star trek episode 9 strange new worlds

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Recap: Stardust Melody

Star trek: strange new worlds.

Hi, I’m Sophie, your guest recapper. Keith will be back to cover the season finale next week, and I’ve promised not to trash the place while he’s away. As they say, both on Broadway and in outer space, on with the show!

The writers of  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  did not have to go so hard. They could have written a perfectly respectable penultimate episode, where the themes this season has explored — the challenges of navigating collegial, platonic, and romantic relationships; balancing one’s own dreams and ambitions against the dreams of those we love; processing past grief and trauma — would all be folded into an adventure with genuine heart and emotional heft.

Instead, Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff took a big swing and ratcheted up the episode’s degree of difficulty for everyone by writing a musical episode. Not even a supersize portion of hand-wavy, “It’s SCIENCE, okay?!” expository dialogue can fray the elegant weave of all of the character arcs and thematic threads that give “Subspace Rhapsody” its narrative sturdiness. The delightful, often moving, and deeply earworm-y songs furnished by songwriting team Tom Polce and Kay Hanley elevate the whole affair. You may recall their work from the effervescent oeuvre of Letters to Cleo and from appearances in films such as  10 Things I Hate About You  and  Josie & the Pussycats .

It’s so fun to watch the crew members being hypercompetent. Uhura’s zipping through the  Star Trek  version of every fun 1940s switchboard-operator montage we’ve ever seen to clear the electronic decks for this experiment and excitement about a naturally occurring subspace fold is matched by Spock’s eagerness to test a hypothesis. What if the naturally occurring subspace fold could triple the speed of subspace communications? They could invent interstellar texting! Uhura’s unconscious humming to herself as she works gives Pelia a brilliant idea: Since the fold operates under a different set of physics laws than they’re used to, maybe a different type of communication will unlock the speed they’re hoping for. Perhaps dynamic harmonics (a.k.a. songs) would work? Pelia is a bit cheeky and is still a somewhat mysterious character. Is she being a sincerely helpful, nearly immortal physics genius, or a trickster? Maybe it’s a bit of both.

The confidence of this episode is further emphasized by its patience: The first song doesn’t arrive until seven minutes in. With the ship reeling from a mysterious wave sent from the fold, Spock, of all people, kicks off the first song with the Spock-iest lyrics imaginable, “The intermix chamber and containment field are stable / I’ll get to the warp core and assess its state when I’m able,” and we are off to the races. It is, as they repeat several times, so peculiar.

Everyone in this cast can sing, and even those with modest vocal gifts acquit themselves well and then make room for powerhouse vocalists like the Grammy-winning and Tony-nominated Celia Rose Gooding and classically trained dancer Christina Chong. Shout-out to Polce and Hanley for writing toward their cast members’ skills. The most surprising new-to-me tidbit I learned on a little dive into their Wikipedia entries is that Rebecca Romijn studied voice at UC Santa Cruz. Actor, supermodel, singer — she can do it all!

Upon returning from the credits — this week featuring a special choral arrangement, a true gift to collegiate a cappella groups everywhere — everyone learns that by sending the fold “Anything Goes” and giving it a taste of the Great American Songbook, the Enterprise prompted the fold to unleash a very unlikely alternate musical-theatre reality. This scene includes a sweet little Easter egg for all the  Buffy the Vampire Slayer  fans out there, with La’an and Dr. M’Benga fretting about being turned into bunnies. Seems unlikely, but at least they’re not terrified of bunnies like  Buffy ’s resident vengeance demon and  leporiphobia sufferer, Anya .

Captain Pike wants solutions, and the team set to work with their first attempt, zipping the fold shut. This leads to a trio of related songs about balancing the responsibilities of leadership with one’s feelings. The first, Number One’s charming waltz with the visiting Jim Kirk, “Connect to Your Crew,” furnishes some genuinely helpful life advice about drawing on one’s authentic self to make and maintain meaningful relationships. It’s a tiny slice of Rodgers and Hammerstein in the midst of an episode that leans far more toward the (also lovely) contemporary style of  Waitress .

Throughout this song, the camera keeps panning to La’an, crouched behind a hallway buttress. Her face is a picture of jealous anguish as she observes her hero-friend, Una, casually sharing confidences with Jim, for whom she harbors feelings she’s obliged not to name due to space-time reasons. She’s been trapped in this ” Conceal, don’t feel ” place for too long, and as she puts it in her big number, as valuable as being cool, methodical, and responsible is, “it might be time to change [her] paradigm / if only [she] can let go of the wheel.” Can La’an merge the parts of herself that keep the watch — her one memento of “ Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow ” — under a double lock and key with the part that conjures a little flight of fancy where she and Kirk are in love and she can let herself be vulnerable and happy? Is it any wonder that La’an raises the alarm about the crew’s emotions being a security threat?

She knows she needs to nip the possibility of singing to Jim in the bud, but to do so is also to come clean about how she knew Alternate Timeline Jim. Number One, opening up to La’an in exactly the way she’d hoped for earlier, counsels a Marie Kondo approach to her skills and habits. They’re not in a desperate struggle for survival anymore, so perhaps it’s time to thank secret-keeping and emotion-crushing for their valuable service and let them go. Wanting to avoid the whole thing coming out in the form of a 17th-century sea shanty (for the record, I would  love  to hear that), La’an does what she must, leading to the episode’s best scene. Kudos to Christina Chong and Paul Wesley for leaning into the maybe-next-lifetime of it all. In lesser hands, this scene could have been kind of maudlin, but they transform it into well-earned heartache.

All that honesty may be for naught, though. The musical logic anomaly’s expansion across the entire subspace communications network could overwhelm the entire fleet’s logical thinking and drive them to the brink of war. The threat of total communications annihilation grows more intense now that even the Klingons are affected. General Garkog cannot abide “the abominable source of our dishonor” and intends to destroy it immediately upon arriving at the fold in about two hours.

Spock’s next gambit, generating a song-prompting moment, leads into another pair of songs: Chapel’s big ensemble number, followed by his own response song. Chapel’s is the most fun song of the episode so far, and yet it also raises some questions. She’s usually pretty easygoing, and perhaps some of that easy-breeziness is as much a survival tactic as Number One’s secret keeping. Her song underlines the professional ambition that led her to apply for (and get) another prestigious fellowship with a leading archaeological medicine specialist. She’s ready for what the future holds, even if it includes leaving Spock behind entirely, though I note that she’s still keeping her rationale a secret from everyone. Spock’s response song, back in the emotionally safe space of Engineering, uses the same melody as Chapel’s, and is every bit as lovelorn as hers is (mostly) triumphant. It’s such a bummer to see Spock describe his behavior in their relationship as “dysfunctional, weak, and emotional” when that relationship prompting him to let his human side take precedence seemed to be a boon for him.

Thank goodness for Uhura, whose song is the barn burner of the episode, making the most of Celia Rose Gooding’s gorgeous voice and presence as she sings about finding patterns in both data and in her heart. As a person who’s always been devoted to helping everyone else maintain their connections, can she marshal those skills to include herself in that everyone and find a way out of the potential impending disaster as a member of a team? Uhura is the youngest member of the Enterprise crew, and the degree to which they rely on her is  staggering .

She leads the crew to the unified emotional heights they’ll need to scale to reverse the effects of the improbability field with a  Back to the Future –style jolt of emotion of 344 giga electronvolts. The grand finale works because Uhura is able to inspire all 200 or so crew members to sing together. As ever, teamwork makes the dream work, and each person contributes all they can — including dancing! — in spite of the real challenges they’ve been singing about. The triumphant climax of the song is delayed a tiny bit by a check-in from the Klingons, who are led in song by General Garkog, who … can’t possibly be familiar with  T-Pain’s oeuvre , but who nonetheless delivers a flawless impression of the greatest practitioner of Auto-Tune. A+ silliness by Bruce Horak, who played Hemmer last season.

The song does the trick, and everyone on board is relieved to get back to their new normal of being more in touch with their feelings and chance-taking. They’re still sensitive enough to be struck with momentary dread when Uhura hums the tune of Chapel’s and Spock’s songs, but it passes, as every feeling does.

Space Tidbits

• As JTK is about to arrive, Number One tells La’an, “You have … an energy. You came in hot. On fire. It’s making me sweat.” I love this line delivery so much and have been waiting all season for it.

• Musical Pun Watch: Pike tells Uhura and Spock, “You’re applying old rules to a new reality. I suggest you find a different tempo.” LOL.

• A prize for the best bit of business in the background goes to Sam Kirk’s tiny body rolls, which I’m pretty sure only Uhura notices.

• Does the grand finale include an homage to  The Muppet Show  theme song? You be the judge: The crew sings that “We’re unbreakable, unshakeable, improbable, unstoppable, sensational, ovational, we, the fully explorational crew of the Enterprise!” Their Muppet forebears always sang about “the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational / This is what we call  The Muppet Show !”

• star trek: strange new worlds

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Holy Fucking Shit, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

"all those who wander" brings two major surprises to strange new worlds : a jolt of horror, and the pain of consequence..

Strange New Worlds has prided itself in its first season on a somewhat sense of ephemerality —that even at its direst of stakes , our enterprising heroes would come out the other side and move on to the next big adventure. This week’s penultimate episode of the season proved just how scary and incredible the series can be when it confronts arguably its truest idea of horror: lasting consequence.

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“All Those Who Wander” starts out both innocently enough and tinged with a sadness that will become much more tangible as the episode progresses. Beginning with another dinner in Pike’s quarters, we’re told that Uhura and another cadet, Chia, are nearing the end of their tours of duty on the Enterprise —and with it, Uhura’s reassurance that in spite of all that she’s learned aboard the ship , she’s ready to let go of Enterprise and Starfleet alike. But before she can be too certain—even without our own metatextual knowledge that if she does leave, she won’t be gone forever—a new priority mission that overrides Enterprise ’s other priority mission gives Pike reason to send Uhura off with one last adventure.

