A Space Adventure Hour

...I enjoyed this more than the musical episode. I like sci-fi and Star Trek is one of my favorites. But I am no means a die hard fan (of any show). SNW is a nice return of the original format of episodic adventures. What I liked about the episode was seeing the cast in a different light. However, I wished it continued on the parody that it started off with. It reminded me of SUPERNATURAL which it had some episodes off the path of their norm and some being quite funny (like the one where they were thrown into another universes and were their real life selves actors in a television). That could have kept the sci-fi aspect in throughout, albeit in 60's flavor and not a murder mystery show.

Edit: almost missed the gag reel. That was hilarious.

Actually, we have. Lots of times, when the holodeck goes wrong. Also...no, we've never seen an outlandish spoof that makes fun of TOS. Not homage. Mockery. This isn't SNL.

This episode is a Russian doll of nested stories: a show, within a show, within a show.

I'm a big Trek fan, but this doesn't work.

The holodeck storyline didn't help. Forget the canon problems with it. TNG, DS9 and Voyager all had bad holodeck episodes, and a few good ones. The better ones focused the majority of the episode in the holodeck adventure, giving it time to develop. All these episodes featured repeated tropes that are also repeated here: the holodeck malfunctions, the crew can be injured and can't leave the holodeck, the ship is in danger and the holodeck operation is preventing the crew from saving the ship, and holograms within the adventure become nefarious. And Paul Wesley's spoof on William Shatner was reminiscent of John Belushi and Jim Carrey. Those were comedy skits, lampooning Trek, and Shatner in particular. The parody of TOS wasn't even part of the episode plot. It's just thrown in as backstory for the actors who are featured in the holodeck mystery. Which is oddly flat and non-threatening.

The small pieces in this episode that I enjoyed were the continuing expansion of Scotty's role, and the developing friendship between La'an and Spock. The exceptions to below par acting are Quinn's performance as Scott, and Chong's performance as La'an. Increasingly, La'an has become the strongest and most interesting character in this series.

I didn't like the mini conspiracy between Scotty and Uhura to hide a significant threat from the captain. And when Una uncovers their secret, instead of formally disciplining Scotty as she did in the previous episode with Ortega, she just gives him a big sister talking to. What?

The in joke characterizations of producers and writers of TOS, the holodeck mystery story, the threat to the Enterprise and the significant twist of the new potential love story are too much for one episode. Making it all seem too thin, too rushed and ultimately unconvincing. No subplot is given enough time to fully develop or include nuances to make them interesting. The rest is an uneven, inconsistently acted shambles.

It feels as though the writers are either being self indulgent, or pandering to new fans drawn to the franchise by Discovery and Picard (both of which I found unimpressive). Why do that? Let each iteration of Trek find its own audience instead of trying to appeal to everyone.

Two thoughts: one, each version of Trek has produced some bad episodes (or entire seasons i.e. TOS S3, TNG S1) but no other iteration has devoted such a large percentage of its episodes to experiments or fantasy or comedy. So far this season we've had a hallucinatory fantasy (courtesy of Q), zombies, and now this. Disappointing.

Second thought: based on a sneak peek shared at Comic Con we're headed for a puppet episode. Because, you know, all Star Trek fans are asking for that. No, we're not.

I can't say I'm out, but knowing that seasons 3 & 4 are already shot in their entirety leaves little hope for the future of this series.

Interesting side note: at this writing there are a bunch of reviews that rate this episode a 9 or a 10.

All of those reviewers have either only this episode as their only review ever, or only one of two ever. And oddly, lots of up votes. Make of that what you will.

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Fair warning, what follows is a self indulgent pondering of what the end of this series could look like. It isn't an extension of the review above.

So don't feel compelled to read it.

Like I said...self indulgent.

All the messing with canon in this series gives me a headache. End of the world? No. It's a TV show, right?

But...what if the last couple of episodes had this happen...

Pike recognizes a scheduled event coming up, and realizes that his life is headed for a horrific change. He confides in Una, and commits to moving forward, saving trainees, and surrendering himself to the explosion that will cripple him, and end his career.

While responding to an emergency signal from a planet, a crewman with delusions of grandeur, teleports to the surface ahead of the landing party. Because intense temporal waves are being emitted from the planet, and the crew guesses there are significant risks to the crewman, and whatever intelligence might exist on the planet, Pike, Spock, Scotty, Chapel, La'an and Uhura beam down.

After they depart, Una receives orders from Starfleet to recall the team. When they attempt to reach the away team the Enterprise begins to slowly dissolve.

On the surface the errant crewman has entered ancient alien ruins, bent on making a monumental discovery that will make his name famous forever. In his random, uninformed exploring he stumbles into a massive chamber containing a huge cylindrical device. As he approaches it the device hums, lights from within and becomes translucent. On its surface hundreds of portals open, each with different scenes of different alien worlds flashing by.

A booming voice calls out to the crewman, as a scanning beam washes over him. When the scan is completed, ask the images on the cylinder dissolve into scenes from earth's history. The voice calls out to the crewman, encouraging him to experience events that changed his world's history.

