There’s weird stuff going on in an uncharted region of space, and the Enterprise needs a closer look. To figure out why gravity waves are being especially weird, the crew strip down a shuttle to make it light as possible, and keep the crew levels down to one pilot: Erica Ortegas. But all their caution isn’t enough as a wormhole appears out of nowhere and sucks the the shuttle into a dangerous, far sway hellscape from which there is no escape.
Writers: Alan B McElroy
Director: Andrew Coutts
Erica Ortegas is one of the most under utilised characters in Strange New Worlds. Giving the sarcasm and being the annoying one who argues – a point they hammered home is a family trait earlier this season – she’s often laid out as a star pilot and war hero, but the most focuses stories we’ve seen have had her shouting affirmation that she flies the ship or heroically saves the day (or heroically causes a scuffle, as seen earlier this season). Giving her the A-Plot was a nice change of pace and it’s good to spend time with, and build on, Erica Ortegas.
The set up for everything was fairly cool. A lot of the season so far has felt a little bottled up, so having Ortegas fly into some space oddities (while Spock stayed home not jealous at all) let us see some cool visuals while the wormhole appearing out of nowhere let us whisk her away into isolation, crash landing on one of many planets that gave us a new, if simple, landscape. Though the best part was seeing her survival instinct kick in. The way she’s been presented so far, from the original drops of her combat experience to this season showing off her tinkering with model planes and a space bike in her quarters, it was nicely done to have her written as a soldier lost in an unknown land, chatting away to herself as she improvises any way to stay alive and get home.
Finding out she wasn’t alone felt inevitable. The story itself is one we’ve seen a billion times, both in and out of Star Trek. Most notable with Next Generation’s ‘The Enemy’ that saw Geordie and Romulan officer Bochra have to work together to escape from a dangerous trap. Here, with the Gorn threat in the rear view and Ortegas’ brush with death and PTSD thanks to the scrap with the Gorn early in the season, it made sense for her to find herself stranded with a Gorn. Not just any Gorn, of course, but her equal; another female pilot who’s jkust struggling to survive and surprises Ortegas by reaching out a hand of friendship. Well, a lump of meat more than a hand…
The whole thing gives a humanising touch to the Gorn. La’an hammered home that the Gorn were nothing but monsters, emphasising her belief that they’re evil. And Erica, who’s always had a very black and white focus, has only seen them as wild, murderous killing machines. Early on she see’s another side. The Gorn, clearly stranded before her, takes pity on Ortegas, offering food and help against the planets aggressive animal inhabitants. Offering to share food and shelter, it becomes the classic enemies surviving together moments who in just a few games and a montage realising they’re more alike than they realised.
It’s a nice episode that lets Melissa Navia take on most of the one-sided dialogue and maybe through her own idealism and empathy, quickly becomes protective of her new found friend. Especially once the penny drops that the Gorn’s maybe just showing this side of herself because due to injury and mission failure, she can’t go home without being outcast or killed. It’s also another example of how Strange New Worlds thrives with a simple concept, even if it’s not original, and worked incredibly well with the more intimate and quiet core story. Especially thanks to the use of practical make up for the Gorn over CGI.
Back in the B Plot, the Enterprise has a good old fashioned ticking clock with Uhura arguing for saving Ortegas at all costs, even to the point of lying to Pike by manipulating simulations for a dangerous mission to retrieve their pilot. That involves jamming the Enterprise into the wormhole to stop it collapsing and then of course finding Ortagas just in time with moments to spare before they have to leave. Ortegas managed to turn the planet into a firey beacon, shielding herself and her Gorny pal in a makeshift shelter so the Enterprise can find them. Then La’an pops down to come save Erica, see’s the Gorn and all that goodwill is undone by fear, panic and a phaser rifle. It’s a massive downer of an ending that leaves Ortegas with a positive experience, a new outlook and probably a dodgy conversation ahead that La’an’s own feelings about the Gorn won’t quite let her wrap her head around.
The only down side for me was how it all happened. Just as she was being beamed off, the Metrons revealed themselves ot have been mysterious twinkling lights watching them the whole time. The Metrons were the aliens who organised Kirk and the first on screen Gorn to fight in original series episode The Arena and here they reveal this is their first attempt at experimenting between the two species to see what happens. While it does make sense to let the episode become a direct Arena prequel, it’s also extremely frustrating that – at the point the episode has everything it needs and has told it’s own story – the show again bends itself backwards to tie together with the original series when it doesn’t need to or add any significant depth other than yet another reference.
Episodes like this that just let us focus on a simple plot, expand on character and have some cool – if a tad awkward – science in the background, work just as well on their own. It shows we don’t need to rely on past stories, tying everything together, and just have a good hour of storytelling.
