Star Trek is about to boldly go where the franchise has never gone before, with an episode that franchise producer Alex Kurtzman claims “is more work than any episode that we have done.” It will bring Star Trek into a format that it’s never tried, which is saying something. Since Star Trek: The Original Series started airing in 1966, the franchise has tried (almost) every kind of special or “event” episode that you can do on TV.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 will premiere this summer on Paramount+, and early during production on the new season, fans got teased with an image that immediately got the chat threads buzzing. That was an image of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) as a Muppet-style puppet, and now we’re getting first details on how Strange New Worlds Season 4 will explain this wild Star Trek first.
Star Trek’s First Puppet Episode Was A Major Undertaking
As stated, Alex Kurtzman has creatively overseen a variety of Star Trek episodes since launching the Star Trek streaming universe in the early 2020s. However, according to Kurtzman, the puppet episode of Strange New Worlds was the hardest one they’ve ever done. “It’s more work than the animated one. It’s more work than the musical. It’s more work than a giant VFX episode. It’s a lot of prep. It’s a lot of work on the day. It’s a lot of post.”
The storyline of the puppet episode is being kept under wraps, but there are some early details that Strange New Worlds showrunners Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman were willing to share. Apparently, Pike will suffer “an unexpected and terrible transporter accident,” which leaves him looking like a puppet – no word on how many characters could get similar treatment during the episode. What is known is that, behind the scenes, the puppet work was done by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, with Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock director Jordan Canning helming the episode. And, according to Goldsman, the Jim Henson group was more than enthused about getting to leave their mark on the Star Trek franchise.
“If you go to work on Star Trek, the odds are it’s one of your favorite things,” Goldsman says. “You don’t stumble into Star Trek. You race to Star Trek. That’s been so true for so many folks that we’ve gotten a chance to work with, and boy, was it true for the folks who were the puppeteers. It was moving and profound.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 will premiere on July 23rd. The puppet episode will air on August 20th. Discuss the future of Star Trek with us on the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of Ufotable -
Image Courtesy of DC Comics -
Image Courtesy of Prime Video
