Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - S3 E8 - "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans"
August 28, 2025
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 308 - 'Four-and-a-Half Vulcans'
There is nothing 'technically' wrong with any of them.
By Jay Stobie
As the U.S.S. Enterprise heads to Purmantee III for shore leave,* Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley and Lt. La’An Noonien-Singh chat about Number One's decision to work during her vacation, and La'An responds awkwardly to Lt. Spock when the Vulcan tries to sit with them. Meanwhile, Captain Marie Batel and Captain Christopher Pike spar in the Gymnasium, where Batel shares her desire to convince Vice Admiral Pasalk to allow her to return to court.
The Vulcan High Command contacts the Enterprise about the pre-warp population of Tezaar, as despite previous interactions with the Vulcans, the Federation can't assist the planet directly without violating the Prime Directive. Early Vulcans provided the Tezaarians with a nuclear-based method of powering their entire world, and the system requires maintenance to prevent a meltdown. Given the Tezaarians' advanced scanning technology, the Starfleet away team can't just appear Vulcan, they have to become Vulcan.
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Thoughts...
I was expecting a comedic episode, but I don't think I even cracked a smile. The closest I came was when Carol Kane's Pelia wasn't affected by the serum, and was lamenting about how she was also not affected by LSD in the 1960s, the 1990s, and again last July.
Gotta say, it was very hard to buy into the idea that a simple serum can physiologically change one species into another and then back again after a mission is over. Think of all the episodes in other shows where that would have really come in handy, but we've never heard of it before. I imagine if pressed the producers would say it was banned because of what it did to La'an and how she almost started a war. That kind of thing is always a problem with prequels.
Even after suspending disbelief for the sake of the show, if the serum can make a full Vulcan, then why wasn't Spock interested in taking it himself? Part of Spock's canon is that he's always struggled to suppress his human half, so wouldn't he have at least thought about getting rid of it altogether? A missed opportunity there on the part of the writers, IMO.
And at the end we see that Kirk likes his scotch on the rocks, while Scotty takes it neat. I can't remember if that's ever been touched on before, so I wonder if they'll stick with that in the future and make it canon.
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What did you guys think of this one?
Anson Mount makes a great Pike, but I thought he was cringey as a Vulcan.
Oh, and how did the serum change everyone's hair styles?