Daystrom Institute

Trill has a surface area of 500 million km^2, which is similar to Earth (501 million km^2). Other data include an orbital distance of 1.215 AU, a year of 483 sols, a surface temperature of 297 Kelvin (23.85 C) and 1 satellite.

Trill spots are as unique to the individual as human fingerprints or Saurian dorsal ridges, and Zora links them to one Jinaal Bix, who lived 800 years before. Adira says it is unusual, but not unheard of, for a symbiont to live to 800 years.

Rayner has assumed the rank of Commander as the new XO. It’s not clear if this was a condition of his staying on in Starfleet or if it is a situation like that of Will Decker in TMP, where he was Captain rank but was temporarily reduced in grade for the purpose of the mission once Kirk assumed command. On the other hand, by the time of the Enterprise-A, this ship had at least two or three Captains on board (Kirk, Spock and there’s some debate about Scotty), and Spock was referred to as Captain, not Commander.

Reno pronounces raktajinos as “raktachinos”- which is actually not entirely wrong. Raktajino is actually a portmanteau word from both Klingon and Italian. Technically, Klingon coffee is qa’vIn, derived from “caffeine” (coffee is not native to the Empire, and was probably first taken as plunder from human vessels or colonies). Adding liquor (HIq) to it produces a beverage known as ra’taj, which also gained popularity outside the Empire. The “export” version is non-alcoholic but contains a nutlike flavoring, being called in Federation Standard raktaj. Then a variant of raktaj with cream became popular, which became combined with “cappuccino” to become raktajino. So while the preferred pronunciation is jino, with a soft “j”, saying it as chino actually pays homage to the second word that makes up the portmanteau (Klingon for the Galactic Traveler by Marc Okrand).

Guardian Xi was last seen at Federation HQ in DIS: “…But to Connect”, when Gray Tal decided to join the Guardians. The Caves of Mak’ala house the breeding pools of the symbionts, and we last visited them in DIS: “Forget Me Not”. The milky liquid in the pools acts as a medium for electrical impulses that allow the symbionts to communicate with each other.

The zhian’tara ritual was first seen in DS9: “Facets”, where the memories of a previous host are temporarily incorporated into a volunteer to allow face-to-face communication with the current host. Done under the supervision of a Guardian, a variation of this was used to transfer Grey’s consciousness and memories into a synth body (DIS: “Choose to Live”).

The favinit is a Vulcan plant, first mentioned in VOY: “Alliances”, where Tuvok created a hybrid of it and a South American orchid.

The year is finally stated as 3191, although that does not match with the Stardate given last week, which by TNG reckoning only makes it 3189. More evidence that stardates work differently now, and I do wish the production team would stop being coy and let us know how.

So, just to get our chronological bearings, Michael leaves 2258 at the end of Season 2, lands in 3188 at the start of Season 3, spends a year with Book before Discovery lands in 3189, and the rest of Season 3 takes place. A few months pass between Season 3 and 4, taking us into 3190, and at least six months between Season 4 and 5, bringing us to 3191.

The Vulcan Purists were first mentioned in DIS: “Unification III”, where we met their representative V’Kir. In DIS: “All is Possible”, the Purists tried to force an opt-out clause in the agreement for Ni’Var rejoining the Federation, but a compromise was brokered by Saru and Burnham for an independent review committee instead.

Cabrodine, an explosive material, was first mentioned in DS9: “In the Hands of the Prophets”, where the station schoolhouse was destroyed by a cabrodine-infernite bomb.

Jinaal says that the Dominion War was raging when the Progenitor technology was found, so it’s not a literal 800 years (which would make it 2391). The Dominion War officially lasted from 2373-2375.

Dalaka was a rogue planet, one that had broken out of orbit and was traveling through interstellar space untethered to a star system, first encountered in 2151 by the NX-01 Enterprise in ENT: “Rogue Planet”. Bore worms were said to enter a person’s ear to lay their eggs there.

Tongo was a Ferengi game played in Quark’s on DS9 in the 24th Century, so at some point either the game migrated to Bajor or Asha spent some time with Ferengi who played. She says her nicknames were “Full Monopoly” and “Bluff Master”. Two of the winning hands in Tongo are “Full Consortium” and “Total Monopoly” (DS9: “Change of Heart”).

Nilsson was played by Sara Mitich, the original actress for Airiam in Season 1, who then changed roles for Seasons 2-4. This dialogue establishes that she left to join the Voyager-J, the platform for testing the pathway drive, and that the tribble seen in Discovery’s corridors is a pet.

Sehlats are large bear-like beasts native to Vulcan (TOS: “Journey to Babel”), and domesticated varieties were treated as pets. Spock had a pet sehlat named I-Chaya in his youth, who died defending him from a le-matya (TAS: “Yesteryear”).

The bar on Discovery is given a name, “Red’s”.

The Tzenkethi were in conflict with the Federation sometime in the mid-24th Century (DS9: “Paradise Lost”), but although mentioned in that episode and extensively in DS9: “The Adversary”, we have never seen one on screen. Different versions have appeared in both Star Trek Online, the Litverse novels and in the current Star Trek comic by IDW.

At the end, we see a disguised Moll plant some kind of device on Adira’s sleeve.

It is Stardate 866274.3, which places it, by TNG reckoning, in 3189. However, as I’ve noted before, this is an impossibility, since Burnham arrived in the 32nd Century in 3188, then spent a year before reuniting with Discovery (3189), then months passed between Seasons 3 and 4, and also between Seasons 4 and 5 so at a minimum it should be 3190. So stardates have to be working differently now.

The image Burnham is looking at is of the Progenitor hologram from TNG: “The Chase”, played by Salome Jens, who also played the recurring role of the Female Changeling in DS9.

The unwritten Starfleet code of conduct is apparently “Don’t snitch.” Rayner has been in Starfleet for 30 years, during which time the Federation was apparently at war (but no longer), and he’s fought side-by-side with Vance. The Breen are infighting over a new leader (they are now an imperium instead of a confederacy), and the Orions are regrouping, presumably after the splintering of the Emerald Chain at the end of Season 3 (DIS: “That Hope is You, Part 2”).

Book imitates Saru’s threat ganglia, which started as a response to sensing danger, but following his vahar’ai (DIS: “An Obol for Charon”), were replaced organs which could shoot spines.

The Promellians fought a long war against the Menthars which ended in the extinction of both species in the 14th Century. The Enterprise-D encountered a Promellian battle cruiser caught by a Menthar booby trap and nearly fell victim to the same trap in TNG: “Booby Trap” (2366). A necropolis is basically a very large graveyard or tomb, hence Burnham’s concerns about it being a sacred space.

Zareh was a courier who encountered Saru and Discovery when they first arrived in the 32nd Century (DIS: “Far From Home”), attempting to extort dilithium from them. He allied himself with Osyraa during her commandeering of Discovery and eventually died in the ship’s turbolift systems while fighting Book (DIS: “That Hope is You, Part 2”).

The Promellians’ use of Lang-cycle fusion engines was first mentioned in TNG: “Booby Trap”. I do wonder, however, what the statue was supposed to represent, since Promellians as seen in TNG only had two eyes, not four.

Being able to generate new phasers with just a metaphorical flick of the wrist is really handy.

Booker says that Moll and L’ak are Sui, couriers who take the most dangerous jobs fpr the action and latinum (from suicide, perhaps?).

