Lt Grissom, White, and Chaffee are the three men you’d probably never think of but unless you are from Kansas or know Latin. They are best associated with the loose translation of Ad Astra Per Aspera. For them, it is “A rough road leads to the stars,” for this Strange New Worlds it is “To the stars through hardship,” and to Kansas (the one I agree with) “To the stars through difficulties.” It is the courtroom drama episode helmed by Once Upon a Time and Supergirl writer Dana Horgan with Onitra Johnson as staff writer. It is directed by Suits, Chicago PD, and The Librarians director Valerie Weiss.

Given how “The Broken Circle” wound up, I think we know roughly what is going on this time out. Una was arrested in “A Quality of Mercy,” Pike went off to get a good civil rights lawyer last time leaving Spock to have character. Here is how that went and the results. If you frequent certain points of the internet, I’m sure you’ll know that those results are “woke” and other such verbose declarations that those shouting it have lost a grip on reality. It seems of late that the second you use fiction to talk about civil rights or an alien’s struggle, it is “liberal propaganda.”

“Ad Astra Per Aspera” is “The Measure of a Man” but with those women folk and finally a bit of thematic cohesion. The lawyer that Pike nearly killed himself getting is actually a childhood friend of Una and an Illyrian herself, with the case being about Starfleet’s genetics policy which Illyrians violate. Unlike the bearded wonder that is Riker, Neera has her own agenda. Pike’s side piece in Captain Batel feels pressured to just follow the rules, and Graeme Somerville does so little as Pasalk but makes me hate him oh so much.

I have to admit, it is difficult to find too much criticism for “Ad Astra Per Aspera” as it is refreshing one of the greatest episodes of Star Trek ever written by Melinda M Snodgrass during that horrible Maurice Hurley period of TNG. As Hurley himself admitted, he took Gene’s word to heart and oftentimes to the show’s own detriment. Where this measure of a woman (if you will) shines is the personal conflicts that put the restrictions on the episode and the characters rather than an arbitrary rule thought up by a showrunner/producer because “it isn’t what people of the 24th century do.”

Batel isn’t the villain, but being played like a puppet of Pasalk she’s the villain’s underling for a large portion of the episode. Of course, this is all while she is trying to keep on the right side of Pike’s bed. Neera’s “radical” hatred of Starfleet is born out of their fear, and she’s constantly in conflict with Una, the judges, the prosecution, and whoever made her coffee that morning because she’s a lawyer and she’s never really happy. Pike is constantly in conflict because he wants to do as all captains do, burst into the room and give the speech. There Is always a bloody speech.

There is always something a character is doing or has done that is blocking another from taking the easy path to close the case, and that’s good character-based writing. Once that’s settled, you have just basic writing that needs to be done. While I’m not a complete fan of every line, I think Horgan and Johnson did everything that was needed (and then some) to make “Ad Astra Per Aspera” brilliant. As I’ve already said, Somerville’s character of Pasalk does practically nothing but sit and whisper into some ears, yet I want to rip his pointy ears off.

Why did I go on the “tirade” about some people undoubtedly shouting woke and other nonsense? “The Measure of a Man” used the framework of slavery and the growing concern at the time of artificial intelligence being comparable. It is a typical trope of sci-fi, though it doesn’t answer the immediate issues. While every country grapples with immigration and the implications of refusing those seeking asylum, “Ad Astra Per Aspera” doesn’t sit on its hands when using such a topic. It isn’t going to sit listening to nonsense arguments that say living beings should be treated as less than.

Putting aside what Shatner’s idea of Star Trek was, as TOS is near-unwatchable, if you listen and believe that Gene’s idea of Star Trek in those later years was driven by humanist philosophy, then this was very much that. An idea of us bettering ourselves, fear aside, to create a more equal and just society that doesn’t have parents fearing that if they took their child to a doctor they’d be exiled. “Ad Astra Per Aspera” wasn’t a dark episode making us watch someone cross a border or anything close to that. It put a very human story of seeking asylum in a court on a humanoid alien.

If there was one thing I didn’t like it was the bit with M’Benga and Ortegas commenting on the meeting between Spock and Pasalk. I know, my Vulcan racism is shining through once more. All because I don’t like their pointy ears and logic screwing with our culture. Some might not even understand that as a joke, but oh well. I don’t know why, maybe it is predefined expectations of the character and the lack of humor you expect from him. There is just something that doesn’t make that attempt at a joke land for me, despite it trying to show character.

Finding major fault in “Ad Astra Per Aspera” is like saying you like a Margherita pizza and you don’t want any of that woke pepperoni, ham, prosciutto, chicken, mushrooms, and if you are a philistine, pineapple. While episodes like “Dax,” “Tribunal,” “Drumhead,” and “Death Wish” all aimed at Snodgrass’ shining moment, “Ad Astra Per Aspera” equals if not surpasses “The Measure of a Man.” Nostalgia might beat it out for others, though the simple character work and well-paced courtroom action do a lot that the original missed out on.

Call its politics woke, it is just doing what all of Star Trek (not JJ-Trek) does in saying that we shouldn’t treat others like dirt. I might find some of the lines to be “iffy,” for lack of a more precise term, but they don’t degrade an otherwise outstanding episode in a rather rushed story that has come and gone arguably too quickly. If there was one criticism I think the arc (not just the episode) should have, it is that Una has never really felt that integral to much of the show moving along. Ultimately it is a great episode, but unlike say Data, we don’t have much of a bond to her.

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SNW "Ad Astra Per Aspera"

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• The Measure of a Woman.
• No time to sit on any hands.

Cons

• The story arc seems a bit rushed overall.
• Couldn't we find a better way to do the Spock joke?