Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S3E7 Recap – Starfleet’s Most Human Episode Yet

Star Trek Strange New Worlds Recap

“What Is Star Fleet?”, Season 3, Episode 7, Thurs 21 Aug 2025

This Documentary includes Security Footage from Umberto Ortegas.

It’s been declassified by Starfleet Command in the Spirit of Transparency

This episode is a documentary on what Star Fleet Really Is, created by Umberto/Beto Ortegas. Is Star Fleet a peace loving explorer of strange new worlds or a colonizer? The starships are stocked with weapons ready to use when threatened. 

Beto interviews CPT Pike, Commander Spock, his sister, Lieutenant Ortegas, First Officer Number One, Ensign Uhura and Commander La’an. Spock and La’an give the most revealing responses describing who they are and what Star Fleet means to them. His sister is just annoyed with Beto, and gives him non-answers. La’an tells Beto the weapons the Enterprise carries are defensive, but they do fight back when necessary. Dr. M’Benga is an enigma, a member of Star Fleet’s Special Forces. Ensign Uhura is very communicative. Beto doesn’t interview Nurse Chapel.

He films the command crew in the Ready Room discussing their next mission to assist two warring planets, and transport a Jikaru, an alien species, from one planet to the next. It looks like a phosphorescent giant butterfly that lives in the ocean. The creature emits a loud shriek, then a quick surge of radiation. It was genetically engineered to be a weapon unknown to the Enterprise until they saw it in action. Captain Pike issues orders to rescue survivors from the ship that was attacked and he tells Beto to turn off the camera. Beto later reconnects his camera, and films a conversation between Uhura and Spock. Spock connected with the Jikaru and felt its aggressive nature.

The Enterprise is pursued and attacked by the Jikaru, and severely damaged. Uhura’s last interview with Beto opens her eyes to what Beto’s really doing with his documentary.Spock and Uhura along with Nurse Chapel take a shuttle to communicate with the Jikaru. Spock is incapacitated. Uhura volunteers to connect with it, and feels that the Jikaru doesn’t want to be a weapon. It asks them to kill her. Captain Pike promises the Jikaru to protect her children on her home planet. The crew witnesses the intentional death of the Jikaru as it flings itself into their sun. Uhura gets Beto to see a different perspective and release his anger against Star Fleet. He understands now that the other side of Star Fleet is the people. Star Fleet is not the colonizer he once thought they were.

This documentary version was the most revealing. You get to see the sides of the characters that make them who they are, and also the family of Star Fleet they create. This was an introspective look at the Enterprise crew and what they are called to do. Truly an interesting episode.

What did you think?

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