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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 6 – Easter Eggs and References

"Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" is a dark Strange New Worlds morality tale that leaves no stone unturned for bigger references to the rest of Star Trek.

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This Star Trek: Strange New Worlds article contains spoilers.

Although The Next Generation isn’t overtly referenced in the sixth episode of Strange New Worlds , the feeling of TNG is keenly felt in this outing for Pike and the crew. In the episode “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach,” the Enterprise encounters a culture that seems perfect, which of course, means there’s some terrible dark secret.

If you rewatch the episode, you’ll realize the writing is on the wall pretty early on, we’re just too charmed by Alora and the First Servant to see it at first. But as this sad mystery unfolds, along the way, Strange New Worlds tips its hat more than once to various Star Trek stories of the past. Here are all the easter eggs and references we caught in “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach.”

“Last Here Ten Years Ago” 

Pike’s log entry mentions that he was last in this star cluster 10 years ago. This would put the incident in which he rescued Alora from a pulsar in the year 2249. According to Pike’s service record, briefly glimpsed in the Discovery episode “Brother,” Pike became captain of the Enterprise in 2250, a year later. 

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Lt. Pike  

Alora refers to Pike by the rank he held when she first met him. If it was 2249, this would mean that “Lt. Pike” was Captain Robert April’s first officer. Something interesting to note here is that Pike introduces Una as “Lieutenant Commander Una Chin-Riley.” Although most people call her “Number One,” it’s possible that some might call her “Lt. Chin-Riley,” making it sound like her rank is a little lower than it actually is. So, in 2249, was Pike “Lieutenant Commander Pike” or just “Lieutenant Pike?” In The Original Series , Spock was the first officer of the USS Enterprise , and, like Una in Strange New Worlds , also held the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

Pike’s Uniform 

Questions about Pike’s rank and position get even deeper! Alora mentions that Pike’s uniform is “very yellow,” and he corrects her by saying it’s “gold.” This is a small easter egg that references two things. First, the actual color of Kirk’s uniform in The Original Series was closer to green, but in the first season, it didn’t show up that way on camera. Second, in the Deep Space Nine episode “Trials and Tribble-ations,” Sisko mentions that in the 23rd century “command wore gold.” 

Interestingly, Alora’s comments that Pike is wearing “yellow” could either mean that in 2249 Pike was wearing a different division color — implying he was wearing operations red or something — OR that in 2249, most of the crew of April’s Enterprise was rocking the all-blue Discovery – era uniform. We haven’t seen a flashback to Robert April (Adrian Holmes) on the Enterprise yet, but it feels more likely the crew would be wearing the Discovery uniforms, rather than the modified TOS uniforms we saw later in Discovery , or what they’re wearing now.

In the Short Treks episode “The Brightest Star,” set in the year 2239, Lieutenant Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) is wearing the blue Discovery – era uniform. Was the Enterprise crew wearing that uniform 10 years later? 

Rigellian Tiger 

Pike and Uhura talk about La’an’s references to a “Rigellian tiger.” There are a lot of planets called “Rigel” in Star Trek canon, perhaps, most notably, “Rigel II,” the location of The Original Series episode, “Shore Leave.” In that episode, a tiger does attack several crewmembers, however, it is a robot tiger , created from telepathic suggestions. La’an (probably) isn’t talking about that exact tiger, simply because that story is in Star Trek ’s future at this point. 

Grappler 

The attack ship trying to snag the shuttle doesn’t use a tractor beam, but instead, shoots off some metal cables. This might seem weird in a Star Trek context, but this comes from canon established in Enterprise . In the 22nd century, before the tractor beam became common, the NX-01 Enterprise used a “grappler” to tow objects. So, this technology isn’t wrong, it’s simply old.

Klingon Ships Have a “Scuttle” System

La’an tells Uhura that some Klingon ships have a “scuttle” system. “Scuttle” is a naval term that refers to destroying or sinking a ship on purpose. The idea that Klingons would rather have their ship destroyed than be captured totally checks out. 

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It’s Not Set to Stun! 

Pike warns the fleeing guard that his phaser is not set to stun. In an earlier scene, we saw Pike activate his phaser briefly. The sound effect used is the same phaser-activating sound effect established in Discovery . 

Pike’s Flying Tackle — Kirk Style!

When Pike tries to stop the rogue guard, he uses a flying tackle. This is a very Captain Kirk-esque move, which was famously used in both “Space Seed” and “The Gamesters of Triskelion.”

Sam Kirk, Conflict-averse

The idea that Sam Kirk — the brother of James T. Kirk – is conflict-averse is just hilarious. 

“Rare to Know What’s in Your Future”

Pike reveals to Alora that he knows the details of what happens to him in the TOS episode “The Menagerie.” He also, once again, refers to the incident as happening in “10 years.” This is very interesting considering that we currently think of “The Menagerie,” as occurring in 2267, which would put it eight years after the events of Strange New Worlds . Because we don’t know exactly what time of year “The Menagerie” occurs, there’s some wiggle room here.

On top of this, it is possible that “The Menagerie” happens later in The Original Series than we thought. Not all the episodes of TOS are shown in the order in which they occurred, so it’s possible that “The Menagerie” actually happens in 2269, and we just never knew that before now.

Still, the slight difference in years does make a hardcore fan wonder — could there be a wrinkle with Pike’s vision? Will it occur earlier than he believes, but right on time for us? 

Beaming off the Transporter Pad 

When the First Servant gets beamed off, he’s beamed off the transporter pad by someone else. This happens a lot in Star Trek canon, starting with “The Cage” in which Number One and Yeoman Colt are transported off the pad by the Talosians.

Mugutan Breeding Stones 

When La’an talks about teaching cadets to “leave no stone unturned,” she mentions “Mugutan breeding stones.” This references the Mugato, the horned ape first seen in the TOS episode, “A Private Little War.” More recently, we saw some Mugatos, um, breeding in the Lower Decks episode “Mugato, Gumato.”

Alora Confronts Pike About the Federation

At the end of the episode, we learn that on Majalis one child is sacrificed to uphold the entirety of the culture. The tech here isn’t made entirely clear, but aspects of it are similar to the way Spock’s brain was used to run an entire planet in the episode “Spock’s Brain.” Obviously, the tone of this episode is much more serious and hits upon a strange paradox about the Federation. We know Majalsis isn’t a Federation world, which means Pike cannot legally do anything to stop them from using the First Servant as a human sacrifice to their weird tech god. But what’s even more interesting is the fact that Alora points out that suffering does exist in the Federation. She also implies pretty strongly that the suffering of children comes from Federation history, which, of course, would directly apply to the history of Earth.

Suffering in the Federation in the 23rd century might be at a minimum. But, the history of how Star Trek ’s rosy figure got to the point, comes from our own painful present.

Ryan Britt is a longtime contributor to Den of Geek! He is also the author of three non-fiction books: the Star Trek pop history book PHASERS…

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 6 Recap – what is the purpose of the hallucinations?

We recap the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 6, “Lost in Translation,” which contains spoilers.

After the goofy and playful Spock-centric episode “ Charades ,” Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gets serious once again with the horror-tinged “Lost in Translation.”

The latest installment finds Uhura ( Celia Rose Gooding ) undergoing traumatic hallucinations aboard the Enterprise.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 6 Recap

Uhura’s episode begins with an explanation of the new setting. The Enterprise is in a nebula that is filled with deuterium, the fuel used to power the starships. Captain Pike and his crew are overseeing the construction of a refinery that aims to collect the deuterium in the area.

Because of this massive undertaking, Captain Pike has now been promoted to fleet Captain, in command of this prestigious refinery project. He hopes to finish the work on the refinery as soon as possible, but his team keeps encountering new problems.

An overworked and exhausted Uhura intercepts a signal communication, although it quickly disappears.

While she investigates the glitch, she has a horrifying vision of her old colleague Hemmer . The deceased chief engineer appears to her as a zombie.

What is Uhura’s diagnosis?

Uhura is terrified by these visions and heads to the sick bay. M’Benga believes that she has a mild case of deuterium poisoning, which can lead to hallucinations. He orders her to rest up. Uhura struggles to sleep, though, and has further visions.

Meanwhile, Spock and Christine discuss their relationship. Spock wants to inform Starfleet of their romance, but Christine is happy to let the relationship be.

They are then interrupted by Uhura, who thinks the hallucinations are something else. The couple believes that Uhura is just overworked.

Uhura marches off to the bar to sulk and meets James T. Kirk , who is visiting. He’s just been promoted to First Officer on the Farragut. Uhura thinks James is hitting on her and quickly leaves.

In the hallway, she has another vision. This time she sees dead bodies and is then attacked by another version of herself.

As Uhura wakes from the dream, she accidentally punches James in the face. Embarrassed, Uhura fixes James up in her quarters. James agrees with Uhura something else is going on here; this is not just deuterium poisoning.

Next, Uhura has a vision that the Enterprise is attacked, and she watches in horror as her fellow crew members are all killed.

Who else is hallucinating?

While Uhura falls apart, another case is discovered on the ship. Lt. Ramone is found sabotaging the new refinery system. He is also undergoing horrific hallucinations. They try to chat with Ramone, but he escapes. He now can’t tell the difference between dreams and reality. Ramone eventually causes an explosion in an airlock, which nearly claims Uhura and James.

The explosion blows a hole in the side of the Enterprise, and Ramone is killed instantly. Uhura fears that she will soon go insane, just like Ramone. Eventually, Uhura comes to the conclusion that invisible aliens are trying to communicate with her.

