Star Trek Social Club

• The episode title is a play on the TNG season episode, “Lower Decks”, which also served as the inspiration for the name of this series.

• Boimler’s beard has progressed to the point where his moustache and goatee have connected.

    • Rutherford appears to have shaved off his beard, perhaps indicating that after the previous episode’s michelada incident, he’s no longer trying to emulate Beardler.

• Halloween has previously been mentioned in:

    • “Catspaw” - Bones compared the situation he, Kirk, and Spock found themselves in to the holiday

    • “The Big Goodbye” - A holodeck character insulted Captain Picard by claiming his uniform made him *”ready for Halloween.”

    • “Crisis Point” - We learned that Mariner dressed up as Toby the Targ for Halloween on multiple occasions.

    • “Those Old Scientists” - We learned that Boimler dressed as Pike for Halloween on the USS Cerritos

    • Additionally the USS Discovery’s registry number, NCC-1031, is a reference to the date Halloween falls on

• Mariner claims she was ”trapped in a painting,” but describes the situation more as being trapped in a holoprogram, a more common experience on Trek.

• V’Ger appeared in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”.

• It’s Steve Stevens! From Star Trek! Stevens is voiced by Ben Rodgers, former story editor and writer on the series.

    • We haven’t seen Stevens since season four’s “Empathological Fallacies”, and he hasn’t had any dialogue since season three’s “Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus”.

    • This is the first episode where we get some insight into Stevens’ role on the ship as Cap’n Freeman’s personal assistant.

• A pathogen caused ensign Barnes devolved into a cavewoman, not unlike what happened to Riker in “Genesis”, while simultaneously developing the ability to read minds, similar to Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, or Charlie Evans in “Charlie X”.

• ”The who?” Freeman previously acquired a star chart of the neutral zone from the Clickets before upsetting them with her courtesy in “Veritas”

• ”My team refreshed all the Cordry rocks in the ceiling panels on the bridge.” We get a technobabble explanation for the debris that occasionally falls from the bridge ceiling when the ship is hit by an attack, such as in “Yesterday’s Enterprise”.

    • The Cordry rocks may have been named for Marian Cordry, the director of Paramount’s Star Trek franchise library and archive.

• ”Well, they look like cows to me.” Ransom has never seen a cow.

• The researcher/Clicket infiltrator Zurkel is played by Paul F. Thompkins, who also voices Doctor Migleemo.

• The ensigns trying to wrangle the buhgoon are from both beta and delta shift, calling into question how the shift system works entirely.

    • This is the first time we’ve seen Federov wearing more than a towel.

• The buhgoon have a natural cloaking ability. Other living beings with the ability to cloak include:

    • Beings infected by the Tarchanne parasite - “Identity Crisis”

    • The beast captains Picard and Dathon confronted - “Darmok”

    • The hunters from Yautja Prime - “Family”

    • Jem’Hadar - “The Jem’Hadar”

    • Tosk - “Captive Pursuit”

• Ransom begins his story with, ”Back a few hundred stardates ago.” A hundred stardates is roughly 36.5 days in 100 stardates, Ransom is talking about a matter of months.

• Tempassa was mentioned in “Ties of Blood and Water” as the location of a raid by the Shakaar resistance cell. Shaxs was established as having been part of that cell in “Hear All, Trust Nothing”.

• Shaxs has a Bajoran flag, as seen in “The Star Gazer” in his quarters.

• Billups mentions having had a bagel and it giving him an upset stomach in his logs. In “Starbase 80?!” it was established that Billups is branching out from only eating hot cereals.

• In “Twovix” Westlake had commander pips after being restored to his original form, yet here he’s back to being a lieutenant. Perhaps it was just a piece of sweet corn?

• ”We’re good to go the next time some virus makes everyone sing or whatever.” Sadly we haven’t seen any singing viruses on Star Trek. Nurse Westlake’s hyposprays would not do much in the case of a quantum probability field, like the one in “Subspace Rhapsody”.

