Or there is definitely plenty of TPB magic happening on the medieval Mirror ship.
WARNING! The following contains SPOILERS from “Once La’An a Time.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4’s ninth episode, “Once La’An a Time,” clearly pays homage to director Rob Reiner’s classic film The Princess Bride (1987) multiple times throughout the medieval Mirror installment. And isn’t it wonderful because Carol Kane, who plays Commander Pelia on SNW, also portrayed Miracle Max’s (Billy Crystal) wife in the must-see movie nearly 40 years ago.
Pelia even decides to remain behind on the mysterious and medieval Mirror world, which turns out to be a ship, because of a certain miracle-working chef she strikes up a relationship with that is a clear Princess Bride reference to the actress’ on-screen husband, Miracle Max. Sadly, the “Miracle Chef” is never seen in the episode, but the character’s name and apparent bond with Pelia is a fun tip of the cap to Reiner’s film.
Also, La’An Noonien Singh (Christina Chong) finds herself navigating the Swamp of Infinite Death during the Strange New Worlds episode, which is a clear nod to the Fire Swamp from The Princess Bride. Prince Dashing (Paul Wesley), who is the shadow version of James T. Kirk, is also an homage to Westley (Cary Elwes), while the Mirror version of La’An (Princess Thalia) is clearly a wink to Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright).
Chong, whose La’An is the Strange New Worlds episode’s focus, also got to engage in an exciting sword fight, which many of The Princess Bride characters "enjoyed" in the classic movie. Chong talked about the fun of shooting the duel in an interview with TV Insider by saying:
“Wow, so fun. Such a challenge that I absolutely loved […] So, we had a whole day to shoot that fight and we only switched over from Thalia to La’An at 3:00 a.m. in the morning. So, three [o’clock] in the morning, I had to split my brain and remember the La’An choreography and obviously emotions and all of that. And yeah, there was a moment where I thought I couldn’t do it, but gladly I did.”
Now, I personally saw a lot of Prince Humperdinck’s (Chris Sarandon) bravado and cowardice come to life in Anson Mount’s wonderful portrayal of Captain Christopher Pike’s shadow character, Sir Amand Rauth, in “Once La’An a Time.”
In fact, in my opinion, some of the best and funniest scenes from the Strange New Worlds episode are shared by Rauth and Mr. Spock's (Ethan Peck) Mirror image, the Wizard Pollux, as the two board the USS Enterprise and awkwardly attempt to fit in as their counterparts.
So, what did you think of the homage to Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride? Share your thoughts and comments with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages. And Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4’s “Once La’An a Time” is now streaming on Paramount+.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!
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