Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has released its season 4 episode "Level Five Transporter Accident," in which most of the Enterprise crew are accidentally turned into puppets, leaving Spock (Ethan Peck), who was off the ship at the time, to defend the vessel alone. Director Jordan Canning, who previously worked on Apple TV's Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, brought in Jim Henson's Creature Shop and much of that show's puppeteering team to create a chaotic, self-aware puppet instalment that leans into the format's physical limitations rather than hiding them.

In the episode, engineer Montgomery Scott's attempt to one-up a Starfleet Academy rival by teleporting a puppet across space backfires, transforming the crew into puppets who then struggle with basic ship controls while Orion pirates, led by characters played by Rachael Harris and Joe Lo Truglio, exploit the vulnerability to attack. The instalment features puppet fight scenes, a callback to Spock's iconic Wrath of Khan sacrifice moment involving Captain Pike (Anson Mount), and was written by Dana Horgan and Henry Alonso Myers with input from Canning's puppetry experience.