What is the purpose of the hallucinations?

Each individual hallucination is actually a separate message. The aliens are saying that they are trapped and in pain. The Enterprise is killing them. Uhura, James, and Sam realize that the aliens are in the deuterium. The refinery must be stopped.

Pike blindly follows Uhura’s orders without any evidence, just going on her word alone. They evacuate the refinery and blow it up moments later.

Pike orders for all the deuterium to be removed from the ship as well. Uhura confirms afterward that the aliens are now safe, with a vision of Hemmer verbalizing this message.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 6 Ending Explained

Throughout the episode, Una and Pelia have been at loggerheads with one another. Una hates how Pelia recklessly defies orders, while Pelia thinks that Una is arrogant.

In the end, Pelia realizes why Una is upset with her; she misses her old friend Hemmer. Pelia has taken over Hemmer’s position, and Una is filled with resentment because of this grief, aiming all her frustrations at poor Pelia.

In the final scene, Uhura and James discuss the whole fiasco. The events have helped Uhura to overcome her fears of death, and she can now look at old photographs of her loved ones that have passed away. This has been a therapeutic journey for Uhura, who can now move forward with her life.

What did you think of the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 6? Comment below.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Recap: Unknown Caller

Star trek: strange new worlds.

“Previously On …” intros serve a dual purpose, both reminding viewers of what’s been going on in the series they’re about to watch and providing a hint of what’s immediately to come by the clips they choose to show. But they can also be a bit deceptive. The “Previously On …” for “Lost in Translation” suggests this is going to be an episode with major repercussions for some ongoing storylines, thanks to clips of Spock and Chapel’s recent kiss and a similar moment between Kirk and La’an that’s been erased, for all but La’an, by the restoration of the proper timeline. Will this mark the return of the Department of Temporal Investigations? Will Spock and Chapel have to make some choices? And what’s the deal with Hemmer showing up, a crew member whose loss the  Enterprise  still feels?

“Lost in Translation” connects to all those storylines, but it’s not really  about  any of them. Instead, it’s another first contact episode, one that puts Uhura at the center as the  Enterprise  heads to a stellar nursery that’s also the site of a deuterium refinery; one made all the more urgent by its placement at the edge of known space. That makes it a convenient jumping-off point for further missions — which Pike attempts to make the centerpiece of an inspiring speech — but also a strategic spot when dealing with the mounting threat of the Gorn. (Yes, that’s still a thing, even if we haven’t heard much about them for a while.)

It should be an easy stop: Pike gets a moment to be a fleet commander, the station gets up and running, and everyone refuels and calls it a win. But it’s not that simple, even if only one crew member initially suspects this. Someone, or something, is sending signals only Uhura can hear. To figure out what’s going on, Uhura heads to engineering, where she watches a YouTube how-to video she made with Hemmer illustrating how to recalibrate the communications array. This annoys Pelia at first, then makes her wax nostalgic about Hemmer once she realizes what’s going on. It seems like business as usual until, after hearing that strange noise again, Uhura receives a terrifying vision of an undead (and pretty gross-looking) Hemmer on the turbo-lift.

What’s up with that? M’Benga doesn’t have an answer, but he does note that Uhura might have a mild case of deuterium poisoning but also hasn’t been sleeping. His prescription: sleep. But this only makes matters worse, or at least more intense, as Uhura starts getting glimpses of a vision whose full scope will only be realized later.

While she sorts through this, the  Enterprise  gets a visitor named James T. Kirk, whose reunion with his brother Sam is fraught with tension. Jim has some big news — he’s soon to become the first officer of the  Farragut.  As they drink in the  Enterprise  lounge, talking about Jim’s achievement stirs some old resentments in Sam, who feels that Jim doesn’t respect his choice to pursue xenoanthropology and that his brother’s overachieving ways can be traced back to their dad, who also doesn’t respect Sam’s career choices. It’s a really intense family dynamic.

That’s not the only tension in the lounge, although the other is of a different sort. As they play four-dimensional chess, Spock and Chapel attempt to discuss their relationship. Does what they’re doing need to be reported to Starfleet?  Is  there a relationship? Chapel likens human relationships to Schrödinger’s cat suggesting their own is currently in an undefined quantum state that might not survive someone else observing and defining it. And with that interaction, sealed with a wink from Chapel, we learn all we’re going to learn about Spock and Chapel in this episode. That cat remains safely in the box.

Whatever’s going on between them, the two are not particularly helpful to an increasingly frustrated Uhura, who attempts to find some solace with some Saurian brandy but quickly finds herself annoyed by a chatty Jim. Annoyed and not wanting to be hit on, she tries to give him the brush-off. Things don’t go much better when Jim insists he wasn’t hitting on her (which doesn’t  entirely  check out, given the character), prompting Uhura to flee. But instead of an escape, Uhura walks into a horrific vision of crew members’ corpses strewn about the corridor and begins fighting with a doppelgänger. When she snaps out of it, she discovers she’s decked Jim.

Jim’s not thrilled with this but senses that Uhura’s going through something he might be able to help her with. When he leaves her alone to consult with the  Farragut ’s doctor (with medicine, it’s always good to get a second opinion), she has another awful vision in which she sees the  Enterprise  destroyed. While she talks it over with Pike, Jim returns, making this, after his introduction to Uhura, the second of three historic meetings within the episode.

Over at the refinery, Una and Pelia try to get the refinery up and running with a combination of scientific know-how and managerial skills. It doesn’t go well, at least at first. Pelia’s not great at following orders, which turns out to be a good thing when she discovers evidence of sabotage. This puts Una and Pelia on the trail of the saboteur, a Starfleet officer named Ramon (Michael Reventar), who seems to be in the grips of the same delusions as Uhura. When he’s taken to the  Enterprise ’s sick bay, he appears to be even further gone than Uhura, attacking the crew and then fleeing.

In the search that follows, Jim is briefly reunited (if that’s the right word) with La’an, but it’s Uhura who ultimately finds the fugitive. It’s good timing, too: Ramon is in the process of trying to sabotage the  Enterprise . She tries to talk him down by sharing personal details with him, but it’s no good. They fight, Jim shows up to rescue Uhura, and Ramon goes out the airlock.

In the aftermath, Jim and La’an get a little more time together, during which she (correctly) surmises he’s the type of person who can’t pass up someone in trouble without trying to help. This puts Jim in a reflective mode, thinking back to his childhood and the father who dragged them around the galaxy, traveling from one place he might be of service to the next. Annoyed as a child, he understands this better as an adult, and as someone whose life was saved by Starfleet, La’an expresses gratitude for Jim’s dad and those like him. They share a moment, but when Jim attempts to take her up on her previous offer of a drink, La’an walks away without replying. And as with Spock and Chapel, that’s as much as this episode does with that could-be romance.

Jim’s pretty busy anyway. He listens to Uhura’s story of her parents’ shuttle-accident death, the ways it’s shaken her, and the ways Hemmer’s death has compounded her doubts and fears. Then he replies with a classic (not-yet) Captain Kirk inspiring speech that prompts her to revisit Hemmer’s video and come to a realization: something is trying to communicate with her. This sends Uhura and Jim to Sam’s lab, where the other Kirk’s expertise proves invaluable. With the Kirks’ help, Uhura cracks it: Her visions are a code from a species being destroyed by Starfleet’s deuterium mining. The refinery must never be allowed to power up!

Unfortunately, the refinery has already been powered up. What’s more, it can’t be shut down. In the desperate rush that follows, Uhura receives a vision that forces her to confront her parents’ death before being able to tell Pike what she’s figured out and that, if they can’t shut down the refinery, they have to destroy it. Rather than dismissing this as a crazy theory, Pike takes her advice, evacuates the refinery, and blows it out of the sky, repercussions be damned. And with that, the deuterium people, or whatever they are, are safe, a development confirmed by one final vision: a smiling Hemmer who nods in approval.

And with that, Uhura can sleep again, which she’s presumably done before the episode’s final scene, which finds Uhura hanging out with one future crewmate whom she introduces to a current crewmate: Spock. It looks like a trio that could work together well as a team.

• Written by the team of Onitra Johnson and David Reed and directed by Dan Liu, this is another fine spotlight episode for Uhura (and Celia Rose Gooding), who continues in some ways to be a surrogate character for viewers since she’s still a relative newcomer figuring out how the  Enterprise  works.

• Hemmer looms over this episode even when he’s not showing up as an alien-created vision. He’s much missed, and Pelia has felt just how missed he is by the way others treat her. Uhura’s avoided her and Una outright dislikes her for her sloppy ways (fair enough) and because Pelia gave her a C at the academy (seems a little petty), but mostly, as Pelia surmises, because she’s not Hemmer. Recognizing that is the first step to a better relationship. No longer a cadet, Uhura’s been upgraded to better quarters. In the process, she’s apparently lost the previously established need to sleep in absolute darkness.

• It would be really annoying to play chess with Spock, but at least the game would move along quickly.

• Another example of why Pike’s a great captain: the way he asks Uhura if she’s 100 percent sure and then asks no further questions. He trusts his crew and even says he’ll take the rap if anyone objects to his decision.

• Sam and Jim come  this  close to resolving their differences before the episode ends, before Jim blows it by refusing to apologize. Paul Wesley doesn’t particularly look like William Shatner, but it’s moments like these that drive home how much this younger James Kirk and the Kirk we already know have in common.

