Recap / Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S2E07 "Those Old Scientists"

One Cerritos ensign, trouble. Two Cerritos ensigns, chaos.

Summary

It's Stardate 58460.1. Ensigns from the U.S.S. Cerritos have been assigned to beam down to Krulmuth-B, home of a time portal first discovered by Captain Pike. Military Maverick Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) is in command, with Starfleet fanboy Ens. Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), Mr. Fixit Ens. Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) and The Medic and Cultural Rebel Ens. D'Vana Tendi (Noël Wells), a rare Orion officer in Starfleet. If these don't sound like the main characters of Strange New Worlds, that's because they, uh, aren't: these are actually the main characters of Star Trek: Lower Decks, which takes place 120 years later. And is animated. The four cartoon characters beam down, and Rutherford immediately detects horonium, a now-out-of-date alloy used in the construction of early Earth starships like the NX-01. Boimler geeks out over standing exactly where Pike and Spock once did, wishing he could live back in those days. Tendi protests that scientists from her Orion ancestors actually found it first, complaining about the stereotype that all Orions are either Ruthless Modern Pirates or seductive Green Skinned Space Babes. Rutherford takes a photo of Boimler with his holo-imager... and the portal activates, sucking Boimler in. He's ejected 120 years ago, at the feet of Number One, La'an and Spock... and he's in live action, taking advantage of the Ink-Suit Actor resemblance between Quaid and Boimler. He notes that the three in front of him look "very realistic" before passing out in shock, and Number One radios the Enterprise, noting they might have a problem.

Boimler awakens in Sickbay, with Pike, M'Benga, Noonien-Singh and Number One clustered around him. It's Stardate 2291.6, and the Enterprise is on a mission to deliver some grain to an outlying colony. Boimler admits that he's from the future, and the Enterprise crew resolve to send him back through the portal as quickly as possible: Uhura is already working on translating the graphemes on the portal, and Spock, M'Benga and Boimler beam down to investigate. When asked how he activated it, Boimler suggests it's "dumb luck," to which Spock snorts laughter — finding the idea of assigning intelligence to chance to be ridiculous. Boimler is unnerved by the burst of emotion.

They're called back to the bridge: sensors have picked up an Orion ship. Pike, concerned about pirates, has shields raised and weapons armed, but Boimler, as non-specifically as he can (which isn't very non-specific at all), explains that Tendi's great-grandmother — when she said her Orion ancestors found the portal first, she was being fairly literal — is aboard, and that hostile action could change the future. The Orion captain, claiming to be in charge of a science vessel, seems content to stand down... but then he beams up the portal and races off with it. Boimler looks like an idiot, and Pike later mumbles to Una that he feels like he's "trying to stop a toddler from knocking over the furniture."

Boimler is hanging out with Ortegas and Chapel, enthusing over their participation in the "golden age of exploration." Chapel slips off when Spock arrives... and he smiles at her. This leads Boimler to panic, and he chases after Chapel. He asks if this whole "smiling" thing is new, and Chapel explains that Spock is exploring the other side of his Half-Human Hybrid nature. Boimler is concerned: the Spock he knows is, of course, The Stoic, and he's concerned that his presence is disrupting the time stream. Chapel explains that, no, this whole thing preceded Boimler's arrival; he's doing it for her. She then realizes that, if the Spock Boimler knows from history is The Stoic, then his exploration of his human side isn't going anywhere... and, by implication, his dalliance with her isn't going anywhere either. She swallows tears.

With Boimler's help, Pike tracks down the Orion pirate / science vessel, and Pike barters his ship's load of grain for the portal. They reinstall it on Krulmuth-B. Spock notes that its horonium reserves are nearly depleted, and that there is literally none to replace it with anywhere in a hundred thousand lightyears, but there's just enough to send Boimler back. Therefore everyone is slightly aghast when Mariner, also played by Newsome in live-action, comes barreling through, intent on rescuing Boimler. Despite her attempts at blasé cynicism, she's Not So Above It All, immediately fangoobering over the possibility of meeting Uhura. Of course, Uhura is neck-deep in the translation and refuses to take a break until Mariner basically forces her to. In the mess hall, Ortegas sees the glyphs Uhura's working on and recognizes them as being ancient Nausicaan, and Uhura cracks the code, looking for instructions on how to operate the time portal. Alas, the scribbles merely read, "THIS IS A TIME PORTAL." Meanwhile, Spock and Boimler attempt to synthesize some horonium; the attempt fails, explosively. (There's a reason Starfleet doesn't use horonium anymore.) So Boimler decides to settle in in the 23rd century. He starts by attempting to steal a shuttlecraft, get the grain back from the Orions and get history back on track. Mariner is delighted to help him, claiming she never gets caught. La'an instantly shows up and pulls a phaser on both of them.

