- Directed by Jordan Canning
- Written by Kirsten Beyer and David Reed
- July 17, 2025
- Paramount+
- Based on Star Trek Created by Gene Roddenberry
Episode Cast
- Captain Christopher Pike-Anson Mount
- Spock-Ethan Peck
- Nurse Christine Chapel-Jess Bush
- La’an Noonien-Singh-Christina Chong
- Nyota Uhura-Celia Rose Gooding
- Lt. Erica Ortegas-Melissa Navia
- Dr. M’Benga-Babs Olusanmokun
- Lieutenant Montgomery Scott-Martin Quinn
- Una Chin-Riley-Rebecca Romijn
- Alien Parent(voice)-John de Lancie
- Dr. Roger Korby-Cillian O’Sullivan
- Wedding Planner (Trelane)-Rhys Darby
- Captain Batel-Melanie Scrofano
- Lieutenant George Samuel ‘Sam’ Kirk-Dan Jeannotte
- Beto Ortegas-Mynor Luken
- Ensign Gamble-Chris Myers
- Young Vulcan Bartender-Myles Dobson
- Kelzing-Kira Guloien
- USS Enterprise Computer (voice)-Alex Kapp
- Vasso-Ron Kennell
At a celebration for the Federation Centennial, an alien disrupts events.
In full disclosure I forgot about Season Two of Strange New Worlds and thus forgot Season Three was even coming which is a little weird since I was at one point all about Star Trek. While I watched Season One this series existing simply escaped my mind. That leaves me at a bit of a disadvantage in comparison to other viewers of this episode who have been watching from the beginning.
Considering how this connects to The Squire of Gothos and any number of episodes involving the Q, I became curious how Wedding Bell Blues would handle bringing together so much disparate mythology. I wanted to see how they handled Trelane and his appearance in this episode. Like so much of Star Trek today, much of what they use and how they use it comes off like they took a glance at a Wikipedia summary.
I was concerned from the start when they mentioned Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) having gone off with Dr. Roger Korby (Cillian O’Sullivan) on a fellowship. If you watched the episode What Little Girls Are Made Of? she joined Starfleet as a nurse in some weird hope to stumble across Roger while on a mission. This totally messes with that timeline. Then there is the Spock/Chapel romance which doesn’t make any sense in relation to the previously establish timeline nor does it do any favors for the TOS version of the character. There she is in TOS throwing herself at a clearly disinterested individual. She just becomes sad then.
The age difference between Majel Barrett who first portrayed Nurse Chapel and Michael Strong who first portrayed Roger Korby was 13 years making their relationship visually that of a professor/student. The age difference between Jess Bush and Cillian O’Sullivan is two or three years changing the whole dynamic. Not only that but in a few years he lost his accent? Then again the same appears to be the case with Carol Marcus if Star Trek Into Darkness is to be believed.
For a group of seasoned professionals in a professional organization the characters act like a bunch of high schoolers when the gossip spreads that Christina is bringing a date to the Centennial Celebration. I am having are hard time believing they can handle anything serious like the upcoming alien influence threat.
Then there is the elephant in the room of Trelane (Rhys Darby) though he never gets called that. There is no hint of this version being post-The Squire of Gothos which would have been fine and explainable by a god-like entity time travelling. If this is the character before The Squire of Gothos then how come he thought humans were still dressing like the 1800s? This episode creates numerous plot holes.
Trelane is more of a nuisance than a threat. There is no strong sense of danger caused by the machinations of the character. Just mild inconvenience. All he did was give Spock his half-drunk wish of getting Chapel back. But why? I have no idea his reason for doing so.
Before, Spock (Ethan Peck) had great deductive skills and a memory that was unparalleled. Not only was he unable to assemble the pieces in The Squire of Gothos that he met a similar alien before but in What Little Girls Are Made Of? he forgot he met Korby. This was a man that even after death and resurrection could do time travel equations and quote Shakespeare with his memory impaired.
Korby and Spock spend this episode trying to snap everyone back to reality in an effort that lacks any sense of import. Then again Trelane really never gets to being dangerous or accidentally setting anything in motion that puts the crew in danger. He just creates some heartbreak that his powers cannot overcome which sets everybody free before his dad shows up. Our dynamic duo really just waits the situation out until it all gets better.
One of the hallmarks of Star Trek previously was that popular music wasn’t used. I can’t think of a rock song or any bit of pop that played in a show or film until the reboot movies. It was a subtle way to demonstrate the future, but this episode ends with the Wham! song Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go played at a Federation celebration. It is a formal and relatively official celebration making something like a pop song getting used make no sense.
To that end the humor lands kind of flat. The episode doesn’t have even a smile factor. The script writing and character actions are more surface level and dumbed down. The episode comes off as weak and derivative. It tries so hard to work on nostalgia by shoehorning in legacy characters that do not fit.
Those not intimately familiar with TOS who only became fans later down the road will probably enjoy Wedding Bell Blues because they are not strongly familiar with the material it draws from. Those that are will find issues which will blunt if not totally eliminate their enjoyment. It’s a pretty looking episode but one poorly made.
Warren Watched A Movie 