Logline
An accident while investigating a time portal sends Ensigns Beckett Mariner and Bradward Boimler through time from the 24th century, and Captain Pike and his crew must get them back where they belong before they can alter the timeline.
Written by Kathryn Lyn & Bill Wolkoff
Directed by Jonathan Frakes
Loved having a Sunday morning cartoon 🖖
This episode was way better than it needed to be. I was genuinely moved seeing Una’s reaction to the knowledge of her being the “poster girl”, as well as the reaction of the Orion captain at the end.
Seeing Boimler and Mariner in this context really drives home how much Lower Decks is essentially “what if Trekkies could serve in Star Fleet” and it worked so well!
Especially the poster girl part being how she (and her lawyer) presented her self in the trial in ep2
Yes exactly! To Boimler it was a major and inspiring story out of history, but to Una it was a personal moment that happened only recently. Imagine being told something you did that you thought was relatively minor (and over) would inspire generations of people in the years to come. Her reaction was perfect.
HE DOES THE WALK
The danger with these “very special fun episodes” is that they can be confined to being just that. But what elevated this episode is how it used the time travel/crossover conceit to foreshadow, progress and pay off SNW character arcs, including Chapel and Spock’s ultimately doomed relationship (something that I’ve previously said could be incredibly poignant, if handled right), Number One’s legacy, and the way Pike confronts his fate. I hope the musical episode does the same.
They also tied in to Tendi’s story on LD (her constant reminding to people that Orions have a culture far beyond pirating), even though we didn’t see her in Live Action.
Poor Christine Chapel! Now she knows what the audience has always known: her relationship with Spock is ultimately doomed. Plus a delightful mix of guilt and fear that she could unwittingly cause Spock to never measure up to the vague but crucial future that Boimler mentioned to her in the turbolift, simply by trying to make the two of them happy.
That suuuuuucks.
So Boimler inadvertently causes Nurse Chapel to end her relationship with Spock and encourage him to go back to T’Pring?
Predestination paradox. In fact the entire thing is likely a predestinaiton paradox. “Activated 120 years ago”, which is caused by the imager at “now”; the reason why the two can go back home is because Tendi told them about the version according to Orion and mentioned her great-grandma being the discoverer, which is what let the past Orion to recognize the truth and probably themselves assigned it to Tendi’s great-grandma?
Frakes is, in addition to an iconic Actor, the best Trek Director of the modern age. 11/10.
An extremely fun episode, had a stupid grin on my face right from the opening.
One thing that jumped out at me was the adjectives used: “scientists, explorers, adventurers.” The episode reinforced what Starfleet as an organization and Trek as a concept are all about.
It was … the best of both worlds.
I cannot believe they had Boimler and Mariner move like physical cartoon characters and pulled it off that well, holy shit. We absolutely lost it when Boimler was tangled in the control panel
That was amazing, on par with Trials and Tribble-ations for a crossover. Loved how well they integrated Boimler and Mariner without losing any of the character as LD has presented them.
Thoughts and observations as I watched over at the “other place”, special Saturday night/early Sunday morning edition:
- AHHHHH, WE’RE DOING THIS ON A SATURDAY!
- AHHHHH, WE’RE GETTING THE CROSSOVER!
- AHHHHH, A CROSSOVER BETWEEN A CARTOON COMEDY AND A LIVE ACTION DRAMA!
- AHHHHH, IN GENERAL!
- First off, that they have “Those Old Scientists” as the title is (chef’s kiss).
- Previously: Nyota had a really bad day, La’An got a bad case of Kirk hotness, and Chapel/Spock had a bad case of hotness for each other
- OH GOD WE’RE STARTING ANIMATED
- “Numero Una”
- Tendi would like to remind you all that the Orions have a rich and varied history.
- “You guys look… very realistic.”
- AHHHH, ANIMATED OPENING CREDITS!
- Hahaha, the thing that eats the Ceritos Nacelle!
- AHHHH, THE KOALA AT THE END OF THE CREDITS! WHY IS IT SMILING, WHAT DOES IT KNOW!?!?
