Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1.08.

[selenak]

In which I suspect the writers wanted to do a holodeck episode, but as this is before there are holodecks, had to use another plot device. Also, I think I bough this particular plot device more when Stephen Moffat did it.



It's one of those eps where the regular cast has fun dressing up in costumes and playing very different roles. These usually work best if the regular cast has already a season or several behind them, because part of the charm is the difference to their regular performances. If the episode also manages to put a Trek spin on non Trek tropes, all the better. See also Our Man Bashir on DS9, for my money a way better Bond movie than the ones then hitting the cinemas (this was in the Brosnan era), or Bride of Chaotica on VOYAGER. And, of course, For Handful of Datas on TNG.

The reason why I think the SNW writers wanted to do something similar here is obvious: a fantasy movie (specifically, I'd say, an 1980s fantasy movie) in Trek format which also happens to solve a great problem for a regular crew member, to wit, M'Benga, the central character of the episode. The episode has its charm, not just for the costume department - I bet our actors of usually noble characters enjoyed hamming it up as the evil Queen Neve, the duplictious Mage and the slimy courtier, respectively. (Between HoloSisko as the world destroying Bond villain Dr. Noah, Janeway as Queen Arachnia, and now Anson Mount's turncoat, it's a safe bet that Starship Captains in these kind of stories will not be the good guys.)

But I'm afraid the episode didn't sell me on the central emotional arc. I mean, I can see what it is - M'Benga's desperate efforts to save his daughter have all ended in dead ends, and he has to give her up, the question is just whether to death or in a way that offers her the chance for a new life - but without him. The premise is set up when his daughter complaints that the ending of her favorite book is wrong and wants to rewrite it, and courtesy of the alien entity of the week, she gets to do that.

See, over in New Who not one, but two Moffatian Companions when leaving the show do so in a fashion that grants them unexpected new life and adventures in a situation where they are facing certain doom, and in both cases, there's a new companion of their own involved, in one case a very powerful alien entity. The thing is, in both cases this other character and their motives have been set up a good while before, not just in the departure episode. Also the ladies are adults when making these decisions. M'Benga's daughter is a child, and while the alien Debra seems to be benevolent, they don't really know anything about her based on a few hours. (Hence presumably the tag scene where M'Benga is visited by his now adult daughter, assuring him and the audience she's fine.) And yes, without another treatment she had very little time left. But I still couldn't quite emotionally buy he was this quickly ready to hand her over to the fairies, err, the entity. If this was to be the ending, the option, whether in metaphorical or actual form, should have been introduced earlier so he could have struggled with it somewhat.

Because I didn't really buy it, the episode didn't resonate with me as it wanted to, and the fantasy/fairy tale plot alone wasn't enough for me to love it, either. I did love Hemmer as the only other crew member with intact memories, and his getting into the spirit of things near the end when faking the spell casting. But all in all, it was just an okay episode for me. Which all the other Trek shows I love have a lot of, so no sweat. It is what it is.

Comments

[labingi]

Funny thing, I agree with you about M'Benga's arc not being very emotionally moving, and I think you assess the reasons why very well. Good point, too, about it all being a bit quick and easy, leaving a child with an alien we know next-to-nothing about. The episode felt like fluff, yet it's in my top half of the season for that reason, and this is part of why I prefer SNW to Disco (and at least S2 of Picard) overall. Star Trek's recent attempts to do more serious, emotional, serialized storytelling have mostly (not always) frustrated me, often to the point of being quite emotionally painful. SNW, being episodic, at least provides frequent reprieve from this. Annoyed one week? It'll probably be better next week. This episode was fluff. Even its emotional content came from an undeveloped tertiary plot. For me, that made it safe and entertaining with no pain.

I find I'm in a minority though. Most ST fans seem to prefer the weightier, arc-oriented episodes and regard the fluff as "okay." That would be me with most shows. It's my default to prefer serious storytelling. But recent ST just hurts me when it tries to be serious. Oh well. It is what it is, I guess.

[selenak]

There are absolutely fluffy episodes I love - the DS9, Voy and TNG episodes named in my entry being a case in point -, and on SNW, I adored Spock Amok. Just not this one, though I didn't hate it, either. It was just a case of *shrug*. But you know, I'm glad we have the show, deliberate attempt at getting back to the episodic format included!

[vilakins]

I'm with you - I much prefer SNW to Discovery which, apart from being The Burnham Show, is indeed too weighty and dark and depressing. I was looking forward to the return of The Orville whose first two seasons felt very original Trek, but they too now want to be serious and relevant and talk about suicide and death. Their most recent ep was soooo political (just nope) and given what's happening in the FUS, bloody offensive at one point.

I want to be entertained, dammit!

[labingi]

I've been on the fence about the Orville. I've only seen the first three or so episodes, and I hear it got a lot better after that--but I would probably not want it to go dark either.

[vilakins]

It did settle down and became really good, but gradually got darker with a war. Now there's hardly any lightness and humour. I'll give it a couple more episodes before deciding to stop watching. Life is too short and the world too depressing to be brought down by something supposed to entertain me.

[vilakins]

Meh, another godlike immortal alien. Do not like. I already had to put up with one in The Orville, so I wasn't impressed with another one.

Also, given the kid's age, just how much life experience did she and the GIA have to draw on for their adventures?

[selenak]

Godlike aliens come with the franchise ever since Kirk encountered first the Organians, then Trelane, I'm afraid. But I could do without them for a good while...

[jesuswasbatman]

I do like the fact that the episode involves Rukiya shipping two characters who never actually met in the novel.

(Also, when you talked about Doctor Who I thought initially you were comparing this episode to "Fear Her".)