Star Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 3 is set to copy a fan-favorite sci-fi spoof fromStar Trek: Voyager.Star Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 3’s teaser trailerincludes clips from the upcoming season’s genre-bending “10 new adventures,” with title cards promising “romance”, “mystery”, and “a touch of analog”. In that analog spirit, we get glimpses of Lieutenant James Kirk (Paul Wesley), Lieutenant Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) playing in a 1960s space opera—in other words,Star Trek: The Original Series, the way it’s seared into collective memory.
Star Trekhas paid homage to its forerunners before, in the form ofStar Trek: Voyager’sThe Adventures of Captain Proton,Lieutenant Tom Paris'(Robert Duncan McNeill) favorite holodeck program. Though it has its roots in earlier sci-fi serials of the 1930s, likeFlash GordonandBuck Rogers,most ofCaptain Proton’s aesthetic is inspired by 1950s B-movies and classic pulp sci-fi.Tom Paris takes on the role of the titular hero, withEnsign Harry Kim(Garrett Wang) joining in as trusty sidekick Buster Kincaid. The holodeck projectors even apply a filter that renders everything in period-appropriate black-and-white.
Strange New Worlds Season 3 Spoofs Star Trek: Voyager’s Captain Proton
Strange New Worlds' 20th-Century Sci-Fi Also References Star Trek: The Original Series
The nod toStar Trek: The Original SeriesinStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 3’s teaser trailer spoofsThe Adventures of Captain ProtonfromStar Trek: Voyager. LikeCaptain Protonshifting everything to black-and-white,Strange New Worlds' sci-fi tribute will play out in punchy technicolor with a film-grain filter. The oversized levers and painted consoles inStrange New Worlds’made-for-television starship set reference the analog buttons and dials of Captain Proton’s rocket ship. Both homages use theatrical, but budget-friendly, retro-futuristic costumes that place them squarely in the 20th century, albeit in different decades.
Strange New Worlds Confirms Season 3’s Time Jump With A Star Trek: Enterprise Callback
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3’s trailer has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it callback to Star Trek: Enterprise’s era and the Federation’s founding.
Star Trek: Voyager’sCaptain Protonrespects the serials that inspiredStar Trek: The Original Series, andStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseems to be doing the same forThe Original Seriesitself. The colored lights on the flat gray walls, and that particular shade of red-orange, look just likeTOS' vision of the 23rd century.References toStar Trek:The Original Seriesare hidden in the costumes and hairstyling, too: glittering patches sewn on as insignia,Jess Bush’s Nurse Chapel evoking Majel Barrett-Roddenberrywith a creative space-age beehive, and a yellow-green velour on Kirk’s jacket that nearly matches William Shatner’s original tunic.
Star Trek: Voyager’s Captain Proton Explained
Captain Proton Plays With Old Sci-Fi Tropes
The Adventures of Captain Protonis aStar Trekstory-within-a-story, like Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) film noir detective Dixon Hillholodeck program inStar Trek: The Next Generation.Captain Proton and Buster Kincaid regularly defeat the villainous Doctor Chaotica (Martin Rayner) with robots, ray guns, and rocket shipsin episodes of a sci-fi serial with names like “Invaders from the Ninth Dimension”.Star Trek: Voyager’s Captain Proton episodes also invite other USS Voyager crew members to play along, like Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) as Arachnia, the Spider Queen; or Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) as Constance Goodheart.
Star Trek: Voyagerseason 5, episode 1
Star Trek: Voyagerseason 5, episode 9
Star Trek: Voyagerseason 5, episode 12
“Bride of Chaotica!”
Star Trek: Voyagerseason 7, episode 11
Star Trek: Enterpriseseason 2, episode 22
“Twovix”
- seen in a list of available entertainment
It may seem weird forStar Trekcharacters to play at being adventurous space heroes when they’re already that in their real lives, but as Tom Paris points out, the authentic, intentional campiness is what makesCaptain Protonfun. The retro space adventures aren’t supposed to be realistic; they’re supposed to be a chance for Paris—and now Kirk, Chapel, and Ortegas—to see how their present-day was imagined by the people of the past. With all the different genres thatStar Trek: Strange New Worldshas explored so far, it’s only natural that aCaptain Protonspoof is on the way.
