Star Trek: Lower Decks is back for the third episode of the new season, and today we’ve got new images from “Mining the Mind’s Mines” for your review!
This week, Ensign Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and the Lower Decks gang must work to clean up some dangerous alien artifacts from a remote scientific outpost — while back aboard the Cerritos, Ensign Tendi (Noel Wells) begins her new journey though “senior science officer” training.
Here are six new images from this week’s new episode:
STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS — 303: 'Mining the Mind's Mines'
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And in case you haven’t seen it, here’s a look at some of the additional things coming up in the third season of Star Trek: Lower Decks, previewed during the August 25 episode of The Ready Room.
MINING THE MIND’S MINES —On a remote science outpost, stone orbs are bringing fantasies to life. Tendi starts her first day as a Senior Science Officer Trainee.
Written by Brian D. Bradley. Directed by Fill Marc Sagadraca.
Star Trek: Lower Decks returns with “Mining the Mind’s Mines” Thursday, September 8 on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics, as well as on CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada and on Prime Video in many other regions.
In addition, stick around to hear Sam’s wish for more legacy Star Trek characters to appear in Star Trek: Lower Decks’ third season, and for Alex’s theories about what kind of news we might learn at Star Trek Day on September 8!
WeeklyTrek is available to subscribe and download each week on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify— and we’ll be sharing the details of each new episode right here on TrekCore each week if you’re simply just looking to listen in from the web.
Do you have a wish or theory you’d like to share on the show? Tweet to Alex at @WeeklyTrek, or email us with your thoughts about wishes, theories, or anything else about the latest in Star Trek news!
A QUICK NOTE: Today’s review covers everything EXCLUDING the new 4K release of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture — The Director’s Edition,” which we hope to have reviewed in the near future.
While the first four remastered films hit 4K and Blu-ray in 2021, we now have the complete collection — including the Director’s Edition of The Motion Picture and Director’s Cuts of The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country — fully restored and ready to replace the in-our-opinion highly-inferior scans released more than a decade ago.
The new 15-disc collection includes all of the following:
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Theatrical Cut)
4K Blu-ray Disc and Blu-ray Disc
Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition
4K Blu-ray Disc and Blu-ray Disc
Bonus Features Blu-ray Disc
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
4K Blu-ray Disc — Theatrical Cut and Director’s Cut
Blu-ray Disc — Theatrical Cut and Director’s Cut
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
4K Blu-ray Disc and Blu-ray Disc
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
4K Blu-ray Disc and Blu-ray Disc
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
4K Blu-ray Disc and Blu-ray Disc
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
4K Blu-ray Disc — Theatrical Cut and Director’s Cut
Blu-ray Disc — Theatrical Cut only
Standalone 4K / Blu-ray combo pack releases of Star Trek II, II, IV, V, and VI also arrived this week:
There will certainly be debates over “correct” color timing and lighting levels between the 2009 and the 2021/2022 editions of the original Star Trek films: each film does seem to have an issue with somewhat brighter-than-expected lighting levels, especially in space scenes, which seems to be a side effect from creating the remastered Blu-rays from 4K HDR sources.
A NOTE ON SCREENCAPS: At present, it is rather difficult to produce representative screencaps from 4K discs and maintain the full HDR color presentation for online publication. The remastered Blu-rays, which are based upon the 4K presentations, are what we can produce and share for this review.
We’ve watched the 4K discs on a proper HDR television display, and can say that those of you who will primarily watch the films on 4K discs on 4K HDR-capable displays (or on streaming services which present the full 4K HDR presentation) will probably not notice much of an issue on that front — but “downgrading” the new scans to 1080p for the standard Blu-ray discs have left some scenes feel a bit over-brightened, losing some of the shadowy moods one remembers from countless viewings over the decades.
Captain Kirk (William Shatner) in STAR TREK VI — seen on DVD and on the 2009 and 2022 Blu-rays.The Enterprise-A leaves Spacedock at the end of STAR TREK IV.The Excelsior takes a Klingon torpedo hit in STAR TREK VI – contrast on the explosion is better, but the ship loses its shadowy look (likely due to the HDR-to-HD conversion).
That said — the primary problem with those first Blu-ray editions are the tragically-overused Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) and edge-enhancement (or “sharpening”) techniques used when bring the movies to HD for the first time.
