The episode opens to the Cerritos engaged with a Romulan warship. The condition of the bridge makes it clear they're not winning the battle. Romulan boarders transport into a lab inside the ship where an aged scientist is trying to protect a strange purple crystal. They blast him for his trouble, take the device, and transport away again just before Ransom, Shaxs, and Kayshon can stop them. Their mission complete, the Romulans prepare to deliver the killing blow, but just then, another Starfleet ship arrives, the Wayfarer. Its captain, Bucephalus Dagger, appears, and he's... Boimler? Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford are also on the bridge of the Wayfarer as it engages the Romulans. The three identical-looking Romulan women commanding the ship, satisfied with their prize, disengage and retreat to warp.
Captain Freeman calls to give her thanks for the timely rescue. Boiml- ah, that is, Captain Dagger asks what the Melponar triplets were after. Freeman tells them about the crystal, a top secret Starfleet prototype time travel device called the Chronogami. But before she can finish, a call comes in for Boimler, forcing him to freeze the program. Ransom wants to talk to Boimler in his office, so before he leaves, Boimler makes a few adjustments to his holoprogram, "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus", inviting the others to enjoy it while he pops over to see the Commander.
Mariner, who has a meeting with Ransom of her own in a bit, doesn't seem to be enthusiastic about Boimler's addition to the franchise she started and hopes it won't be too boring. When Boimler returns a few moments later, he seems far more dejected than when he left. He shows no interest in the sexy scientist they've just met, clearly intended to be the story's Love Interest, instead just telling her to get on with the Infodump. She explains in lengthy Technobabble that the Chronogami can be used to travel to any point in time, meaning the Romulans could use it to wipe out the Federation before it ever existed, First Contact-style. Boimler continues to be uncharacteristically maudlin about everything, but the characters continue on. The scientist gives Boimler a device to track the Chronogami. "Ah, yes, a watch that drives the plot," Mariner says. "Very convenient and not at all dumb."
The tracker tells them the Romulans are heading for Tatasciore IX, likely looking to illicitly acquire the Applied Phlebotinum that powers the device. The four Ensigns head to a black market bazaar there, alongside holographic versions of the Cerritos bridge crew, to begin their search, but after only a moment in, Boimler starts to go off script. He is attracted to a randomly-generated prophet talking nonsense about a place called Ki-ty-ha that promises answers about the universe. Mariner is puzzled and annoyed by Boimler's bizarre behavior which is keeping them from the real story. By now, Rutherford and Tendi have found the Romulans, but Boimler couldn't care less. He lets Tendi know that she's acting captain now, then continues arguing with Mariner that following this plot thread about finding the meaning of life that the holodeck is dynamically creating for him is going to be more fun.
But it seems Rutherford and Tendi didn't get the memo. They're having a blast pursuing the Romulans on hoverbikes through a thrilling Chase Scene. Once they finally catch up with them, the Romulans activate the Chronogami. Rutherford and Tendi follow them through the time portal with the holographic Cerritos command staff close behind them, where they arrive during the Great Soolian Algae Crisis of 2341. Tendi immediately stresses the importance of finding the Romulans before they can destabilize Federation history, but is annoyed to find Rutherford munching on a sub sandwich he apparently stepped out to grab.
Boimler interrogates the prophet, Illustor, on how to get to Ki-ty-ha. The answers come slowly as the holodeck struggles to invent a new narrative to appease his Plot Detour. Illustor eventually disrobes to reveal a map tattooed on his saggy old-man skin. After trading some more verbal blows with Boimler over their creative differences, Mariner decides she's had enough and leaves the holodeck in a huff, grumbling to herself as she makes her way to her meeting with Ransom.
Mariner's evaluation from the Commander is glowing, with no complaints at all from the department heads. Though as she stands to leave, Ransom asks how Boimler has been feeling. Mariner has no idea what he's really asking about, so he shares the bad news that he just earlier had to share with Boimler: his transporter clone, William, died earlier that day from an environmental malfunction in his quarters aboard the Titan. To learn that his duplicate died such a sudden and pointless death, Mariner realizes now why Boimler has been searching so desperately for some way to make sense of it.
