Star Trek: Strange New Worlds just revealed the Enterprise’s greatest threat. For 60 years, the various Star Trek crews have “boldly gone” where no-one has gone before. They’ve waged war against Klingons, survived the meddling of Q and other godlike beings, and even saved the whales. The Enterprise has been destroyed so many times, although occasionally that’s been rewritten thanks to time travel. But, oddly, the latest episode of Strange New Worlds subtly reveals the Enterprise’s greatest threat.
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In “Off-Hour,” the Enterprise crosses paths with a “slipstream wormhole,” which is compared to a giant vacuum cleaner sucking everything from warp-space into itself. That includes the Enterprise, which only escapes thanks to Scotty’s earning his reputation as a miracle worker. But this secretly confirms the Enterprise’s real enemy, one it is fighting every second of the day.
Space Isn’t Just the Final Frontier
Star Trek has always treated space as the final frontier. Like any frontier, it’s dangerous – but not just because of alien races and near-omnipotent beings. No, space is dangerous because human beings were never meant to exist in that environment. Star Trek often compares starships to the sailing vessels of the past, where crews lived in confined spaces for months at a time. But they’re far worse; at least on a boat, you can safely go out on deck.
Making matters worse, as “Off-Hour” makes clear, a starship is only sustainable because of an incredible amount of technology – almost all of which is essential. In Strange New Worlds, there’s basically a cascade effect worthy of any Final Destination film. One piece of tech after another breaks down, and poor Scotty has to desperately navigate around it, figuring out a way to save the ship. Little wonder engineers become known as miracle workers, because Scotty’s ingenuity and creativity are what save the day.
As “Off-Hour” reminds us, space is full of unexplained phenomena – many of which are almost undetectable. Looking back, it’s worth remembering just how many disasters (and phenomenal stories) have happened because ships like the Enterprise discovered an unknown phenomena, and decided to experiment with it. As we saw in episodes like “Subspace Rhapsody,” simply firing the wrong probe has the potential to end the universe. The stakes are insane, and the greatest threat is the environment itself.
All this means starships like the USS Enterprise face their greatest threat every single minute of the day – a threat they are literally designed to overcome. Engineers don’t just patch them up when they go wrong; they’re responsible for maintaining them, ensuring the ships don’t become exhausted and fail simply because they’ve been waging war against space itself for far too long. Engineers are basically field medics, treating patients on the front lines even while they’re still taking enemy fire. Strange New Worlds really has reminded us all just how impressive they really are.
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A Still From Masters Of The Universe (1987)