For the 2009 editions, all six films were put through DNR processing to “scrub out” the natural film grain that was part of the original presentation, and then each were artificially sharpened to restore the detail lost because of the DNR pass — resulting in a strange mix of heavily-shadowed, chiseled faces, waxy skin features erasing the actors’ natural complexions, and elimination of much of the costumes’ and sets’ surface detailing.
Probably the most impacted by the DNR/sharpening effect was Star Trek VI, which in some scenes left the cast looking like clay sculptures brought to life — such as the below shot from Spock’s briefing at the beginning of the film — but the other films are impacted as well in varying degrees, as we’ve illustrated from The Motion Picture.
Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in STAR TREK VI, regaining much more natural features in the new edition.A side-by-side of Spock in THE MOTION PICTURE, with film grain and textures restored.
In the new 2022 editions, because the films have been rescanned from the original picture, those 2009-era modifications are not even part of the discussion anymore — restoring the look of each picture to something much closer to the original theatrical presentation.
While some have commented that the 2022 versions seem to be “blurry,” well, that’s because the slightly soft nature of each film were shot that way in the original production!
Because the heavily DNR’d/over-sharpened 2009 editions have been the default way fans have seen these movies for the last 13 years, on both Blu-ray and streaming services, many have little-to-no experience with the films’ original presentation — seen on LaserDisc, VHS, and DVD up until 2009.
Take this close-up of George Takei from Star Trek VI for example: compared to the original HD master used in the 1999 DVD, the new remastered version is a nice upgrade in color and clarity, while still keeping his face looking appropriately detailed.
Captain Sulu (George Takei) in STAR TREK VI.
…but as soon as the false-detailed 2009 image is added into the mix, it’s clearly an overcorrection which makes Takei’s face look pitted, adding ten years to his age!
Heavy false-sharpening processes resulted in 2009’s leathery facial features.
The theatrical presentation of Star Trek: The Motion Picturefeatures a lovely balance of lighting, color, and texture adjustments (again, without the DNR seen in the 2009 edition) which gives the film more depth — while at the same time toning down strange color casts like the purple lighting seen when McCoy is beamed up to the Enterprise for the first time.
Here are a collection of comparison screencaps between the 2009 Blu-ray and remastered presentations:
'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' (Theatrical) 4K-Remastered Blu-ray
For Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the picture quality is identical to the remastered Blu-ray released in 2016, and all bonus features from that first release have been included — and both the theatrical cut and Nick Meyer’s director’s cut of the film are included on 4K and Blu-ray discs using seamless branching.
Here are some 2009 vs. 2016 comparison screencaps we first presented at that time, which include a few comparisons to the original DVD picture illustrating color adjustments.
'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan' 4K-Remastered Blu-ray
The new look for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is full of welcome color corrections, which in some cases rewinds the clock all the way back to the original theatrical presentation. While the Blu-ray disc version still has a few overly-bright issues from the HDR-to-HD down-conversion, overall this film has never looked better, especially when viewed on a full 4K display.
From the start, the title sequence through sky above Genesis has been restored to the original picture width from the theatrical presentation — for some reason, the 2009 Blu-rays pillar-boxed the opening credits, adding black bars to the side of the screens and compressing the picture to fit. The text and framing have now been restored to the original look.
(All screencaps labeled “1984” are from a scan of a 35mm Star Trek III theatrical print.)
The STAR TREK III title sequence is back to its original width, for both picture and text.
Fine details in the Enterprise’s helm console can be made out in the 2021 remaster, including the label on Sulu’s panel which reads THRUSTER IGNITION — while the overall teal-tinted cast has been corrected (blacks and greys are black and grey; skin coloration is must more natural-looking).
Dialing back the strange coloring seen in STAR TREK III.
Also notable are changes to the Enterprise bridge set during the final conflict with Kruge; the dark, moody scenes were color-shifted red in for the 2009 Blu-ray release, and have been corrected back to the original blue tones for the modern restoration.
The cool blue lighting aboard the smoky Enterprise bridge is back for STAR TREK III.
Here are a collection of comparison screencaps between the 2009 Blu-ray and remastered presentations:
'Star Trek III: The Search for Spock' 4K-Remastered Blu-ray
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home fares nicely in the remastered presentation, as the popular “one with the whales” gets its missing film grain restored and thankfully loses the 2009-era slight blue-green cast from its color timing — evident in shots like the Yellow Pages advertisement and the opening debate in the Federation Council chambers.
