We have already recapped and reviewed the season 5 (and series) finale of Star Trek: Lower Decks (“The New Next Generation”) and discussed it on All Access Star Trek podcast. Today, we are looking at the canon connections, Easter eggs, and nods. Here’s what jumped out to us, which will include SPOILERS.
Back to the Disco
The big threat in the season finale was the fissure threatening to destroy the universe, surrounded by a “Schrödinger Possibility Field” which could transform anything into a multiverse counterpart. The first example we saw of this was with a Klingon ship hit by a wave of energy that transformed the captain into a different style of Klingon like L’Rell as seen in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery.
The energy wave also transforms the Bird of Prey into a Discovery style Bird of Prey. Later, Klingon ship design get some shade from Dr. T’Ana, who says, “They always want their ships to look like big stupid birds.”
Barge of the really dead
Another ship from the Klingon fleet gets transformed into an old sailing barge, styled like the Barge of the Dead from Klingon mythology, seen in the Voyager episode aptly titled “Barge of the Dead.”
Lessons in Klingon biology
The Klingon flagship was defeated by stripping away the shields that protected the crew from the effect of the field, resulting in their transformation into devolved “Mindless proto-Klingons, filled with rage.” We have seen this happen to Mr. Worf in the TNG episode “Genesis” when members of the USS Enterprise-D crew devolved.
There’s another example of canon Klingon biology in the episode when we see Malor with his boots off, showing off his foot horn. This bone spike is a retcon explaining the horn seen on traditional Klingon boots dating back to the TOS movie era. Berman-era Star Trek designer Dan Curry’s painting of Klingon anatomy (seen in a couple of episodes of Enterprise) showed that Klingons had a horn on their feet. In the TNG episode “Ethics,” we see Worf’s feet with a small bump where the horn should be, so maybe he cut his off?
One-way mirror
The USS Cerritos had its fair share of transformations, the first of which was into a Freedom-class. Though the LDS version looks a bit different, this deep cut ship class was first seen as the USS Firebrand, on screen for a second in the aftermath of the Battle of Wolf 359 in TNG’s “Best of Both Worlds.” The single nacelle design is so obscure, both Captain Freeman and Boimler questioned how such a ship could even go to warp, but Tendi assured them it’s possible.
The next transformation turned the ship into the ISS Cerritos from the Terran Empire, first seen in the TOS episode “Mirror, Mirror.” The ISS Cerritos had the same kind of livery first seen on the Mirror Universe NX-01 Enterprise in Star Trek: Enterprise.
It’s the Enterprise!
Later the ship transformed into a Sovereign-class, first seen with the USS Enterprise-E in Star Trek: First Contact. There is an irony here because in the season 1 finale (“No Small Parts”) when the Cerritos was undergoing repair, Captain Freeman noted she had to keep a close eye on the work, saying “I hate it when a ship gets repaired and comes out looking all Sovereign-class.”
Earlier in the episode, Captain Freeman had asked Starfleet Command “Are you sure the Enterprise can’t handle this?” She was told the Enterprise was on the way but couldn’t get there in time, so the Cerritos had to handle closing the fissure. As the episode wrapped up, the Enterprise was among the group of Starfleet ships that had arrived. The show is set in 2382, around 3 years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis, making this the first appearance of the ship in the canon timeline following Nemesis. At this time, Worf would be in command of the Enterprise following Jean-Luc Picard’s promotion to admiral in 2381.
Ship class lighting round
After the Sovereign transformation we see the Cerritos quickly turn into a series of different ships from Trek canon, starting with the Oberth-class, first seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
Next up, it becomes a Galaxy-class, like the Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
And the final transformation before returning to California-class was a brief stint as a Miranda-class like the USS Reliant from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Dos Cerritos
The ship had one more transformation, splitting into two “quantum possibilities” before science besties T’Lyn and Tendi (and their counterparts) brought them back together. This splitting of the ship was similar to what happened to the USS Voyager in the episode “Deadlock” when an accident created a quantum duplicate of the ship.
That’s Improbable!