• Feeman tells the pregnant crewperson she wasn’t aware they weren’t human. There are a number of species outwardly indistinguishable from humans. The non-extinct, non-shapeshifting ones include:

    • Earth Two natives - “Miri”

    • Betans - “The Return of the Archons”

    • Eminian - “A Taste of Armageddon”

    • Capallans - “Friday’s Child” - While human in appearance, all Capallans were notably tall and large

    • Argelians - “Wolf in the Fold”

    • 829-IV natives - “Bread and Circuses”

    • Neural natives - “A Private Little War”

    • Iotians - “A Piece of the Action”

    • Ekosians - “Patterns of Force”

    • Zeons - “Patterns of Force”

    • Kohms and Yangs - “The Omega Glory”

    • Elasian - “Elaan of Troyius”

    • Morg and Eyemorg - “Spock’s Brain”

    • Minarans - “The Empath”

    • Fabrini - “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky”

    • Platonians - “Plato’s Stepchildren”

    • Scalosians - “Wink of an Eye” - While outwardly indistinguishable from humans, they do move too fast to be seen by humans

    • Gideons - “The Mark of Gideon”

    • Ardanans - “The Cloud Minders”

    • Sarpedion natives - “All Our Yesterdays”

    • Deltan - “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” - All Deltans are bald and are considered to be conventionally attractive by human standards

    • Bandi - “Encounter at Farpoint”

    • Betazoids - “Encounter at Farpoint” - Betazoids have all black eyes

    • Ligonian - “Code of Honor”

    • Edo - “Justice”

    • Tarellians - “Haven”

    • Angel One natives - “Angel One”

    • Mordanites - “Too Short a Season”

    • Aldeans - “When the Bough Breaks”

    • El-Aurian - “The Child”

    • Omega Sagitta system natives - “The Outrageous Okona”

    • Ramatasian - “As Loud As A Whisper”

    • Angosians - “The Hunted”

    • Rutians - “The High Ground” - Two-tone hair seems to be a species trait, and colours appear to depend on gender

    • Ventaxians - “Devil’s Due”

    • Yedera Prime natives - “Shadowplay”

    • Sikarians - “Prime Factors”

    • Teplans - “The Quickening”

    • Takarians - “False Profits”

    • Vori - “Nemesis”

    • Mari - “Random Thoughts”

    • Dinali - “Critical Care”

    • Ba’ku - “Star Trek: Insurrection”

    • Toroth system natives - “Desert Crossing”

    • Illyrian - “Damage” - Illyrian appearances vary depending on their genetic modifications, but most of the ones we see on SNW appear indistinguishable from humans

    • Kwejian - “That Hope is You, Part 1” - Their foreheads do light up when using their psychic abilities

• The pregnant alien is voiced by Phil LaMarr, who also portrays Admiral Freeman, Dirk, and handful of other characters.

• ”I felt stuck out of phase, like Geordi and Ro…” Winger Bingston Jr. references the events of “The Next Phase” in his one man show.

• We previously saw this model of Clicket ship in “Veritas”.

• ”Ransom role!” Ransom has previously called out names while engaging in physical activity, specifically during the combat with Vindoor in “Temporal Edict”, he alternatingly yelled ”Kirk!” and ”Spock!” while hitting the Galrakian with double fist strikes.

• The tear in Zurkel’s disguise looks very reminiscent of torn mask worn by a Malurian disguised as an Akaali in “Civilization”. Both are on the left side of the face, and show a very alien visage beneath false, human(esque) flesh.

• ”You are the worst commander I’ve ever had in my life.” It was established in “Envoys” that Castro served on the Enterprise, though which one wasn’t specified. Still, barring time travel, that narrows it down to Riker, Data, or whomever had the position after Data.

• Billups is briefly stuck in a tube, apparently dying, in a scene inspired by Spock’s death in “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan”.

• The cadet who approaches Billups about a burned out indicator light previously asked Boimler for advice in “wej Duj”. He is voiced by Nolan North.

• It’s the Freemans’ anniversary, which raises the question of whether or not they got married on Halloween.

    • It appears that the holodeck location Admiral Freeman selected for their anniversary dinner is Café des Artistes, as seen in “We’ll Always Have Paris”. The chairs are different, but the balcony and the view are the same.

• ”No. I have made a joke at your expense. Boom.” The real joke here is the perpetuated myth that Vulcans never lie.

The title, an inversion of the series’ name, indicates the focus in this episode on the bridge crew. It is the flip side of and a play on TNG: “Lower Decks”, an episode focused on the lower deckers when the series is mainly about the bridge crew.

Whatever Stardate it is, it’s Halloween on Cerritos. Although Picard seemed to be unfamiliar with the holiday in TNG: “The Big Goodbye”, McCoy makes reference to it in TOS: “Catspaw”. Mariner used to dress as Toby the Targ for Halloween (LD: “Crisis Point”) and Boimler dressed once as Christopher Pike (SNW: “Those Old Scientists”). As a bit of trivia, the registry number for the USS Discovery, NCC-1031, was allegedly chosen by Bryan Fuller because he loved Halloween.

