The sixth episode of Strange New Worlds Season 4 sees the crew of the USS Enterprise transformed into puppets. From a technical standpoint, in real life, this was achieved through a collaboration with the world-famous Jim Henson Creature Workshop, but in the sci-fi storytelling of the actual episode, the transformation is caused by a the titular “Level-Five Transporter Accident,” meaning, like many Treks before it, this episode uses the Final Frontier’s most useful conveyance — beaming — and turns it into a sci-fi plot device for reality-alterting events. From early TOS episodes like “The Enemy Within” (split into two people) to TNG’s “Rascals” (transporter turns you into a little kid) and on and on. “Level-Five Transporter Accident” is perhaps the most visually ambitious of these episode types, but on paper, probably not the craziest thing Star Trek has ever done with the transporter.
And when you put aside the visual gimmick, “Level-Five Transporter Accident,” intentionally or not, is making commentary on the distance limitations of transporters, and it might have just fixed a weird canon problem with the Kelvin Timeline along the way.