This is all dealt with in a casual, cool, and confident manner that gives us a wonderful moment with Pike briefing the bridge crew on their new mission—a search and rescue operation for the U.S.S. Peregrine , an important Constitution Class-adjacent vessel that has seemingly crashed landed on an icy world, cut off from comms contact. Balancing Pike (and a roped-in Spock) doing dishes as they discuss the risks—and the fact the Enterprise will need to send an Away team in solo so the ship can finish its other mission delivering supplies—with Pike becoming a Space Dad and treating it like a road trip, this all feels very much of Strange New Worlds ’ oeuvre: look at these cool space heroes, so good at their jobs, so calm and collected that balancing the risks of two life-and-death missions is just something that can be casually discussed over a plate of dinner leftovers among friends as much as they are colleagues. Woo, go space exploration!

Turns out, however, this is not a “woo, go space exploration” episode of Strange New Worlds . The moment Pike’s sizeable Away team is cut off from the Enterprise —our two young cadets, a newly promoted Lieutenant Duke, Spock, Nurse Chapel, La’an, Doctor M’Benga, Sam Kirk, and Chief Hemmer—the crew realizes that this is not going to be an easy mission. Finding the Peregrine and the dismembered remnants of much of its crew, and a message for Starfleet to stay the hell away , what was meant to be a fun road trip suddenly becomes extremely bad for our heroes. And then it gets worse when “All Those Who Wander” reveals that its classic sci-fi riff this week isn’t a Star Trek episode plot, it’s Alien . With Gorn babies.

Now, Star Trek has done Alien riffs before of course, but this episode ramps up to a level of horror unlike anything we’ve seen the franchise really attempt. The audience and the crew find this out at the same time by watching in horror as an alien survivor the Peregrine picked up clutches his chest, only for it to violently explode with four blood-covered small Gorn—immediately and bloodily killing the poor Cadet Chia on the mission, and Lt. Duke shortly thereafter—and there’s an immediate tone change for the entire episode. This isn’t the dire stakes Strange New Worlds has put its heroes in before, but a complete and total compromise of who we thought these Starfleet heroes were. It’s matched by the presentation of the episode, a genuine episode of horror that is explicitly brutal, explicitly violent, and packed with blood and viscera that hammers home, fundamentally, that as good as these people are at their jobs, space is dangerous, and space will get you killed. Definitely when space is actually four rapidly growing feral lizard alien baby monsters intent on destroying either you or themselves to be the alpha of the litter.

It is, frankly, incredible. Not just for its pitch-perfect, rampant thievery of every great horror movie trope around as the Away team finds itself being hunted for bloodsport, but for all the ways this immediate, shocking confrontation with a scenario that cannot be handled with diplomacy and reason immediately breaks almost everyone available. Nurse Chapel, so capable and so used to confronting and healing the sick and wounded, is shaken to her core over Chia’s death, barely able to speak while La’an—herself forced to reckon with darker impulses and her past with the Gorn as she did in the similarly excellent “Momento Mori” —thrusts a phaser rifle into her hands. Sam Kirk almost immediately freaks out, picking fights and screaming at his friends, robbed of any composure expected of a Star Trek hero even in the face of great danger. Even Spock isn’t free of this, eventually breaking down his mental logic inhibitors to tap into a primal, emotional rage to fight the Gorn once the Away team re-unites and hatches a plan to survive. It’s as genuinely unnerving to watch these cracks emerge and splinter wider and wider open as the episode progresses as it is to watch the Gorn carve a gory path through the Peregrine .

It’s not just brilliant for its horror however, but the way this team is made up of characters we’ve gotten to spend individual highlight episodes with this season: La’an, Chapel, Spock, Uhura. This moment, unlike anything Strange New Worlds has tried before, serves as the catalyst to climax their respective arcs over the entire season, a challenge that can only be brought about by throwing them into a situation that asks them to compromise all standard ideas of Starfleet behavior and simply survive . It’s a remarkable contrast with the aforementioned prior Gorn episode of the series, “Momento Mori.” There, the Gorn were an unseen shadow, but one that asked our heroes to rise to this idea of hope as a thing to guide them against that shadow with grace: as long as they all believed the Enteprise would endure, it would. This episode, on the other hand, finds hope along a much more distinctly bleaker route, that you cannot simply believe in surviving but have to throw yourself wholly into doing so—and that in doing so you also accept that sometimes it’s never enough to get everyone out of a bad situation alive, and it’s just as heroic to come out of it down people but having actually endured .

And that’s what “All Those Who Wander” saves its most gut-wrenching lesson for: that the horror shift is not the only major form change for Strange New Worlds we get to witness this episode, but the earth-shattering presence of choice and consequence for a show that has largely breezed by them with its episodic format. Early on in the episode, Hemmer gets attacked with an acid spit from one of the Gorn, and everything seems fine except for some momentary shock and pain for the Aenar. And you think, maybe, Strange New World won’t hit this particular horror trope, that everything’s fine. After all, the episode has satiated its bloodlust by killing off the two obvious death flags: the cadet two weeks away from proverbial retirement, and the newly promoted rookie. You can’t touch half of the cast for their place in Trek canon, otherwise. You’re lulled into that sense of security, that hope and bravado that our Starfleet heroes pump themselves up with, that everything’s going to be fine.

Then it isn’t. When the Gorn are destroyed and the day not saved, but salvaged, Strange New Worlds has one heartbreak hammer blow left to deal: Hemmer had already realized, as had La’an having faced the Gorn before, that their acid spit is more than an attack, but away to infect a host with their eggs. Hemmer, accepting that this is his fate in the way all Aenar accept the end, decides to throw himself out of the Peregrine ’s hangar bay, killing himself and ensuring that any Gorn hatchlings growing inside him will perish in the planet’s freezing environment. Even though Hemmer has had less to do in this first season than some of the other major cast members of the show, his death carries a weight here nonetheless—the same sort of scary, sea-changing disruption for Strange New Worlds at large as this episode of blood, gore, and horror was for the show’s tone. Things are suddenly that much more serious, and carry a disruptive weight that persists beyond the series’ beloved episodic structure.

We immediately get to feel those consequences beyond Hemmer’s loss, too. La’an decides to take an extended leave of absence from the Enterprise to help one of the Peregrine survivors, a young child, find their home beyond Federation borders. Spock, now unable to truly control his emotions again, finds himself and his relationship with Nurse Chapel changing in fundamental, and downright scary, ways. Even Uhura, so distraught by the loss of Hemmer, is left open-ended, unsure of whether to stay and put down roots aboard the Enterprise or leave as she originally intended, the episode ending on a lingering shot of her staring out at the comm station on the bridge—the future we know she will have one day—and it’s distinctly left up to interpretation as to whether she’s looking at it with pride or doubt.

It’s a bold ending to an incredible bold episode of the series—arguably, perhaps, its best in a very good opening season. Its malleability as an episodic series is both challenged and proved in “All Those Who Wander,” not just for the pitch-perfect tone pivot, but with the gravity of consequence it brought to match such a major change that its has born down upon its characters. Strange New Worlds has spent much of its first season firmly settling into that groove of riffs, familiarity, and individualized, walled-off stories. With this episode, it suddenly feels like everything has changed as much for the series as it has its heroes: right now, Strange New Worlds feels like it can do just about anything, and that’s one hell of a gauntlet to throw down in the penultimate episode of a season.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power .

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How Strange New Worlds pulled off the first-ever Star Trek musical episode

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Throwing an hour of light comedy into the middle of a 10-episode arc with galactic-level stakes could derail an entire season, but Star Trek: Strange New Worlds dances gracefully from week to week between courtroom drama, time-travel romance, and its latest wild swing: a musical episode.

In “Subspace Rhapsody,” the crew of the USS Enterprise encounters a strange cosmic phenomenon that induces them to break into song and reveal their innermost feelings. The episode features 10 original songs by Kay Hanley and Tom Polce (of Letters to Cleo fame) and highlights the vocal talents of the cast, including Tony nominee and Grammy winner Celia Rose Gooding and singer-songwriter Christina Chong.

Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman, who heads up the franchise at Paramount, has been teasing the possibility of a Star Trek musical since 2020. But at the time, his only venue for bizarre genre experiments was Star Trek: Short Treks , a short subject anthology series that filled the gaps between Discovery and Picard . Short Treks eventually became the launchpad for Strange New Worlds , whose tone has proven equally elastic. After the warm reception to its first season, which contained everything from a screwball body-swap comedy to a grim political drama involving child sacrifice, it was time to set phasers to “sing.”

According to the episode’s director, Dermott Downs, Chong was the cast member who pushed the hardest for a musical episode. Chong, whose debut EP Twin Flames is also out this week, confesses in her Spotify bio that her screen acting career began as a way to raise her profile as a singer and stage actor. “Subspace Rhapsody” would seem to be an important landmark in her career, as she features heavily on the soundtrack, including the solo ballad “How Would That Feel?”

(Chong is unavailable for comment due to the conditions of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, as is the rest of the cast and the episode’s writers, Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff. Songwriters Kay Hanley and Tom Polce also could not be reached via Paramount publicity.)

Indeed, one of the interesting challenges of producing a musical episode of an established television show is tailoring the music to suit the talents of the existing cast. Who’s a belter? Who’s a crooner? Who’s funny? Who might not be comfortable singing at all? The tools at hand impact not only the distribution of the songs, but the shape of the story. The narrative and emotional weight of a musical has to fall on the shoulders of the cast members most prepared to carry it.