V’Ger is the antagonist in TMP, and Mariner quotes the Ilia probe from the movie’s climax. This season, V’Ger joined the ever crowded starship battle in the opening credits.

Boimler’s mustache has finally joined up with his goatee, although his muttonchops have yet to. His line about how the lower deckers are the stars of the show while the commanders fade into the background is a meta comment on LD itself.

Steve Stevens makes another appearance, this time a speaking one, and he appears to be assisting Freeman now rather than following Ransom around as he used to.

Barnes is a Trill Operations Officer who used to date Rutherford (LD: “Second Contact”). The most memorable example of a pathogen causing devolution is from TNG: “Genesis”, where a mutated T-cell allowed dormant genes to be transferred from one person to another. Nurse Ogawa, in particular, devolved into an ape-like form.

The Clickets, an insectoid race that treated thanks as a hostile gesture, first appeared in LD: “Veritas”.

Shax’s hallucination reminds me of the multiple Shaxes Rutherford thinks about when he’s trying to figure out how Shax returned from the dead (LD: “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”).

Freeman says she doesn’t want the buhgoon defecating all over the hull. Coincidentally enough, the Cambodian word for “toilet” is bangkon, which is pronounced similarly.

Billups talks about Cordry Rocks in the ceiling which Ransom complains always fall on him when they take damage. This is the first time anyone in-universe has ever acknowledged the rock-like material that flies about whenever consoles explode since TNG. Billups starts to technobabble that that “their non-centrosymmetry disrupts the charge leptons in the isolinear pathways of the main deflector, which then causes…” but is cut off. The rocks may be named after Marian Cordry, who works at the Star Trek Archive & Library at Paramount Global.

The Professor is a Grazerite, the same species as Federation President Jaresh-Inyo (DS9: “Homefront”). Ransom calls the buhgoon “space cows”. They are an extremophile, much like tardigrades are known as “water bears”. Tardigrades in the Trek universe can grow to much larger sizes than their microscopic terrestrial counterparts, of course (DIS “Choose Your Pain”).

Delta Shift, formerly the nemeses of our Beta Shift, has been assigned the task of bringing a buhgoon on board. The auburn-haired ensign is Moxy, who first appeared in LD: “Terminal Provocations” (from her forehead markings she could be a Trill). The one blaming “Ensign Friendly” is Karavitus, who also first appeared in “Terminal Provocations”. The burly male is Hans Federov, better known as “Towel Guy”, who was finally given a first name in LD: “The Stars at Night”. “Friendly” is Ensign Castro (from Beta Shift), who first appeared in LD: “Envoys” and is also voiced by Gabrielle Ruiz (T’Lyn).

We see the shuttles Kings Canyon, Yosemite II, Joshua Tree II and Redwood, named after Californian National Parks. The original Yosemite shuttle crashed in LD: “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie” and Joshua Tree in LD: “Grounded”.

Tempasa was a settlement on Bajor, outside of which was located a Cardassian heavy weapons unit. Kira and her resistance cell raided and destroyed it (DS9: “Ties of Blood and Water”), although her father died while she was away on the mission. Shax’s flashback to Tempasa explains how he got his right eye scarred.

Nurse Westlake is named after Chris Westlake, composer for LD’s soundtrack. He first appeared in “Second Contact” and has been around throughout the show, although this is the first time we’ve heard him speak. Westlake talks about viruses that can make “everyone sing or whatever”. While not viral-based, a singing plague did strike in SNW: “Subspace Rhapsody”.

The PADD schedule notes Barnes’ sousaphone recital, a fertility event, and Winger Bingston Jr’s One Man Show, “The United Federation of Characters”, last seen performed in LD: “Moist Vessel”.

The buhgoon have a natural cloaking ability. Other species with biological invisibility include the Jem’hadar (DS9: “The Jem’hadar”), Tosk (DS9: “Captive Pursuit”), Xaheans (ST: “Runaway”), the itronok of Trill (DIS: “Jinaal”). Technically, the Devidians as well, since their natural state is being out of phase (TNG: “Time’s Arrow”).

Bingston’s line “Stuck out of phase, like Geordi and Ro wandering alone,” refers to the events of TNG: “The Next Phase”. The USS Manticore is a Manticore-class destroyer in Star Trek Online, but Bingston’s line implies this is an Oberth-class vessel of that name. Stevens wakes up clapping, much like Riker does in TNG: “Schisms”.

