We have already recapped and reviewed “Veritas,” the eighth episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and discussed it on the All Access Star Trek podcast. Now we take a deeper dive into the fun details, references, Easter eggs, and more. In some cases the references are clear, with others it may just be our Trek interpretations; art is in the eye of the beholder.
Obviously… SPOILERS ahead.
A Fatu-Krey in a Klingon Courtroom
“Veritas” was explicitly made to be an homage to Star Trek courtroom episodes and movie moments. The silo where most of the episode took place was fashioned after the setting for the Klingon trial of James T. Kirk and Dr. McCoy in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Magistrate Clar of K’Tuevon Prime (voiced by veteran actor Kurtwood Smith in his fourth Star Trek role) also somewhat resembled General Chang, who prosecuted the case against Kirk and McCoy in Star Trek VI, but he also strongly resembled the Fatu-Krey General Roth’h’ar Sarris from the Star Trek homage Galaxy Quest.
Dropping names
Extending the courtroom theme, Brad Boimler literally name-drops the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation trial-focused episode “The Drumhead,” while he “mic drops” the Horn of Candor. And the episode’s references didn’t end there. When arguing that Khan Noonien Singh was one of the biggest badasses of all time, Mariner refers to him as a “Space Seed,” which was the name of the TOS episode where he made his debut. Tendi also mentioned Khan’s “thick, thick, chest” which has become talked about so much that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer has requested that people stop asking about it. As for Boimler, he argued the bigger badass was Roga Danar, who had “amazing hair” and outsmarted Picard in the TNG episode “The Hunted.”
But there were many more episode references that were not as overt, including how the entire plot of ensigns participating in a covert mission without knowing what was really going on paralleled the TNG episode “Lower Decks,” which inspired the series Star Trek: Lower Decks.
As Commander Billups was running out of oxygen he began to hallucinate and babble., at one point saying, “Uh oh, Mark Twain’s got a gun!” recalling a moment in the Next Generation time-travel episode “Time’s Arrow, Part II.” He also said “Tasha no! there’s a garbage bag behind you,” referring to Armus, the amorphous black creature that killed Tasha Yar in “Skin of Evil.”
Brad brought up the “giant Spock on Phylos,” the large Spock clone in the Animated Series episode “The Infinite Vulcan,” as well as the TNG episode “Sub Rosa” by asking the question, “Did Dr. Crusher know about that ghost in the lamp thing from that Scottish planet that she hooked up with that one time?” As Brad was rattling off references in the form of questions like a lightning round on Jeopardy, he also asked “Did Picard know about the Borg?”—a reference to the TNG episode “Q Who.”
Q’s bulls–t games
“Q Who” was just yet another callback to the classic TNG era godlike adversary Q, who first appeared in the pilot of The Next Generation. But for this episode, they finally had an actual Q cameo, voiced by original Q actor John de Lancie. In fact, he popped in twice. The first time, he transported the bridge crew into some weird game to “prove humanity is worth saving,” which, along with his judge’s robe outfit, was a mashup of various Q episodes like “Encounter at Farpoint,” “Hide and Q,” and “Qpid.” The humans-as-chess-pieces is a trope, but this Q game felt like an homage to Mr. Burns backyard human chess set from The Simpsons episode “Tennis the Menace.” Q popped in again at the end of the episode, this time to challenge the four lower decker ensigns to a duel to “put humanity to the ultimate test.” But Mariner wasn’t in the mood, demanding Q to leave with, “We aren’t dealing with any of your Q bulls–t.”
Drinking on Earth
Mariner dismissively suggests Q go bother Picard, as he has done many times over seven seasons of TNG. But now Q seems done with Jean-Luc: “Oh Picard. He’s not fun. He’s always quoting Shakespeare. He’s always making wine.” While Lower Decks is set in 2380 while Picard is still in command of the USS Enterprise E, Q can travel through time, so he is clearly complaining about Picard’s later years in retirement when he takes over his family’s Chateau Picard vineyard first seen in “Family” and the place we find Jean-Luc at the beginning of Star Trek: Picard.