Meanwhile, Tendi and Rutherford traveled further back in time, to Sydney, Australia, 1982. They are accosted by some knife-wielding thugs, who are no match for their training, and Tendi starts off towards their objective. But then she sees Rutherford trying to steal a disguise from one of the unconscious thugs — just for fun, he says — but Tendi angrily tells him to stop goofing around and hurry up.
Mariner rejoins Boimler in his part of the holoprogram, only to be immediately captured by several nameless robed characters and thrown in a cell. Boimler is there, too, looking more depressed than ever. He explains how the search for Ki-ty-ha was a complete waste of time and only resulted in his followers mutinying. Now that she knows what he's struggling with, Mariner reassures him that there's no wrong way to process his grief and that if this ad-libbed holodeck fantasy helps him do that, she'll be with him until the end. So they break out of the brig of the holographic ship, make their way to the bridge, and beat up Illustor and his cronies. As he lies unconscious on the deck, Boimler looks again at his tattoo map and has a "Eureka!" Moment: if they move the folds of his skin just right, the real map to Ki-ty-ha is revealed!
When we rejoin the holoprogram's A-plot, Tendi and Rutherford are hidden in the stands of the auditorium where Captain Archer is about to sign the first Federation charter. The Romulans are already subdued, Rutherford working to disarm their time bomb while he casually sings the Chu Chu song to himself. Just as he's making the last changes, an almost dead Romulan aims his disruptor at him and fires! Holo-T'Ana dives in front of the beam, saving Rutherford and the mission. Tendi holds T'Ana in her arms, her eyes welling with tears as T'Ana gives her last goodbyes before disintegrating.
Rutherford, clearly not as emotionally invested in the story, cracks another joke. Tendi turns on him angrily, demanding to know why he isn't taking the program seriously, but Rutherford is confused. Why would he take it seriously? It's just a game. It turns out Tendi herself doesn't actually realize why she's so upset until she says it out loud: she wants to become a captain someday, and Rutherford's flippancy was feeding her fears that she wouldn't be taken seriously. True or not, Rutherford has no such reservations, and enthusiastically tells her that she would make a great captain! With that insecurity lifted from her thoughts, Tendi prepares to finish the fight by giving the Melponar triplets a taste of their own medicine. She activates the Chronogami and returns them to when it was first stolen from the Cerritos at the beginning.
This time, the scientist is much more willing to part with his box when the Romulans come aboard. After they bring it back to their warbird, Tendi comes on-screen to let them know the box doesn't have the Chronogami in it... it has the Romulan bomb she brought back with them from the past! With a Big "NO!", the triplets are destroyed along with their ship.
Mariner and Boimler's plot is also nearing conclusion. They find the rocky, storm-ravaged planet where the secrets of the cosmos can supposedly be found. They come to a rock formation with glowing purple veins that grows into a giant head and announces itself as Ki-ty-ha. Boimler approaches.
Ki-ty-ha: The purpose of life... is a life of purpose.
Boimler demands a better answer, but the talking rock only offers similarly meaningless aphorisms, each more trite than the last. Mariner tries to calm him, telling him that it's just a hologram and can't do any better than fortune cookie wisdom, but Boimler scales the side of Ki-ty-ha's head and angrily punches a hole in its cheek with his boot. He climbs inside the glowing interior, expecting to find more, but all he discovers is a dusty plaque with "Ki ty Ha" on it. He brushes the dirt off to reveal that it actually says "Wright Flyer, Kitty Hawk, NC, 1903". He looks up and sees The Wright Brothers plane. This complete non-sequitur of a conclusion throws him into an existential rage as he raves about his life choices, pounding on the holographic scenery. He collapses, and the world fades to white.
When he comes to, Boimler finds himself on Kirk's farm in Idaho. He enters the barn, expecting to find the famous captain, but sees a better one instead: Hikaru Sulu! He welcomes Boimler and invites him to feed the horse he's tending. Boimler has no idea how his program took such a turn, but Sulu is able to give him some actually helpful insight into life.
Boimler: So if I spend my life worrying about a meaningless death, I'll never find joy?
Sulu: I literally just said that.
Boimler: Sorry. Thanks, Captain Sulu. I think I can live with that.
But the episode isn't quite over yet. Somewhere in deep space, a Defiant-class ship decloaks. An unseen woman opens a torpedo casing to reveal the body of William Boimler. She revives him with a hypospray, informs him that Starfleet now considers him dead, and welcomes him aboard with a black Section 31 combadge.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Knicknac is called "Knacknack" and "Knapsack" by Mariner.
