terrarium – Trekking with Dennis

Star Trek: Hidden Gems

Spoiler Warning: Beware of minor spoilers for some of the episodes on this list.

In celebration of Star Trek’s imminent sixtieth anniversary, I want to make a list of some great episodes! And I know what you’re thinking: “Dennis, you’ve done this before.” True. But this list is slightly different – I’m going to exclusively focus on episodes that I think are “hidden gems;” episodes you might overlook, episodes you might skip if you’re going back for your sixtieth re-watch of a box set, and episodes that basically no Trekkie is recommending as a starting point for new viewers of the franchise!

So that raises an obvious question, right? How do we determine what is and is not a “hidden gem?” I’m glad you asked!

Last year, I used IMDB’s episode review scores to put together two lists: the “top five” and “bottom five” episodes from each of the pre-Discovery shows. And I’m taking IMDB’s rankings as a starting point again. In short: if an episode is either in the top ten most highly-rated episodes, or the bottom ten most-disliked episodes from a series, I’m excluding it. That also applies if one half of a two-part story is in either the top- or bottom-ten. But the rules don’t end there!

Still frame from Star Trek SNW 4x05 showing puppets of Pike, Una, and M'Benga — Have you watched *Strange New Worlds’* “puppet episode” yet?

I’m also going to exclude stories that are – in my *subjective opinion*, of course – well-remembered, “iconic,” or that have otherwise crossed over to become part of pop culture. In brief: episodes everyone remembers, stories with clips or scenes that have been meme-ified, and really any episode that I think an average non-Trekkie might look at and say “oh, I remember that.” I think that definition *has* to include series premieres and finales, which introduce characters and wrap up key storylines. And finally, I’m going to exclude crossover episodes, which I think are pretty memorable by default.

So that’s how we’re reaching our conclusion for what is and is not a hidden gem! Partly based on review scores from IMDB, and partly based on how subjectively “iconic,” easily-recognised, or memed on an episode might be.

Does that sound fair? I hope so, because that’s what we’re going with!

Behind-the-scenes photo from Star Trek TNG — Behind-the-scenes on the set of *Star Trek: The Next Generation*.

What’s the point of this? Well, I want to celebrate the franchise’s sixtieth anniversary, but I think there are gonna be a ton of “bEzT sTaR tReK ePiSoDeZ eVaRrR!!1!” list-icles all over the internet this week, and many of them are gonna just pick the same fan-favourites: City on the Edge of Forever, The Best of Both Worlds, and so on. And likewise, some folks are gonna ironically recommend the likes of Spock’s Brain or Shades of Gray.

I just thought it could be fun to pick out a few episodes that might fly under the radar; genuinely good, enjoyable stories that might’ve been eclipsed by stronger episodes, or that just didn’t catch fire in the way some others did.

Still frame from Star Trek TOS showing Kirk and his phaser rifle — Captain Kirk.

I’m not putting any other limitations on my selections. Episodes will come from right across the franchise, and as long as they aren’t in the top- or bottom-ten from their respective shows, and don’t have iconic moments, famous memes, or other such things… they’ll be entered into consideration! I hope this’ll be a bit of fun, and maybe you’ll be inspired to return to a story you haven’t seen in a while, or even try out something brand-new.

I’ve picked fifteen episodes for this list… and hey, if you’re looking for a playlist for your sixtieth anniversary Star Trek marathon? Here ya go!

With all of that out of the way, let’s get into the episodes!

Episode #1:
The Star Gazer
Picard Season 2, Episode 1

Still frame from Star Trek PIC 2x01 showing Picard — Picard gives a speech.

Star Trek: Picard is awkward for this list, because at only thirty episodes in total, two-thirds of the entire series is excluded by default! But of the ten episodes in the middle, The Star Gazer leapt out at me. In my review of the episode from back in 2022, I described it as “one of the best episodes of live-action Star Trek that I’ve seen in a long time,” and I stand by that… with a caveat or two! After a disappointing end to Season 1, The Star Gazer took Picard and his new friends back to Starfleet in a big way, and not only that, but it reintroduced a villainous faction by giving them a truly terrifying new look.

After that, though… well, Season 2 kinda went off the rails! And as the first chapter of a ten-episode story, The Star Gazer isn’t gonna be the easiest thing to watch in isolation. The subsequent nine episodes put a pretty big downer on it, and that’s just unavoidable. If you can enjoy it on its own merits, though, I think there’s a lot to love here. A new version of an iconic starship, Picard seemingly back to his old self, and an updated take on one of the franchise’s biggest baddies that, at the time, I found to be genuinely shocking and quite frightening.

Episode #2:
The Maquis, Parts I-II
Deep Space Nine Season 2, Episodes 20-21

(AI upscaled) still frame from Star Trek DS9 2x21 showing Sisko — Commander Sisko.

DS9 has a ton of classic episodes, particularly involving Sisko, Garak, the Dominion War, and more. But if we’re looking for the real hidden gems, I want to pick out The Maquis. I think it’s an important episode – but one that’s easily overlooked both within DS9 itself and within the broader category of stories featuring the titular faction.

This was the episode that first introduced us to the Maquis – a faction that would reappear in DS9 as well as in The Next Generation and, of course, in Voyager. But being the first to establish an important faction is meaningless if the story isn’t good – and for me, at least, The Maquis has a solid, enjoyable story that really calls into question some of the Federation’s lofty ideals, and puts Sisko to the test. Star Trek has always done stories with big moral questions, and The Maquis absolutely fits in with the best of them.

Episode #3:
Off-Hour
Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 6

Still frame from Star Trek SNW 4x06 showing A'Sha opening the turbolift doors — Here’s A’Sha!

Call this “recency bias” all you want, but Off-Hour is a solid and very “Star Trekky” episode in a season that, to be honest, has had more misses than hits. So I’m glad to be able to recommend at least one episode from Strange New Worlds’ fourth season, which, at time of writing, hasn’t yet concluded! Off-Hour is kind of an updated take on The Next Generation’s Disaster, putting the ship and crew into a dangerous situation and forcing several characters to work miracles to keep everyone alive.

The episode gave most of the show’s main characters something to do, meaning it feels more of an ensemble piece than a lot of modern Star Trek stories. Its core premise was suitably tense – even if that tension, for me, could’ve been dialled back a notch or two! And after quite a few Strange New Worlds episodes have notoriously taken “big swings” into a variety of different genre parodies and spoofs… it was just nice to get an episode that felt very much like Star Trek. If you dipped out of Strange New Worlds after the musical or the puppet episode… come back for one more try! I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Episode #4:
The Ultimate Computer
The Original Series Season 2, Episode 24

Still frame from Star Trek TOS 2x24 showing Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Daystrom — Dr Daystrom with Dr McCoy, Spock, and Kirk.

I had a hard time with TOS! So many episodes are either flat-out iconic in their own rights, or else they have incredibly memorable scenes or clips that I think would disqualify them from this list! But of all the episodes outside of the top-ten, The Ultimate Computer really stands out to me. What’s more, I think its core message and theming is *incredibly* relevant in 2026, some fifty-eight years after its original broadcast, as the world struggles with the rise of advanced A.I. systems and large-language models.

The Ultimate Computer is a “man versus machine” story, and a tale of how overreliance on technology can go horribly wrong. TOS made many “predictions” that have since come to pass: technologies like mobile phones, video calling, computer libraries storing all of human knowledge, wireless technology, iPads, real-time translation… the list goes on! But this depiction of a rogue A.I. feels like a timeless warning from the past, and given where we are today… it’s uncanny.

Episode #5:
Face the Strange
Discovery Season 5, Episode 4

Still frame from Star Trek DIS 5x04 showing Burnham and Rayner — Burnham and Rayner.

I did not care for Discovery’s fifth and final season, on the whole. But one real hidden gem amidst a generally disappointing story is Face the Strange, which sees Burnham and her new XO – Commander Rayner – forced to work together in the face of a weird time travel plot. Time travel is *also* not one of my favourite parts of Star Trek, usually, but I’m making an exception for the creative way it was utilised in Face the Strange.

Face the Strange feels like a bit of a diversion from the season’s bland and uninspired main storyline, which perhaps helps it stand out just a little bit more. I also enjoy the way Rayner comes across in this episode – as a relatively late addition to Discovery’s cast, Rayner needed the extra screen time that an episode like Face the Strange granted him. Again, an episode to try out if you had already checked out of Discovery before the fifth season.

Episode #6:
The Royale
The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 12

Still frame from Star Trek TNG The Royale showing the Enterprise-D and Theta VIII — The Enterprise-D.