So, it’s no surprise that, while “Subspace Rhapsody” gives nearly every regular cast member an opportunity to show off, the heart of the story is Ensign Nyota Uhura, portrayed by Celia Rose Gooding. Gooding’s performance as Frankie in Jagged Little Pill , a Broadway jukebox musical featuring the songs of Alanis Morissette, garnered them a Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, as well as a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album (shared with the rest of the cast). Gooding sings the episode’s 11 o’clock number, “Keep Us Connected,” an undeniable earworm that showcases their impressive vocal range and power. Gooding’s Broadway bona fides bring a level of legitimacy to “Subspace Rhapsody” that’s lacking even in top-tier TV musical episodes like Buffy ’s “Once More, With Feeling” and Community ’s “Regional Holiday Music.”

This also isn’t Downs’ first crack at a musical episode, as he also helmed “Duet,” a crossover between The Flash and Supergirl that reunited former Glee castmates Grant Gustin, Melissa Benoist, and Darren Criss. Downs used this experience, as well as his long resume as a music video cinematographer, to secure the “Subspace Rhapsody” gig from the list of episodes in development for Strange New Worlds ’ second season. Combined with his fondness for the original Star Trek , the possibility of working on Trek’s first musical episode was too exciting to pass up, despite the obvious risks.

“There was a great potential to jump the shark,” says Downs, “because if you’re this grounded show, how are you going to do a musical in outer space? And to their credit, they crafted a great story. Once you understand the anomaly and how music pushes forward all of these interior feelings through song, then you have the potential for so many different kinds of songs.”

However, the prospect of singing for the viewing audience was not immediately appealing to every cast member, a fact that is lampshaded within the framework of the episode. Much of the Enterprise crew fears the subspace anomaly’s ability to make them spill their guts through song. Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) is afraid of getting into an argument with his girlfriend, Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano), and the pair ends up airing out their relationship issues on the bridge. (This song is, appropriately, entitled “A Private Conversation.”) Mount’s singing role is simpler than his castmates’ on a technical level, but leverages his comedic talents and awkward, boy-next-door charm.

“He crushed it,” says Downs. “It was like a country ballad gone wrong.”

Babs Olusanmokun, who portrays the multifaceted Dr. Joseph M’Benga, sings the bare minimum in the episode, and his character makes a point to tell his shipmates (and the viewer) that he does not sing . For his part, Downs cannot comment on any studio magic that may or may not have been employed to make the less seasoned vocalists in the cast more tuneful, but a listener with an ear for autotune will definitely detect some pitch correction.

Downs says that Ethan Peck, who portrays the young Lieutenant Spock , was among the more apprehensive cast members, but if anything, this becomes an asset to his performance in the episode. Spock has spent this season actively exploring his human feelings, even entering into a romantic relationship with Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush). Spock’s solo “I’m the X” sees Spock retreating into his shell, and the actor’s shyness feeds into the character’s conflict. Peck’s performance of the song, which was written for his smooth baritone, was the production’s most pleasant surprise. The temp track of the song that the crew worked with (until Peck recorded his version over a weekend, like the rest of the cast) featured a bigger, more conventionally Broadway vocal, but Peck performs it in character — superficially steady, but with strong emotional undercurrents just below the surface.

On a character level, however, the musical format might be most revelatory for Rebecca Romijn’s Commander Una Chin-Riley, aka Number One. Una began the series as a very guarded person harboring a secret that could end her career. Even as far back as her appearance in the 2019 Short Treks episode “Q&A,” her advice to new arrival Spock was to “keep your ‘freaky’ to yourself,” in this case referring to her love for Gilbert and Sullivan ( inherited from Romijn herself ). Since then, her much more consequential secrets have been revealed, and she finds herself unburdened, and uses the opportunity presented by the musical anomaly to encourage her mentees to do the same. Una’s songs, “Connect to Your Truth”’ and “Keeping Secrets,” see her offering advice to rising first officer James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) and her protege La’an (Chong), respectively, about the futility of withholding your full self from others.

“Subspace Rhapsody” concludes with an ensemble number about the crew’s common purpose and fellowship — an appropriate sentiment not only for a musical episode but for Strange New Worlds . Star Trek has always been about friendship and cooperation, but no previous incarnation (save, perhaps, for Deep Space Nine ) has granted each member of the cast such even amounts of attention and importance, from Captain Pike to Ensign Uhura. Previous Trek series could perhaps have sustained a musical episode (Ronald D. Moore even pitched one for DS9 back in the ’90s). For a series sold to fans as a return to “old-school Star Trek,” Strange New Worlds has taken some wild creative risks. While the show has resumed its time-tested episodic “problem of the week” format, its writers and producers have used this structure to experiment in ways that its sister shows, Discovery and Picard , could never have gotten away with. As corny as it might be, on Strange New Worlds it feels particularly appropriate to close a story with the entire crew singing about their trust in each other, in perfect harmony.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 9 Review – All Those Who Wander

The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1 has it all: jump scares, body horror, baby murder aliens, and our first real death.

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The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 9

The generally episodic nature of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds means that the show can much more easily play with things like tone and genre than either of its fellow modern-day predecessors. From last week’s emotional gut-punch disguised as a candy-coated children’s fantasy to a bodyswap romantic comedy , the show seems to delight in subverting our expectations about what a show like this is supposed to be and do from week to week. 

Admittedly, penultimate season 1 episode “All Who Wander” is a fairly big departure from the show’s most recent handful of episodes, what with its overt jump scares, body horror, and murder aliens, and the hour has enough action to feel like a season-ender in its own right. It’s propulsive, thrilling, and genuinely creepy by turns, with plenty of legitimate stakes for multiple characters. (Though I regret to inform everyone I am now officially a Sam Kirk hater, even if he did come through for Spock in the end. Sorry not sorry.) 

While on a routine mission to deliver power cells to a deep space station, a significant chunk of the Enterprise crew is diverted to answer a distress signal from the U.S.S. Peregrin, which appears to have crashed on Valeo Beta V, a planet whose nitrate-charged atmosphere makes its surface a communications dead zone.

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Pike, bursting with dad jokes, intends to make the event a fun last away mission for Uhura and the other cadets about to rotate off the ship, but things take a turn quickly once the group realizes the Peregrin crew was killed by the Gorn. Plus side: they were killed by baby Gorn, who hatched from the bodies of the infected refugees the ship had stopped to pick up. Unfortunately, baby Gorn grow up stupidly quickly, are wildly vicious, and more than capable of killing humans.

What follows is an hour that feels like a cross between the Alien vs. Predator films and a horror-themed bottle episode, as Pike and the rest of the crew try to come up with a plan to stay alive—and to get off the planet without taking any Gorn with them. For what I think is the first time, there are real deaths—or, at least, deaths of characters whose names and jobs we know, alongside the standard random cadet who was introduced just to be killed off. One of the best things about Strange New Worlds is its adherence to Pike’s communal, work-the-problem leadership style, which frequently results in collaborative brainstorms that feel like a breath of fresh air in a franchise where figures in his place are usually much more into an explicitly top-down style of management.

How Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Hilariously Tweaks Classic Episodes

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 8 Review – The Elysian Kingdom

The sequence in which the remaining crew members work together to funnel the rapidly growing Gorn teens into situations where Team Starfleet actually has a chance of defeating them is deeply satisfying to watch play out (not to mention actually smart!), and the episode is full of genuine jump scares alongside some surprisingly bloody gore. Pike’s willingness to step back in order to allow La’an to step forward—realizing that having a chance to save a young girl from the Gorn is part of her own healing process—is particularly lovely, as is the fact that his hair has fully returned to its usual majestic form. 

My one complaint about this episode is that I wish we’d had a chance to know Hemmer better as a character before having to say goodbye to him. He’s the one major Enterprise officer who had yet to really have an episode dedicated to his story and while his decision to sacrifice himself for the safety of the crew is both moving and narratively relevant—he is, after all, fixing something that is broken—I can’t help but imagine how much more upset I likely would have been if I had a firmer grasp of who he was. (It’s also a shame that the show decided to off its one alien officer who actually, you know, looked like an alien.)

On the plus side, I love that Hemmer’s death (and his dying exhortation that she should embrace life) is apparently the catalyst that pushed Uhura to stay in Starfleet, and there’s a certain poetic symbolism in the idea that he still lives on in some way, through all the great and important things she will go on to do on the Enterprise and elsewhere. I suspect this is the mechanism by which Montgomery Scott will join the crew, but I honestly hope I’m wrong—if only because I’m nervous enough about the idea of James Kirk showing up next season , and Strange New Worlds has repeatedly proven it doesn’t need to be stacked with legacy cameos to work. 

La’an’s decision to take a leave of absence is surprising—and somewhat upsetting, given how far her character has come in just nine episodes and the fact that the show seems like its positioning the Gorn to be its major recurring villain, much the way the Klingons or the Borg were on Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation . I think we have to assume Christina Chong will be back for Season 2 in some capacity, if only because though we have focused quite a bit on her lingering trauma as a result of surviving a Gorn attack, we haven’t really touched much on her famous last name or explored how that connection impacted the woman she has become. Plus, there’s just no way that Strange New World named a character Noonien-Singh without the intent to do something with it. (And I think Chong is a solid actress and it would be really sad to lose La’an’s interesting dynamics with both Pike and Una.) 

But the real question that’s keeping me up at the moment—“All Those Who Wander” felt very much like a season finale, complete with emotional losses and table setting for the future. So what in the world is the actual finale going to involve?

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4.5 out of 5

Lacy Baugher

Lacy Baugher is a digital producer by day, but a television enthusiast pretty much all the time. Her writing has been featured in Paste Magazine, Collider,…

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' episode 9 concludes the first chapter of Uhura's journey

It's gripping, it's gritty and this episode pulls no punches in the show's most daring installment yet.

