Spock’s going through a bit of a personal crisis and Scotty’s become madly competitive with an old Academy rival. These two separate threads collide in the weirdest way when Spock finds himself as the only person who can control the ship as Scotty’s transporter antics turn everyone into puppets…
Writers: Henry Alonso Myers & Dana Horgan
Director: Jordan Canning
Spock’s not quite feeling himself and he hasn’t quite been himself since the Griffin Incident. And things are getting worse. Leaning heavily towards logic over his exploration of his human side, and in the wake of La’an deciding their relationship had reached it’s ‘natural conclusion’, he’s spiraling. Well, as much as a Vulcan would allow themselves to. Desperately trying to balance himself, he’s leaning into logic and reaching out to his scorned ex-fiancee for help in re-establishing his Vulcan side.
While thats happening, Scotty’s on a mission to win an old rivalry. His former classmate, who beat him to top of the class by the smallest of margins, has the record for the longest transport distance. Scott’s about to break it. With T’Pring making her way to the Enterprise, Spocks out in a shuttle launching transporter buoy’s for Scotty’s record breaking experiment and thats when it all hits the fan. While Spock watches from the shuttle, Scotty transports a somewhat terrifying puppet 300,000 kilometres to his old rivals ship which breaks absolutely everything.
Within minutes the transporter overloads, goes a bit mental and starts beaming everyone up into it’s new matrix which was decided means everyone on board should look like Scotty’s puppet, Little Ricky, and soon enough Spock gets back to the ship to find everyone made of fabric and stuffing.
Somewhat embarrassed by their predicament, the crew quickly realise their puppet hands can’t operate any on board equipment, leaving the already mentally drained Spock being chased to push every button that needs pushed, deal with the scorn of his hi-jinks hating ex being drawn into the madness and to make it all worse, Orion pirates find out what’s happening thanks to the push of a wrong button and decide to invade and steal the Enterprise.
If there’s one thing Star Trek has shown us, it’s that space is dangerous, awe inspiring and sometimes just downright weird. One day you’re shrunk down to the size of a pencil sharpener fending off a Jem’Hadar invasion, the next you’re trying to break the warp threshold and get transformed into a horny salamander. When you’ve accepted teenage Picard, Space Abraham Lincoln, and whatever Move Along Home was, puppets deserve a fair shot.
There’s a lot to like about the episode. From a comedic perspective, Spock as the one real person in Star Trek: The Muppet Movie makes a lot of sense. For all the options, it’s the perfect character to have both that silent exasperation as he realises the entire crew are rendered useless with immobile, stuffed fingers as well as in being that type of character that pressures themselves to take everything on by themselves because they feel they have to. It’s one of those episodes that blends a completely mad idea to blend in and mask the fact that Spock is essentially having one massive anxiety attack thanks to trying to logic his way out of PTSD.
On a technical level, it’s also incredibly impressive how well the Jim Henson Creature Shop created the puppet versions of the crew and filmed it all on sets that clearly weren’t designed for the kind of work they do. From the character design right down to the mannerisms, the work was incredible before even taking into account how troublesome it would have been for the puppeteers to work around those sets.
Taken as a single episode and story, it was fun and fine. Not great, not awful. Even if some of the jokes were hammered into the ground. And it all being Dallas’d away was both a blessing of not trying to make the illogical side of the story canon while also feeling a bit of a let down for the same reason people groaned at the reset button.
In larger context, however, whether fair or not to say, the episode does highlight the major drawback to the producers feeling they need to keep swinging through ideas, themes and genres (as if Star Trek hadn’t before…). In a traditional series block, an episode like this would blend in and people would forget. For a condensed series where it feels like every episode needs a gimmick, it just becomes a bit tiring now that there’s a need to write anything but a solid hour of television and just rely on some other thing to give it a theme.
Spock has a genuinely interesting arc at this stage. We might know where he’s going to end up, but in universe he’s at make or break point and for all they have done with him since Discovery, having all these hang-ups and issues that could make a deeply profound story coming down to an episode that just feels like it was made for poops and giggles just feels like a waste of an hour. Especially when we all know there’s so few hours left.
EPISODE DISCUSSION & SPOILERS
Highlights
- I Love Lucy, the flagship of original Trek production company Desilu, inspired Scotty's puupet name. Little Ricky was the son of leads Lucy and Ricky.
- While all the puppets were incredibly well crafted, the tubing they used to bring an extra dimension of madness to Pelia's hair was just incredible.
- The comedic timing of Uhura turning on visual comms was spot on perfect. The Henson team did an incredibly job!
All Connected...