Wine got another mention earlier in the episode when Mariner laments about how boring it would be to live on Earth because “there’s nothing to do but drink wine and hang out at vineyards and soul food restaurants.” She is referring to both Picard’s vineyard and Sisko’s Creole Kitchen, the New Orleans restaurant owned by Benjamin Sisko’s father on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Earth got a visual shout-out in the opening shot of K’Tuevon Prime, featuring a light pattern based on a view of its southern Asian continent but rotated about 90 degrees.
Vulcans take back their phaser
Vulcans had a big role to play in this episode, beyond the TAS Spock reference. When complimenting Rutherford on his ability to do the Vulcan neck pinch, Shaxs refers to two unconscious Vulcans as “Spock and Spock.” This scene also featured a deep cut with the appearance of a particular weapon first used by Ferengi in the DS9 episode “The Magnificent Ferengi,” but identified in the book The Art of Star Trek as a Vulcan phaser. And now it is.
Fandancing for ships
Apparently, the whole point of nerve-pinching Vulcans was to steal a long-range Vulcan shuttle, like the one introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, to help infiltrate a Vulcan ship museum.
And the visit to the ship museum was of course full of identifiable vessels from Star Trek history, including a 21st-century Vulcan starship, which may have been the T’Plana-Hath that made first contact with humans in Star Trek: First Contact. Also seen were a Klingon D7 battlecruiser, a Jem’Hadar fighter, a Tholian ship, and a Ferengi shuttle. There were also various Federation shuttles from both the TOS and TNG era, as well as a worker bee.
The mission to the museum required Rutherford to do a fan dance to distract the Vulcan guards, an homage to the distracting fan dance done by Uhura in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. And the guards were wearing TOS movie-era Starfleet Guard uniforms.
Romulans and Remans
The whole goal of the museum heist was to steal a 23rd-century Romulan Bird of Prey, a cloaking ship first introduced in the TOS episode “Balance of Terror.” One of these classic ships was more recently seen in the Star Trek: Picard episode “Absolute Candor,” used by the late 24th-century warlord Kar Kantar. Those events are set about 19 years after this episode, so perhaps Kantar had somehow acquired this specific stolen ship.
The infiltration team later used this cloaked ship to cross the Romulan Neutral Zone, although at one point they were surrounded by 24th century Romulan D’deridex Warbirds in a moment that was a visual homage to the TNG episodes that introduced these ships, “The Neutral Zone.” Warbirds like these also feature in the title sequence for Lower Decks.
“Veritas” takes a visit to the Romulan homeworld, where a covert team infiltrates a facility to rescue Clar (“The Package”). While there we see several Romulans, all dressed in the same uniform every Romulan officer seems to wear in the 24th century. They also had a fun quick exchange: “You know who I hate? Remans.” This refers to the race from the oppressed planet of Remus, introduced in the film Star Trek: Nemesis when they helped the Picard clone Shinzon take over the Romulan government. Lower Decks is set one year after that film.
Remembering a parallel ship
Speaking of ships, this episode introduced another California-class vessel, the USS Alhambra. Dr. T’Ana accidentally boarded thinking it was the Cerritos, only to get confused, proclaiming “Someone is replacing everyone on the ship with imposters who claim not to know me. We might be in a parallel dimension.” This is a bit of a mashup of the plots of TNG’s “Remember Me” and “Parallels.”
Gorn weddings are the worst
Some of the officers on the Alhambra were new aliens, but “Veritas” had some familiar ones as well; we saw a whole lot of Gorn, introduced in the classic TOS episode “Arena,” when Rutherford stumbled into a Gorn wedding. The groom was also wearing the same loincloth worn by the Gorn captain in that episode.
The wedding may have even been on the same planet as “Arena,” as it had the same Vasquez Rocks formations.
Dating a salt vampire
But “Veritas” isn’t done with its alien references. Shaxs and Billups have a conversation about scary-sounding “Denobulan flesh-eating bacteria.” Denobulans were introduced in Star Trek: Enterprise, with the main character of Dr. Phlox. And as Boimler was recalling how the senior officers make mistakes, he noted Ransom does not do enough due diligence on his alien dates, like the time he tried to pick up on a disguised salt vampire, like the M-113 creature introduced in the first aired Star Trek episode “The Man Trap.” Mary Ann, the salt vampire on the Cerritos even wore the same hairstyle and outfit as the creature wore at one point in “The Man Trap.”
