There is an old saying that every story has already been told. While that may be a valid insight, the writers of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seem intent on proving it as an irrefutable fact. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the latest rehash of old Trek stories, which is a mix of ambiguous parody and tribute.
“A Space Adventure Hour,” season 3 episode 4, opens with familiar music and sound effects from the original Star Trek as characters ham it up on a campy spaceship bridge. Paul Wesley, who often guest stars as James T. Kirk on Strange New Worlds, is playing a captain in a particularly overwrought pastiche of William Shatner’s original portrayal of the character.
After a parody of the original series’ opening credits, we find ourselves in the normal SNW world, where Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh has been assigned to test a prototype of the holodeck, originally made famous in Star Trek: The Next Generation. La’an takes the mission and proceeds to request a mystery based on Amelia Moon, her favorite 20th-century fictional detective.
The story then unfolds predictably. La’an must solve a murder in 1960s Hollywood (explaining the pastiche at the start as a sci-fi series that the suspects work on), and the holodeck malfunctions. Safety protocols are shut down, and the entire Enterprise is put in danger. As with TNG’s “Elementary, Dear Data,” the problem lay in requesting a mystery that would challenge La’an, not Amelia Moon.
One unique twist is that La’an believes that Mr. Spock is helping her, only to discover that the Spock with her on the holodeck is a holographic character running as part of the program. When La’an realizes this, she solves the mystery, shuts down the holodeck, and saves the ship.
Upon La’an’s escape from the temperamental simulator, it is decided that the holodeck is not yet ready for prime time, so it will be shelved for another hundred years or so. Then, La’an and Spock meet for their dance practice, which was first shown in “Wedding Bell Blues,” and they both admit to developing feelings for one another and share a kiss.
Probably the best part of this episode was that it focused on La’an. She is by far my favorite character in Strange New Worlds, and Christina Chong plays the character with a breadth and depth that make her incredibly compelling. Unfortunately, “A Space Adventure Hour” cannot seem to figure out what it’s saying otherwise.
At certain points, this episode seems to be trying to honor Star Trek as a whole and the ideas behind it. Celia Rose Gooding (who usually plays Uhura) delivers a riveting speech as a holodeck character, describing the value and impact of an imaginative, thoughtful science fiction series from the 1960s that could (will) last for decades to come.
In other moments, “A Space Adventure Hour” seems dead-set on making fun of the original Star Trek and suggesting that it is trash from the past that is best left there. These moments, while clearly playing for laughs, honestly feel like an insult for caring about Star Trek at all.
This duality occurs throughout SNW. Episodes reference and lift stories from Star Treks of the past while simultaneously throwing shade at them, especially TOS. It is an obnoxious, parochial approach that often makes the show feel like it’s a teenager rebelling against its parents and then asking for money.
The original Star Trek is imperfect, just as every television show ever made is imperfect, and it deserves parody as much as anything. Within Star Trek, however, an effort needs to be made to preserve the believability of this world. Star Trek took itself seriously, using the cinematic tools and language of its time to do so, just as Strange New Worlds does today.
I hate bashing Strange New Worlds, but the fact that Star Trek: Lower Decks found genuine comedy and humor in Star Trek (even in meta ways) without insulting Star Trek makes “A Space Adventure Hour” that much more frustrating. It could have been a clever proto-holodeck episode. Instead, it’s mean-spirited. The fact that Jonathan Frakes directed this episode adds to my disappointment.