Transporters creep me out, so just the title made me cringe. Until I realized this episode was about puppets.
The premise was relatively simple in that it made absolutely no sense. Scotty was carrying out an experiment using the transporter to travel to other places instead of a starship, so he was pulling a prank on a disliked rival classmate, Declan Milder, by transporting a particularly ugly puppet called Little Ricky into Declan's quarters on the USS Witmere. Instead of transporting Little Ricky, everyone on the Enterprise dissolved into transporter beams and were replaced by puppets.
Now, see, at this point, if I knew that this wasn't really happening, I might have enjoyed it more. I was completely unforgiving because it felt like they wanted us to believe it was real. Does that make sense? Or was I so unhappy about this season of This-Isn't-Star-Trek episodes that I wasn't seeing the obvious?
When did Spock's dream begin? Scotty and Little Ricky were real. La'an telling Spock that they have been "heading in different directions" and dumping him was real. So was Pike's new captain's chair. Apparently, Spock was knocked unconscious during the shuttle accident. Which also explains why much of the episode was focused on Spock's love life.
Spock has been haunted by what happened with scary fake T'Pring during "The Griffin Incident" and he wanted the real T'Pring to visit and help bring him back to logic. I loved that she requested that there be no hijinks this time, but that hijinks turned out to be the answer to their current dream dilemma.
So – the plot. Orion pirates encountered the Enterprise, Uhura the puppet hit the wrong button that let them see that the Enterprise bridge crew were all puppets plus one overworked Vulcan, and so of course the pirates decided to take over the ship. What pirate wouldn't under these circumstances?
Everyone was so much in character. M'Benga and Chapel were immediately trying to figure out if they could die as puppets or not. Interestingly, they discovered that after La'an's arm popped off and Pelia was chopped in half, they could be easily sewn back together. After the Captain punished the crew by dumping Pike out of the airlock, the puppets also discovered that they didn't need oxygen, and that gave them the key to defeating the Orions.
T'Pring was a lot more fun as a Muppet than when she was cutting off Spock's ears. She slapped Spock when he had a panic attack. She rescued him by bringing him weapons and letting the Orion set her puppet hand on fire. The one thing that actually made me laugh was Pike and Spock recreating the hand scene from The Wrath of Khan before Pike was ejected from the airlock. "The needs of the many..."
Some of the fight back scenes were fun. Pike on top of La'an on top of Una under a cloak. La'an running up a wall to kick an Orion. Scotty and his electric glove. M'Benga scream-attacking the Orions with two pencils. And Spock's smug expression as he was sitting quietly in the Captain's chair waiting for the Orions to pass out from lack of oxygen. Logic wasn't the answer. Hijinks were the solution.
And the floating in space thing at the end was very cute. Hey, I'd do it. And the Jim Hensen Muppets were all great. The Pelia puppet was absolutely the cutest, and note that she had bare feet, very hippie.
I'm relatively certain this episode wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the exceptional Angel outing "Smile Time," one of its best episodes. But Angel was a vampire fantasy show and the plot was supercreepy and made sense in a magical universe. In other words, NOT STAR TREK.
So except for the premiere, it's been all horror, comedy and gimmick episodes. We're halfway through the season. When will it stop?
Bits:
— Stardate 3019.4, Spock's log. On the way to Vulcan, the Enterprise is waylaid by Spock's very strange dream. Are puppets universal, so to speak? Do they have puppet shows on Vulcan? I'm finding it hard to believe.
— Captain Ch'rol of the Orion ship was played by the wonderful Rachael Harris, Dr. Linda on Lucifer. She was terrific. So was Joe Lo Truglio, who played her second in command Ejachi. I enjoyed his interaction with Spock.
— Who was the crew member with the hole through his chest?
Quotes:
Pelia: "Use your knees, Spock!"
M'Benga: "Dermal regenerators might not work on us anymore, but apparently, we can sew ourselves back together."
Pelia: "Engineering to Lieutenant Spock. We could use your help about now, if we're not currently getting blown up or you're in the bathroom."
T'Pring: "I am aware that pandemonium is the status quo on this starship, but just this one time, could you please acknowledge that this entire situation is absurd?"
Ortegas: "Scotty turned us into puppets. Absurdity's kinda baked into the premise."
T'Pring: (screams at length)
Pelia: "Pandemonium wins."
La'an: "There's a lot I'm going to miss about being a puppet."
Pelia: "Me, too. Like how we can hear each other in space. How are we talking right now? It doesn't even make sense."
T'Pring: "While your crew may occasionally be unorthodox, they are always in pursuit of knowledge, safety, and protecting each other. I find that endearing."
I hate to give any episode only one out of four puppet fingers, but even considering how well done it was, what choice do I have?
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
Again, apologies for being late. It was difficult to make myself write about this one.
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