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Star trek's "inscrutable" holodeck behavior explained by executive producer.

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Warning: This Article Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, Episode 4 - "Something Borrowed, Something Green"

• The Star Trek: Prodigy executive producer explains that the holodeck in Lower Decks manipulates perspective in complex ways that exceed our current understanding.
• Wide shots with characters in different locations have been seen before in the Star Trek universe.
• Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy's holodecks have also evolved technologically since it's been nearly 20 years since Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced them.

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 4 has what appears to be strange behavior by a Starfleet holodeck, but Star Trek: Prodigy 's executive producer offers an explanation. In Lower Decks season 4, episode 4's B-story, Lieutenants Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) both cosplay as Mark Twain to sort out their personal differences as roommates. Boimler and Rutherford's holodeck program is set aboard a 19th-century riverboat, but the simulation seems to take things a lot further than necessary.

On Twiiter/X, Star Trek: Prodigy executive producer Aaron J. Waltke responded to Screen Rant's Tweet questioning (but appreciating) how the holodeck in Star Trek: Lower Decks created an establishing shot beyond what Rutherford and Boimler would find necessary for their program as twin Mark Twains . Check out the posts below:

Aaron J. Waltke does have a point that Star Trek's holodecks, which are purely fictional anyway, operate on "inscrutable" levels beyond our current comprehension. It's an easy way to explain storytelling contrivances, but then again, holodeck technology has also likely evolved in Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy 's 2280s timeframe beyond how they worked when Star Trek: The Next Generation first introduced holodecks in 2364.

Related: Star Trek: Lower Decks Cast Guide - Who Voices Each Character In All 4 Seasons?

Star Trek: Prodigy Showcased How Powerful Holodecks Can Be

Holodeck episodes have been a staple of Star Trek since The Next Generation , and Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 took them to another level. Aaron J. Waltke himself wrote Prodigy season 1's holodeck crossover episode, "Kobayashi," which used archival audio to bring back Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), and Odo (Rene Auberjonois) to join Dal R'El (Brett Gray) in the holodeck. Prodigy season 1, episode 17, "Ghost in the Machine," was a visual feast where the USS Protostar's young crew is trapped in their holodeck fantasies, and it features the wide establishing shots and grander perspectives that Aaron J. Waltke references in his Tweet.

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 4, "Something Borrowed, Something Green," utilized the holodeck and Boimler and Rutherford's Mark Twain fantasy to hilarious effect. But holodecks in Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Lower Decks do seem more capable of creating expansive vistas, perhaps to make the experiences of the user more immersive. But also, the holodecks showcase the storytelling abilities of Star Trek's animated series , which is one of that medium's great strengths.

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

Source: Twitter/X

• Star Trek Lower Decks (2020)

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4's Ultra-Nerdy Mark Twain Joke, Explained

The fourth episode of the fourth season of "Star Trek: Lower Decks," called "Something Borrowed, Something Green," sees Lieutenant Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Lieutenant Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) sharing a dorm. In previous seasons, when the characters were merely ensigns, they slept in bunks in a hallway. They now have an enclosed private room for the first time, a wrinkle that soon has the two at each other's throats. Notably, they have come to blows over which of them gets to mist the room's adorable bonsai tree. Low-stakes animosity immediately forms. To make matters worse, Boimler's and Rutherford's respective holodeck hours have been double-booked, and they will have to share the day's recreation time together as well. 

Curiously, both Boimler and Rutherford enter the holodeck dressed as Mark Twain , eager to spend a few quiet hours on an old-timey Mississippi riverboat. Affecting Twainian accents, the two begin by hurling insults, but soon find that their mutual Twaindencies cause them to bond. It seems they can more diplomatically negotiate living disputes when dressed as Mark Twain. Boimler and Rutherford liked their Twain diplomacy technique so much, they later suggest Captain Freeman ( Dawnn Lewis ) and a vicious Chalnoth try it out themselves. Absurdity ensues. 

Trekkies will happily recognize the appearance of Mark Twain on "Star Trek" as more than a mere literary reference. Twain once appeared as a character on an infamous two-part time-travel episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" called "Time's Arrow" from 1992. It seems that the very long-lived Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) lived on Earth in 1893 and was friends with the affable Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens (Jerry Hardin).

