Image credit: Paramount+
Published Aug 27, 2026, 8:19 PM EDT
John Orquiola is a New & Classic TV Editor, Senior Writer, and Interviewer with a special focus on Star Trek. John has over 5,000 published articles at SR, and he has interviewed the biggest names in Star Trek on the red carpet and VIP events, among other beloved shows, movies, and franchises.
Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 5 - "Level-Five Transporter Accident"Jess Bush answers perhaps the biggest questions fans have about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' puppet episode.
Directed by Jordan Canning and written by Henry Alonso Myers and Dana Horgan, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, episode 5, "Level-Five Transporter Accident" turns the crew of the USS Enterprise into puppets. The puppet Starfleet Officers then have to take the Enterprise back from Orion pirate hijackers, led by special guest stars Rachael Harris and Joe Lo Truglio.
Speaking to ScreenRant's John Orquiola about the Nurse Chapel-centric Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, episode 6, "Off-Hour," Jess Bush reveals that she and the rest of her castmates did not get to keep their puppets, which is a huge question from fans online. Read Jess' quote below:
Jess Bush: “No way! Not in a million years. They keep those things under lock and key. I think they're very, very special and very, very expensive. I would have loved to have kept my puppet, but I'm happy just to have the memories and the pictures.”
ScreenRant: I wish they'd sell the puppets. Like put the whole set out for Christmas. We'd all just buy the puppets and just have them all.
Jess Bush: “Oh goodness! Imagine. Imagine that.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' puppets were designed and performed by the talented geniuses at The Jim Henson Creature Shop. The puppets bear an uncanny and hilarious resemblance to their human counterparts, although Carol Kane's Commander Pelia puppet steals the show by being over-the-top cartoonish.
The cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds then voiced their puppet characters, notably raising their tenor so that they sounded more puppet-y. Alas, Ethan Peck did not get turned into a puppet, as Lieutenant Spock was the lone Enterprise crewman who remained himself. The episode climatically reveals that the puppets were Spock's dream.
Image credit: Paramount+For those fans not won over by the puppet episode's mirth and merriment, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gets back on course with "Off-Hour," which sends the Starship Enterprise into a slipstream wormhole. This crisis to save the starship is compounded by Nurse Chapel's relentless and heroic dedication to saving the mortally wounded Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun).
The puppet episode is bound to go down as a defining hour of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, along with season 2's musical and Star Trek: Lower Decks crossover. Perhaps down the line, the cast will be able to have copies of their puppet doppelgängers, and fans will surely flock to buy the Enterprise puppets if they are mass-produced for retail.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 is streaming on Paramount+
Release Date 2022 - 2027-00-00
Network Paramount+
Showrunner Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman
Writers Onitra Johnson
English (US) ·