star trek strange new worlds episode 6 alora actress

Lindy Booth

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She is best known for her role as Cassandra Cillian in the TNT series The Librarians (2014-18), where she co-starred with Strange New Worlds regular Rebecca Romijn and John Larroquette . Guest stars on the show included René Auberjonois , Jerry O'Connell , Matt Frewer , Rachel Nichols , Vanessa Williams , and John de Lancie , while Jonathan Frakes directed ten episodes, along with two of the preceding The Librarian TV movies.

She also co-starred in Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension (1998), Relic Hunter (1999-2002), October Road (2007-08), and The Philanthropist (2009).

Booth also starred in a large number of Lifetime and Hallmark original Christmas TV movies, including Christmas Magic (2011, with Paul McGillion , Derek McGrath , and Emmanuel Kabongo ), The Twelve Trees of Christmas (2013), Sound of Christmas (2016, with Derek McGrath), Rocky Mountain Christmas (2017), SnowComing (2019), Swept Up by Christmas (2019), and Christmas by the Book (2022).

Her other television credits include guest roles on shows such as Gene Roddenberry 's Earth: Final Conflict , Mutant X , The Twilight Zone (developed by Ira Steven Behr and written by Stephen Beck ), The 4400 (with Kaj-Erik Eriksen ), CSI: NY (with Robert Joy ), Ghost Whisperer (with Robert Curtis Brown ), Cold Case (with Adrienne Barbeau ), Warehouse 13 (starring Saul Rubinek ), NCIS (with Penny Johnson , directed by James Whitmore, Jr. ), Supernatural , Grey's Anatomy , and The Flash .

Her film credits include appearances in Detroit Rock City (1999), American Psycho II (2002, co-starring William Shatner ), Wrong Turn (2003), Dawn of the Dead (2004, with Jake Weber and Matt Frewer), Cry Wolf (2005, with Gary Cole ), and Kick-Ass 2 (2013, with Ella Purnell and Kevan Kase ).

External links [ ]

• Lindy Booth at Wikipedia
• Lindy Booth at the Internet Movie Database
• Lindy Booth at X (formerly Twitter)
• Lindy Booth  at Instagram
• Lindy Booth  at Facebook

Lindy Booth

Series: Strange New Worlds

Character: Alora

Lindy Booth is an actress who played Alora in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds first season episode “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach”.

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Published Jun 10, 2022

RECAP | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 106 - 'Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach'

A reunion leads to a grim story in the latest episode

StarTrek.com

Spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1, Episode 6 to follow!

As the U.S.S. Enterprise approaches the remote Majalan System, Captain Pike reminisces about nearly losing his life there 10 years prior and muses that their current cartographic mission will be less eventful. Of course, this is Star Trek , so we know the opposite will hold true! With Cadet Uhura on a rotation through security under La’An Noonien-Singh’s tutelage, the Enterprise soon receives a distress call from a shuttle that is under attack. Forced to intervene, Uhura fires the ship’s phasers and brings the offender down.

When the shuttle’s passengers are beamed aboard, Pike is pleasantly surprised to learn that one is Minister Alora (Lindy Booth), a Majalan he had rescued on his previous visit. Also in attendance are Elder Gamal (Huse Madhavji) and his biological son, who requires a visit to sickbay. Just prior to the pair’s arrival, Doctor M’Benga once again reads to his daughter Rukiya in one of the rare moments they are able to share when she is outside of the emergency medical transporter buffer. The doctor clearly feels time ticking away as he continues to search for a cure for his daughter’s ailment.

Back in the briefing room, Alora explains that the boy is the First Servant, a holy figure chosen by a lottery to serve the Majalan people. Alora suspects the descendants of a nearby alien colony wished to kidnap the First Servant for a ransom, as the child is to ascend to the throne in two days. Pike decides to send a team to investigate the attackers’ crashed ship for additional clues.

In sickbay, M’Benga and Nurse Chapel are stunned to learn that the First Servant has quantum bioimplants which automatically repair his injuries, technology far more advanced than Federation medical science. Upon hearing that Majalas has no disease, M’Benga begins to hope that this could be the breakthrough he needs for his daughter’s condition. As for the First Servant, he demonstrates a keen intellect and an interest in the medical facility’s gadgets.

La’An oversees security at the alien crash site, once again applying her stern lessons to Uhura’s training regimen. Spock locates a curious piece of technology that Alora does not recognize, though the Majalan does notice a coin given to the guards assigned to protect the First Servant in the wreckage. Fearing the assailants had infiltrated the ranks, Alora brings Pike to Majalas for her own protection. Their shuttle approaches to reveal a civilization boasting a wondrous maze of floating structures that may even outshine the hovering Ardanan city from “ The Cloud Minders .”

Alora inspects the First Servant’s guards (one of whom is played by Avaah Blackwell, also known for portraying Star Trek: Discovery ’s very own Lieutenant Ina!), causing the one who allied himself with the suspected kidnappers to flee. A quick standoff where the traitorous guard claims to act in defense of the First Servant ensues, but Alora kills him after he tries to keep her as a hostage.

Meanwhile, M’Benga brings the notion of using Majalan medical tech to cure a “hypothetical” patient to Elder Gamal, but the Majalan doctor explains that, as the Federation refuses to share certain technologies with outsiders, it is illegal to share their life-saving procedures with nonaligned species.

The romantic tension between Captain Pike and Alora reaches a crescendo, as the two spend the night together in the wake of the confrontation with the rogue guard. Pike reveals what he learned about his future to the Majalan, who says the captain could have access to their medical tech in the event of any accidents… provided Pike would be willing to stay on Majalas. The option to stay on a planet Pike visited ten years before provides an intriguing mirror to the fate the captain eventually chooses when he decides to stay with Vina during a return to Talos IV ten years later.

Acting under La’An’s orders, Uhura analyzes data from the crashed alien ship and, through a linguistic analysis, determines that the inhabitants from the hostile colony where the kidnappers originated were descendants of Majalan settlers. Suddenly, another enemy vessel beams the First Servant off the Enterprise , but it is accidentally destroyed during its escape. Upon hearing the news about the First Servant’s death, Minister Alora states that, without the ascension, Majalas will fall out of the sky and be destroyed by the planet’s lava-ravaged surface.

Courtesy of Uhura’s acute insight and Spock’s observant logic, the Enterprise crew realizes that Gamal had collaborated with the attacking vessel and actually beamed the First Servant back aboard the Federation ship for his own protection. In accordance with Starfleet protocols, Pike returns the First Servant to Majalas and receives an invite to witness the ascension. The captain is horrified to see the petrified body of the previous First Servant being taken away from the “throne,” an ancient device that utilizes a child’s neural network to maintain Majalas.

The enigmatic technology, vaguely reminiscent of that employed in “ Spock’s Brain ,” is no longer understood by the Majalan civilization, but they believe they have no other alternatives. Upon learning that severing the First Servant from the machine would kill him, Pike resigns himself to return to his starship. Also feeling defeated, Gamal offers to try to walk M’Benga through a treatment that could potentially help Rukiya and eventually lead to a cure.

“Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach'' presents the Star Trek universe through a much bleaker lens than the jovial “ Spock Amok ,” but the episode’s powerfully tragic ending may prove to be a “ The City on the Edge of Forever ” moment for Strange New Worlds . The installment poses a devastating question about how far a society will go to ensure the status quo, and given current events, the plot is heartbreakingly relevant to our modern world. The possibility of M’Benga using Majalan science to treat Rukiya remains a ray of hope, but will it bear fruit? Stay tuned as we continue to explore strange new worlds…

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Jay Stobie (he/him) is a freelance writer, author, and consultant who has contributed articles to StarTrek.com, Star Trek Explorer, and Star Trek Magazine, as well as to Star Wars Insider and StarWars.com. Learn more about Jay by visiting JayStobie.com or finding him on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms at @StobiesGalaxy.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, South Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In addition, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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Star trek: strange new worlds season 1 episode 6 review: lift us where suffering cannot reach.

The most devastating horrors are often masked in beauty. In literature, the examples are numerous. Dorian Gray. The folksy country town of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." The Eloi's banal lives of ease in H.G. Wells's  The Time Machine .

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 6 is even more insidious in painting the charm of Majalis. Not only is their representative a charming, attractive emissary with a romantic history with Pike, but their entire culture also ascribes to the philosophy of "Science. Service. Sacrifice."

They really should add "Secrets" to that credo.

In the tradition of Star Trek outings like Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 17, "The Outcast," in the end, the crew is forced to leave Majalis to its own culture and traditions.

As wrong as Majalis's First Servant system feels, it could be seen as the extreme end of the Vulcan adage that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

But while the Prospect VII revolutionaries are the few at the moment and the First Servant, by definition, is only ever one, the minority grows by one with Gamal's defection.

By anointing the First Servant with love and adulation and celebrating his Ascension with festivities, the Majalins have bought their absolution.

Pike: Will he suffer? Alora: Yes. We don’t pretend otherwise. We live in gratitude for him, and when a new First Servant ascends, we will live for her. Pike: Your whole civilization, all your… this, it’s all founded on the suffering of a child. Alora: Can you honestly say that no child suffers for the benefit of your Federation? That no child lives in poverty or squalor while those who enjoy abundance look away? The only difference is we don’t look away. And because of that, the suffering is borne on the back of only one. It’s what makes it a sacred honor. That’s why I choose our way. Permalink: Can you honestly say that no child suffers for the benefit of your Federation? That no child...

By acknowledging his sacrifice, they believe it makes the act of sacrificing him acceptable.

And they are the many. For now.

In discussing the situation of Majalis -- a situation I freely admit to finding incredibly disturbing --, a helpful colleague pointed me in the direction of the Ursula Le Guin short story, "Those Who Walk Away From Omelas."

In the story, an idyllic thriving city exists only because they keep a pact wherein one child is kept in squalor and neglect, treated only cruelly when interacted with at all.

Alora: Serving Majalis is his destiny. His reason for being. Without him, Majalis could not be. Pike: You plugged a kid into a machine. What’s it going to do to him? Alora: We don’t know. Permalink: Serving Majalis is his destiny.

The point of the story is that despite the prosperity and abundance the pact provides, there are some residents who cannot abide knowing they live in a paradise bought with the suffering of the child. These people are the titular Those Who Walk Away.

