War. What is is good for?; What Is Starfleet?. Strange New Worlds S3E7 Review

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 as we have an entire episode in documentary style. And unlike shows that have taken this route, such as Battlestar Galactica, there’s no break in the format and the episode is presented as the documentary itself right up to the end credits.

To be honest, it’s not the worst idea. It’s not a new format, even the Simpsons have done it several times. The first time I can remember the style being used was for MASH episode The Interview, an episode presented as a black and white war time documentary where the cast were given a list of questions to answer in character, charged with their own lines and with many of the responses being improvisations due to Clete Roberts, the interviewer, throwing in his own questions. What Is Starfleet doesn’t quite reach the simple emotional journey MASH gave, but I appreciated how much it played with the format.

I could see some people being annoyed by the camera work, but it really worked for the format with the bulk of it looking like a hand held camera swapping between subjects interspersed with hidden camera’s and the ‘dashcam’ shots on the console. It all worked really well edited together for the presentation, though the hidden camera’s in the briefing room being intentionally poorly framed added a lot to the theme. The only part that felt off were the sit down interviews, which just seemed a little too polished, particularly the dual interview shots of Pike and Chin-Reilly ion comparison to the static Uhura interviews of the chaos of following a more nervous Ortegas around a room.

The plot of the episode was one of aid, a typical Starfleet mission where someone asks for help and the help is given. Two warring cultures and one transport mission. Despite the non interference policy, Starfleet send the Enterprise to pick up some ‘livestock’, a giant radioactive sea creature, to take to the suffering Lutani to help them rebuild. The sea turned space alien goes wrong, lashes out and turns a out to be a massive killing machine, but Pike has his orders and is expected to complete the mission despite death, destruction and the aid missions turning into a WMD escort.

On a normal day this is a run of the mill Trek episode where we see someone in need and it turns out to be the baddie they’re working for. Same deal as Seaosn 1’s Lift Us Up Where Suffering Cannot Reach. But this breaks up the routine by letting us see through the eyes of Beto’s film. And Beto has an agenda. Since it’s inception, the idea of Starfleet has been a confusing one. Is it a group of humanitarian scientists? Or is it a military? Or both. Different writers and themes would say it’s both and the fleet is whatever the story needs it to be.

Here we do have both presented. Mainly with the idealistic Uhura who passionately resists that Starfleet is anything other than adventure and exploration. Meanwhile we also have La’an, who may as well be Duke Nukem here as her hobbies seem to be guns, fighting, and talking about guns and fighting. Starfleet has never been one or the other. Even if it were, the real world military isn’t all about warfare and even with their ranks, training and discipline, neither is Starfleet until there’s a war to fight. But Beto’s view of Starfleet seems unfair to fans, but fair in perspective.

He see’s Starfleet as the place his sister loves. For this season she’s still struggling after fighting the Gorn and being digested in one of it’s ships. Prior to the Enterprise, she was a veteran of the Klingon war which both Discovery and Strange New Worlds hadn’t been shy on when it came ot the bloodshed and brutality of the barely-seen war. In the context of Beto so far, the weird funny guy who hangs about and has a laugh with everyone, his slant on Starfleet seems a bit odd. But in the grand scheme of things, it makes sense for it to feel like there’s a massive conspiracy to what Starfleet really is. Especially as he films a mission that feels a bit dodgy and has Pike on edge.

Beto’s motivations don’t sit terribly well and his bias is called out by Uhura conveniently in time for the crew to have found a way to communicate with the alien who reveals that she’s been genetically modified into a weapon and just wants to end her life. A request Starfleet doesn’t like, but Pike’s compassion and empathy lets the alien make it’s own decision against those orders. And then it all ends with Uhura getting the chance to gush over what Starfleet means to her before we close off all in the concept of the documentary.

As a documentary, it’s awful and fairly directionless so I can only assume it’s a student film being launched on the 23^rd century equivalent of YouTube to a ravenous ten subscribers.

As an episode,it works. Beto’s bias makes sense and having the story told through his preconceived perceptions also works to a degree. Especially alongside moments such as only being able ot hear a one-sided conversation due to Admirals orders having to be redacted, to peeking around corners to get a piece of the action. Not the best episode, and in terms of the concept there’s a few different ways it could have been done. But it works.