Surprise! Following its preview screening today at San Diego Comic Con, Paramount+ has released the highly-anticipated Star Trek: Lower Decks / Star Trek: Strange New Worlds crossover episode — titled “Those Old Scientists” — almost an entire week early!
Filling in for this event episode is WeeklyTrek host and Star Trek: Lower Decks reviewer Alex Perry.
Go watch the new Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode now, then come back here to read our spoiler-filled review!
Let’s not bury the lead: “These Old Scientists” is excellent. It totally capitalizes on the promise of a crossover between Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks. It is this show’s — and the franchise’s — experimental episode to date (we haven’t even gotten to the Strange New Worlds musical yet!), and this just proves that experimental Trek can also be wildly successful.
During an away mission to investigate a time portal — discovered by the starship Enterprise on a mission to Krulmuth-B some 120 years earlier — Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) accidentally travels back in time to the day the Enterprise crew first visited the planet. Fearing for Boimler’s safety, Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) also time travels, and together they must find a way back to the 24th century without significantly altering their history. Hijinks ensue, and they are wonderful!
Written by Lower Decks alum Kathryn Lyn (with Bill Wolkoff), and expertly directed by Jonathan Frakes, “Those Old Scientists” represents the exciting and authentic integration between the look, the vibes, and the personalities of both shows. At no point does it feel like a Strange New Worlds episode with Lower Decks shoe-horned in, and nor does it feel like a Lower Decks episode just translated to live action. It is authentically both shows at the same time, respecting the core attitudes and ambience of each without negatively impacting the other.
The real triumph is that it’s clear while watching that — in less talented hands (ranging from performers, to writers, costume designer, and the director) — this crossover had the potential to be an absolute disaster. If the performances from either cast didn’t hit just right, this episode would not have landed. If the episode had not included some wonderful character moments and just relied on the crossover gimmick, it would have gotten old fast. And honestly, if the Lower Decks costumes had not translated so well into live action (even the boots!), the whole scenario would not have been believable.
When you actually start to think about how much had to go right in order for this episode to be as good as it is, the more you realize what a stunning achievement it is.
At the core of that achievement, without doubt, is the performance of Jack Quaid as Brad Boimler. He infuses nearly every moment of this episode, both animated and live action, with the ineffable charm of Boimler’s character. He’s a mess; one of the smartest people in the room but still lacking the experience to see past his own foibles. On Lower Decks, he is one of the show’s most expressive characters — who doesn’t love the Boimler scream? — and while that unquestionably works in Lower Decks’s animation, in live action he had to walk a fine line between honoring the character’s zaniness without being completely cartoony.
And while Jack Quaid is far and away the MVP of “Those Old Scientists” — as his near constant presence throughout this episode holds it together magnificently — Tawny Newsome’s performance as Mariner is just as laudable in every way. Newsome totally embodies the Mariner vibe, and it feels completely authentic in live action. Newsome’s magnetic on screen charisma is undeniable, her command of comedy and the Lower Decks style dialogue unparalleled, and I just want more live action Mariner. So much more.
And while Boimler and Mariner’s hijinks on the Enterprise are so much fun, the episode would likely have felt empty if that had been all the focus. Instead, Boimler and Mariner have important roles to play in where the Enterprise crew find themselves, and where they are headed.
The tragedy of Boimler accidentally revealing to Chapel (Jess Bush), who is so uplifted by Spock’s (Ethan Peck) efforts to show emotion, that this is a phase history doesn’t remember is crushing. The moment of joy that Captain Pike (Anson Mount) is afforded knowing how history thinks about him, despite his fate, and Boimler and Mariner encouraging him to seize the moment is profound. Una (Rebecca Romijn) getting the opportunity — in the funniest way possible — to see what impact her actions have had on Starfleet is touching.
Starfleet friends having fun & causing chaos. THANK YOU to everyone at SNW who let us play on their ship!🖖❤️
(cc @jonathansfrakes) pic.twitter.com/TfSiz8iIZQ— Mike McMahan (@MikeMcMahanTM) July 22, 2023
This episode has laugh out loud hilarious moments (it might be some of the best comedy Star Trek has ever done), it has sweet moments that uplift you, it has sad moments that are full of pathos. And all the way through it is authentically a true integration of Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks. The episode states its intention to be that way up front, giving us the wonderful moment of integrating the Strange New Worlds credits with Lower Decks’ animation style, and giving the fun scene at the end where the Enterprise crew are animated in Lower Deck fashion.
And even though a lot of the humor of the episode derives from the different styles of the Cerritos and Enterprise crews clashing, the episode’s resolution relies on the Cerritos ensigns becoming a little more Enterprise, and the Enterprise crew becoming a little more Cerritos. The learning and the sharing is what helps save the timeline and get our Cerritos crew back to the 24th century.
Watching the Enterprise crew nerd out about Captain Archer’s Enterprise NX-01, and realize they were fanboying just as hard as Boimler and Mariner about Pike’s ship and crew? A truly wonderful moment.
OBSERVATION LOUNGE
- In a lovely touch, the Strange New Worlds/Lower Decks mashup opening credits (above) includes the slug monster from the Lower Decks opening credit sequence.
- The mystical Koala of the universe appears in the final seconds of the animated opening credits sequence.
- Jack Quaid and Ethan Peck have excellent chemistry together. Spoimler forever!
- There are a ton of rapid fire Lower Decks style references to Star Trek episodes and characters including Worf, Trelane, “Past Tense,” and the NX-01’s grapplers. It’s very Lower Decks, and translates to live action more successfully than I anticipated.
- The Orion ship design is based off the design of the ship in remastered effects for Star Trek.
The #StarTrek #StrangeNewWorlds crossover with #StarTrekLowerDecks is NOW STREAMING on @ParamountPlus! And it even has its own special animated title sequence. pic.twitter.com/TvG0UNA14o
— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) July 22, 2023
- If I have one tiny criticism about the costuming, it’s that the black shoulders of the Lower Decks uniforms descend a little lower on the arms than felt correct to me — but translating costumes designed for animated not-quite-lifelike proportions to the real world aren’t easy, I’m sure!
- If you squint a bit and look at it sideways, the final scene of the episode gives you all the tenuous canonical reason you need for the existence of shows that “feel” animated and those that “feel” live action in Star Trek. But honestly, if that’s something you need to have a good time — and lighten up!
- Boimler’s poster of Number One features the phrase “Join Starfleet,” and the Paramount+ social media team released a similar poster on June 27 following “Ad Aspera per Aspera.”
- Even though they don’t make it to the live-action portion of the episode, it was wonderful that Tendi (Noel Wells) and Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) made appearances — and Commander Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) too, even if that’s just an excuse for Rebecca Romijn’s real-life husband to complement Number One’s looks.
- The episode’s title comes right from the mouth of Jack Ransom (Jerry O’Connell), back in the Lower Decks first-season finale, “No Small Parts” — “The TOS era… it’s what I call the 2260s. It stands for ‘Those Old Scientists.'”
- Live-action Boimler’s uniform boots feature the Starfleet delta on their soles, a detail which has been part of the Lower Decks uniform design since the series debut.
“Those Old Scientists” is a triumph for Strange New Worlds and for the Star Trek franchise. It’s an episode that we should revel in, and enjoy every department being at the absolute top of its game. Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome are treasures, the Strange New Worlds cast are treasures, and Jonathan Frakes is a treasure who expertly weaved the style of the two shows together. I am going to watch it a hundred times more.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns with “Under the Cloak of War” on Thursday, July 27 on Paramount+ in the U.S, the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Star Trek: Lower Decks will return for its fourth season on Thursday, September 7 on Paramount+.