In drawing the comparison to Majalis, Gamal walks away once his hope of saving his son is gone.

In contrast, the Prospect VII rebels are not content with walking away. They are invested in ending the tradition.

Now one could argue that the Omelas pact is founded on belief as superstitious as the stoning in "The Lottery." In contrast, Majalis's splendor is physically suspended over a planet of lava by some mechanized system created by the Founders.

So, the First Servant's horrific Ascension could be argued to be necessary in a practical manner rather than symbolic ritual.

He chooses it freely, and we honor his sacrifice. Alora Permalink: He chooses it freely, and we honor his sacrifice.

Which leads me to ask how the Founders figured out how to use a child's mind to power their mechanized terraforming? I can only assume the Founders were not Majalins as they are now but rather a species without empathy. Or they bred the Majalins to power their machine, only to die off themselves.

Another theory is that this was all a test to see who would walk away. Prospect VII passes. Majalins fail.

It's disheartening to hear that when she first met Pike, Alora was looking for an alternative to the First Servant, but now, ten years later, she champions the Ascension ritual.

Honestly, I didn't really trust her to begin with. Una's comment about Alora's luck with shuttles seemed on the mark.

Alora: Why were you on that ship? Kier: To fulfill my oath. And to renounce everything this floating hell stands for. Permalink: To fulfill my oath. And to renounce everything this floating hell stands for.

And when the knife the rebel guard Kier threatens her with conveniently ends up in his chest, it definitely rang some alarm bells.

I don't doubt she cares for Pike and truly believes he would be happy with her if he only came over to her way of thinking.

This is why long-distance relationships that only hook up once a decade are so challenging. Also, the infanticide doesn't help.

Of course, his attraction predates his relationship with Captain Batel, who we saw at breakfast on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 1 , but I couldn't help but feel a little outraged on her behalf.

After all, this is Pike, not James T. Kirk. I guess I expected him to be more fidelitous.

Sam Kirk: Tell her for me you deserve a full-hour. La’an: You can tell me yourself, Lieutenant. Sam Kirk: I would, but I’m conflict-averse? Permalink: I would, but I’m conflict-averse?

Balancing out the problematic ethics of Majalis is the differently problematic Security training Uhura gets under La'an's tutelage.

(I don't know about you, but I really wanted the Lieutenant to bark, "Constant vigilance!" just once. Just once. Would've made me SO happy.)

That La'an's rules are so well-known among the crew and yet still total surprises to new cadets is a fascinating ship tradition.

Uhura's been impressing trainers all over the place.

First, she wins over the curmudgeonly Hemmer -- by the way, where's he gone? Hope he's back soon -- and now La'an describes her as "promising." Gold star, cadet! Twenty points to Gryffindor!

Gamal: I was wrong. I deserve to be in here, Commander. I know that. I didn’t just violate the law of my planet, I violated my own principles, my most deeply-held beliefs. Una: Why? Gamal: For him. For my son. Permalink: For him. For my son.

There are a couple of continuity issues I would be remiss not to mention.

When Una tries to contact the planet during the Ascension, she is prevented from communicating and transporting by interference. Pike wakes up in Alora's quarters, has his conversation with her, then contacts Una with a simple, "Now, Number One," and is beamed up immediately.

It just seems like we missed something there.

The other detail that bothered me is we are supposed to believe the oath coin they found on the Prospect VII cruiser is Kier's.

But Kier has a coin in his pendant. Alora only says that the case is damaged. Did he steal someone else's coin and put it in his case?

There are always things to nitpick on, but these two stood out in an otherwise immersive and highly emotional offering.

Finally, we have the parallel father-child relationships. M'Benga and Gamal are both willing to go to impossible lengths to save their children.

Seeing the First Servant and Rukiya playing together is one of the most touching moments so far in the series. The regret on M'Benga's face as he puts her back into the buffer strikes at the heart of every parent.

For Gamal to reach out after losing his child with an ember of hope for M'Benga to build on demonstrates the Majalin's character as both a man and a physician.

Questions I have for the writers regarding Majalin lore include: How often is an Ascension needed? Will the next First Servant now be voted in out of the planet's babies? Does every First Servant get to keep a biological parent as an Elder?

And the most important one is probably: How do they know the machine still requires the child's mind? In other words, has there ever been a break in the smooth transition? Did parts of the planet start falling into the lava?

What questions would you ask, given the chance, Fanatics?

How do you feel about this first conclusion without closure?

Do the needs of the many warrant the torture and death of one child?

Unload your ethical quandaries into our comments!

Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach Review

Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X .

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 6 Quotes

M’Benga: So, in theory, your implants might realign peptide bonds within any degraded protein. Gamal: At the bare minimum. M’Benga: If this is true, disease and suffering will be things of the past. Gamall: On Majalis, we have a saying, ‘Let the tree that grows from the roots of sacrifice lift us where suffering cannot reach.’ We have no disease of any kind. Permalink: On Majalis, we have a saying, ‘Let the tree that grows from the roots of sacrifice lift us... Added: June 06, 2022

Pike: Are you the boy’s father? Gamal: Strictly in the biological sense. Permalink: Strictly in the biological sense. Added: June 06, 2022

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 6 Photos

6/9/22 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 6 Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season 1, Episode 6

Lift us where suffering cannot reach, where to watch, star trek: strange new worlds — season 1, episode 6.

Watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — Season 1, Episode 6 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

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Anson Mount

Captain Christopher Pike

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Science Officer Spock

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Dr. M'Benga

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La'an Noonien-Singh

Celia Rose Gooding

Nyota Uhura

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Den of Geek

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 6 – Easter Eggs and References

"Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" is a dark Strange New Worlds morality tale that leaves no stone unturned for bigger references to the rest of Star Trek.

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This Star Trek: Strange New Worlds article contains spoilers.

Although The Next Generation isn’t overtly referenced in the sixth episode of Strange New Worlds , the feeling of TNG is keenly felt in this outing for Pike and the crew. In the episode “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach,” the Enterprise encounters a culture that seems perfect, which of course, means there’s some terrible dark secret.

If you rewatch the episode, you’ll realize the writing is on the wall pretty early on, we’re just too charmed by Alora and the First Servant to see it at first. But as this sad mystery unfolds, along the way, Strange New Worlds tips its hat more than once to various Star Trek stories of the past. Here are all the easter eggs and references we caught in “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach.”

“Last Here Ten Years Ago” 

Pike’s log entry mentions that he was last in this star cluster 10 years ago. This would put the incident in which he rescued Alora from a pulsar in the year 2249. According to Pike’s service record, briefly glimpsed in the Discovery episode “Brother,” Pike became captain of the Enterprise in 2250, a year later. 

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Lt. Pike  

Alora refers to Pike by the rank he held when she first met him. If it was 2249, this would mean that “Lt. Pike” was Captain Robert April’s first officer. Something interesting to note here is that Pike introduces Una as “Lieutenant Commander Una Chin-Riley.” Although most people call her “Number One,” it’s possible that some might call her “Lt. Chin-Riley,” making it sound like her rank is a little lower than it actually is. So, in 2249, was Pike “Lieutenant Commander Pike” or just “Lieutenant Pike?” In The Original Series , Spock was the first officer of the USS Enterprise , and, like Una in Strange New Worlds , also held the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

Pike’s Uniform 

Questions about Pike’s rank and position get even deeper! Alora mentions that Pike’s uniform is “very yellow,” and he corrects her by saying it’s “gold.” This is a small easter egg that references two things. First, the actual color of Kirk’s uniform in The Original Series was closer to green, but in the first season, it didn’t show up that way on camera. Second, in the Deep Space Nine episode “Trials and Tribble-ations,” Sisko mentions that in the 23rd century “command wore gold.” 

Interestingly, Alora’s comments that Pike is wearing “yellow” could either mean that in 2249 Pike was wearing a different division color — implying he was wearing operations red or something — OR that in 2249, most of the crew of April’s Enterprise was rocking the all-blue Discovery – era uniform. We haven’t seen a flashback to Robert April (Adrian Holmes) on the Enterprise yet, but it feels more likely the crew would be wearing the Discovery uniforms, rather than the modified TOS uniforms we saw later in Discovery , or what they’re wearing now.

In the Short Treks episode “The Brightest Star,” set in the year 2239, Lieutenant Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) is wearing the blue Discovery – era uniform. Was the Enterprise crew wearing that uniform 10 years later? 

Rigellian Tiger 

Pike and Uhura talk about La’an’s references to a “Rigellian tiger.” There are a lot of planets called “Rigel” in Star Trek canon, perhaps, most notably, “Rigel II,” the location of The Original Series episode, “Shore Leave.” In that episode, a tiger does attack several crewmembers, however, it is a robot tiger , created from telepathic suggestions. La’an (probably) isn’t talking about that exact tiger, simply because that story is in Star Trek ’s future at this point. 

Grappler 

The attack ship trying to snag the shuttle doesn’t use a tractor beam, but instead, shoots off some metal cables. This might seem weird in a Star Trek context, but this comes from canon established in Enterprise . In the 22nd century, before the tractor beam became common, the NX-01 Enterprise used a “grappler” to tow objects. So, this technology isn’t wrong, it’s simply old.

Klingon Ships Have a “Scuttle” System

La’an tells Uhura that some Klingon ships have a “scuttle” system. “Scuttle” is a naval term that refers to destroying or sinking a ship on purpose. The idea that Klingons would rather have their ship destroyed than be captured totally checks out. 

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It’s Not Set to Stun! 

Pike warns the fleeing guard that his phaser is not set to stun. In an earlier scene, we saw Pike activate his phaser briefly. The sound effect used is the same phaser-activating sound effect established in Discovery . 

Pike’s Flying Tackle — Kirk Style!

When Pike tries to stop the rogue guard, he uses a flying tackle. This is a very Captain Kirk-esque move, which was famously used in both “Space Seed” and “The Gamesters of Triskelion.”

Sam Kirk, Conflict-averse

The idea that Sam Kirk — the brother of James T. Kirk – is conflict-averse is just hilarious. 