• If Jim was hitting on Uhura at first, he abandons that plan pretty quickly. They end up friends who respect each other, laying the groundwork for the decades of history to come.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 6 “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” Review

Just as the comical “ Spock Amok ” was a tonal shift from its intense predecessor “ Memento Mori ,” “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” changes the tone again to one of somber contemplation, as Captain Pike and his crew encounter a society that demands a horrendous sacrifice to keep their civilization in perfect health.

This episode sees Captain Christopher Pike ( Anson Mount ) and the Enterprise return to a place he knows well: the Majalan System. He was there 10 years prior and apparently had a fling with one of the inhabitants. The captain’s plans for a routine cartographic survey go down the drain, though, when, lo and behold, who does the Enterprise rescue from a nearby shuttle under attack? Alora ( Lindy Booth ), the same woman Pike encountered all those years ago. Also on the shuttle is an all-important child, the First Servant ( Ian Ho ), and his father, Elder Gamal ( Huse Madhavji ). Because the ship attacking the shuttle also attacked the Enterprise , Pike sticks around to investigate the matter.

At first, you might think this episode is a light-hearted affair, with the goofily love-stricken Pike learning more about Alora’s beautiful planet, Majalis, and its shockingly healthy populace. The Enterprise happens to have arrived in time to witness a key moment of the society’s continuing existence: the time when the holy First Servant ascends to the throne. But Pike doesn’t quite know what it means for a child to become First Ascendant, nor is Alora forthcoming with answers. As far as Pike can tell, it’s as if the boy is being celebrated as a deity for becoming a leader, one who was destined at birth to do so. The captain has certainly seen stranger things than this.

Doctor M’Benga ( Babs Olusanmokun ) and Nurse Chapel ( Jess Bush ), however, do witness something they have never seen before: quantum implants within the First Servant that tackle any disease or ailment he could suffer. This technology, M’Benga asserts, could mean disease and suffering could be things of the past. So, you can bet M’Benga is interested in this technology, as his terminally sick daughter, Rukiya ( Sage Arrindell ), may indeed benefit from it.

Things get a bit more complicated as the First Servant is seemingly kidnapped from the Enterprise , and the ease of the kidnapping points the crew to it somehow being an inside job. Deeper questions arise when Cadet Nyota Uhura ( Celia Rose Gooding ), who is taking a turn at security this episode following her brief tour of engineering in “Memento Mori,” realizes the shuttle attack in the episode’s first act was actually executed by people from Prospect VII, a nearby planet housing offshoots of the Majalan people. Why would his own people, even distant cousins of those on Majalis, kidnap the First Servant? Moreover, this discovery contrasts with what Alora asserted at the beginning of the episode – that she thought the people who attacked the shuttle were members of a nearby alien colony and were likely looking to ransom the child. No wonder Alora was quick to discourage a Starfleet investigation into the attack; things are more complicated than they appear.

“I think my promising young cadet just demonstrated lesson seven of security on you: ‘leave no stone unturned.’ I usually require cadets to look under Mugatan breathing stones for that one.” Noonien-Singh to Elder Gamal about Uhura investigating the First Servant’s kidnapping.

It turns out the first attempted kidnapping, and the subsequent kidnapping attempt aboard Enterprise was arranged by Elder Gamal because he wanted to prevent his child from ascending to the throne. Within a few seconds of the audience learning Elder Gamal tried to stop this, Pike chillingly learns firsthand what happens to the First Ascendant when the boy takes the “throne”: the child slowly and painfully deteriorates within the cold clutches of a machine, his life energy sacrificed to unexplainably keep everyone else in perfect health.

Pike is understandably alarmed at people who flourish because of the suffering of a child. It’s at this point one might expect the captain to influentially appeal to Alora and her people to stop this practice or have the Enterprise ’s medical and engineering team finds a way to avoid the machine’s need for a child’s energy. No, none of these things happen. Pike is never given the chance to attempt a solution before the First Servant is engulfed, permanently, by the machine.

There is no way Pike can save the First Servant, and indeed he gets knocked out for trying to. Clearly, the Majalans can’t risk their society falling into disarray to save one child. They view the First Servant’s sacrifice as a valuable, noble cause, and that’s why the First Servant is held in such high esteem in their society. As Alora points out to a bewildered Pike, it’s better to have one child be sacrificed for the good of the populace, instead of many children suffering while the rest of the civilization turns its back on them. It’s in this one line that “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” neatly illustrates the episode’s allegory: why do the people of Earth oftentimes ignore the fact that children across the world are suffering – or if not ignore, then at least stop themselves from doing anything about it on a large scale?

The cost to Pike personally of leaving Alora and her people to their own devices is greater than anybody else. Of course, the captain is living with the knowledge he is going to all but dies in an accident seven years in the future, which he exposits to Alora in this episode. The Majalan people, with their miraculous biological technology, could offer Pike a chance to remedy himself following his accident, but he would have to be a member of their civilization – but even then, it turns out the moral cost of such technology is too great for the captain to bear. It’s extra unfortunate, then, that the Enterprise ’s crew didn’t figure out a way to rid the Majalans of their dependency on the soul-sucking machine; the captain’s future could be saved otherwise. Can you imagine the fortitude it takes for Pike to make the decision to sacrifice a chance to save his life, just because he morally disagrees with how Alora’s people make their perfect world possible?

Having Pike unable to save the First Servant is more of a gut punch because we see the youngster be an extremely intelligent, friendly, and innocent boy. For example, he (albeit improbably) discovers young Rukiya in the sickbay transporter buffer and plays some trippy hopscotch with her, just as any kid would enjoy doing. He also impresses Spock ( Ethan Peck ) with his knowledge of subspace signal propagation, and innocently claims he is interested in such technology because he thought it would be cool to “have a friend across the galaxy.” Seeing such potential wasted only compounds his unfortunate sacrifice, no matter how useful that sacrifice is.

There is a slightly happy ending for one person, though: Doctor M’Benga. Via Elder Gamal, the doctor takes the first step in medically solving his daughter’s terminal diagnosis. What Gamal provides him is a far cry from a cure, however, because it’s illegal for him to share their technology with unaffiliated races – just as Alora related to Pike – so we totally expect little Rukiya to show up again at some point when a more concrete cure is found. Although we’re somewhat surprised Doctor M’Benga didn’t push harder for Gamal to provide more tangible help; the doctor seems content to take whatever Gamal gives him, even though he is still far from finding a cure for his daughter.

So, “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” leaves us with an ending that makes us shrink in our chairs a little. For those who are new to Star Trek , this is what it’s like to have the show hold a mirror to our reality, a trend the franchise patented when The Original Series subtly commented on the Vietnam War, the racial justice movement in the 1960s, and any other number of topics. There’s no happy ending in this episode. There’s no happy ending regarding child suffering in real life.  Pike and his crew conclude this entry simply with the knowledge there are some places in the universe that practice prosperity in different ways and at different costs – and this show asks us to consider if the cost is too great. That’s a recipe for a good Star Trek episode if there ever was one.

Stray Thoughts:

• Alora never explains why the creators of the soul-sucking machine need a child’s life force, only that her people searched for hundreds of years to find an alternative.
• What are the chances we get some tie-in media about Pike’s previous visit to the Majalan System? We’re going to guess a comic book would serve this story nicely.
• We see grappling hooks used in this episode by a non-Federation ship. This pre-tractor beam technology was a mainstay of the NX-01 Enterprise , and the hooks’ appearance in this episode likely reflects Prospect VII’s lower-tier technological development.
• Pike asking Elder Gamal if he is the child’s father upon their first meeting is an odd piece of dialogue and seems only to exist to set up his strange and question-provoking response: “Only in a biological sense.”
• This episode’s title is taken from one of Elder Gamal’s lines of dialogue: “On Majalis, we have a saying: ‘let the tree that grows from the roots of sacrifice lift us where suffering cannot reach.’”
• Alora repeatedly refers to the offshoot colony as “the alien colony,” and at no point does Captain Pike or anyone else ask for clarification about who these people are. We realize this knowledge needs to wait for the reveal later in the episode, but why is it at the expense of Pike’s competency?
• Alora walks right within grabbing distance of the disloyal guard after she and Pike corner him, which leads her to…yes… being grabbed. Having a character stupidly expose themselves to an enemy in this way is such a cliché way to build tension.
• It’s nothing but sheer, unadulterated plot convenience that the Enterprise is blocked from contacting Pike due to an electromagnetic field just before he witnesses the First Servant’s ascension.
• Alora asserts to the high-and-mighty Pike that the Federation must have children who suffer while others flourish, to which Pike does not retort. But is that the case? The Federation is supposedly a utopian society. Does Pike’s silence mean substantial child suffering exists within the Federation, suffering that somehow helps the rest of the Federation flourish?

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Kyle Hadyniak has been a lifelong Star Trek fan, and isn't ashamed to admit that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Nemesis are his favorite Star Trek movies. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @khady93 .

Andrea Pinzow

June 11, 2022 at 4:54 pm

There are worlds that the crew of the Enterprise will not agree or like. In this episode we can change the attitudes of the society and this is why the Prime Directive was established. Pike had to realized this and I hurt him because he cared about her. They tried to find a way but they couldn’t find it.Their beliefs are enground for centuries.They give praise for the first servants for their sacrifice to keep the rest of them alive. As a parent I am appaled but as a storyline of this episode is gives us a morale choice. This is one of the best episodes on Star Trek for this new show. Some of the lines are not good but all in all it was a very excellent story .A great acting job to Anson Mount’s Pike. I really like Pike .I really want more interaction between him and Pike since Spock would jeopardize his career and life to bring Pike to Talos so Pike can live out his life with live in that chair.

