Star Trek: Strange New Worlds did the unthinkable when it had La'an do a test run of the holodeck, which turned into a very meta story parodying the actual origins of Star Trek. I'm sure many die-hard fans ready for the upcoming Trek shows noticed the story about a struggling sci-fi show had some similarities to The Original Series, and even had actors emulate real people like William Shatner and the late creator Gene Roddenberry.
Trek fans who missed "A Space Adventure Hour" should check it out with a Paramount+ subscription to watch Paul Wesley emulate Shatner's Kirk, Anson Mount play a version of Gene Roddenberry, and Rebecca Romijn play a take on Lucille Ball. This episode takes the origin of Star Trek and spins it into a murder-mystery, but director and franchise veteran Jonathan Frakes noted many were cautious and somewhat nervous about poking fun at these monumental figures in Star Trek history. Wesley, who has praised Shatner in the past, was anxious that leaning too heavily into how the actor played Kirk might offend, with Frakes saying:
Paul Wesley, who plays Kirk, for better or for worse, said to me ‘What do you think, Frakes?’ I said, ‘Go for it!’ He said, ‘How far?’ I said, ‘Go for it, I’ll tell you if it is too much.’ Clearly, I didn’t think it was too much. [laughs] And then we leaned into it with the cinematography… it was kismet, that episode.
Wesley did note elsewhere in this story shared at Star Trek Las Vegas (via TrekMovie.com) that his main fear was "overdoing" it, but ultimately felt his performance was a wink to the fans, calling back to the more Shakespearean acting of the original Star Trek. I mean, it's not like he had to do it to impress William Shatner, who openly admits he doesn't watch the franchise.
When it came to parodying Gene Roddenberry, there was some understandable hesitation from those above Jonathan Frakes about how it was handled. After all, Roddenberry's son Rod is an executive producer on Strange New Worlds and many other Trek projects. Frakes talked about Anson Mount's enthusiasm to imitate the Star Trek creator anyway, and the counsel he got from the showrunners:
And Anson was so excited when he got the draft… he was so psyched, he said, ‘I want to do Roddenberry.’ I said, ‘I’d love you to do Roddenberry.’ And then [co-showrunners] Akiva [Goldsman] and Henry Alonzo Myers got cold feet. We don’t want to offend Roddenberry. I said, ‘Rodenberry’s dead!’ And he had a sense of humor. But they said, ‘Frakes, don’t lean into that too much.’ So, as you can tell [slyly], I didn’t lean into it at all.
Before anyone wonders, no, I don't think there is a link between this episode and the announcement that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds would end with Season 5. I'm sure that if anyone took issue with the parody of Gene Roddenberry, they would've voiced it long before fans were able to see it and comment on it.
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I think a key factor that helped make "A Space Adventure Hour" such a well-received episode is that it's written by people with a keen understanding of the Star Trek franchise's history. To take that and turn it into a holodeck simulation where a detective must uncover the murderer of a television executive who canceled the show is quite a feat, and makes it one of the more memorable episodes of this series.
It's the kind of genius writing that is going to make me miss Star Trek: Strange New Worlds when it is gone. Fortunately, co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman is already campaigning for a spinoff that details Kirk's first year as captain of the Enterprise, and showed in a recent episode how compelling that could be. Of course, Paramount hasn't been keen on giving the fans spinoffs they're directly campaigning for as of late, so maybe we shouldn't get our hopes up that the streamer will bite on this latest pitch.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams new episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays. We're over the halfway point of the season, so be sure to catch up and get ready for what could be a very big season finale.
