Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has become the latest sci-fi show to embrace the magic of puppetry, with a new episode transforming the Enterprise crew into Muppets. The episode, titled Level-Five Transporter Accident, follows a longstanding Trek tradition of crew members undergoing unfortunate transformations while beaming up to the ship. This time, the crew is reconstituted into puppets by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
A big swing for the franchise
Showrunner Henry Alonso Myers said the idea was a deliberate departure. "I thought it would be a big swing for us, but we spent a lot of time discussing how to do it as a Star Trek episode," he said. "Because I knew if it didn't feel like Star Trek then it wouldn't work."
The move is notable for a franchise that turns 60 next month. Across nearly 1,000 episodes and 13 movies, Star Trek has always avoided puppetry, in contrast to Star Wars, which has used puppets since the 1970s, from Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back to Grogu in The Mandalorian.
Why puppets now?
Dr Chris Nunn, assistant professor of film at the University of Birmingham, said Star Trek's reliance on makeup was a key factor. "Star Trek made a big commitment to makeup early on," he said. "So aliens would typically be played by human actors under heavy prosthetic masks, and that trend has continued."
Myers said the decision was about exploring new ideas. "Doing a puppet episode is a TV concept," he said. "One of the things we try to do on Strange New Worlds is go for big swings that haven't been done before in Star Trek." The series has also featured a musical episode and a part-animated episode.
Myers consulted Jeffrey Bell, former showrunner of Angel, who worked on the fan-favourite episode Smile Time, which saw the vampire character transformed into a puppet. In Strange New Worlds, the format was flipped, keeping Ethan Peck's Spock as flesh and blood while the rest of the crew become puppet versions of themselves.
Puppetry in modern sci-fi
Like The Mandalorian, Strange New Worlds uses a giant LED screen known as the Volume. Director Jordan Canning said the puppets made things easier for Peck. "The Star Trek cast are amazing at working with their imaginations," she said. "But when you have great puppeteers, you don't really have to work at it. You can't help but feel connected to those characters."
Dawn Dininger, one of five puppeteers who operates Grogu in The Mandalorian, said actors often forget the puppet is not real. "The actors always forget that he's a puppet," she said. "They just think he's a baby and start rocking him and playing with him. They never talk to us, even though we're the ones controlling him. They forget we're there."
Dininger also recalled an encounter with Sigourney Weaver on the set of The Mandalorian and Grogu. "I was under the table thinking, I can't believe I'm interacting with Sigourney Weaver. Then afterwards I asked if I could get a photo, and she was like, 'Well, yeah. Because I need a photo with Grogu.' She couldn't get over him. It was really cute."
The shift back to practical effects is part of a broader trend. Nunn noted that the Star Wars prequels relied heavily on CGI, but the sequel trilogy returned to practical craftsmanship. "We see elements of physical craftsmanship," he said. "I don't think that's rooted entirely in nostalgia. I think it's also about the film-maker saying, 'I really care about this.'"
Strange New Worlds is ending next year, and Trek production is on hold pending the Paramount-Skydance merger. Canning said the puppets remain in storage. "Those puppets will always exist. I would love to get them out again and make some short films or a web series or something," she said. "If the fans like it, let's get them out again. Let the puppets play!"