GriffeyTrek

June 12, 2022 at 8:47 pm

It’s worth noting that this episode pretty directly lifts the core story elements of Ursula leGuin’s Hugo Award winning 1974 short work “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”. Which is why the underlying story feels so familiar. It’s about a Utopian City that requires one child be made to suffer for the happiness of all. And they lifted stuff to such an extent that leGuin should probably be given a writers credit. Magellas is Omelas.

Oldandcranky

June 14, 2022 at 8:53 am

I was very sad to see that LeGuin didn’t get a writers credit for this episode- at the very least an “adapted from a story from Ursula K.Leguin” line. It kind of destroyed by enjoyment of the episode.

July 22, 2022 at 9:49 am

Pike could have stopped the suffering by forcing his own will on the planet. Then the Federation would be dictatorial, wouldn’t it? The United States and other countries like us could conceivably end child suffering if we all forcibly ended the sovereignty of every nation that disagreed with us and also ended a good chunk of individual liberty within our own countries.

But we’re not dictators.

That’s the unspoken conclusion that Trek writers refuse to conceive – in order to feed, clothe, shelter, medically treat and protect everyone everywhere, there will be massive restrictions on personal freedoms.

You can make as many laws as you can and you will get many to obey them, but you cannot force every person to buy into your dogma; there will always be resistance. Because that’s how people are.

And that’s why shows that depict human beings creating a paradise where no one suffers and everyone is happy are promulgating a belief system that is unrealistic in light of how long human civilization has lasted.

Human beings cannot fix other human beings. We are flawed. We are selfish and self-interested. We always have been and we always will be.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 6 Review: Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach

By: Author Diana Keng

• X (Twitter)

The most devastating horrors are often masked in beauty. In literature, the examples are numerous. Dorian Gray. The folksy country town of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." The Eloi's banal lives of ease in H.G. Wells's  The Time Machine .

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 6 is even more insidious in painting the charm of Majalis. Not only is their representative a charming, attractive emissary with a romantic history with Pike, but their entire culture also ascribes to the philosophy of "Science. Service. Sacrifice."

They really should add "Secrets" to that credo.

In the tradition of Star Trek outings like Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 17, "The Outcast," in the end, the crew is forced to leave Majalis to its own culture and traditions.

As wrong as Majalis's First Servant system feels, it could be seen as the extreme end of the Vulcan adage that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

But while the Prospect VII revolutionaries are the few at the moment and the First Servant, by definition, is only ever one, the minority grows by one with Gamal's defection.

By anointing the First Servant with love and adulation and celebrating his Ascension with festivities, the Majalins have bought their absolution.

Pike: Will he suffer? Alora: Yes. We don’t pretend otherwise. We live in gratitude for him, and when a new First Servant ascends, we will live for her. Pike: Your whole civilization, all your… this, it’s all founded on the suffering of a child. Alora: Can you honestly say that no child suffers for the benefit of your Federation? That no child lives in poverty or squalor while those who enjoy abundance look away? The only difference is we don’t look away. And because of that, the suffering is borne on the back of only one. It’s what makes it a sacred honor. That’s why I choose our way. 🔗 permalink: Can you honestly say that no child suffers for the benefit of your Federation? That no child…

By acknowledging his sacrifice, they believe it makes the act of sacrificing him acceptable.

And they are the many. For now.

In discussing the situation of Majalis — a situation I freely admit to finding incredibly disturbing –, a helpful colleague pointed me in the direction of the Ursula Le Guin short story, "Those Who Walk Away From Omelas."

In the story, an idyllic thriving city exists only because they keep a pact wherein one child is kept in squalor and neglect, treated only cruelly when interacted with at all.

Alora: Serving Majalis is his destiny. His reason for being. Without him, Majalis could not be. Pike: You plugged a kid into a machine. What’s it going to do to him? Alora: We don’t know. 🔗 permalink: Serving Majalis is his destiny.

The point of the story is that despite the prosperity and abundance the pact provides, there are some residents who cannot abide knowing they live in a paradise bought with the suffering of the child. These people are the titular Those Who Walk Away.

In drawing the comparison to Majalis, Gamal walks away once his hope of saving his son is gone.

In contrast, the Prospect VII rebels are not content with walking away. They are invested in ending the tradition.

Now one could argue that the Omelas pact is founded on belief as superstitious as the stoning in "The Lottery." In contrast, Majalis's splendor is physically suspended over a planet of lava by some mechanized system created by the Founders.

So, the First Servant's horrific Ascension could be argued to be necessary in a practical manner rather than symbolic ritual.

Alora: He chooses it freely, and we honor his sacrifice. 🔗 permalink: He chooses it freely, and we honor his sacrifice.

Which leads me to ask how the Founders figured out how to use a child's mind to power their mechanized terraforming? I can only assume the Founders were not Majalins as they are now but rather a species without empathy. Or they bred the Majalins to power their machine, only to die off themselves.

Another theory is that this was all a test to see who would walk away. Prospect VII passes. Majalins fail.

It's disheartening to hear that when she first met Pike, Alora was looking for an alternative to the First Servant, but now, ten years later, she champions the Ascension ritual.

Honestly, I didn't really trust her to begin with. Una's comment about Alora's luck with shuttles seemed on the mark.

Alora: Why were you on that ship? Kier: To fulfill my oath. And to renounce everything this floating hell stands for. 🔗 permalink: To fulfill my oath. And to renounce everything this floating hell stands for.

And when the knife the rebel guard Kier threatens her with conveniently ends up in his chest, it definitely rang some alarm bells.

I don't doubt she cares for Pike and truly believes he would be happy with her if he only came over to her way of thinking.

This is why long-distance relationships that only hook up once a decade are so challenging. Also, the infanticide doesn't help.

Of course, his attraction predates his relationship with Captain Batel, who we saw at breakfast on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 1 , but I couldn't help but feel a little outraged on her behalf.

After all, this is Pike, not James T. Kirk. I guess I expected him to be more fidelitous.

Sam Kirk: Tell her for me you deserve a full-hour. La’an: You can tell me yourself, Lieutenant. Sam Kirk: I would, but I’m conflict-averse? 🔗 permalink: I would, but I’m conflict-averse?

Balancing out the problematic ethics of Majalis is the differently problematic Security training Uhura gets under La'an's tutelage.

(I don't know about you, but I really wanted the Lieutenant to bark, "Constant vigilance!" just once. Just once. Would've made me SO happy.)

That La'an's rules are so well-known among the crew and yet still total surprises to new cadets is a fascinating ship tradition.

Uhura's been impressing trainers all over the place.

First, she wins over the curmudgeonly Hemmer — by the way, where's he gone? Hope he's back soon — and now La'an describes her as "promising." Gold star, cadet! Twenty points to Gryffindor!

Gamal: I was wrong. I deserve to be in here, Commander. I know that. I didn’t just violate the law of my planet, I violated my own principles, my most deeply-held beliefs. Una: Why? Gamal: For him. For my son. 🔗 permalink: For him. For my son.

There are a couple of continuity issues I would be remiss not to mention.

When Una tries to contact the planet during the Ascension, she is prevented from communicating and transporting by interference. Pike wakes up in Alora's quarters, has his conversation with her, then contacts Una with a simple, "Now, Number One," and is beamed up immediately.

It just seems like we missed something there.

The other detail that bothered me is we are supposed to believe the oath coin they found on the Prospect VII cruiser is Kier's.

But Kier has a coin in his pendant. Alora only says that the case is damaged. Did he steal someone else's coin and put it in his case?

There are always things to nitpick on, but these two stood out in an otherwise immersive and highly emotional offering.

Finally, we have the parallel father-child relationships. M'Benga and Gamal are both willing to go to impossible lengths to save their children.

Seeing the First Servant and Rukiya playing together is one of the most touching moments so far in the series. The regret on M'Benga's face as he puts her back into the buffer strikes at the heart of every parent.

For Gamal to reach out after losing his child with an ember of hope for M'Benga to build on demonstrates the Majalin's character as both a man and a physician.

Questions I have for the writers regarding Majalin lore include: How often is an Ascension needed? Will the next First Servant now be voted in out of the planet's babies? Does every First Servant get to keep a biological parent as an Elder?

And the most important one is probably: How do they know the machine still requires the child's mind? In other words, has there ever been a break in the smooth transition? Did parts of the planet start falling into the lava?

What questions would you ask, given the chance, Fanatics?

How do you feel about this first conclusion without closure?

Do the needs of the many warrant the torture and death of one child?

Unload your ethical quandaries into our comments!

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‘Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach’ Walks Strange New Worlds Away from Omelas

This discussion and review contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode 6, “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach.”

For the sixth episode of its first season, Strange New Worlds takes a break from offering underwhelming rehashes of older Star Trek episodes to offer an underwhelming rehash of a science fiction classic.

Published in 1973, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” is one of the great science fiction allegories. Author Ursula K. Le Guin imagined the utopian community of Omelas, a shimmering city of unbelievable happiness. Children in Omelas never know hunger or pain or strife. However, when every inhabitant comes of age, they discover the dark secret at the heart of the community. The city’s happiness is built on the suffering of a single child, kept in filth, darkness, and misery.