This is, admittedly, pure bias on my part: The Royale is the first episode of Star Trek that I can remember watching, all the way back in 1991! But hey, if this is the episode that turned me into a Trekkie, it can’t be that bad, right? I like the episode’s away mission plot, I like that this kind of sci-fi mystery is something silly and weird that only a Star Trek show would dare attempt, and I like the way the episode handles the characters on the planet and back on the ship. Is it purely a nostalgic pick for me? Maybe. But that doesn’t make it bad!

The Royale uses its setting well, and although the characters on the planet feel like cardboard cut-outs for the most part, the episode explains why this is – and even has time to consider the idea of a very different kind of alien life trying to make sense of humanity through our literature and art. There are some genuinely fun moments for the away team, as they explore a weird, almost surreal 20th Century setting that they weren’t expecting to find, and back on the ship, Picard and the crew work hard to help them. A solid, enjoyable, and easily-overlooked episode.

Episode #7:
Macrocosm
Voyager Season 3, Episode 12

Still frame from Star Trek VOY showing Janeway and the Doctor in sickbat — The Doctor treating Captain Janeway.

Macrocosm sees Janeway and the Doctor fighting giant single-celled viruses that have taken over the ship! Cool, right? After an away mission goes awry and the ship is infected, it’s up to Janeway to save the day in what is genuinely one of the best action-packed storylines she gets across the show’s entire run. It’s a nice, self-contained story featuring a one-off alien race, a one-off antagonist, and a silly premise that has just enough of a basis in real science to make the technobabble seem believable!

There’s enough of a threat to Voyager that everyone feels in real danger, and while I will admit that the CGI macro-viruses probably haven’t aged especially well, there can be a charm to this kind of thing! I like when Star Trek depicts alien races that aren’t just part of the “nose and forehead brigade,” and these flying mega-viruses definitely fit the bill. A great episode if you want to see Janeway running around with a phaser, and the Doctor gets a moment to shine, too.

Episode #8:
Where Pleasant Fountains Lie
Lower Decks Season 2, Episode 7

Still frame from Star Trek LDS 2x07 showing Billups — Andy Billups.

I really need to get caught up on Lower Decks. Maybe you think this ruins my standing as a Trekkie, but I’ve only seen up to partway through Season 3 at time of writing! But of the episodes I’ve seen (that meet the criteria for this list), Where Pleasant Fountains Lie was the one I wanted to highlight the most.

I read part of the episode’s story – involving the USS Cerritos’ chief engineer, Andy Billups – as a metaphor for asexuality. Doing what Star Trek has always done, Lower Decks uses a sci-fi lens to shine a light on a real-world situation, and puts Billups in a difficult situation as he struggles with “fitting in” with his people. There’s plenty of comedy, and I think it’s also an interesting take on how some human societies exist outside of the Federation, which adds a bit of depth to the world of Star Trek. But it’s really that core message that I find the most interesting and relatable.

Episode #9:
The Catwalk
Enterprise Season 2, Episode 12

Still frame from Star Trek ENT showing Reed and Phlox in the catwalk — Reed and Dr Phlox in the titular catwalk.

Few episodes really manage to convey the dangers of pushing the frontiers of space travel in this 22nd Century era quite as well as The Catwalk. Because the NX-01 is a less-powerful ship than her namesakes further along the timeline, she’s less well-shielded and armoured, and that means that, when a dangerous interstellar phenomenon approaches, the crew has to take refuge in the only part of the ship that can keep them safe from the radiation: the nacelles.

There’s something weirdly almost “cozy” about that setup that I’ve always really appreciated. A community coming together, riding out a storm in a safe space… it just gives me the warm fuzzies, I guess! Of course, there’s more to the episode than that – and, naturally, things don’t go to plan. This is another episode with a one-off alien adversary who we haven’t seen return, and despite the uniqueness of its core premise, I think it’s one a lot of folks will have just scrolled past, especially on repeat viewings.

Episode #10:
How Sharper Than A Serpent’s Tooth
The Animated Series Season 2, Episode 5

Still frame from Star Trek TAS showing Arex, Walking Bear, and Kirk on the bridge — On the bridge of the Enterprise.

I’m cheating a tiny bit with this one; at a mere twenty-two episodes in total, it was too difficult to exclude both the top-ten and bottom-ten from The Animated Series! But ranked roughly in the middle – and, I would argue, easily overlooked – is How Sharper Than A Serpent’s Tooth, which is a fun story that sees Kirk and co. facing off against an ancient alien who once visited Earth.

The Animated Series was “officially non-canon” for a while, and it was only when I bought the DVD box set that I watched it in full. The animation work is definitely a product of its time (and something modern Star Trek has even parodied, with a miniseries called Very Short Treks) but for me, there are some great episodes in this oft-neglected series. How Sharper Than A Serpent’s Tooth was also the episode selected when The Animated Series won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1975 – so it has pedigree. And I think its core story is very “Star Trekky,” if you can look past the deficiencies in its animation.

Episode #11:
The Wounded
The Next Generation Season 4, Episode 12

Still frame from Star Trek TNG 4x12 showing Macet and Picard in the ready-room — Gul Macet with Captain Picard.

When you think of classic Cardassian episodes, I bet you don’t go to The Wounded first and foremost! Even in TNG, episodes like Chain of Command are much more likely to be memorable or draw your attention. But The Wounded marks the Cardassians’ first-ever appearance, and as such, it started the process of setting the stage for The Next Generation’s first spin-off: Deep Space Nine. We also see that through this episode’s massive expansion of Chief O’Brien’s role – O’Brien would go on to play a major role on DS9, of course.

The episode is also noteworthy for its introduction of Gul Macet – played by Marc Alaimo. Alaimo is best known for another Cardassian character: DS9′s Dukat. And you can kind of consider Macet a “proto-Gul Dukat,” I think! The Wounded is a kind of “Apocalypse Now” story, following O’Brien and Picard as they have to work *with* the Cardassians to stop a rogue Starfleet captain. It’s a great episode in its own right, and well worth a watch.

Episode #12:
Terrarium
Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 9

Still frame from Star Trek SNW 3x09 showing Ortegas — Lieutenant Ortegas.

I’ll be honest: I was surprised to see Terrarium ranked so low amongst Strange New Worlds episodes! For me, this is probably the best individual episode of Season 3, with a strong focus on Lieutenant Erica Ortegas and the lingering after-effects of the Federation’s conflict with the Gorn. In my review of the episode last year, I said that it was “intense, dramatic, emotional, and just fantastic,” and that really encapsulates how I feel. After having not spent that much time with Ortegas across the show’s first three seasons, her first real spotlight was genuinely exceptional.

However, I guess I can see why some fans might overlook it or choose to scroll past. When compared to the likes of Memento Mori or the two parts of Hegemony – episodes which also feature the Gorn – it’s not as action-packed or explosive. It’s also a character piece and a bit of a slow burn, in places. But as viewers and as Trekkies, I think we should be able to appreciate stories that aren’t just mindless action and fighting all the time, and slower, more introspective pieces about bridging a cultural divide and working together in the name of survival can be just as compelling and engaging.

Episode #13:
The Magnificent Ferengi
Deep Space Nine Season 6, Episode 10

Of all the episodes from DS9′s fantastic Dominion War arc, be honest: how many of you would’ve picked The Magnificent Ferengi for a re-watch? The episode is genuinely very funny, playing on DS9′s sillier and more light-hearted take on the Ferengi. It’s a great episode for recurring characters Rom, Brunt, and Nog in particular, as they join a mission of Quark’s to rescue Ishka (Quark and Rom’s mother) from Dominion captivity.

Naturally, nothing goes to plan for the Ferengi; the episode is almost a comedy of errors! But that’s what makes it so fun, and a guest-starring role for musician Iggy Pop was also a blast. The Magnificent Ferengi makes great use of DS9′s expansive secondary cast, ties into the sixth season’s Dominion War storyline in a new and unexpected way, and is a great example of how Star Trek can be hilarious when it embraces comedy and even slapstick. The Ferengi are indeed magnificent!

Episode #14:
Night
Voyager Season 5, Episode 1

Chakotay and Captain Janeway greet a guest in the transporter room.

Night is an episode of two halves. One side of the story explores something that few other Voyager episodes – or Star Trek episodes in general, come to think of it – really ever did: what does the crew do when there’s nothing to do and no planets to explore? We catch a glimpse of what life is like for the crew as they navigate a starless expanse with no interesting phenomena, alien spacecraft, or planets to crash-land on. And it really is fascinating!

But then the episode introduces one of Voyager’s lesser-remembered recurring aliens: the Malon. The Malon are another example of Star Trek shining a light on real-world issues through the lens of sci-fi: in this case, the financial incentives companies have to keep polluting, or to keep burning fossil fuels, despite knowing the harm it causes. It’s a great idea for a story: Starfleet shows up, offers an alien society a better, safer, cleaner technology… only to be turned down because of what it would mean for corporate profits. If only there was a modern-day industry that could benefit from this kind of metaphor, eh?