The Yellow Pages advertisement in STAR TREK IV is now…. yellow.Just because it’s dark in the Federation Council chambers doesn’t mean it must be blue.
Outdoor location shots now also look much more like the natural lighting under which they were filmed; Gillian Taylor’s drive-by now reflects the cloudy, overcast San Francisco weather visible in the sky above the actors, rather than the oversaturated coloring seen in the 2009 edition.
In sunny scenes, like Kirk and Spock’s visit to the Cetacean Institute, white fabric like Spock’s robe now carry a warmer tone reflecting the sunlight above the location, rather than a colder blue tone scene in the previous release.
Here are a collection of comparison screencaps between the 2009 Blu-ray and remastered presentations:
'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home' 4K-Remastered Blu-ray
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier also gets a nice new presentation, with a correction to many blown-out highlights and the restoration of more natural-looking colors in a number of scenes — most notably during the Yosemite camping sequences and during the encounter with the Sha Ka Ree “god” near the end of the film.
The odd blue tone disappears Uhura’s nighttime arrival in STAR TREK V.Highlights on the STAR TREK V campfire scenes are balanced out, and an odd green tone is gone.
While some of the blue tones still remain during Sybok’s final moments, the contrast has been dialed back down to near-original levels, allowing viewers to actually see what’s going on during the climactic encounter at the center of the galaxy.
Below, we’ve compared the HD master used for the 1999 DVD release with the 2009 and 2022 Blu-ray editions — the soft blue tones reflecting the Sha Ka Ree “god” remain, but the overall lighting levels have been reduced for a less-blinding experience.
Somebody finally found the brightness dial on planet Sha Ka Ree.
Here are a collection of comparison screencaps between the 2009 Blu-ray and remastered presentations:
'Star Trek V: The Final Frontier' 4K-Remastered Blu-ray
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Countryarrives with two versions of the film on 4K: the original theatrical cut, which was also available in the previous 2009 Blu-ray (and what most people have seen on streaming services to date), and the longer director’s cut last released in the 2004 Special Collector’s Edition DVD.
(Both cuts of the film are presented in the same 2.39:1 aspect ratio, which is Nick Meyer’s preferred choice; previously the director’s cut was released in a taller 2.00:1 ratio.)
As stated above, this film suffered the most impact from the 2009-era noise-reduction/artificial-sharpening process, and as such benefits the most from the new scan for 2022’s remastered presentation. Gone are the craggy facial features and overly-dark shadowing caused by those filtering tools, and restored are natural skin and costume textures scrubbed away in 2009.
Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) gets her skin texture back in this STAR TREK VI closeup.
Magentas are dialed way back, most notably seen in the Rura Penthe surface scenes and during the Excelsior’s encounter with the Praxis shockwave. In addition, red colors in this Blu-ray edition of the film — notably in the Starfleet uniforms and Klingon ship environments — do seem to be pushed a bit too far into the orange spectrum, this again may be due to the HDR down-conversion to the 1080p Blu-ray presentation.
(Unfortunately it’s not easy to get representative screencaps from 4K discs and maintain the full HDR color presentation for online publication, but after having watched the film on a proper 4K HDR display, the orange ‘push’ was not noticeable during that viewing.)
This film also seems to be impacted the most by the HDR-to-HD lighting issue, as many scenes in Star Trek VI (on both 4K disc and Blu-ray) appear to be brighter than even the original 1999 DVD picture. The comparison between the three versions illustrates the thankful return to non-DNR’d picture quality in 2022, yet is still brighter than even the ’99 edition.
The soft picture from the theatrical print is restored, though lighting levels are brighter than expected.
In what is perhaps the biggest misstep of the entire package, the director’s cut of Star Trek VI — which features Rene Auberjonois as Colonel West, West’s reveal as the assassin at the end of the film, and a few other cuts and edits throughout — is only available on the 4K disc, and not included on the remastered Blu-ray disc.
Unlike the Star Trek II director’s cut, these are not just a few trimmed scenes — there are multiple shot changes, different audio cues, and video overlays (the derided flashbacks during the Valeris mind-meld sequence) which require more space on the Blu-ray disc than that storage medium is capable of holding.
Even with seamless branching, both cuts of Star Trek VI won’t fit on a single standard Blu-ray disc, but they will both fit on the large BD-100 disc used for the 4K presentation.