When the inhabitants of the city are made aware of this stark reality, they are presented with a choice. They can continue to live in Omelas, knowing that their idyllic world is built on the suffering of an innocent. Most residents are able to accept this, to reconcile themselves to the suffering of a stranger for their own happiness. However, as the title implies, some members of the community are so horrified by this discovery that they turn their back on the city and choose to leave.

It is a very broad and very effective metaphor, one that is almost universally applicable. It works as both social commentary and as personal allegory. How much of modern civilization is built on the exploitation of others, and how comfortable can people become with that suffering so long as it is kept out of sight? Even on a personal level, how committed are individuals to their own happiness that they are willing to accept the suffering of others as a small price to pay?

It is surprising that it has taken Star Trek so long to offer its own take on the classic short story. The franchise is full of episodes drawing liberally from literary classics: “ The Enemy Within ” is Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , “ Obsession ” is Moby Dick , “ Meridian ” is Brigadoon , and “ Fascination ” is A Midsummer Night’s Dream . Given the obvious influence of science fiction writers like Asimov and Herbert (not to mention Sturgeon or Ellison ) on the franchise, this should have happened sooner.

“Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” is direct in evoking “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” The episode is built on a world literally kept afloat by the suffering of a child, the First Servant (Ian Ho), who is literally locked away in a dungeon to suffer. The internal logic is vague. “The machine needs the neural network of a child to function,” explains Alura (Lindy Booth). “Our founders designed it that way; we don’t know why.” However, the allegory is clear.

Alura makes this link explicit in her conversation with Pike (Anson Mount). “Your whole civilization, all your… this, it’s all founded on the suffering of a child,” Pike summarizes towards the end of the episode. “Can you honestly say that no child suffers for the benefit of your Federation?” Alura responds, rendering subtext as text. “That no child lives in poverty? Or squalor? While those who enjoy abundance look away? The only difference is that we don’t look away.”

Theoretically, this sort of story fits perfectly within the Star Trek milieu. For all that certain fans might insist upon the franchise’s utopian world view, Star Trek is populated with stories about utopias that turn out to be anything but: “ The Apple ,” “ For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky ,” “ The Hunted ,” “ Paradise ,” and “ Shadowplay .” There is always a serpent in the garden, a secret lurking in the shadows. If something is too good to be true, it usually is.

However, “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” suffers from its insistence upon combining this familiar science fiction allegory with broadly drawn Star Trek clichés. Most notably, “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” tries to blend “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” with an archetypal “Prime Directive” narrative about how the Federation is sworn not to interfere in local politics, resulting in perhaps the most breathtakingly cynical episode of Star Trek since “ Alliances .”

The Prime Directive is one of those things that certain Star Trek fans and writers have internalized as an unequivocal ideal, something unimpeachable: the idea that there is a moral obligation for our heroes to stand back and let terrible things happen to complete strangers, no matter how hard that is for our heroes. The benign interpretation reads it as a rejection of the colonial impulses of “ the white man’s burden ,” but it often serves as an excuse for passivity in the face of horror .

Tellingly, most of the classic stories about the Prime Directive are about getting around the Prime Directive. Few classic Star Trek stories end with the characters allowing strangers to suffer and die, treating the Prime Directive as a hurdle for Kirk (William Shatner) or Picard (Patrick Stewart) to circumnavigate: “ The Return of the Archons ,” “ Pen Pals ,” “ Homeward .” When Bashir (Alexander Siddig) cites the Prime Directive in “ Battle Lines ,” Sisko (Avery Brooks) immediately shoots him down.

In contrast, “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” approaches the Prime Directive uncritically and treats it as something sacrosanct. “We’re not a Federation world,” Alura warns Pike. “You have no jurisdiction.” The episode ends with Pike staring out into space, feeling sorry for himself. It’s brutally cynical. The episode doesn’t focus on the pain and suffering of the First Servant, but instead asks the audience to feel bad for Pike because Pike can’t help the First Servant — even though he easily could.

This is horrifically cynical for a number of reasons. Most obviously: This is all Pike’s fault . The Enterprise intervenes during the attempted rescue of the First Servant at the start of the episode, returning him to the care of Alura. If Pike had not prevented that attempted abduction, the child would have been taken to Prospect VII and spared a lifetime of torment. Pike isn’t a bystander here. He isn’t a passive observer. He is actively implicated in the torture of this child.

More than that, “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” treats Alura’s accusation about the Federation as a “gotcha” argument, ignoring the fundamental difference between a society that aspires to end all suffering and a society that institutionalizes suffering. It is a problem compounded by the fact that the episode does exactly what Alura criticizes. It looks away. The audience only briefly sees the torment of a child, because showing it might make viewers uncomfortable.

Again, this is the “faded photocopy” aspect of Strange New Worlds , where the show is offering recycled Star Trek clichés without any real understanding or thought. It is similar to how Voyager and the first two seasons of Enterprise told these stories, treating Star Trek as an aesthetic rather than as an actual object. Compare Pike’s passivity and complicity in this systemic abuse to Picard’s clever manipulation of the Prime Directive to confront a broken society at the end of “The Hunted.”

The problem is compounded by other Star Trek clichés crammed in at the margins. “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” is also a romance episode, with Pike meeting and reconnecting with an old flame. Star Trek is notoriously terrible at romantic subplots, particularly for series leads: “ We’ll Always Have Paris ,” “ Second Sight ,” “ Civilization .” There are exceptions, like “ Counterpoint ” or “ Gravity ,” but they require phenomenal writing and chemistry — both of which are absent here.

Historically, the best relationships on Star Trek have been those allowed to grow over time, particularly on Deep Space Nine : Sisko and Yates (Penny Johnson), Worf (Michael Dorn) and Dax (Terry Farrell), Kira (Nana Visitor) and Odo (René Auberjonois). Standalone episodes struggle to introduce a new character, cast an actor who shares believable chemistry, and tell a self-contained story. Ideally, there’s time for the actors to grow and develop a chemistry.

It doesn’t help matters that “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” hints at a more interesting and timely story in its first act and then pulls away. The First Servant suggests the Dalai Lama. The ship that tries to abduct him is Klingon, with the Klingons historically standing in for American fears of the Chinese. Given that the ascension of the next Dalai Lama has become a political clash between China and Tibet , sparking debates about where America stands in all this , there’s a very timely story there.

Star Trek has always been rooted in contemporary issues. The original Star Trek dealt with the Vietnam War in episodes like “ A Taste of Armageddon ,” “ Errand of Mercy ,” and “ A Private Little War .” It grappled with youth culture in stories like “ Charlie X ,” “ Miri ,” “ This Side of Paradise ,” and “ The Way to Eden .” It is frustrating that, outside of vague allusions to the Capitol Riots in “ Strange New Worlds ,” Strange New Worlds has been reluctant to actively engage with the world around it.

Instead, Strange New Worlds is more interested in offering superficial Star Trek cosplay than it is in embracing the heart of Star Trek , content to offer a suitably abstract take on a nearly 50-year-old short story within the narrative confines of some half-remembered Star Trek plot templates. It might not be quite as depressing as a futuristic utopia powered by the torture of a small child, but it’s pretty bleak in its own way.

'Strange New Worlds' season two seems to be suffering from an episode order affliction

Entitled 'Lost in Translation,' this episode is a reworking of a classic Trek trope, the industrial-progress-accidentally-threatens-weird-unknown-lifeform chestnut.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Strange New Worlds" Season 2, episode 6

Forget the fact that "Strange New Worlds" has tweaked a teeny-tiny bit bit of Trek history (the date of the Eugenics Wars to name just one), forget the fact that the USS Enterprise can now maneuver like the Millennium Falcon , forget the fact that Vulcans can now telepathically communicate over interstellar distances  —  most of these things are to be expected. They're inevitable in fact and should come as no real surprise with a show that's attempting to insert a whole new storyline with VFX standards and set design that's 60 years more modern than the previous vision of this particular future. 

What everyone should be infinitely more concerned with, is that in a season that's as staggeringly short as just 10 brief episodes and having just passed the halfway point, we still haven 't had an episode that focuses on the principal character in the show — but — we've had two episodes already that focus heavily on an existing character who should enter the story really only now and again, at this stage. 

We are of course talking about the second appearance of Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) inside of four episodes. And while Wesley is doing a superb job interpreting the character, we're still not 100 percent convinced of the casting choice. 

Related : The Chapel-Spock-T'Pring love triangle takes a turn in episode 5

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This installment, entitled "Lost in Translation" is a basic reworking of another classic Trek trope, the industrial-progress-accidentally-threatens-weird-unknown-lifeform chestnut. Arguably the best example of this is "The Original Series" episode "The Devil in the Dark" (S01, E26), but it's popped up a few times since then, in just about every series of "Star Trek," which is why it really feels like it doesn't need to be here. Factor in the reappearance of Kirk and it all just feels a bit rushed.

That said, there are some interesting twists, including a totally new love triangle — 'cause we needed that — between La'an Noonien-Singh, Kirk and Nyota Uhura, plus of course the official introduction of Kirk and Spock (Ethan Peck), which itself feels a little that moment in "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" when Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) introduces young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) to Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). 

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Related: Strange New Worlds S01, E09 ties up the first chapter of Uhura's story

And let's not forget that Lt. Hemmer, played once again by Bruce Horak, was actually able to record some new scenes rather than just rehashing old stock as you may recall poor Hemmer was about to be used as a living host to hatch baby Gorn, before he very sensibly decided to walk off the edge of an icy ravine instead, in the penultimate episode of season one. "I can officially tell you that the Star Trek career of Bruce Horak is not done," he told Space.com, but alas could elaborate no further. 

