• Ransom records the stardate as 59482.3 in his log.

• The USS Cerritos is hosting peace talks between two different photonic species, the creatively named Orbs and Cubes. Previous photonic lifeforms encountered include:

    • Beings interpreted as the monster Grendel by holodeck characters - “Heroes and Demons”

    • A trans-dimensional species that entered the holodeck, and promptly found themselves in a war against the pulp character Chaotica - “Bride of Chaotica”

    • Photonic fleas - “The Voyager Conspiracy”

• Among the bits of circular furniture ensign Olly is attempted to stack on a hover sled is a “ball chair” like the one Worf had in his quarters for much of TNG, and a dabo table, as seen in Quark’s in DS9.

• The USS Reseda has not been mentioned previously, but is likely a California-class, based on being named after a neighbourhood in Los Angeles.

    • According to Mariner, the crew of the Reseda is entirely reformed Maquis. Most of the Maquis were wiped out by the Cardaissian Union and the Dominion, as per “Blaze of Glory”.

• Olly is descended from the Greek god Zeus. We learned in “Who Mourns for Adonais” the Greek pantheon wer actually alien beings who visited Earth and were sustained by the worship of humans.

    • ”Didn’t Kirk kick their asses?” To the best of our knowledge, Kirk only encountered Apollo. The USS Enterprise destroyed his power source, a temple, from orbit.

    • ”I thought they all went off and became ‘one with the wind,’ or whatever.” In “Who Mourns for Adonis”, Apollo does claim the other Greek gods, ”returned to the cosmos on the wings of the wind.”

• Admiral Vassery was introduced in “Moist Vessel”.

• Olly has been removed from six ships before arriving to the Cerritos. In “Hollow Pursuits”, Captain Picard said of Reginald Barclay, “It’s easy to transfer a problem to someone else. Too easy.”

• Boilmer’s beard growth remains the most consistent storyline this season.

• In Rutherford and Boimler’s quarters, we see that Boimler has added a doll of Data in the “Star Trek: First Contact” uniform to his Mirror Archer and Spock figures. On Rutherford’s shelf, there’s the model of DS9 he got in “An Embarrassment of Dooplers”, as well as a recreation of Wesley’s portable tractor beam from “The Naked Now”.

• Rutherford is aware that Boimler keeps looking at the PADD he stole from the minor universe in “Dos Cerritos”.

    • ”Also it’s red.” We’ve seen red PADDs in “Coming of Age”, “Clues”, “Lower Decks”, “Homefront”, and “Image in the Sand”.

    • Tendi is also aware of Boimler’s stolen PADD.

• ”Good joke. We got a real Roland B. Moore over here.” Ronald B. Moore was a visual effects supervisor on TNG, and, according to a display outside the holodeck, was also the name of the stand-up comedian program played by Joe Piscao in “The Outrageous Okona”. Based on the fact that Boimler is claiming Rutherford was being funny, I believe we can assume he was talking about the visual effects supervisor.

• Apparently Olly was assigned Mariner’s old bunk, which we haven’t seen since the Lower Deckers moved out of the hallway bunks in “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee”.

• ”You don’t have to be Dixon Hill to see that some bad shit went down in here.” Dixon Hill is the fictional private investigator whose adventures Picard likes to relive on the holodeck, as per “The Big Goodbye”.

• ”If we get some Ferengi blood, we’ll have an entire rainbow!” Ferengi blood is yellow, as first seen in “Mugato, Gumato”.

• ”What about Shaxs? You’re in the bear pack.” Boimler was made a member of the bear pack in “Empathalogical Fallacies”.

• The Sphere Rondus, as well as the gestalt Sphere, Orbiculus, are voiced by Fred Tatasciore, who voices Shaxs.

• ”Didn’t you learn this with the whole Hawaii thing?” Tendi is recounting the events of “wej Duj” when Boimler claimed to be Hawiian to be able to join Ransom’s group of other [fake] Hawaiians.

• The Cube Sexagus, as well as the gestalt Omegacube, are voiced by Carl Tart, who is the voice of Kayson.

• The Sphere Spheronius is voiced by Jerry O’Connell, who is the voice of Ransom

• ”To be fair, Qs are more annoying than scary.” In “Q-Less”, Sisko punches Q in the face and he never returns to Deep Space 9.

• The Cube Quadralon is voiced by Jack Quaid, who voices Boimler.

• The Sphere Radiara is voiced by Gabrielle Ruiz, who voices T’Lyn.

• We learn that Quadralon and Radiara were not murdered, but instead ran off together after a night of passion that trashed Quadralon’s room. No confirmation as to what the square shaped “photonic residue” on the walls of the chamber were. “The Outrageous Okana” also featured a “Romeo and Juliet” romance between two children of conflicting colonies, resulting in a pregnancy.

• SquAaron is voiced by Roan Lai, who was also the voice for the moopsy in “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee”.

• ”I love the brig, this is my favourite place.” Olly echoes Mariner’s words to Ransom from “Temporal Edict”. However, she’s a bit more chill so she doesn’t also claim that she’s going to ”dance in [anyone’s] blood.”

Star Trek official website https://www.startrek.com/news/warp-five-lower-decks-s5-dawnn-lewis-starbase-80

CinemaBlend https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/star-trek-lower-decks-dawnn-lewis-told-us-touching-comments-from-fans-about-carol-freeman https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/star-trek-dawnn-lewis-on-getting-friendly-nichelle-nichols-sneaking-onto-set-lower-decks

TrekMovie https://trekmovie.com/2024/11/16/interview-dawnn-lewis-on-why-captain-freeman-is-still-haunted-by-starbase-80-on-star-trek-lower-decks/

The Beat https://www.comicsbeat.com/interview-dawnn-lewis-on-captaining-the-cerritos-on-star-trek-lower-decks/

Thought this was a fun tidbit:

> > > LEWIS: Yes. I am a singer, and they wanted me to participate in the talent show. And Mike McMahan and the producers know that I’m a singer. And they asked, “Dawnn, would you want to sing a song? I don’t know if we can get licensing for it, but you can sing. You have such a beautiful voice.” > > > > I said, “I’ll tell you what. Let’s not do any of that, and let me just be goofy and not be able to sing.” So I just started scatting really badly. And they were on the floor in the booth. So then they just started writing it in; scat competitions and all these kinds of things. > > > > That was a lot of fun. That was one of those opportunities where the creative team just dropped the ball in our lap and said, “Go ahead and play,” and it ended up on the screen. > >

Feel free to post any that I missed in the comments.

The title alludes to the Robert Burns’ 1785 poem To A Mouse (“The best laid schemes of o’mice and men / Gang aft agley”), which was used as the title to John Steinbeck’s 1937 Novella Of Mice and Men. It also plays on the association of angels, messengers of God, with the “typo that is not a typo” angles, referring to the geometric shapes of the Orbs and Cubes. Additionally, “Of Gods and Men” is an entry in the fan film series Star Trek Continues and VOY: “Heroes and Demons” dealt with photonic life forms.

The stardate is 59482.3. The Veraflex Nebula is new, as are its inhabitants the Orbs and the Cubes.