“Rare to Know What’s in Your Future”

Pike reveals to Alora that he knows the details of what happens to him in the TOS episode “The Menagerie.” He also, once again, refers to the incident as happening in “10 years.” This is very interesting considering that we currently think of “The Menagerie,” as occurring in 2267, which would put it eight years after the events of Strange New Worlds . Because we don’t know exactly what time of year “The Menagerie” occurs, there’s some wiggle room here.

On top of this, it is possible that “The Menagerie” happens later in The Original Series than we thought. Not all the episodes of TOS are shown in the order in which they occurred, so it’s possible that “The Menagerie” actually happens in 2269, and we just never knew that before now.

Still, the slight difference in years does make a hardcore fan wonder — could there be a wrinkle with Pike’s vision? Will it occur earlier than he believes, but right on time for us? 

Beaming off the Transporter Pad 

When the First Servant gets beamed off, he’s beamed off the transporter pad by someone else. This happens a lot in Star Trek canon, starting with “The Cage” in which Number One and Yeoman Colt are transported off the pad by the Talosians.

Mugutan Breeding Stones 

When La’an talks about teaching cadets to “leave no stone unturned,” she mentions “Mugutan breeding stones.” This references the Mugato, the horned ape first seen in the TOS episode, “A Private Little War.” More recently, we saw some Mugatos, um, breeding in the Lower Decks episode “Mugato, Gumato.”

Alora Confronts Pike About the Federation

At the end of the episode, we learn that on Majalis one child is sacrificed to uphold the entirety of the culture. The tech here isn’t made entirely clear, but aspects of it are similar to the way Spock’s brain was used to run an entire planet in the episode “Spock’s Brain.” Obviously, the tone of this episode is much more serious and hits upon a strange paradox about the Federation. We know Majalsis isn’t a Federation world, which means Pike cannot legally do anything to stop them from using the First Servant as a human sacrifice to their weird tech god. But what’s even more interesting is the fact that Alora points out that suffering does exist in the Federation. She also implies pretty strongly that the suffering of children comes from Federation history, which, of course, would directly apply to the history of Earth.

Suffering in the Federation in the 23rd century might be at a minimum. But, the history of how Star Trek ’s rosy figure got to the point, comes from our own painful present.

Ryan Britt is a longtime contributor to Den of Geek! He is also the author of three non-fiction books: the Star Trek pop history book PHASERS…

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 6 “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” Review: Holding a mirror to our reality

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 6 “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” Review

Just as the comical “ Spock Amok ” was a tonal shift from its intense predecessor “ Memento Mori ,” “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” changes the tone again to one of somber contemplation, as Captain Pike and his crew encounter a society that demands a horrendous sacrifice to keep their civilization in perfect health.

This episode sees Captain Christopher Pike ( Anson Mount ) and the Enterprise return to a place he knows well: the Majalan System. He was there 10 years prior and apparently had a fling with one of the inhabitants. The captain’s plans for a routine cartographic survey go down the drain, though, when, lo and behold, who does the Enterprise rescue from a nearby shuttle under attack? Alora ( Lindy Booth ), the same woman Pike encountered all those years ago. Also on the shuttle is an all-important child, the First Servant ( Ian Ho ), and his father, Elder Gamal ( Huse Madhavji ). Because the ship attacking the shuttle also attacked the Enterprise , Pike sticks around to investigate the matter.

At first, you might think this episode is a light-hearted affair, with the goofily love-stricken Pike learning more about Alora’s beautiful planet, Majalis, and its shockingly healthy populace. The Enterprise happens to have arrived in time to witness a key moment of the society’s continuing existence: the time when the holy First Servant ascends to the throne. But Pike doesn’t quite know what it means for a child to become First Ascendant, nor is Alora forthcoming with answers. As far as Pike can tell, it’s as if the boy is being celebrated as a deity for becoming a leader, one who was destined at birth to do so. The captain has certainly seen stranger things than this.

Doctor M’Benga ( Babs Olusanmokun ) and Nurse Chapel ( Jess Bush ), however, do witness something they have never seen before: quantum implants within the First Servant that tackle any disease or ailment he could suffer. This technology, M’Benga asserts, could mean disease and suffering could be things of the past. So, you can bet M’Benga is interested in this technology, as his terminally sick daughter, Rukiya ( Sage Arrindell ), may indeed benefit from it.

Things get a bit more complicated as the First Servant is seemingly kidnapped from the Enterprise , and the ease of the kidnapping points the crew to it somehow being an inside job. Deeper questions arise when Cadet Nyota Uhura ( Celia Rose Gooding ), who is taking a turn at security this episode following her brief tour of engineering in “Memento Mori,” realizes the shuttle attack in the episode’s first act was actually executed by people from Prospect VII, a nearby planet housing offshoots of the Majalan people. Why would his own people, even distant cousins of those on Majalis, kidnap the First Servant? Moreover, this discovery contrasts with what Alora asserted at the beginning of the episode – that she thought the people who attacked the shuttle were members of a nearby alien colony and were likely looking to ransom the child. No wonder Alora was quick to discourage a Starfleet investigation into the attack; things are more complicated than they appear.

“I think my promising young cadet just demonstrated lesson seven of security on you: ‘leave no stone unturned.’ I usually require cadets to look under Mugatan breathing stones for that one.” Noonien-Singh to Elder Gamal about Uhura investigating the First Servant’s kidnapping.

It turns out the first attempted kidnapping, and the subsequent kidnapping attempt aboard Enterprise was arranged by Elder Gamal because he wanted to prevent his child from ascending to the throne. Within a few seconds of the audience learning Elder Gamal tried to stop this, Pike chillingly learns firsthand what happens to the First Ascendant when the boy takes the “throne”: the child slowly and painfully deteriorates within the cold clutches of a machine, his life energy sacrificed to unexplainably keep everyone else in perfect health.

Pike is understandably alarmed at people who flourish because of the suffering of a child. It’s at this point one might expect the captain to influentially appeal to Alora and her people to stop this practice or have the Enterprise ’s medical and engineering team finds a way to avoid the machine’s need for a child’s energy. No, none of these things happen. Pike is never given the chance to attempt a solution before the First Servant is engulfed, permanently, by the machine.

There is no way Pike can save the First Servant, and indeed he gets knocked out for trying to. Clearly, the Majalans can’t risk their society falling into disarray to save one child. They view the First Servant’s sacrifice as a valuable, noble cause, and that’s why the First Servant is held in such high esteem in their society. As Alora points out to a bewildered Pike, it’s better to have one child be sacrificed for the good of the populace, instead of many children suffering while the rest of the civilization turns its back on them. It’s in this one line that “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” neatly illustrates the episode’s allegory: why do the people of Earth oftentimes ignore the fact that children across the world are suffering – or if not ignore, then at least stop themselves from doing anything about it on a large scale?

The cost to Pike personally of leaving Alora and her people to their own devices is greater than anybody else. Of course, the captain is living with the knowledge he is going to all but dies in an accident seven years in the future, which he exposits to Alora in this episode. The Majalan people, with their miraculous biological technology, could offer Pike a chance to remedy himself following his accident, but he would have to be a member of their civilization – but even then, it turns out the moral cost of such technology is too great for the captain to bear. It’s extra unfortunate, then, that the Enterprise ’s crew didn’t figure out a way to rid the Majalans of their dependency on the soul-sucking machine; the captain’s future could be saved otherwise. Can you imagine the fortitude it takes for Pike to make the decision to sacrifice a chance to save his life, just because he morally disagrees with how Alora’s people make their perfect world possible?

Having Pike unable to save the First Servant is more of a gut punch because we see the youngster be an extremely intelligent, friendly, and innocent boy. For example, he (albeit improbably) discovers young Rukiya in the sickbay transporter buffer and plays some trippy hopscotch with her, just as any kid would enjoy doing. He also impresses Spock ( Ethan Peck ) with his knowledge of subspace signal propagation, and innocently claims he is interested in such technology because he thought it would be cool to “have a friend across the galaxy.” Seeing such potential wasted only compounds his unfortunate sacrifice, no matter how useful that sacrifice is.

There is a slightly happy ending for one person, though: Doctor M’Benga. Via Elder Gamal, the doctor takes the first step in medically solving his daughter’s terminal diagnosis. What Gamal provides him is a far cry from a cure, however, because it’s illegal for him to share their technology with unaffiliated races – just as Alora related to Pike – so we totally expect little Rukiya to show up again at some point when a more concrete cure is found. Although we’re somewhat surprised Doctor M’Benga didn’t push harder for Gamal to provide more tangible help; the doctor seems content to take whatever Gamal gives him, even though he is still far from finding a cure for his daughter.

So, “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” leaves us with an ending that makes us shrink in our chairs a little. For those who are new to Star Trek , this is what it’s like to have the show hold a mirror to our reality, a trend the franchise patented when The Original Series subtly commented on the Vietnam War, the racial justice movement in the 1960s, and any other number of topics. There’s no happy ending in this episode. There’s no happy ending regarding child suffering in real life.  Pike and his crew conclude this entry simply with the knowledge there are some places in the universe that practice prosperity in different ways and at different costs – and this show asks us to consider if the cost is too great. That’s a recipe for a good Star Trek episode if there ever was one.

Stray Thoughts:

• Alora never explains why the creators of the soul-sucking machine need a child’s life force, only that her people searched for hundreds of years to find an alternative.
• What are the chances we get some tie-in media about Pike’s previous visit to the Majalan System? We’re going to guess a comic book would serve this story nicely.
• We see grappling hooks used in this episode by a non-Federation ship. This pre-tractor beam technology was a mainstay of the NX-01 Enterprise , and the hooks’ appearance in this episode likely reflects Prospect VII’s lower-tier technological development.
• Pike asking Elder Gamal if he is the child’s father upon their first meeting is an odd piece of dialogue and seems only to exist to set up his strange and question-provoking response: “Only in a biological sense.”
• This episode’s title is taken from one of Elder Gamal’s lines of dialogue: “On Majalis, we have a saying: ‘let the tree that grows from the roots of sacrifice lift us where suffering cannot reach.’”
• Alora repeatedly refers to the offshoot colony as “the alien colony,” and at no point does Captain Pike or anyone else ask for clarification about who these people are. We realize this knowledge needs to wait for the reveal later in the episode, but why is it at the expense of Pike’s competency?
• Alora walks right within grabbing distance of the disloyal guard after she and Pike corner him, which leads her to…yes… being grabbed. Having a character stupidly expose themselves to an enemy in this way is such a cliché way to build tension.
• It’s nothing but sheer, unadulterated plot convenience that the Enterprise is blocked from contacting Pike due to an electromagnetic field just before he witnesses the First Servant’s ascension.
• Alora asserts to the high-and-mighty Pike that the Federation must have children who suffer while others flourish, to which Pike does not retort. But is that the case? The Federation is supposedly a utopian society. Does Pike’s silence mean substantial child suffering exists within the Federation, suffering that somehow helps the rest of the Federation flourish?

