One critique of recent new Star Trek live-action projects is that they take too much advantage of their cinematic visual effects budget when it comes to battles. The most recent episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds does this as well, but “Children of the Comet” is the kind of classic Trek story born of the low-budget early days.
On Star Trek: The Original Series, the transporter was only invented because the production couldn’t afford to produce shuttles at first. The storytellers needed to get the characters to and from the USS Enterprise, thus this foundational element of franchise lore was born because it was a cheap effect. However, budget limitations often forced Star Trek storytellers to get creative when it came to conflict. Sure, there’s a scuffle and maybe some shaky camera scenes on the ship, but the real climax of the episode had to be more cerebral. The solution wasn’t a battle, but clever thinking and teamwork.
With “Children of the Comet,” Star Trek: Strange New Worlds delivers this same sort of story. At its core, the problem in this episode is one of understanding. Thus, it makes sense that the character the episode focuses on most is Celia Gooding’s Cadet Nyota Uhura. Fans of the franchise know that name, of course. Yet, rather than the senior communications officer, Uhura is a Starfleet cadet serving on the USS Enterprise as a kind of on-the-job Starfleet training. A character whose “superpower” is understanding those beings that otherwise could not be understood is the perfect person to solve this week’s problem.
While on a relaxed routine leg of their journey, the crew of the Enterprise encounters an ancient comet that is on a collision course for a planet. The people on the planet are, for lack of a better word, primitive, surviving on a planet not particularly conducive for life to thrive. Nonetheless, it would be a simple matter of some sci-fi solutions from the Enterprise to divert the comet slightly and save everyone. However, a race of advanced aliens “shepherd” the comet, which they call M’hanit. They believe the comet is “one of the ancient arbiters of life,” one of the last such beings in the galaxy. They also outgun the Enterprise, so direct aggression is not an option.
What makes “Children of the Comet” a classic Star Trek problem is that there is no good solution. Pike and the rest of the Enterprise crew know that physics determines the comet’s path, not destiny. The Shepherds ask if they would “adjust the height of the waves” or other natural forces. The answer, of course, is that Starfleet has done just that. We know that (at least by Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) the Federation has “weather control satellites.” Starfleet will do anything they can use science to control to mitigate danger and save lives. However, they also try to respect other species’ cultures and recognize that there are still things about the universe they don’t know.
Thus, it is down to Uhura, on her very first away mission, to save everyone involved by figuring out how to talk to M’hanit. The scientific “how” they accomplish this doesn’t matter as much as the narrative “how.” Scared and overwhelmed, Uhura lacks confidence in her abilities. After two versions of a Spock “pep talk,” it’s almost an accident that they end up figuring out how to communicate with it. Not in the way that lazy writing drops an answer in the characters’ lap. Instead, Strange New Worlds builds a theme around the melody Uhura often hums, they key to cracking this ancient alien language. A little luck and more than a little cleverness is all it takes for the Enterprise crew to get everything they need to solve the problem.
The last element that makes Strange New Worlds Episode 2 very much a classic Star Trek adventure is the unknown element added into the story. After the planet has been saved, Uhura decodes the message the alien sent them. The message includes details of their spontaneous plan to both save the planet and not offend the Shepherds. M’hanit, it seems, knew exactly what they were going to do and, to use Uhura’s terms, “wanted” them to do what they did. Given how Strange New Worlds connects to Star Trek: Discovery, we know that Captain Pike is especially interested in precognition, fate and if the future is set. Still, Pike’s journey to accepting his fate takes a backseat to everything else in the episode. The accident is 10 years away, so that’s the appropriate place for it.
The Star Trek of old knew it wasn’t going to wow audiences with visual spectacle. So, they told emotional stories about morality, courage, hope and failure. Strange New Worlds, for all its cinematic visual effects and massive sets, effectively casts their emotional hooks. Despite Uhura’s uncertainty about her place in Starfleet, her unique skillset helps save millions of lives (including her own). Pike, fated to be permanently disabled, begins to face his destiny, inspired in some way by M’hanit. Even Spock, whose arc in this story is merely him trying to become a more relatable leader, starts the episode almost chastising Uhura to actually laughing just to make her smile. For all the phaser blasts and vivid alien comet visual effects, the most powerful part of this episode is the emotion.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds shows fans that despite the bold steps the franchise takes, no one has forgotten the original series. What started as a necessity due to budget shortcomings became a key formula for telling classic Star Trek stories. More so than the effects or even the science, what makes Trek work is its heart. And “Children of the Comet” is full to the brim with it. Gooding’s Uhura is both worthy of Starfleet and worthy of playing this beloved Original Series character.
You can discover Strange New Worlds when new episodes of the Paramount+ Star Trek series debut each Thursday.
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