Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x04 - "A Space Adventure Hour"

[Greg Cox]

Didn't she say it was something Scotty put there to monitor her brainwaves in order to make the holodeck realistic or something like that?

Hence, it picking up on her confused feelings about Spock and trying to use that against her?

One thing that hasn't been discussed much is that, along with genre-bending fun and games, this is very much a character-oriented story about La'an, with the subtext of the mystery plot reflecting her own issues and emotional evolution:

We continue this season's thread of La'an allowing herself to loosen up a bit now that she's not defined by her Gorn trauma anymore, even to the extent of playing a game. (Under orders, sure, but still.)

The agent's speech about how fiction can have a deep effect on people applies not just to Star Trek but also to how the fictional "Emilia Moon" impacted La'an in her formative years.

And the mystery itself keeps reflecting the La'an/Spock tension. There's talk of the dangers of mixing romance and the workplace. And the lead actress even gets a whole speech about wanting to be taken seriously and having a love life.

And you can see La'an looking a bit uncomfortable at these moments, which hit a little too close to home.

So, not just a playful lark, but also an episode about La'an's character arc, going all the way back to her big musical showstopper in "Subspace Rhapsody" about wanting to let go of the wheel and have a life beyond just her duties and responsiblilties.

 

[Noname Given]

Again, yes, she's traditionally hot (though I'd not say she's anywhere near the cutest of the many hot women from TOS). But Spock is someone who values intelligence, and she comes across as a bit of a dullard. And he's also been characterized as being very reticent regarding feelings in TOS up until this point, having repeatedly rebuffed the advances of others.

He just behaves hugely out-of-character here, and it can't help but make me respect him less. Like when a friend of yours strings along a hot, dumb woman he has no intentions of ever being in a relationship with.

IDK if I'd call her a dullard.

In the situation they're in during that episode she's shown as incredibly very naive and very sheltered. She's read a lot about the Universe around her from books, but has not really experienced much herself in life - especially when compared to Spock..

 

[fireproof78]

I mean....

 

[eschaton]

So basically SNW is more like TOS than critics care to admit, as in both cases by the 3rd season they were just having Spock date random pretty women for drama or ratings or whatever

I think it's pretty well known that Roddenberry, Coon, and everyone else were taken aback at how much the fandom loved Spock, and particularly how much women loved Spock, after Season 1 was finished, so they tried to sex him up a lot in Seasons 2 and 3.

Much to Shatner's chagrin, because as far as he was concerned, only the captain could get tail.

 

[Rahul]

I am somewhat split on this episode - which is funny, because the whole thread seems to be.

The "bad" first:
It was the most by-the-numbers standard holodeck malfunction episode we have seen on Star Trek since like the 90s.
I'm already used to SNW being something of a "best of" of previous Trek plots. But this one added literally nothing new or exciting to the holodeck malfunction plotline.

I also didn't like the holodeck plot itself. The murder mystery too on the nose, the twist the bare minimum for a mystery plot. The Trek parody show itself was horrendous.
Also didn't like the non-holodeck plotline - Scotty not being able to reach anyone was really forced.

So what did I do like?

The fucking characters. This one was clearly an actors dream episode. And they nailed it. Anson Mount (again) playing against type was the absolute highlight. I hated Wesley's "Captain" (als always) - but he nailed it as the ashole show star. Just everyone bringing their absolute A-game.

And goddamn, that alone made the episode as a whole not just watchable, but up a goddamn delight!

Not sure what to think about that ending - expect for "goddamn Peck getting some on this show!"
On a whole, I think SNW might be turning a little bit too "meta" overall.

 

[Greg Cox]

I think it's pretty well known that Roddenberry, Coon, and everyone else were taken aback at how much the fandom loved Spock, and particularly how much women loved Spock, after Season 1 was finished, so they tried to sex him up a lot in Seasons 2 and 3.

And even as far back as Season One, we had Leila in "This Side of Paradise" and Chapel throwing herself at him in "The Naked Time."

In other words STAR TREK had women falling love with Spock by episode 4 -- and at least twice in Season One.

 

[nightwind1]

When I watched ST VI, I always liked the ambiguity that Spock could have been related to Sherlock Holmes.

Like, Trek & Sherlock Holmes being a stealth shared universe (of course that would not work with Data's holodeck adventures - I don't think they were "historical re-enactments" - but hell I loved the idea).

