Star Trek has always done a great job of showing fans the best of sci-fi. They've always been able to take a trope and expand upon it to a shockingly high degree. They've done some amazing work with amazing concepts. Yet, one that I'd like to see more of is the body-swap episode.
The thought came to me seeing the ads play for the upcoming "Ghostmas" special from the CBS series 'Ghost'. In the trailer, the two main characters seemingly swap places with two ghosts. A simple and effective concept that Star Trek has done very well with.
They've had a handful of body-swap episodes, with the most recent being Strange New Worlds' "Spock Amok", which did a wonderful job with the plot device, but it could've been better. The key to the body-swap gimmick is finding two distinctly different characters who move, sound, and behave differently and asking the couple to play the opposite of what they know.
A perfect example of this concept done right was in Eureka's fifth season. In the fifth episode, "A Jack of All Trades", a computer issue caused the main character Jack Carter to body swap with various characters in the show. It's basically a tour de force of acting from series star Colin Ferguson, who brilliantly takes on the body movements, tone, and cadences of his series co-stars.
It's one of the funniest and most clever episodes that the series ever did and with Star Trek, one has to believe that the iconic franchise can match thte same level of hilarity and creativity that Eureka pulled off. Strange New Worlds has already done this, and did it well, though a bit muted on the comedy side. At least compared to Eureka.
With Lower Decks about to end, that means that Prodigy or Starfleet Academy would have to be the next show to try the concept. Part of the fun of the body-swap gimmick is watching the physical acting changes in actors and actresses as they try to copy their co-star's body movements. So doing it in an animated series may not have the same significance.
Starfleet Academy could try its hand at it, but it seems the show may be a straight-up Star Trek series, and this concept works best when you're allowed to be a bit more over the top. That leads us with the potential new series, being developed by Lower Decks star, Tawny Newsome.
If her new live-action show gets off the ground, this concept would work perfectly for her series. That is, if her series does in fact start filming. Hopefully, we get the over-the-top body-swap episode Star Trek deserves. And if not, go watch the Eureka episode mentioned above. It's one of the funniest pieces of sci-fi out there.