The Orbs and Cubes are photonic species, of which as noted VOY encountered one in Heroes and Demons” and another in VOY: “Bride of Chaotica”. VOY also suffered from an infestation of photonic fleas in VOY: “The Voyager Conspiracy”. Artificial photonic lifeforms might include sentient holograms like the Doctor (VOY), Moriarty (TNG: “Elementary, Dear Data” and “Ship in a Bottle”), Vic Fontaine (DS9: “His Way”, et al.), Lewis Zimmerman’s assistant Haley (VOY: “Life Line”) and a colony of Yaderans (DS9: “Shadowplay”).

The war that began when the Orbs and Cubes’ nebulae collided reminds me of the sentence that begins the Golden Age science fiction Lensman saga in E.E. “Doc” Smith’s novel Triplanetary, of the perpetual war that begins between the Arisians and Eddorians when their galaxies collide (or rather pass through) each other.

The stack of circular furniture on the antigravity sled includes Worf’s chair from his quarters from TNG, a Romulan cloaking device (TOS: “The Enterprise Incident”, last seen on Cerritos in the Anomaly Storage Room in LD: “In the Cradle of Vexilon”) and a dabo table (DS9).

Ensign Olly is newly transferred from the USS Reseda. Reseda is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, so the ship is presumably a California-class ship, one that is crewed by reformed Maquis. Olly is a descendant of Zeus who as per Greek legend was prone to procreating with mortals. Her name could be a short form of “Olympia”, a site sacred to Zeus where the ancient Olympic Games were conducted.

Mariner alludes to Kirk’s encounter with one of these beings, who posed as gods in Ancient Greece, but was actually with Apollo (TOS: “Who Mourns for Adonais?”) who had set his sights on Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas. “One with the wind” refers to how Apollo said Hera “spread herself upon the wind” when she decided to die.

In the New Frontier novels, Mark McHenry is the con officer for the USS Excalibur and is also a descendant of Palamas, who had been impregnated by Apollo. Unlike Olly, McHenry’s powers initially manifested themselves as a preternatural knack for stellar navigation.

Olly’s lineage explains why she’s wearing a laurel wreath similar to Apollo’s. We find out later that it’s a bioluminescent construct that does not come off.

Vassery is the “sen-SORs” Admiral who is in command of Douglas Station, last seen in LD: “Old Friends, New Planets”.

Boimler’s mustache and goatee are growing, as are his side burns. Behind him as he scrolls through the PADD he stole from the parallel universe (LD: “Dos Cerritos”) are his action figures of Mirror Archer, Monster Maroon Spock and First Contact Data (LD: “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee”). On the other shelf is Rutherford’s model of DS9 (LD: “Hear All, Trust Nothing”) and a replica of Wesley Crusher’s repulsor beam from TNG: “The Naked Now” (also seen in “I Have No Bones…”).

Photonic beings feed on power, like the photonic fleas attracted to plasma particles in Voyager’s sensor grid (“The Voyager Conspiracy”).

In TNG: “The Outrageous Okona”, Data tries to learn about humor from a holographic simulation of a 20th Century stand-up comedian called “Mr Comic” in the episode. However, on the program list Mr Comic was identified as Ronald B. Moore (as opposed to Ronald D. Moore), named after the special effects supervisor on TNG, VOY and ENT.

The alt PADD’s bevel is 3.7% deeper, and it’s red. The variance between the two universes was 0.327% (“Dos Cerritos”). In the corridor, we see the hijab-wearing Operations crewman, last seen in LD: “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel”.

Kayshon says, “Rajik, when he fell in the chasm”, in context probably meaning “disappeared”.

Tendi says if they get Ferengi blood, they’ll have a rainbow. Ferengi blood is yellow (LD: “Mugato, Gumato”, PIC: “Disengage”).

While examining the crime scene we get a mention of pulp detective Dixon Hill (TNG: “The Big Goodbye” et al.). Up against the wall of the gym we see some anbo-jyutsu gear (TNG: “The Icarus Factor”), last seen in LD: “wej Duj”.

The Orbs use round PADDs, although how they hold them without any limbs is a question. Wait, one of them was doing bench presses in the gym. Never mind.

“The whole Hawai’i thing” refers to when Boimler pretended to be Hawaiian in LD: “wej Duj” so he could ingratiate himself with Ransom.

In the hangar bay, we see Cerritos’s shuttles named after Californian State Parks: Yosemite, Redwood, Joshua Tree II (the original was damaged in LD: “Grounded”) and Pinnacles.

We also get a glimpse of Steve Stevens, formerly Ransom’s sycophant, whom we haven’t seen since LD: “Twovix”.

Olly says that she and Mariner are nothing alike, but then she says “I love the brig. This is my favorite place,” which is more or less what Mariner told Ransom in LD: “Temporal Edict”.

In Trek fandom, we often think about the badmirals. However, we never consider radmirals. With that in mind, who do you think is the best admiral? This includes commodores, vice admirals, rear admirals, etcetera.

I’m not counting main characters who got promoted after their main series e.g Picard, Kirk, Janeway, La Forge, etcetera.

For those who don't know: the Roddenberry Archive aims to preserve Star Trek by digitizing ... well, a lot of things. Currently you can already freeroam certain locations. Probably only works on Desktop PCs though.

Not only did they release their short film "Unification" today, commemorating 30 years of Star Trek Generations, (more details here) but they also added a bunch of new stuff to the Archive.

Here's a list of changes that I found so far:

• new locations added:
  • bridge of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D from Star Trek: Generations (with fantastic lighting!) You can also go the the observation lounge and to Picard's ready room.
  • sickbay and holodeck of the Enterprise-D (you can even lay down on a biobed! and activate a holodeck program by pressing "F" while looking at the display on the right side of the arch)
  • bridge of the USS Franklin NX-326
  • bridge of Kruge's Bird of Prey. There's also an adjacent (torpedo?) room that you can reach by leaving the bridge through the door at the back.
  • bridge of Klaa's Bird of Prey
  • bridge of Gowron's IKS Bortas
  • bridge of the Romulan Warbird Khazara. There's also a briefing room that you can reach by leaving the bridge to the starboard side.
• other changes:
  • ships that don't have 3D locations yet are not represented by a static image of the starship anymore but it's a 3D model of the ship
  • new ships/stations added: Station K-7, Klingon D7 Class Cruiser
  • make sure to check out the new "Explore" tab in the top right corner. Information and pictures of shuttles, props and planets have been added.

I'll update this post when I find more.

• The episode title refers to the previously unseen Starbase 80, first mentioned in season one’s “Terminal Provocations”. It has the reputation of being a place where Starfleet consigns it’s worst officers.

    • In the season premiere, “Dos Cerritos”, we learned that the Cap’n Freeman of the alternate universe featured in that episode was stationed at Starbase 80.

• This season’s ongoing plot, Boimler’s facial hair, has progressed to the point where he’s got a little chin beard situation. Good for him.

• It’s Matt and Kimolu! From Star Trek! The Cetacean Ops whales have technically not been seen since “Trusted Sources” in season three, though we were introduced to Swhale Swahlens, the gestalt being who was a combination of Matt and Steve Stevens in “Twovix”.

• The pleasure planet Casperia Prime was first mentioned in “Change of Heart”.

• ”I’m hosting their first annual scatting battle.” We learned that Cap’n Freeman performs vocal jazz in “Moist Vessel”.

• ”Nooooooooooooooooo!” Mariner was reassigned to Starbase 80 in “Trusted Sources”, and it resulted in her temporarily resigning her commision.

