The Enterprise and the Farragut are on patrol overseeing the final completion stages of a deep space Starfleet refueling station when Uhura receives a mysterious message that abruptly disappears and leaves no trace of evidence behind. When she starts hearing and seeing things that aren’t there she begins an investigation to find out what is happening to her. This leads to bigger questions and even bigger danger.
1. Voices From Beyond
When the Enterprise is collecting space gas to turn into fuel, Uhura gets a haunting message over comms, but when she attempts to make a better connection, or even prove to the rest of the bridge crew that the message actually came through, there is no trace of it. The sound design for this is truly haunting and bizarre. It feels like a haunted house movie with an alien flavor mixed in. As the episode progresses and these noises are heard in Uhura’s head with no technological assistance, things really get spooky.
The reveal that ancient space ghosts exist within this nebula cloud is a wonderfully weird story that feels right at home with classic Trek. It’s bizarre and unlike anything humans normally encounter and it causes an ethical dilemma. The perfect Star Trek plot!
In a smart and classy way of bringing Hemmer back into the series, Uhura uses video recordings they made to cover ways she could repair communications relays that run through engineering. It was equally wholesome and great to see Hemmer again and so much better than having him magically come back to life or some other lame way shows bring characters back from the dead. However, during some of Uhura’s hallucinations, we do get a horrific zombie Hemmer which is a fantastically grotesque. As are all of the other bloody scenes of gory violence, both in Uhura’s head and some things that actually happen. This episode will give viewers who sit at the center of the horror fan and Trekkie Venn diagram plenty to love.
2. Will the Real Jim Kirk Please Stand Up?
Finally! We finally get our Prime timeline James T. Kirk! Still serving aboard the Farragut, Kirk beams over to the Enterprise to see his brother Sam. This allows for a few stemming story lines to be addressed and touched on. Some are directly connected to or loosely refer to the two other alternate timeline Kirks from episode three of this season, and episode ten from season one. Because Paul Wesley was previously only play alt-Kirks he was given some freedom to play him a bit differently, but he still had some of the classic Kirk flair to him. Here we get good old trusty James T. and it is really nice to have him here. I wasn’t sure if we were ever going to get the Kirk Prime we deserve. It feels like we are at a nexus point for this character too. Because he is a Lieutenant we are still getting a younger Kirk at a point that we have really only seen in the Kelvin Timeline films. And because that version is also not “our” Kirk, we are seeing the version that we’ve only heard about in other additions of the main canon. He is on the Farragut rather than jumping right to the Enterprise. He is still daring and courageous, but perhaps not as brash. Wesley is still making the character his own, but he feels like the character we know without being a caricature of what William Shatner did.
We get another reference to things that were made canon within the Kelvin universe, like George Kirk serving aboard the U.S.S. Kelvin. People seem to forget that everything up to the exact point that the 2009 Star Trek begins still happened in the Prime universe. It is really great to see Jim and Sam together, even if every moment isn’t a friendly conversation. As brothers things get heated when it comes to their father, how they treat their Starfleet careers, and other deep rooted feelings based on how they were raised. That aside, I am looking forward to as much brotherly moments as Strange New Worlds is willing to give us. The only time we see Sam in The Original Series is SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS after his death. After the absolutely heart shredding ending to “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” it was crushing to see La’an have to push down the feelings she gained for Kirk knowing that this version has never met her before. He still asks her out for a drink though! There’s some hope for a short-lived romance at least. This is an episode that really proves that the Kelvin Timeline is wagging the Prime Timeline. Kirk and Uhura still meet getting drinks, after some flirting, or chit chat confused for flirting here, Uhura shuts him down, and Kirk ends up with a busted and bloody nose afterwards. I really enjoyed Kirk’s big moments in this episode and while this isn’t his show, or his ship yet, it’s nice to see him pop up from time to time. Feels better than empty fan service so that’s nice.
Continued below3. Technical Difficulties
With space ghosts comes problems with the ship’s technology. Aside from effecting Uhura (and another crew member’s) mind, the gas cloud causes havoc on the ship’s systems. This causes Pelia to pair up with Una to work out some of the issues. Along with making engineering repairs, the two women hash out their own problems which have never even been hinted at prior to this. It felt a little bit like weak interpersonal turmoil (something that Trek creator Gene Roddenberry frowned upon), but it thankfully stems from some deeper ideas and meanings, while being masked as simply being that Pelia gave Una a C in her class when she was still at the Academy. Tracing feelings back to the death of Hemmer proves that this crew is still healing over the loss of one of their own and it’s actually quite endearing and emotionally stirring to see that the pain is still there.
4. The Trifecta
The episode ends with Kirk and Uhura hanging out in the mess hall. Uhura calls Spock over and introduces him to Kirk. And with that two of the greatest friends in all of pop culture have officially met. I’m going to assume this messes with some canon out there, but who cares. It was great to see these three classic characters sitting together and enjoying each others’s company as the episode came to a close.
5. Chess and Romance
While Strange New Worlds has mostly reverted back to Trek’s original episodic format, it is better at picking up dangling story threads from previous episodes than the earliest iterations ever were. And with that we get an awkward and confusing (for the two parties involved) interaction between Spock and Chapel in the middle of the episode. Playing a round of Three Dimensional Chess, the two clearly aren’t sure what their steamy encounter means for their relationship moving forward. Are they still just friends who had a one night stand? Should they make this something more? Will being more than just friends cause problems within their respective Starfleet careers? Chapel seems more inclined to keep things as they are while still hooking up, but of course Spock has to make it all the more complicated. Having them try to figure out their emotional standing with an elaborate game of space chess between them is a funny, on the nose, relationship gag.