If you don’t have a 4K Blu-ray player, you don’t get Colonel West.
The real solution, of course, would be to have included a second Blu-ray disc to hold the director’s cut in the packaging — but it seems Paramount chose not to do so, perhaps because of the extra cost.
It is still part of the iTunes streaming release ‘bonus features’ however, so if you’ve purchased the film there (or redeemed the included digital code), you’ll be able to watch the Star Trek VI director’s cut in high definition on that service — as well as on Vudu where it is listed as a separate entry from the theatrical edition.
Here are a collection of comparison screencaps between the 2009 Blu-ray and remastered presentation of the Star Trek VI theatrical cut:
'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country' (Theatrical) 4K-Remastered Blu-ray
A few minor quibbles aside, the new Star Trek — The Original Motion Picture 6-Movie Collection is the best way to revisit the big-screen adventures of Captain Kirk and his crew — and these new editions of each film are taking over the old 2009-era presentations on streaming services to bring them to the forefront of viewing options.
Illustrated below from iTunes (picture by @StarTrekVHS on Twitter), the remastered editions of each Star Trek film are identified by the rainbow-colored artwork on many streaming services like Vudu (though not on Paramount+, naturally).
While there’s been no formal announcement, the four films starring the Next Generation cast are expected to get the 4K upgrade next; if things follow the last two years, we should hopefully see them get their own 4K UHD Blu-ray box set by September 2023.
Our coverage of the new Star Trek home media releases will continue later this week, as we dive into the new Star Trek: The Motion Picture — The Director’s Edition 4K edition, and break down all the different versions of the first Star Trek film now available on disc.
Like many other attendees, we’re still recovering from our week-long away mission to the 2022 Las Vegas Star Trek convention — Creation Entertainment’s 56-Year Mission Las Vegas — and while we shared with many of you our favorite costume efforts from the STLV floor last week on social media, we wanted to make sure the rest of you got to share our joy in these wonderful fan creations!
STLV 2022 had a great balance of cosplay from all the television shows and many of the feature films — from the Original Series to Lower Decks, and even Star Trek: Prodigy!
Here’s our full gallery of all the great Trek costumes we saw over the convention week!
The Best of STLV 2022 Cosplay
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'Macrocosm Janeway
USS Protostar officers
Murf!
Matt from Cetacean Ops
A Lower Decks family
A Lower Decks admiral
A pair of fan dancers
Ensign Rutherford
Peanut Hamper
Shaxs and Boimler
T'Ana in a box
A USS Kelvin officer
Captain Pike, ready to cook
Nurse Chapel
Princess Thalia of the Elysian Kingdom
Captain Angel and Orion pirate of the Serene Squall
Gray Tal
Linus the Saurian
Borg Queen Jurati
'Sub Rosa' Ghostbuster
Fek'lhr, guardian of Gre'thor
Haris Adislo from 'Star Trek: Insurrection'
Naomi Wildman and Seven of Nine
A cluster of Kiras
Morn
The 'Star Trek IV' whale probe
A walking holodeck
Captain Archer and friend
'Enterprise' underwear - and decon gel
The most important device in the universe
'Star Trek' cosplay generations
A 'Firefly'/'Enterprise' mash-up
'Star Trek' cosplay generations
TNG Season 1 Geordi
Korgano from 'Masks'
Captain Picard
A scary-looking Reman
Even Data needs to earn some credits these days
Spider-Boim and Borg Batman
Which of the dozens of outstanding costume ideas is your favorite? Sound off in the comments below!
Star Trek: Lower Decks episodes can broadly be categorized in one of two ways: those that revolve around some kind of Star Trek trope as their primary storytelling device, and those that rely on more standard sitcom tropes with a Star Trek twist.
“The Least Dangerous Game” falls in the latter category — and though I generally find those kinds of episodes have been the weaker of the two types throughout Lower Decks’ first two seasons, “The Least Dangerous Game” is perhaps the most successful iteration of that construct for me.
The episode’s A-story involves Commander Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) and Ensign Mariner (Tawny Newsome) leading an away mission that also includes Ensign Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) and Lt. Billups (Paul Scheer) to Dulaine, a planet with a health-based culture that relies on orbital lifts (space elevators) to transport people and goods from the planet’s surface to orbit.