The effects of the Schrödinger Possibility Field were somewhat reminiscent of the Infinite Improbability Drive from the book (and movie) Hitchhiker’s Guild to the Galaxy. This engine allows the ship to go through “every conceivable point in every conceivable universe simultaneously.” The briefing on the Schrödinger Possibility Field from Starfleet even used similar cartoony graphics like the eponymous Hitchhiker’s Guide from the movie.
Speaking of that briefing, the Starfleet alien was an Ariolo, a background alien species from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home which could only be properly seen later in the Art of Star Trek book. Ariolos have become a favorite easter egg alien on Lower Decks.
Deep Space 80
The episode wrapped up with the often derided Starbase 80 becoming one of the most important bases for the Federation as it was towed to the location of the now stable multiverse gateway created by the USS Cerritos. This change in perspective is a metaphor for the Cerritos and her crew (and all California classes), and it is also an homage to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine when the Deep Space 9 station was moved to the mouth of the Bajoran wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant, making it one of the most important bases in the galaxy.
Growing the beard
We can see that Boimler beard has filled in, which he has been growing slowly but surely all season long. He got the idea from meeting a cooler bearded Boimler from alternate universe back in the season 5 premiere, and all season long he has been using a PADD he stole from that Boimler to help make some improvements. Here in the finale, Mariner admits, “I cannot believe basing your personality on that thing actually worked. That beard looks good. I hate it.”
Boimler’s beard is a meta reference to the term “Growing the Beard,” which is used to describe shows that have grown into their own. The trope is named for Star Trek: The Next Generation when Riker grew a beard in the second season, when most agree the show improved and became a classic. Showrunner Mike McMahan telegraphed this in his pre-season TrekMovie interview when he said “This is the season where we grow the beard.”
Egging out
The final moments of the episode also had a nice montage of Lower Decks callbacks, starting off with a collection of ensigns at the bunks drinking margaritas, like our main lower deckers did in “Temporal Edict,” the third episode of the series. We also see Stevens and Westlake in Cetacean Ops, with beluga whale navigators Kimolu and Matt. The concept of cetacean navigators was first introduced for Galaxy-class ships in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but Lower Decks was the first in the franchise to show it.
The montage continues with O’Connor dropping into sickbay from a portal. He was last seen in season 1 ascending to a higher plane of existence, entering a portal to be greeted by the great Koala. The montage continues with Kayshon, the first Tamarian in Starfleet, having some fun with Dr. Migleemo, a Klowahkan, a foodie-obsessed avian species introduced for the show.
We also visit engineering with Goodgey helping Billups, Meredith, and Livik with the Billups Tubes and some officers on the holodeck lining up for “Twaining.”
The montage also has a couple of fun TNG callbacks. Castro holds one of her salons with some of the women of the ship, featuring a ghost candle like in the infamous TNG episode “Sub Rosa.”
And perhaps the most on-the-nose bit of the montage was members of the Cerritos crew playing poker, a nod to the ending poker game in “All Good Things,” the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The thing that brought it all together for this shot is the character wearing a visor (like Data in TNG) and a “Chu Chu” shirt like Mariner and Boimler wore in the season one episode “Terminal Provocations,” celebrating the Chu Chu dance performed by the Zebulon Sisters.
What did you see?
Spot any new Trek references we missed on Lower Decks? Have a favorite? Sound off in the comments below.
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Thanks for the explanations! I totally missed several of the easter eggs.
I was thinking, instead of the movie version, the Schrödinger animation reminded me more of the original BBC HHGTG:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5xcvAoKojo
Wow even though I watched it twice now I realize I still missed quite a bit. For one, I had no idea that it was supposed to be O’Connor from the first season. I guess ascending to a higher plane of existence wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be and reapplied to the Cerritos.
Also funny we saw the Enterprise E show up on this show and Prodigy but never on Picard itself. But I guess we have Worf to blame for that.