- Actor-Shared Background: In-universe, Tendi plays "Lt. Commander Meena Vesper, whose love of science and exploration is tempered by her troubled childhood—" and we can safely assume it may have something to do piracy, just like Tendi herself.
- Alien Kudzu: The first time-travel incident in Crisis Point 2 is "the goddamn Algae Crisis" which seems to have involved sapient algae covering everything in itself, only stopped by a telepathic octopus ambassador. The only thing we're not clear on is whether or not this incident was made-up by Boimler for the movie because as weird as Star Trek gets either is likely.
- Art Shift: Same as with the first "Crisis Point" episode there is an Aspect Ratio Switch for the holodeck scenes but also the ships are depicted with sharper lighting with deeper shadows, it almost loses the Cel Shading in the process.
- Ascended Extra: Several in-universe examples all happen at once when Boimler goes off script and interacts with the background characters and street preachers. The crazy-eyed alien guy in a cloak starts sucking up to Boimler, announces his name as "Knicknac" and spontaneously becomes a major supporting character.
- Ass Pull: In-universe, the computer-generated subplot about the mythical "Ki-Ty-Ha" is revealed to be a monument to the Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, complete with the plane. Boimler is entirely stumped as this makes absolutely no sense with anything that has been established in the narrative up to that point.
- Audience Surrogate: The reactions of the characters toward the movie each correspond to different takes the audience can have on Star Trek (or any fictional work really):
- Tendi is heavily invested in the story and considers all fictional characters as real individuals.
- Rutherford casually enjoys the story but without forming any emotional attachment to it.
- Boimler is trying
to find a deeper meaning to what is supposed to be light entertainment. - Mariner is only interested in nitpicking the plot and identifying the tropes the movie uses.
- Awesome McCoolname: In-universe. Boimler's character is "Captain Bucephalus Dagger." Mariner, meanwhile, gets to be "Commander Doodle," though that ridiculous name is one of the only things she doesn't complain about.
- Bait-and-Switch: Boimler winds up on Kirk's ranch and meets the man running it: Hikaru Sulu. He took over after Kirk went on some adventure. Boimler doesn't mind.
- Battle Cry: Holo-Kayshon yells "TEMBA!" when shooting at Romulans. Since "Temba, his arms wide" means "gift giving" in Tamarian, he's essentially shouting "TAKE THIS."
- Beard of Evil: Illustor, the saggy cultist with the map to Ki-Ty-Ha tattooed on him, has this look going on. Predictably, he overthrows Boimler offscreen and attempts to claim the treasure's power for himself.
- Better than a Bare Bulb: It's another holodeck episode about a Starfleet adventure, so lampshading and conversational troping that leans heavily on the fourth wall abound. Mariner especially gets a lot of digs in the beginning about the MacGuffin, its companion plot device, Boimler's hot love interest, and the technobabble exposition being a little thick.
- Big "NO!": Tendi lets out one of these when Holo-T'Ana takes a disruptor beam meant for her.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Rutherford puts on a Cajun accent when he learns that his character's name is Sylvo Toussant, but it doesn't last.
- Burial in Space: Not shown but heavily implied, as the (not) dead William Boimler is recovered from a torpedo casing, which is typically used as a coffin for deceased Starfleet officers.
- Call-Back: Dr. T'Ana isn't the first character to tell Boimler he needs to hydrate better while in the holodeck.
- Captain Ersatz: The scientist Love Interest who creates the MacGuffin of the movie is blatantly a Hotter and Sexier version of Carol Marcus.
- Cats Are Snarkers: True to form, Holo-T'Ana spends her last moment after taking a disruptor beam for Tendi on some snarky Profane Last Words.Tendi: No no no no no, stay with me, Dr. T. You're gonna be okay.
Holo-T'Ana: Don't bullshit... (cough) a bullshitter... (dies) - Canon Immigrant: The Section 31 Defiant-class variant from the Shatnerverse novels appears here.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Because they know it isn't real, the characters will behave in a more blasé fashion when they are not trying to stay in character. Rutherford in particular seemed so excited and eager to defuse a bomb about to destroy the Federation Founding Convention.