The inscription starts with “Jolan tru, zarbalgon…” which Burnham translates as “Hello, wanderer”. Jolan tru is a traditional Romulan greeting which was used as both “hello” and “goodbye” (TNG: “Unification I”). Where Burnham learned Romulan is unexplained, but likely from her mother, a member of the Qowat Milat or on Ni’Var (DIS: “Unification III”). At the time she left the 23rd Century, the Romulans were still safely ensconced behind the Neutral Zone.

Burnham identifies the inscription as a Romulan revlav, which from context must be a poetic form, consisting of five verses or lines. “Hello, wanderer. Many worlds have you traveled. Opaline waters call to you. Thoughts are shared.” Saru says that seems to point to Betazed, but the fifth verse is missing.

Saru and Burnham have really been boning up on Romulans. The shaiqouin, the false front door of Romulan houses, was first mentioned in PIC: “The End is the Beginning”, but there was called a shaipouin. The last verse reads, “A world like no other, where two souls entwine, joined as one.” Adira deduces that the whole poem in context points to Trill.

Booker reminds us that his name is an alias, passed down from courier to courier (DIS: “That Hope is You, Part 2”, “Species Ten-C”).

Saru packs his knife, a gardening tool given to him by his sister on the night he left Kaminar to join Starfleet (ST: “The Brightest Star”).

Saru talks about giving oneself over “to the journey”, which reminds me of the toast that Barclay gave in the alternate future’s tenth anniversary of Voyager’s return (VOY: “Endgame”). Saru first warned Tilly about not touching the swamp kelp in bloom in DIS: “Choose to Live”.

Vance’s daughter previously appeared in DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”, but this is the first time we learn her name is Charlie (named after him, presumably).

Other receipients of the Grankite Order of Tactics (first mentioned in TOS: “Court Martial”) include James Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard (PIC: “Remembrance”) and Liam Shaw (PIC: “The Next Generation”). The latter three also received its Class of Excellence.

The Star Trek Universe bumper features Discovery jumping in with her spore drive then flying off at warp. 

If anybody’s questioning whether one can actually survive on the outside of a ship traveling at warp, the answer is yes, as long as they are within the starship’s warp bubble (ENT: “Divergence”, where Trip moved between Enterprise and Columbia while the two ships shared a merged warp bubble. See also PRO: “Mindwalk”). There is a mistake in the closed captioning which says “warp level” instead of “warp bubble”. 

Tonic 2161 is named after the year the Federation was founded. Although it’s for the Millenium Celebration, the current year is actually around 3188-3190 (stardates have been a bit wonky ever since DIS went to the 32nd Century), hence the “give or take a few decades” remark. The stars in the cocktail taste like jumja sticks, a sweet Bajoran delicacy made from the sap of the jumja tree (DS9: “In the Hands of the Prophets”). 

The holographic nametag for Stamets is not a screen overlay, but comes out of his tricom badge (DIS: “Die Trying”), a 32nd century combined tricorder, comm badge, holographic PADD and personal transporter. The pathway drive was first mentioned back in DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”, where a prototype was installed on the Voyager-J and Burnham was under consideration for being her captain. There were no details on how it worked, however.

Tilly says it’s been “months” since Burnham has talked about Book, which means some time has elapsed since the end of Season 4. There is a brief shot of a Lurian speaking to another alien I’m unable to identify.

T’Rina mentions the Tholian Republic and Breen Imperium. There have been political changes since the TNG era, since back then they were the Tholian Assembly (TOS; “The Tholian Web”) and the Breen Confederacy (DS9: “Strange Bedfellows”). Her relationship with Saru has grown more serious, as evidenced by her use of the word “love”. 

800 years - if exact - puts it at 2388, after the Mars Attack (2385), Picard’s resignation from Starfleet (2386) and the Romulan Supernova (2387). This is the first mention of a “Red Directive”.

The dessicated Romulan corpse has the forehead ridges that mark them as a Northerner (PIC: “The End is the Beginning”). 

Burnham’s phaser pistol can transform into a rifle configuration, presumbly by the same method that allows it to be stowed as a device on the sleeve (first seen in DIS: “Terra Firma, Part 1”). 

Burnham’s EVA suit must have inertial dampeners because the moment she exits the warp bubble she’s going to decelerate to sublight. Without them, inertial forces would turn her into a red smear inside of her suit.

Captain Rayner is a Kellerun (DS9: “Armageddon Game”). We see a tribble in the corridor, perhaps the same one from DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”.

Moll and L’ak stole a tan zhekran, a Romulan puzzle box. We saw an example of it in PIC: “The Impossible Box”, where it was used as a booby trap. 

Tilly is of course speaking of her ice moon escapade with a group of cadets on Kokytos in DIS: “All is Possible”. This is the first mention of Andorian champagne (or should that be Andorian sparkling wine?) - previously the only Andorian alcoholic beverage we were aware of is Andorian ale. 

Fred is a synth (PIC: “Maps and Legends”), with the same golden skin and eyes as Soong-type androids like Data, and has lived for at least 622.7 years (c. 2565), the last time he saw a Romulan puzzle box. Among the items L’ak and Moll offer is an infamous self-sealing stem bolt (DS9: “Progress”). 

The book inside the puzzle box appears to be filled with Romulan writing. Booklice, or Psocoptera, are real in case there was any doubt. 

Fred’s internal memory drive has the serial number AS-0572Y. Stamets connects that to Altan Soong, which might mean Fred is from Coppelius (PIC: “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2”). Altan was last seen in a holographic recording in PIC: “The Bounty”, having died between 2399 and 2401. 

Burnham says she hasn’t hated anyone this much in 930 years, which if taking from 3188 dates back to 2258, the year Discovery jumped to the 32nd Century. 

Tilly says the database is using 256 qubit (captioned as “Q-bit”) shifting fractal encryption. Breaking into it is a violation of Security Protocol Six Alpha.

Discovery jumps back in at Archer Spacedock, installed around Federation HQ and first unveiled in DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”. 

Let’s hope that Saru and T’Rina’s wedding isn’t as violent as Spock’s (TOS; “Amok Time”). Stamets says that they were about to download 15 teraquads of data from Fred’s eye. A quad is a fictional unit of data invented for TNG, deliberately kept vague to avoid comparisons to today’s bytes. 15 teraquads sounds impressive, but in VOY: “Drone” the advanced Borg drone One was said to have assimilated 47 billion teraquads. 

Kovich shows Burnham that Dr Vellek was there on Vilmor II at the climax of TNG: “The Chase” (2369), where Picard discovered that many species of humanoid life in the Galaxy had been seeded by a precusor race, the Progenitors. It’s interesting that Kovich says that the Progenitors created all humanoid life. In “The Chase”, it didn’t reach as far as that - in fact, there were species which didn’t have the DNA pieces necessary to solve the puzzle and the Progenitor hologram only said they seeded “many worlds”.

Many times Star Trek has taken us to the future only to reset the status quo at the end of the story arc. Tapestry (but in reverse?), that time Voyager crashed in the ice, and all that.

How likely is it that Discovery went to a mutable future, just one of many, especially with the Temporal Cold War, Carl, Q, Trelane, Janeway, the HMS Bounty, and any number of other temporally active agents out there in time? How locked in is the 32nd Century?

