Strange New Worlds Delivers On A Major Unmade Star Trek: TNG Episode
Warning! SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode 3 «Ghosts of Illyria.»
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 3 «Ghosts of Illyria» has revisited key themes from an infamous unmade episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The episode finds the crew of the Enterprise visiting an abandoned Illyrian colony, only to become infected with a mysterious virus. As the Illyrians have been barred entry into the Federation due to their controversial work with genetic engineering, finding a cure for the crew proves difficult for Doctor M'Benga (Babs Osulanmokun), Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), and Number One (Rebecca Romijn.)
This dilemma mirrors that of David Gerrold's proposed TNG season 1 episode «Blood and Fire,» which was abandoned for reasons that Gerrold puts down to homophobia. Given Star Trek's history of addressing social and political issues, Gene Roddenberry and executive producer Rick Berman were keen to continue this tradition in The Next Generation. As the world was in the grip of the devastating AIDS pandemic, it was felt that Star Trek should attempt to tackle the prejudice and fear that surrounded it. Gerrold's «Blood and Fire» was an attempt to do just that, but remained unproduced until it was adapted for the fan-made series Star Trek: New Voyages.
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«Ghosts of Illyria» repurposes elements from David Gerrold's unmade «Blood and Fire.» That episode would have seen an Enterprise-D away team exposed to Regulan blood worms. Starfleet regulations dictate that any ship that comes into contact with these creatures should be destroyed in order to stop the infection from spreading. This classic horror-tinged Star Trek plotline
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