Stardate: 2449.1
Original Air Date: July 24, 2025
Writers: Onitra Johnson & Bill Wolkoff
Director: Dan Liu
“You’re not a monster, Joseph.”
The Enterprise has embarked on a routine scanning mission which gives Captain Marie Batel and Pike some time to enjoy their last few days together before she needs to depart for her own ship. However, Pike suddenly finds her lying on the floor unresponsive. The invasive Gorn tissue has returned in her body, but there is hope –Spock has found a rare plant called the “Chimera Blossom” that is rumored to contain a chemical compound that is universal in its ability to move invasive molecules through cell membranes. However, the one place the Chimera Blossom is likely to be found is on a planet called Kenfori which is in restricted space in a no-fly zone system. Kenfori was once the location of a Federation Research Facility focused mainly on frontier farming, specifically crop longevity, before the Klingons invaded during the war and the region fell into dispute. After the war ended, both sides agreed to abandon Kenfori. The treaty line is located at the edge of a giant dust belt.
Thus, in order to retrieve the Chimera Blossom, Pike is joined by Dr. M’Benga on a highly risky shuttle trip through the asteroid belt to Kenfori where comms are down after passing through the belt. The stakes are high if the shuttle is discovered as this mission will have to be completely off the books. Very quickly Pike and M’Benga encounter an object, is it an old Klingon mine? It turns out to be a Klingon warning buoy to turn back.
Once they arrive on the thick jungle surface, there are no life signs, only flora and no fauna. They ominously find a Klingon skeleton whose rib cage has been ripped open, likely killed by some animal after the evacuation. Once inside the abandoned research facility, they find samples of the Chimera Blossom… but also a severed human leg.
Then the Enterprise picks up a minor EM flux moving in an irregular pattern towards Kenfori at Section Eight, mark 15-29-4. It turns out to be a Klingon battlecruiser. It flies down to the planet surface and destroys the shuttle Pike and M’Benga had manned. It turns out to be a Klingon “hunting party” that follows Pike and M’Benga and a shootout starts but right when the Klingons have crewmen cornered, a pack of creepy bestial species akin to zombies pops out of the shadows and begins attacking the Klingons. M’Benga recalls the lab’s data –the scientists used an agent from the Chimera Blossom for gene modification from a perennial moss, a moss that can live and grow anywhere, it lays dormant but never dies, a “super crop.” But things went haywire when the Klingons attacked Kenfori without any regard for safety protocols.
Meanwhile, back on the Enterprise, Captain Batel’s pain increases. Spock performs a mind-meld to help ease her suffering using Vulcan meditation technique but Spock quickly loses control inside her mind and it temporarily sends him into a violent rage. The Enterprise plots a course to reach Kenfori in four hours to avoid detection by the Klingons, but Ortegas suggests warping into the low planetary atmosphere –a very dangerous maneuver she has never performed before– but Number One (Una Chin-Riley has been left in charge while Captain Pike is away) chooses Spock’s slow-moving plan which angers Ortegas.
On Kenfori, the Klingon leader named Bytha (pronounced “Bye-Thah” and played by Christine Horn) saves them Pike and M’Benga from almost certain death by the “zombies.” The three of them escape to a conveniently located small shield emitter that keeps the “zombies” at bay, but it turns out Bytha was tracking Dr. M’Benga with a viridium device –she is the daughter of Dak’Rah, champion of House Rah’Ul (“the butcher of J’Gal” who previously appeared in the Season Two episode “Under The Cloak of War”). Bytha claims she desires vengeance on M’Benga for killing for her father, but not in the way you might expect. She despised her father and wanted to assassinate him herself. Now she wants to regain the honor of her house by assassinating the killer of her father. How did she track the Enterprise with her viridium tracker? She cautions: “When a R’ongovian offers you a drink, never eat the olives” (a reference to the previous episode “Spock Amok“).