Let's imagine that there is an Earth from an alternate timeline where the planet received alien interference in the late 20th century that makes humanity certain of alien life and warp drive (note: not warp-capable), with the early 21st century on technological par with the prime timeline's 21st century. In this early 21st century, a person accidentally make both a universe and temporal crossing into Earth in the prime timeline and the late 24th century.

Starfleet quickly locates this highly confused person. How would Starfleet handle the situation while abiding by the (Temporal) Prime Directive?

Personally, I would think given the exceptional circumstances, that Starfleet might given the person limited mobility on Earth and only Earth, and eventually allow them to live permanently in the prime timeline if they have exhausted the list of possible ways to return the person to their timeline. This is especially considering that the alternate Earth has already been interfered with, and Starfleet has no way to know the natural development of neither the alternate timeline nor its native earth.

A who's who of Cardassian officers and Bajoran collaborators (Darhe'el, for example) were persona non grata at best, and arrested to face charges of war crimes at worst. I can imagine that, if there were no specific incidents which could be linked to Gul Dukat, perhaps he and other Cardassian officials would be tolerated... But as he was the head of the occupation, I'm not sure this makes sense.

Is the best explanation that this is merely a matter of convenience to normalize relations between Bajor and Cardassia, or is there a plausible justification for his semi-frequent visits to DS9 and/or Bajor in the early seasons? What real historical examples are analogous to his relationship with the Bajoran (provisional) government?

Edit: 'Bajor' for the planet, not 'Bajoran'

In this post I’ll be proposing a model to understanding how Star Trek warp drive works. In doing so, I’ll be attempting to reconcile the way the TNG Technical Manual describes warp drive with the idea that warp drive somehow takes advantages of shortcuts through real space by warping space around the craft, yet still experiences inertial effects.

I want to point out at the outset that I am not proposing anything analogous to the Alcubierre drive that many fans seem keen on equating with Star Trek warp drive. My objections to conflating the two are laid out here. Ultimately, this model involves the ship actually moving at FTL speeds although spacetime distortion is involved.

I also fully admit I’m not a physicist, so I may - probably - have gotten many things wrong, even with the made-up science I’m going to talk about. I’d appreciate any discussions and suggestions to refine this model, even ones that outright say it’s rubbish and implausible (as long as you be constructive and explain why, so I can learn).

So let’s begin.

How Warp Drive deals with Relativity

To recap: the basic obstacle to superluminal or faster-than-light travel is Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity. Special Relativity says that as the velocity of an object with mass accelerates towards the speed of light (c), the mass of that object increases, requiring more and more energy to accelerate it, until at c, that object has infinite mass, requiring infinite energy to push it past c. In fact, Special Relativity says that nothing with mass can reach c - photons are massless and can only travel at c.

The first publicly available description of how Star Trek warp drive gets around this came from the licensed Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (1991). At page 65:

WARP PROPULSION

The propulsive effect is achieved by a number of factors working in concert. First, the field formation is controllable in a fore-to-aft direction. As the plasma injectors fire sequentially, the warp field layers build according to the pulse frequency in the plasma, and press upon each other as previously discussed. The cumulative field layer forces reduce the apparent mass of the vehicle and impart the required velocities. The critical transition point occurs when the spacecraft appears to an outside observer to be travelling faster than c. As the warp field energy reaches 1000 millicochranes, the ship appears driven across the c boundary in less than Planck time, 1.3 x 10^-43 sec, warp physics insuring that the ship will never be precisely at c. The three forward coils of each nacelle operate with a slight frequency offset to reinforce the field ahead of the Bussard ramscoop and envelop the Saucer Module. This helps create the field asymmetry required to drive the ship forward.

As we read here, Star Trek gets around Special Relativity by using a warp field to distort spacetime around the ship and lower its inertial mass so that the shaping of the warp fields and layers around the ship can push and accelerate the ship itself towards c with reasonable energy requirements. We see warp fields lower mass in TNG: “Deja Q” and DS9: “Emissary”.

Note that while ships are equipped with impulse drives, impulse operations are purely sublight in nature. In fact, the Tech Manual says that impulse doesn’t even enter into it at all when a ship goes to warp. It is the increasing strength of the warp field, shaped by the asymmetrical firing of the warp nacelles that produce it, that ultimately propels the ship without the need for impulse or reaction engines being involved. However, the ship still experiences inertial forces through this propulsion, necessitating inertial dampening fields (VOY: “Tattoo”, ST 2009).

As field strength (measured in units of millicochranes) increases, the lower the inertial mass gets and it becomes easier to accelerate towards warp (TMP). When the field hits a strength of 1000 millicochranes, the ship hits c, or Warp 1. Or rather, it straddles the boundary between 0.999c and 1.001c, spending no more than 1.3 * 10^-43 seconds at either velocity, so that it can apparently maintain velocity at c without the infinite energy requirements otherwise needed.

This is in contrast to sublight impulse engines which work in tandem with a warp field to take advantage of its mass-lowering effect. In the 23rd Century, it is implied the nacelles assist with impulse operations (SNW: “Memento Mori”), and in the 24th Century, impulse engines have driver coils built in which create a sub-1000 millicochrane warp field (TNG Tech Manual). In the 22nd Century, the NX-01’s impulse engines also had driver coils installed, but for the opposite reason - to increase the apparent mass of the ejected propellant as it exited the engines so it could provide greater thrust (USS Enterprise Haynes Manual).

What about subspace?

Now, to be fair, the idea of using a warp field to distort spacetime around the ship to propel the ship does sound an awfully lot like Alcubierre. But where warp drive differs is that unlike Alcubierre, the ship still feels inertial effects and is able to interact with objects outside of the warp field. In other words, the ship is still firmly moving through real space, not completely insulated and stationary within the warp bubble while space moves around it. Alcubierre’s bubble also doesn’t have a mass-lowering effect.

We know from the show that subspace is its own realm, with its own layers and domains (TNG: “Remember Me”) where even life can exist (TNG: “Schisms”). That has led to a suggestion that when a ship enters warp, it enters subspace which serves like a sort of hyperspace shortcut or wormhole. However, this has its difficulties in that it doesn’t explain why a ship in warp can still interact with objects outside of subspace as if it were in real space.

It is clear, though, that subspace has its own physical laws and its own special frame of reference, one of which is that you can exceed the speed of light in it: for example, the use of subspace radio which transmits at, in TNG times, Warp 9.997 (approximately 79,000c). In Star Trek, they generate subspace fields like we generate electromagnetic fields - in fact, the warp field is a subspace field.

But how does this relate to warp drive? Allow me a little sidestep into another franchise to draw a rough analogy.

Domain amplification and subspace

In the manga/anime series Jujutsu Kaisen, one of the magical techniques that the most powerful sorcerers use to battle each other is called “domain expansion”. This creates a closed area centered on the sorcerer enclosing their target, an area in which the sorcerer sets the rules, akin to a zone in which they receive a power buff. Inside it, if the domain is not countered, the sorcerer’s strikes will always hit the target. The sorcerer’s abilities are enhanced and various other things can happen depending on the rules that the sorcerer has preset into the domain.

Another use of domains is called “domain amplification”. This is not a full domain expansion, but surrounds the attacking sorcerer with a skin or bubble that has domain effects. It doesn’t use as much power as a full expansion, but is used to nullify any defensive techniques the target sorcerer might have, by imposing the attacking domain’s own rules against the technique. This still allows the attacking sorcerer to interact with things outside this domain bubble while taking advantage of some of its effects.