Warning: Spoilers for "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" season 1, episode 9

We had high hopes for the finale of the inaugural season of "Strange New Worlds" and the drama is already building in the penultimate installment that is episode 9. Entitled "All Those Who Wander," the episode does not disappoint and in fact, marks arguably the darkest installment yet of what is the best live-action "Star Trek" spin-off currently on air.

It starts, actually in a similar manner to how it ends, with an air of sadness as Cadet Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) has reached the end of her placement onboard the USS Enterprise and — for some inexplicable reason — is still mulling about, undecided over what to do next. Clearly, there's no ageism, unemployment or xenophobia in the 23rd century, or otherwise she'd be clinging onto this amazing opportunity with both hands like her life depended on it.

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While on a routine mission to [deep space station K-7] to deliver [vidium power cells], Captain Pike (Anson Mount) receives another priority one order; the USS Peregrine activated a distress beacon before making an unscheduled emergency landing on a class L planet, Valeo Beta V. It's decided, during the nicest mission briefing ever, that the Enterprise under the command of Lt Cmdr Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) will continue on to K-7, while a two-shuttle landing party will proceed to Valeo Beta Five, rescue any survivors and if possible, salvage the ship.

Joining Pike on the away mission is Spock (Ethan Peck), Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), Lt. Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) and Cadet Uhura, together with Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), Lt Hemmer (Bruce Horak), Lt George Kirk (Dan Jeannotte) and the newly promoted Lt Duke (Ted Kellogg) and Cadet Chia (Jessica Danecker).

The surface of Valeo Beta V is hard, frozen rock, or as Hemmer describes it, just like Andoria. Ion storms in the atmosphere prevent long-range communications and transport. The Sombra-class starship is quickly located, but so are a dozen or so frozen and mutilated dead bodies, all in Starfleet uniforms.

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Very quickly, a tense, thrilling tone is established and it's clear this away mission is going to be no picnic. Upon entering the derelict Federation spacecraft, the away team crew immediately find blood trails and are able to play back the last log entry from Captain Alice Gavin (voiced by Liza Seneca). Turns out a Gorn infection in one of the crewmembers went undetected by the transporter filters and a deadly xenomorph infestation began aboard the starship, resulting in their eventual demise.

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With the most basic of ship's functions restored, a human life sign and an unknown life sign are detected. Following a brief search through the bowels of the ship, the survivors are located and we learn that they were more than likely refugees from a Gorn breeding facility. It seems the Peregrine was mapping non-Federation space when they found three castaways on an M-class planet: a human girl, a humanoid of unknown origin, an an Orion named Pasko. It turns out this poor Orion was the one originally infected. The human girl identifies herself as Oriana, while she refers to her alien guardian as "Buckley."

Unfortunately, Buckley has also copped one and before long four Gorn hatchlings erupt from his body, killing Cadet Chia in the process. One hatchling decides to attack and eat another only moments after bursting forth from Buckley's body — all that ripping through major organs must be hungry work — so that leaves three, all of which scamper off and disappear. Writer Davy Perez has acknowledged that the episode was influenced by films such as "Alien," "Predator," "The Thing" and even "Gremlins" and the qualities of those other epic sci-fi works are obvious, but it works so well. The Gorn has been set up in "Strange New Worlds" as a deadly alien foe and that's just fine by us. They were established as being particularly nasty pieces of work way back in "The Original Series" and then further developed just a little bit in "Enterprise." So why not develop them even further?

And as it turns out, they really are particularly nasty pieces of work. The Gorn's biological makeup renders them invisible to all sensors; it is, by all intents and purposes, a genetic chameleon. Once a host is infected, the maturity cycle depends on the biological make up of the host. In the Orion, it took weeks. Pike orders everyone to regroup and in the process poor Duke gets dragged off and no doubt horrifically mutilated. This scene was so worthy of an especially bloodcurdling Wilhem scream , but alas, there was none. However, in the process Hemmer catches a spurt of venomous vomit from one of the rapidly maturing Gorns and at this point, you're genuinely unsure if this is going to be a problem.

A plan is hatched (pun intended) to drive the remaining two Gorn into a trap by lowering the temperature in different sections of the ship, since the Gorn prefer a more temperate climate. All of this incredibly useful information, by the way, comes from Lt. Noonien-Singh's experience fighting the Gorn from a young age and as such, she transforms into 'Noonien-Singh: Gorn Hunter.' Sam Kirk serves as the token, fear-stricken crewmember who starts to unravel in a nice throwback to some of "The Original Series" episodes and he actually attacks Spock for his purely logical approach to the situation, just like many characters did some 50-odd years ago. But again, it's been nicely updated/refreshed and in an unexpected twist, Sam actually saves Spock's life.

In an enthralling chase sequence a lá "Alien 3," the Gorn get trapped and turn on each other so that only the alpha Gorn remains. The chase leads the Last Gorn Standing into engineering where Noonien-Singh and Hemmer are able to freeze it. Phew. But…it's not over yet. That nasty reptilian regurgitate Hemmer received is beginning to bubble and it's only a matter of time now. The courageous Aenar tells Uhura that his mission was to fix what was broken, just like he did back in episode 4, " Memento Mori " and it was Uhura herself who needed to be guided to her destiny with Starfleet. Then he leaps to his death before the young Gorn can hatch and thus saves the crew. So…er, yeah, Hemmer dies.

He was a character that we were rapidly becoming very fond of, in particular his arid-dry wit and from the very first moment we met him in episode 2 " Children of the Comet " watching the relationship arc between Uhura and him develop was a joy to behold. But, it's not over yet. In an interview, Bruce Horak told Space.com that he'd be back. 

"I can officially tell you that the Star Trek career of Bruce Horak is not done," he said, but alas could elaborate no further. And what's really interesting is that none of the other cast knew of his fate, not even Celia Rose Gooding. Poor Bruce had to keep it a secret throughout most of the production of the first season. 

"I think especially Celia was quite surprised, reading episode nine. That was a particularly tough goodbye. Celia and I shot many scenes together. Obviously the camaraderie that develops between Uhura and Hemmer, I mean, there was just no denying that that was going to bleed into the off-camera stuff and hanging out, and Celia and I connected over music and theater and just a general joie de vivre.

"So when we had to shoot that episode, it was pretty hard. It was pretty hard on her. And you know what, they say it's always hardest on those left behind, and yeah. I guess if there's one hope that I have for Hemmer is that it takes them a long time to get over him. Isn't that everyone's hope?"

What's next for the USS Enterprise? Who will replace Lt. Hemmer as Chief Engineer? Will it be Montgomery Scott? According to StarTrek.com and Memory Alpha , Scotty began his career on an unknown starship as an ensign in 2242 — and this episode is set in 2241. So, all things considered it's unlikely. Thank goodness.

When a show kills off a liked character, it almost always results in a mixed reaction. Of course we're going to miss them, but a show shouldn't be afraid to do it. Often, bringing back characters that quite frankly should've died given what they've just been through can look a lot more ridiculous than killing them. The showrunner, in this instance Henry Alonso Myers, needs to understand when to do it and when not to. But, for a show with a lot to prove and still in its first season, this is a bold move, that while really rather sad, keeps the show fresh.

Rating: 8/10

The first eight episodes of "Strange New Worlds" are now available to watch on  Paramount Plus as is the entire second season of " Star Trek: Picard ." Season 4 of "Star Trek: Discovery" is also available on the Paramount streaming service in the US and on CTV Sci-Fi or Crave TV in Canada. Countries outside of North America can watch on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel. Paramount is available in the UK and Ireland both as a standalone service and as part of the Sky Cinema subscription for the UK cable provider.  

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When Scott's application to the NASA astronaut training program was turned down, he was naturally upset...as any 6-year-old boy would be. He chose instead to write as much as he possibly could about science, technology and space exploration. He graduated from The University of Coventry and received his training on Fleet Street in London. He still hopes to be the first journalist in space.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9 Recap – what causes the crew to burst into song?

We recap the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9, “Subspace Rhapsody,” which contains spoilers.

No, I didn’t have a Star Trek: Strange New Worlds musical episode on my 2023 Bingo card either. But here we are, with episode nine of the second season, titled “Subspace Rhapsody,” the first-ever musical-themed installment from the Star Trek franchise.

In the penultimate episode, the Enterprise crew members are overcome by dance fever, breaking uncontrollably into song thanks to an accident with an experimental quantum probability field. Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9 Recap

The musical episode begins with the discovery of a naturally occurring subspace fold. This unusual phenomenon could help the galaxy with record-breaking communication speeds.

During this discovery, Uhura is inundated with extra work. Pike organizes his first vacation with partner Batel . La’an finds herself working with James T. Kirk once again, and Christine celebrates her successful fellowship submission.

Early on, Spock struggles to communicate with the subspace fold. Pelia suggests using music to make a connection. Uhura fires a song directly into the subspace fold’s direction, which immediately results in a strange reaction.

A ripple effect causes everyone in the Enterprise to break out into song. The explanation may be complicated, but who cares? Let’s just enjoy the musical, shall we?

What causes the crew to burst into song?

The crew quickly checks that all of the systems are stable. They appear to be safe and largely unaffected by this strange phenomenon, except for the uncontrollable show tunes, of course. There are reports of musical outbreaks throughout the entire ship. Spock believes their song has unlocked an improbability field, linking the Enterprise with a musical realm.

Pike wants to close this improbability field immediately, although they are seemingly tethered to this field regardless. Spock investigates the data further. Uhura uses this as a chance to probe Spock about his love life; he is shocked that Christine hasn’t told him her good news.

More musical incidents follow. Una gives James advice on leading his crew via a musical number. And La’an sings a heartbreaking ballad, pondering her complex relationship with James.

La’an thinks that expressing one’s deepest emotions could actually be a security threat. They need to close the field right away.

What causes the improbability field to expand?