Scotty’s experiments with transporter technology and trying to beam farther than anyone has before links nicely with the Kelvin Universe films. In those films, Spock travels back in time from the TNG era to become part of the reason the divergent timeline exists. Knowing things had went wrong, and that he had to try and fix it, he reveals that future Scotty kept himself busy by experimenting with ‘transwarp’ transporter technology. With knowledge of the late 24th century and Scotty’s plans, Spock gives the equations to the Kelvin Timeline Scotty to help lead Kirk to take his place in the Captains Chair.
About the author
A Fistful of Spooky Encounters
Since it's inception Star Trek hasn't just been a sci fi show, but a show that used it's science fiction setting to tell a variety of stories from a large pool of themes and styles. And since we're officially in 'Spooky Season' on the countdown to Halloween, why not take a look at some of Star Trek's best dives into darkness? EMPOK NOR DEEP SPACE NINE, SEASON 5 Deep Space Nine is falling apart and thanks to the war, O'Brien can't exactly ask the Cardassians for spare parts. But he has a plan. Along with Nog and Garak, O'Brien leads an engineering crew to another abandoned Cardassian station to salvage what they can. Only problem is... there's a reason it was abandoned... Possibly the most straight forward horror story in the series, Empok Nor was host to an experiment gone […]
Delta Quarter Promotions & Citations: September 2026
Throughout it’s entire existence SFC has grown, evolved and thrived due to the commitment and passion of our officers and crew. Keen members can make a huge difference within their unit or the fleet as a whole, and we like to ensure members are rewarded and recognised for all they bring to the organisation. Starting this year, we're opening every new period within the fleet celebrating those who have made an impact and engaged in being a positive influence in their unit or in Q2 overall. And while we're getting in a little bit earlier, we'd like to introduce our Delta Quarter awards. While promotion is one of the most visible awards available to members, one of the most vital are our commendations. Commendations are a formal recognition awarded to members of Quadrant 2 who have shown commendable service and […]
Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey: ‘Tomorrows Enterprise’, Strange New Worlds S4E10
Focusing on two timelines, Tomorrows Enterprise leads with Uhura of the present linked to her future as the two work together, manipulating the timeline to their advantage to solve the mystery of an undecipherable alien message, and a certain Scottish engineer who seems to have vanished from the timeline in the future... Writers: Henry Alonso Myers & Robbie Thompson. Director: Chris Fisher. In the present, there's some weirdness for Pike's Enterprise as they investigate a White Hole thats giving off some weird signals and an energy pulse that causes a temporal shift that directly effects Uhura after she hears strange sounds over comms. As she begins to hear things, such as Scotty screaming for help, her future self is going through some oddities of her own. A year in the future, the Enterprise is on the other side of […]
What If…. the Whales Were Never Extinct?
Fondly remembered as the lightest, more comedic entries in Star Trek's film offerings, The Voyage Home is the story of an alien probe coming to Earth to talk to it's whale pen pal, a little bit miffed that they've not had a letter in a while. In the 21st century, those pen pals – Humpback Whales – had been hunted to extinction. Meanwhile, Kirk and his disgraced crew were on the way home to stand trial and through some time warp shenanigans, take a stolen Bird of Prey back to the 20th century, kidnap some whales, and take them to the 23rd century to save the day. The charges against Kirk were a fairly big deal. Previously Kirk had stolen a soon to be retired Enterprise, went against orders and along with support from his long standing command crew barged […]
It’s a Kind of Magic: ‘Once La’an A Time’, Strange New Worlds S4E09
Developed by an alien tapping into the mind of M'Benga's daughter, turning reality into her favourite book, the Elysium Kingdom is now more reality than fantasy. Having morphed from a surreal experience to a flat-Earth like planet replica floating through space, the Elysium Kingdom lives on with it's evil queen continuing dream up new schemes. But the Kingdom's purpose has shifted with it arriving to unsubtly help one of the Enterprise crew... Writers: Onitra JohnsonDirector: Sydney Freeland Not quite by chance, the Enterprise runs into the 'unknown flat planet', a disc-shaped world moving through space with it's own power, air and life. Beaming down, Pike, Spock, Pelia and La'an find themselves in a fairy tale world. Complete with real fairies. And a fairy castle. After running into King Ridley, the part played by M'Benga in the season one episode, they […]
[Retro Review] The Doomsday Machine
Responding to a distress call from the USS Constellation, the Enterprise race to the rescue but they arrive too late to save the day. Coming under fire from an alien entity, the Constellation has been heavily damaged and with only one survivor within it's charred shell; Commodore Matt Decker... Still in shock from the attack, Decker isn't able to say if it was an alien ship, or a creature that tore his ship apart. It doesn't take long to track the aliens flight path. It's not from around these parts, entering the Galaxy and on course towards populated areas that would undoubtedly be next in it's devastating path. Beaming on board with an away team, Kirk aims to try and get whats left of the ship back up and running while getting Decker to safety. But during the transit, the […]
Related
Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey: ‘Tomorrows Enterprise’, Strange New Worlds S4E10
Focusing on two timelines, Tomorrows Enterprise leads with Uhura of the present linked to her future as the two work together, manipulating the timeline to their advantage to solve the mystery of an undecipherable alien message, and a certain Scottish engineer who seems to have vanished from the timeline in the future... Writers: Henry Alonso Myers & Robbie Thompson. Director: Chris Fisher. In the present, there's some weirdness for Pike's Enterprise as they investigate a White Hole thats giving off some weird signals and an energy pulse that causes a temporal shift that directly effects Uhura after she hears strange sounds over comms. As she begins to hear things, such as Scotty screaming for help, her future self is going through some oddities of her own. A year in the future, the Enterprise is on the other side of […]
Across The Universe: A Trio of Spocks, 60th Anniversary Goodies and More!
