10 Worst Star Trek Moments In 2025
3. Utopia? Utopia? Wherefore Art Thou, Utopia?
What Is Starfleet? is a frustrating episode of Star Trek. The conceit is a good one. An in-universe documentary examining the fundamentals of Starfleet sounds fascinating, and frankly, some of Starfleet's core tenets could do with a little challenge from time to time.
The inspiration for this episode seems to have come from other franchises like Stargate SG-1, Babylon 5, and even M*A*S*H*. Having the documentary made by a young filmmaker was also an interesting approach, as some wide-eyed naivety could help to skew the programme in a certain way. Instead, this shortened episode served to splice interviews with clearly disengenous filmmaking, designed to be edgy, and serving mediocrity.
The framing story of the Enterprise's intervention, or lack thereof, in a clearly one-sided war parallels certain countries' lack of action in certain ongoing conflicts in 2025. The conflict between the Lutani and Kasar easily evokes images of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, or Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza. Rather than attempting to offer a positive, hopeful future, or even to show the crew agonising over the conflict ahead of them, the episode instead focuses on the abuse of a Jikaru.
This was a clear symbol for weapons of mass destruction, further muddying the message. Pike elects to help the creature die rather than be used as a weapon of war, despite having previously been ordered to transport it to Lutani VII for their use in their war.
Why was Starfleet involved at all? Once involved, why did Starfleet agree to transport weapons? In the end, and echoing Picard's actions in Symbiosis nearly forty years earlier, Pike simply takes away the weapon without any offer or commitment to help in the long run.
If Star Trek is to present a utopian future, one where Starfleet at least attempts to do the right thing, even without always achieving it, then What Is Starfleet? is a very good question indeed.