(All this will make sense, I promise)

Let’s imagine that real space is a domain that follows the rules that we associate with an Einstein/Newtonian universe, where relativity holds sway. Then we have another domain - subspace - where relativity can be ignored or at least circumvented.

So what if generating a warp field is like domain amplification, creating a bubble of a subspace domain that encloses the ship? This subspace or warp bubble is then shaped by the nacelles, which distorts space locally, allowing the bubble and the ship to be propelled along at FTL speed. This is because while inside the bubble, the rules of subspace apply, not the relativistic rules of real space. It therefore becomes possible to exceed c in that special frame of reference. And yet, the bubble is still strongly connected to real space, so the ship can interact with objects outside the bubble. This explains the existence of Newtonian forces like inertia, acceleration and momentum still acting on the ship, and the continuing need for inertial dampers at warp.

This tight coupling to real space is also why we can see “stars” streaking by while in warp (more likely dust particles in real space being accelerated as they are caught in the ship’s warp bubble). The visual change in post-DIS Trek where the outside of the ship looks more like a Stargate-ish tunnel can be explained away as what the interior of the warp bubble looks like stretched out, as the ship speeds along within it like a canoe on a river, being propelled by layers of warp energy within the bubble and also carried along by the current within the bubble itself as it cruises along.

Subspace and spacetime shortcuts

The existence of subspace as a separate dimensional realm also provides us with a possible solution for the disparity between what the TNG Tech Manual gives us as absolute c values for various warp factors and the speed of plot that we see on screen. Often, the time taken between star systems and sectors is much shorter than what we would expect given the warp factors quoted, if the ship did indeed travel at the c values given by the Tech Manual.

My suggestion is that subspace is not a one-to-one correspondence with real space, but exists in a “higher” dimensional plane where distances in subspace are much shorter compared to their real space counterparts. For example, what would take 200 light years to traverse in real space would be, say only be equivalent to 20 light years travel distance in subspace.

(I’m just tossing out figures here - I don’t obviously mean this as an exact ratio, and for all we know depending on the architecture of subspace the exact correspondence can vary widely, which again helps fit the speed of plot.)

So this further suggests that the TNG Tech Manual c values are meant to reflect speeds in subspace, or rather the ship’s velocity within the warp bubble, which translates to faster velocities and thus further distances travelled in real space. In effect the ship, by surrounding itself with a subspace domain, creates its own shortcut/wormhole through real space.

Conclusion

So, TL;dr: Star Trek warp drive works by surrounding the ship with a warp field, a bubble of subspace which both lowers the inertial mass of the ship and removes it from the relativistic requirements of real space. Propulsion is achieved by shaping the field, but within the subspace bubble the ship still moves and can act on real space as well as experience inertial forces. Additionally, the warped relationship of subspace to real space means that distances travelled in subspace move the ship much further in real space, and that warp factor velocities reflect the speed at which the ship moves in subspace rather than real space.

Thank you for your attention.

Excuse me if this post isn't up to the usual standards of Daystrom Institute, but as I'm looking for an in-universe discussion of this topic, this community felt the most appropriate.

Does anyone else feel like the Temporal Prime Directive is a potential security risk? You're a security officer, and you find an intruder on board. Before you can call it in, they implore you "Stop! Temporal Prime Directive! This is important!"

Now you've paused, thinking any action could cause a temporal paradox, or damage to the future timeline.

Hell, just that pause alone might be enough for them to draw a weapon on you and neutralize you, if they are hostile.

But, assuming they don't attack, suppose the intruder says "I can't tell you what I'm doing or why, but just know it's imperative, and I have to remain hidden. Please go about your business and ignore me."

You're in a catch 22. If you leave them be, it could turn out they are an enemy spy or saboteur. If you report them, it could turn out they are telling the truth, and you cause a big temporal problem.

This question is inspired by VOY S05E24, "Relativity", where Seven of Nine is sent back in time to Voyager (before she had joined the crew), and she gets caught and confronted by Janeway. Ultimately, Janeway doesn't just take Seven at her word, and makes her explain what's going on, but I'm not sure we should be taking cues on the proper application of the Temporal Prime Directive from Captain Kathryn Janeway.

What are your thoughts?

Garak asserts to Bashir that the Repetitive Epic is the finest form of Cardassian literature. I was wondering, is there any real-life literature that could be considered a "repetitive epic" in the same vein as "The Neverending Sacrifice?"

It has occurred to me that Vulcan must have some form of sex industry to handle those going through Pon Farr who aren't currently married or otherwise involved. Otherwise, they'd have constant issues with violence from those suffering the "blood fever" whose spouse was far away, or had died, or for some other reason had no one to mate with.

Given Vulcan attitudes towards sex, it's probably kept out of sight, and is only "officially" available to those experiencing their "Seven Year Itch," but it has to exist, right?

So, I just got my copy of the Lower Deck's Handbook (it's AMAZING) but one of the sections of the handbook goes into the legacy of the ships to carry the name Cerritos. (Think along the terms of the ships to carry the name Stargazer) and one in particular caught my eye...

A Leif Ericson class USS Cerritos was answering a distress call from Earth (in a manner not dissimilar to the Enterprise-E in First Contact), but before the Cerritos could reach Earth a Klingon Bird of Prey manned by Captain Kirk beat them to it.

But an unforeseen consequence of Kirk's time hopping erased the Leif Ericson class from reality.

It was a short blurb, but I actually felt chills. I'm reminded of the scene where Spock expresses uncertainty on how to accurately bring them back to the present, and Bones tells Spock to just go with his gut or something along those terms.

With the implied context that a miscalculation on Spock's part led to the erasure of the Leif Ericson class and presumably all hands, do you think Spock made the right call, given what he knew at the time?

I like coffee. I like Star Trek.

I've had a mild interest in the raktajino, a Klingon coffee drink commonly consumed in DS9. I've looked up a few fan theories and fan recipes. I haven't seen any references to a canonical recipe, so I get that there's a bit of fun and personal preference involved.

The only thing I don't understand is why raktajino is commonly claimed to be made with liquor. On the one hand, I understand why Klingons might want a stiff additive to their caffeine. However, the context in which characters on DS9 drink it does not suggest the presence of intoxicants. I recall at least a few occasions in which bridge officers, while on duty, drink a raktajino. Surely even synthol is not OK when you're on shift for Starfleet.

So in this episode they go into a cave, and can read some sort of energy field, as well as Troi having a sense that there are lifeforms present. Geordie explains that the people must be displaced in time, but only by a few milliseconds. If that's true, how is there not overlap? Say the people are a few milliseconds ahead of the enterprise when they arrive, shouldn't they appear a few milliseconds later, as they still would have had to be 'present' during that time? I don't understand how they would be consistently invisible if time is a dimension like space that can be traveled through. Some past (or future) version of them would be present regardless of the desynchronization would they not?

Please if anyone could help me understand or shed some light on this I'd appreciate it.

I have an issue in general with scifi totally ignoring the existence of bicycles, but star trek is particularly fun to think about since in so many situations beaming down in an away team with electric mountain bicycles would be incredibly useful in a basic utilitarian sense. Like shuttles, bicycles could be treated as disposable if needed, you can always replicate more right?