Time's Arrow

The plot of "Time's Arrow" is, as are all time-travel stories, a little complicated. A replica of Data's head was found in a cave back on Earth, leading the crew of the USS Enterprise-D to investigate. Through a complex series of events, they find a species of pan-dimensional aliens resting in the cave, as well as a time portal that leads back centuries. The aliens have been plundering Earth's past, sucking energy from the locals and using the energy as food. They're essentially soul vampires. Data (Brent Spiner) is thrown back in time where he attempts to blend in, and where he meets a younger Guinan and Mark Twain in his heyday. The rest of the Enterprise crew follows Data later on.

It will be Twain who, thanks to Data's odd appearance and some overheard sci-fi tech talk, begins to suspect that there may be a time traveler in their midst. Given that he wrote "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" a few years prior to the events of "Time's Arrow," Twain is open to the fantastical possibility. 

Also, not to disappoint viewers, the writers of "Time's Arrow" also wanted to feature a scene wherein Twain is brought back to the future where he would be allowed to wander the halls of the Enterprise. In a notable scene with Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis), Twain finds the post-capitalist utopia of "Star Trek" baffling. He initially assumes that the Enterprise is built to destroy cities and engage in military conquest; he's heard the "we're only here to explore" line from too many colonialists in the past. 

Troi explains there is no more poverty, and that power is no longer an end unto itself. Twain is impressed and says he'd give up cigars for a future like that. 

Trek's weird obsession with the past

We've previously written about how, when 20th-century pop music appears on "Star Trek," it feels a little weird . Because there is a commercial element to modern pop — a licensing deal would have to be struck in order for a pop song to appear on a Paramount-owned TV show — it invites an unwelcome corporate element to a TV series that gains its power by being expressly post-capitalist. It also avoids presumptuousness on the screenwriters' parts, freeing them from speculation that something written in the recent past will be timeless enough to live into the 24th century. 

As such, when "Trek" refers to Earth's ancient art, it's typically music and literature that is in the public domain. People on "Star Trek" listen to classical music and to jazz, but rarely to pop, punk, hip-hop, or anything immediately known to the modern ear. As a result, wisdom — by the show's estimation — comes from an ancient list of classics that resembles Harold Bloom's stodgy "Western Canon." The writers of the original "Star Trek" certainly felt that way, as they were all born in the 1920s and 1930s, and were raised on a certain type of "classical" education. When it came to literary references, "Trek" leaned into Shakespeare, Shelley, and numerous other dead Brits. 

Mark Twain, then, was fair game for "Star Trek." His works were old enough to adhere to the show's unspoken mandate of public domain art, but folksy enough to be relatable to a modern audience. It certainly helps that Twain's works are still read in schools to this day, adding familiarity as well; Twain is hardly obscure. 

So, yes, Boimler and Rutherford would know about Twain and would be happy to play dress-up. 

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Published Oct 14, 2022

Below Deck with Lower Decks: Rock On

Stuck between a rock and a holographic place.

SPOILER WARNING: Discussion for Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season 3, Episode 8 “Crisis Point II: Paradoxus” to follow!

StarTrek.com

Holographic shenanigans are afoot in the latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks ! Trusted sources tell me this episode was running over budget, so rather than drawing actual planet exterior locations and huge elaborate sets, the show’s animators elected to just render them on the Holodeck to save time and money. It absolutely does make sense. Shut up! #TrueStory

Ensign Boimler decided to create a sequel to Mariner’s Holo-movie program, Crisis Point: The Rise of Vindicta , which was introduced in the first-season episode “Crisis Point.” Crisis Point II: Paradoxus features Boimler himself as the star of the show. With Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford along for the ride, Boimler, as “Captain Bucephalus Dagger,” seems driven by something altogether different than simply trying to one-up Mariner.

She soon realizes Boimler’s been using the Holodeck to process some terrible news he’s received, similar to how she used her original Holo-movie to work through some of her own issues. They set off on a holographic adventure for the ages to help Boimler find the answers he seeks, including a visit to the third moon of the mysterious planet Shatanari and an audience with a massive rock creature calling itself “Ki-Ty-Ha.”

