Strange New Worlds’ holodeck episode is Knives Out meets Galaxy Quest
Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced the concept of the holodeck as a way for the crew to relax in a simulated environment while also providing a way for the show’s writers and cast to change things up. It allowed the show to escape the confines of the ship’s set and Starfleet uniforms, stepping into plots inspired by Sherlock Holmes and The Maltese Falcon or just relaxing by going horseback riding or swimming.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is set a century before the events of TNG, well before holodeck technology became commonplace for Starfleet. But that didn’t stop showrunners Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman from using the versatile plot device.
“There’s precedent for this,” Goldsman told Polygon over Zoom. “There’s essentially a holodeck in [Star Trek:] The Animated Series on Kirk’s Enterprise, so we then sort of figured, well, if that’s the case, then there must have been some experimentation with that technology earlier. And if they were going to put it on a ship, why wouldn’t it be the flagship?”
[Edit. note: This article contains some spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 4]
In “A Space Adventure Hour,” streaming now on Paramount Plus, Enterprise security officer La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) is tasked with testing the technology. It follows in the footsteps of classic TNG holodeck episodes “Elementary, Dear Data” and “The Big Goodbye,” in which Enterprise crew members try to have fun stepping into period mysteries but wind up stuck in the story. “A Space Adventure Hour” has Noonien-Singh take on the role of a detective trying to solve a murder at the gathering of the cast and crew of “The Last Frontier,” a 1960s science fiction show based on Star Trek: The Original Series.
“We were trying to cross over between what is the fun that they have done with the holodeck in the future/past episodes that we can use,” Myers told Polygon in the same interview. “The other thing we really wanted to do was to try to tell something important about the story of Star Trek”
The result is something like a fusion of Knives Out and Galaxy Quest. It’s a cozy mystery set in a studio head’s Hollywood mansion, with Noonien-Singh taking on the role of the fabulously dressed detective Amelia Moon. With The Last Frontier about to be canceled, everyone is blaming each other for both the murder and the show’s failure, mocking each other’s egos, performances, and writing.
Noonien-Singh relishes in uncovering the hidden motives of The Last Frontier’s cast and crew. Her suspects include James T. Kirk actor Paul Wesley (more closely imitating William Shatner in his portrayal of Maxwell Saint), Anson Mount playing TK Bellows, a version of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and Rebecca Romijn portraying producer Sunny Lupino who is based on Lucille Ball (the legendary star of I Love Lucy who also helped get Star Trek’s pilot produced).
(Writers Dana Horgan and Kathryn Lyn came up with a clever in-universe excuse to have the rest of the show’s main cast play characters in Noonien-Singh’s simulation: the data from their transporter scans is the best way to generate realistic AIs. It’s certainly a more ethical version of how TNG’s Lieutenant Reginald Barclay used his coworkers to play out his virtual fantasies.)
“The fun was playing against all these different characters and being able to do the American accent,” Chong said in a separate interview. “Really leaning into the noir genre was incredible.”
Directed by TNG star Jonathan Frakes, the episode opens and closes with scenes from the fictional version of Star Trek that poke fun at its skimpy outfits, dated special effects, and over-the-top plots. While the heart of the story is an earnest monologue delivered by Nyota Uhura actor Celia Rose Gooding about the power of the series to inspire generations, “A Space Adventure Hour” also makes plenty of references to the challenges the show faced — from the backlash to having a female first officer that led to the character being cut after the pilot, to the fact that the set’s automatic doors regularly got stuck. The showrunners just hope it’s clear that the teasing comes from a place of love.
“Our general approach to comedy is we don’t like making fun of people directly,” Myers said. “We want them to be truthful and fun as characters, but still resonant and real.”
While the holodeck technology proves too dangerous and unpredictable for regular use on Pike’s Enterprise, Noonien-Singh’s work with Spock (Ethan Peck) during the experiment makes her realize she has feelings for him. It’s a romance that’s been building ever since Noonien-Singh taught Spock dance moves that were meant to woo back his ex in the season 3 premiere.
“Ethan is a great dancer, I learned, and a great dance partner,” Chong said. “I hadn’t done any Latin or ballroom dancing before or much partner work, so having a cast member to do this with, who I could trust physically was great and helped me to free up and be able to do my thing. [As] an ex-pro dancer […], being able to showcase that side of myself was great.”
Goldsman said he and Myers are fans of the pairing, which offers a chance for Noonien-Singh to further explore romance after her brief fling in season 2 with a version of Kirk in an alternate timeline.
“[We’re hoping] there are a lot of other people who are delighted by the same thing,” Goldsman said. “We look at actor chemistry and as you work with a group of people, you sort of go, ‘Oh, well, boy they sparkle together in a scene. Let’s try that.”
The first four episodes of season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are available to stream now on Paramount Plus. New episodes release on Thursdays.