The alien ship is of Clicket design, last seen in “Veritas”.

“Dumber than Fletcher,” says one of the Delta Shifters. Fletcher was a dangerously incompetent officer who was eventually transferred off Cerritos (“Terminal Provocations”). His stint on the USS Titan lasted only six days, after which he was demoted and sent back to Earth.

Ransom has a habit of working out when trying to make decisions (LD: “No Small Parts”).

Ensign Meredith first appeared in LD: “Room for Growth” and is voiced by Charlotte Nicdao, whose Aussie accent some might recognize from Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest.

The Bynars are a race of cybernetically enhanced humanoids who are gifted in programming (TNG: “11001001”). They last appeared on LD in LD: “Old Friends, New Planets”, and made an appearance in PRO: “Ascension”.

The Grazerite Professor (whose name is Zurkel) is revealed as a Clicket, in a reveal that reminds me of when the Visitors in V were exposed as reptilian rather than humanoid. It’s also reminiscent of the Bug coming out of its human disguise in the first Men in Black movie and the Raxacoricofalapatorians from Doctor Who.

As noted above, Freeman dealt with the Clickets in “Veritas”, which makes Zurkel’s infuriation understandable.

Billups’ situation is reminiscent of Spock’s death scene in ST II, where he too was dying in a tube, except that opening it would release radiation, not coolant.

Billups’ first name, Andarithio (his friends call him “Andy”) was revealed in “Veritas”. The unnamed cadet first appeared at the end of LD: “wej Duj”.

“Zo”, or Admiral Alonzo Freeman, is Carol Freeman’s husband and Mariner’s father. We last saw him in “Old Friends, New Planets”. The holodeck is set to Paris, and is similar to the view from the Cafe Des Artistes seen in TNG: “We’ll Always Have Paris”.

Shax is drinking out of a purple Highwave Hotjo 14 oz travel mug used in DS9. The purple ones were custom colored for the show, but they are currently available from Highwave (US and Australia shipping only) if you want them, in Deep Space Purple.

Logline

The Lower Deckers have a pumpkin carving party.

---

Written by: Cullen Crawford

Directed by: Bob Suarez

• Though the episode title, “Fully Dilated”, is referring to the time dilation effect of the planet, Dilmer III, in “Disaster”, Worf described Keiko O’Brien as being, ”fully dilated to ten centimetres,” while she was in labour.

• Cap’n Freeman records the stardate as 59499.6 in her log.

• The USS Cerritos has been dispatched to deal with the season’s B-plot, a dimensional fissure. The fissures have factored into three other episodes this season, “Dos Cerritos”, “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel”, and “A Farewell to Farms”.

    • A purple iteration of the USS Enterprise D crossed over to the prime universe while, apparently, battling evil clones of Tasha Yar. Assuming the purple universe is on the same timeline as the prime universe, that would indicate that their Enterprise D was not destroyed during the events of “Star Trek Generations”, and that their Data did not die in “Star Trek Nemesis”.

• This is the first mention of the Viltan Flats on screen, but they originated in the “The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans” sourcebook for Last Unicorn Game’s “Star Trek Role Playing Game”.

• Cap’n Freeman mentions filling the senior science officer position. Tendi was transferred from sickbay to senior science officer training in “First First Contact”.

• A new development in the season’s A-plot is that after the events of the previous episode, Rutherford is now also growing a beard in an attempt to mimic the success of the minor universe’s Beardler. As opposed to finding a more successful version of himself to emulate.

    • Boimler’s beard growth continues, but it seems to have slowed down, which is saying something.

• ”The position should go to the most qualified candidate, not just the one who’s dreamt about it since they were old enough to carry a dagger.” Tendi has dreamt about become a Federation science officer since she was eight months old.

• T’Lyn claimes to be, “particularly sensitive to odour.” As per “Broken Bow”, Vulcan females have a heightened sense of smell.

• ”This is going to be a fun alternate dimensional technology recovery girls’ trip.” Mariner and Tendi also referred to their running an errand for Doctor T’Ana in “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris” as a girls’ trip.

• ”Oh, it’s like that planet Voyager went to.” Tendi refers to the events of “Blink of an Eye”, where the USS Voyager visited the Weird Planet Displaced in Time, though while Dilmer III’s time dilation causes a week to pass on the surface for every second in orbit, the WPDiT experienced one day every 1.03 seconds.