- Clones Are People, Too: Despite the strangeness of the situation, William's (supposed) death is fully Played for Drama, with Ransom and Mariner treating the matter as if Boimler has lost a sibling. Bradward himself winds up in a place between grief and existential crisis, with the utter meaninglessness of his clone's death making him question his own mortality and every decision he's made in his life thus far.
- Conspiracy Placement: William Boimler lampshades that a covert organization like Section 31 having special variations on the standard combadge doesn't make much sense. The agent he's talking to simply threatens him into dropping it.
- Continuity Nod:
- On Tatasciore IX, a man in robes is preaching about Minooki.
- The cosmic Koala is mentioned once again.
- Much like it was between Mariner and Tendi in Crisis Point, Boimler and Mariner have an argument over the direction of his holodeck program and she storms off. When she opens the arch, the view from the outside shows a similar cinematic letterbox she has to step over on her way out.
- In the original "Crisis Point", Tendi takes the holonovel fairly seriously and is unhappy how extreme Mariner took the violence against holographic crewmates. She shows similar feelings in this story, as Rutherford is more casual and having fun with the adventure while she can't help but be distraught with holographic Dr. T'Ana dies protecting them.
- While ranting about the nonsensical twist his holonovel conjured up, Boimler rants that he should've stayed on his family's vineyard and married Lianne, one of the farmhands that work there. Considering he was completely oblivious to the obvious flirting and propositions in "Grounded", this implies he's well aware the farmhands are attracted to him, but he pretended not to notice.
- The founding of the Federation looks exactly like it did in the series finale of Enterprise. A close observer can even see the walkway Archer uses to enter the auditorium.
- The bomb the Romulans use in an attempt to blow up said founding is a direct copy of the Thalaron weapon used to kill the Romulan senate in Star Trek: Nemesis.
- When Boimler meets Sulu, he asks if they're in the Nexus from Star Trek: Generations — which is exactly where we first saw Kirk's farm in Idaho.
- Sulu explains that Kirk left him the farm and went off to travel through time or whatever, which is more or less what Kirk did in Star Trek: Generations, being trapped in the Nexus for several decades until being freed by Captain Picard.
- Section 31's black commbadges from Star Trek: Discovery are reintroduced here. William Boimler lampshades that it's an odd thing for a covert organization to have.
- Conversational Troping: Mariner does this a fair bit during the first half of the 'movie', commenting on just about every trope that was being used and comparing it unfavorably with the first Crisis Point. Once they get to the MacGuffin and romantic subplot she stops once she realizes that Boimler is struggling with the news of William's death.
- Contested Sequel: Mariner insists at first that the original "Crisis Point" was much better because it wasn't caught up in Technobabble and Plot Coupons, getting right to the point of breakneck action. Rutherford and Tendi instead greatly preferred this one, as Boimler was more willing to give them substantial roles and there was more to engage with than just shooting stuff.
- Cool Gate: The time travel gateway of the Chronogami is a geometric folding pattern that refracts the scenery around it.
- Cool Starship: Boimler gives Beta Shift's characters a very nice ride in the form of the Sovereign-class USS Wayfarer.
- Costume Evolution: Boimler gives the team movie-ized version of their uniforms, looking mostly similar to the Star Trek: First Contact uniforms but with a white bar across their shoulders and chest like their regular uniforms.
- Creative Differences: In-universe, Mariner and Boimler butt heads over how canon his new holodeck program is supposed to be as another installment in her "Vindictaverse". Boimler argues that it was his program that she modified, so he has just as much right to creative control as she does. They later get into a more heated argument over the merits and flaws of their respective stories after Boimler gets distracted following meaningless threads from filler background characters.
- Creator Breakdown: In-universe, Boimler hearing of William's death causes him to ignore the hot scientist he wrote for his character, to Mariner's chagrin, get sidetracked by a subplot seeking the meaning of life, and at two points, causes him to become anguished at the quality of the story he wrote.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: During the final battle with the cultists, Knicknac hulks out and starts kicking a remarkable amount of ass.
- Death Faked for You: William Boimler's death was faked so he could join Section 31.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Tendi holds Holo-T'Ana this way as she dissolves into ash.
- Evil Laugh: The episode closes with William Boimler laughing maniacally as he puts on his Section 31 badge.