Episode #15:
Assignment: Earth
The Original Series Season 2, Episode 26

TOS has a lot of iconic moments, doesn’t it? But would you say Assignment: Earth or Gary Seven are among them? For me, this is an episode I will openly admit to regularly scrolling past when I re-watch The Original Series; I’m just not wild about time travel stories, as I think I’ve already mentioned. But that’s part of why it deserves a place on this list: Assignment: Earth is the definition of a hidden gem; an overlooked episode that has a lot of great qualities.

Firstly, it’s fun to see Gary Seven and catch a glimpse of a new faction that subsequent Star Trek stories did nothing with for half a century! But it’s also neat to see Kirk and co. in the 1960s, dealing with NASA. Remember that this episode aired shortly *before* the first moon landing, at a time when interest in NASA and space exploration was at its height. It’s another great example of Star Trek telling a “morality play;” in this case, an explicit warning against the use of nuclear weapons at a moment when the Cold War was raging.

Bonus Film:
The Motion Picture

Still frame from Star Trek The Motion Picture showing Kirk in a hallway — Admiral Kirk

I wanted to put one feature film on this list, and for me, no film quite embodies the “hidden gem” idea better than The Motion Picture. Fans tend to overlook Star Trek’s first film in favour of The Wrath of Khan, as well as other action-packed entries like The Undiscovered Country and First Contact. But for me, no film quite matches the tone of The Motion Picture, which has an ethereal sci-fi story that plays out like an extended episode of The Original Series.

This film is also where much of the aesthetic of Star Trek was created. Klingons with armour and forehead ridges, angled starship hallways, the warp core as a glowing upright tube, even metal Starfleet insignia on uniforms… so many things created for The Motion Picture have gone on to become inseperable from Star Trek, defining its visual language and identity. The film’s story is one of seeking out new life – even if that form of life is almost incomprehensibly different from anything Starfleet or humanity had previously encountered. Moreover, The Motion Picture brought Star Trek back and re-established it for a new decade – a decade which would eventually lead to more films and a return to the small screen.

So that’s it!

Behind-the-scenes photo from Star Trek TNG showing Gates McFadden and Bob Justman — Producer Bob Justman with his namesake shuttlecraft and Gates McFadden.

Happy sixtieth anniversary, Star Trek! I hope this selection of “hidden gems” has given you an idea or two if you’re planning a Star Trek marathon to mark the franchise’s birthday. I know that’s what I’ll be doing on Tuesday!

As I said above, I really wanted to put together a selection of episodes that I don’t think will be featured on a lot of similar list-icles. Star Trek has almost 1,000 episodes and films to choose from, but fans tend to gravitate to certain ones more than others. Some episodes aren’t great or are just padding, sure, but there are some really fun stories that tend to get overlooked or overshadowed by more popular or better-remembered contemporaries. And I wanted to highlight a few of them this time.

I hope you’ll join me on the 8th for an article all about Star Trek and its sixtieth anniversary! And if you missed them earlier in the year, I have a few other celebratory pieces I’d like to recommend to you.

Behind-the-scenes photo from Star Trek showing Deforest Kelley with Patrick Stewart — DeForest Kelley and Patrick Stewart in a behind-the-scenes photograph.

In May, I got to meet William Shatner – Captain Kirk himself – at an event here in the UK. I reviewed Starfleet Academy’s first season, the video game Across The Unknown, and I’ve been writing up individual episode reviews for Strange New Worlds’ fourth season, too. I wrote up another batch of my “what-if” scenarios, I took at look at some wild and wacky fan theories, I talked about some truly terrible things that Star Trek characters have done, I shared more of my “hot takes” on the franchise, and I even considered the potential benefits for the franchise if a hiatus is on the cards.

I’ve also been writing up episode re-watches over the past year, including Where No Man Has Gone Before, which was TOS’ second pilot, the iconic Arena from TOS’ first season, The Andorian Incident from Enterprise, and Skin of Evil, The First Duty, and The Royale – all from The Next Generation.

Click or tap any of those links to check out those pieces.

Still frame from a 1960s Star Trek TOS commercial showing key art — An original 1960s advert for *TOS*.

So I hope you enjoyed this list! It was fun to go back to these episodes, and it was also interesting to see just how many stories, characters, aliens, and more than I consider to be “too iconic” for a list like this one! I excluded quite a few episodes that would’ve been fun to discuss simply because I felt their status was a little too high, or else they had moments that crossed over into pop culture for one reason or another.

Thanks again for joining me on this exploration of a few “hidden gems” from the Star Trek franchise. There’s more Star Trek content to come here on the website; more Strange New Worlds reviews, more episode re-watches, more commentary, and who knows what else. But until then… Live Long and Prosper, friends!

Most episodes and films discussed above are available to stream now on Paramount+ in countries and territories where the platform is available, and may also be available on DVD and/or Blu-ray. The Star Trek franchise – including all films, TV shows, and properties discussed above – is the copyright of the Skydance-Paramount Corporation. Still frames from Deep Space Nine and Voyager were upscaled using A.I. tools. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

End-of-Year Awards 2025

Wed 31.12.25Dennis

A Lord of the Rings-themed spoiler warning.

Spoiler Warning: Beware minor spoilers for some of the productions discussed below.

You know what I find silly? When magazines, websites, and media outlets publish their “best of the year” articles and awards in early December or even November! I mean, at that stage there’s still a month or more of the year left! That’s why, here at Trekking with Dennis, I always publish my End-of-Year Awards at… the end of the year! What a novel concept, eh?

In 2025, I reviewed more films here on the website than in any prior year. But, to tell you the truth, I didn’t watch as many TV programmes or play as many games this year as I think I’ve done in years gone by. There are still more than enough to win some made-up trophies, don’t worry, but there are a few that I originally planned to get around to this year that I just… didn’t. Partly that’s because it’s been a pretty busy year for me, on the whole – you can see more on that by clicking or tapping here! And partly that’s just because I’ve been feeling pretty tired, sometimes, or I just haven’t felt up to starting a brand-new story.

Who will win the ultimate honour of a Trekking with Dennis End-of-Year Award?

As always, a few important caveats.

Firstly, and most importantly, all of this is *subjective, not objective.* If I give an award to a film, game, or TV show that you despise, or if I skip over one of your favourites that’s already won all of the other big awards… that’s okay. There will always be a broad spectrum of opinions on works of media and entertainment, and these are mine – and mine alone. We don’t need to get into a shouting match over a made-up statuette!

Secondly, there are a bunch of popular movies, games, and TV programmes that I didn’t get around to in 2025. For reasons that I hope are obvious, they won’t be entered into consideration for an award. Finally, I might include one or two titles from the tail end of 2024 as well, as I may have only got around to them in 2025.

Alright then! With all of that out of the way, let’s hand out some awards.

Best Web Series:

🥈 Runner-Up🥈
Mugthief

I don’t watch a lot of “gaming content” online, but there are a few content creators I still regularly tune in for. One of those is Mugthief, a YouTube-based video game reviewer and video essayist. I occasionally disagree with his takes, but I like the way he presents his coverage, and he always comes across as fair, even-handed, and not like someone seeking out games to “hate on.” I also appreciate the distinct lack of clickbait in videos, titles, and thumbnails!

There isn’t always a lot to be positive about in gaming, and Mugthief isn’t shy about criticising games and gaming companies when they deserve it. But he can also be passionate and positive about titles he enjoys, which is always great to see. I’ve had fun and learned about a few titles from Mugthief in 2025, and I just wanted to celebrate his channel and his content as the year comes to an end.

🏆 Winner 🏆
Quiet Nerd

I’m not someone who’s very good at engineering, electricals, or really doing anything hands-on! But I like to live vicariously through others, and YouTuber Quiet Nerd has taken me on some wild adventures with his self-made drivable camper, boat, and more. I’ve really come to enjoy videos about people building things like this – camper vans and caravans have always felt cute and cozy to me, and the idea of building one from scratch just seems like it must be a huge amount of fun. Quiet Nerd is one of the best in the business for that kind of content, in my opinion.

Some of the vehicles Quiet Nerd has built are incredible. Using electric batteries, tracks, steel beams, and a whole lot of knowledge that I do not possess, he’s constructed sturdy, drivable, livable camping vehicles that he then takes on adventures in the wilderness. It’s just a lot of fun. And as someone who doesn’t get out a lot due to my health – let alone go camping – it’s been hugely entertaining to be taken on those adventures with him.