You also don't need to build up any infrastructure on a planet for bicycles to function as transit system for huge amounts of people. A starship could arrive into a humanitarian aid situation, quickly adjust a bicycle blueprint for whatever bipedal humanoid lived on the planet, replicate a metric sh*&ton of alien bicycles and beam them down to the planet on mass. It wouldn't require longterm maintenance, lengthy training of local aliens on how to use, or return visits to resupply complex parts. A starship could drop bicycles, spare parts and maintenance gear and then leave and the citizens of that planet would be able to benefit from that for... decades? Even more? I am sure the instruction manuals would get super long with all the alien languages though....

Even if bicycles weren't being used as tools or transportation in a far future like star trek, there is no reason humans would stop wanting to bicycle recreationally or for exercise. Also you could go on crazy mountain biking rides on the holodeck right? I can't see how people wouldn't be doing that all the time along with skiing, surfing and other sports that are scary but exhilarating. Further, I think it is likely most bipedal aliens would have discovered bicycles at some point along the development into advanced technological civilizations. It would be really weird if only humans discovered them.

TNG in particular is egregious for not having bicycles since the NCC-1701 is so cavernous that unless you always used the turbolifts you probably are going to need a bicycle to get anywhere quickly...

What do yall think? Should star trek have more bicycles?

Hello, I put forward a bunch of theories of "in the pale moonlight" within this part 1. Mostly what I think are easter eggs. I have more written down to do a second video to tackle controversial topics as:

1. What Sisko did was morally incorrect
2. The Dominion was actually a force for the greater good
3. Sisko was hypocritical based on his previous actions in the series I am a Captain Sisko fan, but I thought it would be interesting to debate the other side, as the default stance would probably be he is on the "good" side.

This is the Daystrom Institute Episode Analysis thread for Lower Decks 4x10 Old Friends, New Planets.

Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the content of the latest episode, this thread is a place to dig a little deeper.

I don't mean on the holodeck, shore leave, or when transported to the past and needing to fit in.

Seems like if you're on an away mission to, say, a desert planet, sunglasses might be useful. I don't recall anything wearing them.

The narrator for the “Previously on…” segment sounds like Jonathan Frakes.

Starfleet Academy was founded in 2161 and first appeared on-screen in TNG: “The First Duty”. The flashback takes place in 2368 (13 years prior to 2381), the same year that episode took place.

Josh is Joshua Albert, the member of Nova Squadron who died when rehearsing the Kolvoord Starburst maneuver which underpins “The First Duty”. He was already deceased when the episode began, so never made an appearance. With him are Nick Locarno, Sito Jaxa (voiced by Shannon Fill) and Wesley Crusher (voiced by Wil Wheaton). Jean Hajar is missing, but she could be the small figure that is walking with the group and then turns to jog away at the start of the flashback.

Since Locarno is planning the Starburst maneuver, this means that it’s nearing the end of the academic year of 2367-2368. Mariner’s presence confirms that the latest she could have joined the Academy is in 2367, and since the earliest age she could have joined is 17, she is at least 31 in the present day. Sito’s remark about Mariner sounding like her “when I was a first year” seems to confirm this is Mariner’s freshman year.

Mariner’s xeno-history class covers the Preservers, who were a precursor race that transplanted a group of Native Americans to another planet (named in the script but not on-screen as Amerind), leaving behind an obelisk to protect the planet from asteroids (TOS: “The Paradise Syndrome”). The Xindi were the multi-species race that were the principle antagonists in ENT’s third season.

Nova One and Nova Fleet are obviously named after Nova Squadron. Coupled with the Kolvoord Starburst logo on his jacket (and the Klingon Bird of Prey), it seems Nick has had trouble letting go of the past.

Admiral Vassery last appeared in LD: “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place”. Admiral Alonzo Freeman, Mariner’s father, last appeared in LD: “Grounded” (although a photo of him also appeared in LD: “Mining the Mind’s Mines”).

Of course, Locarno looks like Tom Paris because both characters are acted by Robert Duncan McNeil. Let’s not go into the whole royalty urban myth here.

The Maquis were an insurgent movement trying to drive the Cardassians out of the Demilitarized Zone set up after the Federation-Cardassian wars. They were introduced in DS9 and played a major role in that series as well as in VOY.

Crews listening to Locarno’s address include Andorians, Independent Archeologist Petra Aberdeen (last seen in LD: “The Stars at Night”) and Tamarians. The “Detrion” system could be a misspelling of the Detrian system, a planetary system visited by the Enterprise-D in TNG: “Ship in a Bottle”.

Ransom summarizes Locarno’s sins from “The First Duty”.

Locarno unveils a black market Ferengi Genesis Device seen in “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place”. The Genesis Device was first seen in ST II and is capable of terraforming planetary environments instantly, wiping out any existing ecosphere (which is why it was supposed to be tested on a currently lifeless planet). Potentially, it could create planets, and did once, albeit an unstable one, in ST III.

The Trynar Shield is so named because it has three Bynars operating it.

Goodgey, the good part of the now-ascended ex-homicidal AI Badgey, was last seen in LD: “For a Few Badgeys More”, where the other lower deckers were understandably cautious about his working on the ship.

“Cerritos strong” as a rallying cry was first used by a holographic version of Freeman in LD: “Crisis Point” and by the real Freeman in LD: “First First Contact”. T’Lyn has been reading the ship’s logs, one assumes.

The ship that Mariner commandeers is a Steamrunner-class, first seen in ST: FC. The ship itself is the USS Passaro, NCC-52670, named after Fabio Passaro, a CGI artist who has worked on Star Trek related media like the Eaglemoss models, but has since passed away. Another USS Passaro, a Gagarin-class, was seen in PIC: “The Last Generation” near Sol Station.

(According to @BradinLA on X, this Passaro is a Sabrerunner-class, with Steamrunner-class aesthetics in a Sabre-class size.)

Freeman’s command code override is 06107.2. Mariner has had a lot of practice escaping space stations and stealing ships. Her workout program on the holodeck is staging Cardassian prison breaks and stealing a starship to escape (LD: “Strange Energies”).

D’Erika and Orion last appeared in LD: “Something Borrowed, Something Green”. Sword and Scabbard is perhaps the melee weapon equivalent of Guns & Ammo magazine?

Mariner questions whether you can have three Bynars, since Bynars usually work and live in pairs (TNG: “11001001”). Her moving into the ring system of the planet is reminiscent of the Millennium Falcon hiding in an asteroid field in The Empire Strikes Back.

Rule of Acquisition 91: “Your boss is only worth what he pays you” and Rule 289: “Shoot first, count profits later” are new rules, never mentioned before on-screen or in beta canon.

Billups’ willingness to defend the Cerritos’s honor as her Chief Engineer is what Scotty did in TOS: “The Trouble with Tribbles”, where he kept his cool while the Klingons insulted Kirk, but finally lost it when they trash talked the Enterprise.

“Look at the size of that thing!” was Wedge Antilles’ reaction when first seeing the Death Star in Star Wars.

ENS Livik is Rutherford’s nemesis/rival, first introduced in LD: “I Have No Bones and I Must Flee”. Sorting things out with a stint on the Mark Twain riverboat holodeck program is from the same episode.

Ion storms are standard hazards in Star Trek, appearing in many episodes. This particular one is reminiscent of the Mutara Nebula in ST II, especially the camera angles, music, lighting, and static effects on the viewscreen when Locarno pursues Mariner into it.

