Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 did a stealth Star Trek: The Original Series remake. In both the old and new versions, the USS Enterprise arrives at a mining operation where workers are being attacked by an undetectable enemy. In TOS season 1, episode 26, “The Devil in the Dark”, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) investigate the deaths halting operation in the mines on Janus VI. Over 50 miners have been killed by an unknown creature, which turns out to be the silicon-based Horta. Spock’s mind meld reveals she’s sabotaging the mine to prevent the miners from continuing to kill her children.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 6, “Lost in Translation” sees Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) assist the USS Farragut, represented by Lt. James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley), in bringing the deuterium mine in Bannon’s Nebula online after its startup has been mysteriously stalled due to suspected sabotage. Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) is meanwhile experiencing frightening hallucinations, which she discovers are actually messages from aliens living in the nebula, who are attempting to communicate that the Federation mining operation is killing them, and should be stopped.
Strange New Worlds Season 2 Did A Stealth Remake Of A Classic Star Trek: TOS Episode
As a stealth remake, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Lost in Translation” uses themes and plot points from Star Trek: The Original Series “The Devil in the Dark” to update the story. Like the miners on Janus VI unknowingly killing the Horta’s children, Starfleet’s ignorance while mining deuterium kills the aliens in Bannon’s Nebula. The Horta and nebula aliens all try and fail to communicate that they’re being harmed until someone from the Enterprise interprets their signals to save them. Both stories show how stripping an area of natural resources affects the creatures living there, and both center the respect for life, even in forms not yet understood.
Star Trek: The Original Series tells a thought-provoking if relatively conventional story, but Star Trek: Strange New Worlds elevates it for a modern audience. TOS begins with a miner’s death, so Kirk and Spock already know something is killing people in the mines. From there the straightforward mystery reveals the culprit is the Horta, who wants to protect her eggs. On Strange New Worlds the mining sabotage, Uhura’s hallucinations, and the aliens’ existence are slowly connected through a character-driven story about Uhura’s grief. The direct mental contact initiated by the aliens is also a subversion of Spock’s mind meld: now, the unknown explains itself aggressively instead of waiting to be asked.
Did Spock in Star Trek: TOS Learn From Uhura’s Empathy In Strange New Worlds?
Could Spock’s unusual empathy for the Horta in Star Trek: The Original Series have been prompted by Ensign Uhura’s example in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds? Spock guesses that the silicon-based Horta even exists in the first place, different from the carbon-based “life as we know it”, and makes the decision to communicate with her using a mind meld, which is very much like the way the Bannon’s Nebula aliens communicate with Uhura. Strange New Worlds shows Spock and Uhura are both crew members on Pike’s Enterprise, and the end of “Lost in Translation” shows them conferring over recent events, so it’s entirely possible that Uhura’s experience inspired Spock.
The common element in both of these episodes, however, is James T. Kirk. Shatner’s Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series stays Spock’s hand when Spock enters the Horta’s cave with a phaser, after Kirk’s own attempt to communicate ends in a draw. Wesley’s Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds believes Uhura’s visions are real and helps investigate their origin before encouraging Uhura to take their findings to Captain Pike. James Kirk’s broad capacity for empathy is on full display in both cases, and brings out the same in both Spock and Uhura, allowing them each to take the initiative to discover the truth.