• The shuttlecraft that flies at the screen appears to be a Type 15 shuttlepod.

• ”Check me out, I’m a total T’Pol over here.” The USS Cerritos crew needs to slather themselves with a gel, in a scene inspired by ENT’s somewhat maligned decon chamber scenes.

• The corridors of Starbase 80 are modeled after those of the USS Enterprise as we saw them in TOS, down to the ascending Jeffries tubes, intercom units on the walls, and multi coloured caples across the ceiling supports. Everything is just somewhat more distressed. The most noticeable departure is the access hatch doors are octagonal as opposed to rectangular.

    • The turbolifts are also modeled after what we see aboard the Enterprise, requiring handles to be turned to operate.

• We are introduced to commander Kasia Nox, who appears to be wearing a pre-Federation, ENT style uniform, including the gold piping for command. Though she has gold circular rank pips, and not the rectangular ones used by the crew of the NX-01.

    • In “Trusted Sources”, the Starbase 80 crew who arrived on the Cerritos to transport Mariner were wearing yellow jumpsuits. We also see green, and blue jumpsuits in this episode.

• Chief engineer Gene Jakobowski is played by Stephen Root, who also played Klingon captain K’Vada in “Unification I” and “Unification II”.

    • Like Nox, Gene wears an ENT style uniform. Later, in the arcade, Gene is also wearing a vest similar to the one Scotty first wore in “Star Trek: The Voyage Home”.

• ”Yeah, this base is basically controlled by a knife gang.” The Acamarians were introduced in “The Vengeance Factor”, and we learned about the Gatherers, a group of Acamarians who refused to accept the peace of nearly 300 years of blood feuds between clans, and became roving marauders.

    • One of the vendors in the food court area aboard SB80 has a sign advertising Parthas, a dish the Acamarian assassin Yuta prepared for commander Riker.

    • Another vendor’s sign reads ”Lornak’s.” the Lornak clan was wiped out by the blood feuds.

• Among the…second hand items at the vintage clothing store are:

    • TOS style female red operations uniforms

    • TOS style male blue sciences uniform shirts

    • Command gold ”new” uniform jackets of the sort worn by the Enterprise crew in DIS season two

    • SNW style female gold command uniform skants

    • TNG season one and two, blue science uniform top

    • A mirror universe dagger

    • A TMP security officer helmet

    • A TMP style admiral’s uniform

    • The jacket worn by Ruk in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”

    • The fedoras worn by Kirk and Spock in “A Piece of the Action”

    • A TOS style Klingon uniform with baldric

    • One of the harnesses worn by the Edo, including testical bulge

    • A Nazi officer’s cap, presumably from “Patterns of Force”

    • A type-3 phaser rifle of the sort introduced in “Star Trek: First Contact”

    • A movie era command division maroon uniform jacket

    • A movie era expedition jacket, as introduced in “Star Trek: The Search for Spock”

    • A hat seen worn by Vulcan technicians in “Star Trek: The Voyage Home” and Tendi when she attempts to help O’Connor ascend in “Moist Vessle”

    • TOS era tricorders

    • One of the Starfleet cylindrical shoulder bags occasionally seen on TNG

    • A giant pile of TOS era red shirts

• Doctor Harrison Horseberry was affected by the Tarchannen parasite that affected a Starfleet Outpost on Tarchannen III, as well as the away team of the USS Victory sent to investigate, including Geordi, as recounted in “Identity Crisis”.

    • The victims of the Tarchannen parasites turn invisible to the human eye, but apparently being cured prevented the half of Doctor Horseberry that was genetically rewritten from displaying that trait.

• ”I’m El-Aurian, I think I know how to fight.” Though we did see Soren fight both Kirk and Picard in “Star Trek Generations”, it has never been established that fighting is something El-Aurians are well known for.

• ”We don’t have combadges, we use old wall comms.” The SB80 officers who came to pick up Mariner in “Trusted Sources” did have combadges.

• In the arcade we see:

    • A “Space Invaders” style game where the player controls a Valdore-class Romulan ship defending against descending Starfleet Constitution-class ships

    • A game called “Cardboard Chinos” which has a sign that appears to be a Caitian in a box, much like we saw Doctor T’Ana playing with a box in “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”

    • A game featuring the Koala. Why is he smiling? What does he know?

    • A game called “Ferengi’s Fortune” that looks to play like “Joust”

    • A game called “The Captain’s Chair”; there is a real world video game titled “Star Trek: Captain’s Chair” though this does not appear similar

• Jet is riding a Toby the Targ children’s ride. Toby the Targ. B’Elanna had a Toby the Targ plush with her aboard the USS Voyager according to Tom Paris in “Tsunkatse”.

• Doctor Horseberry discovers there is an anaphasic consciousness named Clem controlling Matt. Doctor Crusher’s deceased grandmother’s body was controlled by the anaphasic being Ronin in “Sub Rosa” and he used her to attack Data and Geordi with tendrils of green energy.

• Doctor Horseberry is able to exorcise Clem by hitting Matt with a pool net. Violence also disrupted Ronin’s influence in “Sub Rosa” when Doctor Crusher attacked him with a phaser.

• The SB80 crew is able to provide Clem with a stable vessel for them to inhabit. In “Sub Rosa”, Ronin’s being was tethered to an ancient candle holder.

    • Clem’s vessel looks a lot like a microwave, which is kind of a modern candle when you think about it.

The title is the same as the famous two-part TNG episode that brought Leonard Nimoy as Spock back to our screens and possibly an allusion to bringing several parts of Star Trek together. It is being released on the 30th Anniversary of Star Trek: Generations.

The opening epigraph, “How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life,” is from ST II, when Kirk is flippantly answering Saavik’s queries about the unfairness of the Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario.

The figure floating in space is Gary Mitchell, the former navigator of the USS Enterprise and Kirk’s former student and best friend, who gained god-like powers after the ship went through the barrier at the edge of the Galaxy in TOS: “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, developed megalomania and was eventually killed. Commander Jack Ransom, XO of the USS Cerritos went through something similar but survived in LD: “Strange Energies”. Gary Lockwood, Mitchell’s original actor, is credited, as he came back to do motion capture for the footage.

There follow a series of quick scenes, some of them taken from the previous Roddenberry Archive short films/teasers “765874: Memory Wall” and “765874: Regeneration”. “Memory Wall” refers to an unproduced scene from TMP where Kirk and Spock explore an information storage chamber inside V’Ger.

TNG-era Spock is standing on Veridian III, where Kirk and Picard fought Soran in Generations. The scaffolding and bridge is from where Soran planned to launch a missile to destroy Veridian’s sun and alter the course of the temporal Nexus. Kirk and Picard stopped him at the cost of Kirk’s life. The real-life location of this is the Silica Dome, Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. Spock is played by actor Lawrence Selleck with a combination of prosthetics and CGI to make him resemble the late Leonard Nimoy.

A futuristic city that is probably 23rd Century San Francisco, seen in “765874” and with TMP-era Spock looking over it in “Regeneration”.

A blurry shot of someone performing a mind-meld on a Vulcan child, seen more clearly in “Memory Wall”.

A group of people on a mesa from “Memory Wall”. I am unable to identify the significance of the Eye of Sauron-like relief on the ground, but I am told it resembles an image of V’Ger, another allusion to the “Memory Wall” scene and a quick flash of V’Ger’s Voyager 6 name plate in that film.