“Crisis Point II: Paradoxus”

If your ears perked up at any of that, it’s likely because you recognize the planet’s name as a play on words in reference to the one and only William Shatner. In addition to bringing to life the legendary Captain James T. Kirk himself, Mr. Shatner also directed 1989’s Star Trek V: The Final Frontier . Yes, it’s the one where the Enterprise journeys to “Sha Ka Ree,” a planet at the center of the galaxy, because Spock’s rogue half-brother Sybok is searching for the Vulcan equivalent of god. The being they find is revealed as a dangerous life form trying to escape the planet, and in the film’s original script, it was supposed to unleash a horde of rock-like creatures on Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

Further, “Sha Ka Ree” itself is a play on the name of iconic actor Sean Connery. The man who gave us the first cinematic portrayal of secret agent James Bond was approached to play the role of Sybok; however, he had already committed to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade , which was released the same summer as Star Trek V .

As for the “god” Boimler and Mariner find? “Ki-Ty-Ha” is its own in-joke, and this time it’s a two-fer! In addition to what the Lower Deckers discover in this episode (no, we’re not spoiling that so soon!), the scene is also a play on Kirk and his crew discovering that the V’ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture is, in reality, Voyager 6, a space probe launched from Earth in the late 20th Century.

BUT WAIT! There’s more.

We can’t let any reference to Star Trek and rock monsters go without also acknowledging yet another homage to this scene — Commander Peter Quincy Taggart squaring off against a similar creature, Gorignak, in 1999’s pitch-perfect and very loving Star Trek parody, Galaxy Quest .

After all of this, does Boimler find answers to his questions? You’ll just have to watch the episode to find out!

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Dayton Ward (he/him) is a New York Times bestselling author or co-author of numerous novels and short stories including a whole bunch of stuff set in the Star Trek universe, and often collaborating with friend and co-writer Kevin Dilmore. As he’s still a big ol' geek at heart, Dayton is known to wax nostalgic about all manner of Star Trek topics over on his own blog, The Fog of Ward .

Star Trek: Lower Decks streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel. The series will also be available to stream on Paramount+ in the UK, Canada, Latin America, Australia, Italy, France, the Caribbean, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and South Korea.

Star Trek: Lower Decks

Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020–present) is an animated science fiction television series based on Gene Roddenberry ’s Star Trek .

• 1.1 Second Contact [1.1]
• 1.2 Envoys [1.2]
• 1.3 Temporal Edict [1.3]
• 1.4 Moist Vessel [1.4]
• 1.5 Cupid's Errant Arrow [1.5]
• 1.6 Terminal Provocations [1.6]
• 1.7 Much Ado About Boimler [1.7]
• 1.8 Veritas [1.8]
• 1.9 Crisis Point [1.9]
• 1.10 No Small Parts [1.10]
• 2.1 Strange Energies [2.1]
• 2.2 Kayshon, His Eyes Open [2.2]
• 2.3 We'll Always Have Tom Paris [2.3]
• 2.4 Mugato, Gumato [2.4]
• 2.5 An Embarrassment Of Dooplers [2.5]
• 2.6 The Spy Humongus [2.6]
• 2.7 Where Pleasant Fountains Lie [2.7]
• 2.8 I, Excretus [2.8]
• 2.9 wej Duj [2.9]
• 2.10 First First Contact [2.10]
• 3.1 Grounded [3.1]
• 3.2 The Least Dangerous Game [3.2]
• 3.3 Mining the Mind's Mines [3.3]
• 3.4 Room for Growth [3.4]
• 3.5 Reflections [3.5]
• 3.6 Hear All, Trust Nothing [3.6]
• 3.7 A Mathematically Perfect Redemption [3.7]
• 3.8 Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus [3.8]
• 3.9 Trusted Sources [3.9]
• 3.10 The Stars at Night [3.10]
• 4.1 Twovix [4.1]
• 4.2 I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee [4.2]
• 4.3 In the Cradle of Vexilon [4.3]
• 4.4 Something Borrowed, Something Green [4.4]
• 4.5 Empathological Fallacies [4.5]
• 4.6 Parth Ferengi's Heart Place [4.6]
• 4.7 A Few Badgeys More [4.7]
• 4.8 Caves [4.8]
• 4.9 The Inner Fight [4.9]
• 4.10 Old Friends, New Planets [4.10]
• 5 Season Five
• 6 External links

Second Contact [1.1]

[Ensign Beckett Mariner enters, gasps and laughs]

Envoys [1.2]

