The Star Trek DS9 And TOS Episodes That Influenced Strange New Worlds' Darkest Episode

In the "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" episode "Under the Cloak of War" (July 27, 2023), a Klingon ambassador named Dak'Rah (Robert Wisdom) comes to visit the U.S.S. Enterprise on a diplomatic mission. "Strange New Worlds" takes place immediately after the Klingon War, and several of the ship's crew remember the conflict vividly, expressing prejudice and consternation to see a Klingon on board. Captain Pike (Anson Mount) reminds his officers to keep an open mind, but Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) cannot. 

Through flashbacks, audiences learn the horrible wartime conditions that both Dr. M'Benga and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) served under, and they were bleak. There weren't enough medical supplies to go around, and Dr. M'Benga had taken to storing injured soldiers inside a transporter pattern buffer, hoping to rematerialize them when more could be done. He also secretly develops a rare and dangerous steroid called Protocol 12 which temporarily increases strength and stamina but also robs one of their ability to discern right from wrong. The drug turns people into berzerk killing machines. 

Dak'Rah was present at the same battle Dr. M'Benga barely survived, and the doctor resents the Klingon's attempts at diplomatic contrition, knowing of the blood on his hands. Later, it will be revealed that Dr. M'Benga has an even darker secret and that more violence happened during the war than he initially communicated. War, the episode argues, will break everyone and everything. 

This is in keeping with Trek's usual attitudes toward war, often depicted as humanity's ultimate failing. 

In a new interview with TrekMovie, "Cloak" director Jeff Byrd pointed to other bleak, war-themed episodes of "Star Trek" as precedent, showing that the franchise has a dim view of armed conflict and that anytime it happens, morals decay. 

The TrekMovie interviewer was astute enough to recognize the two episodes in question. The first was the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "The Siege of AR-558" (November 16, 1998), and the other was the original series episode "A Private Little War" (February 2, 1968). 

"A Private Little War," often referred to by Trekkies as "the Vietnam War episode" featured a peaceful, primitive planet that inexplicably started fighting each other with flintlock rifles, a technology centuries beyond their capabilities. Kirk (William Shatner) finds that the locals have been given the weapons by a Klingon named Krell (Ned Romero), a cruel interloper who wants to perpetuate a primitive Civil War for his own nefarious purposes. Kirk faces a moral dilemma. He can provide more weapons to the losing side of the Civil War, giving them a better chance for survival, but forcing him to actively perpetuate the conflict. Or he can step out and let one side be killed. 

Byrd summed it up, saying: 

"Yes, the one where they are selling the weapons and keep upgrading. So a lot of those were brought into this script-wise and then realized by me on set visually." 

"The Siege of AR-558," meanwhile, is an out-and-out combat episode of "Deep Space Nine." At that point in the series, the Federation had been at war with the Dominion for over a year, and capturing communications relays was key to winning. Sisko (Avery Brooks) managed to fend off an attacking Dominion force, but lost many Federation officers in the process. The episode if violent and bleak. Everyone is injured and horrified. War is Hell. Davy Perez, the writer of "Under the Cloak of War," knew both "Private" and "Siege" when he penned the episode.

"The Siege of AR-558" also features a scene wherein Ensign Nog (Aron Eisenberg) has his foot blown off. Medicine in "Star Trek" is advanced enough to easily grown him a new one, but Nog still has to face horrible trauma. Byrd also noted other war movies outside of "Star Trek" that influenced the battle scenes in "Under the Cloak of War." 

"Obviously, there are comparisons in here to 'Apocalypse Now' and there is a little 'Hamburger Hill' in there, and even some 'Born on the Fourth of July.' We discussed, on set, a lot of little Easter eggs [you would see] if you're looking really closely at certain little moments. We wanted to make sure that we got some iconic moments and framing and different things of these iconic war films so that it feels familiar but it's in a different time.

It's notable that the three films Byrd cited are all about the Vietnam War, the infamously messy quagmire that killed about 3.8 million people and achieved very little. That war was surrounded by lies and deceit, and the American soldiers knew it. Vietnam was proof that the United States war machine was an ignoble enterprise that cost billions and murdered the poor. It's no coincidence that the notoriously pacifistic "Star Trek" was created in the shadow of Vietnam. In a very real, living sense, "Star Trek" exists as a direct refutation of combat-forward thinking. Gene Roddenberry looked at the horrors of war and envisioned a future when it would be futile. 

Very occasionally, "Star Trek" has to depict war, however, to remind audiences of how horrible it is.