Having been given direct authority over Mariner in “Grounded,” Ransom is looking to put that to the test, creating circumstances to test Mariner’s resolve and her desire to rebel against Ransom’s authority. To do that, Ransom sends Rutherford and Billups to meet with the Dulainians directly, while he and Mariner work to fix a broken space elevator.
Rutherford and Billups are not up for the task of negotiating directly with an alien culture however, and once hijinks ensue, they must be rescued by Ransom and Mariner before being sacrificed to the planet’s sentient volcano.
Back aboard the Cerritos, Ensign Boimler (Jack Quaid) is devastated to discover that Ensign Vendome — the Bolian lieutenant seen in early Season 1 — is now a captain. Convinced by Ensign Tendi (Noel Wells) that his awkward reticence is holding him back, Boimler decides to become “Bold Boimler” and say “yes” to every opportunity presented to him… even when a giant alien named K’ranch (Nolan North) requests to be able to hunt Boimler for sport.
“The Least Dangerous Game,” from Lower Decks’ executive story editor Garrick Bernard, leans hard on sitcom tropes – purposefully putting characters in situations they’re not right for to increase the humor factor, the character who decides to say yes to everything and gets offered a bunch of terrible choices – but for as much as this episode feels very sitcom-y, it works. The jokes are tight and funny, and the Dulainians are a funny exploration of a few Trek tropes.
The character design for K’ranch is a cool; I really like it when the Lower Decks team leans into the animated format of the show to present a unique and interesting alien design for us. And the motivations behind K’ranch are subversive and surprising in a fun way. I am also curious to see how this character turn for Boimler plays out in future episodes, if it does at all.
It feels like in order for the character to advance he is ultimately going to have to become more of a confident Starfleet officer, and perhaps “The Least Dangerous Game” was set up to get him on that path.
This season, Lower Decks also begins to expand its repertoire of Star Trek references, going beyond callbacks just to the other Star Trek shows, but increasingly calling back to itself as well. Boimler learning that Vendome — the hapless ensign who was struck by a spear in “Temporal Edict” and who appeared as a background character multiple times in Seasons 1 and 2 — had made captain is a big plot point for this episode.
And it’s entirely based on Lower Decks itself, and not some callback to another show. I think we’ll see more of this as season three goes on, and it feels like Lower Decks confidently asserting its own place in the Star Trek franchise by saying they’re just as willing to call back to themselves as they are to any other show in the franchise.
Also, special shout out to the episode’s framing device – the Klingon version of Dungeons & Dragons, a.k.a. Bat’leths & Binuchs. I enjoy any time Lower Decks is able to break the fourth wall and pull parts of what’s fun about being a Star Trek fan into Star Trek itself, and so the idea that our Lower Deckers get enjoyment out of tabletop roleplaying games (as someone who’s nearly two years into playing in a Star Trek Adventures group myself!) is a lot of fun to see.
It’s a thrill hearing Martok (J.G. Hertzler) once again, even if it is just a Ferengi holographic knock-off.
TREK TROPE TRIBUTES
The appearance of the Dulainians plays with a number of tropes around the kinds of cultures that Star Trek That they are a “health based” culture is clearly designed to spoof races like the Edo where most of the characters were scantily clad.
In addition, the rulers of the Dulainians — a sentient volcano named Morgo, a psychic baby named Nandrick, and a sentient computer named 355 — are send ups of all the cultures encountered in Star Trek that worshiped one of these entities as a leader. Though on this planet, all three together provide “a system of checks and balances.”
According to Ransom, “Starfleet isn’t all about being fed fruit by erotic aliens with slightly different nose ridges.” Having watched Star Trek, I’m not sure I agree with him!
Boimler agrees to play on the ship’s springball team — a Bajoran version of racquetball — with characters dressing in attire very similar to Bashir’s outfit in “Rivals.”
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
The Klingon version of Dungeons & Dragons looks like a lot of fun, complete with miniature figures and an interactive, holographic dungeon master. I really hope we get to see the Gowron expansion pack some day!
An episode about space elev — er, orbital lifts — without a single “Rise” reference?
I enjoyed the moment where Ransom is watching the equivalent of a YouTube tutorial video for how to fix the space elevator.
Mariner activates her flight suit by tapping an icon at her navel, the holy body region of the Dulaine culture.
It’s always great to see Mattand Kimoluagain, the two Cetacean Ops beluga whales introduced at the end of Season 2. (They’re right, Boimler is a real drama magnet.)