UPDATE: Mike talks Roga Danar
In his Sunday update, Mike McMahan talks about his favorite reference in the episode.
What did we miss?
Did you catch anything else? Let us know in the comments below.
New episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks premiere on Thursdays on CBS All Access in the U.S. and on CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada, where it’s also available to stream on Crave. It has not yet been announced where and when Lower Decks will be available outside of the USA and Canada.
Keep up with all the news and reviews from the new Star Trek Universe on TV at TrekMovie.com.
The Q puzzle game brought Lewis Carroll’s Alice books to mind.
The card soldiers on one side from Alice in Wonderland, and the bridge officers on the other side as living chess pieces from Through the Looking Glass.
The soccer/football might be more familiar than the croquet hedge-hog balls.
And since we have Alice, it’s a deep cut to Michael Burnham and Spock being read to by Amanda.
Trekmovie Editors wrote; “but this Q game felt like an homage to…”
Yes, it’s Alice in Wonderland. Thx TG47.
Alice in Wonderland is often referenced in Trek. Beginning with “Shore Leave”. Anyone have more? Hmm?
Haven’t seen the episode yet but two observations from these photos:
Wow I did not notice the Jem’Hadar ship until now! Great catch. This episode was great on so many levels. Again I know we always focus on all the varied easter eggs and references but I just love how the stories themselves are done in such a classic Trek way. It really does bring me back to stuff like TNG, VOY, etc. This episode was obviously poking fun at all the court room stories Trek does but was a fun way to do a flashback story. And even how they did the flashbacks were very unique and funny.
I can’t speak for everyone obviously but I have to say for me, this is definitely the best Trek show from the Kurtzman shows. I don’t know if thats saying a lot or not lol, but with the exception of episode 6, I’ve enjoyed them all immensely and that I can rewatch over and over again.
Lastly, I thought I wasn’t going to like him much because I thought he was going to be made as someone you love to hate, but Commander Ransom is such a fun character to watch. He’s arrogant but he does care about his crew and watches out for everybody. But the dialogue they give him always make me laugh, especially this episode…even the bleep stuff. ;)
I like Ransom too.
More, I like that he chose Tendi for the mission.
I don’t think there was any mistake on his part. I think that Tendi was ordered to the boardroom to be “the cleaner” for the secret mission.
Except that she misinterpreted the important and sensitive flags as being about the nature of what happens in the boardroom, rather than her assignment. Then she was so excited to be there that she tuned out the pre-mission brief.
I never thought about that until I read this, but you’re right. Maybe Tendi was suppose to be there all along, she was the one who just got confused and thought she was suppose to only clean the conference room. We never saw another ‘cleaner’ show up so you’re probably right.
And then of course what was so funny about it is they made a big deal about her role and how bad ass it is; but in reality they just needed her to beam them up once they secured Clar. That was her entire job lol. That’s another fun thing about this show, how well it subverts expectations over and over again. And it’s done in a great way! I don’t understand why she couldn’t just stay on the ship to do it, but then we wouldn’t have that hilarious scene of her manhandling the dirty Romulans. She seems to have the fighting skills of Major Kira and Kirk combined. You have to give it to Starfleet, for a hippie like organization, they train their officers to curb stomp anyone they have to well. ;)
Great episode!
I think that Mariner’s line “Why don’t I ever get to clean up the conference room?” is the clue.
Boimler got a rotation helping get things set up for meetings, but that is an appropriate job for a command-track ensign. Organizing presentations and being a bit of a go-fer is a way to get to see what happens.
Cleaning and maintenance is not, and Tendi isn’t command-track.
I started watching Lower Decks again and that was funny!
The silliest thing got me rolling in this episode. During the fan dance, when Shaxs screams to Rutherford “What are you doing?!” and Rutherford replies “My Best!”, I couldn’t stop laughing.
The monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey can be seen at the Vulcan Museum.