The woman dressed in a uniform from TOS: “The Cage” is Yeoman J.M. Colt, who was Pike’s yeoman in that original pilot. Originally played by Laurel Goodwin in 1964, she is played by Mahé Thaissa, who previously played her in “765874”, “765874: Memory Wall” and “765874: Regeneration”.

765874 is Colt’s Starfleet service number, taken from Star Trek: Early Voyages Vol. 1 #13 (Feb 1998) (she was given the name Mia in the comic).

A shot of the USS Enterprise-D saucer after it crashed on Veridian III during the events of Generations, from “Regeneration”.

Mia Colt touching her finger to a mysterious wall of floating particles, from “Memory Wall”.

A new scene of TMP Spock melding with a Vulcan child. Given what happens later in the short, I’m confident this is Saavik, from when Spock found her as a child on the planet Hellguard in 2274 (between TMP and ST II) and took her in (TOS novel The Pandora Principle). While not on screen canon, Saavik’s backstory has been well established in novels and comics.

A new scene of Colt, now dressed in a Kelvin Timeline short-sleeved skant, in a chamber showing scans of Kirk. I can’t make out most of the words on the displays, but one relates Kirk’s service record and another ends with the words “… by the Director of Starfleet Intelligence”. This reminds me of where Kirk’s body was stored on Daystrom Station and its reference to a mysterious “Project Phoenix” (PIC: “The Bounty”).

Kirk, in his uniform from Generations and looking like his age there, walks through a peaceful garden. He is played by William Shatner, returning to the role at the age of 93 and is presumably made to resemble his younger self in the same way Selleck did Spock. We also see Robin Curtis as an aged Saavik. First played by Kirstie Alley in ST II, Curtis replaced Alley as Saavik in ST III and ST IV.

One of the crowd is a man with white hair is dressed in a 2375-era Starfleet captain’s dress uniform, but with white trousers instead of black. This character is credited as “Crusher”, played by John Daltorio, but otherwise his presence is not explained. The most likely Crusher would be Wesley, who as an interdimensional Traveler (TNG: “Journey’s End”, PIC: “Farewell”, PRO: “Into the Breach”) would be the obvious choice. His being in the dress uniform could be a reference to Wil Wheaton’s mostly deleted cameo in Nemesis at the Riker-Troi wedding.

The Vulcan that Saavik introduces Kirk to is Sorak (played by Mark Cinnery). He is Spock and Saavik’s son, according to the accompanying featurette “Robin Curtis: Becoming Saavik”. Fandom has discussed for decades about whether Spock did indeed impregnate Saavik on Genesis during his pon farr in ST III and whether or not she stayed behind on Vulcan in ST IV because she was pregnant. Given that Sorak seems relatively old, this is likely where this comes from.

We know that Spock did marry (TNG: “Sarek”), but the wife’s name was never mentioned on screen. The novels have him marrying Saavik (Vulcan’s Heart, which apparently inspired this scene) after a very long courtship. Given how long Vulcans live, it’s not as icky as it sounds.

The alien Kirk meets is Yor (played by Gorden Tarpley), a Betelgeusian Lieutenant Commander who was a Time Soldier from the year 2379 of the Kelvin Timeline who fought in the Temporal Wars (DIS: “Terra Firma, Part 1”). We previously saw him as a hologram and cautionary tale as he died in agony in the Prime timeline sometime around the 31st Century, a side effect of having been transported across both universes and time periods. Yor hands Kirk a Starfleet badge - the same one Kirk wore in Generations and that Picard placed on Kirk’s grave.

Sam Witwer, notable for his roles voicing Darth Maul in Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, among many other genre credits, is also credited as Kirk, and may be playing the TOS Kirk with CGI prostheses.

When Generations-Kirk switches with TOS-Kirk, we hear a bridge chirp sound effect very briefly in the mix. The three Kirks are from different eras: TOS, ST II and Generations.

“There are always possibilities…” is taken from the last Captain’s log from ST II. On the wall is hung a set of Vulcan chimes (TOS: “Amok Time”) and a Vulcan lyre (TOS: “Charlie X”). On the table is an IDIC pendant (TOS: “Is There in Truth No Beauty?”) and a piece of jewellery shaped like Vulcan script and, although covered, the photograph of Kirk & Co. (taken on the bridge of the NCC-1701-A during ST V) that Prime Spock bequeathed to Kelvin Spock in Star Trek Beyond. In a teaser to this film, Colt is shown placing the photograph on the table in this scene.

Kirk approaches old Spock and they grasp hands in the same way that Spock did to him during TMP (“This simple feeling is beyond V’Ger’s comprehension.”) and of course he does his famous eyebrow raise at Kirk’s presence. Spock died in the Kelvin Timeline on January 2, 2263 on New Vulcan at the age of 161, having also been transported back in time and across universes.

The sky and landscape outside the window is reminiscent of Vulcan, so the Kelvin Timeline Vulcans must have found a similar planet to settle on after its destruction in ST 2009. It is portrayed that way in the 2013 Star Trek video game, when it is invaded by the Gorn.

There is a special thanks to Kevin Feige, who apparently made some things possible for the production and is a huge Trek fan.

Mariner’s voice actor, “Starfleet Academy” writer, and unnamed Trek series co-developer Tawny Newsome joins regular hosts Ben and Adam to discuss LDS episode, “Starbase 80?!”

https://maximumfun.org/episodes/greatest-trek/ep-300-fantasy-junk-league-lower-decks-s5e5-with-tawny-newsome/

I want to get into the Star Trek universe but dont know where to start. I have previously seen first three seasons of Disocvery and first season of picard. Picard was cool but disocvery didnt quite track, a little boring and not adventure focused enough. However loving lower decks now (just started season 4) and want to get into the more canon stuff.

I have access to TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise and SNW. TOS i could probanly get access to if i want, but gotta admit that is not very enticing.

So where to start? TNG?

If it helps (and i dont get shunned for this), i am a stargate guy and love especially sg-1 and the adventure of the week format and the character ensemble

The title refers to the titular starbase which is considered the worst posting in Starfleet (LD: “Terminal Provocations”). Mariner herself was posted there after the events of LD: “Trusted Sources”, although she resigned her commission soon after. It was recently mentioned in the season opener LD: “Dos Cerritos”, when it was said that the parallel universe Carol Freeman had been posted there, allowing parallel Mariner to take over Cerritos’s captaincy.

The water planet they just went to is named Piskes IX, continuing the tradition of science fiction planetary names which are just too on the nose, Piscis being Latin for "fish".

Boimler’s beard now has a goatee, although it hasn’t joined with his mustache yet. Boimler talks about “tenth contact”. As we saw back in LD: “Second Contact”, there are follow up missions after First Contact which are dealt with by support ships like Cerritos to formally establish relations, set up infrastructure, etc. for newly contacted civilizations which are called Second Contact missions. “Tenth contact” is likely just Boimler wisecracking rather than a formal mission numbering.

We see the Sequoia shuttlecraft in the background. The shuttle, initially totaled in LD: “No Small Parts” was restored, then taken apart again by T’Lyn in LD: “Shades of Green” so Tendi could work on it together with the others when she returned from Orion. It seems to be coming along nicely.