There used to be a fanzine series titled "Holmesian Federation" that was specifically various crossovers between Trek and Holmes. Most of the stories were actually very good.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I'm not sure how I feel about the episode. Yes, it seemed to be formulaic, both the episode and the episode inside the episode. However, I felt it moved the characters along. Although I didn't like the Scotty stuff, it was nice that he was not yet "the miracle worker." I've also felt, since Memento Mori, that Chong and Peck had a lot of chemistry, so I am glad to see that.

Anson Mount seemed to be acting more like Brannon Braga than Gene Roddenberry. Probably not intentional.

"Kirk's" overacting would have come of more naturally if Paul Wesley had been doing Shatner's Montreal Jewish accent from the start.

 

[Captain Jollydark]

So is Batel a full lizardwoman now? Because a massive plotpoint was that she had days at best to live unless she became a Gorn hybrid, and this week we're well into a full new mission with a neutron star, a massive holodeck has been set up for testing, etc. and Batel isn't even mentioned.

Also it seemed like Anson's character was supposed to be Gene Roddenberry but he looked way more like Isaac Asimov to me

I don't think he was supposed to literally be Gene Roddenberry but an amalgam Asimov and Ellison and Sturgeon etc. They were all representations of stereotypical industry beasts of the era.

 

[cooleddie74]

I think the name "Sunny Lupino" was also a partial homage to Ida Lupino, who was a pioneering leading-lady-turned-director back in the day.

And two-time guest star on Columbo!!

 

[Yistaan]

Anson Mount seemed to be acting more like Brannon Braga than Gene Roddenberry. Probably not intentional.

I don't think I've ever seen a lot of Brannon Braga in interviews etc. Anson's character is like him? I assumed Brannon was more of a cool hunk or whatever considering he was dating Jeri Ryan for a while.

 

[Captain Jollydark]

I wonder how many more episodes until they end up in bed together?

I assume they've already done it and are now having croissants and coffee.

 

[eschaton]

Mount was absolutely not channeling Roddenberry, but Rebecca Romijn was trying to channel Lucille Ball a bit, I think.

 

[nightwind1]

The Last Frontier is a better show than Strange New Worlds

NOPE.

 

[Captain Jollydark]

This was - far and away - the worst romance Spock got in TOS.

Droxine is literally nothing but a pretty face, and has nothing in common with Spock whatsoever. She's vapid rich girl. Why does Spock flirt with her, but needs to be under the influence of spores to give Leila Kalomi (an actual scientist) the time of day.

I know why the stereotypical guy in the mid 1960s would find Droxine hot, but I expect better from Spock.

Also she looked like she was nineteen.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I don't think I've ever seen a lot of Brannon Braga in interviews etc. Anson's character is like him? I assumed Brannon was more of a cool hunk or whatever considering he was dating Jeri Ryan for a while.

He's been on Inglorious Treksperts podcast a lot, and there is something both cool and nervous about him. Like I said, probably unintentional.

 

[Jedi Marso]

I'm sorry, but this was just f'n horrible. I'm long on record that I hate holodeck and transporter malfunction episodes, and this is easily the worst I've ever seen.

1. The opening sequence parody was worse than every late night comedy effort to parody Trek. Why does this show want to actually be a low-rent parody of itself? Especially one that isn't even funny.

2. I have ZERO interest in noir detective stories. Therefore my interest in Trek characters playing characters in a noir detective story is less than zero. Furthermore, the usually exemplary cast comes across like a high school drama club in their holodeck performances. Maybe that's deliberate, but it just kills it that much more.

3. This holodeck malfunction trope has been done to death.

The show is devolving dangerously into the frivolous. Again, with a 26 episode season you can get away with this occasionally. In a ten episode season it is a show killer.

1/10. Two thumbs down.

 

[Mage]

The usual suspects hating this episode makes me look forward to seeing it.

 

[Jedi Marso]

It seems to me that folks are so focused on the trappings of the episode, that they are missing the actual meaning it all represents.

I guess it's only meaningful to those of us that have been there from the beginning.

No, I got it, it is very much in-your-face for anyone who has been a Trek fan for years. I didn't find the introspective navel gazing entertaining, either.

 

[Fateor]

It was the most by-the-numbers standard holodeck malfunction episode we have seen on Star Trek since like the 90s.

The Holodeck didn't malfunction, it worked exactly as intended. The Enterprise's systems just couldn't keep up with that intention.

Also didn't like the non-holodeck plotline - Scotty not being able to reach anyone was really forced.

The only one Scotty couldn't reach was La'an.

Him trying to do everything on his own was a whole other thing.