- Fake Action Prologue: The opening battle is all part of Boimler's holo-program.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: In the movie's conclusion, the scientist freely gives up the Chronogami to the Romulan boarding party rather than put up a fight. A few seconds later, Tendi reveals that it's been replaced by a bomb.
- Go Out with a Smile: A careful viewer will notice that Holo-T'Ana does this briefly as she dies in Tendi's arms.
- Gilligan Cut:
- Mariner complains about how she and Boimler are missing the hoverbike chase scene. Boimler says that it wasn't that awesome. Smash cut to Rutherford shouting how the chase is (bleep)ing awesome.
- Boimler clinically died from dehydration in the holodeck and gets revived by hypospray to the neck in sickbay. After he and Mariner mock the idea of a cliffhanger ending we immediately get... what can only be a cliffhanger ending.
- Gunship Rescue: The Wayfarer comes to the aid of the Cerritos against the Romulans.
- Heroic BSoD: Most of the episode is devoted to Boimler having one of these, caught somewhere in between grief and an existential crisis after learning of his transporter clone's death. He particularly flips his lid when he finds out Ki-Ty-Ha is just the Wright Flyer.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Or Creative Self-Deprecation anyway. Boimler lapses into self-criticism as a result of his depression, mostly by talking about how much his holomovie sucks. His friends counter this by telling him what a great time they had with his program.
- Holodeck Malfunction: Averted in general, but Boimler exposed himself to a hot environment and was already dehydrated, which caused him to pass out from heat exhaustion (Dr. T'Ana says he was clinically dead). It's implied the holodeck safety protocols will mitigate direct harm like an open fire, but can't account for personal health choices like that.
- Ice-Cream Koan: Boimler asks Ki-Ty-Ha for the meaning of life, but is dismayed when the holodeck just offers random motivational phrases as opposed to actual wisdom.
- Ignore the Fanservice: Boimler paying no attention to the scientist Love Interest he had personally created is the first hint that something's not right.
- I'm Melting!: Hologram character, Doctor T'Ana, gets shot by a Romulan Disruptor set to maximum. But for dramatic effect it allows some dying dialog, where the disruptor blast is not an instant disintegration as we have seen previously.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Much of Mariner and Boimler's argument over the narrative of this sequel echoes the struggles the Star Trek franchise has always been in, finding a balance between the crowd-pleasing action comedy with the philosophical sci-fi contemplating the human condition. Mariner's "Crisis Point" was a bare bones thrill ride with little room for anything else, while Boimler's "Paradoxus" is heavy on the Exposition and Technobabble it is more adventurous instead of just action packed. They get especially close when Mariner comments on the value of the holonovel as a "Starfleet story," something easily interchanged as a "Star Trek story."
- Let Me Get This Straight...: Boimler has a dream where Sulu tells him that the randomness of death is simply a reflection of life's unexpected joys. Boimler summarizes it as worrying over a meaningless death means missing out on enjoying life, to which Sulu flatly responds that's what he just said.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: In Boimler's original storyline, the Romulans are trying to use the Chronogami to destroy the Federation in the past, first by assassinating a famous octopus diplomat, then taking out his ancestor, then by simply blowing up the founding of the Federation.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It's left ambiguous if Bradward's meeting with Sulu is a true Dead Person Conversation or just a Helpful Hallucination. When Boimler asks if they're in the afterlife, Sulu just says they're in Idaho.
- The Meaning of Life: When Boimler learns that his transporter clone has died, he falls into a deep depression and tries to seek out answers in his holomovie. Unfortunately, the holodeck isn't able to explain the meaninglessness of William's demise. Boimler eventually passes out from dehydration and has a vision where he meets Hikaru Sulu, who tells him that the randomness of death reflects the unexpected joys we find in life. This isn't exactly an answer, but Bradward is nonetheless able to find peace in the famous captain's bit of hard-earned wisdom.
- Moment Killer:
- The tension between Tendi's immersion in the holodeck adventure and Rutherford's less serious approach comes to a head when Rutherford starts cracking jokes right after T'Ana's holographic counterpart dies in Tendi's arms.
- The Lower Deckers moment of camaraderie in the sickbay is interrupted by T'Ana yelling at them to leave because she needs the bed clear for Stevens.