So what we have here is an episode that has a pretty weak foundation, but ... actually turns out to be all sorts of interesting. And, if the long term plan over this season and the next, which don't forget were more or less filmed back to back, is to focus on the burgeoning relationship between Spock and Kirk before Pike's unfortunate accident, if that now even happens, which it kind of has to, then alright. But, that too feels like its unnecessary. 

Hand on heart, this week's installment feels like it would be better suited as the penultimate episode of this second season, before an awesome, action-packed, pumping powerhouse of a finale. But, the thing is you see, as we may have mentioned, we haven't actually had an episode that focuses truly on Pike. So, it's hard to accept that is the plan. What's easier to accept, is that there isn't a plan. 

Related: 'Strange New Worlds' S02, E04 refers to an incident from the TOS pilot

This week's bonus episode is the crossover with "Lower Decks" and we are still wondering how the blazes that's going to work. It's also San Diego Comic-Con this week and Paramount is practically the only studio of significant size attending the event with a Star Trek Universe event in Hall H, but with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes still at full speed, it's difficult to know for sure if any talent from the shows will be in attendance.

"Strange New Worlds" and every episode of  almost  every  "Star Trek" show currently airing streams exclusively on Paramount Plus in the US. Internationally, the shows are available on Paramount Plus in Australia, Latin America, the UK and South Korea, as well as on Pluto TV in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel. They also stream exclusively on Paramount Plus in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In Canada, they air on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on Crave.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season 2, Episode 6

Lost in translation, where to watch, star trek: strange new worlds — season 2, episode 6.

Watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — Season 2, Episode 6 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

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Akiva Goldsman

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 6 review: "Familiar story improved by wonderful cast"

GamesRadar+ Verdict

While it’s a solid introduction to some classic Trek themes, fans may find the story’s beats and twists a little too familiar. The good thing about Strange New Worlds, however, is that even when it’s on autopilot, the quality of the cast and the writing ensure it’s never less than watchable.

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Warning: This Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 6 review contains major spoilers – many of them set to stun. Boldly go further at your own risk…

If Paramount Plus was relaunching their fleet of Star Trek shows again, they’d surely have made Strange New Worlds the first series out of Spacedock. While Discovery, Picard and Lower Decks have all – to various degrees – relied on viewers’ knowledge of earlier iterations of Trek, the voyages of Christopher Pike’s starship Enterprise feel like the ideal introduction to the franchise and what’s made it tick for over 55 years.

Over the course of its early missions, Strange New Worlds has developed a knack for putting a slick, modern spin on classic Trek tropes, such as the first contact scenario, interstellar warfare, and even ship-based comedy. Now, this sixth outing explores the commonly recurring theme of Starfleet encountering an alien race with morally dubious practices, while also giving the ship’s captain an excuse for a spot of alien romance. 

The problem with ‘Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach’, however, is that the show’s now-trademark snappy dialogue, slick set design, and wonderful cast aren’t quite enough to mask the over-familiarity of the story. In other words, if you’ve watched a few episodes of the original series or The Next Generation, you’ll have a pretty good idea where this one’s going before it’s even made it to the opening credits.

It begins – as Star Trek stories often do – with a distress call. A Majalan vessel is being pursued by a hostile ship which, despite being completely outgunned by the flagship of the Federation, is foolhardy enough to turn its phasers on the Enterprise. Starfleet protocol – along with Pike’s conscience – compel the crew to intervene, and after shooting down the aggressors, they beam the survivors on board. 

By some cosmic coincidence, one of them is Alora, a woman Pike rescued from a spot of bother with a pulsar ten years earlier. It doesn’t take long for sparks to start flying in the transporter room. 

“You have bad luck with shuttles,” says Pike. 

“Or good, depending on how you look at it,” Alora replies, hinting that their relationship isn’t just platonic

The most interesting member of the party, however, is a child known as the “First Servant”. Extending a long tradition of kids in Star Trek (and sci-fi in general) with disarmingly high intelligence, he’s a holy figure in Majalan culture, the embodiment of their maxims of “science, service, sacrifice” who’s left his family behind in favor of the so-called greater good. As such, the boy must be protected at all costs, to the point where his stuffy guardian, Elder Gamal, won’t let Dr M’Benga and Nurse Chapel use their primitive “abattoir” tools to treat his injuries. 

The fact that this technologically advanced civilization has never appeared in Star Trek before is an early indicator that something sinister may be lurking beneath their friendly surface. After all, any race that can live in floating fairytale castles – their capital city looks like a cross between Naboo in The Phantom Menace and something from Flash Gordon – and use holographic computer terminals would surely have become a major asset to the Federation under normal circumstances. M’Benga even realizes that their medical tech has the potential to cure Rukiya – the terminally ill daughter he keeps alive in the medical transporter’s pattern buffer – though Gamal’s initial refusal to share Majalan tech with outsiders is an early indicator that this is a species that doesn’t play well with others. 

It’s ultimately Cadet Uhura who gets to the heart of the problem. One of Strange New Worlds’ smartest moves has been using the rookie’s on-the-job education as an introduction to key crew members and areas of the ship. This week she’s under the tutelage of security chief La’an, whose core lessons – among them the memorable “threats never take breaks” – will surely be adorning t-shirts before long.

These security guidelines intertwine perfectly with the Majalan plot. Most pivotal on the list is lesson 6, which concerns knowing how and when to bend the rules. La’an realizes that something isn’t quite right in the wreckage of the ship Uhura shot down in the episode’s cold open – in hindsight, it seems a tad harsh to ask the work experience to disable an enemy craft – so, with the ship’s translators out of bounds during an unofficial investigation, asks the young linguistics expert to have a deeper, eyes-only look at their communications. Despite Alora’s claims that the residents of Prospect VII are an enemy colony, Uhura realizes that the similarities in their respective languages can mean only one thing – they’re descendants of Majalan. It’s subsequently revealed that they left this apparent utopia to escape the dark goings on in the background, in a plot line that shows remarkable echoes of the Ba’ku and Son’a in Star Trek: Insurrection.

Uhura’s impressive detective work proves slightly annoying for Pike, because it interrupts his very intimate diplomatic sessions with Alora. When their pillow talk shifts to chat about the future – and Pike’s own, well-publicized grisly fate – she offers the planet’s services for medical assistance. Anyone who’s seen original series two-parter ‘The Menagerie’ will be wondering if this is where the idea for his telepathic recuperation was seeded.

Ultimately, however, Pike’s inherent decency means he was never going to accept Majalan hospitality for long. Despite his Starfleet training, he finds it impossible to disguise his disgust at the revelation that the First Servant’s “ascension” involves plugging him into the city’s computer mainframe to become the central processor of the machines that keep the city hovering above the lava and acid on the planet’s surface. Seeing invasive wires attach themselves to the kid is a genuinely brutal moment, and the boy’s fear is palpable as we watch his self being lost to the machine forever – the fact that Alora claims they’ve been looking for a more humane alternative doesn’t make the scenes any easier to accept.

The barbaric nature of the ritual makes you see the actions of Elder Gamal in an entirely different light. Having sacrificed everything to team up with Prospect VII to rescue the boy, he could have been the hero of the episode had everything gone to plan – indeed, he must have been inwardly cursing the well-meaning Enterprise crew for thwarting his ingenious scheme to fake the First Servant’s death.

But that’s the point of the episode. The Kobayashi Maru – the no-win scenario – is one of Star Trek’s longest-standing themes, but it’s rarely been explored as subtly and cleverly as it is here. The Enterprise was duty-bound to work out what happened to the First Servant after his abduction from the transporter room, yet their typically diligent work essentially sentenced the boy to ‘death’. And once the process of ascending had begun, standard protocols ensured Pike was powerless to intervene – beyond, presumably, putting Majalan on some kind of Federation blacklist.

Even when Strange New Worlds isn’t firing at maximum warp, it remains a brilliantly made slice of weekly sci-fi action. ‘Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach’ is just that little bit too familiar to engage as much as its predecessors.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently airing now in the US on Paramount Plus. The streaming service launches in the UK on June 22. For more, check out our guide to the Star Trek timeline .

Richard is a freelancer journalist and editor, and was once a physicist. Rich is the former editor of SFX Magazine, but has since gone freelance, writing for websites and publications including GamesRadar+, SFX, Total Film, and more. He also co-hosts the podcast, Robby the Robot's Waiting, which is focused on sci-fi and fantasy. 

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PREVIEW – Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 6

We’re already over the halfway mark for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 . As such, the second season’s sixth episode is airing later this week. Titled “Lost in Translation”, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 6 looks like the Uhura (Celia Rose-Gooding) episode we have been expecting. For example, ever since the early trailers for season 2, we’ve been wondering if the series will explore more of the character’s past. This looks to be the case, especially as hallucinations are mentioned in the episode synopsis.

Each week Trek Central has brand new preview material for  Strange New Worlds . The episode is written by Onitra Johnson & David Reed while being Directed by Dan Li. Following this week’s sixth episode of season 2. We also have the Star Trek: Lower Decks crossover episode. Additionally, this week is San Diego Comic-Con week . Therefore, there is potential for a glimpse at the Star Trek Universe once again.