Strange New Worlds streams Thursdays on Paramount+ .

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek: Lower Decks , Star Trek: Prodigy , and more.

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Kyle Hadyniak has been a lifelong Star Trek fan, and isn't ashamed to admit that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Nemesis are his favorite Star Trek movies. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @khady93 .

Andrea Pinzow

June 11, 2022 at 4:54 pm

There are worlds that the crew of the Enterprise will not agree or like. In this episode we can change the attitudes of the society and this is why the Prime Directive was established. Pike had to realized this and I hurt him because he cared about her. They tried to find a way but they couldn’t find it.Their beliefs are enground for centuries.They give praise for the first servants for their sacrifice to keep the rest of them alive. As a parent I am appaled but as a storyline of this episode is gives us a morale choice. This is one of the best episodes on Star Trek for this new show. Some of the lines are not good but all in all it was a very excellent story .A great acting job to Anson Mount’s Pike. I really like Pike .I really want more interaction between him and Pike since Spock would jeopardize his career and life to bring Pike to Talos so Pike can live out his life with live in that chair.

GriffeyTrek

June 12, 2022 at 8:47 pm

It’s worth noting that this episode pretty directly lifts the core story elements of Ursula leGuin’s Hugo Award winning 1974 short work “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”. Which is why the underlying story feels so familiar. It’s about a Utopian City that requires one child be made to suffer for the happiness of all. And they lifted stuff to such an extent that leGuin should probably be given a writers credit. Magellas is Omelas.

Oldandcranky

June 14, 2022 at 8:53 am

I was very sad to see that LeGuin didn’t get a writers credit for this episode- at the very least an “adapted from a story from Ursula K.Leguin” line. It kind of destroyed by enjoyment of the episode.

July 22, 2022 at 9:49 am

Pike could have stopped the suffering by forcing his own will on the planet. Then the Federation would be dictatorial, wouldn’t it? The United States and other countries like us could conceivably end child suffering if we all forcibly ended the sovereignty of every nation that disagreed with us and also ended a good chunk of individual liberty within our own countries.

But we’re not dictators.

That’s the unspoken conclusion that Trek writers refuse to conceive – in order to feed, clothe, shelter, medically treat and protect everyone everywhere, there will be massive restrictions on personal freedoms.

You can make as many laws as you can and you will get many to obey them, but you cannot force every person to buy into your dogma; there will always be resistance. Because that’s how people are.

And that’s why shows that depict human beings creating a paradise where no one suffers and everyone is happy are promulgating a belief system that is unrealistic in light of how long human civilization has lasted.

Human beings cannot fix other human beings. We are flawed. We are selfish and self-interested. We always have been and we always will be.

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‘Strange New Worlds’ takes a big swing toward something profound

It’s a mess, but one you can spend hours analyzing..

The following article discusses spoilers for Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach, and topics of a sensitive nature.

Last week, Strange New Worlds hit something of a groove with a lightweight comedy episode that showed how well this show can work. This week, it takes a hard turn toward the weighty, with an episode that tries to cover a whole host of stuff in its 50-minute runtime . In some ways, this feels like the most The Next Generation thing Star Trek has put out since 1994. In others, it feels like the show tripped backwards and landed on something deeply profound by accident.

We open on Pike in pensive mode as the USS Enterprise heads to the Majalan System to run a stellar survey. He’s been this way before, on an unseen rough-and-tumble adventure back when he was a lieutenant, and he’s hoping for an easier ride this time around. No such luck, as just as the ship arrives, it’s thrust into a low-stakes battle between two small vessels, one of which starts firing on the Enterprise itself. That forces Pike to intervene, rescuing three people from one of the ships: A child with the title The First Servant, a prickly doctor who is also the First Servant’s father and Alora, a noblewoman Pike met on his last visit.

The ship came under attack because it was carrying the First Servant, who is about to “ascend” and achieve some great destiny for his people. He’s sufficiently special that he’s been implanted with a special perpetual-healing device to protect him from injury. But what’s obvious, from a few minutes into the episode, is that neither of the adults want to talk about why the kid is special, or what his grand ascension ceremony is going to entail, beyond the fact that the entire civilization will collapse unless it takes place, pronto . In my notes, I wrote “I bet they’re planning on eating the Dalai Lama kid,” because this whole plot felt like a throwback to a less TV-literate age.

Unfortunately, Pike seems to have left his brain in his other pants as soon as he realizes that there was mutual affection between him and Alora. In fact, as soon as Pike realizes that he’s on track to Get Some, he becomes quite petulant when his subordinates try to drag him away to try to further the episode’s narrative. And that’s despite the fact that Alora is the most Character With Something Dark To Hide character you’ll see on television this year. All the while, La’an and Uhura, this week on the security portion of her apprenticeship, try to work out what exactly is going on.

Of course, that perpetual-healing machine piques the interest of Dr. M’Benga, who wonders if such technology could be used to heal his own daughter. Sadly, the doctor brushes off the request for help, saying that it would be impossible for the Majalans to share their technology. The kid’s also something of a child prodigy, and based on nothing more than a half-overhead conversation about a sick child, he’s managed to bust Rukiya out of the transporter buffer. At this point, I can’t work out if her presence onboard is meant to be a secret or not, since it seems like a random child from an alien culture can figure out she’s there in about thirty seconds. (Pike, too, later in the episode, is tempted with an offer to get his own future fixed with their magical medical technology.)

Unfortunately, the next section of the plot is mostly throat-clearing and runarounds as Pike uncovers some sort of conspiracy. The hows and whys of the conspiracy aren’t really clear, and the only real point is to have a laser stick fight/chase scene through what looks like the grounds of Toronto’s Casa Loma museum. You can feel the show spinning its wheels while we get to the inevitable conclusion. Pike rescues the kid and hands him over to the Majalans, who promptly plug him into a supercomputer that “kills” him. This, somehow, is the key to keeping their society, which floats on suspended islands above the clouds, much like Columbia from Bioshock Infinite , from falling into the lava below. (Why? Don’t ask questions, it just does .)

Pike does try to stop it happening, but gets enough of a beatdown to watch as the kid gets wired up. It’s a pretty disturbing scene and as close to horror as Star Trek has gotten for a while, since the child realizes too late that it’s going to lead to his untimely end. Alora, in response to Pike’s objection, then goes on a rant about having the courage to sacrifice one child for the greater good. I’ll quote her response in full: “Can you honestly say that no child suffers for the benefit of your Federation? That no child lives in poverty, or squalor, while those who enjoy abundance look away? The only difference is that we don’t look away.”

Now, it was these lines that threw me, only because it’s clearly meant to be a say-the-quiet-part-out-loud statement about the US. But while the Federation is meant to be some allegorical mash-up of the Western World at large, it’s also meant to represent a utopian version of that. In the 23rd century, the Federation had the ability to synthesize food, clothing and other materials pretty darn easily. In Discovery ’s first season, Burnham uses food and clothing synthesizers to produce a delicious meal and new uniform pretty much on demand. Which means that, while the Star Trek of Pike’s day wasn’t the post-scarcity economy of The Next Generation , the idea that people would go hungry and live in squalor feels… off. I don’t want to be that guy , but did any of the show’s nine thousand producers read Trekonomics ?

Here’s the thing, while the meat of the episode isn’t particularly meaty, the topics it covers are fairly profound. One of Star Trek’s most famous philosophical tenets is that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. This form of Utilitarianism is upheld as a noble goal within the spirit of the Federation (except, of course, when Leonard Nimoy fancies a shot at directing and so decides / agrees to resurrect Spock , but let’s not talk about that now). Then again, it’s hard to see how a kid, even a bright one, can be emotionally and mentally mature enough to consent to such a grisly demise.

Then there’s the fact that Pike loses , and is essentially powerless to do much of anything to “correct” what went on here. He can file a report to the Federation and lodge his objection to what went on, but there’s little anyone can actually do. And that raises another interesting point, since Star Trek can be read as an essentially colonialist text, one in which a group of people with Western values venture out to “civilize” the “wilderness.” If Pike had stormed back, phasers blasting, to rescue the First Servant, it might have made for good TV, but is it morally and ethically right for one group to impose its will upon others under force of arms?

(Longtime Trek fans will probably have spotted the handful of nods to the early TNG episode “ Symbiosis ” which covered similar ground. I won’t spoil it for you, but that too posed the question of how much you can, or should, interfere when you find one group of people taking advantage of another. Late ‘80s Just Say No moralizing aside, it does manage to reach a satisfying conclusion and keep within the rules of how the Prime Directive prevents the Federation from simply imposing its order upon the rest of the universe.)

But no matter how hamfistedly the show might be gesturing toward these sorts of problems, it is at least gesturing toward them. The thing that is working about Strange New Worlds is that it’s working to provoke you to think, and dwell upon your own moral and intellectual values. And it’s worth asking yourself, too, what you would be prepared to do to prevent this form of moral injustice in the world we live in today. And that, my friends, is the power of good sci-fi.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 6 Review – ‘Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach’

June 10, 2022 by James Osborne

James Osborne reviews the sixth episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds…

“Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” begins at the same starting point as plenty of Star Trek’s classic episodes: with the USS Enterprise answering a distress call. One small cruiser is being fired upon by another, before the Starfleet ship slowly floats over like a hulking Star Destroyer to intervene. The Enterprise ends the assault and beams aboard the victims of the attack, whose ship has been damaged beyond repair.

These victims include a prodigiously gifted child and his stern father, and an old flame of Captain Pike’s called Alora. As the Enterprise investigates the attack, Pike and Alora begin to rekindle their relationship with a directness that would make Will Riker blush. But like the majority of Will Riker’s own intimate experiences with a member of an alien species, Captain Pike’s doesn’t end well.