Highlights
- Starfleet rations being kept within the ships machinery seems silly. Surely there's a safer storage locker?
- Having The Gorn understand English was a nice touch to let the plot flow a little freely and let Navia lead the dialogue and story.
- Ortegas' starship models carry on the fine tradition of real world model kids for ease!
All Connected...
While Ortagas is stranded, Pike hammers home that they have a time limit to how long they can search for her as the Enterprise has to meet with the USS Constellation to deliver medical supplies for a time sensitive mission. The Constellation, and it’s name dropped Captain Decker, would both find their end in original series episode The Doomsday Machine that would see Decker lose his ship, then his marbles as he commandeers the Enterprise to fight back.
About the author
A Fistful of O’Brien
Entering the Star Trek world as an unnamed extra with a few bits of dialogue, O'Brien soon became a fixture on the Enterprise D as it's transporter chief before moving to Deep Space Nine to head up engineering and operations on what was thought to be a backwater outpost before it became one of the most strategically important stations in the quadrant!As the only enlisted or non commissioned officer to feature in the main cast of any Star Trek show to date, O'Brien stands as the only working class hero in the Star Trek universe with a vast and varied career taking from the front lines of the Cardassian war as a soldier, to the front lines of the Dominion War as an engineer, retrofitting DS9, keeping the Defiant from blowing itself apart, and even sniping Dominion troops. All in […]
[Q2&A] Career Track
SFC has always structured it's internal reward and recognition system on the command structure of Starfleet on screen. Newbies are cadets. When they become full members, they become Ensigns. And those eager to take on a leadership role can rank up to Commander or Captain. Even the board of directors are mirrored within the theme as Commodores and Admirals! It's always been the way, but the path of an officer isn't for everyone... Despite the original idea of all star ship personnel being highly trained astronauts, therefore nullifying the need for enlisted crew, the enlisted ranks have existed in some form since the original series. More defined in the film era, particularly under the revision of style and structure in The Wrath of Khan, they have been slightly more prominent since. Most notable of the enlisted members of Starfleet was […]
[Retro Review] Space Seed
By chance, the Enterprise comes across an ancient Earth ship drifting through space. On board they find a whole bunch of people held in suspended animation, wake up the leader of the gang and accidentally unleash one of the most iconic villains of the franchise. Being coy with his identity at first, ship historian Marla McGivers becomes fascinated with a glimpse at the past while Kirk and the rest of the non-historians figure out that he just happens to be one of the most notorious war lords in Earths history... Star Trek, Season 1 , Episode 22 For all the action and adventure of deep space and the idea of using alien make up to mask more down to earth stories, Space Seed gives the first real glimpse of Star Trek's history. Khan is a relic of Earth from long […]
Resistance Is Optional: Choose Your Adventure!
Our trials of bringing the fleet together have been hit and miss with scheduling and dates being a bit slim. So we're opening the floor to the fleet to pick the next date and theme! You can make your selection below on what works best for you ahead of our next fleet event! The final outcome will be shared at Europa on Facebook and in Fleet Alert in the Officers Hub as soon as we have a comfortable number of notes. For more information or to get direct updates on non-Discord online events, you can the subscribe to Twitch channel, visit twitch.tv/sfcq2. Google Meets events are hosted by our google account - you can add sfcquad2@gmail.com to your whitelist to ensure direct notification. Info and invite confirmations may also come from jt@sfcq2.com directly.
