Star Trek: Lower Decks revives an old TOS concept and an obscure TNG reference; S5E6
Something Star Trek: Lower Decks does quite well is take characters and ideas from previous iterations of Star Trek and breathe new life into them with a new perspective. In "Of Gods and Angles," we see just that.
Episode summary (spoilers ahead)
This week on Lower Decks, the Cerritos is hosting peace talks between two photonic species, the Orbs and the Cubes. Amid the negotiations, Commander Ransom and Captain Freeman discuss their issues with Ensign Olly, who seems to cause constant problems. Of course, Beckett Mariner sees some of herself in Ensign Olly and volunteers to help her integrate with the crew.
Mariner also learns that Olly is the granddaughter of Zeus. This Zeus being an alien related to Apollo, who was introduced in the second season of the original Star Trek in the episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?" Olly claims not to have powers, however, and she and Mariner are assigned to babysit Quadralon, the teenage child of the Cube leader.
When Mariner and Olly get to Quadralon's quarters, there is no sign of Quadralon, and the two are assigned to investigate. In the process, Olly reveals that she actually does have lightning powers and tried to keep them secret, because she wants to be an engineer not a demigod. In fact, Olly's powers have been why she appears to be a "problem officer," because of electrical mishaps.
Eventually, Quadralon is revealed to have not been murdered. Instead, Quadralon ran away with Radiara—the offspring of the Orb leader—as they are in love. The couple also reveal that they have had a hybrid cube/orb child, and the two photonic factions agree to peace.
During all of this, Boimler (with marginal help from Rutherford and Tendi) tries to befriend Dr. T'Ana, because the alternate universe Boimler was friends with that T'Ana. Boimler is eventually successful, but does require the surgical removal of one of Olly's lightning bolts so does not come out unscathed.
Notable details
There were a few references and details that really stood out to me in this episode:
- Boimler, when acting like Rutherford is joking, says, "We got a real Ronald B. Moore over here." This references the holographic comedian (Joe Piscopo) from the TNG episode "The Outrageous Okona," who is listed by that name on the holodeck display. Ronald B. Moore was also a real member of the TNG effects team and had made the holodeck display graphics.
- While the outcome is much less tragic, the conflict between the Orbs and the Cubes is similar to that of the Capulets and Montagues in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The episode even uses yellow/red and blue/purple color schemes for the two groups, which has been used to visually denote the two houses in media such as the 1968 film by Franco Zeffirelli.
- Of course, we also have the reference to "Who Mourns for Adonais?" in the form of Ensign Olly. It is nice to be reminded of that classic TOS episode, but the way it actually matters to the story in this episode makes it even better.
Thoughts on the episode
This is a very strong episode of Lower Decks, in my opinion. It has clever humor while staying focused on the characters and their stories. This ensures that the characters' arcs are fully explored to a satisfying extent, rather than just abruptly ending after 25 minutes.
Another positive for this episode is it revives ideas from "Who Mourns for Adonais?" for the sake of story and characters. Ideas from that episode are mixed with additional ideas from Greek mythology to give us a view of what it's like to be a "demigod" in Starfleet in the 24th Century.
The references and humor are definitely a basic part of Lower Decks' DNA. Nonetheless, Lower Decks really shines as a tonally light-hearted rendition of Star Trek that uses animation as a way to exaggerate ideas beyond what suspension of disbelief would allow in a live-action show.
With only four episodes left of the series after this, I hope that each of them will be as fun and Star Trek-y as this one.
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