Most-Improved Web Series:

🏆 Winner 🏆
Binging With Babish

I’d unsubscribed from Binging with Babish at least a year ago. The show seemed to have descended into – for want of a better term – slop, with videos like “I tried eating 100 different kinds of ramen!!” replacing the recipes that I’d originally tuned in for. By the end of my time as a subscriber, only Babish collaborator Alvin’s videos were of any interest to me at all, and they were so outnumbered by low-quality, low-effort nonsense that I felt sure I was done.

But in 2025, I was pleasantly surprised to see Binging With Babish make somewhat of a comeback. There’s still slop, but there are once again genuine recipes in the mould of Babish’s earlier content, and I’m glad to see the show’s pivot. Many creative folks get burned out doing the same thing over and over again, and I can empathise with the desire to branch out and try different things. But I’m very pleased to see what I consider to be a return to form from what had been a fairly unique and well-produced web series.

The “Too Early For Early Access” Award:

🏆 “Winner” 🏆
inZOI

After the disappointing cancellation of Life By You about a year ago, I was still hopeful that a genuine competitor or “spiritual successor” to The Sims series might be in the offing. The Sims 4 is catastrophically over-monetised, and Electronic Arts has shown no signs of developing a new entry in the series, either. And all of that was before the EA buyout situation that we discussed earlier in the year. So I had hopes that a game like inZOI might be the challenger that The Sims has needed for a long time – as well as a fantastic game in its own right.

But, as you may know by now, inZOI launched into early access far too early, in a near-unplayable state. Basic game features were missing, and I just got the impression that publisher Krafton was pushing the game’s developers too hard before inZOI was even close to being ready. Early access is hit-and-miss, and you have to understand that when you jump in. And I get that, believe me! But even for an early access title, inZOI felt horribly unready, and needed at least another year-plus of development time. I hope that the game’s difficult early access release hasn’t damaged its reputation too much ahead of its full launch.

Worst DLC:

🏆 “Winner” 🏆
The Oblivion Remaster’s “Deluxe Edition”

DLC "horse armour" for the deluxe edition of TES IV: Oblivion.

Remember Bethesda’s infamous “horse armour” debacle in 2006? Well, how would you like to pay extra money to Bethesda, again, for *more* horse armour in the remastered version of Oblivion? Because that’s what the shitty “Deluxe” version of the Oblivion remaster gets you. Paid horse armour. In Oblivion. In 2025. As I said back in June: piss off, Bethesda.

If this was meant to be a joke, I didn’t find it funny. If it was a freebie, a little nod-and-wink to longtime fans to say “hey, wasn’t this silly back in the day?” then sure. Add it in as a free DLC and we can all chuckle to ourselves about how Bethesda’s greed led directly to paid skins and other crappy DLC in single-player games. But as a *paid* feature in the Oblivion remaster? I was shocked at how brazenly Todd Howard and Bethesda were just taking the piss.

Best DLC:

🏆 Winner 🏆
No Man’s Sky: Voyagers

Promo image for No Man's Sky: Voyagers DLC.

I didn’t play very much No Man’s Sky this year, but I loved what I saw of Voyagers. Hello Games has added almost a decade’s worth of content to No Man’s Sky completely for free – making a mockery of companies like Bethesda who want to charge for every weapon skin, outfit, and even individual quests in games like Starfield. And Voyagers is the biggest and most expansive No Man’s Sky DLC to date, introducing ship-building, among other features.

At this stage, No Man’s Sky is basically what I hoped Starfield could have been back in 2023. The seamless exploration, the ship- and base-building, and the sheer sense of *scale* that Starfield lacked are all present here. Maybe in 2026 I’ll jump back in and really get stuck into it! I know it’s a bit of a “hot take,” but I felt the launch version of No Man’s Sky was decent for what it was. But comparing that version to this one? It’s literally an entirely new game. If you missed it, or you wrote off No Man’s Sky after launch… fire it up again. I really don’t think you’ll regret it.

The “Stupidest Own Goal” Award:

🏆 “Winner” 🏆
Microsoft and Xbox

Photo of Phil Spencer announcing the Xbox Series consoles.

In 2025, Microsoft and Xbox hiked the prices of their consoles. Twice. But even then, I’d still have said that an Xbox Series S and a Game Pass subscription were a good-value way to get started with current-gen gaming. And then what did Microsoft do? Hiked up the price of Game Pass by a massive amount. On PC, Game Pass went up by 70% in the span of thirteen months. And on console, the price of the top tier of Game Pass – which is now the only way to get same-day releases of big titles – has basically doubled in just over a year.

As I said at the time, the subscription model is *a perfect fit* for gaming. And Microsoft, until now, has had the best service in town. But no one should accept price hikes of 50%, 70%, or more – and that’s why so many people went to cancel their Game Pass subscriptions that the website crashed. I cancelled Game Pass this year, and I doubt I’ll pick it up again. At these prices, it ain’t worth it. And with Microsoft’s consoles failing… Game Pass was all they had.

The “Most Unfriendly Company” Award:

🏆 “Winner” 🏆
Nintendo

Still frame from the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct broadcast showing three of Nintendo's executives.

For what it is, and considering which games are available for it, Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is overpriced. Nintendo Switch 2 games, at £75 or $80, are also overpriced – and worse, this threatens to normalise the second rise in the standard price of video games in less than five years, with other publishers now starting to follow suit. Nintendo is still embroiled in a frivolous lawsuit against Pokémon competitor Palworld and its developers. And, on top of all of that, Nintendo has tried to patent vaguely-defined in-game systems and mechanics, including the ability to have summonable allies fight alongside you in battles.

Nintendo’s well-trained legion of super-fans may not like to hear it, but Nintendo is an ugly, greedy, predatory corporation that behaves no differently from Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and others in the industry. In fact, in some ways, Nintendo is *worse* than all of them, suing competitors when it feels a game is doing well, failing to innovate and move with the times, and just behaving in a horribly anti-consumer manner. I had hopes for both the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World… but Nintendo was just awful in 2025, and left me very disappointed.

Best Hack-and-Slash Game:

🏆 Winner 🏆
Dynasty Warriors: Origins

Screenshot of Dynasty Warriors: Origins (photo mode) showing the protagonist fighting a horde of enemies.

I had a blast playing Dynasty Warriors 2 with a friend a long time ago, but that had been my only real exposure to this long-running series. Origins hadn’t been on my radar at the start of the year, but something in the game’s marketing material just… called out to me, I guess. And I felt I needed to give the game a shot. I’m so very glad I did, because I had a blast with this game and its fantastic soundtrack!

I’m someone who usually plays games for their stories, with gameplay being a secondary consideration much of the time. But Dynasty Warriors: Origins was just plain *fun* to get stuck into, with hordes of enemies to slice through and bosses to whittle down. The game’s incredible soundtrack also feels like a throwback, with up-tempo rock and electronic-inspired music that’s obviously totally anachronistic to its ancient China-inspired setting. But I adored it, and I just had a wonderful time playing this game.

Best Mario Kart Game:

🏆 Winner 🏆
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is a fantastic kart-racer. It was ballsy of Sega to release it just a few weeks after Mario Kart World… but I think it’s fair to say that the risk paid off spectacularly, because this is genuinely one of the best arcade racing games I’ve played in the last few years. Its signature “CrossWorlds” mechanic guarantees that every race is going to be different – and gives you a reason to keep pushing to stay in the lead. Obviously I can’t compare it directly to a game I haven’t played, but I believe CrossWorlds would’ve given Mario Kart World a real run for its money if I’d picked up a Switch 2 this year.

There are some fun additions to CrossWorlds, bringing characters and settings from Minecraft and SpongeBob to the racetrack, and there’s more to come from the game in 2026, with new inclusions planned. The racing is fast-paced and fun, items add a lot of chaos to the game, and the CrossWorlds idea shakes up every single race and keeps things from feeling boring. All in all, a fantastic kart racer.

Best Strategy Game:

🏆 Winner 🏆
Civilization VII

Screenshot of Civilization VII (Civ 7) showing a Medjay unit near the Grand Canyon wonder.

This is somewhat of a reluctant award, to tell you the truth. Civilization VII is good, and it’s getting better now that we’re almost eleven months post-launch. But Civ VII is not as good as I wanted it to be or hoped it would be, and it takes this award basically by default. I want to see many more improvements to the game in 2026, and I hope I won’t come to regret giving the game this award by this time next year if they don’t come.

That being said, Civilization VII is my most-played game of 2025, and it would feel wrong not to at least acknowledge that achievement with an award. There are things that I enjoy about this game, and I don’t think it’s the total failure or dumpster fire that some reviewers have tried to claim. There are interesting ideas in the mix, some really fantastic graphics, and a good mix of new civilisations and leaders to play with. But the game is in need of a lot more work, and was arguably released too early. Perhaps in six or twelve months, it will truly live up to its potential.

