Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has explored a wide range of genres through its first three seasons, but the upcoming fourth season may be the boldest experimentation yet.
During the Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, Paramount+ gave fans a sneak peek at one of the upcoming episodes in Strange New Worlds Season 4, and I don't think anyone was prepared for what was unveiled; a puppet-themed episode in which the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise will be transformed into puppets created by the iconic Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
The puppet-themed episode is directed by Jordan Canning, who previously helmed Season 2’s “Charades” and Season 3’s “Wedding Bell Blues” and “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans.” Her experience with puppetry comes from directing episodes of Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, the musical fantasy reboot of Jim Henson’s classic 1983 series.
A very brief video teaser of the episode was shared, revealing a puppet version of Captain Pike on the bridge of the Enterprise as he says his iconic warp speed catch phrase "hit it."
If Paramount+ didn't share the trailer online, I don't think anyone would believe it, but here we are.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has fully embraced genre-hopping, with each episode offering its own style and tone. And for the most part it has worked out as Strange New Worlds is considered to be one of the best modern Star Trek series.
But sometimes this bold approach to storytelling is met with push back by fans. Season 2's musical episode "Subspace Rhapsody" is a prime example of an episode that was praised by critics for its ambitious and creative storytelling, but some fans felt the musical format didn't fit the tone of Star Trek. Love it or not, it’s undeniably one of the most memorable episodes of the series, although the upcoming puppet episode might just give it some competition for that title.
We do have sometime before Season 4 though. Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds only just premiered this month.
The first two episodes of the season debuted on Paramount+ on July 17th. Fans at the Hall H presentation were treated to a special advance screening of the series' upcoming fourth episode, "A Space Adventure Hour," which incorporates a murder mystery theme.
"When La’An (Chong) tests a prototype holodeck with a fictional case only she can solve, the consequences of failure get greater and greater, with the Enterprise hanging in the balance," the episode synopsis teases.
In celebration of all the exciting news coming out of Comic-Con, Paramount will be making “A Space Adventure Hour" available to stream for free starting Thursday, July 31 through Wednesday, August 6 on Pluto TV, Amazon, Apple, Roku, and the Paramount+ YouTube channel.
Season 3 will continue with new episodes dropping weekly Thursday's through the season finale on Thursday, September 11th. Production on Season 4 has already wrapped, while Paramount+ also just recently announced that the series has been renewed for a fifth and final season.