Uhura seems to be the only one who can hear a strange sound. When the noise triggers terrifying hallucinations, she enlists an unlikely assistant to help her track down the source. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 6 “Lost in Translation” – Episode Synopsis

Preview Pictures

Brand new preview pictures for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 6 give us a glimpse of the upcoming episode. First up, we’ve got a fresh look at the latest Chief Engineer of the USS Enterprise. Carol Kane’s Pelia has already made quite an impact. Sadly she was absent from last week’s episode. However, perhaps we’ll spend more time with her this week. For example, based on the preview clip, we might see her doing engineering work.

In a not-so-surprising reveal, if you’ve watched the trailers, Paul Wesley returns as Lieutenant James T Kirk . What he is doing onboard the Enterprise is unknown currently. However, he does appear to be working alongside his brother, Sam Kirk (Dan Jeannotte) . Perhaps Kirk might be under suspicion for whatever happens to the ship and crew in his episode. Finally, we’ve got shots of Uhura looking serious with a phaser. Though one shot may point to something we’ve theorised about for some time now.

The picture of Uhura standing on grass, clearly observing something, likely links with the trailer of her looking at a shuttle crash. Previous Star Trek media informs us that Uhura’s family were tragically killed in a shuttlecraft accident. We’ve long theorized that this episode’s “hallucinations” element might force her to relive these traumatic memories. Additionally, based on trailers, it links with a conversation she has with James T Kirk.

The Ready Room Preview Clip

Last week, as always, The Ready Room Aftershow with Wil Wheaton gave us a preview of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 6 . While the word “sabotage” might interest everyone, something else is worth pointing out. The location that Number One (Rebecca Romjin) and Chief Engineer Pelia (Carol Kane ) find themselves in looks oddly familiar. This looks like it could be the USS Enterprise Warp Nacelle control areas. Maybe not, though, as they are working on life support.

Still, it reminds me of the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “The Catwalk”. This is where Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and his crew had to spend eight days inside the maintenance shafts of the warp nacelles. I doubt that is what is going on here. However, it seems like the Enterprise is perhaps a victim of sabotage. This could be a ruse linked to whatever is happening with Uhura in this upcoming episode. It would link both the A plot and B plot together nicely.

While we await this week’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 6 , it’s worth pointing out something. The upcoming seventh episode of Strange New Worlds season 2 is our Star Trek: Lower Decks crossover episode . It’s something fans have been looking forward to since it was announced. We’ve already seen Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) in the trailers for the second season. With San Diego Comic-Con taking place this week, it’s possible we might get another extended look.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams via Paramount+ in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Latin America, France, Germany, Brazil, South Korea (via Tving), France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland & Austria. As well as CTV Scifi / Crave in Canada, & TVNZ in New Zealand. And on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Central and Eastern Europe.

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Screen Rant

7 times pike & kirk’s enterprise was hijacked in star trek.

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Star Trek: How Every USS Enterprise Was Destroyed (& Which Weren't)

Khan is actually right to hate kirk in star trek ii, i don't care if modern star trek breaks established canon.

• Starfleet's flagship, the USS Enterprise, is a coveted prize for hijackers due to its status as a powerful and advanced starship.
• Various characters, from Spock to Khan, have hijacked the Enterprise for personal reasons, testing the crew's resilience and diplomatic skills.
• While hijackings may cause initial tension, the Enterprise crew often resolves conflicts through negotiation, reflecting the ethos of unity in Star Trek.

More than a handful of times, Star Trek 's original USS Enterprise has been hijacked from under the command of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) or Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). Throughout Star Trek: The Original Series , the subsequent Star Trek films with the TOS cast, and the prequel series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , control of Starfleet's flagship isn't always in the capable hands of the Captain of the USS Enterprise . But what makes the Starship Enterprise such an easy target for hijackers with their own agenda?

Being Starfleet's flagship makes every version of the USS Enterprise a jewel in the metaphorical crown of would-be takers. The Enterprise is a status symbol, so taking the starship might be a point of pride, especially for hijackers who fancy themselves conquerers from across the stars, or from Earth's past. More to the point, the Enterprise is also a powerful starship with advanced technology that not everyone has access to. And in a few cases, it's only a hijacking in the most technical of senses, depending on how you look at it. Here are the culprits who (briefly) absconded with Captain Pike and Kirk's Starship Enterprise.

Star Trek has a long history of great starships called the Enterprise — and an equally long history of blowing those ships to smithereens.

7 Captain Angel (Jesse James Keitel)

Star trek: strange new worlds season 1, episode 7 - “the serene squall”.

Captain Angel's plan to hijack the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 7, “The Serene Squall”, is characterized by a series of reversals. Angel boards the USS Enterprise under seemingly genuine intentions , disguised as humanitarian counselor Dr. Aspen, and the colony ship that Pike, Number One (Rebecca Romijn), and Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) agree to help turns out to be the pirate vessel Serene Squall. With Pike's landing party indisposed aboard the Squall , Angel is free to slink into the Captain's chair on the Enterprise.

With the Starship Enterprise's power, Angel believes they can rescue their Vulcan lover Xaverius from the Ankeshtan K'til rehabilitation center. Although Angel is foiled, there's one final reversal in "The Serene Squall": Xaverius is revealed to be Spock's half-brother Sybok . This plot point remains unresolved after Strange New Worlds season 2, but hopefully, Angel and Sybok will return in future episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

6 Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck)

Star trek: strange new worlds season 2, episode 1 - "the broken circle".

Under strict orders to keep the USS Enterprise in dry dock during routine inspections and upgrades, Lieutenant Spock logically breaks orders to rescue Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 1 , "The Broken Circle". With Captain Christopher Pike on personal leave, and Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) in custody for being a genetically-enhanced Illyrian, Lieutenant Spock is not quite in command of the Enterprise so much as he is babysitting the starship.

Spock's decision to hijack the Enterprise is driven by an all-too-human "hunch".

Spock's decision to hijack the Enterprise is driven by an all-too-human "hunch" that La'an's distress call is legit, but Spock still frames the decision as one driven by logic. Aided by inspector-turned-chief-engineer Commander Pelia (Carol Kane) and pilot Lieutenant Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), Spock manages to pull off an enormous and decidedly un-Vulcan act of deception for the sake of La'an's safety. Trusting his intuition is just another step in Spock's exploration of humanity throughout Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seasons 1 & 2.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

5 commander spock (leonard nimoy), star trek: the original series season 1, epsodes 15 & 16 - "the menagerie".

Mr. Spock hijacks the USS Enterprise once again, this time to save a severely disfigured Captain Christopher Pike (Sean Kenney), in Star Trek: The Original Series ' only 2-parter, season 1, episodes 15 & 16, "The Menagerie". Splicing new footage with scenes from TOS ' original pilot, "The Cage", when Captain Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) first discovers Talos IV, "The Menagerie" takes us to the courtroom where Spock defends his actions to commandeer the Enterprise.

The Talosians, Spock explains, have the technology to improve Pike's quality of life, which is nonexistent following the accident that confined Pike's active mind within an unresponsive physical body. To Spock, Pike's well-being is worth every consequence that comes with not just hijacking the Enterprise , but also breaking Starfleet's General Order 7: to steer clear of Talos IV, under penalty of death. Fortunately, Spock's argument makes sense to Starfleet, and Christopher Pike can live out his days in the Talosian fantasy world that Pike originally rejected.

4 Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán)

Star trek: the original series season 1, episode 24 - "space seed".

Khan Noonien Singh is revived from stasis when the USS Enterprise encounters the SS Botany Bay in Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, episode 24, "Space Seed". Despite the battle of wits between Khan and Captain Kirk, Khan believes he must act according to his despotic nature. A conqueror must conquer, and so Khan does what he did in Star Trek 's Eugenics Wars, taking control of the USS Enterprise with his genetically engineered acolytes . Smartly, Khan takes Engineering first, since Augments like himself require less oxygen than the Enterprise's crew. With life support threatened, Khan has the upper hand over Kirk.

Kirk recognizes that Khan can't be overpowered or contained.

Not one to be outdone so easily, Captain Kirk recognizes that Khan can't be overpowered or contained. Rather than attempt to imprison Khan and the Augments again, Kirk drops Khan off at Ceti Alpha V . There, Khan's people can fend for themselves and build the grand society that Khan dreams of ruling. That should be totally fine and cause absolutely no problems for Kirk later on, right?

Khan was a maniac bent on revenge in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan but his hatred of Kirk and Starfleet actually comes from a legitimate grievance.

3 Rojan (Warren Stevens) & Kelinda (Barbara Bouchet) Of The Kelvan Empire

Star trek: the original series season 2, episode 21 - "by any other name".

With a fake distress call, Rojan, Kelinda, and 3 other representatives of the Kelvan Empire lure the USS Enterprise into their control in Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 21, “By Any Other Name”. The Kelvans are from the dying Andromeda Galaxy, and they've found the Milky Way is a suitable replacement for their civilization, but their own ships were destroyed. As conquerors, Rojan and Kelinda believe their only chance to return home with the good news is to hijack the Enterprise . Under the Kelvans, only Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty are spared from being "reduced" into geometric solids, and it's up to them to take back control.

Unable to describe an alcoholic beverage to Rojan, Scotty declares, "it's green." The same gag is repeated by Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) to Scotty himself in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6, episode 4, "Relics".

Star Trek: The Original Series

Not available

2 Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner)

Star trek iii: the search for spock.

Some may argue that it's not really hijacking if it's taking back your own ship, but because the USS Enterprise is set for decommission instead of a refit, that's exactly what Admiral James T. Kirk does in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . Starfleet Command does their best to keep Kirk in line by reassigning the Enterprise crew and setting up a quarantine around tself-destructing Genesis Planet , but that won't stop Admiral Kirk from rescuing Spock. With Dr. McCoy in possession of Spock's katra, Kirk successfully hijacks the Enterprise from space dock and returns to the Genesis Planet , where Spock's body was left after Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

1 Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill)

Star trek v: the final frontier.

