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

• Ability over Appearance: Boimler is normally depicted as fairly short and scrawny, even slightly shorter than Mariner. Jack Quaid is actually fairly tall and muscular, in fact taller than Tawny Newsome, Anson Mount and Ethan Peck. Since that is an exceedingly minor issue when it comes to the appeal of this crossover, and he otherwise matches everything else Boimler is supposed to be, this is ignored.
• Actor-Inspired Element: Tawny Newsome had significant influence over Mariner's hair and makeup, including the winged eyeliner (which mimics the Tertiary Sexual Characteristics of the LWD women) and thick curls. Newsome was also asked whom she thought Mariner would want to interact with, and she chose Uhura. Mariner also has a nose piercing that is not present in her animated scenes, but this was because Newsome had it done recently enough that it wasn't practical to remove it while filming.
• Defictionalization: Inverted. There is an official version of Una's recruiting poster available on the official social media pages, but it was actually released a month prior to it being mentioned in this episode, being used as a marketing tie-in for "Ad Astra Per Aspera". Instead of saying "Join Starfleet" the English text is a translation of the Latin slogan.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Averted with Jack Quaid. They were actually considering dyeing his hair purple, but they realized it would give away that he was playing a live-action Boimler, (not to mention that he was filming for The Boys and Oppenheimer around the same time) so they went with a wig.^note Quaid commented that he and Newsome were sighted together in Toronto anyway, so the jig was basically up, as Lower Decks (unlike the live action Trek shows) does not film in Toronto.
• Early-Bird Release: The episode was shown at Comic-Con, and later officially released on Paramount+ on July 22, 5 days ahead of schedule.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Due to Mariner and Boimler being partially designed around Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid, this made the transition fairly seamless.
• Real-Life Relative: Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O'Connell are married, and seeming the main reason Ransom is in the episode at all is just to make a comment on Una as the most attractive first officer Starfleet ever had.
• Throw It In!: The Lower Decks voice cast is known for ad-libbing and riffing on much of their dialogue, an approach both Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome brought to Strange New Worlds, much to the amusement of that cast, who generally stick much more closely to what has been scripted. Both credited director Jonathan Frakes for encouraging their anarchy.
  • Specifically, according to The Ready Room, Quaid doing a "Riker!" when he sits down in Pike's saddle was improvised (and also done to amuse Frakes, who naturally loved it).
• Uncredited Role: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan is credited in the episode (as "Consulting Producer"), but his actual role was as director for the book-ending animated segments, as well as voice director for the cast (his usual role on the animated series).
• What Could Have Been:
  • This episode marks longtime Trek Director Jonathan Frakes' first outing on SNW — but it wasn't supposed to be. Frakes had previously been invited to direct for Season One (and he had been intending to do so). However, the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions prevented him from traveling to Canada and he regretfully had to postpone until Season Two. This also makes Season One of SNW the only live-action season of the Secret Hideout era of Trek so far to not have an episode directed by Frakes.
  • The episode was originally developed as focusing almost entirely on Boimler, with only a brief live-action cameo by Mariner^note which makes sense from a promotional point of view, as Jack Quaid is a TV and movie star outside of Trek and therefore a plausible audience draw, while Tawny Newsome is not. At some point, Mariner's role in the story was greatly enlarged and she appears in about half the episode. Still, Boimler has the entire first half all to himself, a possible remnant of the original concept.