Temporal edict [1.3], moist vessel [1.4], cupid's errant arrow [1.5], terminal provocations [1.6], much ado about boimler [1.7], veritas [1.8], crisis point [1.9], no small parts [1.10], strange energies [2.1], kayshon, his eyes open [2.2], we'll always have tom paris [2.3], mugato, gumato [2.4], an embarrassment of dooplers [2.5], the spy humongus [2.6], where pleasant fountains lie [2.7], i, excretus [2.8], wej duj [2.9], first first contact [2.10], season three, grounded [3.1], the least dangerous game [3.2], mining the mind's mines [3.3], room for growth [3.4], reflections [3.5], hear all, trust nothing [3.6], a mathematically perfect redemption [3.7], crisis point 2: paradoxus [3.8], trusted sources [3.9], the stars at night [3.10], season four, twovix [4.1], i have no bones yet i must flee [4.2], in the cradle of vexilon [4.3], something borrowed, something green [4.4], empathological fallacies [4.5], parth ferengi's heart place [4.6], a few badgeys more [4.7], caves [4.8], the inner fight [4.9], old friends, new planets [4.10], season five, external links.

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• Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode Guide

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Lower Decks – Behind the Scenes

By Star Trek 15 April 2022

Greetings Commanders,

In this new blog post, we wanted to go behind the scenes on everything Lower Decks , from creating our new frames and ship to the animation of its characters.

Let’s check this out!

Lower Decks Frames Creation Process

The Lower Decks Frames were created by the UI Team. We had not worked in this cartoony, 2D style before, but we were excited to give it a shot as we love the show.

The first step to creating cosmetic items (especially when working in a new style) is to grab as many reference images as possible. From there we started breaking down the shapes, materials, color schemes, lighting, line weights, visual flourishes, etc. that make something fit the Lower Decks style. We have multiple artists working on different assets so establishing a consistent style is important.

Next, we came up with sketches for each frame. These were based on the reference material, and the rarity of the cosmetic items (Uncommon, Rare, or Epic). We review the sketches at the size they appear in-game while showcasing various avatars. The artist collates any feedback and works up the final version.

Take the Epic Lower Decks Frame (first one). Here we tried bringing the atmosphere of those lower guts of the ship, where everything is darker, more cramped, and dirtier. We looked at existing references and all we saw were exposed cables, claustrophobic spaces… and noodle cups. For the Uncommon Holodeck Frame (second one), we brought directly the look & feel of the same episode where we see the interior of the holodeck, with its glowing lines and metallic canisters.

Let’s look at the Epic USS Cerritos Frame (third one): this was all about matching the materials, color scheme, and light panels from the iconic ship. Last but not least, if you look at the Rare Boimler Effect Frame (fourth one), we look at the episodes and found inspiration in the gold plaque and other examples of golden materials we can see when we learn from Boiler’s a ship-wide mandate.

Shipping New 2D Officers

Lower Decks was an exciting but challenging departure for the art team on STFC. As we are a team that is used to the 3D character and animation work, we had to completely re-imagine our art pipeline to accommodate this unique 2D look that appears in the TV show.

The first step in the pipeline was to re-create the 2D assets in a simple layered form in Photoshop . We were given some of the original assets from the show but even these had to be cut up into individual layers. After that, we added some more layers for new unique movements and expressions that we wanted to achieve. Next, we send the asset to our Unity game engine , and it gets re-arranged in an efficient layout. Then we draw a unique skeleton of joints, which we attach to the various parts of the character, to enable us to move and animate the new officer.

The final step is to re-create the movements of the characters from the show. As they have a very unique movement style this was a big change from the more ‘fluid’ animation style we are used to. However, we feel we’ve captured the mood and feeling of the show and are very happy with the final look.

Creating the USS Cerritos Ship

Doing the Cerritos ship for STFC was definitely a unique experience for us as a 3D team . Because it has quite a special look, we had to be very accurate with how we approached texturing and the 3D modeling side of things. Firstly, we had to adjust the existing 3D model from the show and create a more simplified though still detailed enough model which would suit our in-game restrictions.

It wasn’t the easiest ship that we ever did in the studio. However, we think the final result is worth all the extra time we’ve put into it. 

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WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1, Episode 9, "Crisis Point," now streaming on CBS All Access.

Lower Decks has proved to be a series by  Star Trek fans for  Star Trek fans. Every episode is chock full of references to series past, present and future, poking loving fun at a franchise that has spanned over half a decade. However, "Crisis Point" takes aim at a new part of the lore, as this week's installment uses the holodeck to do its own version of a  Star Trek film.