Pike debriefs them both in his quarters. It's his birthday on Friday, and Boimler has been "subtly" influencing the crew to throw him a party — he wants one of his idols to enjoy his life before... Oh wait, we can't tell him about his future. Pike, of course, already knows what his fate is to be. No, he plans to ignore his birthday because he is now older than his own father was when he died; Chris never got the chance to bury the hatchet with him. Boimler points out that, if his crew knew what Pike does, wouldn't they want to spend more time with them? He and Mariner then apologize for their disruptive behavior, and Pike allows that he might've been as big a fanboy had he suddenly found himself next to Captain Jonathan Archer on the bridge of the NX-01. This triggers Boimler's "Eureka!" Moment: they're standing on the NCC-1701, and Starfleet tradition for Legacy Vessel Naming is to incorporate a bit of the prior ship. There's a piece of Archer's Enterprise — in other words, a piece of horonium — right here on the ship. As they extract it, Ortegas and Uhura fangoober about Travis Mayweather and Hoshi Sato, the heroes that inspired them — noting, suddenly, their resemblance to Mariner and Boimler. As they beam down, Boimler gets a chance to say farewell to his hero: He has, he admits, a poster of Una Chin-Riley in his bunk. Number One took that quite the wrong way, until Boimler explains that it was a recruiting poster: Number One is, quite literally, the face of Starfleet, and "Ad Astra Per Aspera" is emblazoned right there on the poster.

Finally, they're on the surface of Krulmuth-B, with the Orions waiting for them. Captain Caras received a message asking him to come here and trade the portal back for the grain. (Boimler and Mariner take full responsibility.) Pike explains that they are trying to send the two wayward ensigns back to the future, and Boimler volunteers that it's a future where the Fantastic Racism against Orions has waned; one of their best friends, in fact, is the Mistress of the Winter Constellations. Caras is shaken by this, since one of his crewmembers, Astrea Tendi, goes by this appellation. Pike offers to make the trade, and to let history record that the portal was discovered by Orion scientists. Caras, pleased by this aversion of Fantastic Racism, agrees, and Boimler and Mariner return to 2380 and animation.

Back on the Cerritos, Boimler thanks Mariner for coming to the "TOS era" — you know, "Those Old Scientists" — to rescue him. He learns from Cerritos Number Two Cmdr. Jack Ransom (Jerry O'Connell) that Mariner fought to get the Krulmuth-B survey mission so that Boimler could see the portal for himself. Meanwhile, back in 2259, the crew of the Enterprise are celebrating Pike's birthday and drinking Orion Hurricanes, a cocktail which Mariner taught them to make — but with actual Orion delaq, not the substitutes Mariner was forced to make do with. Delaq does funny things to human neurochemistry, which might explain why the entire scene is in animation...

M'Benga: What the hell is in these things?!

---

Tropes:

A-G

• Acting Unnatural: To the extent that anything about this situation can be considered "natural", Boimler conspicuously recoils when Una gets his attention, leading her to suspect he knows something about her future. It turns out Starfleet uses her for recruitment in the future, and Boimler has her poster in his bunk, hence his embarrassment at meeting his idol in the flesh.
• Actor Allusion: Commander Ransom on the Cerritos calls Una Chin-Riley the hottest woman in Starfleet; in real life, actors Jerry O'Connell (Ransom) and Rebecca Romijn (Una) are married.
  • The existence of the pin-up poster of Una Chin-Riley alludes to Rebecca Romijn being a former model.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: In animation, Boimler has been described as being so unattractive that the (simulated) Borg Queen was shocked to learn he's actually human, but in live action he naturally has the movie star good looks of the actor who plays him, Jack Quaid. Additionally, Boimler seems to be on the shorter side in Lower Decks, but Quaid towers over much of the Strange New Worlds cast — fortunately, Tawny Newsome is also quite tall which at least maintains internal consistency in their scenes together.
• All for Nothing: Played for Laughs. Uhura spends all day trying to translate the language on the time machine, and thanks to Ortegas, learns it's ancient Naussican. Unfortunately, the writing simply informs readers that it's a time machine. Naussicans are nothing if not straightforward.
• Animated Episode: In the style of Star Trek: Lower Decks due to being a Crossover.
• Animation Bump: The opening credits are animated with a few stylistic touches similar to Lower Decks, but significantly more detailed and with a cleaner frame rate than the main show.
• Animated Credits Opening: The opening of this episode is animated in a style similar to Lower Decks.
• Art Evolution: A variation with Boimler and Mariner. Since the characters are making the jump from animation to live-action, their character models are tweaked slightly; their uniforms are more detailed, and their shirts are a darker shade of red (to avoid clashing with the Enterprise crew, according to invokedWord of God). Boimler's hair is also a much darker shade of purple, and Mariner's Tertiary Sexual Characteristics are translated as winged eyeliner. Tawny Newsome's nosering is also visible, while the animated Mariner has never featured this.
• Art Shift: The final scene has the Strange New Worlds crew animated in the Lower Decks style. After some conversation, they start to realize that they all look weird before Ortegas reveals that the Orions gifted them some authentic Orion delaq, which Mariner mentioned has weird side effects.
• Ascended Meme:
  • Season 1 sparked a lot of fandom jokes about Pike's Peakinvoked, i.e. the fact that Pike's hairstyle is seemingly as unflappable as he usually is. Boimler remarks upon meeting Pike that he's famous in part for having "great hair." Ironically, the animated Pike's hair sticks out a bit less than the realistic Pike's hair does.
  • Boimler sees Pike's saddle in the ready room and decides to try it out with an excited "Riker!" as he mounts it. This is in reference to the Fan Nickname invoked of the "Riker Maneuver" in how Riker would sit down by swinging his leg over the chair, like mounting a horse^note Not to be confused with the In-Universe Riker Maneuver from Star Trek: Insurrection where in battle he dragged explosive gas through the bussard collectors before dropping it on an enemy ship. Triple points in that Jonathan Frakes directed the episode.
• Aspect Ratio Switch: The animated parts of the episode (except for the opening titles) are 16:9, while the live action parts are in 2.39:1.
• Bothering by the Book: Uhura is surprised that someone like Mariner is well-versed in Starfleet regulations. Mariner notes that of course she is; there are all sorts of regulations that basically allow you to be lazy. She then threatens to report Uhura for not taking a meal break as required, but Uhura sneaks her work along with her anyway.
• Brick Joke: When making imitation Orion Hurricanes, Mariner warns everyone that using authentic delaq will mess up whoever drinks it. They get a taste of the real thing at the end, making everything really trippy.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Meeting the real people behind the legendary crew of the Enterprise means Boimler and Mariner have to correct some of their preconceptions. Boimler is shocked to find Spock is more human than the history books record (to the point that Spock smiling creeps him out), while Mariner is a bit bummed to see that Uhura is so caught up in work that she won't find the time to relax, and so immediately decides to rectify that problem.
  • In particular, Boimler trying in vain to convince the Enterprise crew that not all Orions are pirates feels like someone learning that their kindly grandparent was in fact very racist in their youth.
• Buffy Speak: When the portal first activates:
  Rutherford: Uh, guys? The ancient thing is doing a thing!
  (the portal starts levitating Boimler)
  Boimler: HELP! THE PORTAL'S TRYING TO PORTAL ME!
• Call-Back:
  • Pike tells Boimler and Mariner that he had difficulties with his father growing up, which he previously mentioned to Michael Burnham on Discovery. In that same conversation, he also reveals to them he's aware of the grisly fate that awaits him, which he learned of in the same series.
  • La'an goes over Starfleet temporal regulations with Boimler, but adds her own rule about forming attachments. Boimler actually catches the hint that La'an has traveled through time before being told to drop the subject.
  • Boimler also reveals to Una that his Starfleet recruitment poster has the words "Ad Astra Per Aspera" written next to her image. She's shocked that they actually used the quote.
  • What convinces the Orion captain that Boimler and Mariner are actually time travellers is Mariner recalling that Tendi is also called the "Mistress of the Winter Constellations", which is also used by one of his officers (who is of course Tendi's great-grandmother).
  • Boimler can be seen doing the "Section 31 speed walk" when trying to avoid Una.
  • This isn't the first time a character from the 24th century has rhapsodized about the elegance of 23rd-century tricorder design.
  • Or gushed about hot young Spock.
• Call-Forward:
  • When Boimler ends up on the bridge of the Enterprise, he includes a dash after the designation before remembering that it's the original registration, as there's been five other ships to bear the name by his time. The rest of the crew is confused by what would come after the dash.
  • When Boimer is Jump Scared by Mariner while he sneaks onto the shuttle, he exclaims "Holy Q". Mariner tells him to keep his voice down, because Q won't be introduced to Starfleet until Picard's time and says they have a "Trelane" thing going right now.
• Captain's Log: A variation. Boimler pokes fun at the old pre-TNG era stardate classification system (five digits instead of six) by just using "the past" when he can't figure it out.
• Character Tic: Parodied. Upon seeing Pike's saddle, Boimler can't resist pulling a "Riker!" and mimicking his former Captain of the Titan's distinct method of getting in and out of chairs. This was ab-libbed by Jack Quaid, who couldn't resist doing it in front of Riker himself (i.e. Director Jonathan Frakes, who naturally loved it).
• Chekhov's Lecture: Boimler mentions early on that the horonium powering the portal was used in the construction of the NX-class starships, including the NX-01 Enterprise. When this comes up later, Mariner reveals that successor ships have a piece of their predecessors added in as tradition, which is then salvaged from the current Enterprise to power the portal.
• Chew-Out Fake-Out: When Boimler finally admits to Una that his poster of her is a recruitment poster.
  Una: Your flagrant disregard for temporal protocols by telling me this is deeply troubling. But thanks, all the same.
• Closet Geek:
  • Mariner is more of a fan of old starships than she lets on, as she recalls the exact lecture at the Fleet Museum about how old starships with legacy status always carry a piece of their predecessors during construction. According to Boimler, despite Mariner denying it, she was the first to the door entering the museum.
