Stardate: 2510.6
Original Air Date: June 30, 2022
Writer: Davy Perez
Director: Christopher J. Byrne
“You create bonds. It’s a gift. Of course, the people you care about are going to cause you pain, but the love it yields will far outweigh the sorrow.”
In Cadet Uhura’s personal log, she explains that her assignment to the Enterprise is coming to an end. After delivering Vidium power cells to deep space station K-7, the Enterprise is set to return to earth. She is excited to see her grandmother again. By now, Uhura has rotated through nearly every department and realizes that she admires and even envies her fellow crewmen. Promotions are granted to ensigns in a celebration (like Ensign Duke who is promoted to Lieutenant) but Uhura is still unsure if she plans to remain in Starfleet. Smiling, Pike reassures her that “there will always be a place on the Enterprise for Nyota Uhura.”
Suddenly, Spock interrupts the celebration with an incoming message from Starfleet for a “Priority One” mission. Approximately, four days ago the USS Peregrine activated a distress beacon before losing all contact. It took two days for the signal to reach Starfleet. At the time of transmission, the Peregrine was making an unscheduled emergency landing on a Class-L planet known as Valeo Beta V. It made its descent to the planet but then was lost mid-transmission. Spock notes that this likely resulted from interference on Valeo Beta V. The planet’s upper atmosphere is littered with charged nitrate ions –the planet is a “known dead zone” according to Una/Number One. La’an makes note that the Peregrine is a “Sombra class ship” which is unique –apparently Dr. M’Benga previously served on a Sombra class ship, they are fast ships, constructed with the same parts as a Constitution class ship. The Peregrine had apparently gone off the grid gathering data in uncharted sectors. Why? The mission for the Enterprise is to aid whatever crew can be found and, if possible, retrieve the missing ship. However, what are we to make of the Enterprise’s already existing mission of delivering Vidium power cells to deep space station K-7? Without these vital power cells, the station will quickly go dark (including life support systems) and the nearest ship which could transport the cells is still about a week away. To complicate matters, Vidium cells will decay in transit rendering them useless if they are delayed. La’an advises that the Enterprise split up by sending a landing party to make repairs on Valeo Beta V and treat the wounded, while the ship transports the Vidium cells to K-7. It’s a risky idea since the planet surface is a communication dead zone, but Captain Pike remains optimistic and intends to personally oversee the landing party. He is joined by Spock, Hemmer, Uhura, Nurse Chapel, La’an, Lt. Kirk, and a few others.
Taking two shuttlecrafts, they land upon the craggy, frigid, tundra of Valeo Beta V, where geothermal anomalies have forced the crew to land several kilometers from the Peregrine. They are forced to hike upward toward the massive ship which stands protruding out of the rocky ground. The crew must work quickly since this area is highly volatile. There are heavy winds –an ice storm is set to strike in approximately six hours (the wind reminds Hemmer of Andoria). After finding no life signs, they soon spot many dead bodies hacked apart with blood trailing after them –20 or so corpses of the Peregrine crew whose suits have been ripped apart. Lt. Kirk and others also find a horrifying shape in the snow.
Among the dark, dimly lit wreckage of the Peregrine, the crew pull up the final captain’s log (recorded about a week after the ship crashed): the Peregrine was mapping non-Federation when they found three castaways on an M-class planet –a human girl, a humanoid of unknown origin, and an Orion named Pasko. These three are rescued, but Pasko was infected with Gorn eggs. Shortly thereafter, much of her crew did not survive. Her singular final message to Starfleet is to “stay away.”
Then Uhura picks up life signs from one human and one non-human. They quickly encounter an unknown alien creature dubbed “Buckley” who is protecting a young girl named Oriana. La’an is hostile toward these two, but Dr. M’Benga suggests taking a calmer path. Just then Lt. Duke is killed by a Gorn right in front of them, and he is dragged off down a bloody trail. “Buckley” starts hyperventilating with an elevated heart rate and tiny Gorn creatures begin bursting forth from his body, ultimately killing him. This sets up an intense scenario in which the crew attempt to flush out the rapidly growing Gorn, ultimately killing him in the end by freezing/liquid nitrogen.
However, in the process Hemmer was sprayed with Gorn eggs and they begin hatching. Realizing he must die in order to save his crewmen, he says: “My sacrifice will save the lives of those I care most about. For me there is no other choice.” He leaves Uhura with one final piece of advice: “Open yourself. Make a home for yourself among others and you will find joy more often than sadness.” He then steps outside the ship and willingly leaps to his death. It is a tragic but fitting and heroic death for the fan-favorite chief of engineering.
In the end, Spock realizes he has unleashed his inner human rage and pain, feelings which he believes have made his mind weak. Also, La’an requests a formal leave of absence from Starfleet to help the young girl Oriana find her family somewhere outside Federation space –La’an wants to help her because she knows what it feels like to be alone. The episode ends with Uhura sorrowfully reflecting on the loss of Hemmer, she gazes across the bridge at what will become her future communications station.
My Thoughts on “All Those Who Wander”
Ominous, dark, and horrifying, this episode displays a far more terrifying concept of the Gorn than the campy dinosaur costume that was featured in the TOS episode “Arena.” Reminiscent of classic science fiction horror tropes as in films like Alien and Predator, “All Those Who Wander” is a bit derivative but it still packs a good punch. I was especially drawn to the ominous, abandoned aesthetic of the USS Peregrine.
Admittedly I am a little on the fence about portraying the Gorn as essentially akin to CGI/puppet xenomorphs, and I really cannot get around Spock’s sudden ability to unleash his human rage, yet I cannot deny the greatness of these SNW episodes. In “All Those Who Wander” we are given a sad, magnanimous death for the ship’s chief engineering officer Hemmer. The stakes are high, especially if SNW can kill-off a fan favorite character, even in an homage to the great sci-fi horror films of yesteryear.
Star Trek Trivia:
- Spock alludes to the teachers of Surak who show how to purge feelings like pride from Vulcans.
- Curiously, at the beginning of this episode La’an has been taking some “scheduled personal health time” with Dr. Sanchez in “Starfleet Recovery Assistance.”
- This episode fills in more of the biological life cycle of the Gorn –they require a host for the birth of their hatchlings using a spray function. As younglings, they battle each other for alpha dominance.
- Ensign Duke and Ensign Chiya both represent the “red shirts” in this episode –they are newly introduced and then promptly killed.
- At one point, Spock remarks: “the rage that is in my thoughts I let into my heart” and then promptly goes into an animalistic rage. Is this a brazen retcon of the Vulcan way?
- The USS Peregrine is a Sombra-class ship, rather than a Constitution class ship. Dr. M’Benga previously served on a Sombra class ship.
- Hemmer’s last words are “just like Andoria” as he admires the cold windy planet of Valeo Beta V before he falls to his death.
- The title of this episode is a reference to the Tolkein quote “not all those who wander are lost.”