In the "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" episode "A Space Adventure Hour," Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) is asked to test out a brand-new technology on the U.S.S. Enterprise: a holodeck. As Trekkies can tell you, the holodeck is a dedicated room that can create artificial, fully interactive environments, complete with sophisticated NPCs, using holographic emitters, replicator tech, and carefully calibrated force fields. The technology was first introduced, in rudimentary form, in an episode of
"Star Trek: The Animated Series" in 1974, although the concept wouldn't be codified until the first episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in 1987. That was when the term "holodeck" was first used.
The holodeck became the source of many, many "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episodes thereafter. Many of the holodeck concepts were created by the late Trek writer Tracy Tormé. Because it could create simulated environments, the show could have a lot more visual variety; it gets boring looking at the same eight starship sets week after week. Now characters could playact as 1930s film noir detectives, James Bond-like spies, or 1950s sci-fi heroes. They could go river-rafting or, in Worf's case, fight villains from a "He-Man" cartoon. The holodeck made the entire "Star Trek" franchise more pliable.
"A Space Adventure Hour" finally allows "Strange New Worlds," already a visually varied show, to have one more outlet for its genre explorations. Of course, "Strange New Worlds" takes place before the original "Star Trek" series and a century before "Next Generation," so some readers may already be crying foul. Know that "Strange New Worlds" covers for this by explaining that holodeck technology is still in its design phase, and that it, in its current form, requires more power than a starship typically generates. Holodecks don't work yet, explaining why it they wouldn't be standard issue on a starship for another century.
Of course, if there's a holodeck episode of "Strange New Worlds," it's going to have to be an homage to "Next Generation" and Tracy Tormé.
Read more: 5 Star Trek Characters Who Disappeared Without Any Reason
Strange New Worlds Pays Tribute To Tracy Tormé And Other Holodeck Episodes
As mentioned, "A Space Adventure Hours" sees Lieutenant Noonien-Singh testing the holodeck, just to explore its capabilities and limitations. She asks that Scotty (Martin Quinn) program the holodeck to recreate one of her favorite detective novels, a book set in the 1960s. Her 1960s detective story involves, in a bizarre meta-narrative twist, the machinations and creators of a very "Star Trek"-like TV series called "The Last Frontier." Scotty doesn't know how to create random NPCs yet, so he uses the likenesses of the Enterprise crew to serve as La'an's co-stars. As such, she's interacting with holograms that look just like her co-workers, but with altered hairdos, costumes, and personalities.
The fact that La'an is recreating a detective story will instantly remind Trekkies of Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his favorite holodeck programs on "Next Generation." Picard was very fond of a 1930s detective named Dixon Hill, based on a (fictional) series of books he read in his youth. Picard got to wear a fedora and a trench coat, use a tommy gun, and yell out lines like "Da doll is wit' me!" Dixon Hill first appeared in the Tormé-scripted episode "The Big Goodbye" (January 11, 1988), and some of Picard's own co-workers got to dress in era-appropriate costumes. Dixon Hill even turned up in the 1996 feature film "Star Trek: First Contact," albeit only briefly.
In both "A Space Adventure Hour" and "The Big Goodbye," a tech error causes the characters to become trapped on the holodeck, forcing them to play out the fictional drama in order to escape. On the inside, a murder is afoot. Back on the Enterprise, there is a massive engine failure (or some other technical problem).
Star Trek Has A Long History Of Detective Stories In The Holodeck
Detectives are common holodeck fantasies, as one was also seen in the episode "Elementary, Dear Data" (December 5, 1988). In that episode, Data (Brent Spiner) became enamored of the Sherlock Holmes stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and play-acted Holmes mysteries with Geordi (LeVar Burton) serving the role of Dr. Watson. As with all holodeck episodes, though, a crisis arose. It seems that Geordi accidentally creates a self-aware hologram of Dr. Moriarty (Daniel Davis) to face off against Data. "A Space Adventure Hour" is certainly evoking that.
But then, it's also just the latest in a long line of whimsical "Star Trek" stories centered on the holodeck. The new "Strange New Worlds" episode also evokes "Our Man Bashir" (November 22, 1995), an episode of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" in which Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) play-acts as a James Bond-like spy, something he wants to share with his would-be boyfriend Garak (Andrew Robinson). Thanks to a transporter glitch, though, his fellow co-workers on DS9 are shunted into the holodeck computer core, storing their consciousnesses. They begin appearing in Bashir's 007 adventure, and he has to play along, lest they get deleted.
Which, of course, also plays into "A Space Adventure Hour," as this episode also links the holodeck to the transporter systems to create realistic avatars of the ship's senior staff. Although the holodecks are a fantastical technology, a lot of the tech remains weirdly consistent throughout the franchise. (Well, as consistent as a hyperrealistic video game can be.)
They may be silly, those holodeck episodes, but they provide fun asides to the ordinarily staid life of a Starfleet officer, and, as mentioned, the visual variety they bring to a "Star Trek" show is vital to keeping the shows feeling fresh.
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