• Snell is played by Eric Bauza, who has voiced a number of characters across LDS, PRO, and the “Very Short Treks”, including Barniss Frex, as well as both Screwhead and Ass Face.

• Hey, it’s purple Data! From purple Star Trek! Purple Data is voiced by Brent Spinner, who has a story credit on “Star Trek Nemesis”,

• *”My away mission résumé is going to be more padded than a Romulan’s shoulder.” We first saw Romulan uniforms with somewhat robust shoulder padding in “The Neutral Zone”.

• ”This is starting to feel like when Picard got duped into thinking he was a family man by that probe.” Mariner is referring to the events of “The Inner Light”.

    • ”I gotta find a flute!” Despite Mariner’s chastising Boimler earlier in the episode for ”plagiarizing someone’s vibe,” she’s pretty quick to take away the wrong lesson from Picard’s probe experience.

• ”Why’s there always a suspicious lurker when you’re in a Carbon Creek situation?” Carbon Creek is the name of the town where T’Pol’s grandmother, T’Mir lived for some time after her survey team’s ship crashed on Earth prior to first contact, as well as the name of the episode where she shares the story. Notably, there wasn’t actually anyone doing much lurking in the episode.

    • Archer and Trip were skeptical of the story T’Pol told, though she did claim the information was documented in the Vulcan archives.

• ”Do not be concerned, I have been just a head before.” Purple Data apparently experienced the events of “Time’s Arrow” and “Time’s Arrow, Part II”.

    • Purple Data further confirms the purple universe engaged with their own “Time’s Arrow” by claiming that it was himself, Picard, and ”some guy in a silver jumpsuit” who located his missing head, as was the case in the prime universe.

    • Data was also just a head in “Disaster”.

• Apparently food is not allowed in the transporter bay. In “Tomorrow is Yesterday”, we saw there was food synthesizer in the transporter room aboard the USS Enterprise, and in “The Dauphin”, Wesley brings a visiting head of state a chocolate mousse in the transporter room before she leaves.

• Purple Data points out to Tendi that Vulcans rarely require sleep. In “The Paradise Syndrome”, Spock claimed he could go without sleep for weeks, and in “Muse”, Tuvok stayed awake for a full ten days.

• ”That is some Edo level bullshit, right there.” In “Justice”, the Edo legal system’s only punishment was execution via poison needle, so Mariner is exaggerating the consequences of her actions.

• Tendi is attempting to construct a transporter using resources available on Dilmer III.

    • In “The City on the Edge of Forever” Spock constructed a mnemonic memory circuit, while stuck on Earth in the 1930s

    • In “Time’s Arrow”, Data built a device to track time shifts while in 1893

    • In “Carbon Creek”, Stron was attempting to build a subspace transceiver in 1953 before the Vulcan survey team was rescued

• ”Wow, you really are fully functional.” Data claimed to be fully functional, and programmed ”in a broad variety of of pleasuring,” in “The Naked Now”. Programming, which apparently includes eating ropes.

• Mariner’s prison pals call her ”Big Mare,” which is also the name Tawny Newsome coined for Mariner’s depiction on large advertising banners at real life events, such as San Diego Comic Con.

Hi there. I just wanted to discuss something positive and uplifting. As we surely all know, Star Trek has a very big fandom that is super inclusive and positive (for the most part). Had a thought that for many fans, their passion is life-long. Maybe it would be nice to share a positive memory (maybe a few) you associate with Trek; whatever you are comfortable sharing. I kick it off (my list is chronological).

1. Getting to go on The Klingon Encounter at Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a family trip, I was seven (I recently found out I was off by year) in 1998. My grandfather was working at the time for a Chinese apparel brand. He took us to an industry convention he was attending for work. So my mom took me to the Hilton. There was walls of Borg statues, actors dressed as Klingons walking the casino. Only got to go on The Klingon Encounter, a Star Tours style ride. The premise is an entertainment experience with live actors which you are mysteriously transported to the future where you switch places with Picard. Klingons are behind it. They believe your group has an ancestor among you. You head to a transporter to escape to a shuttlecraft, and flee the Klingons. The chase eventually leads you over The Las Vegas Strip. The ride also included pre-recorded video from TNG cast as part of the story.

2. Watching ENT when it first broadcast. I was ten years old. As an aside, I’ve always lived with my maternal grandparents. Anyways, my grandfather was excited for it. He let me stay up late on Wednesdays to watch with him. It was the first series (pretty much the only from start to end) I watched first broadcast. Watched every episode with him.