- “But flipping it open is the best part”
- “Computer, end program.”
- “Worf’s honor.” DANGIT!
- I wonder if Frakes showed Quaid how to properly do a Riker maneuver
- “You just… laughed.”
- Ah, we’re tying in with what Tendi said.
- Boimler is a toddler knocking over furniture.
- “We have jetpacks now”
- Pike’s birthday is a holiday… CRAP!
- Boimler freaking out over the fact he made Spock laugh is such a Boimler thing.
- Hey, a reference to his sehlat!
- I like how they are using this episode to also move the other plotlines forward.
- HE MENTIONED PIKE’S REALLY GREAT HAIR
- Triticale, as opposed to Quadritriticale.
- I totally saw Mariner coming.
- Dystopian San Francisco!
- “Have you noticed their references are weirdly specific?”
- “Hot Spock agrees with me”
- “It’s a poster that is pinned up”
- I feel like Tawny herself probably demanded a scene with Uhura
- Ah, there’s the Boimler scream!
- “Holy Q!”
- “They had a Trelane thing going on.”
- “He had to contour the hell out of the jawline”
- “Oh, I already know.” Hahaha, they finally got out-future knowledged.
- Oh god, are they going to steal a piece of an NX?
- Oh, just a piece of it in the Enterprise.
- The “Mistress of the Winter Constellations” strikes again!
- Of course Ransom calls Una the hottest first officer in starfleet history.
- Hahaha, 2D animation Enterprise crew because they are drunk!
- All-time classic.
Oh, according to the entertainment weekly article Tawny absolutely demanded a scene with Uhura (or at least pitched it to the writers)
This episode is one of the best episodes in the modern era of Trek, it’s lighthearted it’s funny it celebrates Trek and it’s done so tastefully that I genuinely have nothing bad to say about it. It reminds me of Trials and Tribble-ations.
Plus that line at the end where they tell Una ad astra per aspera and that’s why boimler joined Starfleet is just the right kind of emotions.
Honestly, they smashed it in this episode and ofc the 2d animated intro was chefs kiss.
My expectations for this one were high, but I’m really impressed with how well they pulled it off. Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid did a great job of dialing their performances back just enough, and the SNW cast went just a little bit broader.
My favourite line in the whole thing is right at the end when Commander Jack Ransom (played by Jerry O’Connell) walks past the poster of Lieutenant commander Una Chin-Riley (played by Rebecca Romjin) and calls her “The hottest first officer in Starfleet history.”
For those who don’t know, the Jerry O’Connell and Rebecca Romjin are married to each other.
This was incredible and everything I could have hoped that it would be. 11/10, no notes.
The only thing I wished was for the Enterprise crew to have been in TAS style art animation at the end. But yeah. Great show!
Still kind of hoping that one year they do a “Trials and Tribble-Ations” tribute episode where they go back to the Enterprise during TAS and splice in the LD guys in in the TAS style.
They could call it “Those Animated Scientists”
I loved all of it! I liked how they had fun with the crew being in the 2D Lower Decks style at the end, poking fun at it with the dialogue. Then they blamed it on the drinks, so it wasn’t really a fourth wall break.
I have only one note: no live action Tendi or Rutherford :(
Otherwise: yes, excellent.
Yeah such a shame we didn’t get the whole Beta shift gang, but that’s like my absolute biggest “criticism” of the episode
I haven’t gotten around to Lower Decks, but this episode was simply brilliant even for me. Just sublime all around.
Part of why this episode is so good is that Lower Decks is so good. It’s funny Trek that whole heartedly celebrates Trek while retaining the spirit of Trek. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend! Its probably a hard needle to thread, and a vibe, as it turns out, that is evidently resonant with SNW.
This mash-up/cross-over was not only inspired and well executed, but in many ways probably a fluke of this moment of Trek production which has two separate parallel series that are fun, bright spirited celebratory not-quite-sequel/prequels with their own compelling themes, stories and characters.