Because it relies so heavily on sitcom tropes rather than Star Trek tropes, “The Least Dangerous Game” is probably not going to appear all that highly on many fans’ Season 3Lower Decks rankings. But that’s not because it’s a bad episode — it’s fun and funny in all the ways you want this show to be — but because it just doesn’t quite hit the heights of what Lower Decks can do commenting on Star Trek itself.
I still had a great time, and what more can you ask for?
Star Trek: Lower Decks returns with “Mining The Mind’s Mines” on Thursday, September 8 on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics, as well as on CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada and on Prime Video in many other regions.
Star Trek: Discovery‘s latest adventures in the 32nd century will make the jump to home media this December, as Season 4 of the Paramount+ series is set to arrive on Blu-ray and DVD towards the end of the year.
Initially announced through the official Star Trek social media accounts on September 1, the four-disc Blu-ray edition of Star Trek: Discovery — Season 4 is slated for release in the United States on December 6.
Another Steelbook release is on the way to accompany the standard Blu-ray; this will be the fourth year to feature the special metal packaging for the show.
SEPTEMBER 19 UPDATE: Here are the new bonus features set to accompany Season 4:
– STAR TREK: DISCOVERY: THE VOYAGE OF SEASON 4 – A continuation of the series, this behind-the-scenes featurette includes writers and producers as they discuss how their visions were realized by the cast, sets, costumes and props in Season 4.
– BEING MICHAEL BURNHAM: THE CAPTAIN’S LOG – From Sonequa Martin-Green, fans are taken through her personal journey as Captain Michael Burnham. Follow Martin-Green, as she sits in the Captain’s chair and shares intimate videos taken throughout the season, behind-the-scenes moments and interviews.
– CREATING SPACE – Fans can explore the VFX department to see their use of an AR wall for the immersive on-screen experience created for The Holodeck, which utilizes the largest AR wall to date.
– THE TOLL IT TOOK – From the writer’s room and prop building to costume fittings, the production stage and post, the cast and crew discuss the toll COVID took during the development of Season 4.
– COMMENTARY – Episode 413: “Coming Home”
– DELETED SCENES
– GAG REEL
Outside of the US and Canada, here is when international releases for the Season 4 Blu-ray set have been scheduled:
In addition, the forthcoming Star Trek: Picard — Season Two Blu-ray release is coming up in October as we previously reported, and along with the above trailer (which features a first look at bonus content), the cover art for the standard Blu-ray edition has also been unveiled.
Along with all that, the first 10 episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy are expected to arrive on Blu-ray and DVD this fall as retail listings for the opening season are starting to show up.
The below cover art has been posted on Amazon, but for the time being no formal release date or other content has been announced — and this cover art may not be final.
Keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest Star Trek Blu-ray news, including our thoughts on the new six-film Star Trek: The Original Series 4K movie collection and more in the coming days!
In addition, stick around to hear Jenn’s wish for singing in Star Trek: Prodigy, and Alex’s theory about what Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) will be up to in Star Trek: Discovery Season 5!
WeeklyTrek is available to subscribe and download each week on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify— and we’ll be sharing the details of each new episode right here on TrekCore each week if you’re simply just looking to listen in from the web.
Do you have a wish or theory you’d like to share on the show? Tweet to Alex at @WeeklyTrek, or email us with your thoughts about wishes, theories, or anything else about the latest in Star Trek news!
Star Trek: Lower Decks is back for the second episode of the new season, and today we’ve got new images from “The Least Dangerous Game” for your review!
This week, Commander Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) takes advantage of having Ensign Mariner (Tawny Newsome) under his thumb after being given direct ownership of her job performance, while leaving Ensign Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) and Commander Billups (Paul Scheer) to fend for themselves in a tricky diplomatic situation.
Meanwhile, Ensign Boimler (Jack Quaid) finds himself being hunted by a dangerous alien.
Here are eight new images from this week’s new episode:
STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS — 302: 'The Least Dangerous Game'
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And in case you haven’t seen it, here’s a look at some of the things coming up in the third season of Star Trek: Lower Decks, previewed during the August 25 episode of The Ready Room.
THE LEAST DANGEROUS GAME —On a tropical paradise planet, Mariner questions Commander Ransom on how he structures his away team. Boimler makes a bold career decision.
Written by Garrick Bernard. Directed by Michael Mullen.
