersed in the mystery of this place, and it’s my goal that readers of 'The High Country' will be, too!"
Here's the official synopsis from Gallery Press:
"When an experimental shuttlecraft fails, Captain Christopher Pike suspects a mechanical malfunction—only to discover the very principles on which Starfleet bases its technology have simply stopped functioning. He and his crewmates are forced to abandon ship in a dangerous maneuver that scatters their party across the strangest new world they've ever encountered.
"First Officer Una finds herself fighting to survive an untamed wilderness where dangers lurk at every turn. Young cadet Nyota Uhura struggles in a volcanic wasteland where things are not as they seem. Science Officer Spock is missing altogether. And Pike gets the chance to fulfill a childhood dream: to live the life of a cowboy in a world where the tools of the 23rd century are of no use.
"Yet even in the saddle, Pike is still very much a starship captain, with all the responsibilities that entails. Setting out to find his crewmates, he encounters a surprising face from his past—and discovers that one people's utopia might be someone else's purgatory. He must lead an exodus—or risk a calamity of galactic proportions that even Starship Enterprise is powerless to stop…”
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" debuts exclusively on Paramount Plus starting on May 5, with John Jackson Miller’s "The High Country" tie-in novel arriving on Feb. 21, 2023.
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