As it turns out, the child is set to be sacrificed in a cultural keystone ceremony led by Alora – a fact that Captain Pike isn’t aware of until it’s far too late to take any action. The child, who is defined by an excellent performance from the young actor, is locked into a short future of pain and suffering for the greater good causing Pike to leave Alora and her people, promising to report their actions to Starfleet.

The episode gives the audience a chance to get a closer look at Dr. M’Benga, which is never a bad thing, revisiting the previously established plot about his ill daughter and his search for a cure. This links organically to “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach”’s main plot, reminding us that the consequences of Dr. M’Benga’s rule-breaking can’t be too far away. There is also a five second cameo from Samuel Kirk, but it’s completely superfluous and only acts as a reminder that the character would have been better served by being left alone.

Like the shift in gears between “Memento Mori” and “Spock Amok”, “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” is another case of tonal whiplash. The flexibility of Strange New Worlds’ episodic formula makes this not just feasible, but actively fun. Watching the crew of the Enterprise slaloming between horror-inflected action, light-hearted comedy, and disturbing ethical dilemmas is exciting, and it helps to flesh out our understanding of exactly who these characters are and what they believe. Moreover, the episode is brave enough to take bold narrative steps, and this helps to elevate an otherwise somewhat derivative story.

And, in theory, ending on a dour note – and emphasising the limitations of Starfleet and its values – is absolutely fine. In fact, it’s great. It shows that our phaser-wielding space-faring heroes can’t always save the day. Sometimes there are no easy solutions. But, this ending feels like the first half of a two-parter, and that’s because there’s no real resolution. Captain Pike doesn’t have some epiphany about the subjective nature of morality in his galaxy-spanning present. Alora doesn’t come to the realisation that purposefully inflicting intense suffering on a child can’t be justified. Instead, the characters don’t change: Captain Pike is still resolute in his belief that the actions of this civilization are wrong; Alora is still determined that they’re right.

While the episode might not shy away from disturbing imagery, it does seem to be more squeamish about actually testing these conflicting ideologies and pitting them against one another. This means that, at the end, we’re left wanting more exploration of the right and wrong, and the reasoning behind it. Perhaps a follow-up episode would track Captain Pike as he reports the discovery to Starfleet and the Federation, and examine his frustration as he comes up against the rules of the Prime Directive and the entrenched respect for other civilization’s cultural practices, culminating in some shift in opinion from him and Starfleet and the Federation.

But, that won’t happen. Instead the episode ends as it ends, leaving the audience somewhat uncertain and unsure of what to think. Every now and then, that’s okay.

James Osborne

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 6 review: "Familiar story improved by wonderful cast"

GamesRadar+ Verdict

While it’s a solid introduction to some classic Trek themes, fans may find the story’s beats and twists a little too familiar. The good thing about Strange New Worlds, however, is that even when it’s on autopilot, the quality of the cast and the writing ensure it’s never less than watchable.

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Warning: This Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 6 review contains major spoilers – many of them set to stun. Boldly go further at your own risk…

If Paramount Plus was relaunching their fleet of Star Trek shows again, they’d surely have made Strange New Worlds the first series out of Spacedock. While Discovery, Picard and Lower Decks have all – to various degrees – relied on viewers’ knowledge of earlier iterations of Trek, the voyages of Christopher Pike’s starship Enterprise feel like the ideal introduction to the franchise and what’s made it tick for over 55 years.

Over the course of its early missions, Strange New Worlds has developed a knack for putting a slick, modern spin on classic Trek tropes, such as the first contact scenario, interstellar warfare, and even ship-based comedy. Now, this sixth outing explores the commonly recurring theme of Starfleet encountering an alien race with morally dubious practices, while also giving the ship’s captain an excuse for a spot of alien romance. 

The problem with ‘Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach’, however, is that the show’s now-trademark snappy dialogue, slick set design, and wonderful cast aren’t quite enough to mask the over-familiarity of the story. In other words, if you’ve watched a few episodes of the original series or The Next Generation, you’ll have a pretty good idea where this one’s going before it’s even made it to the opening credits.

It begins – as Star Trek stories often do – with a distress call. A Majalan vessel is being pursued by a hostile ship which, despite being completely outgunned by the flagship of the Federation, is foolhardy enough to turn its phasers on the Enterprise. Starfleet protocol – along with Pike’s conscience – compel the crew to intervene, and after shooting down the aggressors, they beam the survivors on board. 

By some cosmic coincidence, one of them is Alora, a woman Pike rescued from a spot of bother with a pulsar ten years earlier. It doesn’t take long for sparks to start flying in the transporter room. 

“You have bad luck with shuttles,” says Pike. 

“Or good, depending on how you look at it,” Alora replies, hinting that their relationship isn’t just platonic

The most interesting member of the party, however, is a child known as the “First Servant”. Extending a long tradition of kids in Star Trek (and sci-fi in general) with disarmingly high intelligence, he’s a holy figure in Majalan culture, the embodiment of their maxims of “science, service, sacrifice” who’s left his family behind in favor of the so-called greater good. As such, the boy must be protected at all costs, to the point where his stuffy guardian, Elder Gamal, won’t let Dr M’Benga and Nurse Chapel use their primitive “abattoir” tools to treat his injuries. 

The fact that this technologically advanced civilization has never appeared in Star Trek before is an early indicator that something sinister may be lurking beneath their friendly surface. After all, any race that can live in floating fairytale castles – their capital city looks like a cross between Naboo in The Phantom Menace and something from Flash Gordon – and use holographic computer terminals would surely have become a major asset to the Federation under normal circumstances. M’Benga even realizes that their medical tech has the potential to cure Rukiya – the terminally ill daughter he keeps alive in the medical transporter’s pattern buffer – though Gamal’s initial refusal to share Majalan tech with outsiders is an early indicator that this is a species that doesn’t play well with others. 

It’s ultimately Cadet Uhura who gets to the heart of the problem. One of Strange New Worlds’ smartest moves has been using the rookie’s on-the-job education as an introduction to key crew members and areas of the ship. This week she’s under the tutelage of security chief La’an, whose core lessons – among them the memorable “threats never take breaks” – will surely be adorning t-shirts before long.

These security guidelines intertwine perfectly with the Majalan plot. Most pivotal on the list is lesson 6, which concerns knowing how and when to bend the rules. La’an realizes that something isn’t quite right in the wreckage of the ship Uhura shot down in the episode’s cold open – in hindsight, it seems a tad harsh to ask the work experience to disable an enemy craft – so, with the ship’s translators out of bounds during an unofficial investigation, asks the young linguistics expert to have a deeper, eyes-only look at their communications. Despite Alora’s claims that the residents of Prospect VII are an enemy colony, Uhura realizes that the similarities in their respective languages can mean only one thing – they’re descendants of Majalan. It’s subsequently revealed that they left this apparent utopia to escape the dark goings on in the background, in a plot line that shows remarkable echoes of the Ba’ku and Son’a in Star Trek: Insurrection.

Uhura’s impressive detective work proves slightly annoying for Pike, because it interrupts his very intimate diplomatic sessions with Alora. When their pillow talk shifts to chat about the future – and Pike’s own, well-publicized grisly fate – she offers the planet’s services for medical assistance. Anyone who’s seen original series two-parter ‘The Menagerie’ will be wondering if this is where the idea for his telepathic recuperation was seeded.

Ultimately, however, Pike’s inherent decency means he was never going to accept Majalan hospitality for long. Despite his Starfleet training, he finds it impossible to disguise his disgust at the revelation that the First Servant’s “ascension” involves plugging him into the city’s computer mainframe to become the central processor of the machines that keep the city hovering above the lava and acid on the planet’s surface. Seeing invasive wires attach themselves to the kid is a genuinely brutal moment, and the boy’s fear is palpable as we watch his self being lost to the machine forever – the fact that Alora claims they’ve been looking for a more humane alternative doesn’t make the scenes any easier to accept.

The barbaric nature of the ritual makes you see the actions of Elder Gamal in an entirely different light. Having sacrificed everything to team up with Prospect VII to rescue the boy, he could have been the hero of the episode had everything gone to plan – indeed, he must have been inwardly cursing the well-meaning Enterprise crew for thwarting his ingenious scheme to fake the First Servant’s death.

But that’s the point of the episode. The Kobayashi Maru – the no-win scenario – is one of Star Trek’s longest-standing themes, but it’s rarely been explored as subtly and cleverly as it is here. The Enterprise was duty-bound to work out what happened to the First Servant after his abduction from the transporter room, yet their typically diligent work essentially sentenced the boy to ‘death’. And once the process of ascending had begun, standard protocols ensured Pike was powerless to intervene – beyond, presumably, putting Majalan on some kind of Federation blacklist.

Even when Strange New Worlds isn’t firing at maximum warp, it remains a brilliantly made slice of weekly sci-fi action. ‘Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach’ is just that little bit too familiar to engage as much as its predecessors.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently airing now in the US on Paramount Plus. The streaming service launches in the UK on June 22. For more, check out our guide to the Star Trek timeline .

Richard is a freelancer journalist and editor, and was once a physicist. Rich is the former editor of SFX Magazine, but has since gone freelance, writing for websites and publications including GamesRadar+, SFX, Total Film, and more. He also co-hosts the podcast, Robby the Robot's Waiting, which is focused on sci-fi and fantasy. 

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'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' episode 6 suffers from a slight dip in story quality

Will we ever find out what Security Lessons four and five are..?

Warning: Spoilers for "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" season 1, episode 6

So far, " Star Trek: Strange New Worlds " has shown signs of steadily improving, even if the episode titles seem to be getting longer. This week it's "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" and you try squeezing that into a two-deck headline. However, even an excessively long title can't save this episode from sadly being the weakest of Season 1 thus far, but then one of them had to be. 

Hopefully, this is where the new minimum standard will be set and this extremely promising new show won't descend into disappointing plots and lazy writing like the other live-action shows in this particular sci-fi franchise on Paramount Plus .