3. Finally going to my first convention, STLV (formerly Star Trek Las Vegas) this year. Such an incredible four days that I can never forget. Getting to see the community up close changes how important this means. Everyone was such wonderful people. The one public event I’ve attended in my life where I felt truly accepted and safe.

The title refers to the time dilation effect on Dilmer III, and is a pun on either fully dilated pupils in drug use or fully dilated cervixes in labor, or both.

The stardate is 59499.6. The dimensional fissures leading to parallel dimensions have been a recurring thing this season, starting with LD: “Dos Cerritos”.

The purple Enterprise is a Galaxy-class, meaning Enterprise-D. In the Prime Universe, by 2381 the 1701-D had already crashed on Veridian III and the Sovereign-class Enterprise-E had been in service for about a decade. Tashar Yar was the original security chief of Enterprise-D, but was killed in TNG: “Skin of Evil”. No, I’m not getting into TNG: “Yesterday’s Enterprise” and Sela now, so don’t ask. Mariner talks about the carpets on Enterprise-D, a running joke that was even echoed in PIC’s 3rd season when the reconstructed ship was reactivated (PIC: “Võx”).

T’Lyn says her home was an outcopping of jagged rocks in the Viltan Flats. That location originally comes from the Last Unicorn RPG module The Way of Kolinahr, and is in the province of Tat’Sahr on Vulcan.

Boimler’s beard has progressed further, and the goatee has almost joined with his moustache. Rutherford seems to be also getting into the game, if his stubble is any indication. Freeman’s order to retrieve the wayward tech is so as not to violate the Prime Directive, which forbids any interference with the natural technological or social development of a civiilization. Dilmer III is pre-industrial, so the Prime Directive is in full force.

Dr T’Ana does a more foul mouthed version of the classic “I’m a doctor, not a…” catchphrase first properly used by McCoy in TOS: “The Devil in the Dark”.

Undergoing temporary surgical or genetic modification for Starfleet away teams is standard protocol. Examples can be found in TNG: “Who Watches the Watchers?”, TNG: “First Contact” and in SNW: “Strange New Worlds”.

Vulcans are known to have sensitive olfactory senses. females especially. In ENT: “The Andorian Incident”, T’Pol used a regularly injected nasal numbing agent to suppress the smell of humans.

Rutherford jokes about churning your own butter, a reference to stereotypes of primitive, pioneer peoples (seen today in renactments or in communities like the Amish) who still manufacture butter with manual methods.

A michelada is an Mexican drink, often called a “Mexican Bloody Mary”, made from beer, lime juice, hot sauces and chili slices. There are several variations throughout Mexico, but Boimler and Rutherford’s version is a bit excessive, as is usual for them.

Dimler III has a time differential of a week on the surface for every second aboard ship. As Tendi remembers, in VOY: “Blink of an Eye”, Voyager came across a planet surrounded by a tachyon field that experienced 58 days for each minute of shipboard time. Mariner’s explanation of time dilation alludes to an old joke attributed to Einstein: “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.”

The architecture of Dimler III reminds me of Beta III in TOS: “The Return of the Archons”, but earlier - I’d peg it around an 1870s American frontier town, like Walnut Grove, MI in Little House on the Prairie.

The head they find is of course that of an alternate, purple Data, who also lost his head in TNG: “Time’s Arrow”. In the Prime Universe, at this point Prime Data is dead, having sacrificed himself in Nemesis (2379) - although as we see in PIC, he kind of gets better later.

T’Lyn poses as a traveling performer, much like what Picard & Co. did in “Time’s Arrow” when they claimed to be a troupe of actors. Snell is voiced by Eric Bauza, who does a great imitation of the immortal Wallace Shawn, who was Grand Nagus Zek in DS9 and is probably best known to geeks as Visini from The Princess Bride.

As Tendi notes, TNG-era Romulan uniforms had hilariously overpadded shoulders. Mariner refers to TNG: “The Inner Light” when Picard was hit by a beam from a Kataan probe which made him experience an entire lifetime as a Kataan farmer while only a matter of minutes passed for his crew (and learned the flute). The last time we saw a Kataan probe (or something very similar) was in LD: “In the Cradle of Vexilon”.

Mariner refers to ENT: “Carbon Creek”, when a trio of Vulcans - one of them T’Pol’s great-grandmother - were stranded temporarily in Carbon Creek, PA in 1957. While it is true that in most stories like this there is a suspicious neighbor that gets the protagonists in trouble, I don’t recall there one being in “Carbon Creek”. T’Lyn uses a quill to write.

