It’s not easy being green (-blooded). The latest ‘Strange New Worlds’ shows it’s harder than you’d think to play a Vulcan

Vulcans have been living long and prospering in “Star Trek” ever since the Enterprise took its maiden voyage in pilot episode “The Cage.” As well as being founder members of the Federation, their pointed ears and logical worldview have become synonymous with the franchise. Legions of fans have tied their fingers in knots in an effort to imitate Mr. Spock’s famous salute.

As recognizable as they are, it turns out that playing a Vulcan is rarely quite as easy as donning a pair of prosthetic ears, aggressively shaping your eyebrows, and adopting severe bangs. In the fun new “Strange New Worlds” episode “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans,” Enterprise crew members Pike (Anson Mount), La’An (Christina Chong), Chapel (Jess Bush), and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) experience the reverse of the procedure that briefly made Spock fully human in season 2’s “Charades,” as their genomes are resequenced to make them full- (and presumably green-) blooded members of the species.

Of course, Vulcans are not traditionally renowned for their sense of humor, so it’s ironic that this unashamedly comedic outing — the latest illustration of “Strange New Worlds”‘ fondness for gimmick-heavy episodes — should play its new Vulcan crewmembers for laughs. The question is, would Surak, the legendary pioneer of Vulcan logic, approve?

The rearranged DNA manifests differently in each of the Vulcan newbies. Captain Pike turns into a very shouty, hygiene-obsessed boss from hell – his new-found passion for stand-up meetings and 42-minute shift patterns really is the stuff of nightmares. Nurse Chapel concludes that sleep, friends, and romantic entanglements have been hampering her productivity. And communications officer Uhura opts to embrace the improved efficiency of her Vulcan conversational skills, before deploying a morally questionable mind meld to turn Beto Ortegas into more suitable boyfriend material. La’An, meanwhile, starts to exhibit the dictatorial traits of the warmongering Romulans, who — unbeknown to most of the Federation — split off from the Vulcans to go their own way a few millennia previously.

The one thing that unites the quartet is that they’re all cartoon versions of Vulcans, more caricatures than actual characters. Almost by default they talk in the slightly robotic voice that many assume to be a Vulcan trait (La’An being the notable exception). It’s a mistake plenty of actors have made in the…