Strange New Worlds Finally Answered A Huge Star Trek Question After 52 Years

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds just answered a major mystery that had gone unanswered since Star Trek: The Animated Series. The holodeck has been a major part of the Star Trek franchise since Star Trek: The Next Generation, but the technology was actually introduced in an episode of TAS as the recreation room. Strange New Worlds finally fills in the gap between these two appearances.

Directed by Jonathan Frakes with a script written by Dana Horgan and Kathryn Lyn, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 4, "A Space Adventure Hour," delivers a classic holodeck episode centered on a 1960s murder mystery. The episode tells a fun story filled with references to past Trek, but it also answers some questions about holodeck technology in the 23rd century.

When Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) assigns Lt. La'an Noonien Singh (Christina Chong) to test out the new holodeck (or recreation room), she channels her inner detective. What follows is a fun murder mystery that offers insight into La'an as a character, while also giving the Strange New Worlds cast members the chance to play someone different.

Strange New Worlds Finally Answered Star Trek’s Enterprise Holodeck Question 52 Years After The Animated Series

La'an Embarks On A Holodeck Adventure That Quickly Turns Dangerous

In Star Trek: The Animated Series season 2, episode 3, "The Practical Joker," the Starship Enterprise computer plays practical jokes on Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew. Several of the crew members hide out in the ship's recreation room, which is essentially a holodeck in everything but name.

The appearance of a holodeck in TAS raises the question of why the technology did not appear in the Star Trek movies, but Strange New Worlds season 3 provides an answer. In "A Space Adventure Hour," a holodeck is installed on Captain Pike's Enterprise, and La'an tests the technology by asking the computer to create a mystery that she will find challenging.

Meanwhile, Lt. Scotty (Martin Quinn) keeps the rest of the Enterprise's systems running, as the holodeck draws massive amounts of power. Before long, the holodeck malfunctions, disabling the safety protocols and communications, and preventing La'an from exiting the program. After successfully solving the mystery, La'an and Scotty report that: "While holodeck technology certainly holds promise, the risks outweigh the potential benefits."

Why Kirk’s Enterprise Had No Holodeck In The Star Trek Movies

Holodeck Technology Wasn't Reliable In The 23rd Century

Not only did the holodeck endanger La'an's life, but the power it took from the rest of the Enterprise's systems nearly resulted in the ship's destruction. In light of this, Captain Pike has no interest in keeping the technology on his ship. Based on the appearance of the recreation room in Star Trek: The Original Series, Captain Kirk apparently had the technology added to his ship sometime after he took command.

While the holodeck seen in TAS may not have drained as much power from the Enterprise, it still malfunctioned and endangered several of the ship's crewmembers. Either continued malfunctions led to the holodeck being removed from Kirk's Enterprise, or Starfleet engineers had another reason for not including a holodeck when the Enterprise was remodled in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

By the time of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the holodeck had become standard on Galaxy-class ships, but the Enterprise-D crew still suffered their fair share of holodeck malfunctions. Clearly, the technology still had its problems, but the holodeck allowed the writers of TNG to tell more genre stories without having the crew visit so many planets with surprising parallels to Earth's past.

Captain Pike Removing Enterprise’s Holodeck Calls Back To Star Trek: Discovery

Pike Prefers A More Old-School Approach To Technology

At the end of "A Space Adventure Hour," La'an and Scotty inform Captain Pike about the various problems with holodeck technology. Considering the malfunctioning holodeck almost led to the destruction of the Enterprise, Pike suggests locking the technology "in a box deep underground somewhere." When Scotty proposes a potential solution to the power drain problem, Pike says to add it as a footnote, "in small print."

Captain Pike has no interest in holodeck technology and wants it removed from his ship, just as he did in Star Trek: Discovery season 2. The Enterprise had been outfitted with holographic communications technology, which Captain Pike ordered be removed after it began wreaking havoc on the ship's systems.

Captain Pike was never a fan of the holographic technology anyway, and his opinion clearly hasn't changed by the time of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3. The problems with holographic tech also help explain why many Starfleet vessels continued to rely on viewscreens and other seemingly less advanced technology even into the 24th century