  • La'an turns out to be a fan of the NX-class, particularly the grapplers.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The Animated Credits Opening depicts the Enterprise getting chowed down on by the same energy leech that latches onto the nacelles of the Cerritos in Lower Decks, and the ending shot of the credits has a constellation of the infamous extradimensional koala.
  • The episode's title hails from Lower Decks' first season finale "No Small Parts", where Commander Ransom refers to Kirk's era as the "TOS era", which is short for "Those Old Scientists". It's even noted that Ransom coined the term.
  • The display graphics on Rutherford's camera's viewfinder are the same as the Doctor's holo-camera from "Infinite Regress".
  • The Enterprise NX-01 is mentioned a few times as being at the Fleet Museum, where Star Trek: Picard showed her resting comfortably by 2402.
  • When Mariner travels back, she tells Boimler that she was worried he wound up in a dystopian San Francisco during the Bell Riots. This happened to the Defiant crew in the DS9 two-parter "Past Tense".
  • Enterprise is on a mission to deliver tritriticale to a colony, obviously the predecessor of the quadrotriticale from "The Trouble With Tribbles", itself the setting for the last 24th century/23rd century crossover episode, "Trials and Tribble-ations". The progression of names may also be a reference to the original animated series: in "More Tribbles, More Troubles", the Enterprise is now delivering quintotriticale.
  • Ortegas recognizes the symbols on the time portal as Nausicaan, having once seen similar symbols on a dom-jot set she saw on Starbase Earhart, a game Mariner notes that Nausicaans love to bet on despite being terrible at it. All three have previously featured in TNG's "Tapestry" and LWD's "We'll Always Have Tom Paris".
  • After thinking his only chance at getting home is destroyed, Boimler goes down to listen to the warp core, which early episodes of Lower Decks established as his Happy Place.
• Crossover: Between Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks. This is also notable for being the very first time characters from an animated Trek series have crossed over into the franchise's live-action branch (as opposed to the live-action actors crossing over for Lower Decks or Prodigy), or with Medium Blending of this kind.
• Deconstruction Crossover: When Star Trek does Crossover episodes between live-action series, things go pretty smoothly between the crews because they more-or-less operate the same, with a shared action/drama focus. This time, when two Ensigns — one a Professional Butt-Kisser and the other a Military Maverick — from the dysfunctional but well-revered Cerritos wind up on the Enterprise run by the more strait-laced yet laid back professionals under Captain Pike, it doesn't gel quite as smoothly because their comedy-focused attitude is out of place in a more serious setting. Boimler and Mariner are a bit disappointed that Pike and company aren't quite the people that history reveres them as in the 24th century, while the Enterprise crew has some difficulties dealing with the two time travelers' antics that they would normally be able to (mostly) get away with in their time.
• Didn't Think This Through: Wanting to fix the problems he made, Boimler tries to hijack a shuttle with Mariner's help, intending on trying to trade the portal for the grain. If this were the Cerritos, the plan might have worked. However, this is the Enterprise and with such a Properly Paranoid Communications Officer like Uhura at the console, La'an is alerted and the two are apprehended before they can even leave.
• Disney Acid Sequence: At the end of the episode, we see the crew of the Enterprise animated in Lower Decks style; it's implied that they're aware of this medium shift, and it's blamed on the Orion liquor they've been drinking.
• Doomed by Canon: The audience has known since the beginning of SNW that even if Spock and Chapel's romantic relationship comes to fruition, it (and his parallel experiments with his human heritage and emotions) won't last in the long run thanks to the TOS-era canon. In-universe, Chapel finally learns this due to Boimler accidentally saying too much.
• Dramatic Irony: Uhura's reaction to Boimler's (and then later Mariner's) gushing about her future. Only Boimler, Mariner, and the audience are aware that this young Ensign is going to go on to become part of the most legendary crew in Starfleet history (to say nothing of one of the Federation's greatest linguists) and finish her career as a legendary starship Captain herself.
• Easter Egg: The animated opening sequence inserts a handful of extra Lower Decks references, from an alien creature sucking on a nacelle to a constellation of the "cosmic koala" in the title screen.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Mariner is very appreciative of "hot Spock".
• Embarrassing Nickname: Both Boimler and Ransom call Una "Numero Una", which Mariner claims she was never called.^note Plus, it would be more grammatically correct to be "Numera Una".
• "Eureka!" Moment:
  • Ortegas looks at the script that has Uhura stumped and compares it to something she saw on a dom-jot set, a game that Mariner says is enjoyed by Nausicaans. Uhura quickly realizes that the script is an old form of Nausicaan.
  • When Pike starts reminiscing about the Enterprise NX-01, Boimler realizes that there's a piece of horonium from that Enterprise aboard the 1701, which they can use to restart the portal.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The description on the time portal that Uhura was trying to translate all episode is eventually revealed to say that...it is a time portal.
• Fanboy: Boimler is one of Captain Pike, and Mariner is one of Uhura. Mariner mentions that Boimler dressed up as Pike for Halloween (apparently the jawline was the hardest to get down).
  • Later, Ortegas and Uhura geek out over, respectively, Travis Mayweather and Hoshi Sato, crew of the NX-01 Enterprise.
• Fan of the Past: Boimler geeks out over SNW era technology and has an encyclopedic knowledge of crew and ship.
• Fauxshadowing: The NX-01 Enterprise is mentioned early on as having the same material as the time machine on the planet. Boimler has a "Eureka!" Moment where he remembers that remark he made. Does that mean that the Enterprise is going to go the Fleet Museum to borrow a piece of her predecessor to get Boimler and Mariner home? Nope! There's actually a piece of the NX-01 on the NCC-1701! Besides, Starfleet would never let anyone damage a piece of history, let alone their very first starship.
• Faux Horrific: Boimler and Mariner's reaction to Spock smiling and cracking jokes, complete with ominous music and a creepy closeup on his mouth.
• Foregone Conclusion: Since the LWD portion of the crossover's set in mid-Season Three, Boimler and Mariner will obviously return to the future and not alter history (at least not too much).
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • While Boimler and Mariner first discuss the mission, Boimler puts some stuff in his locker, and you can see a certain recruiting poster hanging in it.
  • When Uhura is secretly working while supposedly on a break, she compares the unknown language to Bajoran and Cardassian. Which makes sense, as TNG's "The Wounded" establishes that the Setlik system is on the Federation/Cardassian border, so presumably Krulmuth-B is also in that general area.
• The Gadfly: Chapel and Ortegas team up to mess with Boimler's head for their own amusement.
• Gargle Blaster: In an effort to get Uhura to relax, Mariner makes Orion Hurricanes for themselves and Ortegas in the Enterprise bar and mentions that she had to improvise since she didn't have Orion delaq on hand, which she says is actually an improvement, since actual delaq has weird effects on human neurochemistry. Ortegas forgets about this when making authentic versions at the end of the episode, causing the crew to see themselves animated in Lower Decks style.
• Gilligan Cut: When Boimler offers to use his future knowledge to help track the Orions, he suggests that everyone else just not watch him doing it. Una scoffs at the idea...and cut to Pike and the other officers facing away from Boimler as he makes his modifications.
  Una: Are we sure this is wise?
  Pike: No, but I'm going with it.
• Got Me Doing It: Ortegas and Uhura start fangirling over Travis Mayweather and Hoshi Sato respectively, and then realize that they're acting like Boimler and Mariner.