Worst Game:

🏆 “Winner” 🏆
Nintendo Switch 2: Welcome Tour

Promo graphic for Nintendo Switch 2: Welcome Tour.

Let’s get something straight: if Welcome Tour had been the *free* pack-in that it was clearly supposed to be, it wouldn’t be anywhere near this award. But by choosing to sell this non-game, this overblown manual, for $10/£8, Nintendo invited it to compete with actual, bona fide *games*. See, I don’t hate Welcome Tour for what it is. As a concept, a basic programme that explains some of the features of a brand-new console is not a bad idea. The Switch 2 – being so derivative and similar to the original Switch – arguably didn’t need this kind of software, but that’s somewhat beside the point. An interactive manual is a fun concept.

But something like that *needs* to be included with the console for free. Welcome Tour isn’t a game. It isn’t even a tech demo – it’s an interactive manual which goes over, in brief, what the console can do and how its controls operate. Nintendo used to be the company that gave away free copies of Tetris with the Game Boy, and that created Wii Sports as a free pack-in title to show off the Wii’s motion controls. And now? They’re the greedy, predatory company that tries to trick their own fans into buying a glorified manual. I don’t hate Welcome Tour – I hate what it stands for and what it says about how far Nintendo has fallen.

Video Game – Honourable Mention:

🏆 Winner 🏆
Indika

Screenshot of Indika showing the title character walking through a snowy village.

Indika was released in 2024, but I missed it when it was new. It can’t be entered into contention for “game of the year” because it didn’t come out this year, but I was gripped by Indika when I played it. The game has an intense story set in Tsarist Russia, following the story of a nun as she undertakes a harrowing journey. For an indie title made by a small team, the game was absolutely fantastic, and I went on an intense and emotional journey with Indika that really hit close to home.

Mechanically, Indika brought a lot to the table, too. In addition to being a “walking simulator,” there were quick-time events, and several beautiful pixel art sections, including a 2D platformer, a racing mini-game, and even a rhythm game of sorts (that I was terrible at!) Indika also had some beautiful and bleak landscapes that really captured the look and feel of the era and place in which it was set. Just a thoroughly fantastic indie game, well worth playing.

Game of the Year:

🥈 Runner-Up🥈
Mafia: The Old Country

Promotional screenshot for Mafia: The Old Country.

Someone online said that Mafia: The Old Country “could’ve been a movie,” intending for that to be a criticism. I agree… only, I mean it in the best way possible! For decades, I’ve sought out games with fantastic stories, great world-building, and engaging characters, and that’s exactly what this prequel to the long-running Mafia series delivers. So yeah, it could have been a movie!

Mafia: The Old Country was recently given a free update which opens up its beautiful and detailed world quite a bit, making it feel less linear and closer to the open-world adventure that I think some folks were hoping for. Gameplay isn’t ground-breaking, but it’s fun, competent, and tightly-managed, keeping Enzo’s story on the rails. I had a good time with the game, and I thoroughly enjoyed stepping back in time to The Old Country’s neat recreation of Sicily.

🏆 Winner 🏆
South of Midnight

Screenshot from South of Midnight showing Hazel with a waypoint.

South of Midnight is a truly wonderful game. An adventure title with some difficult boss fights and fun platforming, South of Midnight also had a truly engaging story as protagonist Hazel sets off on a quest to find her missing mother. The world has a dark “Southern Gothic” style, and draws inspiration from the mythology of the Mississippi Delta region and African American folklore. The story was emotional, and Hazel made for a fun and relatable protagonist.

South of Midnight weaved its gameplay and story together with practised ease, ensuring that Hazel’s growing powers never felt out-of-place, and every level or fight was perfectly attuned to her new skills. Crouton, her sidekick, was adorable, and though the story was dark in places, I had a whale of a time with it. The game’s art style was beautiful, too, with its much-hyped stop-motion effect being especially notable in cut-scenes. A thoroughly fantastic adventure that I’m happy to crown my “game of the year.”

Best Film Soundtrack:

🏆 Winner 🏆
KPop Demon Hunters

Still frame from KPop Demon Hunters (2025) showing Huntr/x (Zoey, Rumi, and Mira) singing.

I cannot stop listening to Golden and This Is What It Sounds Like! Those two songs have been living rent-free in my head for *months,* and I’m not even mad about it. KPop Demon Hunters was a fantastic film, and its soundtrack was exceptional. I’ve never considered myself a fan of K-pop, nor had I listened to any Korean songs since Gangnam Style a few years ago… but these songs absolutely stunned me with how good they were. I’m admittedly not a music critic, but I know what I like when I hear it!

I bought the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, and I’m pretty sure I’m single-handedly responsible for Golden topping the charts here in the UK, as I was streaming the track so often! I know the film’s meant for kids, but come on! These songs are outstanding, and I really can’t find a bad one amongst them. The sooner we get a sequel to this fantastic film, the better!

Best Film:

🏆 Winner 🏆
KPop Demon Hunters

Still frame from KPop Demon Hunters (2025) showing Derpy the tiger and a plant pot.

A very rare two-for-two this year, as KPop Demon Hunters also nabs the award for best film! As I was saying, the film and its soundtrack are both absolutely fantastic, with Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix absolutely wiping the floor with Disney’s sequels and live-action adaptations. Who knew that making a good, original film with a fun cast of characters, a unique setting, and a great soundtrack would be… a really good idea? Not Disney, obviously.

KPop Demon Hunters had an easy-to-follow story that was surprisingly deep and emotional. Its central characters kept things grounded, even amidst a story about popstars saving the world from demons, which is no mean feat. I found myself getting thoroughly invested in the story and its great cast of characters, and KPop Demon Hunters is the first film in a long time that I’ve voluntarily watched more than once – and not just to take notes for my review! I returned to the film several times this autumn and winter, and I daresay I’ll watch it again in 2026, too.

Worst TV Series/Miniseries:

🥈 ”Runner-Up”🥈
Earth Abides

Promo image for Earth Abides showing the main character sitting at a table.

I saw some ads for Earth Abides on social media earlier in the year, and the post-apocalyptic miniseries seemed like it would be worth a look. But I bounced off it hard after about three episodes. Earth Abides just couldn’t decide what kind of show it wanted to be: a post-apocalyptic tale of survival and mystery, or a dense philosophical take on the structure of civilisation. It ended up being neither, overladen with tired tropes of the post-apocalypse, and just… boring.

The protagonist (whose name I’ve already forgotten) wakes up from a coma to find the world has collapsed. He runs to a supermarket – where the lights are still on and cars are still in the parking lot – to stock up on supplies. He goes to Vegas, where he meets a couple of other survivors who are debauching themselves before the last of the power runs out. And… I’ve seen this all before, done way better, in other shows. Earth Abides was based on a novel, and maybe the novel is better than the show turned out to be.

🏆 “Winner” 🏆
King and Conqueror

Still frame from King & Conqueror showing Edward and Lady Emma.

I don’t necessarily think that King & Conqueror was significantly worse than Earth Abides. I mean, I actually made it to the end of this one! But in terms of raw, unbridled disappointment… this is by far the worst I experienced in 2025. I had really high hopes for this big-budget retelling of a story all British kids learn about in school: the Norman Conquest of 1066. But what I got instead was a Game of Thrones-ified, over-dramatised, totally fictitious let-down.

If you don’t care about historical accuracy, maybe King & Conqueror works. But when you have such blatant silliness as William and Harold wrestling half-nude in the mud, and total transformations of major historical figures like Harold’s brother Tostig, Edward the Confessor, and Edward’s wife… I can’t forgive it. King & Conqueror should have kept closer to the real story, because there’s more than enough excitement and drama there. This fictional account may as well have been called something else, and dropped the pretence of “real history” entirely. What a disappointment.

Best Animated TV Series:

🏆 Winner 🏆
Phineas and Ferb
Season 5

Still frame from the premiere of Phineas and Ferb Season 5 showing most of the main characters.

I was eagerly awaiting Phineas and Ferb’s revival this year, and in true summer vacation style, it arrived in June! I felt that the season – which isn’t totally complete, as there are still three or four episodes remaining – was pretty good, on the whole. Perhaps it was closer in quality, much of the time, to Season 4 of the original run than to Seasons 1-3, but there were a good mix of classic adventures and new stories.

A revival of any long-running show after a long break has to do more than just be “more of the same,” and Phineas and Ferb’s writers found some great justifications for bringing the series back. New character groupings and new storylines went a long way to keeping things feeling fresh, but there were also plenty of classic adventures, inventions, and evil schemes which harkened back to the show’s original run. All in all, a solid revival.