The chess game Q scenario is likely based on a proposed TNG story (never realized) that would have had Q forcing Picard’s crew against an alien champion who would be played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. They never got Arnold and the story was reworked into VOY episode “Tsunkatse” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson instead.
The Salt Vampires from “The Man Trap”, apparently survived their extinction.
The Gorn wedding takes place in front of a giant lizards’s open mouth like Vaal from TOS’ “The Apple”.
In the museum there is a large black rectangle that doesn’t get mentioned. 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Not really an easter egg; just more of a “fourth wall break”. I called this out on another post, but towards the end of the episode, there is a guy that walked in and tells Clar that his 22 minutes were up. Not only does this play on the fact that most of these episodes only last 22-24 minutes, but the guy walks in right at the 22 minute mark.
I read this first and on my second rewatch paid attention and yep the guy comes out exactly at 22 minutes. It’s amazing how well they timed that. That species is probably very time accurate. ;)
But great catch!
I watched Lower Decks tonight and all I have to say is I’m liking every second of it.
Q is the right fit for Lower Decks. It makes sense seeing him there.
Crazy Ivan is a Firefly reference to a ship maneuver.
Actually it comes from Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October.
Absolutely, MikeB.
I can’t say whether Crazy Ivans have any basis in real-life submariner tactics, but the US Navy was fully on-board with the making of that movie to the point that some not-so-public tactics and technology were referenced.
I continue to be stunned that there are TOS and TNG fans that don’t know the Hunt for Red October.
I managed to convince Laurie (on the podcast thread) to watch the movie. You should try it too Netguy.
Hmm… Is the back wall of the museum a subtle homage to the Eagle hangar in “Space: 1999”, I wonder?
Nice catch! I so much love that old show. For me, Space:1999 are the inofficial Seasons 4+5 of TOS :-) Not canon-wise but production-wise and stylistically. Space: 1999 – at least the first season – is the only show that felt like TOS set in another universe. Of course the setting was bogus (how can the moon go “warp” and if it does, how can they ever visit a planet?), but science has never been my focal point in science fiction. I love the FICTION :-)
Garth Lorca, try Gregory Benford’s Galactic Centre Saga of hard science fiction books. He posits a way that is more credible.
Roga Danar should had been in one of the TNG films. I’m serious.
I have yet to watch a single episode so i dont know how all this stuff comes off on screen, but how does it not turn the whole thing into a parody/spoof that the protagonists keep rattling off arcane details from TNG and even TOS episodes they can’t possibly and realistically know in-universe as know-nothing ensigns of “Starfleets least important ship” (never mind the fourth wall breaking quotes)?
LOL, nice one, Vulcan Soul. Of course it’s parody/spoof that’s the whole point. Having a Vulcan soul you would probably agree with Lt. Saavik who said humour is “a difficult concept. It is not logical”.
VS, I think even a Vulcan could appreciate how well put together this is.
Hopefully, it will be available in your country very soon.
I appreciate your feedback Vulcan Soul.
They never discuss anything that wouldn’t be public knowledge. And they never actually break the fourth wall.
“And they never actually break the fourth wall.”
The first picture in this very article already proves you wrong.
What, just cause Q’s looking towards the camera? He’s just talking to Mariner, and the camera is showing her point of view. Its not like he’s actually acknowledging that he’s in a TV show or anything.
The POV change is a break of the fourth wall by definition. The fourth wall is the seperation between the actors and the audience. By putting the viewer in place of a character you have already broken that seperation.
That’s not a fourth wall break…
Doch!
If a character addresses the viewers directly that is a fourth wall break, plain and simple. Even if they disguise it later as if an other character was the recepient, because by then the wall is already broken. “All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put the fourth wall together again.” That is a Alice in Wonderland hommage for TG47 ;)
For it to be a fourth wall break, a character would have had to acknowledge that the audience exists. All Q did was look at the camera. If that counts as a fourth wall break, then Star Trek has always broken the fourth wall all the time, and so has pretty much every other movie and TV show.
So for you Denise Crosby waving the audience good bye isn’t a fourt wall break because Tasha could wave to a crew member who stands just where the camera is. Picard speculating that his adventures could be something shown on a device in someone’s living room is no fourth wall break for you neither. Well, for me they are. Just let us agree to disagree about those point.
