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
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.
Are Orions now the designated species for calling out how essentialized Star Trek aliens tend to be? Because we have D’vana Tendi, the somewhat obscure Ensign Harral from Discovery, and now the crew of the D’var. You can argue the last one’s just an extension of Tendi’s character arc, but still, that’s three series that have touched on this.
TBH I think TNG did this very well with the Klingons (depending on who was writing the episode, of course). Like, some Klingons were Real Klingons™ but many others only gave lip service to those ideals and were actually as sneaky and cowardly as any other race. I think a lot of Worf’s inner conflict came from realizing and processing that fact.
There’s also the Orion on DS9 who likes to talk big game about being a pirate, but he’s actually from Cincinnati and has never pirated anything in his life
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.
I’m still giddy about this episode. Possibly the best thing I’ve ever seen.
One thing I noticed particularly in this episode is how respectful both SNW and LD are of canon and fandom in general - the bit about not all Orions being pirates, for example. I know it originates w/Tendi from Lower Decks, but just in the context of this episode they take the one-dimensional nature of the Orions from TOS, poke a little fun at it, but then make it about the bias that the Federation/Star Fleet has against a culture they really don’t understand. The SNW writers effortlessly take what could be considered a flaw or one-dimensional writing from TOS and actually use it to flesh out the ST universe, all while telling a great story.
Some Orions haven’t been pirates for 5 years!
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?
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
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.
They NAILED it. They, somehow, took the loving but self aware fan service of lower decks and jammed it into SNW which has been the most consistent reboot back to the core of this series. This was absolutely some of the best show writing I’ve seen in a very long time.
I actually think Lower Decks is closer to the core of Star Trek than SNW. I mean, you couldn’t do a “the enterprise got pregnant” episode in SNW
SNW has been continually frustrating me by almost being great trek but continually falling short. Like, that prime directive episode on the forgetting planet was great, right up until the captain decided to flagrantly ignore the prime directive and destroy a culture’s individuality
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.
Frakes is, in addition to an iconic Actor, the best Trek Director of the modern age. 11/10.
It was … the best of both worlds.
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.
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.
