Drama
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Captain Pike finally gets his time in the Star Trek spotlight, but his story is one filled with tragedy and foreboding.
In 1857, we’re told, the British East India Mercantile Company was more powerful than any nation on Earth. Its private army had conquered lands worldwide, plundering the wealth of those places for its rich and influential investors. Its ships crossed the seas unchallenged.
Until Nemo took over the Nautilus, that is.
Nemo had been captured and enslaved by the Company after it took over his homeland of India, a sort of prisoner of war. He had been assigned to work on the Nautilus alongside many other slaves.
The Nautilus was the first submersible ship. Developed in secret, it was to be the Company’s secret weapon in their forthcoming invasion of China—the next land the Company was planning to conquer and exploit.
But soon after discovering that the Nautilus would be used as a warship instead of a scientific vessel, its creator, Gustave Benoit, began to plot how to steal it.
Joined by a ragtag group of slaves who happened to be in the vicinity, Benoit and Nemo successfully commandeer the submarine the very day it was to set to take its maiden voyage.
Hotly pursued by the Company, hindered by a few unexpected passengers and facing 20,000 leagues of unexplored waters, Nemo and his crew set sail for the northern seas, where they hope to discover the Pillars of Halvar and the mythical treasures rumored to be buried there.
AMC+’s Nautilus reimagines Jules Verne’s classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. And while this adaptation isn’t a play-by-play remake, it seems to reflect some similar themes.
There’s obviously a focus on the fantastical sea creatures the crew encounters. Early on, the crew rescues a mother sperm whale and her calf from fishermen. Later, they find themselves caught between the bombs of the Company and a giant squid on the ocean floor. And if the book is anything to go by, they’ll also encounter sharks, whirlpools and more on their journey.
But the crew also faces mortal peril from man. Crawley, the Company director who commissioned the Nautilus and its pursuer, the Dreadnought, is ruthless. He’ll stop at nothing to get the submarine back. Worse still, he’d rather see it at the bottom of the ocean than in the hands of Nemo.
However, Crawley isn’t the only man here with blood on his hands. To steal the ship, Nemo and his crew kill quite a few Company soldiers. And Nemo’s best friend gets killed in the scrape, sacrificing himself to ensure the others escape. As the story continues, Nemo takes even more lives of Company-hired men.
We learn that Nemo was separated from his wife and daughter when their home was attacked by the Company. Though it’s unclear if his family survived, Nemo’s hatred for the Company—perhaps even a desire for revenge—makes him unstable and unscrupulous.
None of those elements are particularly gruesome, but they can be intense. Mild language sometimes creeps up, too. And there are hints of a future romance between Nemo and Humility Lucas, a young woman who uses the Nautilus’ mission to escape an unwanted arranged marriage.
Most of Nemo’s crew was born in or near India, so we hear about some of the religions of that region, namely Hinduism. And, of course, their destination of the Pillars of Halvar hints at Norse mythology (though the location itself seems to have been created by the writers of this show).
I would say that if your family has read and enjoyed Jules Verne’s original novel that you won’t find much difference in the content concerns of Nautilus. But, of course, that can still warrant some caution if you aren’t prepared for these underwater perils.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Nemo commandeers the Nautilus, a submersible ship developed by the British East India Mercantile Company, hoping to find freedom and treasure.
During Nemo’s escape, Company soldiers fire upon him and his companions. After getting hold of some guns themselves, Nemo’s crew fires back. People on both sides die. Nemo’s friend sacrifices himself, tricking soldiers into shooting some nearby gunpowder kegs, which kills him but allows the Nautilus to escape.
The Nautilus cleaves a Company ship in two, forcing its sailors to abandon ship. A few sailors are injured as they fall from the vessel. One man gets crushed by a slipping cannon. Nemo rescues women and children from the wreckage but leaves the Company-employed men to die. However, the soldiers are eventually rescued by another ship.
Many men, including Nemo, threaten each other with guns. There are several close-quarter fights. A man is stabbed, though not fatally. A man with tattoos on his face jokes that his people used to be cannibals. Benoit worries that Nemo is becoming too violent and set on revenge.
A man shoots several gulls out of the air so he can study them. A young boy is obviously disturbed by this method, finding it cruel to kill any creature. The creator of the Nautilus is devastated to learn the submarine will be used for battle, not exploration.
Many people are enslaved by the Company. They’re treated poorly, kept in shackles in a prison, only let out when the Company uses them for labor. Most are hungry and thirsty. A solider even prevents one slave from receiving water. We’re told that the slaves are criminals, but it seems that may not be true in all cases. In a flashback, Nemo tells his wife and daughter to flee as the Company attacks their home. It’s unclear if they escaped, but Nemo was obviously captured by the Company.
Crawley, the man who commissioned the Nautilus, orders several slaves to be executed after they’ve been questioned about Nemo’s escape. The soldier ordered to do this questions the command but ultimately complies (though we don’t see the executions take place).
The crew of the Nautilus nearly drowns when the submarine loses the ability to resurface.
Crawley openly admits that he wants to “exploit” the Chinese market. Nemo’s crew wonders if he isn’t planning to use and abuse them the same way the Company has elsewhere.
People lie, cheat and gamble. Humility acts hypocritically, demanding social justice while also acting rude to people she thinks are beneath her. She can also be a bit entitled, ordering people around. A woman dreads her forthcoming marriage, believing it to be a form of imprisonment.
Somebody eats a bit of soap. We see a man submerged in a bath from the shoulders up. A woman says she wishes she had a cigar.
Someone says it’s bad luck to shoot an albatross. We hear the phrase, “What the devil?” Several people suspect there are sea monsters. Nemo tells his crew a little about the Pillars of Halvar, and someone says the place is a myth.
God’s name is misused. We hear the British profanity “bloody.” A woman tells a man to “Burn in hell!” when he flirts with her.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
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