Weird Trek Episodes - SNW's Shuttle To Kenfori aka "Don't Call them Zombies! It Just Not Nice!"

M'Benga: I just can't believe it... we're in an episode that doesn't focus on Spock's love life.
Pike: I didn't realize how much that would be a thing either, Joseph.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds just wrapped up airing its 3rd season, and I gotta say that I'm kinda underwhelmed with this outing. It wasn't a bad season but compared to an almost perfect first season and a good second season, it does feel like the boat's a bit adrift. I think only having 10 episodes a season isn't helping. Also, I think someone misses Lower Decks way too much. Maybe someone needs to make sure the crew hasn't been drinking too much Romulan Ale. That's stuff's illegal, ya know?

Today's episode is far from a humorous romp though. "Shuttle to Kenfori" is the 3rd episode of the season and involve some shenanigans with the Klingons. At the beginning of the season, we found out that Captain Batel, Captain Pike's girlfriend, got infected by the Gorn during an attack. They thought things had gone in remission, but the condition starts to get worse. There's no cure for this, but Dr. M'Benga and Spock found a possible solution. On the planet Kenfori, Federation scientists found a plant, the chimera blossom, that has medicinal properties. The problem is that no one can land on the planet since it's in a no-fly zone in Klingon space. Even though Batel doesn't want anyone to get hurt because of this, Pike leads the Enterprise to Kenfori on this unauthorized mission.

Pike and M'Benga take a shuttle down to Kenfori to find the Federation's site, get the chimera, and leave post-haste. Unfortunately, they run into two problems. A Klingon cruiser followed them to the planet and send their own shuttle down. The party, led by woman named Bytha, destroys the shuttle leaving Pike and M'Benga stranded without a way to contact the Enterprise. There's also the zombies... yeah, M'Benga couldn't find another word to describe them, so Pike just goes with it. It turns out that whatever the experiment the Federation was working on went haywire when the Klingons attacked. This pathogen spread and basically made zombies. On the Enterprise, the crew tries to figure out a way to get the two off-planet since they haven't returned. Lt. Ortegas proposes a way but is shot down as they go with Spock's plan. She unusually gets snappy with the bridge crew.

On Kenfori, Pike and M'Benga try their best to avoid the Klingon party and the zombies. It's also here where Pike finds out that M'Benga plans to use the chimera to merge the Gorn DNA with Batel turning her into a bit of a hybrid. Pike's put off by that mainly since this was kept from him. The zombies attack again, but the Klingons save the away team and take them as prisoners. Pike, M'Benga, and Bytha (the other Klingons are killed) make it to the top of the complex where they can set up force shields. It's here where Bytha reveals that she's the daughter of the Klingon that M'Benga killed. M'Benga tries to get out of it but is forced to fight her when she injures Pike.

Don't be so glum, Ortegas. You just almost got everyone killed.

On the Enterprise, the crew decides to enter into the asteroid field to transport the away team off Kenfori. They had a set plan on pulling this off, but Ortegas ends up pulling rank and does her own plan. This gets the bird of prey involved and things get dicey. On the planet, Bytha and M'Benga fight with the doctor barely beating her. He spares her just as the zombies break the shield. Bytha decides to go out as a warrior and faces the zombies while Pike and M'Benga get rescued. Thanks to some thinking from Lt. Scott, the Enterpise is able to warp out there. In the end, there's a whole lotta talking. Cmdr. Riley reprimands Ortegas for her actions. M'Benga confides in Pike about the whole incident. The episode ends with Pike and Batel worried about what may happen.

.....................................

This was a nice episode overall. I didn't realize just how much gets thrown at us in some of these episodes. We got continuing storylines, stuff coming back from previous seasons, and some beginning stories. Strangely enough, they were almost able to pull it all off. The main plot of going to Kenfori and running into zombies was alright. Yes, zombies in Star Trek happen from time to time as we've seen with some episodes, but it's pulled off fine here. It's everything else that makes the episode interesting.

Having Pike and M'Benga stranded on the planet and going sifting through secrets was good. Also, it's not every day where a doctor gets to open up cans of whoop-a$$ on a Klingon with bad hair... yeah, I'm saying it. I don't know if it was the prosthetics or what. Maybe Bytha was stressed out or something. Of course, you have issues going on with Batel, and that's something that was handled well here. Where her storyline ends is another thing entirely, but I'll let you figure that out for yourself. As for Ortegas, that was pretty interesting. We already got an idea that not all was good with her after her incident with the Gorn, and it kind of comes to a head here. We'll get more with her as the season goes on.

The planet itself was interesting but okay since we mainly are stuck inside an overgrown complex. The costumes and makeup for the zombies were good, and I do like the updated Klingon costumes that have continued from the 2nd season. As for any negatives, it did feel like too much was going on here. That's one negative to only having 10 episodes for a season. Bytha was alright overall. She's not my best Klingon, but girl went out like a boss. I'm still wondering what was up with the hair, and she wasn't the only one with a questionable hair-do. Cmdr. Riley's... halo/crown braid was weird. She isn't the only hair-do that gets a change this season either. At least Uhura's new look was really good.

In the end, this was one of the better episodes for the season. It gives what you normally expect from Trek and tries to twist things a bit. While I did give Season 3 a bit of a verbal lashing earlier, it wasn't horrible. This episode and a few others still brought good things especially "The Shelat Who Ate Its Tail" which was basically a better version of the 2009 Trek reboot. Well, I got to eventually get some gifts wrapped. Until then, Peace, God Bless, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!