From Picard to Lower Decks, there are a quite a few Star Trek shows on Paramount Plus at the moment, but none of them are quite as good at capturing the series’ original magic as Strange New Worlds. Thankfully for fans who might be curious about the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike and his crew, the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is now free on YouTube in advance of the series’ second season — which will also include a Lower Decks crossover.
Strange New Worlds is a prequel to Star Trek the original series and tells the story of the USS Enterprise before James T. Kirk was in charge. Unlike something like Star Trek: Picard, Strange New Worlds mostly stays true to the episodic adventures that helped keep the franchise fresh and fun.
While that isn’t necessarily the TV trend that’s most in-vogue, it made for a fantastic format for the series’ first season and made it feel more like the Star Trek of old, whether that’s the original series, The Next Generation, or Deep Space Nine.
Star Trek: Strange New World’s first season is arriving on YouTube as a way for Paramount to promote it ahead of season 2’s premiere on June 15. The first season of the show will remain free and on YouTube until June 30 at midnight Pacific Time.