Jonathan Frakes’ second and final Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode is a misunderstood and underappreciated gem. Frakes didn’t direct episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seasons 4 or 5, which means the beloved Star Trek director makes only two contributions to Strange New Worlds: “Those Old Scientists,” the acclaimed crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks, and the less warmly received “A Space Adventure Hour.”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 4, “A Space Adventure Hour,” is a vintage Hollywood murder mystery set aboard the USS Enterprise’s experimental holodeck. Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) must solve a murder on the holodeck that turns real and deadly, while a neutron star threatens to destroy the Starship Enterprise itself.

Coming off of Jonathan Frakes’ triumphant Star Trek: Lower Decks crossover, Paramount+ was so confident that fans would equally love “A Space Adventure Hour” that they premiered it at San Diego Comic-Con during Star Trek‘s Hall H panel. Unfortunately, fan response was tepid compared to the raves heaped upon “Those Old Scientists.” Yet “A Space Adventure Hour” is replete with Star Trek pleasures all its own.

Jonathan Frakes’ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “A Space Adventure Hour” Is Better Than You Think

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ “A Space Adventure Hour” could not be a more loving tribute to Star Trek: The Original Series and the lofty intentions of its creator, Gene Roddenberry, who was homaged by Anson Mount’s holodeck character, TK Bellows.

Super agent Jonie Gloss, Celia Rose Gooding’s delightfully assertive and visionary holodeck alter ego, even delivered the core mission statement of Star Trek‘s stand-in, The Last Frontier, and of Star Trek itself, in a stirring monologue that feels even more revelant today.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ cast threw themselves into their holodeck characters with gusto. Anson Mount’s angsty TK Bellows is a boffo rendition of Gene Roddenberry, while Rebecca Romijn’s no-nonsense dame, Sunny Lupino, is a sly nod to Lucille Ball’s importance to Star Trek’s creation.

Christina Chong is outstanding as she revels in her centerpiece role as hard-boiled gumshoe Amelia Moon, with her flawless American detective’s accent. Meanwhile, Jess Bush speaks in her native Australian dialect for the first time on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Babs Olusanmokun unleashes a wicked British accent. Melissa Navia gets amusingly surly with her rendition of a Star Trek doctor a la Bones McCoy (DeForrest Kelley).

For real-world Star Trek actor parodies, however, Paul Wesley takes the cake with his uncanny channeling of William Shatner‘s cocksure swagger and deliberate dialogue delivery. It’s a gangbusters performance by Wesley, the latest actor to embody Captain James T. Kirk. “A Space Adventure Hour” is easily the most immersive and guffaw-inducing costume drama of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ giddily experimental season 3.

Nearly stealing the show, however, is Martin Quinn, who enjoys his true coming-out party as Scotty. The young engineer has to prove his mettle as the holodeck’s energy drain creates a near-catastrophe for the Starship Enterprise. Quinn is endearingly befuddled as Scotty, and he makes a delightful team with Celia Rose Gooding when Lt. Scott recruits Ensign Uhura’s help.

“A Space Adventure Hour” is a confection of pure joy, from the sheer delight of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds cast chewing the scenery to the eyebrow-raising electricity between La’an and Spock as they begin to fall for each other through dance. Ethan Peck plays his coldness as Spock to the hilt when he reveals his murderous holographic Vulcan doppelgänger.

Behind the camera, the deft touch and playfulness of director Jonathan Frakes is palpable. Frakes mind-melds with Strange New Worlds’ exuberant ode to his friend, Gene Roddenberry, and old-school Hollywood, one of Frakes’ passions that he’s now indulging in Dropping Names… And Other Things, his podcast with Brent Spiner.

Why Jonathan Frakes’ Second Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode Wasn’t As Well-Received As His Lower Decks Crossover

Jonathan Frakes called his Star Trek: Strange New Worlds holodeck murder mystery “the best hour of television I’ve ever done.” The legendary bearded director was understandably surprised when fans didn’t feel the same about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 4.

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Although Frakes brushed off his disappointment when he told ScreenRant, “sh*t happens” in our exclusive interview, there are reasons why many Star Trek fans shrugged at “A Space Adventure Hour” rather than embracing the playful romp as Star Trek: Strange Worlds intended.

The presence of the holodeck on the 23rd-century Starship Enterprise and why the technology didn’t become widespread until the 24th century is explained in “A Space Adventure Hour,” but for many canon-minded Star Trek fans, the conceit of the holodeck in Strange New Worlds was instantly a hard pill to swallow.

“A Space Adventure Hour” is rather all over the place. The script lacks polish and focus, and it may have been a victim of the 2023 Writers’ Guild strike. Between The Last Frontier‘s parody of Star Trek and La’an’s deadpan murder investigation, the episode’s tone pinballs.

The deliberately oddball performances of the cast, plus the added subplot of the Enterprise in danger, make it hard to get a handle on just what Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ holodeck murder mystery is actually about.

It’s impossible to deny that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ cast and crew had a ball making “A Space Adventure Hour,” but much of it plays too inside baseball for the audience. In terms of theme, novelty, story focus, and its own unabashed adulation of Star Trek and fandom itself, “Those Old Scientists” is the superior Jonathan Frakes-directed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds outing.

Still, there is too much exuberance, boldness, and sheer love bled into “A Space Adventure Hour” to write it off. Jonathan Frakes’ second and final Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a hypospray of unabashed entertainment that showcases the bottomless talent of the cast, crew, and their iconic director. “A Space Adventure Hour” was a risk, but risk is and has always been Star Trek’s business.

Release Date

May 5, 2022

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