SPOILERS AHEAD! ANYONE YET TO WATCH "LEVEL-FIVE TRANSPORTER ACCIDENT" SHOULD PROCEED WITH CAUTION TO AVOID VIOLATING TEMPORAL PRIME DIRECTIVES.
Back in the late '70s and early '80s, A-list stars were queuing up to guest on "The Muppet Show". Over five glorious seasons, the likes of Steve Martin, Diana Ross and Roger Moore were happy to have themselves upstaged by Kermit the Frog and his legendary felt ensemble. Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, C-3PO and Chewbacca even went on a crossover adventure with the show's resident astro-swine, those famous "Pigs in Space".
Now, the Enterprise's very own Mr Spock gets to join this select group by performing alongside the Jim Henson Company's elite puppeteers in "Level-Five Transporter Accident", the latest episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds". And we're delighted to report that the results are every bit as sensational, inspirational, celebrational, and downright Muppetational as anyone could possibly have hoped for.
It's important to reiterate that this episode makes negligible logical or canonical sense. Even within "Star Trek"'s frequently loose interpretation of "science", the idea that Scotty's transporter experiments on family puppet Little Ricky (a slightly disturbing presence, it has to be said) might transform an entire crew into fabric and stuffing is rather outlandish. Even the writers acknowledge they've exceeded the plausibility threshold when they hint that the whole affair took place in Spock's head.
But frankly, who cares about logic or canon when the results are so much madcap fun?
Even though the puppet versions of the Enterprise crew aren't officially Muppets, they're undoubtedly cut from the same cloth as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and the rest. Those extremely talented Henson designers have somehow managed to find the sweet spot between the characters' human incarnations and their hilarious felt forms, whether it's Captain Pike's gravity-defying hair or Scotty's Beaker-esque expression of perpetual concern. The cast also throw themselves into their voice performances, relishing the unashamed comedy opportunities and — to quote T'Pring — "hijinks" of their radically redesigned roles.
"We had to do the [voice work] twice because the first time it was just completely wrong," Pike star Anson Mount told SFX magazine. "When the producers got the cut, they were telling me, 'Just do more, just feel more!' I was like, 'What are you talking about?', but when they played the scenes I was like, 'Oh, I need to do what [the puppeteers] are doing'. I had to set aside my ego for a little bit and follow the puppeteer's cues a little bit more."
Putting these puppets on the actual Enterprise set, rather than a scaled-down comedy recreation, is part of the episode's genius. They're dealing with a ship that isn't built for their new forms, from chairs that are way too big to touchscreen controls that don't work with the three fingers and a thumb of a felt hand.
And then there's Pike's realization that their mission to repel the invading Orion will be dependent on answering a long-standing question from an Oscar-winning song: Are they men (and women), or are they Muppets?
The answer falls affirmatively in the latter camp. The finest puppet crew in Starfleet throw themselves at bad guys like the ragdolls they are, and stand on each other's shoulders to masquerade as human-sized crew members (very "Pinky and the Brain").
They also come to embrace the fact they're essentially immortal — a needle and thread is all Pelia needs to recover from being sliced in half, while this week's redshirt guest star doesn't seem particularly fussed about the giant hole blasted in his midriff. There's also a glorious opportunity for the crew to unleash their inner WALL-E by floating through space without a spaceship. Indeed, it seems that when you're a puppet, your prime directive is fun.
"Strange New Worlds" has, at times, been guilty of overdoing the gimmick episodes, from the one that crossed over with "Lower Decks" to the one that temporarily transformed four members of the crew into Vulcans. There was also, of course, "Subspace Rhapsody", the one where everyone made a song and dance out of everything, but that was essentially a less memorable "Trek" spin on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"'s classic musical outing, "Once More, With Feeling" — a tuneful frontier also explored by "Scrubs", "Fringe", "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and more.
The great thing about "Level-Five Transporter Accident", however, is that its felt-covered hijinks feel like "Strange New Worlds"' 'thing', rather than a retread of someone else's idea — as well as being a glorious excuse for the characters to embrace their inner Muppet, and literally have the stuffing knocked out of them.
And by advancing Spock's character arc and his relationship with T'Pring — this is presumably the first time Ethan Peck has ever been asked to kiss a puppet — it's also surprisingly pivotal to the show's continuity, just as "Once More…" was to "Buffy"'s sixth season.
It doesn't make a jot of sense, of course — and may just be a figment of Spock's overactive imagination — but it's also one of the most joyous, unashamedly fun episodes of "Star Trek" ever made. If there's any justice in the Alpha Quadrant, fans will be talking about this particular "Level-Five Transporter Accident" for years to come.
New episodes of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" debut on Paramount+ on Thursdays.