Cetacean Ops was a throwaway piece of background dialogue in TNG: “Yesterday’s Enterprise” and then elaborated on in the 1992 TNG Technical Manual as well as included on the 1996 Galaxy-class blueprints. The Tech Manual mentioned that Enterprise-D had two whales who helped in navigation. Cerritos’s own Cetacean Ops was mentioned in “Second Contact” and finally seen - the first time Cetacean Ops had been shown on-screen in any Star Trek series - in LD: “First First Contact”. A Cetecean Ops has also appeared in PRO, on the Lamarr-class Voyager-A.

Casperia Prime, a ringed planet, has been mentioned several times in lore as a holiday destination, first in DS9: “Change of Heart” as where Jadzia Dax wanted to honeymoon. In PIC, it was mentioned that Jack Crusher was conceived while Picard and Beverly Crusher were having shore leave on the planet (PIC: “Seventeen Seconds”).

Deep Space 6 is from beta canon, being mentioned in the Last Unicorn RPG and in two VOY novels as well as in Star Trek Online.

The music cues when Starbase 80 appears are reminiscent of horror movie music and are taken from ST II. We can now add Denobulan lice to the blood worms, lemurs and tartan voles native to the planet.

Boimler’s mention of T’Pol is referring to the infamous decon chamber scenes from ENT, where the use of the gel to “decontaminate” after exposure to potentially hostile environments was just a gratuitous excuse to show the crew rubbing each other down while dressed in their underwear (ENT: “Broken Bow”). I’ve never heard Boims call Mariner “Mare-Bear” before, but… ew.

While Tendi scoffs at Mariner’s “curse”, we do have actual examples of people losing their mental acuity after prolonged exposure to an environment. In SNW: “Among the Lotus Eaters”, Pike & Co. lost their memory due to radiation from asteroidal material on Rigel VII. In TOS: “The Cloud Minders”, unprocessed zenite ore emitted a gas which reduced intelligence and heightened emotion, leading to a caste division in Ardanan society.

The dilapidated Starbase 80 corridor, complete with various wall fittings, a ladder and a Jeffries tube (even the font from the “Ward 5” sign), takes cues from the TOS Enterprise corridors for their design. Kassia Nox is dressed in a 22nd Century-era jumpsuit (from ENT), wearing Commander pips. Flux spectrometers were supposed to be used for luminosity studies in TNG: “Cause and Effect”.

Mariner was given the disgusting job of emptying the Cerritos holodeck biofilters in LD: “Moist Vessel” in a bid to get her to transfer off the ship. Tendi geeks out over the TOS wall comms which do indeed date to the 2260s, although then why command staff are dressed in ENT-era jumpsuits instead of TOS-era uniforms is an open question. Also in the fusion reactor room is the dilithium crystal access console seen from TOS Season 2 onwards in Enterprise Engineering (TOS: “Elaan of Troyius”, “Day of the Dove”).

SB80's Operations Center is basically a TOS Constitution-class bridge. The Southern-accented engineer Gene Jakobowski in the ENT-era jumpsuit may be a reference to NX-01 Chief Engineer Trip Tucker, especially when they think he’s initially dead. Tucker died on-screen (albeit in a holographic historical simulation) in VOY: “These are the Voyages”, a move that is heavily criticized in fandom, but was brought back in the novels. Gene is voiced by Stephen Root, who played K'Vada in TNG: "Unification".

The Acamarians first appeared on screen in TNG: “The Vengeance Factor”. Acamar is a real binary star system, also known as Theta Eridani, situated about 165 ly from Sol. One of the shops on SB80’s Promenade is called “Lornak’s”, after an Acamarian clan and another sells "Parthas", an Acamarian vegetable.

The “vintage” dress shop Tendi is at has a number of old Trek costumes and props. Hanging above, we have a red female Operations skant and male Sciences top from TOS, a Command top from DIS Season 2, and a female Command skant from SNW. We also see Pulaski's medical skant from TNG, a TMP-era uniform, a Rubicun III costume (TNG: “Justice”), a TOS Klingon uniform with honor sash, a torn Monster Maroon from the movie era, a field jacket from the same period and Ruk’s top from TOS: “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” We also see a First Contact phaser rifle, a movie-era Security helmet, various TOS tricorders and TNG/VOY PADDs, a TOS communicator, a Mirror Universe dagger, what might be a VISOR display stand, Khan’s necklace pendant from ST II, one of those TNG cylindrical bags, and, significantly, since the vendor claims the uniforms are of dead people, a pile of TOS redshirts. Others have pointed out NX-01 baseball caps, a cap from the Kelvin Timeline dress uniform, Kirk and Spock's mobster hats from TOS: "A Piece of the Action", a TNG-era medical kit, and Admiral Mark Jameson's chair from TNG: "Too Short a Season".

The turbolifts have the twist controls from the TOS era, which made a return in SNW, set in that same period.

This is actually the first time I’ve ever seen these kind of stairs in a Starfleet facility. Mackler and Gorm were in Boimler’s landing party on Targalus IX in LD: “Shades of Green”. Harrison Horseberry’s facial transformation is like that of Geordi in TNG: “Identity Crisis” which was due to exposure to parasites on Tarchennan III. The sickbay is also of TOS vintage right down to the design of the biomonitors.

Kassia reveals she’s El-Aurian, a member of Guinan’s long-lived species, although she’s just 30. She also claims that SB80 doesn’t use combadges, although we saw TNG-era combadges on SB80 personnel in “Trusted Sources” (although in this episode the badges are absent). It is possible, I suppose, that they were non-functional or the system ceased to function between that episode and now.

The Arcade has a machine that uses the large circular light that was part of the Atavachron prop in TOS: “All Our Yesterdays”. The screen of the Ferengi’s Fortune game reminds me of the 80s game Joust, and tucked in back is a game with the Cosmic Koala ("Moist Vessel"). Gene is playing a Galaga/Space Invaders-type game where a Romulan Valdore-class is shooting at Constitution refit-class targets (on the side of the cabinet is a Vastam-class from Star Trek Online). Gene is also wearing Scotty's vest from TNG: "Relics".

A zombie Jet Manhaver is on a Klingon targ kid’s ride.

The officer tearing the door wiring apart is Rutherford’s nemesis/rival Ensign Livik (LD: “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee”). Horseberry detects an anaphasic consciousness (Clem) possessing the Cetacean Ops whales (TNG: “Sub Rosa”).

“Scrappy underdogs” is also how Mariner described the Lower Deckers in the very first LD episode “Second Contact”.

Logline

Ransom uses too much disinfectant gel while Mariner gets paranoid about curses.

---

Written by: May Darmon

Directed by: Bob Suarez

• The episode title is a play on the title of the 1590 George Peele poem, “A Farewell to Arms”, which Ernest Hemmingway also referenced with his 1929 novel of the same name.

• It’s Ma’ah! From Star Trek. Ma’ah first appeared in season three’s “wej’Duj”, and is voiced by Jon Curry.

• Ma’ah’s brother, Malor, is voiced by Sam Witwer, as is the character of Sig Legnog. Witwer previously played an unnamed Xindi-Arboreal in “The Shipment”, and voiced the character of Tenavik in STO, after Kenneth Mitchell personally choose Witwer to replace him.

• In this episode we learn that bloodwine is made from worms that have been stomped similar to grapes. Bloodwine was first mentioned in TNG’s “A Matter of Honor”.