Purple Data’s voice is provided by Brent Spiner. He says he has been just a head before, which means that the events of “Time’s Arrow” also occured in his reality (as he confirms later when he says he built a magnetic field core in 19th Century San Francisco).

Tendi says that Orions aren’t usually science officers (part of it may be due to the stereotypes surrounding Orions). Her great-grandmother Astrea did serve on the Orion science vessel D’Var (SNW: “Those Old Scientists”).

Purple Data alludes to his positronic matrix, which is also the basis for Soong-type androids in the Prime Universe. Positronic brains for artificial beings in Star Trek is a homage to the works of Isaac Asimov, who used such brains for his robots in his Robot Stories.

The alien writing on the front of the saloon I’m pretty sure is a substitution alphabet (like Orionese as seen in LD: “Something Borrowed, Something Green”) which just reads “SALOON”.

I’m also pretty sure Tendi saying that she can’t compete with T’Lyn’s giant melons is an intentional double entendre. Others include Ransom’s “Purple D” and Mariner’s “carpet matches the hull” lines.

Mariner refers to the Edo (TNG: “Justice”), who doled out what we might consider overly harsh punishments, like capital punishment for damaging plants.

Purple Data says Tendi requires her full strength to function at “peak performance”, which is the name of a TNG episode that focuses on Prime Data and his self-doubt when he experiences defeat.

The “guy in a silver jumpsuit” was the unnamed scientist that led Picard and Prime Data to his time-displaced buried head under San Francisco (“Time’s Arrow”).

Tendi says Purple Data really is “fully functional”. In the infamous TNG: “The Naked Now”, Prime Data claims, when an intoxicated Tasha Yar is trying to seduce him, that he is “fully functional” and “programmed in multiple techniques”.

Mariner’s cell neighbor calls her “Big Mare”. In LD: “Starbase 80?!” Boimler calls her “Mare Bear”. I am not comfortable with either of these nicknames.

Having her alien family “be here all along” is a common trope (The Wizard of Oz comes to mind) where protagonists realize that what they were seeking was actually around them all the time (“The true treasure was the friends we made along the way!”).

Purple Data misunderstanding the use of metaphor is a trait the Prime version often exhibted, especially in early TNG seasons. And of course he had a close relationship with Geordi La Forge, the Chief Engineer of Enterprise.

Rutherford blames the snafu on LCARS issues, LCARS (Library Computer Access and Retrieval System) being the operating system used on TNG-era starships, as opposed to S/COMS for ENT and TOS-era ships and TCARS for 29th Century timeships.

Purple Data says he spent a year in the field with the away team. 12 months or so on Dimler III translates to about 52 seconds in shipboard time. However, considering that Tendi didn’t reactivate the head until about 4 months in, the time could have been as long as 14 months (64 seconds).

Freeman sends Purple Data back through the fissure in a photon torpedo tube, much like how Spock’s body was shot towards the Genesis Planet at the end of ST II.

Logline

It’s a pre-warp society undercover Girls Trip!

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Written by: Andrew Mueth

Directed by: Megan Lloyd

Apparently this is the name of a construction/engineering firm here in Lisbon Portugal. Amusing coincidence

Did writers forget about “Barge of the Dead” in season 7? During “Imperfection”, Seven ask B’Elanna if she believes in afterlife. Her response is ‘I hope so.’

She literally went to hell and back. How does that not make her believe in it?

Kind of a trashy headline - here's the full quote:

we keep writing it, and we keep turning things in, and they keep saying, 'Please keep writing.' So, as long as they allow us to do that and they don't say, 'Stop. Close your computers and go home,' we'll continue making it.

• Ransom records the stardate as 59482.3 in his log.

• The USS Cerritos is hosting peace talks between two different photonic species, the creatively named Orbs and Cubes. Previous photonic lifeforms encountered include:

    • Beings interpreted as the monster Grendel by holodeck characters - “Heroes and Demons”

    • A trans-dimensional species that entered the holodeck, and promptly found themselves in a war against the pulp character Chaotica - “Bride of Chaotica”

    • Photonic fleas - “The Voyager Conspiracy”

• Among the bits of circular furniture ensign Olly is attempted to stack on a hover sled is a “ball chair” like the one Worf had in his quarters for much of TNG, and a dabo table, as seen in Quark’s in DS9.