Best TV Miniseries:

🏆 Winner 🏆
Zero Day

Still frame from Zero Day showing George on the phone.

Zero Day was good fun for what it was. I think it leaned a bit more on the political side of things than I’d been expecting at first, and there was a lot of “post-9/11” security stuff that, arguably, feels a bit outdated in 2025. But Robert De Niro put in a spectacular performance as the conflicted ex-President, and the series shone a light on the vulnerability of society in general to this kind of cyber attack. I think the show’s focus was a bit split, in places: it wanted to be a kind of “dark mirror,” warning America about the dangers of giving unchecked power to agencies and political figures. But parts of it, with a focus on a “good man doing bad things for virtuous reasons,” felt a bit… flag-wavey.

That being said, I binge-watched the show in a couple of days, and I had a good time with it. The main character was complex and believable, the threats it depicts seem totally plausible out here in the real world, and I’m always a sucker for a good political thriller.

Best TV Series:

🥈 Runner-Up🥈
Alien: Earth

Still frame from Alien: Earth showing a Xenomorph.

Alien: Earth feels like a great foundation to build on. It took the Alien franchise in a bit of a different direction while remaining true to the original film’s themes of out-of-control corporate greed and the very alien nature of extraterrestrial life. The show’s best episode by far was In Space, No One… which managed to recapture much of the tension and fear factor of 1979’s Alien in a way that practically none of the sequels, with their more action-heavy tone, managed to.

Alien: Earth also did something that the Alien franchise has desperately needed to do for a long time: introduced new and different extraterrestrial creatures. The eyeball alien in particular could be a massive part of the series going forward, and with the Xenomorph kind of being a one-trick pony, there was a sense that Alien as a whole might be beginning to run out of steam before Alien: Earth came along. As I said in my review, I’d rank Alien: Earth only just behind the original film, and well ahead of any of the sequels and spin-offs.

🏆 Winner 🏆
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Season 3

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (3x10) showing Pike and the crew on the bridge.

Season 3 is arguably not Strange New Worlds’ best. But there are some fantastic episodes in the mix, some great standalone and semi-standalone stories, and some wonderful moments of characterisation, too. Strange New Worlds has been, for me, the absolute high-water mark of modern Star Trek, and I was so disappointed earlier in 2025 when we learned – prematurely – that the series will end after a truncated fifth season. There should still be so many stories to tell with Captain Pike and the crew… ending it so soon feels positively criminal!

But I had a fantastic time with the season as a whole. Not every episode was perfect, but the good ones outnumbered the bad, and even the “worst” of the season still had a lot to offer. Strange New Worlds remains a largely episodic project, with the Enterprise able to warp away to a new destination – and a new kind of adventure – every week. That format suits Star Trek so perfectly, and it feels like the very best kind of throwback to the franchise’s heyday.

Best Star Trek Episode:

🏆 Winner 🏆
Terrarium

Still frame from Star Trek SNW Terrarium (3x08) showing the control panel of a shuttlecraft.

Terrarium was the “Ortegas episode” that fans had been clamouring for for three seasons! And the Enterprise’s pilot got a genuinely fantastic and emotional outing that really made the wait more than worth it. After taking on a solo mission aboard a shuttlecraft, Ortegas finds herself crash-landing on a desolate world, and is forced to survive alongside someone she couldn’t communicate with – and might’ve considered an enemy. There were echoes of stories like The Enemy from The Next Generation, and the episode isn’t just one of Strange New Worlds’ best – it’s one of Star Trek’s best.

Terrarium also packs an emotional punch! There was a callback to The Original Series that, while potentially interesting, didn’t actually add a lot, and felt a little unnecessary. But all things considered, this was absolutely one of the best things I watched in all of 2025. It’s an episode that I’d show to even the most aggressive haters of “nu-Trek,” to prove the point that modern Star Trek can, and does, still get it right.

So That’s It… Till 2026!

Photo from the 3rd Academy Awards (1930) showing presenter Jack Cunningham and Best Adapted Screenplay winner Frances Cunningham. — We’ve handed out some imaginary statuettes!

So there you have it! The End-of-Year Awards have been distributed for another year, and now there are just a few hours left to go until we’ll be ringing in 2026. Whatever you’re up to tonight, I hope you have a great time! And I hope my silly little awards show has been a bit of fun, too. It’s always nice, at this time of year, to take a step back and think about some of the highlights of the year as we prepare to turn over the calendar.

The website isn’t going anywhere in 2026. And in the next couple of days, I’ll be sharing some of my predictions for the new year, as well as looking ahead to some of the TV programmes, video games, and films that I’m most looking forward to. So please join me here on the website for some of that!

So all that’s left to say, really, is this: Happy New Year! Thanks for showing up this year, and I hope to see you again in 2026, where I’ll still be geeking out about gaming, Star Trek, and so much more!

All titles discussed above are the copyrights of their respective developers, studios, broadcasters, distributors, etc. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

You can find individual reviews, articles, and essays about some of these award-winning titles by following the links below:

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode Review – Season 3, Episode 9: Terrarium

Fri 05.09.25Dennis

Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Strange New Worlds Seasons 1-3. Spoilers are also present for the following Star Trek productions: The Original Series Season 1, The Search for Spock, The Next Generation Season 3, Discovery Season 2, and Picard.

Of all the main characters on Strange New Worlds, we’ve spent the least amount of time with Erica Ortegas. She’s been a presence on the show and has had some memorable scenes, but she hasn’t gotten a major storyline or a spotlight episode… until now. There are reasons for that, of course, and we don’t have to go over all of it again. But I know that a lot of Trekkies – myself included – have been waiting for an episode in which Ortegas would get her moment to shine.

And what an episode it was!

Terrarium was intense, dramatic, emotional, and just fantastic. It’s rare for me to sit down to write a review having taken no notes, but I was so absorbed in the story that I genuinely didn’t have a second’s pause to write anything. The only negatives I can find from Terrarium are total nitpicks; the kinds of silly things only the most detail-obsessed Trekkies might ever care about. The episode really was exceptional. One of the best from all three seasons of the show without a doubt.

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing the crash site and Ortegas. — Uh-oh, Ortegas is in a spot of bother…

Because Strange New Worlds is a prequel, and because we know that several of the characters it includes will go on to have careers in Starfleet during The Original Series era, it isn’t always easy for the show to create a genuine sense of danger. We know Pike’s fate, we know where Spock will end up, and we know Uhura, Scotty, Chapel, Dr M’Benga, and others all have futures beyond the series. In the modern entertainment landscape, that can change how we perceive stories which put these people in the firing line.

In the aftermath of shows like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones – shows which use what I’ve termed the “disposable cast,” where any main character can be killed off at almost any moment – television storytelling has shifted. Being a main character is no longer a guarantee of safety. Star Trek has struggled to keep pace, with characters in Picard and Discovery almost all surviving even the most apocalyptic dangers (or being resurrected afterwards!) But Strange New Worlds has already been different – Season 1 saw the untimely demise of the brand-new character of Hemmer. Terrarium got me to feel like Ortegas was genuinely in danger of losing her life and being written out of the show in a way that stories like Shuttle to Kenfori simply couldn’t for Pike and M’Benga. And I think that shows the advantages, in this new media environment, of using brand-new characters as opposed to relying too heavily on legacy characters whose fates and futures are set in stone.

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing Ortegas right after the crash. — This genuinely felt like it could’ve been the end for Ortegas…

I said recently that I don’t like when Star Trek stories blatantly rip off what’s come before, but I appreciate it when they “rhyme.” And for me, Terrarium reminded me of The Next Generation Season 3 episode The Enemy, in which Geordi La Forge and Bochra, a Romulan, are similarly trapped together on the desolate planet of Galorndon Core. The barren, stormy world, the pairing up of a Federation officer with a member of an enemy faction… Terrarium uses these same elements in a similar way, but still feels like a totally distinct story. That isn’t easy to pull off, and the differences between the stories – the shuttle crash, the wormhole, the difficulty of communicating with the Gorn, and Ortegas’ hostility toward the Gorn as she still processes her trauma – are a big part of what makes Terrarium work.

If I might make one criticism that falls outside of nitpick territory, it would be the editing and pacing of a few of the scenes. In short, Ortgeas seemed desperate for food and water immediately after crash-landing, and the passage of time was not particularly well-communicated at first. Pike said, at one point, that they’d been searching for her for over two days, and by the time she was eventually rescued, even more time seemed to have passed. Ortegas might’ve spent a couple of days on the moon before encountering the Gorn. Or a week. Or a few hours. Or maybe she and the Gorn lived together for a couple of weeks before the rescue? Some of those scenes just felt a little… choppy, if that makes sense – particularly the sequence after Ortegas crash-landed, and the scenes in the run-up to her first meeting with the Gorn. I can’t help but feel adding a card or some text saying “48 hours later…” or something like that might’ve helped at a couple of points.