They fire a deflector into the field, but this causes an energy surge instead. The musical disease spreads, and the improbability field starts to expand, affecting other ships in the fleet, including Batel’s. Pike and Batel share an awkward musical sequence together, arguing about their vacation in front of an embarrassed Enterprise crew.

After this incident, the crew suggested blowing up the subspace field. Spock runs some simulations, discovering that this option could be catastrophic.

To make matters worse, the Klingons have been infected by the musical bug and plan to destroy the field anyway.

Uhura and Spock research the phenomenon, instigating further musical numbers so that they can analyze the data from them.

Meanwhile, La’an confesses to James about their time-travel romance. James has his own confession to make: he is in a relationship with another woman, and she is pregnant with his child. La’an is heartbroken by this news.

Spock is also struggling with his own messy romance, upset by Christine’s sudden change in behavior. His heartache clouds his judgment as he is unable to find any patterns in the data.

Uhura analyzes the data on her own, noticing that the data spikes during the musical numbers. She concludes that they’ll need a serious showstopper tune to shatter the field entirely.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9 Ending Explained

Pike puts his trust in Uhura to rally the troops and pull off the most powerful grand finale musical number ever to break the field completely. Uhura’s song manages to unite the entire ship, and even the Klingons join in, providing their own comical interlude.

The subspace field explodes as their musical number reaches its crescendo.

After the grand finale, Pike and Batel discuss their vacation again. They choose to trust in each other and be more open going forward. La’an tells Una about her conversation with James. She’s glad that she told him the truth and took a chance, even if it ended in heartache. The episode ends with the Enterprise going back to normal; all is well once again.

What did you think of the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9? Comment below.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Recap: Killer Alien Babies Invade the Ship — and Not Everyone Survives

Keisha hatchett, staff editor.

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If you’re squeamish and scare easily, this week’s episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is the stuff of nightmares. Take it from me, a person who washed their hair with their eyes open for weeks after seeing The Ring in theaters.

Like any day from hell, we begin the freshman season’s penultimate episode on a lighter note, with Pike gathering the crew to promote Ensign Duke to lieutenant and bid farewell to the graduating cadets, including Uhura (who plans to return to Earth).

Their newest mission puts their attention on the U.S.S. Peregrine , whose crew sent a distress beacon and went off the grid. Before that, they were making an emergency landing on a Class-O planet (defined as any planet whose surface is comprised of more than 80% water) called Valeo Beta V.

Pike decides to oversee this mission personally, taking the cadets on one last outing with senior officers while the rest of the crew hangs back on the Enterprise .

The landing party — which includes the captain, Chapel, Spock, Lt. Kirk, La’an, M’Benga, Uhura, Hemmer and Lt. Duke — arrives on the frozen, volatile surface in search of answers. The Peregrine is dark and eerily silent, and there’s blood — already a bad sign. A captain’s log reveals the ship’s crew rescued three captives, not knowing one was infected with Gorn eggs.

The crew decides to find any survivors and get out, requiring them to split up into smaller teams. But anyone who’s ever watched a horror film knows that this is a very bad idea . Cue the classic jump scare when Spock sees blood on the floor and is startled by Pike sneaking up on him, M’benga joking that he didn’t realize the Vulcan was so jumpy.

Chapel examines Buckley, who seems to have fallen ill. But he isn’t ill , per se; he’s just carrying Gorn babies. And like a scene straight out of Alien , the demonic offspring burst through his chest and skitter away — one even slaughtering its own sibling. These things are small, feral and deadly.

Let me tell you, the little girl staring at her friend breathing heavily with those evil little eyes and then ducking under the table before all hell breaks loose makes me think she’s Damien from The Omen, because why are all these terrible things happening and she’s not saying anything? I do not trust her.

Lt. Hunt is stuck with Pike, Spock and Kirk, so you know he’s the one about to die. And right on time, those mini demons spring out of nowhere and drag his body into the darkness, his terrified screams filling the air. If I were watching in a theater, this would be the moment I’d collect my purse and speed-walk into a screening of Buzz Lightyear because I cannot deal.

Elsewhere, Chapel sneaks up on La’an, and they realize new Gorn are on the loose. They then find the girl hiding in the cargo hold. It’s the coldest place on the ship and where the creatures would never go. Update: Lil’ Damien isn’t evil, just a scared kid.

Down in engineering, Hemmer and Uhura get the ship back online, and Pike orders everyone to sick bay. But that’s easier said than done with a grown Gorn cornering the engineer and cadet. The creature sprays Hemmer with its venom, but he and Uhura make it to the others.

The crew finds the Gorn hard to track because their biological composition makes them invisible to technology, and not even Hemmer can sense them. Spock is impressed by their adaptive genetic coding, and Kirk berates the Vulcan as a “heartless, pointy-eared computer.”

Spat aside, the team devises a plan to herd the Gorn into one area so they can kill them. As they lure one, Spock realizes the current plan isn’t working and he needs to get aggressive. Tapping into that Vulcan rage, the science officer draws the creature out and into a room with the alpha, where it’s subsequently killed. La’an then lures the alpha into another trap, and they kill it, much to everyone’s relief.

The survivors hold a memorial for the three lost during the mission, including Hemmer, Lt. Duke and Cadet Chia. Spock leaves early, struggling to deal with his emotions. “I can’t control it. I let something out,” he tells Chapel. They hug and share a lingering stare, but Spock walks away before they kiss.

Meanwhile, La’an has found a lead on the girl’s family. It’s out of Federation space, and she wants to pursue it. She requests a formal leave of absence, which Pike agrees to as long as she comes back.

In the episode’s closing moments, Uhura stares at the bridge — specifically, her spot at comms — and it’s clear here that she has decided to stay.

Did this week’s episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds make you want to sleep with the lights on? Were you shocked by that death? Sound off in the comments below. 

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No surprise about Cadet Chia and Lt. Duke (Duke, because of the promotion and Chia, because one of the cadets had to die, and it sure as hell couldn’t be Uhura). In fact, I knew they were going to die as soon as the mission was mentioned, but why Hemmer? I didn’t see that one coming until the end because I hadn’t considered that eggs could be implanted by venom. I really liked him and I’ll miss him. R.I.P Hemmer.

I figured Hemmer would eventually die – his talk with Uhura in an earlier episode about his species being dedicated to finding purpose really set him up as a doomed character. But we barely knew him and he was the only overtly alien-looking character. Seems like a waste!

At first I found the episode something of a knock-off of Alien/Aliens, and clearly that’s what it’s strongly inspired by. I did find the loss of Hemmer to have more impact than I would have guessed – I thought his character unique, and frankly I thought he’d be around longer!

Me too. I thought he was funny. So sad.

I will miss Hemmer very much! I was hoping he would stay around for more seasons, he was such a special character, definately one of my favourites! I will miss La’an too, but I’m pretty sure she’ll come back next season.

She’s in the season finale, actually. Look up “A Quality Of Mercy”.

With Hemmer gone the Enterprise will need a new chief engineer. I understand there’s a promising Star Fleet engineer named Montgomery Scott looking for an opportunity.

We can only hope. Problem is since the Chief Engineer is a Red Shirt (wink wink) they could hold off on Scotty for a while.

Read this article about Pike and his affinity for losing Chief Engineers:

https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-episode-9-original-series-character-return/

Aha! Interesting. Thanks for the link,

You’re very welcome! I have a feeling they’ll keep doing this until closer to when Kirk takes over as Captain. It’s only 5 years til then, so not too much time until Scotty, but plenty of time to lose a lot of Chief Engineers.

I understand the decision to “kill off” the transporter girl last week if they couldn’t come up with a decent plot for her going forward, but Hemmer was probably the most interesting character on the show.

Makes no sense.

But apparently they planned it that way from the start.

I am stunned that Hemmer was killed off! I liked his character and was looking towards seeing his story develop. Then again if SNW leads to a “re -boot” of TOS I wondered how they would bring Scotty on board Pike’s Enterprise. I have a feeling that with Kirk being introduced next season having Scotty coming aboard would be for season 3 and McCoy & Sulu later on. Since Pike was captain for 10 years before Kirk there will be time for characters fron TOS to be introduced as the show goes to Kirk’s command. I am one for following as close as possible ST canon but I would not mind if somehow Pike lives on. I think that SNW is excellent on every level, The producers have created a tight knit crew very quickly which makes the loss of Hemmer really hit home. The legacy characters ,Uhura, Chapel & Spock are spot on. It is not easy for any actor to portray a well know character. These actors are doing a great job adding new dimensions to Uhura, Chapel & Spock. In TOS out of the 3 Spock was the most developed in terms of back story while Uhura & Chapel in particular were not. The producers have also created a superb villian . The Gorn are truly terrifying and will be to SNW & a re booted TOS the equivalent of the Borg. The only change that I would make to SNW and the other series would be more episodes ! Why 10 per year & not 12 or even 15 ?

I would say the Gorn were like the creatures who destroyed the Borg and THEM panicked, species 8472. Unless they saw Hemmer’s body and had him cremated, encapsulated, or buried, I wouldn’t count the Andorians relative out for the count. I keep thinking if he jumped into someplace where no one saw him afterward, the Aenar will be back–afterall this is Star Trek, and they’ve done there job. They set viewers up in the first season on purpose with a likeable character who i’m sure will not be dead like Jadzia or morphed into some other creature like Hemmer’s Andorian cousin Jeffery Combs. I do recall on Enterprise, the Aenar had an ability to appear out of nowhere, have people walking in circles, and create illusions like a wall. The Andorians told Archer their distant cousins were cold-natured and very much a mystery–i’d say a mystery to be revealed… probably like Una was to everyone’s surprise. Nice job with the cliffhanger, SNW.