H-Z

• Hands Go Down: When Pike asks for help dealing with the Orions:
  Pike: Ideas?
  (Boimler raises his hand)
  Pike: Not you.
  Boimler: (lowers his hand) Fair.
• History with Celebrity: When Pelia tells Boimler that she knew a guy who once said, "I pretended to be someone I wanted to be, and I finally became that person. Or he became me.", she is quoting actor Cary Grant.
• Holodeck Malfunction: Parodied. Upon awakening (after being knocked unconscious during the time travel), a disoriented Boimler initially thinks he's in a holographic simulation of the Pike-era Enterprise. It's only after it doesn't end the program on command and he physically pokes Pike that Boimler realizes he really has traveled back in time to the pre-Kirk era.
• Internal Deconstruction: In true Lower Decks tradition, the franchise gets picked apart, albeit this time it's the antics of the Cerritos ensigns themselves. Much of the antics they would normally be able to (mostly) pull off on their own ship without much consequence don't fly with the crew of Starfleet's flagship, which either causes more trouble than intended or is prevented because they caught them in the act. Given the Enterprise crew's reactions, it implies that the reason Boimler hasn't gotten a better posting on another ship, or at least a promotion since he was sent back from the Titan, is because such a flagrant disregard for professionalism and regulations that's barely tolerated on the Cerritos wouldn't fly on any other ship, let alone the flagship.
• Implausible Deniability: After being told the stardate, Boimler unconvincingly claims that a five-digit stardate is "totally normal". Pike reveals that they've already deduced he's from the future, sparing Boimler the need to even try lying about it.
• Internal Reveal: Pike tells Boimler and Mariner that he already knows he's going to wind up in that wheelchair when the two try to avoid discussing his final fate.
• Interquel: As per the stardate in the framing device, the LWD section of the crossover is set during mid-Season Three (specifically in-between the events of "Hear All, Trust Nothing" and "A Mathematically Perfect Redemption").
• I Want My Jetpack: Ortegas asks Boimler if they have jetpacks in his time. Chapel points out they have jetpacks now, so she clarifies to smaller jetpacks.
• Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: The "All Orions Are Pirates" stereotype comes up all over the place, starting when Tendi explains how Orion scientists first discovered the portal and (once again) chafes at the idea of "Orion scientists" being questioned. Boimler takes this with him when he goes back in time; he has to convince Pike that the Orion ship that Enterprise encounters isn't hostile and that it really is a science ship. Ultimately, Pike allows the Orions to take credit for discovering the portal, and their captain feels happy at being validated.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!":
  • Boimler's quite understandably gobsmacked to be in the presence of Christopher Pike, let alone on the first Federation Starship Enterprise. He is starstruck by Spock, but especially Una, the literal poster girl of Starfleet.
  • Even Mariner gets this, she meets Uhura, and also gushes over "hot Spock".
• Lampshade Hanging: Spock and Una point out just how specific the references Mariner and Boimler make are.
• Language Drift: It's implied that the phrase "pin-up poster" has fallen out of use by the 2380s, as Mariner fails to understand when Una asks if it's sexual in nature.
  Mariner: It's a poster that is pinned up. Are we saying the same thing?
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • Boimler's reaction after being ejected from the portal and into live-action is to comment that Pike, Una, and La'an look "very realistic". At the end of the episode, the now-animated Enterprise crew start wondering why they've become "two dimensional", which they blame on the Orion alcohol they've been consuming.
  • Boimler freaking out about Spock acting more emotionally than he's known for makes fun of the Early-Installment Weirdness seen in "The Cage", when Spock was more prone to displaying such emotions before he became the legendary stoic Vulcan we know him as.
  • After spending a while around Boimler and Mariner, Una notes that their references (which are all call backs to previous episodes of various series of Star Trek) are weirdly specific.
  • Una and Pike comparing TNG-era combadges with TOS-era "flip to activate" communicators parallels a lot of similar argument in the fandom regarding which is cooler.
  • Boimler and Mariner think people in the past talk really slowly and quietly, which is reflective of the difference between an hour-long live-action drama and a half-hour animated show with Rapid-Fire Comedy.
  • Boimler exclaims "Holy Q!", only for Mariner to point out that he hasn't appeared yet and has a "Trelane thing" (from the TOS episode "The Squire of Gothos"). Trelane as a concept was long considered to be a forerunner for Q, and in certain EU works is actually said to be a member of the Q Continuum.
  • Boimler namedrops "the TOS era", backronyming TOS to mean "Those Old Scientists".
  • The episode looks like it's over after about 22 minutes, the length of a Lower Decks episode, with Boimler about to be sent back to the future. But it's a 45-minute Strange New Worlds episode, so of course something happens to stop that plan.
• Legacy Character: Boimler geeks out over being on the bridge of the legendary ship, commenting on its registry being "1701... dash-nothing" and other crew wonder what he means by that. Earlier he had mentioned that this was the ORIGINAL Enterprise, but had to correct himself on an earlier one.
• Legendary in the Sequel:
  • All of the Enterprise crew here are galactic legends in Starfleet by the time of the 2380s, with Pike's birthday becoming a holiday, Una being used for recruitment posters, Ortegas known as a war hero, and Spock being known as the most famous Vulcan of his time.
