Star Trek: Lower Decks serves up its trial episode, as Mariner, Boimler, Rutherford and Tendi find themselves amidst what they believe to be a trial of the USS Cerritos’s senior officers on K’Tuevon Prime.

Asked to recount their individual perspectives of various random events, “Veritas” comes the closest of any Lower Decks episode to replicating its namesake, the original “Lower Decks” episode from The Next Generation.

Each of our lower-deckers have only a part of the full story, which told from each of their unique perspectives provides us with a complete view of one mission: the rescue of Clar (Kurtwood Smith, returning for another Star Trek role) from the Romulan Star Empire.

You see, it turns out neither the lower-deckers nor the Cerritos senior officers are being put on trial – they’re being celebrated for the rescue of Clar from the Romulans! “Veritas” is an exceptionally fun episode, and a true ensemble tale, providing a nice story for each of the four ensigns and appearances and great moments for all the senior officers.

The idea of the fundamental misunderstanding between Clar and the ensigns that it’s a party instead of a trial is a colossal stretch, even for an animated comedy, but it’s done so well and it’s so funny that the total absurdity of it gets a complete pass from me.

“Veritas” mixes a lot of funny one liners with great character moments and a stirring Boimler speech to great effect. And, this episode re-introduces a fan favorite – Q! Yes, John de Lancie returns to voice the omnipotent trickster in a hilarious cameo appearance. Mike McMahan, when he teased Q’s appearance said that it would be a quick cameo, and it is, but honestly it’s the perfect amount of Q.

We get some fun jokes and John de Lancie gets to briefly flex his Q muscles, but it’s not the focus of the episode. That feels right for a Lower Decks take on Q, as much as I could happily listen to de Lancie in the role for a full 24 minutes.

Trek Trope Tributes

• The opening of the episode is a riff on the trial scene from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. The ensigns are raised on a platform towards a light on the ceiling and emerge into a tall courtroom with onlookers all around them, the judge wielding a heavy metal gavel, and a lone prosecutor with a metal eye patch. One of guest actor Kurtwood Smith’s previous roles was in that movie, playing the Federation President.
   
• As previously mentioned, this episode is the closest in structure to The Next Generation episode “Lower Decks” that inspired the show, as we see each ensign’s perspective on an overall whole that is only revealed to the viewer at the end of the episode.
   
• And of course, Q puts humanity on trial — though with Shaxs and T’Ana in the mix!
   
• Mariner calls out that we’ve not seen a lot of Earth of the 24th century. “We’ll have to live on Earth where there’s nothing to do except drink wine and hang out at vineyards and soul food restaurants!” she says, referring to Picard’s family vineyard and Sisko’s Creole Kitchen in New Orleans, two of the most visited destinations on Earth in Star Trek — though creole cooking and soul food aren’t quite the same thing.

Canon Connections

Roga Danar

The ensigns are discussing the “biggest all time badass.” Mariner picks Khan (“dude was a space seed!”) but Boimler is more partial to the Angosian freedom fighter Roga Danar (from the TNG episode “The Hunted.”)

Romulan Neutral Zone

The map of the Romulan Neutral Zone given to the Cerritos by the Clicket includes the Romulan symbol introduced in ‘Star Trek: Nemesis.’

Denobulans

Denobulans, the race of Doctor Phlox from ‘Enterprise,’ get a shout out. Specifically, Shax warns about “Denobulan flesh eating bacteria on your peen,” which sounds, ahem, bad.

Vulcan Warp Sled

Shax, Rutherford, and Billups infiltrate the Vulcan museum to steal a 23rd century Romulan Bird of Prey in a Vulcan Warp Sled, first seen in ‘Star Trek’ transporting Spock to the USS Enterprise in ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture.’

Vulcan Weapons

In addition to the Vulcan Warp Sled, a Vulcan phaser (seen previously in Enterprise) can be seen on the ground next to “Spock and Spock” after Rutherford incapacitated them with the Vulcan neck pinch.

Security Officer

The security officer at the Vulcan Museum is wearing the same protective equipment as Starfleet security officers in ‘Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.’

Museum Ships

In addition to the old Romulan Bird of Prey, also present in the starship museum are a Klingon D-7 battlecruiser (TOS), a Ferengi shuttle (DS9), a Jem’Hadar attack ship (DS9), a Federation worker bee (‘The Motion Picture’), a Tholian web spinner (TOS) a Type VI shuttle craft (TNG), a Galileo-type shuttle (TOS), and a Vulcan survey craft (‘Star Trek: First Contact’).

Romulans

The Romulan bridge seen in this episode matches that from The Next Generation episode “Face of the Enemy.” We also see a Romulan D’Deridex class warbird outside the show’s opening credits, the Romulan homeworld Romulus, Romulan disruptor rifles, and the boxy TNG-style Romulan uniforms.

Remans

We also get our first mention of the Remans since they were last seen in the ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’ episode “The Aenar.”

Salt Vampire

Mariner warns Ransom that he is unknowingly romancing a Salt Vampire, the race of aliens seen in the first episode of the Original Series that aired in the United States, “The Man Trap.”

Spock Two

“Did Kirk know about that giant Spock on Philos?” Boimler asks, referencing the — and I can’t believe I’m saying this — 50-foot Spock from the Animated Series episode “The Infinite Vulcan.”

Boimler also references “Sub Rosa,” to really round out his references to some excellent episodes of ‘Star Trek’ — “Did Doctor Crusher know about that ghost in the lamp thing from that Scottish planet that she hooked up with that one time?”

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Other Observations

• The voice cast for this episode includes Kenneth Mitchell, another returning Trek vet most famous for playing the characters of Kol and Kol-Sha on Star Trek: Discovery, who voiced both a Federation Guard and a Romulan Solider in “Veritas.”
   
• After several references in Star Trek: Picard — and a Gorn figurine in Captain Freeman’s office — we finally see a Gorn in one of Rutherford’s lucid moments between blackouts. A Gorn wedding no less, complete with Vasquez Rocks.
   
• To distract the Vulcan guard so Shax can steal the Romulan bird of prey, Rutherford is encouraged to do “the fan dance,” a clear reference to Uhura’s similar dance used to distract the residents of Nimbus III in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
   
• While dangerously low on oxygen, Billups refers to the events of two episodes of The Next Generation — both “Time’s Arrow, Part II” (with “Mark Twain’s got a gun!”) and “Skin of Evil” (with “Tasha! No! The garbage bag’s behind you!”).
   
• We get another California-class ship – the USS Alhambra – named after a city in the state. The crew of the Alhambra look disturbingly similar to the Cerritos, but despite thinking she’s in a parallel dimension Dr. T’Ana, is merely on the wrong ship.

I loved “Veritas.” The perfect Lower Decks take on a trial episode complete with Q as voiced by John de Lancie, Kurtwood Smith, Kenneth Mitchell, and great scenes for all our main ensigns and supporting bridge crew to boot?

It sounds like it’s all too much, but the plotting is tight, the dialogue concisely funny without being overly fast, and the references on point. Two episodes from the Season 1 finale, Star Trek: Lower Decks is serving up some great, funny Star Trek.

Star Trek: Lower Decks returns on October 1 with “Crisis Point” on CBS All Access in the United States and CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada. Additional international availability for the series has not yet been announced.