M’Benga and Bytha fight to the death using knives but M’Benga ultimately spares her life and M’Benga admits he assassinated her father. In order to avoid the shame for herself, Bytha sacrifices herself with an honorable death being eaten by the “zombies,” while Scotty narrowly manages to beam up Pike and M’Benga after the Enterprise was diverted from its slow course when it was being spotted and tailed by the Klingons. Will the retrieved Chimera Blossom save Captain Batel? Only time will tell. But as it turns out, Ortegas disobeyed Number One’s orders in order to push her own plan during this rescue mission. She has been agitated ever since her encounter with the Gorn. After this wild misadventure ends, Ortegas is chastised for insubordination by Una. Ortegas is pulled from the duty roster for two weeks wherein she needs to report to the warrant officer for chain-of-command training. At the same time, Pike agrees not to report Dr. M’Benga for his assassination of a Klingon since this whole mission was strictly off the record (interestingly enough, M’Benga’s violation is overlooked while Ortegas’s violation is met with punishment).
My Thoughts on “Shuttle to Kenfori”
Much like the first episode of season three (“Hegemony, Part II”), “Shuttle to Kenfori” is an extremely busy episode with numerous different plot threads all spinning together at once. There is Captain Batel’s declining health, the secret mission to Kenfori, the Klingon hunting party, Bytha’s revenge on Dr. M’Benga, Ortegas’s disobedience of Una Chin-Riley… it almost makes you forget about all the zombies. Apparently, the Strange New Worlds writers have gone on record stating they wanted more episodes for this season but were limited to ten so they needed to cram in as much plot into each episode as possible.
Admittedly, I’m a bit torn over this episode. The first half sets up a very compelling problem for the crew to solve –a high octane adventure in order to retrieve a valuable medicinal flower from a remote restricted planet– but the latter half gets a bit scattered. The appearance of Bytha likely should have been in a more patiently-paced episode, and the shield emitter they suddenly found was all-too convenient. And why would Pike wait until arriving down on Kenfori to find out the true hybridization plan for the Chymera Blossom? Wouldn’t he ask all his questions about Batel back on the Enterprise? And isn’t he Dr. M’Benga’s commanding officer? Wouldn’t that supersede M’Benga’s medical secrecy requirements? And do we actually believe that Bytha’s decision to sacrifice herself for Pike and M’Benga is believable? How would a zombie death be considered “honorable” in Klingon culture?
All things considered, I’d say this partial “zombie” episode is likely my favorite episode of Season Three of Strange New Worlds thus far, even if it is far too busy and scattered. It feels like an episode intended to set up future plot threads, especially with regard to Captain Batel and Ortegas (and perhaps even Spock with his strange mind-meld moment with the Gorn cells inside Batel).
Star Trek Trivia:
- This episode contains many echoes of classic horror films, such as the name of the planet Kenfori, which is an amusing nod to actor Ken Foree who played one of the leads in Dawn of the Dead.
- Lt. Scannell appears in this episode, played by Ishan Davé.
- All the women on the bridge have unique new hairstyles in this episode in order to make it easier to film the Enterprise’s low gravity scenes.
- At one point, Pike recalls a memory on Zeta Borealis wherein the shuttle landed and M’Benga kicked open the storm doors and threw up.
- Dr. M’Benga mentions that he has three ex-wives (and one marriage annulment).
- Pike mentions “Skral Rabbits” in this episode.
- The Klingon blood feud is referenced again.
- The Klingon tricorder is briefly seen in this episode.
- Bytha was able to track M’Benga using a viridium tracker.
- In this episode, Ortegas mentions that Klingons don’t take prisoners, which was previously established by Kirk in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- This episode features a D7-Class Klingon battlecruiser.
- Ortegas shows signs of PTSD in this episode.
- This episode’s score features nods to Jerry Goldsmith’s Klingon theme and references to the Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country soundtrack.
- Spock can be seen wearing a similar environmental suit to the one he wears in the TOS classic episode “The Naked Time.”