    • The sequence of Ma’ah going through the process of producing bloodwine may have been intended as a callback to the scene in “The Star Gazer” where we see Château Picard being prepared. As opposed to Picard’s longing glances at Laris though, we see Ma’ah annoyed with Mariner attempting to call him.

• This is the second episode to not use the standard LDS title sequence featuring the USS Cerritos’s misadventures, the first being “A Mathematically Perfect Redemption”

• Bahgol is a Klingon beverage previously seen in “Blood Oath”.

• K’Elarra is voiced by Mary Chiefo who played L’Rell in seasons one and two of DIS.

• K’Elarra is…physically aggressive with Ma’ah as an act of courtship. In “The Dauphin” Worf described Klingon women mating behaviour to Wesley as, “Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects. And claw at you.”

• ”Don’t count on that. Ma’ah killed Bargh’s brother,” Malor tattles by relating the events of “wej’Duj”.

• Boimler’s facial hair has grown in enough to see that his moustache is purple as well. According to his own log in “Grounded”, Boimler dyes his hair, and no one knows what his real hair colour is.

• ”Doctor Migleemo, I’ve never seen you this nervous before, not even when I made you fight that giant Orion,” Tendi relates the events of “Old Friends, New Planets”.

• ”We Klowahkans invented warp travel in the hopes of discovering strange new meals.” Migleemo reveals that his preoccupation with food is something of a species trait, as opposed to unique to himself.

    • This is the first time we’ve heard the name of Migleemo’s species. Coincidentally, the name for this species of birdlike people sounds very similar to the excretory vent birds, as well as reptiles and amphibians, have.

• The Ketha Lowlands are part of the Ketha province, where Martok’s family is from, as per “Once More Unto the Breach”.

• ”Hey, look, you really helped me back on Serbal V, all right?” Mariner and Ma’ah fought in “The Inner Fight” until she experienced a breakthrough coping with Sito Jaxa’s death.

• ”Weren’t you just afraid of skiing?” Boimler attempted to go down the Coward’s Gulch path aboard the Cosmic Duchess, before having to follow a person he was tailing down the Expert’s Demise slope.

• Madame Gonald is voiced by Gillian Vigman, who regularly portrays Doctor T’Ana.

• ”Experience bij!” A Klingon hover biker hollers a line from the 1993 interactive VCR board game, “Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Klingon Challenge”.

• It’s K’orin! From Star Trek. General K’orin was introduced in the episode “Envoys”. He’s voiced by Jess Harnell.

    • ”Yeah, we violated some treaties back in the day.” In “Envoys” Mariner told Boimler that she and K’orin were involved in ”off the books, grey ops stuff.”

• The Oversight Council chambers feature sets of Klingon honour guard uniforms from STO.

• Bargh is voiced by Colton Dunn, who previously portrayed Dorg, Bargh’s brother, in “wej’Duj”.

• We learn that Doctor Migleemo’s first name is Gabers.

• The Rite of Unending Pain appears to be superficially similar to the Rite of Ascension seen in “The Icarus Factor”. Those undergoing the rite walk through a path lined by raised platforms with warriors wielding painstiks to either side.

• ”Once Kahless made it across the field, he tore the thorns from his legs and he used them to kill Fek’lhr.” As per “Devil’s Advocate”, Fek’lhr is a demonic figure, and the Guardian of Grethor.

• Darsek’s a Klingon currency first mentioned in “Fristborn”.

• Migleemo claims the hogfish galantine is ”as plorpful as the ones served on Enara Prime.” Enara Prime was featured in the third season VOY episode “Remember”, and is in the Delta Quadrant. This raises the question of how Migleemo would know about their cuisine.

• ”Look, a while back, I was transferred to one of the coolest ships in Starfleet.” Boimler was transferred to the USS Titan at the end of “No Small Parts”, and transferred back to the Cerritos in “Kayshon, His Eyes Open”. Though he didn’t so much choose to return to the Cerritos as he wasn’t able to serve on the same ship as his transporter duplicate.

• We learn that Mariner was in on Qo’noS for more than just returning an artifact and to help Ma’ah regain his rank; another quantum fissure has appeared in Klingon space, making this the third episode of the season where the fissures have been a factor.

    • The scanning indicates that the dimensional rifts are not a natural occurrence.

• Cap’n Freeman, Rutherford, and Tendi swapped out the Klowahakan’s amuse bouche with replicated manure. In “There Is A Tide” Admiral Vance informs Osyraa the replicators use recycled waste to create food. ”It tastes pretty good for shit.”

• “A Klowahakan without a sense of taste is no Klowahakan at all.” Doctor Migleemo’s adage echoes Rule of Acquisition 18: “A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all.” And, according to Kor in “The Sword of Kahless”, ”A Klingon who denies himself the Rite of Vengeance is no Klingon at all.”

• ”Martok started on a ship like this.” Martok claimed in “Once More Unto the Breach” that he started as a labourer cleaning the officer’s mess aboard General ShiVang’s flagship.

• ”I can see Kahless! The first one, the original one!” Kahless’s clone was discovered by Worf on Boreth in “Rightful Heir”.

    • ”The one that did impressions!” It was revealed in “The Savage Curtain” that Kahless was skilled at mimicking the cries of his foes to lure their allies into traps. Honourably. He also would do a tight five minutes at open mic nights.

The Voyager episode “Bliss” has always been a wonderful story in my opinion. Naomi Wildman and Seven of Nine, two individuals who joined the ship’s crew after the events of “Caretaker”, find solidarity in their respective distance to life on Earth. They also in a time of crisis bring comfort and assist each other.

Annotations for Star Trek: Lower Decks 5x04: “A Farewell to Farms”

The episode title is a play on Ernest Hemingway's 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms, a romance between an American ambulance driver in the Italian Army and an English nurse, set against the backdrop of World War I, and has as one of its themes the idea of an end to, or retirement from war.

Qo'noS is the Klingon Homeworld, last seen in DIS: "Point of Light" or, chronologically in-universe in DS9: "The House of Quark".

Ma'ah first appeared in LD: "wej Duj", and was last seen in LD: "The Inner Fight". The targ may be the pet he inherited from his previous captain, Dorg, whom he killed and then attained his own rank and the IKS Che’Ta’. The farming outfit Ma'ah wears echoes the one the older Picard wore in TNG: "All Good Things..." and he is sipping from a Klingon bloodwine mug. We also see how bloodwine is made - apparently harvested from worms grown in the soil.

The usual title sequence is replaced by cinematic-style titles complete with rousing music. Mariner and Ma'ah befriended (sort of) each other in "The Inner Fight" on Sherbal V, which is why she's calling.

Malor mounts brush devil jaws on the transport. The brush devil is a creature native to Qo’noS with a particularly loud hunting scream, mentioned in the DS9 novel Heart of the Warrior, in which Worf tells of when he and his brother Kurn participated in a brush devil hunt.

A petaQ is a Klingon epithet, which can be loosely translated as "weirdo" (from taQ, to be weird, and pe, an imperative you). The Klingon axe-throwers are using various blades, but the one flying across the screen is a mek'leth, a two-pronged dagger generally used for throat slashing and disemboweling (ENT: "Marauders"). bahgol is a warm tea-like beverage (DS9: "Blood Oath").