Star Trek: Lower Decks returns with “The Least Dangerous Game” Thursday, September 1 on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics, as well as on CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada and on Prime Video in many other regions.
2023’s planned Star Trek film, expected to be a fourth entry into the Kelvin Timeline series starring Chris Pine and company, has had yet another setback — following 5 years of other roadblacks that’s kept another KT movie from coming to fruition.
Now, the state of this ever-delayed project is once again in limbo as Shakman has exited the project, The Hollywood Report reports, to take on the forthcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe reboot of Fantastic Four, coming from Disney and Marvel Studios in late 2024.
In a statement issued to THR, Paramount Pictures said:
Matt Shakman is an incredibly talented filmmaker, and we regret the timing didn’t align for him to direct our upcoming ‘Star Trek’ film. We are grateful for his many contributions, are excited about the creative vision of this next chapter and look forward to bringing it to audiences all around world.
What does that mean for the Star Trek film franchise? Your guess is as good as ours, as the next movie has always just been over the horizon since the summer of 2016 — and with each passing setback, it feels further and further away.
For the meantime, the future of Trek continues to be strong and steady on television, with five active Star Trek shows in production for Paramount+ and potentially two (or more!) additional series in the works to follow the current slate.
Keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest in Star Trek movie news!
Star Trek: Lower Decks returns for its third season with “Grounded,” a classic Lower Decks style take on Star Trek III: The Search for Spock that reminds us of all the things we love about the animated comedy. It is wonderful to have this show back for another season, and it provides a fun change of pace after so much live action Star Trek in recent months.
After the season two cliffhanger, in which Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) was arrested by Starfleet Security for supposedly being responsible for destroying the Pakled homeworld, Pakled Planet, the crew of the Cerritos are on shore leave on Earth while Freeman stands trial and the Cerritos in dry dock awaiting repairs.
Frustrated by what she believes is about to be a sham trial of her mother, Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) enlists the help of her fellow Lower Deckers, Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) and D’Vana Tendi (Noel Wells) to try and steal the Cerritos to find evidence that will exonerate Freeman.
The episode follows the Lower Deckers as they try to find a way to the Cerritos’s drydock, and then to head out — Search to Spock style! — to prove Freeman’s innocence. Chased by Starfleet Security, all hope seems lost for the Lower Deckers until… Freeman arrives, having been exonerated by a secret Starfleet mission to clear her name. A mission the Lower Deckers knew nothing about and had nothing to do with, and seems like a great episode of some other Star Trek show!
The resolution to “Grounded,” written by Chris Kula, is where it truly shines in the Lower Decks style — because by the end of the episode, absolutely nothing our intrepid heroes did contributed towards Freeman’s exoneration. But along the way, the show gives us a fun exploration of some new and familiar parts of Earth, and gives the main Lower Decks characters a chance to shine as they work together.
It makes total sense that four ensigns would not ultimately be the reason why a major interstellar diplomatic incident gets solved. But borrowing a lot the tropes from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock tricks the audience into thinking maybe this is the time they DO matter to the bridge crew storylines. I applaud Lower Decks for not giving into the temptation to have our ensigns be pivotal to Freeman’s release, because then it is just like any other Star Trek show.
The other highlight of the episode is historic Bozeman, Montana, the location-turned-museum where Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell, reprising his role) launched his warp ship, the Phoenix, as seen in Star Trek: First Contact. The idea that it has been turned into a tourist-trap amusement park amuses me, and there are all kinds of fun touches to First Contact and classic science fiction theme park rides.
Welcome back, Lower Decks. I am ready to laugh!
TREK TROPE TRIBUTES
“Grounded” is Lower Decks’ take on Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and other similar episodes in which our heroes feel they need to go rogue in order to save one of their colleagues.
Naturally because Admiral Freeman’s office is in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge is visible out the window, keeping up the tradition of the Bridge being visible from absolutely everywhere in the city in Star Trek!
CANON CONNECTIONS
The Federation News Network, which broadcasts news coverage of the trial of Captain Freeman, was most recently seen in the Star Trek: Picard pilot “Remembrance.”
According to the ticker at the bottom of the screen, now-Admiral Edward Jellico (from TNG’s “Chain of Command”) has ordered the Zebulon Sisters — first referenced in the Lower Decks episode “Terminal Provocations” — from appearing on screen.
The same ticker reveals that the Buffalo Solar Knights have eclipsed the London Kings in the first game of the ELDS (Earth League Division Series?). Is baseball back as a part of Earth culture for the first time in two decades?