In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill) believes beyond a doubt that the USS Enterprise can take Sybok and his Galactic Army of Light to Sha Ka Ree, a mythical world beyond the Great Barrier at the center of the galaxy. After taking the shuttlecraft Galileo, it's on to the Enterprise, and off to the Great Barrier. The Enterprise might have been safe if Spock had followed Kirk's order to shoot Sybok, but Spock couldn't bring himself to fire, since Sybok is one of Spock's many secret family members .

While in command of the ill-gotten starship, Sybok has difficulty convincing the Enterprise crew members to share in Sybok's philosophy of being free from pain, as Sybok had done with his other followers. Sha Ka Ree seems within reach, as Sybok is vindicated by the presence of a theoretical god at the Great Barrier . When the malevolent entity (George Murdock) —who is not actually God, as Sybok believed — wants to take the Enterprise from Sybok, as Sybok took the Enterprise from Kirk, the turned tables awaken Sybok to his folly.

Besides the sheer determination that Kirk or Spock have when trying to use the Enterprise for their own personal means, these stories don't discount the fear that the Enterprise crew might feel when outsiders take their starship, but things have a way of working out for the USS Enterprise , of course. More often than not, the Enterprise's hijackers are stopped by negotiation or appealing to the hijackers' reason rather than by violence, proving that Star Trek 's ethos of bridging differences is usually more effective in the 23rd century than resorting to humanity's baser instincts.

The 10 Best Captain Picard Episodes in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' Ranked

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Star Trek: The Next Generation isn’t just one of the best installments in the Star Trek franchise, but one of the greatest drama shows of all time . While the original Star Trek series was sadly canceled after the end of its third season, Star Trek: The Next Generation was given the chance to keep pushing the story forward for over seven years.

Although there are many beloved characters in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Patrick Stewart’s performance as Captain Jean-Luc Picard turned him into the greatest hero in the history of the Star Trek saga . Stewart crafted a complex, vulnerable hero who was defined by his dedication, principles, and willingness to hear both sides of any given dispute; he’s simply a character that everyone should aspire to be like. Here are the ten best Captain Picard episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Star Trek: The Next Generation

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10 “The Measure of a Man”

Season 2, episode 9 (1989).

There are few relationships in the Star Trek franchise that are more profound than the dynamic between Picard and Data ( Brett Spiner ), the android who serves as one of the most important officers on the U.S.S. Enterprise. “The Measure of a Man” featured Picard serving as Data’s defender in a legal case in which he must defend his right to exist. The discussion about the merits of artificial intelligence is just as relevant today as they were when the episode first aired in 1989.

“Measure of a Man” showed that Picard was willing to stand up for the rights of those that were mistreated , as Star Trek has always been an incredibly progressive franchise when compared to other science fiction properties. This episode solidified the fact that Picard was willing to risk his own livelihood if the safety of one of his crew members was ever placed in danger.

9 “The Best of Both Worlds”

Season 3, episode 26 & season 4, episode 1 (1990).

“The Best of Both Worlds” is one of the most important episodes of any Star Trek series, as the first installment of the two-parter that ended the third season had a massive cliffhanger that had viewers screaming at their televisions. The episode featured Picard being captured by the Borg, with his replacement Captain William T. Riker ( Jonathan Frakes ) put in a position that could end his life.

“The Best of Both Worlds” was the first instance in which Picard felt completely vulnerable , as it was feasible that he could get killed off and replaced by Riker for the rest of the show. Although Picard ended up surviving the incident, his feud with the Borg as a result of his torture left him with a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder that he continued to deal with for the rest of the series.

8 “Family”

Season 4, episode 2 (1990).

“Family” was a critical episode that helped to humanize Picard and showed what his family life looked like for the first time. Although Picard rarely discussed his personal motivations and background with members of his crew during the first three seasons of the show, “Family” saw him returning to visit his family farm after his traumatic encounter with the Borg in “The Best of Both Worlds.”

“Family” was an important shift in tone for Star Trek: The Next Generation that helped follow up the action of “The Best of Both Worlds,” and did a great job at showing how Picard was dealing with his personal mental health in the series after such a frightening incident. Stewart is arguably at his most profound and emotional in “Family,” as the episode strips away all the duties of command from Picard and examines what it is like for him to live a normal life outside of Starfleet.

7 “The Drumhead”

Season 4, episode 21 (1991).

Star Trek has always been a very political franchise that touches on hot-button issues, and “The Drumhead” explores a scary situation about the denial of truth that has proven to be just as relevant today in an era of political divisiveness and fake news. After a member of his crew is accused of being a traitor, Picard is forced to prevent a representative of Starfleet from badgering everyone under his command and impeding their civil liberties.

“The Drumhead” plays out like a legal thriller, and feels just as exciting as the courtroom dramas that dominated the 1990s . While it is relatively light on action compared to some of the more intense episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “The Drumhead” proved that the series was capable of developing nuanced ideas about what the future would look like under Gene Roddenberry ’s vision.

6 “Darmok”

Season 5, episode 2 (1991).

“Darmok” is perhaps the most intimate episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation , as it sees Picard being trapped in a primitive world where he can only communicate with the native species using rudimentary language. The episode shows just how effective of a hero Picard can be, even if he seems to enjoy being in the company of a crew that supports him.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is well known for making interesting genre deviations, and “Darmok” feels like the closest that the series ever got to a Western adventure story . Although some viewers may have felt the same exact confusion and frustration that Picard did when the premise was first established, “Darmok” ends with one of the most powerful emotional revelations about the ability that Picard has to inspire others in all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

5 “Conundrum”

Season 5, episode 14 (1992).

“Conundrum” is one of the most imaginative episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation , as it takes place after a mysterious alien virus forces the entire crew to forget their memories, leaving them helpless in the middle of space. This was an episode that essentially showed how the Enterprise crew could be built again from the ground up, as Picard is the first one to assess the parameters of the mystery and start developing a solution to keep everyone safe.

“Conundrum” was one of the best episodes that showed Stewart’s generosity as an actor , as even though it is Picard’s moment to shine as a leader, every single member of the cast is given a standout moment. The success of “Conundrum” in combining the emotional with the practical is a major reason why the fifth season is often cited as the best that Star Trek: The Next Generation ever aired.

4 “Cause and Effect”

Season 5, episode 18 (1992).

Time travel is notoriously a concept that is very difficult to capture on screen in a compelling way, as it is very easy to get so confusing that viewers struggle to understand what the stakes are supposed to be. However, “Cause and Effect” presented a brilliant time travel storyline in which Picard and the crew of the Enterprise are trapped in a recurring loop that could doom them for eternity.

“Cause and Effect” was a great example of Star Trek: The Next Generation showing Picard’s abilities as a strategist . While many of the captains established in other shows and films in the Star Trek franchise earned their rank through military conquest, it's Picard’s intelligence and ability to make rational decisions while under pressure that make him such an all-time great character. “Cause and Effect” succeeds because Stewart understands this fundamental truth about the character.

3 “The Inner Light”

Season 5, episode 25 (1992).

“The Inner Light” is perhaps the most emotional episode of the entire Star Trek franchise, and would have earned Stewart a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series had the Television Academy not been so notoriously biased against science fiction and other genre shows. The episode takes place entirely in Picard’s mind, as he begins to live out different fantasies about what an alternate life could look like when he is unconscious.

“The Inner Light” revealed truths about Picard as a character , showing how his unflinching willingness to perform his duty against mitigating circumstances put a severe detriment on his ability to start a family. There isn’t another episode more tear-jerking as “The Inner Light,” as Stewart reveals how Picard is dealing with the burdens of his sacrifices, and how it has been taken for granted by those who serve under him.

2 “Tapestry”

Season 6, episode 15 (1993).

“Tapestry” was an integral episode that revealed that Picard himself was flawed , as his encounter with Q ( John de Lancie ) allows him to travel back to moments from his past and reflect on the mistakes that he made as a young man. Essentially serving as a coming-of-age story about Picard’s youth, “Tapestry” showed that even someone that noble had elements of their past that they had buried deep within their minds.

The dynamic between Q and Picard is one of the show’s most interesting, as the two have completely different outlooks on humanity and its potential. While Q uses the mistakes that humanity has made as evidence that they are beyond reason, Picard argues that humans are capable of being empathetic, compassionate, and willing to redeem themselves. It’s Picard’s faith in others and general optimism about the future that makes him such an inspiring character.

1 “All Good Things…”

Season 7, episode 25 (1994).

There aren’t many shows that end on a perfect note, as many acclaimed programs like Game of Thrones , House of Cards , Killing Eve , and Battlestar Galactica had such underwhelming series finales that fans questioned why they were ever loyal to the shows in the first place. However, Star Trek: The Next Generation ended on a perfect note with “All Good Things…,” an episode that featured a profound moment where Picard was able to thank every member of the crew for their dedication to the Enterprise .

“All Good Things…” showed that Star Trek: The Next Generation was more interested in developing great characters than overwhelming the viewers with action, as it takes a far more philosophical approach to a series finale than some may have expected. A final shot of Picard playing cards with various crew members was the perfect way to wrap up the show.

NEXT: Every 'Star Trek' TV Show (So Far), Ranked