Directed by the always reliable Jonathan Frakes (and written by Dana Horgan & Kathryn Lyn), it's no surprise that "A Space Adventure Hour" is packed full of references to all things Trek. The episode opens with a brilliant parody of Star Trek: The Original Series entitled The Last Frontier, complete with a hilariously accurate impression of William Shatner courtesy of Paul Wesley.
I would happily have watched an entire episode of this, but Strange New Worlds gets back to business as usual after the TOS-style credits for The Last Frontier. While the Enterprise is studying a collapsing neutron star, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) assigns La'an to test out the new holodeck technology, which results in a fun mystery adventure that quickly turns dangerous.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Delivers Its Most Fun Episode Yet In "A Space Adventure Hour"
“Social Commentary With Rubber Masks & Buried Metaphors. You Know, Science Fiction.”
“A Space Adventure Hour” spends much of its runtime in the holodeck, as La’an tries to push the new technology to its limits while Lt. Scotty (Martin Quinn) keeps the rest of the Enterprise’s systems up and running. La’an decides to create a holodeck murder mystery based on stories she used to read about a detective named Amelia Moon.
Just as Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) enjoyed stepping into the shoes of hardboiled detective Dixon Hill on Star Trek: The Next Generation's holodeck, La’an embraces her chance to solve an old-school murder. Compete with a noir-style voiceover, La’an introduces us to the mystery, which involves the cast of the fictional sci-fi series, The Last Frontier.
In order to create realistic characters, the holodeck has to use transporter patterns from the Enterprise crew. This means all of the show’s main cast members get to participate in the fun, giving them a chance to portray very different characters. As La’an cycles through different potential suspects and solutions, she recruits Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) for a different perspective.
Anson Mount is particularly great as the delightfully quirky writer of The Last Frontier, who intones: “I’m a writer, we’re never happy about anything.”
Before long, the holodeck’s safety protocols malfunction (because of course they do), so La’an and Spock have to worry about staying alive in addition to solving the murder. In the end, “A Space Adventure Hour” delivers a clever twist that harkens back to TNG’s “Elementary, Dear Data,” and La’an determines that holodeck technology isn’t quite ready for full-scale distribution just yet.
La'an Shines In Strange New Worlds' First Holodeck Episodes
Spock & Scotty Get Plenty To Do As Well
Since her introduction in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series premiere, La’an Noonien Singh has become one of the show’s most interesting original characters. Throughout the show's first two seasons, she confronted her connection to infamous tyrant Khan Noonien-Singh and her past with the Gorn, and has truly begun to blossom by season 3.
Before the holodeck begins malfunctioning, La’an is clearly having a blast as Amelia Moon, and it's great to see her have fun for a change. She has grown a lot as a character since her earliest appearances on the show, and “A Space Adventure Hour” is a wonderful illustration of how far she's come.
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, La’an and Spock embark on a romantic relationship at the episode’s end. While this was teased a bit in episode 2, I’m not completely sold on this particular pairing, as much as I want to see both La’an and Spock happy.
Scotty gets some great moments, too, as he insists on handling the issues that arise all on his own, until he eventually recruits Ensign Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) for help.
"A Space Adventure Hour" Is A Love Letter To All Things Star Trek
“You Don’t Think A Person Can Love A Piece Of Art Or Music Or A Story So Much That It Heals Them?”
“A Space Adventure Hour” contains too many Star Trek references to list them all, but fans of the various Trek series will find shout-outs scattered throughout the episode. The opening scene feels like an exaggerated TOS episode in the best way, complete with the characters throwing themselves to the floor when the ship is hit with weapons fire.
Throughout the holodeck simulation, numerous characters reference classic Star Trek lines and moments. When faced with another dead body, for example, Paul Wesley’s Maxwell Saint, star of The Last Frontier, asks Lee Woods (Melissa Navia) if the victim is indeed dead. Woods replies, “You know I’m an actor, not a doctor, right?,” in a reversal of Dr. McCoy’s classic TOS catchphrase.
Make sure you stick around at the episode’s end for some hilarious “bloopers” from The Last Frontier, including fake Kirk’s attempt at the Riker Maneuver.
“A Space Adventure Hour” is an incredibly fun hour of Star Trek made by people who clearly adore the franchise and all it stands for.
Star Trek: The Original Series may have been progressive for its time, but its female characters were not nearly as well developed as their male counterparts. Still, “A Space Adventure Hour” focuses on Star Trek’s ability to spread hope and to give “generations of fans a place to feel seen.” Uhura’s speech is one of the highlights of the episode, as she perfectly explains what it’s like to be a fan of something.
While “A Space Adventure Hour” could’ve gone deeper with its character exploration, it’s an incredibly fun hour of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds made by people who clearly adore the franchise and all it stands for.