  • Pike admits he would be similarly starstruck if he got to see Archer on the NX-01 Enterprise. Once the topic comes up Uhura and Ortegas get giddy talking about their counterparts on the NX-01 Hoshi Sato and Travis Mayweather, indicating that crew is just as much icons in the modern Starfleet.
• Lighter and Softer: Like "Charades", this is a comedy-centric plot which provides a breather after a much darker episode.
• Loophole Abuse: Boimler notes that he can use 24th century knowledge to find the Orion ship. Of course the Enterprise Crew isn't supposed to have that knowledge, and that'd be polluting the timeline. Boimler points out they can all avoid looking at him while he does it. Cut to the bridge crew with their back to Boimler as he reprograms a console and they all make an effort to not look at him.
• Lower-Deck Episode: Other than the Literal Metaphor at play, the episode is trying to maximize the interactions between Boimler and Mariner with the past characters who have become Famed In-Story by their time period. Pike is repeatedly doing a Face Palm over their antics, but they are still Starfleet ensigns who have the opportunity to meet absolute legends either at their prime or in their formative years.
• Made of Explodium:
  • While gushing over M'Benga's tricorder, Boimler mentions that later models have similar performance but are smaller and less likely to explode. M'Benga is surprised to hear that that's even a risk with his tricorder.
  • During Archer's time, Starfleet used horonium alloy in the construction of starship hulls, as it made for sturdy yet lightweight material. Unfortunately, refining it is highly volatile, hence why it was phased out in favor of more stable materials.
• Medium Blending: The opening and closing of the episode are presented as Lower Decks-style animation, even roping some of the crew of the Enterprise into it.
• Mistaken for Masturbating: When Una hears that Boimler has a poster of her in his bunk, combined with his bizarre behavior towards her, she assumes it's a pin-up; Mariner later clarifies that it's a Starfleet recruitment poster, and that the motto "Ad astra per aspera" inspired him to join.
  Mariner: [Boimler] is probably just freaked out because you're Number One. I mean, he has a poster of you up in his bunk.
  Number One: A poster? You mean, like... a pin-up poster?
  Mariner: It's a poster that is pinned up. Am... are we saying the same thing?
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Tendi is frustrated that Starfleet still thinks that Orions back in the 23rd century were nothing more than pirates when Boimler tries pointing out that history credited Pike for the discovery of the portal and not her great-grandmother, especially when Boimler argues that Orions were still stuck with that reputation back then. It turns out that Pike really did find it first and her ancestors tried to steal it, but were willing to accept credit as the scientists who discovered it when Pike makes the offer.
• The Needs of the Many: While not directly stated, Pike willingly trades the grain to the Orions for the time portal even though a colony will starve, since leaving the time portal with the Orions would be a much worse outcome.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Boimler, in his efforts to maintain his future, winds up freaking out Chapel over Spock's uncharacteristic (from his perspective) emotion, and sacrifices the grain meant to feed a Federation colony to get the portal back peacefully from the Orions who steal it so Tendi isn't erased from history.
  • At the moment Boimler is about to return to the future, Mariner jumps through and uses up the last of the horonium powering it, stranding them both in the past.
  • After Boimler accidentally spoils that Number One — who, after all, has had problems feeling like she fits in with Starfleet due to that whole "No Transhumanism Allowed" thing — is now the face of Starfleet, Una reprimands him for his cavalier attitude towards time contamination. And then thanks him for the news.
  • Inverted in the sense that Boimler and Mariner's interference with how Pike was handling things actually helps history happen, or at least get recorded as such.
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: When Boimler and Mariner power up the portal to go home, Tendi and Rutherford notice and offer to come through. Pike, thoroughly exasperated by all this nonsense, simply puts up his hand and says, "Just... no."
• Not Helping Your Case: The Orion science vessel really is a crew of scientists, but they don't help matters by absconding with the portal and trading it back for grain. With a little help from Boimler and Mariner, their captain is willing to hash things out with Pike and accept recognition as the scientists who discovered the portal.
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • Pike admits that if he was on the bridge of the NX-01 in the same way that Boimler and Mariner are on his Enterprise, he wouldn't act so different with Captain Archer.
  • After recovering a piece of horonium from the NX-01 Enterprise, Ortegas and Uhura start gushing over Travis Mayweather and Hoshi Sato respectively, realizing that they sound like Mariner and Boimler. Spock calls them exhausting.
• Oh, Crap!: Boimler casually mentions that Pike's birthday is a Federation holiday in his time, and reacts with "CRAP! Crap, crap!" at realizing that he once again revealed something that he shouldn't have.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Played for both laughs and drama with Spock's emotional behavior. Boimler and Mariner getting creeped out by him smiling is hilarious; Chapel realizing her influence on him (and by extension their relationship) won't last, much less so.
  • Played for laughs. M'Benga isn't one for outbursts, so having him freak out about the effect of Orion liquor as the last line of the episode is all the funnier for it.