- Mugged for Disguise: Invoked. Rutherford strips one of the punks so he can blend in, because that's half the fun of these time travel plots, only to realize that the pants don't fit because the guy is smaller than him. He asks if they can go find some bigger punks.
- Mugging the Monster: With the main story taking them to the distant past, Tendi and Rutherford's group end up having a group of street punks attempt to mug them. Shaxs briefly feigns surrender before knocking them out.Shaxs: Please, we don't want any... (headbutt) witnesses...
- Mundanger: No, the holodeck doesn't malfunction. Boimler just fails to drink anything for long enough that he blacks out (and according to T'Ana, briefly dies).Dr. T'Ana: The holodeck is fake, but dehydration is real!
- My God, What Have I Done?: Mariner thinks that Boimler is being completely stupid when his movie goes Off the Rails and marches off in a huff. When Ransom reveals that William Boimler died, she realizes she was way too harsh on Boimler, in part because he hadn't told them what happened.
- Mythology Gag:
- Star Trek: Generations
- The Melponar triplets seem to be a reference to the infamous Duras Sisters, two of the main antagonists from the film. They even sport similar cleavage.
- Boimler's storyline deals with the death of his transporter clone, similar to where Picard has to deal with the loss of his brother and nephew to a house fire.
- Boimler's vision ends up with him at the Kirk farmstead, similarly to how Picard ended up there when he entered the Nexus. Boimler even mentions the Nexus.
- Tendi travels back to the Romulans' initial attack on the Cerritos and foils their plot before it can get underway, referencing a common criticism of Generations, namely why Picard didn't just travel back to when he met Dr. Soran in Ten Forward and arrest him there and then.
- Star Trek: First Contact
- Boimler has them wear new, sleeker uniforms similar to how new uniforms were introduced in this film.
- The Wayfarer is the first appearance of a Sovereign-class ship in the show, same as with the Enterprise-E. They even enter the battle shielding the Cerritos from attack like the Enterprise doing the same for the Defiant, although the perspective is changed to the attacker.
- The Time Travel adventure leads them to ensure the founding of the Federation is preserved, same as ensuring First Contact with the Vulcans happens as planned.
- The mysterious Ki-Ty-Ha is revealed to be the preserved Wright Flyer from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, similar to how V'Ger is revealed to be the Voyager 6 probe. It first appears in the form of a giant rock monster, which was the scripted-but-never-filmed form of the "God" entity in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. (For that matter, Ki-Ty-Ha also sounds a bit like the name of the planet, "Sha Ka Ree"). The entity is naturally found on the "Third Moon of Shatanari", as William Shatner directed The Final Frontier.
- When Boimler describes part of the plot to Mariner, that the Romulans intend on using Chronogami to rewrite any part of history, Mariner groans they're gonna make a cinematic alternate universe with other people playing younger versions of themselves, a jab at the Kelvin Timeline.
- Mariner also sarcastically asks if they're going to have to go back in time to assassinate Kennedy, which was a rejected concept for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- The Federation science base that developed the Chronogami is clearly based on Space Station Regula I, the birthplace of the Genesis Torpedo also from Wrath of Khan. Everything from the architecture to the scientist uniforms (and the scientist love interest) to that prop with the lasers on top that was in an abundance of 80s movies.
- The CGI video on the Chronogami project is based on the Genesis video from Wrath of Khan, which was groundbreaking in 1982. Rutherford comments on the impressive graphics. The use of the original Enterprise and the Enterprise-D in the graphic also references comments made by production crew where they wanted Star Trek: Generations to have both ships meet in a manner similar to "Yesterdays' Enterprise" but fell apart in development.
- The Australian punks (especially the one with the oversized boombox) are an obvious reference to the punk from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
- The plotline of Romulans traveling back in time to sabotage the Federation's history is similar to the Klingons' ploy in the 1985 Pocket novel Ishmael.
- The cinematic uniforms' pants merge seamlessly with their shoes. Just like in the motion picture, they're only clearly visible in a few shots.
- Holo-T'Ana isn't the first Trek series medical officer to be Taking the Bullet of a disruptor beam while protecting someone else. Dr. Crusher temporarily faced this fate on the frozen Enterprise-D in TNG's "Timescape".