You know I wasn’t totally on board when they started exploring Nurse Chapels relationship with Spock given that it(and her in general) was kind of just a blip in the original series, however Jess Bush and Ethan Peck have great chemistry. Nurse Chapel is a character I actually wanna know more about now.

I was really surprised by seeing the character of Hemmer being gone so quickly from the show. I think Bruce Horak who portrayed Hemmer really did an EXCELLENT job in this role. I assume any actor would like to stay on in a series like Star Trek. But as one person commented I assume his character was not to last beyond season 1. His character was so good that I found myself sad to see him off the series. Needless to say I think many of us who watch the show will not forget the excellent role you were given to play, which you did so well. Thanks Bruce and I think many Star Trek fans would say the same.

When Bruce Horak took the role, the producers were clear that their plans for the character meant he’d have a limited run. His leaving had nothing to do with his performance (which really was excellent) or his wanting to exit the show. He explains this in an interview on a Canadian site, and talks about how happy he was to have played Hemmer — he felt honored to be on Star Trek, and he had a great time on the show. He liked it that Hemmer was blind but not disabled. . If that makes him sound healthy and positive. he really is. He lost one eye to cancer and has only 20% vision in the other, so it’s not easy for him to get roles, particularly given the way his face looks due to the damage. (He was pleased about the Hemmer makeup.) But he just keeps on going, in a strong, undemonstrative way, and he sounds pretty happy.

In that same interview, he also mentions that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Hemmer on Strange New Worlds. Something tells me he either becomes a spiritual presence or a Gorn mutant.

What a terrific episode. With science fiction shows, you don’t expect horror and suspense to actually work, but it did. A lot of that was because the style of the show is so grounded, and it had built up character so carefully. You don’t expect to feel anything at all, for that matter, and you did. . I really like the way Pike has been developed. He isn’t overused, and when he’s on he doesn’t go over the top. He just comes across as someone you’d be glad to serve under — solid, decisive, not a grandstander, someone who genuinely cares for his crew and backs them up with his chain of command. In this situation it’s very clear why he’s a good guy to have around. . The puppetry and animatronics were very effective. The alien survivor, in particular, was surprisingly expressive, and even affecting. . As for the death of Hemmer, that really worked, partly because the character was written and played with such restraint. You didn’t feel manipulated. Bruce Horak plays him with such dignity that you responded to his sacrifice in a complex way. The funeral scene rang true as well.

I’m really loving this show. Great crew chemistry & the potential for the kind of ensemble of TNG. I love what they’ve done with Chapel. TOS Chapel was such a thankless role. It was great that Majel Barrett finally got to have some fun as Troi’s mother – a great character. This Chapel is a full bodied person and I love that she and Spock are friends & the actor’s have great chemistry.I would love it if the creator’s take this series as an alternate universe and let Spock and T’Pring amicably and logically decide they are not a good match and let Spock and Chapel develop a relationship as lovers.

I am going to miss Hemmer. He was becoming one of my favorite characters. This was a great episode well done.

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'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 1 Episode 9 Review: An Ode to 'Alien'

'Strange New Worlds' pays homage to a sci-fi horror classic as we say goodbye to a member of the crew.

The ninth episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds serves as a heart-pounding homage to the sci-fi horror classic Alien , while also handling the loss of a beloved crew member. Season 1 Episode 9, "All Those Who Wander," opens with a cheery graduation ceremony for Cadet Uhura ( Celia Gooding ), as well as a couple of very obvious red-shirts, despite their science and command uniforms. Uhura is currently still determined to leave Starfleet and continue exploring her own path, insisting that she hates goodbyes. Though she seems set in her decision, Captain Pike ( Anson Mount ) and Helmsman Ortegas ( Melissa Navia ) make it known that she'll always have a place on the Enterprise.

Mid-celebration, the Enterprise gets called into a priority one search and rescue mission for a crew that's gone missing on a dead zone planet. They're also en route to another Priority One mission, providing essential resources for a Federation planet. Pike sends Una ( Rebecca Romijn ) and the rest of the Enterprise crew off on their initial mission while opting to take "the kids in the station wagon" as a landing party for their new mission. The domesticity of these scenes in the Captain's quarters serves as an effortless shorthand for Strange New Worlds to really nail down how much of a family this crew is, with Pike and Una playing mom and dad to their rowdy group cadets, lieutenants, and commanders. Things like sharing meals and washing dishes together provide a certain level of intimacy on this starship that could many other Trek ensembles years to reach.

When the landing party finds the crashed ship, they come upon a ghostly scene with blood smeared all over the walls and all functionality of the ship in dire straights. La'an ( Christina Chong ) and M'Benga ( Babs Olusanmokun ) find a significant portion of the crew dead and at first, they assume they fell prey to the planet's harsh elements, but pretty soon we come to recognize the brutal destruction of an enemy we've seen before — it's the Gorn . The episode cranks up the horror elements to eleven as Pike and the others find this final message from the crew of the fallen ship. The message details a brutal encounter with the Gorn, warning Starfleet not to have followed them here.

RELATED: 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 1 Episode 8 Review: Fairytales, Fanfiction, and Farewells

Pretty early on our landing party has split off into groups of two or three, making them all a bit vulnerable to the threat they're certainly well aware of. Hemmer ( Bruce Horak ) has naturally accompanied Uhura, having bonded together in the previous Gorn-themed episode as they worked side by side to save the ship. While it may not be immediately obvious, upon reflection it's pretty clear that Hemmer is marked for death the moment he sets foot on this planet. He's the only one that feels at ease in the cold environment, and he instantly begins doling out the most eloquent, fatherly wisdom you have ever heard as he deep dives into the reason that Uhura fears staying with Starfleet.

Her fear of connection — despite how easily it comes to her — stems from the loss of her parents. If she doesn't allow herself to get close to anyone new, then she can't feel the pain of losing them the way she did when she lost her family. Elsewhere, M'Benga is still reeling from the loss of his daughter — though she did not die he does not know when he will see her again. He projects those feelings onto the young refugee they've found, snapping at La'an when she moves to interrogate the child. He immediately comes to the realization that he overreacted and then also shares some fatherly advice with the security chief. Unlike the conversation between Hemmer and Uhura, this (thankfully) does not set up M'Benga for death but sets up La'an to take up a new personal mission when they manage to rescue the girl — to ensure her the rest of her youth is brighter than the childhood La'an had.

In the med-bay the other alien refugee they've found begins to appear very ill, sweating, veins bulging, breathing labored — it doesn't look good. If you didn't recognize the distinct Alien vibes of this episode before this moment, you certainly will as soon as four Gorn hatchlings burst right through the chest cavity of this, well, alien, screaming and violently killing Cadet Chia ( Jessica Danecker ) before skittering away into the depths of the ship. Over in the boy's club consisting of Spock ( Ethan Peck ), Pike, M'Benga, and Sam Kirk ( Dan Jeannotte ), the newly promoted Lieutenant Duke ( Ted Kellogg ) becomes their next target, as he's attacked and ripped right out of Spock's hands.

The Gorn mature at a frighteningly rapid pace, sending each of the groups our heroes have split into terror and fear as they begin to realize what they're up against. When Hemmer and Uhura get the power back up and running, Pike calls for what's left of the team to regroup if they want to make it out of here alive. They come together and formulate an impressive plan to eliminate the Gorn, but it comes with a great sacrifice. Though their plan works, they are doomed to lose Hemmer who hid the fact that he'd been infected in order to ensure the rest of the team's survival.

As much as I love the combination of sci-fi and horror as a lover of both genres, I have mixed feelings about this episode. The loss of Hemmer feels quite heavy and while it's not uncommon for a main member of the crew to die in the first season of a Trek series, previous iterations of the franchise would generally carry twice as many episodes per season before that would happen. Additionally, this is one aspect of the series that would've been completely fine to leave in the past. I am reminded most strongly of Tasha's ( Denise Crosby ) death in Season 1 of The Next Generation and Ariam's ( Hannah Cheesman ) sacrifice in Discovery Season 2. Although Hemmer is afforded the ability to sacrifice himself to save the rest of the crew — similar to Ariam, whereas Tasha was killed for shock value — his life is still violently cut short. It's beautifully done and all in all a good death, but that's in part because it is so deeply sad . Especially as Uhura speaks at his funeral saying that he fulfilled his life's purpose by mending her broken heart.

The Alien references nearly eat up the Star Trek energy of the episode in some ways. While there is honestly no limit to what a Star Trek story can be, and the emotional notes of this episode do land devastatingly well, "All Those Who Wander" loses itself a little in trying to be Alien . Even Hemmer sacrificing himself mirrors Ripley tumbling into the incinerator in Alien 3 . Ultimately, Hemmer's death does serve the narrative purpose of getting Uhura to open herself back up to making deep connections and putting down roots. But it definitely also leaves the viewer with a profound sense of emptiness. As Season 1 of Strange New Worlds approaches its end, "All Those Who Wander" makes it very clear that we're not ready to let go.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is streaming now on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 9 Review

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds takes a hard turn to the sci-fi horror genre and while it's not perfect, it nails the tone the show is aiming for.

One of the really great things about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is that instead of being a series that follows a story from one week to the next, each particular installment is a stand-alone tale. Certainly there are things learned and remembered from week to week, there isn't a real need to pick up one week where the last one left off. By making Strange New Worlds this way, the show can jump all over the map when it comes to tone and plot. That allows for the show to jump from last week's episode, which was a bit more light-hearted, to the latest installment which took a hard turn towards horror science fiction.

The season has also been about combining the more traditional elements of a Star Trek show with other genres. There was the show that was clearly all about politics of the day. Then there was the installment that made the Enterprise look and feel very much like it was a submarine in a standoff with a much more powerful enemy. This time around, there was a definite homage being paid to horror movies set in space that came before them. In some ways, it felt like more than an homage but even when the episode came dangerously close to straight ripping off other science fiction films, it managed to make the plot its own.

