- Directed by Yana Gorskaya
- Written by Kathryn Lyn
- August 6, 2026
- Paramount+
- Based on Star Trek Created by Gene Roddenberry as envisioned by Alex Kurtzman
Episode Cast
- Captain Christopher Pike-Anson Mount
- Lt. Spock-Ethan Peck
- Nurse Christine Chapel-Jess Bush
- Lt. La’An Noonien-Singh-Christina Chong
- Ensign Nyota Uhura-Celia Rose Gooding
- Lt. Erica Ortegas-Melissa Navia
- Dr. Joseph M’Benga-Babs Olusanmokun
- Lt. Montgomery Scott-Martin Quinn
- Commander Una Chin-Riley-Rebecca Romijn
- James T. Kirk-Paul Wesley
- Shuttle Lot Attendant-Sam Calleja
- Dendru-Dave Foley
- Former Gang Leader-Nicolas Grimes
- Co’Rah-Darryl Hinds
- No’Mahc-Kirstin Rae Hinton
- USS Enterprise Computer (voice)-Alex Kapp
- Bingo Caller-Kathryn Lyn
- Cornelia-Louisa Martin
- Teacher-Asha Vijayasingham
The remaining crew of Enterprise takes leave on a planet with an intoxicating atmosphere just before some very important negotiations.
I held out some hope that after the weakness of The Griffin Incident that Human Best Friend might follow in the tradition of many Star Trek shore leave-themed episodes and be a fun and/or humorous character adventure. Instead they gave us Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ version of Dude, Where’s My Car? without the sophisticated humor or complex plot or deep logic.
There are some peace talks that the Enterprise crew is to spearhead with a very formal alien species and the crew is stressed because not only are they readying for talks with these aliens but every duty shift but one has been given leave. Huh? Why did they give so many people time off? Previously in Star Trek, they rotated it when they went to a planet. It makes no sense to deplete an entire crew. It doesn’t make sense like so much else in this episode.
One thing I’m starting to notice is that Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) is present at important staff meetings. NURSE Chapel. She’s a nurse and not a doctor. Officially. She gave up those doctor credentials to be a nurse on a starship to find her boyfriend who disappeared. If you don’t believe me then watch the TOS episode What Are Little Girls Made Of? It wasn’t that the starship Enterprise or any starship was going to take her to the planet. She kind of hoped to stumble across it at some point.
Is she the ships morale officer? It is a meeting to discuss shore leave but it’s still senior staff. Department heads and that would be Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) who is the head of the medical department as the chief physician. There is pointless redundancy bringing in the chief nurse.
For me the premise of a stoner comedy episode flies in the face of good Star Trek. I’m used to a level professionalism in Trek characters. These were at least people you could trust to make a frozen pizza in the oven, and I just don’t have that feeling after watching this. It undermines the characters not by showing them in a different light but making them stupid.
Human Best Friend is an episode desperate to be funny. It is just none of the jokes work mostly because the premise when you think about it falls apart quickly. Not only are there people acting normally on the planet, but allowing Starfleet personnel to vacation on a planet where you get high just by being there and that has a very complex fine print contract seems like an incredibly idiotic idea for any organization.
Unlike I, Mudd or Treachery, Faith, and the Great River or even The Naked Now there is no uniquely Star Trek humor found. The Hangover or the aforementioned Dude, Where’s My Car? are clearly copied (not homaged) here. The jokes used come from those or any number of teen or stoner comedies creating a strange sense of familiarity throughout the whole exercise.
Closest it gets to anything uniquely Star Trek (and this is weak) is Una (Rebecca Romijn) singing Total Eclipse of the Heart in Klingon which I took as a bit of a nod to the joke in Star Trek VI by General Chang about Shakespeare and the original Klingon. Then there was the set of Andorian antennae that got broken like Thelev’s did in Journey to Babel.
Our main characters this time are Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) and Scottie (Martin Quinn) with their forced animosity. I say forced because nothing feels natural or organic about any of it. It is about as forced as a laugh might be for any of the ‘wackiness’ we see.
Much like in Dude, Ortegas and Scottie are trying to find their shuttle and what amounts to the keys to the shuttle. When in the history of Trek did they ever take a special chip out of the shuttlecraft so that it wouldn’t start? Over 60 years and multiple episodes of multiple shows no special chip was ever removed.
Why did this all happen? Well after getting dosed with a space drug on a planet that gets you high because doubling down makes sense, Ortegas and Scottie learn of a plot to sabotage the peace talks so to make it funny they come up with a bad idea to keep the shuttle from getting back to Enterprise. Because of space weed they forget this so they are following hackneyed clues. By the end they find the bomb and Scottie holds it. The problem is Scottie is holding it. We all know Scottie doesn’t die so there is no tension or concern. Why not use Ortegas? Her fate post-SNW is not known.
Yet again Kirk (Paul Wesley) finds himself hanging with the crew, specifically Spock (Ethan Peck), while on the planet though Spock thinks Kirk is a hallucination. How many times in a big galaxy can Kirk run across the crew of Enterprise before he takes command? It strains believability that he just happens to be on the surface of the planet they go to. Wesley went from looking confused in The Griffen Incident to looking physically uncomfortable here.
Dave Foley guest stars as inconsequential character Dendru. You have somebody known for their comedy guest star in a comedy episode and you give them nothing to do? That’s possibly the epitome of stunt casting. Or perhaps they were simply trying to leach off his comedy credentials to boost this episodes lack of humor.
The popularity of Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) on Discovery is what helped to get SNW off the ground. I think they wanted to do it anyway but his positive reception by fans made it much more likely yet he is largely in the background relegated to bad drunk acting over anything character developing. Much the same can be said of the other characters. It’s ALL bad drunk comedy acting that would cause Foster Brooks to say “You suck!”
Ethan Peck continues his attempt at soiling the legacy of Leonard Nimoy’s Spock. He’s not controlled or anything. His acting is awkward or wooden. The actor doesn’t know how to portray controlled emotion like Nimoy did. Nimoy and many other actors understood Vulcans were not emotionless. They just were able to control their emotions. As much was said by Troi in an episode of TNG. His mind meld with the plant computer was cringe as the kids say.
I have one last issue and it is Ortegas wearing Andorian antennae. That may seem like a cute joke but in the context of Star Trek wouldn’t such a piece be viewed as ethnic or species mockery of a Federation member? To put it in a human context, wouldn’t that be akin to black face? These were specifically Andorian in design. It’s just not much good to talk about in Human Best Friend. If you have seen one stoner comedy, you’ve seen all this has to offer and seen it better. With forced humor and a distinct lack of stakes it’s just not worth watching.
Warren Watched A Movie 