Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4's Soap Opera Episode Is A Secret Remake Of A TNG Classic

This article contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Season 4 Episode 7 "Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass."

At this point, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is less about seeking new life and new civilizations and more about throwing the crew of the Enterprise into different genres. The latest "Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass," features cosmic entity Trelane (Rhys Darby) turning the Enterprise into a soap opera set.

Unlike some other out-there episodes (like Season 1's "The Elysian Kingdom," where the Enterprise became a fairy tale out of a storybook), the ship and characters are still recognizable as themselves... mostly. The show's visual presentation changes to mimic a classic soap opera look, such as a foggy filter over the camera and a boxier aspect ratio. The camera often zooms in for emphasis, the actors' line deliveries become stilted and littered with dramatic pauses, and there are many melodramatic music cues. 

Trelane's story has the absurd plot twists of a real soap opera, too: terminal illnesses and comas, evil twins (specifically Spock's half-brother Sybok, played by Ethan Peck for the gag), and long-lost parents. The only one immune is Captain Pike (Anson Mount), who nonetheless has to play along to Uhura's (Celia Rose Gooding) new belief that she's his long-lost daughter.

Back during Trelane's first appearance on "Strange New Worlds" — Season 3's "Wedding Bell Blues" — the show finally confirmed a long-standing fan theory: that Trelane is a member of the Q Continuum. John de Lancie even cameoed as Trelane's father, implying Trelane is the son of the Q who always messed with the Enterprise-D. Trelane's Enterprise-set soap opera isn't far off from one of the tricks his dad will pull 100 years later on Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), specifically in the swashbuckling send-up episode "Qpid."

In "Qpid," Picard's old flame Vash (Jennifer Hetrick) visits the Enterprise. But Vash finds that, Picard being Picard, he never told any of his crew about her, leaving her feeling spurned. At the same time, Q stops by the Enterprise. In his previous appearance, "Deja Q," Q had lost his omnipotence and regained it thanks to the Enterprise crew, so he wants to return the favor.

So he transports the Enterprise bridge crew into a Robin Hood story. Picard is Robin, his bridge officers are the Merry Men, Vash is Maid Marian, and Q is the Sheriff of Nottingham. Picard/Robin must rescue Vash/Marian by the next day or she faces execution, thus giving Picard the chance to show Vash that he cares. (You might notice the episode title "Qpid" is a pun on another mythic archer, one whose arrows inspire infatuation.)

"QPid" is one of the most intentionally goofy "Next Generation" episodes; it has to be to stick the main cast in costumes worthy of Errol Flynn. The gimmick of the episode, that our main characters are trapped in a scenario playing other personas, is one that "Strange New Worlds" has aped.

For instance, "Strange New Worlds" Season 3 episode "A Space Adventure Hour" featured a prototype holodeck turning the Enterprise into the cast of a 1960s Hollywood-set murder mystery. "A Space Adventure Hour" was a companion piece to "Next Generation" episode "The Big Goodbye" the same way that "Chronitons" is to "Qpid." While the soap setting is a ways off from Robin Hood, Trelane also helps Pike achieve some catharsis over his lost love Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) like how Q reconnected Picard and Vash.

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is streaming on Paramount+.