One of the members of the Klingon band is playing a concertina like DS9’s Klingon Chef in DS9: “Playing God”. Ma'ah tells K'Elarra he did not expect to see her in this pugh gegh (as per the closed captioning) but I suspect this to be an error and it should be pugh qegh, which translates to "barrel/vat of dregs", which makes the bartender's insulted reaction more logical. par'Mach means "love" (but with more aggressive overtones). K’Elarra’s manhandling of Ma’ah and her sniffing him are typical of Klingon mating practices (TNG: “The Emissary”) and her “boob window” commented on by Mariner appeared first on Klingon females with the Duras sisters in TNG: “Redemption”. K’Elarra is voiced by Mary Chieffo, who played L’Rell in DIS.

Boimler's beard has progressed to an actual moustache now although his goatee is still a work in progress, charitably speaking. cha'DIch can be loosely translated as "second", in the sense of someone who speaks or acts on behalf of the principal in a duel, or in other contexts a confidant or mentee.

Cerritos is in orbit around Praxon IV. Tendi refers to when Migleemo fought the Orion warrior B'eth in LD: "Old Friends, New Planets". We are told Migleemo's species (Klowahkans) for the first time, and are told they invented warp travel to discover "strange new meals" as opposed to strange new worlds. This also explains Migleemo's penchant for food metaphors. Whether the planet name is a pun on "cloaca" l leave for speculation.

'urwI'pu' means "traitors". Martok’s legendary killing of them took place in the Ketha Lowlands, a poor area of Qo’noS, where he said his family was from (DS9: “Once More Unto the Breach”). A d'k tagh (misspelt diktagh) is a traditional Klingon warrior's dagger first seen in ST III. Boimler's fear of skiing cropped up last episode in LD: "The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel". He mentions the Ritual of J'ethurgh and the Ritual of Forced Conscription, both first mentions.

bIj means punishment, which is usually used as a verb, not a noun. But the term “Experience bIj!” is a particularly deep cut from the Star Trek: The Next Generation - Interactive VCR Board Game - A Klingon Challenge, where during the game Captain Kavok (played by Robert O’Reilly who was Gowron on TNG and DS9) occasionally says this to one of the players who must then draw a Bij card and do what it says.

K'orin is a Klingon General and friend of Mariner's, who was last seen in LD: "Envoys". quv beq means "crew of honor". lujwI'pu' means "losers". Councilor Enaj is “Jane” spelled backwards.

Mordanian may refer to the inhabitants of Mordan IV (TNG: "Too Short a Season").

Kahless refers to Kahless the Unforgetable, a semi-mythical figure who was the greatest warrior in Klingon history as well as the first Emperor (TOS: “The Savage Curtain”).

Fekh’lr is the guardian of Grethor, the Klingon underworld (TNG: “Devil’s Due”). While we’ve known that part of Kahless’ legend is that he conquered a group called the Fekh’lri, we’ve never actually connected them to the mythical Fekh’lr on screen. In Star Trek Online, however, they do resemble Fekh’lr and were foot soldiers of Kahless’s enemy Molor (created by the Dominion), and were banished to Gre’thor with him. Boimler’s remark suggests that the Fekh’lri were minions of Fekh’lr as this story has Kahless killing Fekh’lr.

Painstiks (or pain sticks) were first seen being used in the Klingon Rite of Ascension, marking the occasion of a Klingon child reaching the Age of Inclusion and becoming a Klingon warrior (TNG: “The Icarus Factor”). darseks are the main currency used in the Klingon Empire (TNG: “Firstborn”). tagh-jaj qaD can be translated as “begin the challenge day”.

Boimler notes that the maximum painstik voltage is 30,000 volts. Whether or not an electrical shock is lethal really depends on both voltage and amperage, where voltage is the force of electrical power passing through but current (amps) is the rate of flow.

A hogfish (on Earth at least) is a type of wrasse living in the Western Atlantic, so called because of its elongated snout. It doesn’t have more than two eyes, though. Enara Prime is a planet in the Delta Quadrant, home to the Enarans, a telepathic species (VOY: “Remember”).

HIq’aD comes from HIq (ale, wine) and ’aD (blood vessel), so I’d imagine it’s an epithet saying that Malor’s a drunk.

qoH means “fool”. Boimler references his brief transfer to the \Titan\ at the end of Season 2 and the first few episodes of season 3. Klingons can’t transfer ships except with a two-thirds vote of the Oversight Council.

chatlh means “thick soup”, but it’s also slang for “nonsense”. Sto-vo-kor is the Klingon equivalent of Valhalla. Ma’ah uses a bat’leth while Bragh fights with a gin’tak battle spear. The armor Bragh crashes into before he grabs the spear is a Klingon Honor Guard set from STO. The Klingon blood spilled is pink, as per ST VI, although this has been inconsistent through Star Trek, which generally shows Klingon blood as red.

Mariner discovers that the dimensional rifts are not natural, but someone is causing them. toDuj means “courage”.

Malor claims he sees Kahless, the “original one”. A clone of Kahless was created by the monks of Boreth in TNG: “Rightful Heir”, who eventually became the ceremonial Emperor/Head of State of the Empire. He also says the original was “good at imitating voices”, which indeed the Excalbian recreation was when he imitated Surak’s voice in TOS: “The Savage Curtain”.

Logline

Dr. Migleemo cooks up some hot dishes while Mariner prefers hers served cold.

---

Written by: Diana Tay

Directed by: Megan Lloyd

• The episode title is a reference to a British comedy drama, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, starring Dame Judy Dench, who voices the character Krog.

• Captain Freeman records the stardate as 59393.7.

    • Judging by the amount of facial hair growth Boimler’s exhibited over the course of the three episodes this season, we can assume that so far the entire season has taken place over about 17 hours.

• The cruise ship, the Cosmic Duchess has a number of habitat domes attached to it, very similar to the habitat domes we see attached to Starbase One in various episodes of SNW.

    • Freeman claims the Cosmic Duchess is the size of a moon. Though moons can vary fairly wildly in size, even if we’re talking about Pluto’s smallest moon, Styx, that still indicates the cruise ship is one of the largest structures we’ve seen in Trek, and perhaps the largest structure built by the Federation.

• Rogue nanites were also the problem in the TNG episode “Evolution”.

• ”One of the space casinos has a bunch of Dixon Hill slot machines.” Dixon Hill is the fictional hard boiled detective, whose adventures Captain Picard enjoys playing out on the holodeck, as first seen in “The Big Goodbye”.

    • In space, they just call them casinos.

• It’s Jennifer! From Star Trek! Jennifer is played by Lauren Lapkus.

    • Jennifer has not had a speaking role in the show since season three’s “Trusted Sources”, where she and Mariner seemingly broke up over the erroneous belief that Mariner betrayed the trust of the USS Cerritos crew by bad mouthing them to a FNN reporter; yet in the first scene this episode with her, Jennifer is acting as though they’re still an item.

• Ransom recruits Boimler to locate the AWOL Admiral Milius. Milius is named for the screenwriter John Milius, who wrote such films as “Conan the Barbarian”, “Red Dawn”, and perhaps most relevant to this episode, “Apocalypse Now”.

• It’s Jet! From Star Trek! Jet is voiced by Marcus Henderson, and has not had a speaking role since season two’s “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”.

