Star Trek Strange New Worlds: Wedding Bell Blues

"And the bar is open."

Bang. A favorite decades-long fan theory has just become canon.

It was inevitable that Strange New Worlds would bring back the all powerful cosmic trickster Q (John de Lancie). Introduced in the pilot episode of Next Gen, John de Lancie's Q has guest starred in nearly every incarnation of Trek.

For years, fans have noted that the character Trelane (William Campbell) in the original series episode "The Squire of Gothos" was very Q-like. Although we never hear his name in this episode, Rhys Darby's character is obviously Trelane (I noticed immediately that the Vulcan bartender/Andorian wedding planner was wearing Trelane's fancy coat) and is listed on IMDb as such. At the end of "Wedding Bell Blues," it's John de Lancie's voice as Trelane's Dad.

And yes, this is again messing with original series canon, since in "The Squire of Gothos," years from now, Spock had never met Trelane before. Although they did dislike each other intensely.

Greetings and felicitations. Tally-ho!

I'm not one of those Star Trek fans that hate Q. I think good writing and strong performances gave him a place in the series, and I particularly liked the serious bent they gave him more recently in Star Trek: Picard.

But the thing is, I just wrote four paragraphs that were not about this episode. The second time I watched "Wedding Bell Blues," I was constantly stopping to make notes about easter eggs and references. How annoying is that? And yet, I couldn't just skip past it all and not address it, could I?

So. The cosmic trickster Trelane dropped by the Enterprise because he was annoyed that Roger Korby was digging on the old Q homeworld. (That would have been an interesting planet to see.) Trelane maneuvered Spock into making a wish that things would be different with Christine and then he threw that whole wedding craziness to upset Korby. Which was why Korby was initially the only one who knew what was happening.

And that was supposed to please us, the audience, because we care about Spock, and Korby was immediately irritating as well as scruffy looking. But the thing is, Korby must be better than he appears to outshine Spock with Christine, right? Like that gesture he made on the mountain on her mother's birthday? In fact, Spock and Korby analyzing the situation from all directions was interesting and made me think that Korby's resemblance to Spock might have contributed to the attraction.

The huge wedding scene with Starbase One in the background was an incredible visual, but of course, it got silly with Korby in powder blue with a flower wreath crown. All those gorgeous dresses, and Christine walked down the aisle in the ugliest green ensemble I've ever seen. I keep wondering if someone on the writing staff is a Buffy fan, because it was a perfect match to those hideous green bridesmaid dresses in "Hells Bells."

There were scads of easter eggs; I'm sure I missed some. The wedding march arrangement was from "Balance of Terror." There was a thread of "Amok Time" music when Korby took the first edition Spock intended for Christine, and Trelane mentioned the "Amok Time" Kal-i-fee as well as tribbles. Korby found Trelane by eliminating everyone else on board, which I know was a plot point in an original series episode. And the new three-handed bartender in Port Galley was the same race as Arex, the alien navigator in Star Trek: The Animated Series.

What would have made this one work better for me? Maybe knowing up front that it was Q would have lessened some confusion. Since Spock wanted to make a big romantic gesture, more about his love for Christine might have worked; Spock isn't a fan favorite because he's funny, but this series keeps doing it to him. I also very much liked the way Spock was connecting with La'an through dance lessons. Was there a bit of a romantic twinge going on there? Or maybe I'm projecting. After all, I've spent most of my life attracted to Spock.

Maybe there should have been a bit more about Captains Pike and Batel. I had never considered before that their jobs guaranteed that they live separately, and Pike is on serious borrowed time. Now that she's completely recovered (the gorn embryos are fully reabsorbed? I assume that means they're gone) she needs to pick her next command and leave. They won't be growing old together. What now?

The other serious note was Ortegas, who has understandably inherited La'an's Gorn trauma. I enjoy her usual brashness and optimism and I didn't like seeing her so upset.

"Wedding Bell Blues" was about as different from "Hegemony, Part 2" as it gets, and I'm sure that was the point. You'd think an old school Trekkie such as moi would love this. I absolutely did love SNW's "Spock Amok" and the remake of "Balance of Terror." But this time, while I enjoyed a lot of it, I kept wondering what people who aren't lifelong Trek fans would think.

And tracking so much made writing this review an actual chore. Writing about my current favorite show shouldn't be a chore.

Lots of bits:

— Stardate 2251.7 at the glorious Starbase One. Three months have passed since "Hegemony, Part 2." We got the Gregorian calendar date, too: 2261, the Federation Day Centennial. The opener was Spock's personal log.

— I watch Strange New Worlds with my daughter. When Trelane gave Spock that weird-looking green drink, I said, "What was that?" And my daughter responded, "It's green." I raised her well.

— Scotty turned down the Saurian brandy and said he wasn't much of a drinker. Was he lying? Or did he change as he got older?

— A new ensign in Sick Bay was introduced; IMDb gives his character name as Ensign Gamble. We also met Ortegas' little brother Beto, who was documenting the gala and likes Uhura.

— Trelane is 8,020 years old.

— Spock was shirtless not once, but twice, and that felt weird to me. But then again, his shoulder placement was measured perfectly.

— Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" was surprisingly fun. And for what it's worth, I love "Wedding Bell Blues" by the 5th Dimension. Here's the official audio version on YouTube.

— Were the couple on top of the wedding cake the Spock and Christine action figures?

— In this week's hair report, La'an's ponytail got more attractive and less extreme, Uhura's got longer and so did Christine's. Is M'Benga's longer, too?

Quotes:

La'an: "Loosen up your shoulders."
Spock: "My shoulder placement has been measured precisely."

Batel: "It still doesn't feel totally real. I should be dead, I'm on borrowed time."
Pike: "Well, you're preaching to the choir on that one."
Batel: "Now I'm just picturing you in a boys' choir."
Pike: "Actually, I was an altar boy."

Trelane: "You hate it."
Spock: "I was not expecting cake with quite so much heat and brine."

Korby: "Every time I've tried to stop this wedding, something has interfered."
Spock: "You are suggesting the presence of an advanced intelligent life form with reality-altering capabilities."

Sam: "I get it, Spock. You have cold feet. It's totally normal, look..."
Spock: "Punch me."
Sam: "What? I'm not gonna punch you."
Spock: "You are sloppy. Less intelligent than your brother. No one likes your mustache. And you have terrible taste in wine."

Sam: "I told you. Cold feet."
Spock: "My feet are perfectly warm, thank you."

Uhura: "Look at you! You look great."
Ortegas: "All weddings should be on the beach and everyone should be in shorts."

Korby: "He's made me the maid of honor. And he says if I don't play along, he's gonna wish us all into a cornfield."
Spock: "I do not understand the significance of this wish."

(This is another easter egg. The famous short story, "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby was adapted as a Twilight Zone episode. But more importantly, Jerome Bixby wrote four really good episodes of original series Star Trek, one of which was "By Any Other Name.")

When I'm this conflicted, I usually go for two out of four wedding cake action figures. Am I off base? What did you all think? Please post a comment!

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

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