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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds boldly reprises the Metrons, a far-advanced and mysterious race of Star Trek: The Original Series beings, in Season 3. They are featured in Season 3's second-to-last episode, "Terrarium," where they once again function as interstellar referees, presiding over a survival test between two old nemeses: humans and the Gorn.
The self-contained episode reuses the classic episode of the original series, "Arena," and creates a continuity thread while also providing Metron mythology with a greater level of depth. This choice not only brings back a lost alien civilization but also bridges decades of history.
By establishing the Metrons' place further back in the chronology, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds expands on explorations of morality, compassion, and survival without infringing on current canon. The outcome is a narrative that combines nostalgia with new opportunities for storytelling.
The setup in "Terrarium" in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 9, "Terrarium," Lieutenant Erica Ortegas is pulled through a wormhole and stranded on a hostile, barren planet. Her only friend is a Gorn pilot, an animal long characterized as one of Starfleet's archenemies.
Initially, it seems to be a battle of wits, but the episode really turns into a test of teamwork. The Ortegas and the Gorn, forced to rely on one another to survive, form a wary pact with each other, even though they've fought before. In the process, the masterminds behind the whole affair are revealed.
The Metrons, who were last seen in TOS, have engineered the whole ordeal as an experiment to determine if two supposedly "barbaric" worlds can be free from violence. This is a bit like their previous test in "Arena," where Captain Kirk was also put in the same predicament.
Parallels with "Arena"
The original Star Trek episode, "Arena," of 1967, defined the Metrons as a people who had control over space and time. They forced Captain Kirk to fight a Gorn captain to determine whether or not humanity was worth saving. Kirk won the fight but employed pity rather than force, which surprised the Metrons and hinted at the moral possibility of human beings.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds specifically calls this agreement. Rather than a duel, Ortegas and the Gorn are forced into a survival mode of coordination, not violence. In showing Ortegas display compassion to her so-called adversary, the episode contrasts Kirk's mercy openly.
In both scenarios, humanity is challenged by the Metrons regarding its ability for greatness in the face of barbarity.
The continuity fix through memory erasure
One of the largest hurdles Star Trek: Strange New Worlds had to overcome was not contradicting TOS canon. If Kirk and the rest of the crew of Starfleet had already encountered the Metrons all those years earlier, why was there never any word of it? The solution to that is that the Metron erases Ortega's memory of their encounters. She has the emotional memory of having labored with the Gorn but doesn't remember who had built it.
This plot twist fully explains Captain Kirk's apparent ignorance of the Metrons in "Arena." It also has the effect of establishing the Metrons as beings capable of altering perception and memory in a bid to preserve their experiments. By doing so, the series enhances its function without disrupting the initial timeline.
Describing the Gorn differences
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Gorns are also visually distinctive from the TOS rubber-suit original design. A few fans were concerned about this change at first, but the show provides a nod of justification. Since the Metrons are toying with memory and perception, variations in how the Gorn are represented can be representative of those curvatures. This does allow the show to update the design for modern viewers without violating canon.
By making this explanation a part of the narrative, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is being respectful of the inconsistency and providing room for an in-universe explanation. Respect for previous lore and also creative license are thus fulfilled.
Canon expansion through the metrons
"Terra Formars or terrarium" introduces the first on-screen Metron return since 1967. Their return puts into relief an even broader Star Trek tradition: challenging humanity by introducing godlike beings into contact with them. While Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation is a much-referenced and popular example, the Metrons actually created this storytelling device.
With their return, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds continues their role as foils to other alpha civilizations. The episode also remakes the Gorn-human relationship. Whereas "Arena" had been about mercy in combat, "Terrarium" is about hope for peace through cooperation.
This addition does not replace the original story but rather complements it, showing that the Metrons had actually been experimenting with humanity before Kirk's encounter.
Fan and critical reactions
Responses to the Metrons' return have been mixed but mostly engaging. Most fans welcomed the return of TOS because it complemented how Star Trek: Strange New Worlds completed decades of continuity. Others felt that the Metron reveal was too abrupt, but most understood that it was necessary to complete the survival test and fill the continuity gap.
Others also compared the Metrons to Q because both races put humanity's moral progress to the test. They differ, however, in tone: while Q tends to introduce humor and surprise, the Metrons have a more detached, colder fascination with whether savage species can progress. This enriches Star Trek's four-decade history of exploring moral issues through strong outsiders.
By bringing the Metrons back to "Terrarium," Star Trek: Strange New Worlds directly adapts one of The Original Series' greatest episodes. The story pays homage to the original "Arena" but adds new layers, in which the Metrons became interested in humanity before Kirk's trial. With amnesia, redressed Gorns, and a cooperation focus, the episode opens up new canon without sacrificing it.
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Lastly, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds demonstrates how contemporary storytelling can be respectful of the past and develop something new. The return of the Metrons is not a retro reference but an exercise in careful continuity that hints at the franchise's eternal concepts of mercy, change, and a desire for peace.
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