    "What the hell is in these things?!"
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot:
  • Boimler indirectly inquiring about Spock's emotions clues in Chapel that Spock's attempt to get in touch with his human side is doomed to failure if history knows him for his stoicism. Worse, Spock makes the same deduction based on Boimler's own reactions, Chapel's reaction to Boimler, and Boimler's discomfort about the subject.
  • Mariner admits to Una that Boimler has a poster of her in his bunk. She takes this exactly how it sounds. Mariner later clarifies that it's a recruitment poster, which leaves Una touched about her own legacy — if still slightly creeped out by Boimler.
• Out-of-Genre Experience: Strange New Worlds is a dramatic Wagon Train to the Stars played straight similar to The Original Series told from the perspective of the senior officers; Lower Decks is a comedic Deconstructor Fleet told from the perspective of the rank-and-file Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, who live in a time when Starfleet has become more bureaucratized. Crossing them over has multiple effects one wouldn't expect to come from an episode of Strange New Worlds, but would expect from Lower Decks.
• Planet of Hats: As in Lower Decks, the Orions' reputation as pirates is played with. Boimler has trouble believing Tendi's claim that her TOS-era ancestors were actually scientists (someone had to build the ships, she argues), and the Enterprise crew are skeptical when Boimler reiterates that claim. Her ancestors do in fact steal the portal, but are reasonable enough to barter for its return. Boimler getting them to go beyond that prejudice is what ultimately gets an agreement with the Orion captain to take credit for discovering the portal, recognizing his crew as scientists, which is all he ever wanted.
• Poor Communication Kills: Boimler is forced to watch what he says to keep from accidentally altering the timeline, which results in him causing more trouble for the Enterprise crew than he means to.
• Restricted Expanded Universe: A strange example, as it takes place within one of the main series, but Boimler makes no reference to the future of any non-legacy character. This is probably a mixture of not spoiling future plot points, and the writers trying to avoid being too self-congratulatory.
• Retgone: Defied. Boimler is trying to prevent Tendi from accidentally being erased from history.
• Saying Too Much:
  • Boimler, unsurprisingly. Part of the first half of the story is getting him back home before he accidentally reveals what happens to everyone in the future.
  • In contrast, Pike reveals to the ensigns that he’s aware of his future, to their shock, but changes the topic before they can follow up on it. In this case, they already know what will happen to him, so telling them this one extra detail doesn't really change anything.
• Seen It All: In both time periods there is protocol when dealing with people who are temporally displaced, which results in more of a madcap comedy episode rather than one truly centered on paradoxes. Due to the character personalities it is the Enterprise crew who have to remind Boimler and Mariner not to disclose future events.
• Serious Business: Pelia doesn't take kindly to the crew pulling up a floor panel in engineering because she walks on that floor. Spock snarks back at her that she's not the only one.
• Ship Tease:
  • When Boimler starts being pulled through the portal, Mariner rushes forward and tries to grab him back. When it powers up again, she doesn't hesitate to jump through, and the two have a brief Suggestive Collision when she lands. It's eventually revealed that despite her claiming otherwise, Mariner volunteered the team to be the ones to examine the portal because she knew how much Boimler wanted to see it.
  • Mariner also offhandedly mentions knowing that Ransom, whom she's had Belligerent Sexual Tension with before, sleeps facedown. Though she might have been making that part up.
• Shown Their Work:
  • According to The Ready Room, Jack Quaid re-watched multiple episodes of LWD to study how Boimler was animated in order to try and incorporate those mannerisms into his live-action performance.
  • Boimler's live-action costume includes the Starfleet Delta branded on his shoes, just like in Lower Decks.
• Special Edition Title: The title sequence of this episode exchanges the usual CGI Enterprise flybys with a cartoon version of same in the style of Lower Decks, complete with the Enterprise at one point having the purple monster from the Lower Decks titles latched onto one of her nacelles.
• Spiritual Antithesis: To "Trials and Tribble-ations", which involves characters from the 24th century ending up in the TOS era. But while Sisko and company got to geek out being in the presence of the legendary James T. Kirk and helping the Enterprise and her crew keep history on track from behind the scenes, Boimler and Mariner's antics from the Cerritos gives the Enterprise crew a headache and a half as they try to get them back home.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: While Tawny Newsome is first-credited in the LWD cast and Jack Quaid second, Quaid is a more recognizable face in terms of live-action acting. Therefore Boimler goes through the portal first and gets two acts of the show largely to himself. (Additionally, there is a strong argument to be made that Boimler is less deuteragonist of LWD and more co-protagonist.)
• Surprise Party: After Boimler accidentally reveals that Pike's birthday is coming up, Chapel and Ortegas begin planning a party. Pike learns of this and asks Boimler to put a stop to it, but Boimler (who knows Pike's fate and doesn't yet know that Pike already knows) suggests that Pike should take the opportunity to spend more time with his friends. Pike relents, though Una notes that he's not as surprised as she expected.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Meta variation. In this episode's Ready Room aftershow, Tawney Newsome innocently asks about the statute of limitations on stealing props from a currently-running Star Trek show. Both she and Quaid admit to having absconded with their combadges. (Admittedly, said props will never be used again unless LWD does more live-action crossovers.)