Apparently, this past week's episode is based upon an unused "The Original Series" script by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. According to IMDb , it also bears a strong similarity to Ursula Le Guin's 1973 short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" as both depict a seemingly utopian society whose prosperity is predicated on the suffering of a single child.

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Regardless of its origins, it marks the first time Captain Pike ( Anson Mount ) has been dragged into an ethical crisis of this particular nature. Following the recap — which we'll come back to shortly — we're treated to a classic-style opening sequence, with a little bit of personal attachment, a dash of spirited fun, seasoned with light humor and served with a generous dollop of drama. 

Honestly, anything could've happened after that: the crew could've had all the salt sucked from their bodies, been forced to amuse a demi-god or just stumbled upon a being from between dimensions. Roll those gorgeous opening credits.

While on a routine [cartographic survey] to [the Majalan system] the USS Enterprise receives a distress call from a non-Federation shuttle under attack by a small combat cruiser, also with no Federation ID. During the fracas that follows, the cruiser is inadvertently destroyed and all aboard are killed. The passengers of the shuttle barely survive and are beamed to the Starfleet starship.

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Turns out that, while on a previous mission to this sector of space 10 years ago the  then Lieutenant Pike was involved in a rescue operation to evacuate civilians from a dying pulsar and he has already met Alora (Lindy Booth), one of the newest additions to the Enterprise passenger list. The other two are a young boy, known as the First Servant (Ian Ho) and his apparent biological father, Elder Gamal (Husein Madhavji).

The primary plot takes up practically all the airtime this week, but there a couple of interesting sub-stories stuck onto the side, one of which is the training of Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) in matters concerning security by Lt. Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong). It seems her lessons are near-legendary in the Enterprise community. We are to understand there are seven golden rules of security, however, we only get to hear five of them:

#1 A Rigelian tiger pounces with no warning; #2 There are no breaks in security because threats never take breaks; #3 Let your tricorder do the investigating; #6 Know when to bend the rules; #7 Leave no stone unturned.

Unfortunately, with everyone on the small combat cruiser killed, Pike et al are only hearing one side of the story. That old chestnut. But, their story seems to be believable. Moreover, Pike seems to have forgotten about his partner, Capt. Batel (Melanie Scrofano) — who we met in the premiere episode "Strange New Worlds" — and he's more than happy to slide under the sheets and get busy with Alora. 

Tonight in Captain Pike Bingo , it's Triple Points Night! ☑ Gets his shirt off ☑ Gets buff! ☑ X-rated extracurricular activity with an extraterrestrial ☐ Hand to hand combat to the death ☐ Use the double-fist punch ☐ Travel over to the Mirror Universe ☐ Find himself on a planet that looks a lot like Vazquez Rocks Natural Park ☐ Outwit a superior alien intelligence ☐ Meet the magnificent, mischievous Harcourt Fenton Mudd ☑ Save the galaxy ( season 2 of "Discovery" )

Now, remember we mentioned that recap? Upon second viewing of this episode, you'll notice a slight slant in the recap when it briefly focuses on Pike's future — the maybe-it's-imminent/maybe-it-isn't accident when a baffle plate ruptures on an old class J starship, exposing many helpless trainees and himself to deadly delta-particle radiation. Specifically, the voice of Lt. Cmdr. Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) when she says, "Don't throw your life away, Chris. I made a choice. I accepted my fate. What if you're wrong? What if your fate is what you make it? "

And clearly, Pike is not throwing his life away, but rather he is it embracing it, every facet of it. And good for him. Sadly though, Alora has a somewhat unorthodox culture, but we'll come to that momentarily. The Majalan people have an incredibly advanced medical technology; tissue can be altered, repaired or replaced at a "quantum mechanical level." It offers hope to both Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) that he might be able to cure his daughter Rukiya (Sage Arrindell) and Pike, in that it could heal him of his future wounds.

As the story unfolds, it slowly becomes clear that Elder Gamal is aware of the fate that awaits his poor son, the First Servant; however, he was not a part of the initial plan to rescue him that resulted in the destruction of the small combat cruiser. Instead, he plans his own attempt to keep the child safe, from the Majalan people. And for a short while at least, it looks to have worked. That is until a crude distress signal is detected by Spock (Ethan Peck) and the young, incredibly gifted child is recovered and returned to the Majalan people.

Related: 'Strange New Worlds' episode 5 taps into some classic Trek tropes

This, combined with some rather damning evidence discovered by Uhura and Noonien-Singh, leads Pike down to the surface where he witnesses, but is unable to prevent, the "ascension" of the First Servant, thus fulfilling his somewhat short-lived destiny. The boy is, in essence, plugged into the machine that, we are to understand, needs the neural network of a child to function. "Our founders designed it that way. We don't know why," Alora attempts to explain to Pike.

And thus sadly ends the chance that the people of Majalan might join the Federation, for now at least. But all is not lost as Gamal offers to assist M'Benga in his search for a cure for his daughter. Although, it's not adequately explained quite how these people have such an advanced knowledge of medicine and yet have not evolved past the need to sacrifice an innocent child every generation or so.

You know what would be really interesting, is an episode sometime in the future from the perspective of someone stored in a transporter pattern buffer, because everything around you could change in an instant, or the blink of a transporter beam, each and every time you had to go back in.

Related:   'Strange New Worlds' episode 4 embraces submarine-style battles

The plot seems to have a few more holes in it than usual and the dialogue — in particular between Alora and Pike, towards the end — is not terribly convincing. As we mentioned earlier on, this the weakest episode so far, but as we also mentioned, if this is as weak as they get, then we're doing alright. It's nicely layered, nuanced and and interest is maintained throughout. It just feels like it trips over a couple of times with the basics. 

Finally, in other "Star Trek" news, the sixth season of "Discovery" has started principal photography in Toronto, as star Doug Jones comically tweeted this week. Will a strange anomaly threaten the entire galaxy? Billions could be killed. Will Starfleet unite as everyone must dig deep, face their own mortality and risk their lives for the greater good? Again??

Rating: 6 ½ /10

The first six episodes of "Strange New Worlds" is now available to watch on  Paramount Plus  as is the entire second season of " Star Trek: Picard ." Season 4 of "Star Trek: Discovery" is also available on the Paramount streaming service in the US and CTV Sci-Fi or Crave TV in Canada. Countries outside of North America can watch on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel.

Paramount has confirmed that its streaming platform will launch in the UK and Ireland on June 22, available both as a standalone service and as part of the Sky Cinema subscription for the UK cable provider. However, only the  first three episodes  of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" will be available on the streamer on that region’s launch date, as the show will continue on a weekly Wednesday release schedule through the conclusion of the 10-episode Season 1 run.

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Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

When Scott's application to the NASA astronaut training program was turned down, he was naturally upset...as any 6-year-old boy would be. He chose instead to write as much as he possibly could about science, technology and space exploration. He graduated from The University of Coventry and received his training on Fleet Street in London. He still hopes to be the first journalist in space.

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Truth about captain pike’s hair confirmed by star trek: strange new worlds’ jess bush.

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Strange New Worlds Season 2 Cast Guide — Every New & Returning Star Trek Character

Star trek: strange new worlds season 3 - everything we know, how billy baker is returning in all american season 6 (despite his season 5 death).

• Jess Bush confirms Anson Mount's hair as Captain Pike on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is all real.
• Fans fondly refer to Captain Pike's hair as "Pike's peak" and cosplayers try to replicate the iconic style.
• Behind-the-scenes, Jess Bush enjoys falling asleep and snoring on the sickbay beds on set.

The authenticity of Anson Mount's hair as Captain Christopher Pike on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is confirmed by his co-star, Jess Bush. Bush plays Nurse Christine Chapel on Strange New Worlds , which is closing in on the end of season 3's production in Toronto. The final two episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 will be directed by Andrew Coutts and Maja Vrvilo, who also directed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2's finale , "Hegemony".

On her Instagram Stories, Jess Bush (@onejessa) often plays a game with her followers called "Give me a topic I'll give you a fact" where she displays her wide range of trivia knowledge about myriad facts. One follower gave Jess the topic of Anson Mount's hair, and she confirmed that it's "ALL REAL BABY" . Check out Bush's post below:

Fans appreciatively dubbed Captain Pike's hair "Pike's peak" and many cosplayers have attempted to replicate Anson Mount's distinctive coif.

Jess Bush also gave a fact on the topic of "Toronto's Starfleet BG", and the Nurse Chapel actor admitted she loves "falling asleep and snoring on the sickbay beds". This is a fun behind-the-scenes tidbit of what it can be like filming on the sets of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . Check out Jess's post below:

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' cast of USS Enterprise legends grows in season 2, including the additions of Scotty and Lt. James T. Kirk.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Is Renewed For Season 4

Strange new worlds season 3 is expected to premiere in 2025 on paramount+.

Captain Pike's hair, Jess Bush's Nurse Chapel, and the rest of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' cast will return for season 4. Paramount+ confirmed that Strange New Worlds received an early season 4 renewal , guaranteeing more voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Strange New Worlds season 3 is highly anticipated by fans, and the series will soon take its place as the flagship live-action Star Trek show on Paramount+ after Star Trek: Discovery ends with season 5.

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 becoming its final season was also announced by Paramount+ alongside Strange New Worlds ' season 4 renewal.

What Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 will be about is top secret , although a cover story by Variety about the future of Star Trek revealed Jonathan Frakes is directing a "Hollywood noir" episode, and the USS Enterprise will have a new Science Lab set. Joining Frakes to helm episodes of Strange New World s season 3 are season 2 directors Dan Liu, Jordan Canning, Valerie Weiss, and Chris Fisher. No doubt, S tar Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 will keep taking the "big swings" the series is now known for, and there will be plenty of spotlight on Anson Mount's Captain Pike and Jess Bush's Nurse Chapel.

Source: Instagram

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is available to stream on Paramount+

• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)
• Anson Mount

Strange New Worlds Could Have The Answer To A Big Star Trek: Discovery Mystery

• Dr. Kovich in Star Trek: Discovery may be a Lanthanite like Commander Pelia in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
• Lanthanites, a new alien species in Star Trek, have extremely long lifespans and remained hidden on Earth for centuries.
• The connection between Pelia and Dr. Kovich's secretive nature suggests a deeper link between the two characters yet to be revealed.