The show goes planetside for the second cold open in a row , as Mariner (Tawny Newsome) has succeeded in liberating a planet of lizard men from their rat overlords. But before the newly-freed reptiles can bask to their hearts' content, Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) arrives to stop the proceedings. She's furious that her daughter violated the Prime Directive, which quickly sends Mariner from exaltation to anger. As the two argue for the umpteenth time, the captain ends up giving the ensign the only punishment worse than the brig: therapy.

RELATED:  Star Trek: Lower Decks Debuted Its Version Of A Famous TNG Character

After the credits, Mariner pays her penance, sitting down with the ship's therapist, who's equal parts bird and food pun enthusiast. Still steaming at her mother's treatment of her, she goes to the holodeck to shoot some skeet with Tendi (Noel Wells), Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) and Leonardo Da Vinci. They're soon interrupted by Boimler (Jack Quaid), who's got his own holo-business to attend to.

The ensign is interviewing with Freeman later today for an Advanced Diplomacy workshop. He wants to practice on a simulated crew to prep for it, which he created using archives of several years of private logs. While Boimler starts his pre-interviewing to get a sense of greeting etiquette, Mariner is struck with inspiration. Some new parameters and a quick script later, the simulated bridge fades away to reveal nothing but a title:  Crisis Point: The Rise of Vindicta .

RELATED:  Star Trek: Lower Decks Pokes Fun at One of TNG's Weirdest Episodes

Mariner has gone rogue with her own form of therapy, using Boimler's program to create a cinematic form of catharsis. While Tendi and Rutherford are excited at playing a part, Boimler refuses to participate, angry his prep has been hijacked. As the others leave, he goes from dodging approaching credits to falling into the first scene, as the  Cerritos crew is enjoying a day off of jet skiing and fun at Shaxs' (Fred Tatasciore) expense.

Boimler awkwardly crashes the party to continue his pre-interviewing, but the shoehorning quickly ends when the crew is called onto a mission. They're briefed by a ship posing as a Starfleet vessel  that made second contact with a planet, and the  Cerritos has been recruited to investigate this imposter. The crew is immediately taken to the ship, revealed in a magnificent, resplendent, and all-too-long sequence parodying   Star Trek: The Motion Picture . The panning shots and overuse of lens flare follow them aboard the bridge, as they epically jump to warp.

RELATED:  Star Trek: Lower Decks Indirectly Involves... TNG’s William Riker

The Cerritos arrives at the planet in question to face down with a decloaked Warbird. Inside is Mariner, playing the role of "Vindicta" and doing her best Khan impression. She sits in the captain's chair, caked in dark eye make-up and a thirst for vengeance. By her side are the pirate queen Tendi (who objects to the stereotyping of Orions), bionic Rutherford and a clear analog to Boimler, who quickly gets killed when he brings his boss the wrong drink. Vindicta digs into Freeman, calling her a "propped-up errand girl" obsessed with licking Starfleet's boots. The crew is confused and enraptured, which is why by the time they notice her message was prerecorded, it's too late because they've been boarded.

Vindicta immediately goes into slaughter mode, earning a wide-eyed response from Tendi. Ransom (Jerry O'Connell) tries to subdue her, but he is quickly shot before Boimler could even get Freeman's food allergies out of him. Rutherford has his own epiphany about this simulation and goes off to tell his boss Billups (Paul Scheer) about how he wants to be the best engineer in Starfleet. Despite Billups jumping into action upon seeing the enemy, the two find some common ground as they work together to keep the ship afloat amongst all its damage.

RELATED: Lower Decks Names the Greatest Villain in the Star Trek Universe

Meanwhile, Vindicta continues to tear through the  Cerritos , graphically blowing up Shaxs with a Borg head bomb. When she offers to torture Tendi's boss, that's one step too far for the Orion. Tendi leaves the simulation, saying this is not healthy and telling Mariner, "This is not you." However, those words fall on deaf ears as Vindicta finally reaches the bridge and Freeman. As she continues to rip into the captain about being treated like the bad guy all the time, she shows her ambition's lack of boundaries and blows up her own ship. The resulting shockwave knocks the  Cerritos out of orbit, sending them into a crash landing larger than  Star Trek: Generations .