Not exactly sure how 12-dimensional chess would work, but 3-dimensional chess is a regular game in Star Trek (first seen way back in TOS: “Where No Man Has Gone Before”), with the Four Dimension variant introduced in Diane Duane’s novel My Enemy, My Ally.

The James Horner ST II style music is strong in the Orion destroyer sequence. The shot of the destroyer crashing into the shield is like the Super Star Destroyer crashing into the Death Star in Return of the Jedi.

Boimler’s remark about never seeing someone actually using the captain’s yatch is true. We saw Cerritos’s captain’s yacht in several episodes but it was never taken out. Similarly, the Enterprise-D had one (the Calypso) but it was never used. The Enterprise-E’s yacht, the Cousteau, was used in ST: Insurrection.

Locarno points a pump-action phaser rifle at Mariner, the same type used by Beverley Crusher in PIC: “The Next Generation”.

“Mirab, with sails unfurled,” is Tamarian for “Let’s depart/travel,” (TNG: “Darmok”).

The Genesis Device detonates much the same way its predecessor blew up the Reliant at the end of ST II, with the same nebula rings accompanying it while the yacht zooms off like the Enterprise did. It even forms an M-class planet like the Genesis Planet, except this one seems stable. Starfleet names it Locarno, since his atoms are part of it. Start your speculations on whether this will bring him back to life.

The title is a play on the TNG episode “The Inner Light”, where Picard is hit by a beam from a Kataan probe that makes him live out a lifetime of memories in the space of less than an hour. A similar probe last appeared in LD: “In the Cradle of Vexilon”.

The scientists are studying the venomous tremble lizards of Persioff IX. Persioff IX could be a reference to veteran actor Nehemiah Persoff, who played Palor Toff in TNG: “The Most Toys”. The design of the anti-venom suits are similar to TOS-style EV suits, seen in TOS: “The Tholian Web”.

The list of ex-Starfleet Officers to be escorted include Seven of Nine, Beverly Crusher, Thomas Riker and Nick Locarno. At this point in their lives, Seven of Nine is with the Fenris Rangers (PIC: “Stardust City Rag”), Beverly Crusher has just left Starfleet after becoming pregnant with Picard’s son (PIC: “Seventeen Seconds”), Thomas Riker was last seen being sentenced to a Cardassian work camp (DS9: “Defiant”), and Nick Locarno was last seen expelled from Starfleet Academy (TNG: “The First Duty”). Space prevents me from going into beta canon sources for Riker and Lorcano, or the latter’s resemblance to Tom Paris.

The shuttle the team takes to Sherbal V is the Death Valley. As with the other Cerritos shuttles, she is named after the Californian National Park.

The Klingon Bird of Prey, based on an eyeballing of its relative size to the shuttle, is a B’rel-class scout, the same class as the Bounty from ST III and ST IV.

It may just be my imagination, but New Axton’s planetary force field which allows only ships in through a protected portal reminds me of the shield around Scariff in Rogue One: a Star Wars Story. The shuttle bringing Freeman, Rutherford and Shax to the surface has a profile and colors resembling a Tatooine landspeeder, and the staff handling planetary landings were in uniforms resembling Imperial ones and speak in pseudo-British accents (not to mention the control room looks like your standard Empire air traffic control). We had vague Star Wars references last episode, too.

Starfleet shuttles are equipped with a short-range transporter. We first saw one being used in TNG: “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II”, when rescuing Picard from a Borg cube. The standard range for a shipboard transporter is 40,000km (TNG Technical Manual), but one presumes the smaller shuttle transporters have a shorter range.

From the pink blood, the masked figure that had his foot caught in the trap is Klingon. He later turns out to be Ma’ah, captain of the IKS Che’Ta’. We saw his rise from Lower Decker to commander in LD: “wej Duj” and his ship was “destroyed” by the mystery ship in LD: “Twovix”.

Among the aliens coming out from the moon shuttle are a Gorn female and a Caitian. In TOS: “The Corbomite Maneurver”, McCoy quips, “What am I, a doctor or a moon shuttle conductor?”

The New Axton bar named Mudds refers to notorious conman Harcourt Fenton “Harry” Mudd, chronologically last seen selling love potions in TAS: “Mudd’s Passion”. The patron that falls off the stool is a Galardonian (LD: “Second Contact”). The bouncer says “jippers are half price for tripeds today” - a jipper was one of Mudd’s preferred drinks (ST: “The Escape Artist”).

T’Lyn was indeed at the Battle of System 7743.8 (“wej Duj”), on the VCF Sh’val which came to the Cerritos’ rescue (we last saw the Sh’val in LD: “For a Few Badgeys More”). Also at that battle was the Che’Ta’. She did mention an encounter with a Klingon and Pakled ship to Mariner in LD: “Empathological Fallacies”, but Mariner may not have connected that with the Cerritos.

Boimler’s dream about Crusher refers to TNG: “Data’s Day” where she teaches Data to tap dance.

A dk’ tahg is a Klingon dagger, first seen in ST III but officially named TNG: “Birthright, Part II”.

The “perfect friend” that Mariner modeled herself after was Bajoran ENS Sito Jaxa, who was part of Nick Lorcano’s Nova Squadron (“The First Duty”). Sito was subsequently killed in 2370 during a covert operation to return a double agent to Cardassia Prime (TNG: “Lower Decks”).

Forgive an old chronologist’s ramblings: Sito’s fall from grace happened in 2368, and she had to retake her classes from the past year. Since she was on the Enterprise-D in the middle of 2370, the latest she could have graduated was in 2369. Mariner’s account that Sito graduated ahead of her means Mariner would have graduated at the earliest in 2370. A four-year course means she entered the Academy in 2367 - entering at age 17 (Wesley took the entrance exam at 16) makes her born in 2350, making her 31 as of 2381.

The Dominion War lasted from 2373 to 2375. If the above timeline is correct, Mariner would have served in it, especially since she served a stint on Deep Space 9 (LD: “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”, “Hear All, Trust Nothing”).

toDuj means courage or bravery in Klingon. It’s also the name of a Klingon fighter class in Star Trek Online. biHnuch doesn’t mean “idiot” but cowards - plural. The word nuch means coward and the biH means “they”, so Mariner’s usage of “a biHnuch”is grammatically incorrect.

I’m unable to understand what Ma’ah says before he hands the pip over to Mariner.

The alien at the table that Mariner, Shax and Rutherford approaches appears to be a Balok puppet (“The Corbormite Maneuver”), which was often seen in the series’ closing credits. The countdown that the “puppet” makes was also done in the TOS episode towards the Enterprise’s impending destruction. However… oops. In the non-canon novel The Face of the Unknown by Christopher L. Bennett, it was established the the Balok puppet was based on the features of the larger, more intimidating Dassik species, with which Balok’s species (the Linnik) were in conflict with.

The bounty hunter’s language is similar to the sounds made by the Breen from DS9.

Tendi, is of course, the Mistress of the Winter Constellations (“We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”) raised to be the Prime of her house, the Tip of the Moonlit Blade (LD: “Something Borrowed, Something Green”).

More Star Wars references, specifically Return of the Jedi. The monitoring station is practically identical to the Imperial bunker on the forest moon of Endor. Attacking the Bird of Prey armed only with primitive weapons is reminiscent of the Ewoks attacking Imperial vehicles armed with similar stone-tipped spears. Sherbal V also looks like the forest moon.