Celebrating 60 years of Star Trek, our September News recap spotlights new goodies for fans to mark the landmark year, new missions for STO fans, and more! Spocktember in Star Trek Online Long running MMO Star Trek Online joined in the anniversary fun by bringing back a legendary character to their September release. On it's original launch STO utilised the vocal talents of Leonard Nimoy as he introduced players to the wider galaxy. In the latest release, archived dialogue from Nimoy has been used to bring Spock back into the new ongoing story.https://youtu.be/Da9UohgplIg?si=pAtm5D1bTSIXxREOAlongside Piotr Michael, who voiced Spock in Star Trek Resurgence, adding new lines as his version of Spock, and introducing Strange New Worlds star Ethan Peck in his own version of the character, all three era's of the iconic Vulcan come together thanks to the Guardian of Forever. […]
It’s a Kind of Magic: ‘Once La’an A Time’, Strange New Worlds S4E09
Developed by an alien tapping into the mind of M'Benga's daughter, turning reality into her favourite book, the Elysium Kingdom is now more reality than fantasy. Having morphed from a surreal experience to a flat-Earth like planet replica floating through space, the Elysium Kingdom lives on with it's evil queen continuing dream up new schemes. But the Kingdom's purpose has shifted with it arriving to unsubtly help one of the Enterprise crew... Writers: Onitra JohnsonDirector: Sydney Freeland Not quite by chance, the Enterprise runs into the 'unknown flat planet', a disc-shaped world moving through space with it's own power, air and life. Beaming down, Pike, Spock, Pelia and La'an find themselves in a fairy tale world. Complete with real fairies. And a fairy castle. After running into King Ridley, the part played by M'Benga in the season one episode, they […]
Under Pressure: ‘Orders Of Magnitude’, Strange New Worlds S4E08
Boarding as a hero and legend, Admiral Joe Reeger arrives, take command and leaves Pike stranded as he leads the remaining Enterprise crew on an urgent mission. With a visiting (again!) James Kirk picked out as first officer, Reegers mission and motivations come into question and puts Kirk's leadership to task... Writers: Alan B McElroy Director: Sharon Lewis One thing about season four that's been a highlight through some uneven episodes is how it's guiding it's characters form our first contact with them in this series, and how we originally met them sixty years earlier. While it's been more obvious with Spock's pivot towards being closer to his logical side, we've had Chapel make the choice to become a permanent part of the Enterprise and Scotty's move towards being the 'miracle worker'. Even Pike seems to be on the […]
Days of Our Unreal Lives: ‘Like Chronitons Through The Hourglass’, Strange New Worlds S4E07
Waking up in sickbay with a comical bandage on his head following a shuttle accident, Pike quickly notices things are a bit off. The lights are too bright. The medical staff are behaving oddly with dramatic pauses aplenty. And he's fairly certain space madness isn't a genuine diagnosis. As the hour continues with devious secret siblings, dramatic feats of medicine and family drama aplenty, Pike is drawn further into the strangest of all worlds; the soap opera. Writers: Dana Horgan and Bill WolkoffDirector: Anna Dozoka Soap opera's are mental. And for a theme it's even more mental than it seems. But considering soap opera's are basically just overly dramatic premises with long lost relatives you'd never before heard of, absolutely insane scenario's that make Maggie Simpson shooting Mr Burns seem normal and plot twists so insane you genuinely have to […]
Warped: ‘Off Hour’, Strange New Worlds S4E06
Towards the end of a long and tiring shift, the command team are more than ready to hand over to the night shift. But no one makes it far from their station as at the moment of handover, the Enterprise gets pulled into a warp slipstream that knocks out the ship and traps them in an escalating and catastrophic acceleration taking the ship well beyond its limts. Writers: Bill Wikoff Director: Dan Liu Strange New Worlds is an interesting creative, narratively speaking. When they swing for the fences in their creative mission, it's very hit or miss. But when they keep things simple and focused on character work, they really shine. And this weeks was one that kept it simple with a tried and tested format that always works nicely; have the ship suffer a critical accident, cut everything […]
