10 Most Chilling Star Trek Moments
3. The Needs Of The Many Outweigh The Needs Of The Few
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds offered an enormous variety of episodes in its relatively short first season. With only ten hours, they gave us horror, comedy, drama, romance, and this offering. Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach spends much of its runtime setting up something of a red herring plot, leading the audience to believe that there is a plot to kidnap a child.
The twist is crushing. There was a plot to kidnap the child, though it was to save him, not harm him.
The people of Majalis use a single child as a power source for their entire world. It is considered an honour, as the sacrifice of one person brings security and comfort to so many. On discovery of this, Captain Pike is horrified and attempts to intervene. He is restrained, and the ceremony goes ahead.
While that would be chilling enough to make this list, it's the speech that Alora delivers after this that truly gets under our skin. She is fully aware of the pain that this inflicts on the child. She is also fully aware that the suffering of one, which is honoured by all, is a sacrifice they are willing to make to ensure the survival of their world.
She asks Pike how many faceless people suffered to build the society that he enjoys. When he has no answer for her, she sadly says that the difference between their two people is that on Majalis, no one is faceless. With no argument, Pike leaves, and the audience breathes out a long, heavy breath.