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing Ortegas on the shuttle, resting. — It wasn’t totally clear to me how much time passed in between some of these sequences.

Can I skip to the end and talk about that? Because the end of Terrarium was brutal. After working together, surviving together, and planning out an escape together… for Ortegas’ Gorn friend to just be gunned down by La’an and the redshirts was harrowing. Star Trek stories almost always present our heroes as being in the right – even if they do something bad or against the rules, it’s almost always for a noble reason. La’an and the security team just opened fire without warning against an unarmed opponent, killing her in cold blood. I was shocked – and I’m genuinely struggling to call to mind a similar moment anywhere in Star Trek, in which the death of a friendly character was handled with such ruthlessness by Starfleet personnel.

The writers took a narrative necessity – that the Federation couldn’t have a Gorn just hanging out aboard the flagship years before the events of Arena – and turned it into a truly shocking twist ending for this kind of “let’s all learn to live together in peace” storyline. Ortegas is probably the second character, after La’an, to have held such genuine fear and hatred for the Gorn, and it seemed as if Terrarium was trying to echo Arena and similar Star Trek “morality plays” with a story all about overcoming hatred, finding common ground, and learning to work together. All of that was ripped away with seconds to spare – after Ortegas and the Gorn had risked everything to achieve rescue. It was… well, it was brutal. There’s no other word for it.

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing the dead Gorn. — Shocking and brutal.

Ortegas still learned a lot, of course. She overcame her fear and hatred for the Gorn, and as the Metron told her at the end of the episode, that was real and she’ll be able to retain all of that knowledge and those feelings. She’ll also be able to convey to Starfleet that the Gorn can, under the right circumstances, be dealt with, reasoned with, and communicated with – which, hopefully, are things that could set the stage for dialogue in the future. So those “morality play” ideas are still present, they still matter, and they’re still a big part of the episode’s story. It feels very “Star Trek” in a way that not every modern episode has done!

But the ending is straight out of the modern entertainment playbook! Arena ended with Kirk injuring the Gorn, but refusing to kill him. The Enemy ended with La Forge and his Romulan counterpart being rescued. But Terrarium went for the twist ending, the shock of seeing Ortegas’ new friend gunned down right at the moment of victory. Betrayed by Starfleet – unintentionally, perhaps, and even arguably understandably – but that doesn’t make it feel better.

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing La'an firing her phaser rifle. — La’an firing her phaser rifle.
*(Colour/brightness tweaked for clarity)*

If anything, I’d say this kind of ending ramps up the “morality play” angle. Terrarium is different from the likes of Arena and The Enemy, which got happier, or at least more positive endings. But the final act of Terrarium hammers home its message about bridging cultural divides, working with someone from a different race, and finding comradeship with an enemy. Ripping that away so coldly, and for no good reason, shows us how far Starfleet and the Federation still have to go – and how the “good guys” can still make mistakes or be too quick to anger.

This is what Star Trek has always been about – just updated with a more modern style. What was the point of The Enemy, if not learning to see an enemy as an equal? Or Arena – that “the other” is not a monster, but a person? Kirk starts his battle with the Gorn by talking of the revulsion he feels for the reptilian monster, but stops short of killing him at the end. Terrarium builds from the same narrative foundation, but twists the knife right at the end. Ortegas may have learned to let go of her fear and her hate… but Starfleet is still too quick to reach for the phaser.

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing a close-up of the Gorn. — Ortegas came to see the Gorn as a friend.

Despite feeling like she was genuinely in danger the entire time, I’m glad Ortegas lives to fight another day. The opening act of Terrarium, which showed Ortegas with Spock and Uhura, felt comparable in tone to how Discovery set up Airiam’s death, or how, earlier this season, Ensign Gamble was sent on the away mission that claimed his life. That kind of setup, knowing what we know of modern Star Trek, has an almost eerie feel, so when Ortegas’ mission went wrong and she crash-landed, I really did feel like she was in danger.

Given that Strange New Worlds has been adding to its roster of legacy characters, fleshing them out, and even trying to set up a “Year One” spin-off focusing on the likes of Kirk, Spock, and Scotty… I wondered if Ortegas might be about to be brushed aside to bring someone like Sulu on board. But I’m very glad that didn’t happen (or at least, it hasn’t happened yet) because she’s someone we’re still getting to know – and she’s such a fun character. Ortegas is cut from the same cloth as Voyager’s Tom Paris insofar as she’s a genuinely passionate pilot, not just a helmsman. Having that kind of person in the pilot’s seat – both of the Enterprise and in shuttlecraft – is a ton of fun, and I can feel her passion for the role every time she takes the helm. Shuffling her out of the way to make way for Sulu (or another legacy character) wouldn’t sit right with me.

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing Ortegas piloting her shuttle. — Ortegas is at home in the pilot’s seat.

Speaking of piloting… what do we make of Captain Pike taking the helm? I absolutely loved it – and I think Terrarium is a great episode for Pike, despite him not being the centre of attention. I wrote last week that, across the three seasons of Strange New Worlds that we’ve had so far, several episodes saw Pike transformed into a different person, recreated as a hologram, or just… behaving out-of-character. It’s gotten to the point where I feel like it’s almost a refreshing change of pace to see Pike as the upstanding, decent, honourable Starfleet captain that we remember – the character who, as Trekkies, we were so desperate to see given his own show.

Pike taking the helm also reminded me of another Next Generation Season 3 episode: Booby Trap. That episode sees Picard – to the shock of everyone on the bridge – take the helm to guide the Enterprise-D out of a sticky situation, and Pike’s turn at the helm definitely brought up echoes of that story for me. I would’ve liked to see Pike take his seat, perhaps… but maybe that would’ve been too similar, I don’t know. Either way, it was a really great moment, and it drew on Pike’s history as a Starfleet test pilot, which Strange New Worlds has brought up on a few occasions. I like that this is an ongoing aspect of his character and wasn’t newly-invented for Terrarium; these consistent story threads make a series and a setting feel so much more real.

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing Spock in the captain's chair with Una and Pike at the helm/navigation console. — Captain Pike at the helm.

Pike’s side of the story also brought up the weight of command and the difficulties of making command decisions. This is something we know weighs on the captain – in The Cage (and The Menagerie) Pike spoke about how he felt the burden of command and how being responsible for the ship and crew was taking a toll on him. In Terrarium, Pike had to balance the needs of the many with the needs of the one (to quote a future Mr Spock), wanting to do everything in his power to search for and save the wayward Ortegas – but having a time limit to deliver vaccines to a colony world.

I loved Pike’s line to Uhura that he knew she “fudged the numbers,” and he would’ve undertaken the rescue mission regardless. I think that says a lot about the kind of captain he is, and the way he handles his ship and crew. Pike was confronted with a genuinely impossible situation, but he stayed calm, he did everything he could to buy his crew as much time as possible to look for Ortegas, and his role this week reminded me exactly why I was so keen on “the Captain Pike show” back in 2019!

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing Pike looking at Uhura. — This was a great episode for both Uhura and Pike.

Did you spot a reference to The Doomsday Machine? Decker – a commodore by the time of The Original Series – was in command of the USS Constellation, the ship Pike and the Enterprise were set to rendezvous with in Terrarium. I just thought that was a neat little reference. It doesn’t need to be expanded into something massive, with the Constellation and Commodore Decker being shown on screen next week, but it was a cute little nod and wink to Trekkies – and another reminder that all of these stories are taking place in a shared setting. It wasn’t a big thing, but it was neat that the writers went the extra mile, instead of saying that the vaccines were to be delivered to Captain Bob of the USS Whatsisname.

Terrarium was also a fantastic episode for Uhura. Her empathy and love were on full display as she supported Ortegas ahead of her first solo mission in months, then became the strongest advocate for searching for her, even when Spock seemed (perhaps a little too keen) to throw cold water on her plans. We’ve seen Uhura grow in confidence across Strange New Worlds so far, and as Pike remarked, bending the rules is a new frontier for her! But it came from an understandable place, and had been set up incredibly well earlier in the episode.

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing Uhura on the bridge, happy. — Uhura at the episode’s climax.

Uhura has had several “moments” across the first three seasons of Strange New Worlds in which she becomes more confident, solidifies her relationship with Starfleet, or just grows in some way. And Terrarium was another great example, building on storylines like visiting the comet, bonding with Hemmer, and inspiring the crew to sing their way out of trouble. The notion that Uhura would do anything to help a friend in need… that’s a core part of the character we remember, and seeing her bend the rules, thinking that was the only way to help Ortegas? It sets up Uhura joining Kirk’s mission to steal the Enterprise in Star Trek III, as well as countless other examples of her going out of her way to help her friends.