It’s a cartoon !
It’s just a tv show and we should really just relax.
I like to think that there are starfleet fanboys/girls and sites like this one, in universe – so they know all sorts of arcane details about the hero ships like Enterprise, and its publicized missions/crew.
Not sure if this was intentional or not, but Boimler suggests doing a Crazy Ivan, which I took as a nod to Firefly with the move Wash does to escape the Reavers in “Serenity” (the pilot, not the movie). But I just found out that this is also something submarines can do, so not sure if it counts. But I love the idea of a Star Trek series paying homage to a show that was decidedly anti-Trek.
How was Firefly anti-Star Trek?
Firefly has a dystopian corporatist government, no aliens, no replicators, no transporters, and doesn’t really promise a better future. In Star Trek humans are on a mission to better themselves as a society. In Firefly, it’s up to the individual to take a stand against all odds.
Basically Firefly runs in the complete opposite direction of Star Trek in world building terms.
Yeah, I always felt like Joss Whedon would take one look at Star Trek and go “The f**k is this?” Mind you, both Armin Shimerman and Harris Yulin were both in Deep Space Nine and Buffy. And if Whedon were to create a Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine would be close to what he’d come up with.
Given how much both TOS, TNG and Voyager tactics owe to submarine warfare, I would take it as a “Hunt for Red October” reference.
There is a TOS episode “the Balance of Terror” that seems to draw from another great sub film from the 1950s, “The Enemy Below.”
Firefly clearly borrowed the term, but the tactic has a different purpose (evasive vs. turning to see what’s in the ship’s sensor blind-spot). Either would have been silly in the Cerritos situation.
How was Firefly anti-Trek? Please elaborate on what you mean.
To elaborate, when I say that FIrefly was an anti-Trek series, I’m going off the fact that Joss Whedon said that the Enterprise would have flown right past the Serenity crew, the Alliance is certainly meant to be an evil version of the Federation (even though we have both the Borg and The Dominion with the Trek universe to act as the flip side of the Federation) and Whedon has always been very much in the Star Wars camp. Although having watched all of TOS four years ago, I kinda now see Mal as Han Solo by way of William Shatner, If Firefly had lasted longer, Mal at one point would have said “Our logic is to be illogical. That is our advantage.”
Thank you, Trekmovie, for collecting these. LD is so much fun, really enjoy it.
Rutherford seems to be attacked by the Children of the Gorn.
.
Have to rewatch, but did the birthday cake appear to be chocolate peptide, with mint frothhhhting to anyone else?
Who’s your favourite character? Mines easily Tendi. She just adorable and I just love her positive attitude about everything.
Tendi is the one character I feel adds little to the show (but vive la différence if you like her). Mariner and Boimler crack me the hell up, as do Shaxs and T’Ana. Rutherford has been rather one-note until last week, when he was hilarious. But Tendi comes off very much like a cartoon character–for me, she’s the least successful transition from Star Trek to animation on this show, since she makes me feel like I’m watching a show for kids.
Tendi is my favorite. I understand why she is not your thing. Mariner and Boimler are absolutely hilarious. Rutherford is so weird but a dynamic character so yah.
Tendi is my favorite. I love her positive attitude and personality. Mariner and Boimler are a fun whimsical couple.
I like Shaxs.
Same here. I love when she says “You’re hurting the eels!” as she’s being boiled in the tank.
Thats one thing I love about the show’s humour. When it comes to the characters, the humour doesn’t come from them being assholes. They genuinely love what they do and respect each other. It’s just that their enthusiasm for the job sometimes gets them in way over their heads. And also they’re still flawed, but they recognize their flaws and still try to work their way through them. Tendi in particular in “Moist Vessel”.
Also, while I’m on board with the burgeoning romance between Tendi and Rutherford, Mariner and Boimler should never, ever hook up. M & B’s dynamic is more older sister/younger brother and them getting together would just be wrong.
Have to agree with nearly everyone else, without a doubt Tendi! I just love her spirit so much. She is just adorable and just happy to be part of Starfleet. Someone else commented on the eels line in this episode but it just really adds to the character. I also lol on my second viewing when I realized the guy they thought was the judge was really there to celebrate his daughter’s 100th birthday party and you heard her say ‘aw’ in the background. Little things like that really brings this character out.