Freeman’s plan for Billups to be disguised as a bounty hunter refers to Leia’s gambit to infiltrate Jabba’s Palace. We should have known, since the bounty hunter ship has a vaguely Hysperian color scheme (LD: “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie”). The place where they search for Locarno even looks like Jabba’s Palace.

Of course, it stands to reason that if Mariner knew Sito, she’d know Locarno as well (the Kolvoord Starburst - the maneuver that got him drummed out of the Academy - is on his jacket as well as on the Bird of Prey). 



But if Mariner knew him at the Academy, that’s the clincher for her age. “The First Duty” takes place in 2368 as noted before, but Lorcano was graduating that year, which is why he was hell-bent on the Starburst stunt. If that’s so, then the latest time Mariner would have known Locarno is the 2367-2368 academic year, which means her latest entry into the Academy is 2367. Backtracking, her birthday is in 2350 at the latest. So coming at it from two angles - Sito and Locarno - comes up with the same minimum age: 31.

The title may allude to a line of dialogue from LD’s first episode, “Second Contact”, where Mariner says she was once trapped in a sentient cave for weeks: “You ever been trapped in a sentient cave? That’s a dark place that knows things.”

This episode consists mainly of flashbacks to unseen adventures in caves, but since these are new ones, it doesn’t qualify as a clip show like TNG: “Shades of Gray”.

The Cerritos is in orbit around the planet Grottonus. Mariner hates caves, probably due to her experience described above. Boimler remarks that caves kind of look the same, a sly reference to the reuse of cave sets in various TNG-era series.

Mariner sarcastically mentions how rocks successfully block centuries of technological process. In LD: “Mining the Mind’s Mines”, it’s said that it’s not a real day in Starfleet until comms get blocked.

Tendi talks about being trapped together (in a turbolift) right after the “rage virus” outbreak. We didn’t see them being trapped, but the rage virus incident happened in the first LD episode, “Second Contact”. Picard was trapped in a turbolift with some children in TNG: “Disaster”, and Una was trapped in a turbolift with Spock in ST: “Q and A”.

LT Steve Levy is a science officer best known for claiming that Wolf 359 was an inside job and that the Dominion War didn’t happen (LD: “No Small Parts”). Gammanite is a fictional element that Levy used to boost communications signals in a previously unseen adventure. He’s voiced by Fred Tatasciore, who also voices Shax.

This is Kyron IV’s first appearance in lore. Coincidentally, Kyron IV was the name of a character in the fantasy comic book Soul Saga by Steven Platt, the character being King of the Dominion and father to Princess Persephone. Also, a chyron is the term for an electronically generated superimposed caption (named after the Chyron corporation).

In the flashbacks, our Lower Deckers are wearing LT jg pips, which places these after LD: “Twovix”.

Vendorians are a shapeshifting race first seen in TAS: “The Survivor”. A Vendorian was last seen in LD: “Envoys” on Tulgana IV, disguised as an Andorian. Vendor Prime was seen on a star chart in PIC: “Maps and Legends”, which placed it within the territory of the Romulan Free State, in the Beta Quadrant (in LDs time that would place it within the Romulan Star Empire).

Boimler lists Levy’s conspiracy theories: Wolf 359 wasn’t real, Q doesn’t exist, Picard is a hologram and the Doctor isn’t (he also believes they are living in the Mirror Universe). Levy’s description of Vendorian brood pods and young bursting out of chests is reminiscent of Gorn breeding practices as mentioned in SNW.

Levy claims the Vendorians falsified data that going at warp speed damages subspace. If this is correct, that provides a canon explanation for why the Warp 5 limit imposed in TNG: “Force of Nature” was quickly forgotten after TNG ended. Previously, it was suggested by off-screen sources that either warp engine design was improved so as to prevent such ecological damage or that the variable geometry nacelle pylons seen in the Intrepid-class were also supposed to compensate for it.

The idea that the Vendorians are putting people through tests of character and morality is new, although such tests are usually from more powerful or omnipotent species, like the Metrons in TOS: “Arena”, the Melkotians in TOS: “Spectre of the Gun”, the Vians from TOS: “The Empath, the Q from TNG, and so on.

This is the first mention of Porgian swamp rash, although Porgs are the cute little penguin-like creatures seen in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Also the first appearance of Balkus IX. The Star Wars reference may not be a coincidence, since the brain-eating Grafflax sounds like “Graflex” - the Graflex 2 Flash Gun was used as the basis for Anakin/Luke’s lightsaber prop in Star Wars: A New Hope and it’s still called a Graflex lightsaber in fan circles.

Thusa transferring her “base mind by dermal contact” to Rutherford is reminiscent of Spock transferring his katra to McCoy at the climax of ST II, except that this transfers their consciousness into a protein mass that creates a cloned infant version of themselves. Rapid alien-induced pregnancies are also a trope in Star Trek, most notably in TNG: “The Child” with Troi and in ENT: “Unexpected” with Trip.

The trope of an apparent monster turning out to be defending her offspring turns up in TOS: “The Devil in the Dark”.

Delta Shift were our Beta Shift Lower Deckers’ nemeses in previous seasons (LD: “Terminal Provocations”, “Room for Growth”). The ones accompanying Mariner are ENS Karavitus, ENS Asif and ENS Amadou. ENS Moxy is not present.

The shuttle that Mariner crashes is the Kings Canyon. As with all Cerritos shuttles, named after a Californian National Park. She was last seen in LD: “In the Cradle of Vexilon”.

“Dunsel” is a term used by midshipmen at Starfleet Academy to describe a part that serves no useful purpose (TOS: “The Ultimate Computer”). Rutherford used the same term in LD: “The Stars at Night”. Pergium is an element used as fuel in nuclear reactors (TOS: “The Devil in the Dark”). Amadou and Mariner pronounce it with a hard G, i.e. “PER-gi-um”, when in the original episode it was pronounced “per-JEE-um”.

As Mariner ages, she gets a grey streak through her hair like her mother, Captain Freeman.

Mariner says they’ll get T’Ana to grow Asif a new leg. She may be referring to the biosynthetic limbs used as prosthetics (DS9: “It’s Only a Paper Moon”), which use synthetic muscles in their construction.

Tend’s flashback begins right at the end of “Second Contact”, with the same dialogue from the episode, with the ship still showing damage from the rage virus outbreak.

Synthehol is indeed supposed to affect the people like alcohol, except that its intoxicating effects could be dismissed at will (TNG: “Relics”). However, starships still carried supplies of real alcoholic drinks as the taste difference was allegedly apparent to connoisseurs.

A targ is a Klingon animal, like a cross between a boar and a dog with spikes on its back, kept as pets (TNG: “Where No One Has Gone Before”).

Tendi mentions another unseen cave story where they met themselves, but they turned out to be aliens from the future pretending to be them, harkening to story elements from episodes like TNG: “Time Squared” and TNG: “Future Imperfect”.

This is the Daystrom Institute Episode Analysis thread for Lower Decks 4x07 A Few Badgeys More.

Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the content of the latest episode, this thread is a place to dig a little deeper.

Okay, so… I want to open with the observation that all the ships that have been attacked by the mysterious ship have been CGI.

Lower Decks tends to default to 2D unless the ship either will get a lot of screen time (California Class, Shuttles), offer fan service (Titan, Voyager, DS9, Sovereign Class), or get into combat (Bird of Prey, Clump Ship, Sh'Val, Texas Class, Green vessel).