Spock was, perhaps, a little too quick to dismiss some of Uhura’s ideas – but this was never really presented as a conflict; more so a hurdle for Uhura to overcome. And Spock, despite his initial predictions of failure, didn’t come across as being a jerk for the sake of it. He even stayed with Uhura, continuing to help her work on her simulations, which I think also says a lot about how far he’s come across the show so far. After so many “Spock comedy” storylines – something I talked about at length last week – it’s nice to see Spock in a more familiar and straight-laced role. It’s also nice to see Spock contributing, but taking a back seat to other characters. This side of the story mostly looked at Uhura and, to a lesser extent, Pike. Spock played a role, but he doesn’t always have to be centre-stage.

Combo of two still frames from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing Spock and Uhura in the science lab. — Uhura and Spock.

So let’s return to the main part of the story: Ortegas and the Gorn.

I really liked the moon that Ortegas crashed on. It made fantastic use of the AR wall, and just felt like such a barren and desolate place. Seeing the wind sweeping across the surface of the moon, with nothing but dust and rocks in sight, with occasional quakes and rumbles shaking the ground… it made for a very unnerving place to have crash-landed; very lonely, very bleak. The addition of the flaming blue gas giant in the sky obviously added a huge sense of impending danger, which was intimidating. The camera work on the surface of the moon, combined with the AR wall, actually led to a really great effect – something Paramount hasn’t always been competent at if you look back at some other recent Star Trek projects, like Discovery’s fifth season.

And this sense of being lost, alone, and trapped in a desolate, barren wasteland was really hammered home by the presence of the wormhole. I don’t think we ever learned exactly how far away the wormhole’s terminus was from where the Enterprise was situated – but, as Spock said, it could be basically anywhere in the universe. That added so much to the sense of isolation and abandonment compared to, say, an episode like The Enemy, in which the Enterprise-D was still in orbit, even if for technobabble reasons it wasn’t possible to beam out Geordi right away. Again, that sense of genuine danger – that we might be about to lose Ortegas from the series entirely – was ramped up by just how badly wrong this mission was going.

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing the USS Enterprise wedged in a wormhole. — The Enterprise in the wormhole.

A couple of weeks ago, I said that I was worried that Ortegas’ injury and trauma from the beginning of the season hadn’t been picked up in a big way, and that if it did come back, it would be harder to pull off effectively after having seen her “back to normal.” And I stand by that to an extent – I think if, instead of Terrarium, we’d gotten a Discovery-style “let’s all talk about our feelings” story, it would have been difficult to put Ortegas into that after several episodes had passed in between her injury, her insubordination, and her apparent recovery. But because of the way Terrarium approached it – putting her face-to-face with a Gorn for the first time since the end of Hegemony, Part II – it actually worked incredibly well.

Ortegas’ character arc built on her earlier encounter with the Gorn and the lingering trauma it caused her without feeling like we’d missed a step. By throwing her into this tense survival situation, we got to see her going from “just kill me already you alien monster,” to “okay, we can be friends.” And Terrarium built this up slowly and carefully, taking us from Ortegas’ shock at spotting the Gorn, trying to hide, fearing for her life, and eventually coming to terms with the fact that they’d have to work together to have any chance of escape. It was incredibly well written – and given that Melissa Navia was the only one to actually have any dialogue on this side of the story, incredibly well performed and emoted. Having to act out an incredibly intense and emotional storyline against a person in a Gorn suit can’t have been easy – but she made it look easy! This is why, for almost three full seasons, a lot of us have been champing at the bit for a proper Ortegas episode!

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing Ortegas inside the shield dome. — Melissa Navia absolutely excelled.

We got to see Ortegas run the gamut of emotions. The elation of her mission and the piloting challenge, the anxiety and loneliness after the crash-landing, the sheer terror of her first Gorn encounter, a slowly-developing friendship which culmintaed in board games, and the abject grief at her new friend’s utterly brutal execution. And Melissa Navia had to do all of that (well, almost all of it) on her own, with no other actor to bounce her lines off of. It’s an incredible solo acting performance, one which really encompasses a huge range of different emotional states across a dangerous and nearly fatal away mission.

After Strange New Worlds has reimagined the Gorn to be closer to Alien’s Xenomorphs or other horror movie monsters, it was incredibly refreshing to see a different and softer take this time. We got to see a Gorn – for the first time in the entire series, really – not as “the other,” or a monster, but as a person. This Gorn showed Ortegas – and by extension, us as the audience – that the Gorn are more than just mindless killing machines who see humans as food. They have a complex language, a culture, they enjoy playing games, they can get sick and injured… again, to tie into the theme of Star Trek stories as “morality plays,” we’re seeing the Gorn – through Ortegas’ eyes – as people… basically for the first time since they were re-worked for Strange New Worlds. This only makes the brutal killing of the Gorn at the end of the story hit so much harder and feel so much worse.

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing Ortegas on her knees. — Ortegas at the end of the story.

May I nitpick? If you know me… you know I must!

If you can transport down to a moon, it stands to reason that you can also transport up from a moon, right? So why did La’an have to beam down to search for Ortegas? And why did La’an beam down with a squad of redshirt tactical officers for a rescue mission, instead of – oh, I dunno – a doctor? The “we have to deliver these vaccines on time” added an extra source of tension to the episode, but it felt a bit exposition-y – mostly because of the timing of its introduction. If the episode had begun with Pike saying, “we’re en route to deliver these vaccines, but we stopped off briefly to study this unusual phenomenon,” I think it would’ve worked a lot better than Una springing it on us after Ortegas had already gone missing. The “scanning ability” percentage wasn’t really explained, and I could’ve entertained a brief line of technobabble discussing it, especially given its importance to Uhura and Pike’s storyline.

But, as I said, all of those are incredibly minor points, and none of them detracted from the finished product. I include them here because, well, I’m a Trekkie – and as Trekkies, we love nothing more than to pick at the tiniest little details in Star Trek, sometimes!

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing the away team beaming down. — The rescue team beams down.

Terrarium joins Shuttle to Kenfori and Through the Lens of Time as one of my favourites from Season 3. It was fantastic all around, with great moments for Pike and Uhura, as well as an incredibly intense story for Ortegas.

I loved this completely different way to include the Gorn. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve enjoyed Strange New Worlds’ reinterpretation of the Gorn, by and large. But I also think we were beginning to come up against the limits of the “alien monster” idea, so to show a softer, more personable side to the Gorn – and to put Ortegas, who had suffered so severely at their hands, right in the middle of it – was a fantastic storytelling decision, and one that was executed incredibly well. Melissa Navia got her first major spotlight episode – and rose to the occasion, overcoming a difficult acting challenge.

I really can’t heap enough praise on Terrarium, as you can probably tell! It truly is an outstanding episode, one that harkens back to the likes of Arena and The Enemy from those older shows, but puts a completely different spin on a familiar setup thanks to a brutal ending. I’m not sure I’d have chosen to include Arena’s Metrons; I’m just not convinced that brief scene at the end added an awful lot or that the story really needed it. But doing so helps to square a circle, perhaps, while hinting at a “different” take on the Gorn by the time of Kirk’s encounter in Arena.

Still frame from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x09: Terrarium, showing Ortegas and the Gorn playing chess. — Playing chess with a Gorn.

So that was Terrarium. Absolutely fantastic. No notes – literally, in my case!

Season 3 has been pretty good, overall. Strong episodes like Terrarium are a nice balance after a weaker offering like Four-and-a-Half Vulcans last week, and I’m rooting for an excellent season finale to close things out with a bang! Can you believe Season 3 is almost over, already? I’m actually feeling pretty sad about that.

The final episode of the season will be titled New Life and New Civilizations. So far, there’s been nothing released – no promo photos, no blurb, no trailer. Something big could be hiding under the surface, then! Check out my latest theory about Captain Pike and Captain Batel, if you’re interested – you can find it by clicking or tapping here. And join me next week for the final episode review of the season. Oh, and if you missed it, I met Martin Quinn (Scotty) over the weekend at a Star Trek convention here in the UK. Click or tap here to check out my write-up of the events of the day. Live Long and Prosper, friends!

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Seasons 1-3 are available to stream now on Paramount+ in countries and territories where the platform exists. The first two seasons are also available on DVD/Blu-ray. The Star Trek franchise – including Strange New Worlds and all other properties discussed above – is the copyright of Skydance and/or Paramount. This review contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.