"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" recently aired an unconventional episode that transforms the main crew members into puppets after a transporter malfunction occurs. The fourth season instalment follows a prank gone wrong involving Scotty attempting to transport a disturbing puppet across space to play a trick on a rival, which inadvertently affects everyone aboard the ship. The resulting adventure features the puppet crew confronting Orion pirates whilst figuring out how to survive in their new forms, delivering comedic moments alongside the typical science fiction action.

The creative effort behind the episode involved collaboration between the show's production team and Jim Henson's Creature Shop, brought together through director Jordan Canning's prior work on the Fraggle Rock reboot. The puppeteers created hand-crafted versions of each character, designing them to emphasise distinctive physical traits from their human counterparts, such as exaggerated hair and shoulders for Captain Pike. Actor Ethan Peck, playing Spock, was the only main cast member exempt from becoming a puppet, though he expressed enthusiasm about being the sole performer able to act directly alongside all of the puppet versions.