In Review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (S3 – EP4) A Space Adventure Hour

Synopsis: In A Space Adventure Hour, La’An tests a prototype holodeck using a fictional case only she can solve. As the stakes escalate, the consequences of failure grow increasingly severe—putting the Enterprise itself in jeopardy.

The Story

In this episode, Lt. La’an Noonian Singh is eager for a new challenge and finds one when the Enterprise is assigned to test cutting-edge holodeck technology as a potential leisure and training tool for the crew. La’an is tasked with pushing the technology to its absolute limits. To do so, she instructs the holodeck to present her with an Amelia Moon mystery that will truly test her skills.

What follows is La’an stepping into the role of Amelia Moon, investigating a murder involving the cast and crew of a recently cancelled sci-fi series called The Last Frontier—a classic space adventure hour. However, as the holodeck increasingly draws resources from the Enterprise, the ship itself faces severe danger. La’an must solve the case quickly while Scotty works frantically to divert systems and maintain stability.

Acting

Christina Chong delivers a solid performance as La’an, who gets to have some fun portraying the iconic 1960s detective Amelia Moon. This episode gives the entire cast a chance to let their hair down and play different characters, and they fully embrace the opportunity. Paul Wesley guest stars as the lead actor, a character clearly modelled after William Shatner. The teaser before the opening credits is likely some of Wesley’s best work—if you count dramatically raising an eyebrow as an art form.

Martin Quinn also shines as Scotty, tasked with keeping the ship stable while La’an races to solve the murder mystery before the holodeck drains all the Enterprise’s power and threatens to destroy it.

Overall

A Space Adventure Hour, while fun, felt fairly average to me. The task La’an gives the holodeck strongly echoes Data’s challenge in the TNG episode Elementary, Dear Data, though that episode leaned more into tension and suspense, whereas this one plays things more for laughs and light drama.

That said, I appreciated the bit of character development for Scotty. Still carrying baggage from his previous posting, he insists on handling the engineering crisis alone, refusing help as he tries to keep both La’an’s holodeck simulation and the Enterprise itself running.