The ticker also indicates that a six-year old Zakdorn is the youngest person to be crowned StrategemaGrand Master (the game was introduced in “Peak Performance”), and that a group of teens were recently injured at a Sonny Clemonds concert. Clemonds is the cryogenic survivor from the 20th century who befriends data in “The Neutral Zone.”
The Boimler Raisin Farm has much of the same equipment as the Chateau Picard vineyard seen in “Family” and “All Good Things,” as well as some of the larger floating equipment seen in Star Trek: Picard.
Boimler is wearing the same outfit out in the vineyards as older alternate future Picard at the beginning of “All Good Things.”
Rutherford and Tendi are eating at Sisko’s Creole Kitchen, the first time Joseph Sisko’s restaurant has appeared in Star Trek since Deep Space Nine’s seventh season. To mark the occasion, Rutherford is wearing one of Jake Sisko’s patented sweaters.
Boimler struggles with one dash of Ketracel White Hot Sauce, whereas Mariner enjoys a bit of a kick.
Transporter Chief Carlton Dennis (Denny) is wearing an older Starfleet uniform from the Star Trek: Voyager era; with his outer jacket, he’s dressed quite similarly to the hologram of Lewis Zimmerman seen in “Projections.”
Denny has restored many transporter platforms; his collection features transporters based upon the sets seen in many Star Trek films and television productions.
As the camera pushes in on Historic Bozeman, Jerry Goldsmith’s theme for Star Trek: First Contact plays.
James Cromwell reprises his role as Zefram Cochrane for the first time since “Broken Bow,” though this time he is a holographic recreation aboard the Ride the Phoenix theme park ride.
The statue of Zefram Cochrane talked about by Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: First Contact is at the center of the Bozeman park; a model of this statue was also in Captain Archer’s quarters aboard the Enterprise NX-01.
The Starfleet security officer monitoring dry dock is playing 3D chess on his computer terminal.
The Starfleet security ships that chase down the Cerritos after the Lower Deckers steal it are the same design as the Federation fighter craft seen in the Battle for Deep Space Nine in “Sacrifice of Angels.”
The secret mission to exonerate Captain Freeman was led by Captain Morgan Bateson from “Cause and Effect,” with with some help from Tuvok, pictured here for the first time since his return to the Alpha Quadrant. Now that’s a show I want to watch!
The Pakleds’ plan was to destroy their own planet and frame the Federation — to force the Federation into relocating them to a planet that is more rich in resources, which Freeman describes as a “true Samaritan Snare.”
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
The Star Trek franchise video bumper that first started appearing before episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been updated slightly for Lower Decks. The Cerritos has replaced the Enterprise for Lower Decks, which means we’ll probably see similar variants used for Prodigy, Picard, and Discovery when those shows return.
The nebula clouds in the opening franchise animation also contain the spectral koala!
This is a rare Star Trek episode that has only an A story. There is no B story, which normally follows different characters on a different (but sometimes related) plot.
Pakled Planet’s capital is called Big Strong City.
Tuvok’s participation in the free-Freeman mission would seem to indicate the Vulcan’s neural degradation (noted in “Endgame”) has been repaired!
Admiral Freeman’s office has a number of plants in it. Each of the planters has a little LCARS control on it. Later in the episode, it is revealed that Admiral Freeman’s first name is Alonso.
The battle sequence in the opening credits has gotten slightly more intense in Season 3. After Klingon ships were added in Season 2, there is now a Crystalline Entity present — I guess it’s Crystalline Entity season.
The shots of the Ride the Phoenix ride leaving Earth are recreations of the same shots of the ship from Star Trek: First Contact — complete with Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride.”
The Zefram Cochrane safety video in line for, and on board the Phoenix, is reminiscent of a lot of science-fiction-themed rides, such as the famous Back to the Future: The Ride at Universal Studios and of course, the Star Trek: The Experience rides like Klingon Encounter and Borg Invasion 4-D.
The laughs are back with the return of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and they’re very welcome. The show launches the third season with a classic Lower Decks twist on a fun Star Trek trope.
I can’t wait for the next nine weeks of episodes to enjoy this fun show heading into the fall!
Star Trek: Lower Decks returns with “The Least Dangerous Game” Thursday, September 1 on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics, as well as on CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada and on Prime Video in many other regions.
