Celebrating its 60th anniversary next month, the Star Trek franchise has broken a decades-long tradition by featuring a puppet episode. Titled Level-Five Transporter Accident
, the installment of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds transforms the Enterprise crew into muppets courtesy of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
For nearly six decades, across almost 1,000 episodes and 13 feature films, the Star Trek universe deliberately avoided the art of puppetry. While its contemporary sci-fi franchise Star Wars famously embraced foam-and-felt characters—such as Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back
and the droid BB-8—Star Trek relied heavily on prosthetic makeup and human actors to portray alien life forms, according to Dr Chris Nunn, assistant professor of film at the University of Birmingham.
Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Reconstitutes the Enterprise Crew
The newest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds alters that long-standing formula. In Level-Five Transporter Accident
, a transport mishap leaves the Enterprise crew reconstituted into puppets built by the legendary Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Showrunner Henry Alonso Myers acknowledged that taking the franchise into puppetry was an unconventional move, noting that extensive planning went into ensuring the installment retained the core identity of the series.
Rather than relying on post-production visual effects, the production utilized physical puppets operated by professional puppeteers alongside the human cast. Director Jordan Canning observed that working with physical puppets provided unexpected benefits for the actors on set, particularly Ethan Peck, who plays Spock.
Spock Serves as the Straight Man Amid Puppet Chaos
While the rest of the Enterprise team undergoes a muppety transformation, Ethan Peck’s character remains entirely flesh and blood. Myers explained that keeping the logical Vulcan unchanged provided a necessary anchor for the chaotic events of the episode.
Spock was the obvious character to run into this problem, because he’s so logical.
Director Jordan Canning echoed that sentiment, calling Spock the ultimate straight man
for the storyline.
A Modern TV Concept Built on Big Creative Swings
The decision to produce a puppet-centric story fits into a broader pattern on Strange New Worlds of experimenting with unconventional formats. Myers pointed to prior format-breaking episodes on the series, including the musical installment Subspace Rhapsody
and the part-animated episode Those Old Scientists
.
To prepare for the puppet production, Myers consulted Jeffrey Bell, a former showrunner on the television series Angel. Bell previously worked on the fan-favorite episode Smile Time
, which featured a vampire transformed into a puppet while investigating a mystery.
As the franchise approaches its 60th anniversary next month, Level-Five Transporter Accident
stands as a major departure for a universe that historically avoided puppetry in favor of heavy prosthetic makeup. Nunn compared the live-action integration of the puppets to Ryan Gosling acting opposite an alien in Project Hail Mary
, noting that real-time interaction between actors and physical creations is what makes relationships feel genuine on screen.
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