I did like the Discovery Klingon Easter egg, but seeing them again is a reminder why I hope we never see them again. ;)
But a lot of great inside stuff as usual. They put it all on the field in the finale. LDS proves it’s just as much of a Trek show as all the others with a lot of heart like the classic shows have.
I really wish we got at least two more seasons (and a movie!), but I don’t think it’s completely over yet. Like McMahan said, Paramount is going through some big issues right now and sadly Star Trek is severely affected by it (ie, the movies…enough said). But I’m happy he’s going to try and push to get the show extended and he now have plenty of fans backing him. I’m OK if we never saw anymore of it (and I know the characters will eventually show up again at least), but if any show deserves to go longer, it’s this one.
And thanks to Anthony and TM total support and passion for this show. It’s been supportive of every show and film, but LDS clearly holds a special place reading the reviews for five years now. It’s nice to see it geek out over it like the rest of us fans.
That was not Worf’s fault!
Well, the multiverse gateway is now canon. So there’s that…..
I was half expecting the anomaly to become the one we saw at the end of Picard Season 2 through some time travel BS!
Yep and it’s a perfect set up for a spin off show. They can go totally bonkers with it. We could even see JJ verse characters show up. I would actually like that.
My hope is that The Powers That Be aren’t done with Mike McMahan are are letting him go crazy with a Starbase 80 animated series.
Goodgey was also seen briefly at the very very start of the episode when the camera is outside the ship pointing at the rim of the saucer section so that the audience can see multiple decks through the potholes on the edge of the hull. Look at the top deck that’s visible—there’s Goodgey! He’s floating down a corridor on the rim, accompanied by the full-figured human female officer and the Benzite officer who claimed were natives of Hawaii in “Wei Duj”.
What an absolutely marvelous series finale—I daresay the best since “What You Leave Behind”. But I will also quickly add that I refuse to believe this is the last time we see the Fabulous Five. If “Futurama” can come back, so can the Cerritos. Lower Decks! LOWER DECKS! LOWER DECKS!
Yeah bro, LOWER DECKS! LOWER DECKS! LOWER DECKS!!!!!
Fantastic finale, I watched it three times now. Just so much goodness.
And hopefully it won’t be the end. We have to fight to keep it going like we did Prodigy (and still fighting for Legacy!).
Try decaf? ;)
Are we thinking a Lower deck series II with Ransom as captain etc ?
Or a made-for-streaming movie (or movies) maybe that could be broken into individual episodes. Futurama did that for one of their returns. They definitely left the characters in position to continue the show…Mariner and Boimler as first officers, the Tendi and Rutherford romance just getting recognized, Tendi and T’Lyn as science officers, the multiverse gate with Starbase 80, etc etc etc.
There were so many fun Easter eggs in the finale, but there are so many fun ones every season so not a shock obviously. But man a lot of great stuff. And I was even happy to see the show throw Discovery a bone even though I really hate the Orc Klingons. But they are part of canon now so respect.
LDS proves why fans love it so much, it honors what came before so well but still very much it’s own show. Thanks for making great Star Trek and putting a smile on my face for five seasons McMahan!
Well said. A wonderful finale and great send off for this much loved iteration of Trek.
Its easy to see how if this hadn’t been a series finale but a season finale instead, they would have had Worf and the Enterprise more in the story, but since it was the series finale they made the right call not doing that. Don’t want a repeat of These Are The Voyages. Fun finale, I couldn’t believe they showed a Disco klingon that was wild.
There are fans online saying that the whole Klingon change proves that Discovery takes place in an alternate universe. I hope thats true but I doubt it.
The second season of Discovery addressed the hairless Klingon thing and eventually they went back to the old makeup. Man I wish JJ Abrams and his friends would leave my favorite sci-fi/fantasy films and television alone.
They have created a mess across two franchises and its shame. Imageine if he got his hands on Dune. LOL.
great two part finale…gonna miss this show. hope they have some tv movies in their future
they would never do this but i would love SNW to go to the live action Cerritos
Two of the ship iterations should have echoed the Protector, from Galaxy Quest (rights not a problem, as they’re owned by Paramount) and the Orville (OK, a Disney show).