History Recap / StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E06LiftUsWhereSufferingCannotReach

* CurbStompBattle: The dissident ship is completely disabled by a glancing blow from a single phaser shot at minimum power, and Uhura wasn't even trying to hit them.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Judging by the First Servant's quiet "Oh my God" when he sees the corpse of his predecessor being carried out of the chamber, it's {{implied}} that nobody told him what the ascension ceremony really entails.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Judging by the First Servant's quiet "Oh my God" when he sees the corpse of his predecessor being carried out of the chamber, it's {{implied}} that nobody told him what the ascension cermony really entails.

* WholePlotReference: The story sticks quite closely to Ursula K. Le Guin's "Literature/TheOnesWhoWalkAwayFromOmelas", in [[PoweredByAForsakenChild concept]] if not [[SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers theme]]. Omelas is a thought experiment about a utopia whose paradise hinges on the endless suffering of a small child, with the ones that walk away being those who rejected the idea that a better world had to be built on the suffering of others. The Majalans feed children into their technology for their continued prosperity, and Prospect VII is an entire colony that refused to live by it.

* DeathWorld: Majalis itself is uninhabitable, a mostly molten rock that could never support life. The Majalan settlement hovers above the clouds, where the air is breathable. Prospero is a downplayed example; it's a marginally habitable Class-L planet with a difficult climate and chemical makeup.
* DefectorFromDecadence: The Prospect colonists aren't from a different alien species, and aren't attacking the First Servant's retinue to hold him for ransom or for any other venal reason: they're Majalans who can't stomach a luxurious lifestyle that's PoweredByAForsakenChild, and they're trying to rescue him.

* FatalFlaw: Unfortunately, even the Prospect colonists, despite leaving their culture for principled reasons, haven't shaken off the Majalan distrust and distaste for outsiders. In multiple ship engagements with the ''Enterprise'', they repeatedly refuse hails and will not explain themselves, which results in their deaths and the foiling of their mission to save the First Servant.

* WholePlotReference: The story sticks quite closely to Ursula K. Le Guin's "Literature/TheOnesWhoWalkAwayFromOmelas", in [[PoweredByAForsakenChild concept]] if not [[SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers theme]]. Omelas is a thought experiment about a utopia whose paradise hinges on the endless suffering of a small child, with the ones that walk away being those who rejected the idea that a better world had to be built on the suffering of others. The Majalans feed children into their technology for their continued prosperity, and Prospect IV is an entire colony that refused to live by it.

* BoomStick: The BladeOnAStick used as a ceremonial weapon by the PraetorianGuard can also shoot blasts of energy that can disintegrate a person.

* BittersweetEnding: Pike is unable to save the First Servant from "ascending"-- i.e., being mind-jacked into the computer core that maintains the FloatingContinent that makes up Majalis. All he can do is report it to Starfleet and the Federation, but even then there's nothing that can be done since it's not a Federation member planet. However, Elder Gamal expresses hope that he and the Prospect VII colonists might be able to save the next First Servant. He also meets with Dr. M'Benga and provides the theory for a treatment for his daughter's illness, the first step towards finding a cure.

* CreativeSterility: In terms of pure math, science and medicine, the Majalians can make Starfleet officers feel infantile. But it seems their entire society is built on LostTechnology from some {{Precursor}}s and they had given up on trying to modify or improve upon it, tragically in the case of needing to [[WetwareCPU plug children into the system]] to keep it working. And for all their knowledge they don't appear to have any ships even close to the size and power of the Enterprise, and their day-to-day life isn't notably more advanced than anywhere in the Federation.

* KillTheCutie: The episode makes the First Servant a likable kid, whose worst quality is that he can be a bit InnocentlyInsensitive from time to time about the advanced technology of his society (and even then, he goes out of his way to be kind and friendly with Spock and Rukiya in contrast to his father and most of the other Majalans) so it's all the more devastating when it's revealed what the "sacrifice" portion of his world's motto means.

Captain Pike returns to the Majalis system for the first time in 10 years. Almost immediately, the ''Enterprise'' is called into action: a shuttlecraft is under attack by a warship. Pike uses a warning shot to scare the attackers away-- or at least intends to; Cadet Uhura is on the Security rotation this week, which somehow lands her in Ortegas's chair, and what was ''meant'' to be OnlyAFleshWound turns out to be a OneHitKill when the enemy ship changes course unexpectedly. Whatever the case, the assailants are dealt with, and ''Enterprise'' beams aboard the occupants of the shuttlecraft: a child, a man and a woman, who takes one look at the captain and blurts out, "Lt. Pike?" Even NumberOne recognizes the UnresolvedSexualTension.

* BittersweetEnding: Pike is unable to save the First Servant from "ascending"-- i.e., being mind-jacked into the computer core that maintains the FloatingContinent that makes up Majalis. All he can do is report it to Starfleet and the Federation, but even then there's nothing that can be done since it's not a Federation member planet. However, Elder Gamal meets with Dr. M'Benga and provides the theory for a treatment for his daughter's illness, the first step towards finding a cure.

* NoNameGiven: The First Servant's name is never spoken.

* WholePlotReference: The story sticks quite closely to Ursula K. Le Guin's "Literature/TheOnesWhoWalkAwayFromOmelas".

* ContinuityNod: The warship explodes when it attempts to go to warp while held in a tractor beam. In ''Series/StarTrekLowerDecks'', the ''Solvang'' was destroyed in a similar fashion when it attempted to warp away while a grapple was attached to one of the nacelles.

* HyperspeedEscape: Brutally averted. When another warship is able to (apparently) capture the First Servant and try to escape, the ''Enterprise'' uses a tractor beam to stop them. However, they refuse to surrender and keep fighting the tractor beam, eventually jumping to warp in a desperate attempt to escape. The warship explodes before ''Enterprise'' can disengage the tractor beam.

* HyperspeedEscape: Brutally averted. When another warship is able to (apparently) capture the First Servant and try to escape, the ''Enterprise'' uses a tractor beam to stop them. However, they continue to keep trying to escape and the warship jumps to warp, exploding before ''Enterprise'' can disengage the tractor beam.

* WholePlotReference: The story sticks quite closely to Ursula K. Le Guin's "Literature/TheOnesWhoWalkAwayFromOmelas."

The First Servant and his father, Elder Gamal, remain in Sickbay. Gamal is a doctor, though ever since his son was chosen (by lottery) he has had only one patient. He and the First Servant declare M'Benga's technology as primitive; the First Servant is equipped with quantum bio-implants, far beyond the Federation's TechnologyLevels. M'Benga asks if such technology could be used to treat TheLittlestCancerPatient -- say, an 11-year-old daughter with cytokinesia he happens to be storing in a pattern buffer -- but Elder Gamal rebuffs him, saying that Majalis does not share its technology with outsiders. Of course, he's curt with everyone, including his son.

* ImperialStormTrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Uhura accidentally lands a direct phaser hit on the warship when she was just supposed to graze it. She apologizes as the warship had taken aim at the ''Enterprise'' and moved directly into the phaser beam in the moments between her confirming the target and firing.