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Even if you\u2019re keeping up with a show as it airs, it\u2019s never a bad idea to watch the \u201cpreviously on\u201d intro to get a sense of what\u2019s to come. So it would make sense to brace for a grim hour based on the clips that precede \u201cLevel-Five Transporter Accident,\u201d the fifth episode of Strange New Worlds\u2019s penultimate season. We get moments of Scotty being reflective and, most suggestively, scenes from space horror of \u201cThe Griffin Incident.\u201d What a fake-out. It\u2019s not like those moments aren\u2019t relevant to the episode that follows, but what follows is goofy on a level unmatched even by the shore-leave adventures of \u201cHuman Best Friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opening moments, which find Spock and Scotty discussing the possibility of stretching the transporter\u2019s abilities, don\u2019t suggest this, however. Sidetracked by the need to help out with some pirate activity on the way to Vulcan, where Spock hopes to recommit himself to logic, the crew finds itself with some unexpected downtime. This has inspired Scotty to dream big about breaking the record for the longest transport (at least in part because an old school rival named Declan currently holds it). And what better way to stick to Declan than to transport Little Ricky, a horrifying hand puppet Declan will recognize from their shared time at Starfleet Academy?<\/p>\n
If having to delay his arrival on Vulcan and deal with Scotty wasn\u2019t bad enough, Spock\u2019s day then takes a turn for the worse when he visits La\u2019an, who, after alluding to their time on the Griffin, tells him, \u201cThere\u2019s no tragedy in a romance reaching its natural conclusion.\u201d That at least partly explains why he can\u2019t focus during meditation and, not knowing when they\u2019ll reach Vulcan, he reaches out to T\u2019Pring, who says she\u2019s not offended at being \u201cthe next best thing\u201d to Vulcan itself. But is she? Whichever the case, T\u2019Pring agrees to visit the Enterprise to help Spock reconnect with his Vulcan side on one condition: that there be \u201cNo high jinks.\u201d (Spoiler: There will be high jinks.)<\/p>\n
By contrast, Pike is having a pretty good day thanks to the arrival of a new, Pelia-designed chair \u2014 a development that seemingly makes him less concerned than he should be about the possibility they\u2019ll encounter some Orion pirates. Yet even if he should foresee that he couldn\u2019t possibly foresee a shipwide transporter accident that turns everyone aboard the Enterprise, including the high-jinks-averse T\u2019Pring, into living puppets (created by Jim Henson\u2019s Creature Shop, hence their familiar, Muppet-y appearance). Maybe this won\u2019t be a somber episode after all.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s get this out of the way up top: They\u2019re adorable, perhaps none more adorable than Pelia, whose oversize eyes and noodly hair make her stand out. But the Creature Shop\u2019s puppets capture both the looks and personalities of all the characters. Also, the sight gag of a full-size Spock, who was spared the transformation by being off-ship, never gets old no matter how often the episode returns to it.<\/p>\n
The crew may now look silly, but figuring out a way to fix this is serious business and serious on multiple fronts. They\u2019ll have to figure out how to reverse engineer this change and determine what exactly they\u2019ve turned into. Further complicating matters, they\u2019re, well, puppets, which limits their ability to work controls and tools designed for non-puppet hands, meaning Spock will have to take on a few more duties than usual (as in all of them).<\/p>\n
When Pike reaches out to Admiral April, having not had a crew turned into puppets before and because the nearest ship is two days away. What to do? La\u2019an lends herself to a transporter experiment that results only in her losing an arm. The upside, as M\u2019Benga and Chapel tell them, is that it doesn\u2019t hurt and it\u2019s not too hard to stitch injured crew members back together. La\u2019an sees another, more personal, upside too. She\u2019s been worried about her potential to hurt others, which is virtually impossible in her current form (though this, too, will later prove to be a problem).<\/p>\n
While La\u2019an might be unexpectedly happy to be a puppet, T\u2019Pring decidedly is not. Whatever she might be feeling takes a backseat to what Spock feels as he\u2019s pelted with one request for help after another. As he starts to panic, T\u2019Pring slaps him, bringing him back down from a state of, as he\u2019ll put it, \u201cfreaking out.\u201d (It sounds like a pretty hard slap for a puppet, too.) T\u2019Pring might not want to be there, but that doesn\u2019t mean she\u2019s not needed.<\/p>\n
Then a new problem arrives: an Orion ship whose captain, Ch\u2019rol (Rachael Harris), expresses concern about the ship having only one life sign. They\u2019re here to help, she claims. Why would the Enterprise think otherwise? Pike wisely reaches out on an audio-only channel and seems to successfully neutralize the threat by promising violent reprisals if the Orions don\u2019t leave them alone. Unfortunately, this is quickly undone when Nyota hits the wrong button \u2014 darn puppet fingers \u2014 and opens a video feed that reveals a ship manned by less-than-threatening-looking puppets.<\/p>\n
Pike warns them that they face a fully operational starship, puppets or not, but Ch\u2019rol easily susses out that only Spock can operate the ship. The Orions immediately open fire, dealing major damage to the ship. If they\u2019re going to get out of this, they\u2019re going to have to reclaim the ability to control the ship, so Spock heads to engineering. There he finds Scotty stuck under a torpedo (though, it\u2019s soon revealed, puppets don\u2019t get stuck as easily). But news of the Orions attempting to board the ship means that whatever\u2019s going on in engineering will have to wait. Spock finds some unexpected help from T\u2019Pring, who brings him phasers and advises him, correctly, that the Orions will board the ship at a less-obvious spot than shuttlebay. But it doesn\u2019t take long for Spock to lose the upper hand. After being shot by the Orion landing party, led by Ch\u2019rol, he\u2019s taken captive.<\/p>\n
Ch\u2019rol\u2019s request is simple: the ship\u2019s control codes. After laying out all the reasons he\u2019s going to have to give them up eventually, she leaves him with Ejachi (Joe Lo Truglio) and heads for the bridge. There the Orions meet some resistance from La\u2019an and Una, but not much. And after slicing through Pelia, Ch\u2019rol is able to remove an enraged Pike from his beloved new chair. Could matters get any worse? (At least it\u2019s possible to stitch Pelia together.) What can they possibly do? It seems like any solution starts with saving Spock, but how?<\/p>\n
Alone with Ejachi, Spock tells his captor that he\u2019s immune to torture, which is fine since Ejachi has no plans to torture him anyway. Mostly Ejachi wants to talk about gender norms and why he\u2019s thrilled to live in a society where men take orders from women. For an Orion, he\u2019s actually pretty chill, even giving Spock some useful tips on minimizing stress. Of course, it\u2019s all a distraction while Ch\u2019rol moves on to the next stage of her plan, but it\u2019s still kind of nice.<\/p>\n
About that next phase: It involves Ch\u2019rol throwing Pike into the airlock, a moment that allows the show to make a funny, if truncated, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan homage. Rather than dispiriting the rest of the crew, it inspires them to double down on their efforts to resist the Orions. Also, a fully alive Pike soon floats by the window, so maybe the situation isn\u2019t that bad.<\/p>\n
Back onboard, Pike describes the semi-mystical experience he had floating in the void and his subsequent realization that they can fight back if they call on their uniquely puppet-y qualities. They might not be able to open doors, but they can squeeze into tight spaces, hurl themselves through the air, and survive in oxygen-free atmospheres. It\u2019s a rallying cry for the crew, but seemingly a breaking point for T\u2019Pring, who screams in anguish at the \u201cpandemonium\u201d around her. But since her uncharacteristic emotions only underscore Pike\u2019s point, even she comes around and agrees to \u201clean into chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n