RELATED: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 7 Review

The crew of the Enterprise starts off this week's story with much love, happiness and comradery. It turns out that a couple of the younger members of the detail are being promoted and may even be moving off the ship. That includes everyone's favorite linguist, Uhura who believes that her tour with Star Fleet is about to come to an end. Of course, anyone who is a devotee of Star Trek knows full well that she doesn't leave, but that's not really the point here. The point is to find out exactly why she stays and this episode ends up answering that particular question in a way that feels genuine and is more than just "she couldn't leave because Star Fleet is so neat."

While the prevailing theme of "All Those Who Wander," is horror, the show also manages to give the audience a deeper look into Captain Pike and his leadership style. The episode also allows for people to see just why he's such a beloved figure in Star Trek lore. That's despite the fact that he really hasn't been a big figure on the screen before Anson Mount came along . Certainly the movie version of Pike seemed like a good guy, but Strange New Worlds has managed to fill out the character more and Mount has managed to make the character quite likable both by his crew and the people who watch the show.

One of the opening scenes in the show also make the entire crew of the enterprise a little more human, even if not everyone on the crew is indeed strictly human. It allows the audience to see how these people interact with each other and it also shows that they do more than just work together. The leadership of the Enterprise seem quite a bit like a family. While this has been the goal of many Star Trek shows that came before it, the simple mechanic of having them eat breakfast - and wash dishes - together goes further than any show that came before it to show how people who live and work together on a daily basis become as close as they are.

It turns out that making the audience genuinely like everyone that appears on-screen as a member of the Enterprise crew has another effect. When those crew members are put in danger, even if they aren't all that well known, there's a real feeling of worry from the audience. There's a reason to not want someone in harm's way. There are plenty of shows out there that should take note of how Strange New Worlds does it . Even if people like Spock and Captain Pike aren't really going to be in danger of dying in any of these episodes, there are others in harm's way that don't have plot armor. That was definitely on display this week.

The show also brought the crew of the Enterprise face to face with the Gorn for the first time. They had, of course, run across this dangerous alien race before, but only saw their starships. This time around, they are down on the planet with what passes for Gorn children. Though these aren't cute little lizard babies. Instead, it turns out that the hatchlings are killing machines and start their life by murdering their "hosts" from the inside out.

It was explained earlier in the season that the Gorn use captured prisoners' bodies as breeding pods and that the Gorn eggs hatch inside people. It took no time at all to see the obvious homage to the Alien movie franchise , complete with this alien race going from tiny hatchlings to "maturity" in the span of a couple of minutes. That of course makes them quite intimidating. Those children manage to take out three members of the crew including one of the main characters of the show.

That's also why this might be the best episode of the entire season. This isn't a situation where the only people who ever die are characters that nobody knows. It changes the rest of the season as well as there's a chance that more major characters are going to bid adieu. While there are some who have plot armor, like Pike and Spock and Uhura it seems likely that other characters might not last the season. That means the danger is real and there's a reason to really pay attention and root for people to get out their various dangerous situations.

That doesn't mean that the episode was flawless. Right at the top of the list of things that seem a bit off are the Gorn themselves. It feels like the show went a bit too hard on the horror aspect for this week and forgot that the Gorn are also a race that is flying around in spaceships. The creatures shown in Strange New Worlds this week were pretty animalistic. It's quite hard to imagine them standing at the helm of a ship and ordering crewmates to fire laser weapons. The show tried to explain this away by making it clear that the Gorn are in fact, not animals and are in fact quite smart. It still became pretty hard to believe these aliens are the same ones from a few weeks ago.

Now that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has indeed shown a version of the Gorn that are young and a version of the Gorn safely sealed away in their spacecraft, it would do some good to show the adults up close. That's for another week, however.

MORE: Does Modern Star Trek Media Uphold Gene Roddenberry’s Vision?

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 9 “All Those Who Wander” sneak peek + new photos

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 9 “ All Those Who Wander ” preview

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns on Thursday with the ninth and penultimate episode of the series “ All Those Who Wander ” and we have a collection of new photos and a sneak peek for you below.

Written by Davy Perez and directed by Christopher J. Byrne , the episode premieres Thursday, June 30th on Paramount+ .

Official synopsis:

The U.S.S. Enterprise crew comes face-to-face with their demons – and scary monsters too – when their landing party is stranded on a barren planet with a ravenous enemy.

Sneak Peek:

Strange New Worlds stars Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Ethan Peck as Spock, Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley (a.k.a. Number One), Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga,  Christina Chong  as La’an Noonien Singh,  Celia Rose Gooding  as Cadet Nyota Uhura,  Jess Bush  as Nurse Christine Chapel,  Melissa Navia  as Lt. Erica Ortegas, and  Bruce Horak  as Hemmer.

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek: Lower Decks , Star Trek: Prodigy , and more.

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Episode list

Star trek: strange new worlds.

S2.E1 ∙ The Broken Circle

S2.E2 ∙ Ad Astra Per Aspera

S2.E3 ∙ Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

S2.E4 ∙ Among the Lotus Eaters

S2.E5 ∙ Charades

S2.E6 ∙ Lost in Translation

S2.E7 ∙ Those Old Scientists

S2.E8 ∙ Under the Cloak of War

S2.E9 ∙ Subspace Rhapsody

S2.E10 ∙ Hegemony

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Prep Begins For ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 3 Finale; Cast And Directors Share BTS Images

| April 25, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 15 comments so far

Work on the third season of  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  continues to move swiftly in Toronto and looks to be set to wrap up next month. We have some fun bits from the set shared by the cast and a couple of directors, as well as some details on the production.

2 more episodes to go

First up, a selfie from director Jordan Canning, who previously directed the season 2 episode “Charades.” The image posted earlier this week shows the director with Ethan Peck and Rebecca Romijn and has the message, “Always happy to be the redshirt between these two.”

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Jordan Canning (@jjhcanning)

TrekMovie has confirmed that Canning directed episode 8, which has wrapped. Filming for episode 9 has already begun, with Andrew Coutts directing. This will be the directorial debut for Coutts, a co-producer and editor on the show. The 10th and final episode of the season will be directed by Maja Vrvilo, a Paramount+ Trek veteran who has directed episodes of Discovery , Picard , and Strange New Worlds . Earlier this week, she posted an image of her office door, indicated prep work for her episode had already begun.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Maja Vrvilo (@majavrvilo)

Anson has a challenge for cosplayers

There have also been a couple of fun recent social media updates from the cast. First up, Anson Mount posted on Twitter/X that season 3 will require cosplayers to bring their “A-game” as he shared some creative fan costumes.

I will say this about season 3 of #StarTrek #StrangeNewWorlds : Cos-players, you better be ready to bring your A-game. #Cosplay @StarTrek @StarTrekOnPPlus pic.twitter.com/mZ9gMmIhsL — Anson Mount 🖖 (@ansonmount) April 16, 2024

One new look for cosplayers to try is an armed Nurse Chapel, as seen in this short video from Jess Bush showing off her phaser holster.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Jess Bush (@onejessa)

Finally, on the day of the big eclipse, some of the Strange New Worlds team took a moment to check it out. Bush shared an Instagram story with herself and co-star Melissa Navia rocking their eclipse glasses. (They had 90% totality in Toronto.)

Last week brought big news for Strange New Worlds: It’s been renewed for a fourth season. Paramount+ recently confirmed season 3 will debut in 2025.

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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I LOVE holodeck dude in cosplay!

I’m curious how long their entire season shooting period actually is.

Usually 5 to 6 months. This one started just before Christmas.

I know I’ll end up watching it, but I’m just not excited for the next season. Season 2 was all over the place, in my opinion. For every episode like Those Old Scientists or Ad Astra Per Aspera, there was rubbish like The Broken Circle and Under the Cloak of War and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I like the cast, but the quality isn’t there- and for all the talk of “big swings” and pushing the envelope- Season 2 was almost painfully generic.

Same here. I’ll be tuning in, but it’s not up there on my ‘must-see right away’ list. I feel like overall, the storytelling floundered during S2, legacy characters written badly, and a distinct corny popcorn feel to it. Both Spock and Pike were reduced to bumbling sidekicks. Hoping S3 has a bit more gravitas to it. Like you said, not the fault of the cast. All blame goes back to the writer’s room. I’m more than happy to consider this show as existing in its own separate timeline, as has been confirmed.

I still can’t get over how *boring* the finale was. It felt like it went on for hours and yet nothing actually happened besides a super-quick and appallingly shot fight in zero-g. Season Two really dropped the ball.

I agree. I don’t even remember what happened in the finale, except Pike at the end hesitating like a scared junior officer when the situation called for fast decisive action. As for the season in general, it feels empty, like nothing really happens in the episodes. I hate the way they turned Spock into a moron. There are better ways if the writers wanted to put some humor in… I’m sure the 12 year olds found it funny but adults are watching too…

They seem to be testing the water for the Academy show with teen romances also. Spock, Chapel / La’an, Kirk and Pike, Batel were all shallow romances and just really boring that took up way too much time in the season. They seriously need to get back to writing some good sci fi stories or this show will go down as one of the worse Star Trek series for me. It seems more of a comedy starship show than the Orville at times. And season 1 had so much promise as well.

The SNW writers room has a chalk board titled Gimmick Board only they misspelt it Big Swing Board. Hopefully they can’t destroy Spock’s character anymore as they have already scraped the bottom of the barrel with their writing of his character.

So relieved I’m not the only one who felt this way. I hear “game changer” and “big swing” and I think “great, they’re effing with my show again to bring in the non-Trek fans”!

Yes, to them “big swing” means having the characters do things completely out of character and turning Star Trek into a Broadway play. Sure the musical was original and unexpected, but really out of place, and I will never be able to get the K-Pop Klingons out of my head.

