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 down to desperate basics, and have them struggle to find a way forward. Whether that’s TNG’s very simply titled ‘Disaster’, or Deep Space Nine’s highly enjoyable ‘Starship Down’, it’s a simple idea that works well in a self contained moment.
For Strange New Worlds, it’s a slipstream wormhole that brings everything crashing down. As the Enterprise gets pulled into it, and badly damaged in the process, the crew are bundled together in a few different locations, isolated and unable to communicate at first. With Pike, Uhura and Ortegas on the bridge trying to coordinate the action and find a way to survive, Una, Spock and La’an battle against collapsing ship systems in the lounge. Though the core of the story focuses on deeper personal stories as the action unfolds.
The big one being M’Benga being pretty much cut in half. As the ship entered slipstream, Chapel’s lab table pins him against a biobed while cutting through his torso in what would be a fatal accident if the table wasn’t keeping his organs still enough to stay conscious. The friendship between Chapel and M’Benga has always delivered well, so giving time to stick them in a room together and play on that relationship while Chapel tries to fight against the inevitable to save him helps add tot he drama of the episode while giving us more of their character work after M’Benga hints his time on the Enterprise is nearing an end.
Meanwhile, between the Lounge Crew trying to aid the Bridge crew through limited connection to find a way to get out, Scotty’s in the middle becoming the Miracle Worker as he moves through the ship from stranded in a turbolift, to pulling off the impossible to keep what limited power they have is balanced, to being beamed into a Jeffries tube to save the day. Previously we’d seen a lot of self doubt and trauma from Scott’s previous posting and it was nice to get back to that angle with Pelia – finally moved back into a mentor role after being relegated to saying weird stuff – coaching him through repairs and inspiring him to take the next major leap as an engineer.
Both duo’s were the heart of the episode and between the mad scrambles, the space walks and the ion pod, the focus on friendship and sacrifice in sickbay running alongside Pelia pushing Scott to accept the wonder of the vast machines they were charged with caring for, both came down to taking a leap of faith to save the day and the doctor.
Of course, there’s space magic and theoretical science thrown into the mix. But with such a heart warning focus throughout all the action, it’s just a means to an end that doesnt sound as mad as any other time it’s happened – we’ve lived through nanites and deflectors doing everything but making toast.
Playing out in real time, with a countdown throughout showing how many minutes are left until the ship will disintegrate and everyone dies, there’s a real sense of tension and the pacing ramps up incredibly well. Considering the show has the prequel problem of us all knowing where it ends for most of the crew, that tension was kept throughout thanks to balancing the high stakes emergency with some wonderful character work throughou reminding us that, yeah sometimes things get silly in Strange New Worlds, but when they focus on those people and keep things simple? IT’s a great hour of television.
EPISODE DISCUSSION & SPOILERS
Highlights
- It seems even in the 23rd century, voice recognition still struggles with Scottish accents.
- Brian Markinson as Dr Boyce marks his fourth Trek series after appearing in TNG, DS8 and Voyager.
- Beta Shifts Lt Rahda was also a nice return. In TOS episode That Which Survives she was the relief helmsman for Sulu.
All Connected...
The ion pod – or backup basic sensor system only accessible by space walk – was introduced as a plot device in the original series episode Court Martial. During an incident in 2267, Captain Kirk ordered the pod be jettisoned while in use to save the Enterprise. Kirk’s actions would lead to him being court martialled for the death of duty officer Benjamin Finney. But as it turned out… Finney used the opportunity to fake his death to settle an old grudge against Kirk…
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Warped: ‘Off Hour’, Strange New Worlds S4E06
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