Thanks to Rutherford doing the literal impossible, most of the crew gets beamed out in the nick of time, leaving a select few aboard. That includes Freeman, who finally goes fist-to-fist with Vindicta. When Vindicta has the captain on the ropes, a savior arrives in the form of Mariner. As she beams Freeman away, the fight continues, but now the therapeutic nature of this exercise comes to the forefront as Mariner fights herself.

RELATED:  Star Trek: Lower Decks Takes A Page From The Thing

During their exchange of blows and words, a lot comes out about Mariner's inner psychology. She only breaks the rules because that's what people expect her to do. Despite saying she's too cool for it, she loves the warp core. She's casting herself as the villain instead of taking the harder route of being a good officer. And, most heavily, she would do anything for her mom, despite her overbearing parenting. Mariner shows the extent of that when she self-destructs the Cerritos , sacrificing herself and ending the simulation (saving Boimler, who was tossed off a cliff after discovering the captain has a chocolate allergy the hard way).

Mariner comes out of the holodeck, stunned at her revelations. As Rutherford gains further admiration for his stone-cold, soup-sipping boss, Mariner apologizes to both Tendi and Freeman for her behavior before. The latter does not take the apology at face value, though, and we see her talk in her own therapy session about her paranoia as a mother. It's a great reminder that --to use a phrase that the ship's therapist has probably used many times --the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

RELATED: Star Trek: Lower Decks Remixes An Iconic Line From The Franchise

Boimler dives back into the simulation one last time, crashing the middle of Freeman's eulogy for Mariner. The ensign gets information, but definitely not what he was expecting, as holo-Freeman reveals to the crew that Mariner was her daughter. And she underlines the impact of the revelation, saying anyone who knew about their relationship would immediately be fired and possibly court-martialed. It's the exact opposite thing Boimler wanted to hear as he goes to his interview, stunned into silence. All he has is Mariner on the brain, leaving him a babbling mess for the captain that has him running out in the middle of their conversation. Despite all his preparation, Freeman perceives him as unprepared for the interview and marks him down as such.

As The Next Generation 's  Reg Barclay can attest to, the holodeck can serve as a form of release for characters. In true  Lower Decks fashion, "Crisis Point" changes that formula, turning a scenario into a full-out, action-packed dive into both the thirteen  Star Trek films that have been made up to this point and the characteristics that make surprisingly deep Mariner tick. Considering the depths to plumb when it comes to parody, it would be no surprise if, like Vindicta out of her Genesis pod at the end of this episode, the holodeck movie format comes back in the future.

Star Trek: Lower Decks stars Tawny Newsome as Ensign Beckett Mariner , Eugene Cordero as Ensign Rutherford, Jack Quaid as Ensign Brad Boimler, Noël Wells as Ensign Tendi, Dawnn Lewis as Captain Carol Freeman, Jerry O'Connell as Commander Jack Ransom, Gillian Vigman as Doctor T'Ana and Fred Tatasciore as Lieutenant Shaxs. The show premiered on CBS All Access on Aug. 6.

KEEP READING:  Lower Decks: How Q Returns to the Star Trek Universe

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Lower Decks Episode 6's best joke brutally mocks The Next Generation's cheapest plot device

Credit: CBS All Access

Very few  Star Trek   fans would cite a holodeck episode as their favorite episode of any given series. And the reason why is simple: Nearly every single holodeck episode of  The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine,  or  Voyager , is also a story in which the holographic characters and situations suddenly turn deadly, or malfunction in such a way that defies reason. In the sixth episode of  Star Trek: Lower Decks   Season 1, the show embraces this absurd trope head-on, and the result is an episode that will make Trekkies remember some of the sillier rogue-AI stories from Trek 's past, and maybe make you reconsider how seriously you take  Westworld .

**Spoilers ahead for  Star Trek: Lower Decks  Season 1, Episode 6, "Terminal Provocations."**

For fans who are hoping that Rutherford and Tendi will finally become a couple — and make the shipping name "Rundi" into a real thing — this episode brings them very close. When Rutherford takes Tendi to the holodeck to help her overcome her fear of spacewalking, it seems like, for a moment, we're going to get a sweet, romantic episode in which they finally manage to admit their true feelings for each other. But, as the previous episode reminded us , people in Starfleet can rarely have straightforward or sweet romantic episodes, because just as Rutherford and Tendi's magnetic boots start to connect, a rogue holodeck program threatens to kill them, literally.