- Rutherford found he was given a French name for his holodeck character and attempted to develop an accent, only to find it changing with almost every syllable and deciding against it. Star Trek has had an Englishman play a French Captain, and plenty of Americans playing any other nationality imaginable.
- Star Trek: Generations
- Navel-Deep Neckline: The Melponar triplets sport open uniforms that show off their cleavage, like Lursa and Betor.
- Noodle Incident: Stevens gets rushed to sickbay for apparently "leaning on the warp core"; he complains that this is the second time it's happened today.
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: Boimler's depression over William's death makes him cold and unresponsive to his scripted hot love interest. He's more focused on running through the plot as quickly as possible. Mariner complains about him ditching the romance subplot.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Rutherford sees that his characters' name is Sylvo Toussant, and makes an attempt at a French accent. It starts French, goes into Cockney before landing on Caijun, where he decides not to keep it up.
- Off the Rails: Boimler, in his search for the meaning of life, starts following random extras that the holodeck used to populate the simulation. The holodeck then has to whip up a narrative on the fly to compensate, which just gets weirder and weirder.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Initially, Boimler was really getting into the holonovel that the characters were playing. However, after being summoned by Ransom, he comes back very solemn and only seems to be going through the motions of the plot. Only later do we learn that it's because he was told about his transporter clone, William Boimler, dying in his sleep due to a gas leak.
- Tendi, by contrast, becomes very invested in the program when Boimler appoints her acting captain, and eventually admits to Rutherford that the idea she could be a captain seemed so far out of reach that the idea of actually being one is a serious thing to her.
- Our Time Machine Is Different: The MacGuffin of Boimler's holodeck movie is a device called the Chronogami, so named because it allows for time travel by folding time. It looks like a glowing crystalline cootie catcher.
- Paint It Black: William Boimler gets a shiny black Starfleet badge in his induction to Section 31.
- Patrick Stewart Speech: Subverted. Mariner expects Boimler to try this on Illustor and the Ki-Ty-Ha cultists. Boimler instead just punches him in the face.Mariner: Or, yeah, we could do the Kirk thing. That's cool too.
- Pet the Dog:
- Ransom gives Mariner sincere praise for passing her recent performance review without incident. He also asks how Boimler is handling the news of his transporter clone's death, out of genuine concern for his mental health.
- When Mariner finds out that Boimler's dealing with something serious, she immediately drops her criticisms of the movie's plot (mostly) and works to help him try and find the answers he's looking for.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Holo-Shaxs pretends to be intimidated by the knife-wielding thugs who ambush them outside the Sydney aquarium, but anyone who knows him can easily guess what's coming.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Since about the mid 2010's there has been a lot of experiments with AI to handle creative work, including writing stories. Some films have even been made boasting that it was written by a computer, and they make absolutely no sense. While Star Trek has long had the computer being able to devise real time holodeck simulations, this episode explores how when the computer has to improvise to the improvisation of the performers it also creates a nonsensical narrative forced to parrot existing philosophical phrases.
- Roguelike: Boimler gets sidetracked from the main plot by a spiritual guru the holodeck used as background flavor, and the holodeck ends up improvising an entire subplot where he searches for personal enlightenment. This implies a lot of the minor details of a holonovel are handled by the computer, but also has trouble making anything really insightful when they go Off the Rails.
- Satellite Love Interest:
- Parodied. Boimler designed Dr. Helena Gibson to provide exposition on the Chronogami as its creator, but primarily as Dagger's love interest who would get back together with him over the movie. When Boimler unexpectedly ditches that subplot, she has no idea what she's supposed to do now since that was her entire purpose.
- Knicknac later confesses his love to Boimler, which he (obliviously) reciprocates. Mariner comments on how they got a romance subplot after all.
- Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: The main villains have outfits that show tons of cleavage, but every woman on the good side is wearing a regular Starfleet uniform.
- Sequel Hook: Lampshaded by Mariner after the holonovel, saying she's glad Boimler didn't end his program on a depressing catch for a sequel. This naturally leads into the actual hook: William Boimler joining Section 31.