Sixty Year Mission…
It's been a really weird year already for the world of Star Trek fans. We started 2026 with a new venture into a strange new future with Starfleet Academy. Then just as the show had won people over, we found out it's the latest in a long list of recent productions to get a cancellation order, is a bit of a weird way to start the 60th anniversary of a legendary franchise. The past few years we've kind of spoiled. Growing up it was exciting to have Deep Space Nine run alongside the Next Generation. In modern times we had multiple shows going at once with Discovery's launch spawning a new world of story telling from revisiting Picard in his post-Starfleet years, to animated comedy with Lower Decks, to finally telling the story of Captain Pike and even a peek […]
[Retro Review] Let This Be Your Last Battlefield
Often shown in highlight reels and quoted in discussions about Star Trek's more forward thinking messages, Let This Be Your Last Battlefield is at it's simplest, a story of the ridiculousness of segregation. En route to a vital mission of mercy, Kirk and his crew end up in the middle of a political minefield. Interrupted in the mission by a stolen Federation shuttle carrying an injured alien, Lokai from the planet Cheron, they're soon further interrupted by Commissioner Bele, an official representing Cheron who announces Lokai as a political traitor and demanding custody. One asylum request later, Kirk's stuck between the two trying to find the right course of action knowing he has orders to follow beyond the situation. The separation between Belle and Lokai is a simple context. And also a strangely charged one looking at it from a […]
Related
New Cast Welcomes Aboard for Season 5 of Strange New Worlds
As the media hype is starting to ramp up for Academy's debut, Strange New Worlds is adding the finishing touches and along with cast such as Anson Mount saying goodbye to their Enterprise, we have some new names announced to have joined for the final season. Acting as a prequel to the original series, Strange New Worlds has helped to expand legacy characters having brought over Ethan Peck's younger and less refined version of Spock, the first career steps of Nyota Uhura, a completely revamped Christine Chapel and smaller parts – such as Dr M'BEnga, Samuel Kirk and T'Pring among others – being revived for the new era. Since then we've also spent some time with a young Jim Kirk, even seeing his first time in command last season, and Scotty's joined the lower decks of Engineering. As the show […]
All You Need Is Love; New Life and New Civilisations. Strange New Worlds S3E9 Review
Following from Through the Lens of Time, Dr Korby is following the trail of the Vezda all the way to Skygowan; a world that worships the evil aliens found buried in a hidden temple. But the Vezda Scotty captured in the transporter buffer after possessing Ensign Gamble survived, escaped and is now fully reconstructed leading the planet and about to unleash hell throughout the galaxy. And of course, it's up to the Enterprise to find out how, why and chase down the demon to save the day. Writers:Dana Horgan & Davy Perez Director:Marja Vrvilo There's something quite nice about the idea of this episode. Strange New Worlds has leaned on retelling the 23rd century era for a lot of it's main hooks, whether that be revisiting the Gorn, Vulcan romance or going to the length of an alternate history […]
Highly Illogical; Four And A Half Vulcans. Strange New Worlds S3E8 Review
When a local planet is in trouble, it's Enterprise to the rescue. Or usually would be, but it's a pre-warp civilisation and the no contact rule applies. But there's a loophole. The planet Tezarr runs on an energy system gifted by Vulcan explorers way before the Federation existed and now it's breaking down. Starfleet can't help, but Vulcan's barged their way onto the planet before those rules were made. They just need a few Vulcans to help... Writers: Dana Horgon & Henry Alonzo Myers Director: Jordan Canning One of the earliest released details for Season 3 was 'The Vulcan Episode' that would introduce the crew to Vulcan Logic the hard way. The set up for all of this is a little shaky. The pre-warp Tezzar planet has high levels of tech outside warp drive and with no Vulcans on […]
War. What is is good for?; What Is Starfleet?. Strange New Worlds S3E7 Review
Since the second episode of the season, Beto Ortegas has teased his documentary on Starfleet as a bit of an excuse to cosy up to Uhura and had previously invited himself onto an away mission where his camera's came in relatively handy. Having permission to film the inner workings of a top secret mission, Beto follows Pike and the crew through a questionable and dangerous adventure as he asks, What Is Starfleet? Writers: Kathryn Lyn & Alan B McElroy Director: Sharon Lewis Strange New Worlds hasn't been shy in playing around with different formats with mixed results. From fantasy adventures with the crew in different roles, to classic warfare drama's to modern(ish) day time travel and even a musical. There's been a lot of classic formats used and this time it's all from Beto's perspective through his camera feeds […]
Chasing Cars; The Sehlat Who Are Its Tail. Strange New Worlds S3E6 Review
Restless in the monotony of real space exploration, James Kirk is getting impatient for his chance to take the big chair and lead without the overt caution of his Captain during a routine survey mission. Until the monotonous mission suddenly falls into chaos when the planet comes under attack from a devastating weapon that tears the ship apart, leaving Commander Kirk without a captain and without a clue as the USS Farragut is torn to shreds. Writers: David Reed, Bill WolkoffDirector: Valarie Weiss Paul Wesley's interpretation of a young James Kirk has had it's moments despite technically not having that much screen time. His first two episodes were alternate realities and even in season three we've only had a transporter pattern used to test a holodeck instead of the real deal. So when we do get a look at a […]
“Only in a leap from the lion’s head, shall he prove his worth.”; Through the Lens of Time. Strange New Worlds S3E5 Review
It's been a season of big ideas so far with mixed results. But as we hit the Bon Jovi marker and get half way there, the season seems to hit a high note just by dialling it all down a touch with a story that could be boiled down to a simple puzzle.Roger Korby joins the crew again, leaning on them to help lead an expedition to some ancient and mysterious artefacts. Suspiciously similar to the final discovery he'd make as a human in the original series, he's found what's possibly a fountain of youth – a scientific idea telegraphed in it's fantasy with it's ritualistic sacrifice, or 'blood magic' – a sample of your blood – to enter. Once inside the expanded landing party realise they're not the first to find this ancient building as previous treasure hunters have […]