When a huge shipwide failure occurs, Tendi and Rutherford are trapped with a rogue AI hologram program named "Badgey," who is basically an unholy mashup of that cutesy Microsoft Office paperclip "helper," and the Starfleet insignia. Like so many pseudo-sentient holograms in Star Trek 's past, Badgey turns into a killing machine really quickly, a fact that overtly mocks nearly every episode featuring the holodeck in all '90s Trek shows; from its introduction, the holodeck was a place characters usually went so they could be trapped. In the Season 1  TNG  episode "The Big Goodbye," Picard enters the holodeck to participate in a hard-boiled detective story in the guise of a private eye named "Dixon Hill." But, of course, a bizarre shipwide failure ensues, and suddenly the holographic mobsters and wiseguys are suddenly very dangerous, and the holographic simulation becomes super real.

This episode aired in 1988, and from that point, the blueprint for this kind of episode remained fairly unchanged throughout all of  TNG , DS9 , and  Voyager . Although, with "Badgey," the concept is far more meta. For the most part, when holodeck characters go berserk, they take the form of a pre-existing fictional character. In the  TNG  episode "Elementary, My Dear Data," a holographic version of Moriarty was created who was accidentally endowed with the ability to defeat Data, and, most importantly, take over the  Enterprise . Rutherford references this — and  several  other '90s Trek holographic characters — when he says the "holodeck is not just for hanging with Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, Sigmund Freud, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Einstein and DaVinci and Stephen Hawking and Socrates."

Picard versus a holographic Moriarty in "Elementary My Dear Data." (Credit: CBS) 

Most of these characters appeared as holograms in episodes of  TNG  or Voyager , with the strange exceptions of Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood. Although Sherlock Holmes characters appeared in the episodes "Elementary My Dear, Data," and "Ship in a Bottle," Data himself played Sherlock Holmes, and Data is an android and not a hologram. Similarly, although Captain Picard took on the guise of Robin Hood in the episode "Q-Pid," that didn't happen on the holodeck, but instead inside of some kind of bizarre dimension created specifically by "Q."

The reference to Cyrano de Bergerac is also a deep cut, specifically because although that character never actually appeared as a holographic character, the  TNG  character we most associate with holograms — Lt. Barclay —  played  Cyrano, briefly, in an episode called "The Nth Degree." In that episode, infamous hologram addict Barclay also merged his mind with the ship's computer, and briefly became an insane humane/AI hybrid. This, of course, is the exact same thing that happens to the character Fletcher in this new episode of  Lower Decks , and the tip-off is the quick jab at Cyrano, a character that also wasn't a hologram, but who, on some level, was a catalyst for a different story that featured a character who was obsessed with holograms. (Yes, it's a lot.)

Within the confines of '90s Trek , the idea that a simulation could even have a feature that would  allow  for holograms to become dangerous is somewhat absurd. In  First Contact,  back in his Dixon Hill guise, Picard is able to mow down a bunch of Borg with a Tommy gun, and explains that because he disabled the holodeck's safety protocols, "even a holographic bullet can kill."

Fletcher pulls a Barclay. (Credit: CBS)

This trope is obviously not limited to Star Trek , and if you think about it for just a little bit, is pretty much the exact premise of  Westworld . Obviously, the Hosts of Westworld have more sophistication than a murdering hologram like "Badgey," but the notion that the technology is already out of control basically the second  it's created is the same in both scenarios. Cynically, you could argue that all of these storylines can be traced back to  Frankenstein,   but the essential difference is that the holograms in Star Trek  are, in theory, created mostly for amusement. Rutherford using the holodeck to create a training program is fairly responsible, and actually, it's odd how infrequently holographic training simulations are seen in Star Trek , at least in contrast to the number of times people are just goofing around on the holodeck instead. 

Overall, the reason why this  Lower Decks  joke works is that our loveable group of slackers aren't the ones messing around. Mariner and Boimler are trying to do the right thing, while Rutherford and Tendi are just trying to use the holodeck to complete some training. In most holodeck-run-amok stories from Trek 's past, the main characters were all trying to have some kind of holographic vacation, and then everything backfired. What's funny this time, is that our heroes were actually just trying to get through their day, and this ridiculous trope tried to destroy them anyway.

Lower Decks  has four episodes left in Season 1. New episodes air on Thursdays on CBS All Access.

• Star Trek: Lower Decks
• Star Trek: The Next Generation

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