- Serious Business: Subverted. Tendi is offended that Rutherford isn't as into Crisis Point 2 as she is, but the reason, it turns out, isn't really about the holoprogram. It's about her realizing how much she actually wants to be a captain in Starfleet and her insecurity about how others might treat her. She feels better once she explains all this to Rutherford, who reassures her that his flippancy during the program in no way implies that he doesn't take her seriously as a potential leader.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Tendi ends the main plotline of the program by travelling to just before the Romulans stole the Chronogami and swapping it for their bomb, which blows up their ship after they hail the Cerritos to gloat.
- Shout-Out:
- One of the planets visited by Boimler is Tatasciore IX, named after Shaxs's voice actor. There's also a moon orbiting Shatanari III, a reference to William Shatner.
- Rutherford and Tendi's group beat up a group of punks to steal their outfits, which also happened in the opening of The Terminator.
- Illustor, the cultist with the map to Ki-Ta-Ha tattooed on him, seems to be a shout-out to the similar plot device in Waterworld... albeit with a lot more skin folds.
- Knicknac is a lot like Yoda, both his voice and his Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass reveal.
- Sigil Spam: Lampshaded by William, who wonders why an ultra secret organization like Section 31 has a special combadge.
- Signs of Disrepair: In a parody of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, "Ki-Ty-Ha" turns out to be short for "Kitty Hawk", written on a plaque attached to the Wright brothers' plane. Boimler lampshades how this makes zero sense.
- So Proud of You: Downplayed, but Ransom praises Mariner on her work on the Cerritos, showing that she is taking this last chance seriously.
- Spirit Advisor: Boimler passes out in the throes of raging about having no answers about the meaning of life. He awakes on Kirk's farm, run by Sulu, where he receives advice that soothes his anxiety over the randomness of death. Then he gets revived in sickbay.
- Squee: Boimler's in-universe reaction to meeting Sulu. With his immediate crisis resolved, he immediately starts peppering the legendary captain with questions. Then the horse bites his neck.
- Surprisingly Improved Sequel: The holomovie is this in-universe from Tendi and Rutherford's point of view, as they enjoy themselves a lot more than they did in the first "Crisis Point", which was written more for Mariner to express her violent side than to develop any deeper characterization for anyone besides herself. From Mariner's perspective, it's more of a Contested Sequel because it is more convoluted.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Boimler, at the end of his holodeck adventure (and in the midst of an existential crisis), finds a deity-like figure that he asks "What is the meaning of life?" In response, it starts spewing platitudes and axioms rather than an actual meaningful answer. Mariner points out that the creature was made by the holodeck computer and, as such, doesn't know any more about the meaning of life than the people that programmed it in the first place.
- Even with the holodeck safeties on, Mariner complains that the god entity is radiating a lot of heat as Boimler furiously tries to bash it apart. When he crawls inside its guts, he eventually passes out (and actually briefly dies) from heat stroke. As T'Ana lampshades, the holodeck can't hurt you, but you still need to drink.
- Take That!: When discussing the Time Travel elements of "Paradoxus", Tendi mentions that creating an Alternate Timeline where younger versions of the same people would look completely different is scientifically slim. It's playful, but one of the few times the Kelvin Timeline has been referenced in the Prime Timeline even indirectly.
- Taking the Bullet: A Romulan is about to shoot Tendi with a disruptor, but Holo-T'Ana jumps in front of the blast.
- Token Romance: Discussed several times. Boimler created a scientist to serve as his love interest and provide exposition to the MacGuffin. Mariner points it out immediately. But after Boimler received bad news and lost interest in having fun with the program, he ignores the scientist and moves on (being made just to be a love interest, the scientist is at a complete loss of what else to do). Mariner is unnerved by his behavior, as dropping that set-up made her actually wish there was a romance subplot. Then the minor character Knicknac confesses they love Boimler, who takes it in stride, which makes Mariner feel that was good enough to resolve the romance angle.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: Boimler's original outline of "Paradoxus" apparently meant to have the whole crew together, but when dealing with bad news he decides to go down a separate path and the holodeck improvises a new plotline. The episode itself thusly splits into Boimler and Mariner exploring the "Ki-Ty-Ha" plot and working out his existential crisis, while Tendi and Rutherford continue down the intended plot of Time Traveling Romulans that also serves to help Tendi confront her personal feelings about going into command.
- Who Writes This Crap?!: Mariner is constantly pointing out the absurdities of the plot, which was outlined by Boimler.
