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

7. DOWN — The Klingons Were Zombies Long Ago

You'd have better luck getting bloodwine from a stone than convincing this writer to enjoy a Klingon episode (with some notable exceptions). Though Shuttle to Kenfori is at most a Klingon side quest, the episode doesn't do any favours for the image of the Federation's on-again, off-again foe. Having said that, the ships do look good!

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has the tough task of being a prequel to those Klingons and a sequel to THOSE Klingons. It's not just the ones from Star Trek: Discovery we should take issue with either. Representation of the species in Star Trek: The Original Series was problematic, to put it mildly, and with a lot of hindsight. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds attempts a noble, balanced solution by picking from the movies and from Star Trek: The Next Generation onwards.

Nonetheless, the Klingons — except when they're all singing, all dancing — remain remarkably one-note. Honour, honour, shame, blood feud, discommendation, vengeance, take your pick. Shuttle to Kenfori is symptomatic, emblematic (literally so, in places). "Bytha, daughter of Dak'Rah, champion of House Rah'Ul" was certainly well acted, but she was reading from the same old script written decades before, and often for a century or so later.