I didn’t mind the musical episode (probably because I love musicals!) but on the whole, the season felt soulless and devoid of anything interesting to say (outside of Ad Astra Per Aspera). It’s as though the entire season was written by committee and was deathly afraid of offending the fandom by doing anything even slightly controversial.

I’ve had this feeling since the first season. Anson Mount is a wonderful lead, but they’ve completed destroyed the character that we got to know in Season 2 of Discovery. And they need to do something with Spock besides him being a complete and utter pig to women.

I’m absolutely giddy for this next season. Season two was fantastic and I cannot wait for this next season.

I really wish studios would get it together. They used to be able to turn out twice the number of eps or sometimes more every year without year-long pauses between seasons.

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery just did a secret strange new worlds crossover.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 brought Captain Burnham to the Mirror Universe's Starship Enterprise. If the sets look familiar, it's because they are.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 5 - "Mirrors"

• Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 5 was a crossover with Strange New Worlds' Enterprise sets.
• Captain Burnham found the Mirror Universe's ISS Enterprise in interdimensional space.
• The two Star Trek series share sets in Toronto and they have filmed on each other's sets before.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors," was a secret crossover with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . Written by Johanna Lee & Carlos Cisco and directed by Jen McGowan, Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5 sent Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) into interdimensional space in pursuit of Moll (Eve Harlow), L'ak (Elias Toufexis), and the next clue to the ancient treasure of the Progenitors. Burnham never expected to find the derelict ISS Enterprise from the Mirror Universe within the dangerous wormhole.

Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 4, "Mirror, Mirror", introduced the Mirror Universe and the ISS Enterprise , the alternate reality counterpart of the USS Enterprise. The ISS Enterprise hadn't been seen since, but Star Trek: Discovery revealed refugees attempted to flee the Mirror Universe aboard the Constitution Class ship. The passengers, including Science Officer Dr. Cho, abandoned the Enterprise in interdimensional space and made it to Star Trek 's Prime Universe. Later, Dr. Cho returned to hide her clue to the Progenitors' treasure aboard the ISS Enterprise.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

Star trek: discovery season 5 filmed on strange new worlds’ enterprise set, discovery and strange new worlds film on adjacent sets in toronto.

Although no characters from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds appeared in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5 - which makes sense since the two series are set over 930 years apart in Star Trek 's timeline - "Mirrors" was filmed on Strange New Worlds ' USS Enterprise sets which doubled for the ISS Enterprise. Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds shoot in Toronto on adjacent soundstages and both shows have access to each other's sets. In an interview with Screen Rant , David Ajala confirmed that Discovery filmed its scenes in late 2022 after Strange New Worlds season 2 wrapped production.

Sharing sets is a Star Trek tradition going back to the 1990s Star Trek series.

This type of 'crossover' between Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has happened before . Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 2 , "Ad Astra Per Aspera" shot its courtroom scenes for Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley's (Rebecca Romijn) trial in Discovery 's Federation headquarters set. Sharing sets is a Star Trek tradition going back to the 1990s Star Trek series when Star Trek: The Next Generation , Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would film on each others' sets as a cost-saving measure.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country redressed Star Trek: The Next Generation 's 10 Forward set to become the office of the Federation President (Kurtwood Smith).

Can Discovery & Strange New Worlds Have A Real Star Trek Crossover?

It's unlikely, but not completely impossible..

Star Trek: Discovery season 1's finale and season 2 can be credited as the first Star Trek 'crossover' of the Paramount+ era when the USS Enterprise, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck), and Number One joined the show. The trio proved so popular, fans clamored for them to receive their own spinoff set aboard the Starship Enterprise, which became Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . Star Trek: Discovery then jumped forward to the 32nd century, and it was a one-way trip that left the Enterprise and the 23rd century permanently behind. But can a Discovery and Strange New Worlds crossover still happen?

Yet there are possibilities for a Discovery and Strange New Worlds crossover.

There won't be a crossover with Star Trek: Discovery season 5 outside of Burnham, Book, Moll, and L'ak occupying the ISS Enterprise in "Mirrors" . Discovery season 5 has long since wrapped production and the hunt for the Progenitors' technology doesn't leave room for any time travel to see Strange New Worlds' characters . Yet there are possibilities for a Discovery and Strange New Worlds crossover. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 is in production and the series is renewed for season 4. Perhaps a way could be found to have Captain Burnham see Captain Pike and Spock one more time. Or both show's characters may meet on neutral ground through various sci-fi means on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy . Where there's a will, there's a way to still crossover Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 stream Thursdays on Paramount+

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season 1, Episode 9

All those who wander, where to watch, star trek: strange new worlds — season 1, episode 9.

Watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — Season 1, Episode 9 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

More Like This

Cast & crew.

Anson Mount

Captain Christopher Pike

Rebecca Romijn

Science Officer Spock

Babs Olusanmokun

Dr. M'Benga

Christina Chong

La'an Noonien-Singh

Celia Rose Gooding

Nyota Uhura

Critics Reviews

Episode info.

Strange New Worlds Season 3 Director Becomes A Star Trek Redshirt In The Best Way

• Director Jordan Canning shares a redshirt moment on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds set with Rebecca Romijn and Ethan Peck.
• Exciting news for fans as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds receives a renewal for season 4 from Paramount+.
• Jordan Canning's directorial work on Strange New Worlds includes episodes in seasons 2 and 3, showcasing her talent.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds director Jordan Canning jokingly became one of Star Trek 's infamous "redshirts" in a behind-the-scenes photo from season 3. Strange New Worlds season 3 is nearing the end of its production in Toronto, with Canning directing episode 8 of the hit Paramount+ show's third season. Excitingly, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has received a season 4 renewal from Paramount+, assuring even more voyages aboard the Starship Enterprise.

On her Instagram, Jordan Canning (@jjcanning) shared a behind-the-scenes photo of herself from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' USS Enterprise set between Rebecca Romijn, who plays Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley AKA Number One, and Ethan Peck, who plays Science Officer Lt. Spock. Canning joked in her caption, "Always happy to be the redshirt between these two." Check out her post below:

Jordan Canning also directs Star Trek: Strange New World s season 3, episode 2, and she helmed the Vulcan comedy of manners, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 5, "Charades."

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 - Everything We Know

What is a redshirt in star trek, lt. hemmer is strange new worlds' most tragic redshirt..

A "redshirt" became infamous in Star Trek: The Original Series . The term refers to the ill-fated, red uniform-wearing security officers of the Starship Enterprise who were known for beaming down to a planet with Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) only to be killed horribly by whatever monster of the week the Starfleet Officers faced. Many redshirts had names and ranks, but their most common trait was they were disposable background characters who fueled the plot and suspense of that week's Star Trek episode . Star Trek: Strange New Worlds nodded to TOS' redshirts with the death of Lt. Hemmer (Bruce Horak) in season 1, episode 9, "All Those Who Wander."

Hemmer's demise was in contrast to most redshirts who usually died haplessly on Star Trek: The Original Series .

However, Hemmer died a noble death in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , sacrificing himself to the Gorn to save his friends and crew mates. Hemmer's demise was in contrast to most redshirts who usually died haplessly on Star Trek: The Original Series . Considering many of Strange New Worlds ' core characters like Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and Commander Pelia (Carol Kane) wear red shirts, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds isn't as bloodthirsty with their redshirts as Star Trek: The Original Series.

Source: Instagram

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is available to stream on Paramount+

Cast Bruce Horak, Celia Rose Gooding, Jess Bush, Melissa Navia, Ethan Peck, Babs Olusanmokun, Rebecca Romijn, Paul Wesley, Christina Chong, Anson Mount

Streaming Service(s) Paramount+

Franchise(s) Star Trek

Writers Bill Wolkoff, Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers

Directors Amanda Row, Valerie Weiss, Jonathan Frakes, Chris Fisher

Showrunner Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers

Where To Watch Paramount+

Star Trek Producers Try To Follow One Rule With Strange New Worlds

Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers have used "Strange New Worlds" to explore the fun side of space travel and push the envelope. From the spooky horror elements of "All Those Who Wander" to the romantic comedy of "Charades," the series has experimented with various genres to tell different stories. Despite the variety on display, however, the creators still have guidelines to adhere to.

While speaking to Variety , Goldsman and Myers revealed that their only rule is to make each season feel episodic. "You shouldn't have to watch a 'previously on' to watch our show," Myers said. This means viewers can pop in whenever they feel like it, knowing that the series isn't 100% beholden to pre-existing "Star Trek" media.

Goldsman and Myers intend to stick to the formula that's worked so well until now, so viewers can expect more genre-hopping adventures and episodic storytelling moving forward. Of course, the "Strange New Worlds" producers aren't the only "Star Trek" alums who've had to follow a rulebook throughout the years, as the franchise used to be much stricter.

Star Trek rules were made to be broken

"Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry was protective of his baby. As such, he devised a franchise rulebook that other producers, showrunners, and writers are supposed to abide by. Roddenberry's bible covers everything from character relationships to instructions on how "Star Trek" should approach the sci-fi genre, but some people have disobeyed the mastermind's edicts. One rule regarding "Spock" even caused a behind-the-scenes fight on "Star Trek: The Next Generation,"  and a change was implemented as a result.

While shows like "Star Trek: Discovery" have continued to break Roddenberry's rules , their existence shows this franchise is treated with care. The creators must consider the bigger picture when developing new projects, even if they occasionally stray from the path. "Strange New Worlds" might have its own rules to follow, but the series actually breaks one of Roddenberry's, as he didn't want characters from "Star Trek: The Original Series" to be used in other shows. Times have changed since then, though, and "Strange New Worlds" is exploring new frontiers for the long-running sci-fi franchise.

If you enjoyed this article, check out the untold truth of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

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