Afraid, but overcome with what he perceives as an opportunity, he struggles to decide when and where to travel in earth's past. Finally, he impetuously jumps through a portal, a portal we discover later, that leads to first contact on earth.

When the away team arrives they track the crewman to the ruins, and the portal chamber.

Their first assumption is that the crewman has perished. But when they try to contact the enterprise they receive no response.

They deduce that the crewman has changed history and that to set things right they must follow him to prevent his interference. This scene and story mechanism are intentionally derived from The City On The Edge Of Forever.

As with the crewman, the cylinder of portals scans those present, but individually, not as a group.

Instead of a collage of various seminal events in earth's past, the cylinder displays alternating portals with images specific to each person. The voice of the portal cautions them to each take a gem-like device that is embedded at the edge of each portal before they enter. Without it, they can never return, but with it they can return by manipulating the device.

Each person enters their own past, believing that each of them may be able to prevent the crewman's interference, whether by catching him in the past, or influencing his actions where he intersected their pasts.

Each person goes through harrowing moments that devastate them.

Pike travels to a trainee session in his past, and realizes the crewman will be present present at the event that will maim him. If the crewman dies, he won't change the past or their collective future. Pike kills the crewman, and experiences the event again.

Spock encounters the crewman in his past at Starfleet academy, where La'an is present as well. When they both witness the crewman planning an assassination attempt they try to stop him. They succeed, but La'an and the crewman are killed. Overcome with grief Spock arbors to return with La'an's body. Unable to do so, he buries her. He then manipulates the device to return.

Uhura and Scott travel to Uhura's initial assignment on the Enterprise, where we learn that the crewman is actually a cadet trainee on extended assignment to the enterprise by virtue of his father's Starfleet connections, not based on any merit. When she tries to engage him, and counsel his obvious ambitions toward more productive ends, he rebuffs her. Finally, distraught, she and Scott corner him, and Uhura and Scott point phasers at him, agreeing to fire at the same time so neither will know who's shot kills him.

Chapel returns to her past when she was a fellow with Roger Korby. She witnesses him manufacturing the details of their courtship by researching her past, and fabricating communications from Spock to drive her into his romantic embrace. Further, she sees Korby manipulating research to hide details of an indigenous species so he can conduct dangerous research which will put that species at risk. She's angry and devastated. Confused as to why she's traveled to a past that doesn't seem to connect to the crewman, she returns to the portal and steps through. She's arrived at the moment when the crewman is about to step through the portal. Still shaken and angry about what she's learned about Korby, she viciously knocks out the crewman, preventing him from entering the portal.

As all the members of the away team return, each in significant physical and emotional distress, they grieve over La'an's death and huddle together.

Through an emotional and tearful conversation Spock suggests a mind meld with each. He suggests that he can ease their pain and heal what they believe to be severe temporal sickness from traveling through the portal.

The team agrees. While joined together Spock erases all memory of La'an, his relationship with Chapel and her discoveries about Roger, Pike's terrible accident, and Scotty and Uhura's belief that they killed the crewman. He believes that erasing these memories that he is saving them from painful trauma. As he completes each meld he simply says, "Forget"

When the meld is broken, and the team stands confused, Spock assures them that all is resolved, but at great cost, and that La'an is dead. Pike can tell Spock has taken on a heavy secret burden, and is devastated by La'a's loss, but not displaying any hint of emotion.

When Pike asks him what he can do to help him, Spock says, "I believe a human reaction would be to simply say, let's get the hell out of here." Fade to the stars.

Steve Martin pointed out: "Comedy is not pretty". Neither is this misbegotten Strange New Worlds segment, which begins with a quickie spoof of William Shatner in the original "Star Trek" (resembling a cross between B to Z sci-fi movies like "Queen of Outer Space" and "Plan 9 from Outer Space"), then segues to La'an starring in a very dull "holodeck prototype"spoof of B-movie murder mysteries and Hollywood exposes.

The intentionally bad acting and abysmal writing here reminded me instantly of a hundred execrable porn-parodies, only without the sex. What could be more boring and insulting to watch? It's never amusing, only infantile, a product of an era where fan fiction has proliferated like kudzu.

I don't care too much about canon or tradition that must be adhered to but I do care about entertaining sci-fi. This episode and the rest of this season seem to be written and directed by committee. The actors themselves are doing a good job and showing different aspects of their personality but the sci fi part is lacking. Decent drama almost sitcom like, something you can watch at 7pm on a Tuesday night back in the day but does not satisfy the adventure itch.

Strange New Worlds has become my favourite show & this most recent episode only confirmed this.

I loved the theme, the costumes & Jess Bush (Nurse Chapel) speaking in her own Australian accent. The interaction between Uhura & Scotty was a nice touch also.

Those who criticise SNW for having fantasy/musical/retro instalments really have lost the essence of the original Star Trek spirit. (Hint: they are always men - check out the FB chat groups & Reddit pages for examples). No-one is forcing you to watch! There are many more fans than detractors 🖖