7 Of The Best Easter Eggs In 'Star Trek: Lower Decks'

TV & Film

Sep 29

Earlier this month, the fourth season of Star Trek’s first comedy, Star Trek: Lower Decks, premiered on Paramount+, continuing the show’s trend of phenomenal reviews. It's the first Star Trek show to have the central plot focus on the ensigns and other low-ranking members on a spaceship instead of the bridge crew. The main characters of the franchise’s first comedy - Brad Boimler, Beckett Mariner, D'Vana Tendi, and Samanthan Rutherford - get caught up in adventures on and off the California-class ship, the Cerritos, run by Captain Carol Freeman and her first officer, Commander Jack Ransom. Boimler, voiced by Jack Quaid, and Tendi, voiced by Noël Wells, are often the signals of reason and truth for their friend group; Rutherford, voiced by Eugene Cordero, is full of positivity and will remind viewers of Geordi LaForge of Star Trek: The Next Generation; and Mariner, voiced by Tawny Newsome, is loyal to her friends but practically disloyal to Starfleet, constantly fighting back against authority.

One of the best features of the adult-oriented animated series is how many Star Trek references take place throughout - everything from episode titles and quick one-liners to returning characters and artifacts from classic Trek, thanks to amazing research by creator Mike McMahan and his writing team. Captain Kirk and Captain Picard are both mentioned frequently in Star Trek: Lower Decks, seemingly idolized by the members of the Cerritos’ crew. Boimler in particular is enthralled by Captain Riker, now heading up the Titan, though we often see Boimler geeking out, just like the audience, over a variety of fun little details. Among others, Star Trek: Voyager is central to Lower Decks episodes “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris” (with Robert Duncan McNeill returning as Tom Paris) and “Twovix,” while Star Trek: Deep Space Nine gives background to the season three episode “Hear All, Trust Nothing” (including Nana Visitor reprising her role as Kira Nerys). McMahan is skilled when it comes to throwing in easter eggs and paying homage to past tales and characters from other Star Trek series and movies - let’s check out seven of the best Lower Decks episodes for spotting these references.

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7. “The Stars At Night” – ‘Lower Decks’ Season 3, Episode 10

Lower Decks screen shot — Image Source: The Workprint

As the Cerritos are getting ready for their race against the Aledo, Commander Ransom preps his bridge crew with solid advice to “command that chair!” and demonstrates the Riker maneuver, which Jonathan Frakes infamously performed as Commander Will Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation. We see a live-action Boimler repeat this move in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode, “Those Old Scientists,” jumping onto Captain Pike’s saddle with a shout of “Riker!” The line was ad-libbed by Jack Quaid, who knew Frakes was on set and directing the Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds crossover.

After Mariner temporarily leaves Starfleet, she joins up with Petra Aberdeen for a brief period, but she knows very little about Petra. They’ve started to team up for various archaeology adventures, even with one mirroring Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Soon, Mariner realizes she doesn’t even know who is funding all of Petra’s expeditions. Without giving too much away, we later find out who the benefactor is - an archaeology student turned Starfleet Captain.

6. “Second Contact” – ‘Lower Decks’ Season 1, Episode 1

Lower Decks image — Image Source: Trek Core

Rutherford is on a date with Ensign Barnes when they decide to continue their date outside to ignore all the craziness happening on board the Cerritos. As a direct throwback to 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact (also directed by Jonathan Frakes), the pair wander together along the ship’s saucer. In addition to this visual reference, Mariner rattles off several references at the end of the episode once she’s decided that she does, in fact, want to be friends with Boimler. These include allusions to Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

5. “Kayshon, His Eyes Open” – ‘Lower Decks’ Season 2, Episode 2

The Cerritos crew is cataloging items owned by deceased collector Kerner Hauze, as well as deactivating anything dangerous in their path and not setting off any alarms. Easy, right? There are so many glimpses of various artifacts in this episode. Some of the many items in Kerner’s collection include the skeleton of larger-than-life Spock Two from an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, a Terran Empire flag, Captain Picard’s head modeled out of paper mache from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and what seems to be the skeleton of E.T.

4. “No Small Parts” – 'Lower Decks’ Season 1, Episode 10

Any fan of Star Trek: The Original Series will remember the Landru-worshipping people on Beta III who, among other oddities, insisted on having an hour each day to live out their own (less horrific) version of The Purge. In The Original Series episode, “Return of the Archons,” Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock shut that down as soon as possible once they discovered that Landru was a computer. This episode of Lower Decks starts with the Cerritos on Beta III, trying to quell the citizens’ obsessions with the almighty Landru once again. As they wrap up their mission, Commander Ransom mentions that it’s “always weird visiting planets from the TOS era.” This will prompt Star Trek fans to think of The Original Series to match that abbreviation, but when questioned by Captain Freeman, Ransom explains that it’s his own term for “Those Old Scientists” from the 2260s. We’ll later hear this term mentioned again at least once, in the Lower Decks and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds crossover episode.

We also briefly see the Spock helmet in Mariner’s collection of contraband, an item of licensed Star Trek merchandise by AHI from 1976. The Star Trek helmet “makes no sense” and was never produced for any show or film, as explained during a 2019 unboxing video of the vintage toy with Ethan Peck, who plays Spock in Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

3. “Reflections” – ‘Lower Decks’ Season 3, Episode 5

In a dream-like sequence, Rutherford builds the Delta Flyer from Star Trek: Voyager, just like Tom Paris and Harry Kim did with other members of the Voyager crew. Rutherford races the ship in an outfit replicated to be a copy of Tom Paris’ from the Voyager episode “Drive.”

2. “Twovix” – ‘Lower Decks’ Season 4, Episode 1

The fourth season premiere was a love letter to Star Trek: Voyager and just full of bizarre references. The Voyager is now a museum and the characters of Lower Decks are faced with multiple challenges that the original crew faced -- just this time, they’re all happening at once. There’s a clown, a macrovirus, a Neelix cheese infestation, and we can’t forget Dr. Chaotica! And that’s just what’s happening to the Cerritos team on Voyager. Back home on the Cerritos, there’s an infection that causes multiple hybrids of crew members, starting with T’illips.

1. “An Embarrassment Of Dooplers” – ‘Lower Decks' Season 2, Episode 5

Most of the episode takes place on Starbase 25, where we see many connections to past moments from the franchise. On the Starbase, a side character connected to Mariner’s past, Malvus, has a collection of Star Trek memorabilia and lore in his shop, including tribbles, phaser rifles, and a shirt worn by then-Commander Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation. There’s even a reference to Ceti Alpha 5, where Captain Kirk left Khan after the events of Star Trek: The Original Series episode, “Space Seed.”

Towards the end of the episode, many of the Lower Decks characters are relaxing at a bar on the starbase. The bar resembles an alien adaptation of the bar in the show Cheers, complete with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Morn, who frequented the Quark’s bar in that show - a sci-fi take on Cheers regular Norm Peterson. Stepping away from the traditional American baseball paraphernalia that lined the walls at Cheers, this bar includes pictures of past shows and characters, alluding to Star Trek: The Animated Series and Deep Space Nine, as well as the Guardian of Forever and the Planet Killer from two separate episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series. Not only that, but we even get to see that “Kirk + Spock” is carved into the bar top.

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