Warning: Minor SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 5 – “Level-Five Transporter Accident”Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ puppet episode is upon us, but it’s not the first time that Star Trek has utilized puppets. Announced way back at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, Strange New Worlds‘ comedic collaboration with the legendary Jim Henson Company is written by Henry Alonso Myers and Dana Horgan and directed by Jordan Canning.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ puppet episode reveal was an image of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) being turned into a puppet. Paramount+’s synopsis of the episode clarifies that “Level-Five Transporter Accident” is even more ambitious: “A transporter malfunction turns most of the crew into puppets while Spock fights to reclaim the ship.”

Predictably, in the 15 months since Star Trek fans became aware of Strange New Worlds‘ puppet episode, opinions have been rampant. Some Trekkies are excited or interested, others are dreading it, many are taking a logical wait-and-see approach, and there are, of course, doomsayers hailing puppets as an unforgivable affront to Star Trek itself.

Yet puppets have been part of Star Trek since it began 60 years ago.

“The Corbomite Maneuver” Hinged On A Puppet

Star Trek: The Original Series relied on a puppet in season 1’s “The Corbomite Maneuver.” When the Starship Enterprise encounters a starship commanded by Balok (Clint Howard) from the First Federation, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew are confronted by Balok’s frightening alien visage.

The climactic twist in “The Corbomite Maneuver,” of course, is that the monstrous visage of Balok was merely a puppet. Captain Kirk and his landing party discovered that the real Balok was a friendly alien who resembled a small child. Kirk even left his xenophobic crewman, Lt. Bailey (Anthony Call), behind to learn from Balok, and teach the alien about humans.

Puppets not belonging in Star Trek at all has never been the case. Although it aired later in season 1, “The Corbomite Maneuver” was the first regular episode of Star Trek produced after the two pilots, “The Cage” and “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” A puppet was pivotal to a Star Trek episode from its earliest stages.

Of course, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ puppet episode goes much further than “The Corbomite Maneuver.” In “Level-Five Transporter Accident,” Captain Pike and most of the Starship Enterprise’s crew will apparently be replaced by puppets in a comedic romp that will likely have odes to The Muppet Show and movies.

“The Trouble With Tribbles” Introduced Star Trek’s Most Beloved Puppets

Some of the most beloved alien critters in Star Trek for the last 60 years are puppets. Tribbles were introduced in Star Trek: The Original Series season 2’s classic, “The Trouble with Tribbles,” which is also, arguably, the first genuine genre shift by Star Trek into comedy.

The furry little Tribbles were all puppets, with some of them rigged to shake and emit sound effects to convey Tribbles cooings or reacting negatively to Klingons. The immortal moment of Captain Kirk opening a storage compartment hatch and being deluged by Tribbles is, essentially, Jim buried by dozens of puppets.

Tribbles have made several comebacks in Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: Short Treks, and Star Trek: Discovery, where the furry little Tribbles are a common sight aboard the USS Discovery. Of course, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5’s “Trials and Tribble-ations” placed Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and his crew directly into “The Trouble with Tribbles.”

Balok and Tribbles are two of the biggest examples of how puppets have been part of Star Trek for decades. Meanwhile, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds already primed the pump when it comes to puppets.

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3’s Jonathan Frakes-directed “A Space Adventure Hour,” a low-budget alien puppet confronts Maxwell Saint’s (Paul Wesley) starship captain and the crew of The Last Frontier in the episode’s parody of classic Star Trek.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4’s new episodes premiere Thursdays on Paramount+

Release Date

2022 – 2027-00-00

Network

Paramount+

Showrunner

Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman

Directors

Dan Liu, Amanda Row, Maja Vrvilo, Akiva Goldsman, Dermott Downs, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Jonathan Frakes, Jordan Canning, Leslie Hope, Valerie Weiss, Sydney Freeland, Christopher J. Byrne, Rachel Leiterman

Writers

Onitra Johnson