    • Jet’s hands were devoured by piranha bats, but Doctor T’Ana is going to grow him a new pair. Characters were artificial body parts include: Captain Picard [heart], Worf [spine], Geordi [eyes], Nog [leg], Ishka [heart], and Jack Crusher [personality]

• ”She gave me back a candle!” Mariner did not accept the return of the candle, telling Jennifer to give it to Castro.

• Jennifer is being prompted and transferred to the USS Manitoba. Usually the Manitoba is only ever mentioned alongside the USS Saskatchewan, and both are overshadowed by the other Prairie-class starship, the “USS Alberta”.

    • ”There’s a bunch of Andorians on the ‘Toba*.”* As a species native to a moon covered in ice, Andorians are well suited to cold temperatures aboard the Manitoba.

• This is the first episode in which we see a Gallamite depicted on screen. Jadzia Dax dated a Gallamite named captain Boday, who was notable for his transparent skull and “toothy smile.”

• The Kreetassan vacationers are offended when Boilmer drinks a cocktail and eats in front of them, causing one to attack him before Ransom intervenes. It was established in “Vox Sola” that Kreetassans view eating the same way they do sex, an intimate and private act.

• ”Apparently one of Milius’ acolytes spends a lot of time at the top of the huge, dangerous mountain.” The mountain is very familiar, but I can’t quite place it.

• We learn that T’Lyn’s favourite musician is an individual named Krog, who plays an instrument called the vibe tubes. Though this is the first we’ve heard their name, the vibe tubes appeared in the TNG episode, “We’ll Always Have Paris”.

• ”You’re grabbing my genitals!” As Captain Kirk discovered in “Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country”, ”Not everybody keeps their genitals in the same place.”

• Boimler refers to various space whales, mentioning the gormagander, introduced in “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad”, and ”those galaxy’s child things,” from “Galaxy’s Child”. Previously Mariner was the only character to break the fourth wall in that fashion.

• When the nanite icosahedron strikes a palm tree and briefly stops, you can see a millinery in the background that has on displays hats similar to several that Guinan wore over the season of TNG, and some Bajoran vedic mitres.

• ”I can’t believe we’re going to get killed by a goddamn icosahedron.” Yet Mariner has been seen playing Bat’leths and BiHnuchs in “The Least Dangerous Game”.

• Rutherford locates a miniature Intrepid-class USS Endeavour. There have four other USS Endeavours, NCC-1895, NCC-25530, NCC-39222, and NCC-71805. Only the NCC-71805 was mentioned in dialogue, with the other three only appearing on charts and displays.

    • We’ve previously seen a tiny ship when Jadzia Dax, Bashir, and O’Brien get shrank down along with their runabout in “One Little Ship”.

• ”We’ve been through a month of hell!” That is the longest length of time any Starfleet ship has gone through hell.

• Boimler appears to be drinking bloodwine out of the traditional mug, the sort of which were first seen in “Apocalypse Rising”.

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• The episode title is a call back to the TNG season two finale, “Shades of Grey”, in which commander Riker is attacked by a poisonous vine, and the only way to save him is to make him watch other episodes from TNG’s first two seasons in his head. Truly, the cure is sometimes worse than the disease.

• Captain Freeman records the stardate as 59376.9 in her log.

• We’re informed that the people of Targalus IX have recently joined the Federation, acquired post scarcity technology, and are dismantling their capitalist systems. They’re literally burning their currency in the streets. However, we know that in the 24th century some Federation worlds, such as the Bolian homeworld of Bolarus IX maintain their financial institutions.

• In addition to what we can assume to be the Targalan’s language, much of the signage on Targalus IX is in Federation Standard -- i.e. English -- as are the anti-capitalist shirts they’re wearing.

• Boimler’s got a wispy bit of moustache growth happening. Apparently in addition to the PADD he took, he’s also attempting to steal Beardler’s look from the previous episode.

• Boimler is inundating the ensigns he’s been assigned with ”Bointers.” The first time he substituted his name for a real word was when he told Rutherford to ”Boim me up,” in “Cupid’s Errant Arrow”.

• We learn that the Orions have a ”pirate queen” who is the head of the Orion Syndicate. It’s unclear if this positon is the official Orion head of state, or simply the leader of the criminal organization.

    • Pirate queen Sabor is voiced by Debra Wilson, who has voiced several unnamed characters on PRO, the Orion pirate Z’oto on LDS, and even Lisa Cusak in the DS9 episode, “The Sound of Her Voice”.

• Orions used to use solar sailships. Other cultures who are confirmed to have used such technology include the Bajorans, as seen in “Explorers” and R’ongovians introduced in “Spock Amok”.

• ”Damn, now this is buffer time. Respect” The term buffer time was first used in “Temporal Edict”, and was coined to describe the policy of padding out work time estimates, first explicitly articulated by Scotty in “Star Trek: The Search for Spock”.

• The House Tendi sailship has a ship’s wheel for steering the vessel. The pirate ship, The Serene Squall in the episode “The Serene Squall” was also a starship with a wheel.

• Sarium krellide was first noted on a display screen in TNG’s “Night Terrors”, and a combadge in PRO’s “Observer Effect” was seen to have the words written on a power cell. The is the first episode where the term is spoken aloud by a character.

• Tendi attempts to give her sister a cup of pyrithian bat milk. Doctor Phlox kept a pyrithian bat in the sickbay aboard the NX-01.

• ”Snakes don’t eat snakes!” Apparently snakes on Orion are less inclined to cannibalism than Earth snakes.

• The disruptor that the Targalan cleaning robot is attempting to sweep with looks very similar to the phaser rifle first seen in “Stardust City Rag”

• ”It is possible to do everything right, and still get your away team kidnapped by the corporate elite,” Boimler quotes Picad’s line from “Peak Performance”.

• Billups’ mother sent him a dragon. Human ”ren faire types” colonized Hysperia because of its dragons, as per “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie” but we have yet to see one on screen.

• In addition to finishing repairs on the Sequoia, T’Lyn added a stick figure drawing of herself to those of Boimler, Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford. The doodles of the Lower Deckers were first seen in “No Small Parts”

• Rutherford claims he and Tendi used to work on the Sequoia every day: ”It was our project.” Previously they worked together on a model of the USS Cerritos, and a model of Deep Space 9, as seen in “An Embarrassment of Dooplers”.

• ”I was trying to deceive you into socializing.” T’Lyn is really giving away the game on that whole, ”Vulcans are incapable of lying,” lie that they spout all the time.

• ”Come back Mackler, turn away from the mountain!” Boimler is referring to the Black Mountain where Starfleet officers go to fight three faceless representations of their father on their journey back to life, as outlined by Shaxs in “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”

• It’s Goodgey! From Star Trek! Goodgey previously appeared in “A Few Badgeys More”.

• Captain Freeman contracted out the disposal of Targalus IX’s wealth to the Tendi family, which is implied will offset the loss of their fortune due to Tendi’s insistence on trying to find a peaceful compromise. It would seem that the gold bars and jewels must have some value to the Orions. We’ve seen gemstones as having value in episodes such as “Haven” and “Move Along Home”, but in “Who Mourns for Morn”, Quark describes gold as ”worthless.” Twice.

    • The Orion ship D’Erika is using for wealth disposal is presumably the same one she sent to retrieve Tendi in “Old Friends, New Planets”.