• The USS Reseda has not been mentioned previously, but is likely a California-class, based on being named after a neighbourhood in Los Angeles.

    • According to Mariner, the crew of the Reseda is entirely reformed Maquis. Most of the Maquis were wiped out by the Cardaissian Union and the Dominion, as per “Blaze of Glory”.

• Olly is descended from the Greek god Zeus. We learned in “Who Mourns for Adonais” the Greek pantheon wer actually alien beings who visited Earth and were sustained by the worship of humans.

    • ”Didn’t Kirk kick their asses?” To the best of our knowledge, Kirk only encountered Apollo. The USS Enterprise destroyed his power source, a temple, from orbit.

    • ”I thought they all went off and became ‘one with the wind,’ or whatever.” In “Who Mourns for Adonis”, Apollo does claim the other Greek gods, ”returned to the cosmos on the wings of the wind.”

• Admiral Vassery was introduced in “Moist Vessel”.

• Olly has been removed from six ships before arriving to the Cerritos. In “Hollow Pursuits”, Captain Picard said of Reginald Barclay, “It’s easy to transfer a problem to someone else. Too easy.”

• Boilmer’s beard growth remains the most consistent storyline this season.

• In Rutherford and Boimler’s quarters, we see that Boimler has added a doll of Data in the “Star Trek: First Contact” uniform to his Mirror Archer and Spock figures. On Rutherford’s shelf, there’s the model of DS9 he got in “An Embarrassment of Dooplers”, as well as a recreation of Wesley’s portable tractor beam from “The Naked Now”.

• Rutherford is aware that Boimler keeps looking at the PADD he stole from the minor universe in “Dos Cerritos”.

    • ”Also it’s red.” We’ve seen red PADDs in “Coming of Age”, “Clues”, “Lower Decks”, “Homefront”, and “Image in the Sand”.

    • Tendi is also aware of Boimler’s stolen PADD.

• ”Good joke. We got a real Roland B. Moore over here.” Ronald B. Moore was a visual effects supervisor on TNG, and, according to a display outside the holodeck, was also the name of the stand-up comedian program played by Joe Piscao in “The Outrageous Okona”. Based on the fact that Boimler is claiming Rutherford was being funny, I believe we can assume he was talking about the visual effects supervisor.

• Apparently Olly was assigned Mariner’s old bunk, which we haven’t seen since the Lower Deckers moved out of the hallway bunks in “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee”.

• ”You don’t have to be Dixon Hill to see that some bad shit went down in here.” Dixon Hill is the fictional private investigator whose adventures Picard likes to relive on the holodeck, as per “The Big Goodbye”.

• ”If we get some Ferengi blood, we’ll have an entire rainbow!” Ferengi blood is yellow, as first seen in “Mugato, Gumato”.

• ”What about Shaxs? You’re in the bear pack.” Boimler was made a member of the bear pack in “Empathalogical Fallacies”.

• The Sphere Rondus, as well as the gestalt Sphere, Orbiculus, are voiced by Fred Tatasciore, who voices Shaxs.

• ”Didn’t you learn this with the whole Hawaii thing?” Tendi is recounting the events of “wej Duj” when Boimler claimed to be Hawiian to be able to join Ransom’s group of other [fake] Hawaiians.

• The Cube Sexagus, as well as the gestalt Omegacube, are voiced by Carl Tart, who is the voice of Kayson.

• The Sphere Spheronius is voiced by Jerry O’Connell, who is the voice of Ransom

• ”To be fair, Qs are more annoying than scary.” In “Q-Less”, Sisko punches Q in the face and he never returns to Deep Space 9.

• The Cube Quadralon is voiced by Jack Quaid, who voices Boimler.

• The Sphere Radiara is voiced by Gabrielle Ruiz, who voices T’Lyn.

• We learn that Quadralon and Radiara were not murdered, but instead ran off together after a night of passion that trashed Quadralon’s room. No confirmation as to what the square shaped “photonic residue” on the walls of the chamber were. “The Outrageous Okana” also featured a “Romeo and Juliet” romance between two children of conflicting colonies, resulting in a pregnancy.

• SquAaron is voiced by Roan Lai, who was also the voice for the moopsy in “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee”.

• ”I love the brig, this is my favourite place.” Olly echoes Mariner’s words to Ransom from “Temporal Edict”. However, she’s a bit more chill so she doesn’t also claim that she’s going to ”dance in [anyone’s] blood.”