Basically, Titmouse gets their money's worth from CGI models, and will use 2D where otherwise practical.

This season, as far as I can tell, all the attacked vessels have been CGI. Their screen time has all been extremely short. With the exception of the Bird of Prey (from 3 ships) all the attacked ships have been new to the series.

That said, their on screen appearances could've easily been substituted with 2D illustrations. Most of the ships barely move, which is perfect for 2D, but they opted instead for more expensive CGI.

Whatever McMahon has planned for these ships. it isn't going to be small.

With that stated. When the mysterious ship reorients itself to attack position, I can't help but feel like it looks kinda like a face. But humans are hard coded to see faces in things, so I didn't think much of it.

Then I saw the Bynar ship.

The 'nacelles' on the ship connect to a hub in the back… and it looks to me like hinges. Like the nacelles could arbitrarily reorient themselves like a pair of thighs attached to a hip.

Face. Hips. Legs.

The mysterious ship can't be stealing all these vessels for salvage. We've already seen that done with the Pakleds. The ship also can't be interested in these ships for their intended purposes, since there's nothing of substance that connects them all—beyond all having disgruntled lower deckers.

I don't know why they would do this, but I can't shake the feeling the mysterious ship is attempting to build something akin to Voltron or the Megazord. A giant bipedal mech made of a bunch of other ships.

Maybe the vertical Warbird is the torso. Maybe the Bird of Prey and the Orion ship are shoulder pads or feet. I don't know.

But I figured I'd bounce this idea off you guys and see if you could refute or add to this.

I'm searching for inspiration for something I'm not sure, but I keep revolving my head around the TOS episode "The Balance of Terror" for it.

Arguably one of the greatest episodes of the ST franchise, something about a reenactment between a destroyer and a submarine (The Enemy Bellow). But I want to dig a little deeper about what can we learn from the episode and I can't really find a good analysis video of it. What do you guys think can be learned or digested from the episode?

The title is a play on the classic 1965 Sergio Leone spaghetti western, “For a Few Dollars More”, starring Clint Eastwood. That movie was a sequel to “A Fistful of Dollars”, which was referenced in the TNG episode title “A Fistful of Datas”.

Badgey is an instructional AI created by Rutherford that went homicidally rogue (LD: “Terminal Provocations”). Badgey was thought destroyed in LD: “No Small Parts” but last seen encoded in Rutherford’s original cybernetic implant and being salvaged from the wreckage of the Battle of Kalla in LD: “The Stars at Night”. Badgey’s code was also used in that episode as a basis for the Texas-class AI, with predictably disastrous results.

The ship that salvages Badgey is Drookmani, who scavenge the wreckage of battles, claiming “trash” as their own. They were last seen in LD: “A Mathematically Perfect Redemption”, where they raided their Areore on the instigation of rogue exocomp Peanut Hamper.

The Bynars are a cybernetically augmented species, connected to a master computer on their planet Bynaus (TNG: “11001001”). This is their first actual appearance since their introduction, despite occasional mentions in the series. The speech and lettering they use is consistent with that in the TNG episode.

Grapplers were used on starships and shuttlepods, like the NX-01, in the 22nd Century (ENT) as a precursor to tractor beams. La’An Noonien Singh and Boimler both said they liked grapplers (LD: “Those Old Scientists”). Pakleds also used gigantic grapplers to tear ships apart (LD: “No Small Parts”).

AGIMUS, another rogue AI, first appeared in LD: “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie”, where he was placed in the Daystrom Institute’s Self-Aware Megalomaniacal Computer Storage facility. In “A Mathematically Perfect Redemption”, Peanut Hamper was placed in the cell next to AGIMUS.

The shot of the Daystrom Institute is of their facility in Okinawa, last seen in “Fountains” but also present in 2399 in Season 1 of PIC, where it housed the Institute’s Division of Advanced Synthetic Research.

The drone AGIMUS produces is similar in design to the Echo Papa 607 of the arms merchants of Minos (TNG: “The Arsenal of Freedom”).

Montañita is a coast town in Ecuador known for being a party destination, at least in the 21st Century.

The movie the AIs are watching appears to be a Lassie movie, based on the appearance of the collie.

AGIMUS says the Bynar ship went missing on Stardate 58934.9, if anyone’s keeping track.

If an attacking ship knows the frequency that the target’s shields are tuned to, they can get tune their weapons accordingly to bypass them (ST: Generations).

Rutherford snapped Badgey’s neck to “kill” him in“Terminal Provocations”. Installing holo-emitters so that a hologram can appear off the holodeck first turned up in VOY: “Message in a Bottle” and VOY: “The Killing Game”. Voyager was also installed with holo-emitters when converted into a museum ship in LD: “Twovix”.

Tendi first encountered sand (and a beach) on the holodeck in LD: “Second Contact”. Boimler’s plan to play along and get intel is similar to how Kayshon and Ransom dealt with the Pakled spy in LD: “The Spy Humongous”. AGIMUS says Plymeria is a planet that is ripe for domination.

Goodgey and Badgey splitting into good and evil parts is what happens with Kirk in TOS: “The Enemy Within”, although that was the result of a transporter accident.

Root beer was used as a metaphor for the Federation in DS9: “The Way of the Warrior”. Alexander Rozhenko preferred root beer floats to bloodwine in DS9: “Sons and Daughters”.

Neurazine gas is used to incapacitate humanoids (VOY: “Message in a Bottle”), not to be confused with neurocine gas, which is lethal to Bajorans and Humans (DS9: “Civil Defense”), and was used to fake WIlliam Boimler’s death so he could be recruited by Section 31 (LD: “Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus”).

Badgey’s plan to upload himself into subspace relays and then take over bears some similarities to Control’s commandeering the Section 31 fleet in DIS, the Construct’s taking over of ships in PRO, or the Borg taking control of the fleet in PIC. Seriously, guys, find a newer plan.

Boimler sarcastically remarking that Starfleet couldn’t reverse the invasion in an hour refers to where catastrophic events are pretty much solved and reset within the hour runtime of an episode.

The Tyrus VIIA research station was where the exocomps first displayed signs of sentience (TNG: “The Quality of Life”). The station is the site of a particle fountain used in mining the moon below. The interior of the station’s main control matches the set from the original episode.

Warp 9.9 is approximately 3029.26c, per the TNG warp scale. As Badgey uploads himself into subspace, we see shots of the Cerritos, the Vancouver (LD: “Cupid’s Errant Arrow”), with Boimler’s ex Barbara Brinson, the VCF Sh’val with Captain Sokel (LD: “wej Duj”), Starbase 25 (LD: “An Embarrassment of Dooplers”), Deep Space 9 (LD: “Hear All, Trust Nothing”), Douglas Station (LD: “Second Contact”).

Badgey’s ascension, including the blue hue he takes on and the bird-like shape surrounding him, is identical (but less painful) than LT O’Connor’s in LD: “Moist Vessel”. He also sees the Cosmic Koala and mentions the Q Continuum and the Black Mountain (LD: “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”, and actually seen in LD: “In the Cradle of Vexilon”).

As theorized by many fans, the mystery ship isn’t destroying the ships, but stealing them.

This is the Daystrom Institute Episode Analysis thread for Lower Decks 4x06 Parth Ferengi's Heart Place.

Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the content of the latest episode, this thread is a place to dig a little deeper.