6 Ups & 4 Downs From Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3.3 — Shuttle To Kenfori

10. DOWN — Style Before Substance

Genre bending and blending is all well and good. In fact, it is all well and Star Trek. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has already managed to incorporate an array of different storytelling styles into its episodic makeup. We've had comedy, horror, fantasy, a courtroom drama, a crossover, and that musical. With too much of a good thing, however, Shuttle to Kenfori reaches the effective limit of the multi-genre approach.

The opener wastes little time in concocting the most convenient premise — of ALL the planets in ALL the galaxy… This was the 'zombie episode,' come what may. The rest had to follow suit. Rationale and plot felt more like the afterthought of an initial idea — the substance had to be made to fit. Of course, Shuttle to Kenfori is far from the only Star Trek episode (or film — looking at you, number five) to be guilty of that.

There is also an awfully long wait for those zombies. A good portion of the episode is then spent back and forth to the Enterprise, thus diffusing any tension built up on the planet.