But I honestly love them all. Obviously there is no show without Mariner though. I know she is ‘controversial’ but she is tons of fun and the things that come out of her mouth are hilarious. One of the more valid complaints about the show is everyone talks like they are in the 21st century, especially Mariner, but it works for me. I guess being a cartoon its easier to get away with it as well. But the way she talks is a lot like my friends do, so its fun.
But I really like the fact that she questions Starfleet in a way we haven’t seen in a while. She obviously thinks its important and does great things (why else will she be there) but she also feels it’s gotten too bureaucratic and too much emphasis is on rank vs just doing a good job. It’s not a deep message but its something we rarely see other Starfleet officers do, question how Starfleet operates. That said she did so many things that is insubordinate, you do have to wonder how she manages to even stay in Starfleet? But I tell myself its a cartoon, don’t over think everything….save that for Discovery. ;)
LDS is certainly not for everyone, but I think this is ironically the best received show of the new Star Trek shows thus far. At the very least, it seems to bring the least amount of scorn, bitterness and hate compared to the other shows (especially Discovery), so that’s progress…I think.
Obviously everybody talks like its the 21st century. The show was written in the 21st century. In most of the other shows, everybody talks like its the 20th century. We don’t know how people will talk three hundred years from now, and the show would just sound corny and stupid if they tried to make up future-people talk.
But in Star Trek they didn’t. ;)
Not in TOS through VOY at least. They made fun of it in TVH, so clearly there has been a divide. In ENT, they did sound a bit more closer to us, certainly cursed more, but it’s not as far out so understandable.
As I said it DOESN’T bother me. I made that clear. But I see it brought up a lot in other sites.
“We don’t know how people will talk three hundred years from now, and the show would just sound corny and stupid if they tried to make up future-people talk.”
You mean like… FIREFLY? Frankly I find this to be an exceptionally weak argument as to why science FICTION must be chained to contemporary soap opera, and actually it’s the “contemporary cool” that has always aged worst in Trek, all the way back to ‘that hippie episode’. Even Roddenberry learned that lesson when he mandated no zippers and buttons in TNG, and a host of other “unbelievable, unrelatable” stuff (back in the 80s) such as people ditching real meat, nicotine and other drugs!
To paraphrase Stewart-Picard (for once ;), in Kurtz Trek the unwillingness to dream up a fictional future that goes boldly beyond the present in all its details is “a failure of imagination”!
I never saw Firefly. In every Trek show they have modern speech. They usually talk more formally than the characters in Lower Decks tend to, but they speak in a way that we recognize as modern English. I’m sure that the writers could come up with all sorts of future talk if they so desired. That would end up just making everything sound silly and difficult to understand though.
I’m talking about the slang. The way they say things like ‘dude’, ‘bitch’ or ‘dick’. How they curse so off the cuff with each other, etc. This is pretty obvious. Of course no one is saying the other shows speaks a totally different level than we do but I don’t think you would ever hear Uhura, Riker or Kim say ‘Get the fuck out of my face with that’ either. Although it would be fun to see Data trying to interpret it lol. That’s a very common 21st century phrase. In Star Trek, until LDS came anyway, it was completely unheard of.
Did anyone notice that the eels sounded like the Shrieking Eels from the Princess Bride?
I may have missed someone mentioning it, but the parallel ship captain has a “Mirror, Mirror” style circle beard.
I’m wondering if that might be a deep cut to the standard, pre-enhanced TOS opening where the Enterprise would orbit some planet that was really Earth but rotated and tinted some strange color.
Absolutely loved the Roga Danar reference! “The Hunted” was one of those third season episodes that reallly showed TNG gaining its stride. I usually end up rewatching it every year or so.
Have not watched it in years. I’ll be watching it now though. This is why shows like LDS is fun, the references really do get you thinking about episodes of the classic shows again.
The monolith.
Reeeally subtle clue, but in the first exterior shot of the “courtroom” building, you can see a tiny balloon hanging in front of the entrance. Didn’t realize it until the rewatch.