The answer to a big Star Trek: Discovery mystery could be found in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . Star Trek: Discovery 's Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg) is an enigma that has yet to be unraveled. First appearing in Star Trek: Discovery season 3, Kovich boasts a significant amount of authority within the United Federation of Planets. Kovich questions the crew of the USS Discovery alongside Starfleet's Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) after Discovery's forward time jump to the 32nd century. Kovich knows quite a lot of classified information about the Star Trek timeline but reveals very little about himself, sparking speculation about who Kovich really is and just how much he knows.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 introduces Commander Pelia (Carol Kane), an instructor at Starfleet Academy who becomes the USS Enterprise's new Chief Engineer. A collector of antiquities, Pelia suffuses Engineering with a refreshing combination of whimsical joy and deep wisdom. Despite appearing human, Pelia's distinctive accent tips off Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) that Pelia is a Lanthanite, a Star Trek species notable for their extremely long lifespans. At first glance, Pelia and Kovich couldn't be more different, but the things that they have in common explain how Star Trek: Strange New Worlds might have the answer to Dr. Kovich's identity.

Kovich Is A Mystery Discovery Season 5 Must Solve

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is the perfect opportunity to answer the backlog of questions about the secretive, all-knowing Dr. Kovich.

Is Star Trek: Discoverys Dr. Kovich A Lanthanite Like Strange New Worlds Commander Pelia?

Dr. kovich seems like a man out of time.

There are signs that Star Trek: Discovery 's Dr. Kovich could be a long-lived Lanthanite like Commander Pelia from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . Kovich's wardrobe and dark-rimmed glasses are unusually modern for Star Trek . Kovich's knowledge about Star Trek 's Mirror Universe , which drifted from the Prime universe over 500 years ago, is suspiciously vast for a 32nd-century denizen. Kovich brings a genuine 21st-century legal pad to a meeting with Captain Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 6, "Whistlespeak", claiming a preference for real paper before casually tearing off a sheet without the kind of reverence one might expect from a collector of antiquities. That might be Kovich's own paper.

Pelia's antique collection, transported to the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", includes items that were Pelia's personal belongings throughout history.

Many Star Trek characters have a fondness for antiques and study history, but Dr. Kovich​​​​​​​ in Star Trek: Discovery has a relationship to history that's far more uncanny than that of someone who simply has a hobby. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' Commander Pelia also writes off her historical knowledge and multiple areas of study like someone who's hiding something. Pelia admitted to being a Lanthanite after Uhura picked out her accent, which Kovich lacks, but it's not hard to mask an accent, especially with millennia of practice trying to pass off as human. That practice may also make Kovich particularly qualified to keep the Federation's most classified secrets.

Everything Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Revealed About Lanthanites

Pelia represents star trek's newest long-lived aliens.

As a new Star Trek species, information about Lanthanites is limited to what's introduced in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , and specifically through Commander Pelia. Lanthanites may be recognized by their distinctive accent, but the key feature of the species is the extremely long lifespans that make Lanthanites functionally immortal. Because Lanthanites are physically indistinguishible from humans, a group of Lanthanites was able to live on Earth for millennia without being detected. Pelia claims to have lived at the same time as the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, which would place Pelia's earliest existence as far back as the 6th century BCE.

The Lanthanite presence on Earth predates all other instances of humans' first contact with aliens in Star Trek , including the crashed Vulcan survey ship in Star Trek: Enterprise season 2, episode 2, "Carbon Creek", and the time-displaced Ferengi in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4, episode 7, "Little Green Men".

Lanthanites first revealed themselves to humanity in the 22nd century. Pelia, in particular, trusted her secret Lanthanite identity to Amanda Grayson (Mia Kirshner) , the mother of Spock (Ethan Peck) and Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). Spock claims to have found Lanthanites fascinating, implying that Spock knew that Pelia was a Lanthanite, so it's entirely possible that Michael also knew Pelia's identity. Although Michael Burnham is from a time when humans were only first becoming aware of Lanthanites, Burnham might not be all that surprised to learn that Star Trek: Discovery 's Dr. Kovich is a Lanthanite, just like Pelia in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Cast Blu del Barrio, Oded Fehr, Anthony Rapp, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Wilson Cruz, Eve Harlow, Mary Wiseman, Callum Keith Rennie

Writers Alex Kurtzman

Where To Watch Paramount+

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Cast Bruce Horak, Celia Rose Gooding, Jess Bush, Melissa Navia, Ethan Peck, Babs Olusanmokun, Rebecca Romijn, Paul Wesley, Christina Chong, Anson Mount

Writers Bill Wolkoff, Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers

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Preview ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Episode 508 With New Images And Clip From “Labyrinths”

| May 13, 2024 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 41 comments so far

The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery continues on Thursday with the eighth episode, and we have details, new photos, and a clip WITH SPOILERS .

Episode 7: “Labyrinths”

The eighth episode of the season, “Labyrinths,” was written by Lauren Wilkinson & Eric J. Robbins and directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour. The episode debuts on Paramount+ on Thursday, May 16.

When Captain Burnham is trapped within a “mindscape” designed to test her worthiness to retrieve the Progenitor’s powerful technology, Book, Rayner, and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery must hold off the Breen long enough for her to escape.

Co-showrunner Michelle Paradise previously teased this episode saying, “Oh, just an incredible gorgeous location, incredible scope and a singular journey for Burnham.”

UPDATE: Efrosian!

The episode includes an Efrosian character, as confirmed in the comments below by co-writer Eric J. Robbins:

She is indeed Efrosian — I’m a big fan of STVI. I hope you all enjoy the episode, it’s a fun one. Our director Emmanuel knocked it out of the park!

Elena Juatco as Hy’Rell in Star Trek: Discovery, episode 8, season 5, streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Marni Grossman /Paramount+

NEW photos:

Tony Nappo as Primarch Ruhn (Michael Gibson/Paramount+)

Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham (Marni Grossman /Paramount+)

Dorian Grey as Lt. Arisar (Michael Gibson/Paramount+)

Episode trailer

CHECK BACK LATER.

You can see a clip from “Labyrinths” from the latest episode of The Ready Room below …

The fifth and final season of  Discovery debuted with two episodes on Thursday, April 4 exclusively on Paramount+  in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and Austria.  Discovery also premiered on April 4 on Paramount+ in Canada and will be broadcast on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada. The rest of the 10-episode final season will be available to stream weekly on Thursdays. Season 5 debuted on SkyShowtime in select European countries on April 5.

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I guess Hy’Rell is a Efrosian.

Interesting. I was thinking Klingon.

Why not both? Maybe she’s half-Klingon, half-Efrosian…

Same.. I couldn’t tell if it was Klingon ridges or not. Wait… did I just racially profile a character over ridges and hair?

We definitely need to see 32nd century Klingons before the show is over. As much as I’l like a STIV deepcut, I hope she’s Klingon…

we will, some stunt guys leaked it before the season started said they’d be playing Klingon and Breen soldiers

She is indeed Efrosian — I’m a big fan of STVI.

I hope you all enjoy the episode, it’s a fun one. Our director Emmanuel knocked it out of the park!

That’s cool!

Woohoo!! I’m excited for this episode. Awesome to see an Efrosian again after all of this time!

My money is on Klingon…… Change the Hy to L and you have L’Rell.

Should be Klingon.

Er, a Discovery writer just told us here that she’s Efrosian.

Cool that one of the writers replied and let us know.

Brave soul to post on a trek site though. We can be a rowdy bunch at times.

I always loved the Efrosian in Voyage Home. “Here it comes now-”

Great voice on the actor, Nick Ramus, who I’m just learning was a member of the Blackfoot tribe.

Wow, I always thought he was an *Asian* Indian.

Same here, though with all the makeup it was hard to tell.

Looks like Ramus was in quite a few westerns. He passed away in 2007, age 77.

“…singular journey for Michael” this whole show has been only about Michael.

the only parts of this season i’ve enjoyed are Moll / L’ak and the Breen

“ this whole show has been only about Michael”

Just because you don’t like an African-American woman in the lead role doesn’t make this true.

Saru for example has had a major character arc over the course of the series. If you don’t see that, you can’t be helped. Also Culber/Stamets have gone through major, even soap opera level of stories with their relationship.

You could criticize the series for being too much about the characters. But the series being about the main character is a silly criticism. Or can I see your criticism about Kirk doing everything in TOS? Would like to see a link to that.

And before you come with the trite “but we don’t know nothing about the bridge crew!11!”: Tell me the names and character arcs of the people working in Ops of Deep Space Nine. I’ll wait (actually I won’t, I have better things to do).

If you don’t like a black woman lead, just say so.

This comment right here is why it is so difficult to get people to take actual issues around racism and misogyny serious.

Jan, your comment is completely unwarranted. Nothing in Sean’s comment suggested a racial component to his critique. I dislike the entire series as a matter of fact. Not because of the genders, racial origins or personal lives of the characters depicted or the cast – I just don’t like it Especially compared with Strange New worlds. An apology is in order.

Where did you get a racial dislike from what he said? All he said was “this whole show has been only about Michael” which is accurate (also the way the show was designed from Day 1, but I don’t see where he’s disputing that). So not sure where this criticism is coming from. I’ve been very critical of the character, but it has nothing to do with her race… I don’t think she has been written very well. My dislike of how they’ve written her has nothing to do with who is playing her. Sonequa is a wonderful actress and has elevated the writing because of it. The fact is, she and the character deserve better than they’ve gotten. Knock on wood, so far this season she has been written much better, where her character is concerned. None of that has anything to do with her race. But I have to defend Sean here, because I just don’t see where you get that from anything he said, and it’s unfair of you to project that on to anyone without knowing.

Wow, I just realized something beautiful. All the five clues are hidden within the worlds of all five classic legacy shows.

Fred, the Soong-type android = TNG Trill = DS9 ISS Enterprise = TOS Denobulan weather station = ENT Badlands = VOY

Well spotted!

Whoah, I really like this. Nice catch! That’s awesome!

Awesome observation Garth!

Excellent catch!!

I wonder if Hy’Rell is even a real person. The uniform looks very 23rd/24th century. Maybe it’s a projection of what Burnham expects to see.

Re: a closed thread below:

There’s a solid case to be made that Discovery has focused primarily on one character more than any Trek show before it.

