A strange godlike being who traveled from the delta quadrant to test the mercy of humanity brings the Tuvix flower with him and spreads it aboard the enterprise. Most of them are vacuumed up by ensigns but one makes it into the teleporter when Scotty and Spock are transporting. Creating Scock. The rest of the episode is about convincing this new live form to call himself Spotty
That would not only be cute but doable. Just surround a windup car with fuzz.
Unfortunately this is modern Trek, so it's the story of how some recycled original series character lost everything to their crippling gambling addiction by betting on tribble races.
They can get a big moment with a character who says "starfleet...can be your second chance. I know. It was mine"