  Tawney: I can take that...right?
• Stable Time Loop:
  • Boimler in the 24th century mentions that the last time the portal was active was about 120 years ago. When it's activated accidentally by Rutherford snapping a picture, Boimler is sent back to that exact moment, becoming the reason it activated.
  • Tendi believes that her ancestor was on the ship that first discovered the portal, and that they were scientists. In reality, they found the portal second, stole it, then gave it back in exchange for grain. Boimler's attempt to trade it back for the grain brings them back at the same time he and Mariner are leaving, so Pike agrees to give them credit for finding it as Orion scientists.
• Tell Him I'm Not Speaking to Him: After the first encounter with the Orions goes badly due to Boimler insisting they're scientists, Pike refuses to take his advice when negotiating with them for the portal. Unable to help himself, Boimler asks Spock to tell Pike that they want to trade, which Pike of course can hear since the bridge isn't that big.
  Boimler: (to Spock) Uh, can you please tell Captain Pike that the Orions want to trade? They see it as a sign of respect.
  Pike: You know I can hear you. I'm standing right here.
  Boimler: Sorry, I thought the span of the room would, uh...
• Tempting Fate:
  • Mariner assumes scanning the portal will be yet another boring job. Boimler, on the other hand, figures it's "due" after 120 years of inactivity.
  • Boimler gets the idea to steal a shuttle so he can trade the portal for the grain that Pike traded to the Orions so they'd return it. Mariner decides to join him, reasoning that she never gets caught. At that exact moment, La'an catches both of them.
• That Came Out Wrong: When Una is curious over Boimler's strange behavior around her, Mariner explains that he keeps a poster of her, which Una interprets as a pin-up poster. Mariner later clarifies it isn't a sexy poster but a Starfleet Recruitment poster with her personal motto "Ad Astra per Aspera" as the Dare to Be Badass catchphrase, which actually inspired Boimler to join Starfleet. Boimler then adds he keeps it in his bunk, which he quickly realized also came out sounding wrong.
• Time Travel: Boimler and Mariner travel from the 24th century to the mid-23rd century through a portal on an alien planet.
• Title Drop: Boimler mentions "Those Old Scientists" a few times. Mariner is annoyed that he got it from Ransom.
• Uncanny Valley: Played for Laughs In-Universe, but Boimler is creeped out that Spock is smiling and showing more human emotions, with the moments being played like a horror movie.
• Unobtanium: The portal device is powered by horonium, a sturdy building material that fell out of favor as supply ran out but was heavily used in the construction of the NX class. After using up a tiny bit of resources that was available, Spock and Boimler attempt to manually fabricate a new batch but the results were explosive. Boimler and Mariner then realized Starfleet tradition was to take a sample of the hull from a decommissioned ship to be used in the construction of its' replacement, so the NCC-1701 Enterprise had a piece of the NX-01 Enterprise underneath a floor panel in engineering.
• The Un-Smile: Spock is working on acquiring a sense of humor, with decidedly mixed results.
  Mariner: What the— Spock's smiling now?
  Boimler: Yeah, he just doesn't know how. Just go with it.
  Mariner: I don't like it.
  Boimler: It's terrifying.
• Unobtainium: It's revealed that the NX-01 was made from "horonium". However, trying to make the stuff was difficult because it had a 50/50 chance of blowing up, as Spock and Boimler find out. It's also needed to get a time machine working to get Boimler (and later Mariner) back to their time.
• Verbal Backspace: When the Orion scout ship arrives over the planet, Boimler proudly boasts that it's a scout ship and he's built one before. However, when he realizes that it's probably the ship that carries Tendi's great-grandma, he quickly corrects himself and claims it's actually a science ship.
• Vindicated by History: In-universe example when Una learns from Boimler and Mariner that she's the literal poster child for Starfleet recruitment by the late 24th Century. While Una publicly chastises them for revealing future events, she's also privately touched and grateful. Despite what happened with her court martial and her Illyrian heritage, Una knows now that her trials and tribulations won't be in vain. Future generations will remember her not as a footnote or as a cautionary tale, but as an honored Starfleet legend.
• Weird Crossover: Yes, both shows are in the Trek universe, but they are not only different genres, they are also tonally widely different. It's remarkable that it works so well.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Pike gives Boimler and Mariner a dressing-down after La'an catches them in the shuttle.
  Pike: Mr. Boimler, for a guy who seems like a rule-follower, you certainly break a lot of 'em. And Miss Mariner, I thought (scoffs) you were here to save your friend, not make his situation worse.
• You Were Trying Too Hard: Lampshaded. Uhura is unable to crack the glyphs on the portal despite hours of trying, so Mariner uses a labor code to make her take a meal break. Ortegas joins in, and Mariner and Ortegas discover that Uhura smuggled her work in with her on break. After confiscating the padd, Ortegas then recognizes the glyphs as Nausicaan and Uhura identifies the dialect, translating the glyphs. Mariner then says that she probably would have figured it out herself had she taken some breaks to recharge, and Ortegas agrees.

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