Sure, the other shows sometimes gave the captain more attention than other characters (although I’d argue that Spock, Data, Worf, Kira, the Doctor, Seven and T’Pol often had the spotlight), but Discovery has been The Michael Burnham Show from the get-go, by design.

Nope. Solid character arcs for Saru, Stamets, Culber, even Book and Adira… Michael is the lead character but not to an extend any of the other characters get sidelined…

I think that’s true of any show centered around one central character. With TOS, there was the Troika of Kirk, Spock, Bones, all others were support with some occasional focus on them. Disco is no different, it’s just much more focused on one person, rather than a triumvirate.

I think the issue is the low episode count per season and length of time between seasons, combined with Discovery’s identity crisis and needing to reinvent itself every season, that prevents any meaningful connections to any of the supporting characters. The show was designed to be about Burnham’s journey, even if they seemed to be in a rush to shorten that journey by making her captain as fast as possible in my opinion.

The Berman era shows had more episodes to include the supporting cast than the new era of Trek does and there wasn’t that long of a wait between seasons to forget about what happened before.

You’re contradicting yourself. All of the other live action shows had as their primary focus the person in command as well. No exceptions. Yet Discovery sets off some people. Gee, what is the obvious difference between Discovery and all other live action Trek…..

Please don’t try to continue a contentious topic that we closed for a reason.

Dorian Grey chose a good role. No way he sees the portrait through that helmet.

Ha! But that was Gray. :-)

He’s good, he won’t see it burn either.

The production is amazing. That efrosion looks terrific. Wow! The make up artists and the costume designers are fantastic and deserve awards.

Perhaps it is just me, but I was thinking — not for the first time in modern Trek — that the latex on the Efrosian looks very latex-y, not like natural skin. I had the same reaction to Sneed in Picard and sometimes to Saru, especially this season.

An Efrosian, cool. Shout out to Mel Efros, the namesake and creator of the design.

The 10 Best 'Doctor Who' Episodes, Ranked According to IMDB

The best episodes from the iconic British sci-fi series.

The popular British sci-fi series, Doctor Who is about to enter a new era, with former showrunner Russel T Davies and fan-favorite actor Ncuti Gatwa taking the reins of the coveted BBC role. Doctor Who first aired in 1963, and has had a long life at the BBC. It reached new heights of popularity in the 2000s and early 2010s and became known for its thrilling sci-fi plots and strong character writing.

The show keeps its fans happy with its adventure-filled sci-fi storylines, charming and delightful characters, and decades of lore. There are 60 years worth of Doctor Who episodes, but all the highest-rated ones come from after the show's revival in 2005 . From fascinating one-off episodes to multiple-episode story arcs, the best Doctor Who episodes have captivated fans all over the world.

*Availability in US

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10 "Journey's End" (Season 4, Episode 13)

Imdb score: 9.2/10.

While it wasn't the last episode of David Tennant 's run as the Tenth Doctor, "Journey's End" served as the climax to the storylines Davies had been building throughout the Tenth Doctor era. The episode features the Doctor teaming up with all of his companions from his previous seasons in order to stop the Daleks from destroying the universe, including Rose Tyler ( Billie Piper ), Captain Jack Harness ( John Barrowman ), Mickey Smith ( Noel Clarke ), and more.

Fans lauded the Series 4 finale, appreciating how it was able to bring past characters into the fold while keeping the story focused on the Doctor and his current companion , Donna Noble ( Catherine Tate ), who is incidentally one of the characters who returned for the 60th-anniversary specials .

9 "The Family of Blood" (Season 3, Episode 9)

Adapted from a 1995 Doctor Who tie-in novel by Paul Cornell , "The Family of Blood" concludes a story that began in the previous episode, "Human Nature," in which the Doctor alters his biology and becomes human in order to escape a family of gaseous hunters bent on stealing his life-force. In doing so, the Doctor loses his memories and becomes a teacher by the name of John Smith

The two-parter was acclaimed for its unique twist on the Doctor Who formula and Tennant's skillful performance . The episode also thrilled viewers as the Doctor had to choose between returning to his life as a Time Lord or staying human to defeat the alien hunters. The episode made a mark on fans of the show as it further humanized the Doctor, urging him to make a monumental choice in a hard dilemma.

8 "Doomsday" (Season 2, Episode 13)

The finale of Series 2, "Doomsday" is often referred to as the most heartbreaking episode of Doctor Who . This episode is the second half of a two-part arc started in "Army of Ghosts," which began with the "ghosts" of people's loved ones appearing across the Earth and led to a conflict between the Daleks and the Cybermen.

The episode expertly wrapped up many plot points from Series 2 but is best known as the final episode in which the Doctor's companion Rose Tyler appeared in a leading role . Her tragic departure from the show was widely praised by fans as one of the strongest emotional gut-punches in Doctor Who history. Besides that, the episode was also praised by fans for its exciting action sequences and the battle between two of the Doctor's most memorable foes.

7 "The Girl in the Fireplace" (Season 2, Episode 4)

Doctor Who has delved into many different genres, from sci-fi to fantasy to horror, but "The Girl in the Fireplace" remains the show's best foray into the genre of romance. The episode finds the Doctor on a 51st-century spaceship that is linked to 18th-century Versailles. As he uncovers the mystery behind a strange group of clockwork robots, the Doctor finds himself falling in love with notable French courtesan, Madame de Pompadour ( Sophia Myles ).

Many fans consider this episode to be the first true classic of the Tennant era, lauding its creative premise and tender character work . There's also the palpable tension and bond between the Doctor and Madame de Pompadour, which makes his failure to save the Madame all the more heartbreaking and tragic.

6 "Day of the Doctor" (Special)

Imdb score: 9.3/10.

This blockbuster celebration of the show's 50th anniversary was a love letter to all things Doctor Who . It united the two most popular Doctors of the modern era, Tennant and Matt Smith , and featured a number of other iterations of the iconic character, from a secret regeneration played by John Hurt to a cameo from classic era legend, Tom Baker.

Despite its intricate plot, the episode wasn't convoluted and in fact laid out the show's mythology and history with care , making it an entertaining watch even for those who are new to the fandom. The episode, which features multiple Doctors teaming up to rewrite the tragic history of their home planet, was screened in theaters worldwide and quickly gained its status as the best crossover episode in the show's history.

5 "Vincent and the Doctor" (Season 5, Episode 10)

The most popular historical episode of the series and a highlight of Smith's run as the Eleventh Doctor, "Vincent and the Doctor" sees the Doctor and Amy ( Karen Gillan ) team up with Vincent Van Gogh in order to find a monster that is invisible to everyone besides the beloved artist. A highlight of the episode is when the Doctor and Amy bring Vincent into the modern world to show how much people appreciate his work.

"Vincent and the Doctor" was praised for the simplicity of its story and its deep exploration of Van Gogh as a person . The painter fits perfectly into the Doctor and Amy's dynamic in a way that few historical figures have. Tony Curran shines as the struggling artist and the heart-wrenching ending earns this episode its esteemed reputation.

4 "Silence in the Library" (Season 4, Episode 8)

The start of Doctor Who's most acclaimed two-part story, Silence in the Library is not only a great Tennant-era episode , it also sets into motion plot lines and character dynamics that would become instrumental to both Smith's and Peter Capaldi 's tenures as the Doctor. The episode introduced River Song, a mysterious foil to and eventual love interest of the Doctor who was a major recurring character in the show for years afterward.

The episode itself follows the Doctor and Donna arriving at a planet-sized library only to find it abandoned, with dangerous creatures lurking in the shadows . The episode cultivated an intriguing mystery and a foreboding atmosphere that immediately hooked fans and had them thrilled for the next episode.

3 "Forest of the Dead" (Season 4, Episode 9)

Imdb score: 9.4/10.

"Forest of the Dead" picks up where "Silence in the Library left off and increases the tension and emotion tenfold. The Doctor pushes Donna into a virtual world in order to protect her from the Vashta Nerada, which are strange creatures that can hide in shadows and sap the life of living beings. The episode dives deep into its lead characters, allowing for some impactful emotional scenes as the plot unfolds.

Like the previous episode, the tightness of its writing and the unraveling of the mystery surrounding the library was highly praised by audiences . It was also a very exciting episode for fans as it revealed River Song's ( Alex Kingston ) true identity. Fifteen years after it first aired, this episode remains one of the finest and most significant episodes of Doctor Who .

2 "Heaven Sent" (Season 9, Episode 11)

Imdb score: 9.6/10.

The sole entry from Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor to make this list, "Heaven Sent" is essentially a one-man play . The Doctor finds himself trapped in a strange prison and pursued by an unrelenting monster. The mystery of the true nature of his imprisonment is unveiled as the Doctor fights with all his might to escape, no matter how long it may take.

While praise for Capaldi's era as a whole was somewhat more muted than David Tennant's or Matt Smith's, this episode in particular was unanimously praised as one of the show's best . It features everything fans loved about the Twelfth Doctor. His dark reflective nature and his unwavering persistence are on full display here. Capaldi's magnetic performance captivated viewers throughout the episode's 55-minute runtime.

1 "Blink" (Season 3, Episode 10)

Imdb score: 9.8/10.

On paper, "Blink" doesn't seem like it would be a hit. This Series 3 episode was made on a tight schedule with a very low budget and had barely any screen time for the Doctor and Martha ( Freema Agyeman ), focusing instead on a never-before-seen character named Sally Sparrow ( Carey Mulligan ). It's a one-off episode that has no bearing on the arc of the show, but it quickly became a fan favorite thanks to the introduction of one of Doctor Who 's most horrific villains: the Weeping Angels.

The Steven Moffat -penned episode plays out like a short horror film, playing on the primal fear of something sneaking up on you when you turn your back . The Weeping Angels appear to be ordinary statues when you're looking at them, but as soon as you look away, they move in to attack. The terrifying concept enthralled viewers who were quick to call it the greatest Doctor Who episode of all time (and it is currently the highest-rated Doctor Who episode on IMDb). The Angels returned later in the series, appearing in beloved episodes from both Smith's and Jodie Whittaker 's eras. But their most frightening incarnation remained their appearance in "Blink."

NEXT: The Best Modern 'Doctor Who' Episodes, Ranked

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