Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 7 Brings The Boimler Effect
Ever since the announcement of the second season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," Trekkies have been anticipating this episode. "Those Old Scientists" will see Ensign Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Ensign Mariner (Tawney Newsome) from "Star Trek: Lower Decks" pass into the world of "Strange New Worlds," and interact directly with Captain Pike (Anson Mount), Spock (Ethan Peck) and all the rest. The shows are set about 120 years apart, however, so the characters will have to make use of an ancient, mystical time-travel portal in order to meet, but that's no big deal; "Star Trek" has featured multiple mystical time-travel portals in the past. At the head of the episode, the "Lower Decks" characters will be animated. Once they pass through said portal, they will appear in live action. The two featured voice actors will reprise their roles.
This is hardly the first time two "Star Trek" continuities have crossed over, of course. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" featured cameos from DeForest Kelley, Leonard Nimoy, and James Doohan in the past. Picard (Patrick Stewart) appeared in the pilot for "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," and that show's Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) appeared on a later episode of "Next Generation." Famously, the Deep Space Nine crew went back in time to interact with the events of the originals series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles," and "Star Trek: Voyager" featured an episode wherein Tuvok (Tim Russ) served on board the U.S.S. Excelsior with Captain Sulu (George Takei). There are many other examples besides. Heck, "Strange New Worlds" began its life as a "Discovery" crossover.
So, crossover episodes are a long and grand "Star Trek" tradition (although "Those Old Scientists" is the first time there has been a cross-medium element as well). This is one for the fans.
Just do a portal
"Those Old Scientists" has little on its mind beyond fan service, although that is admittedly fun. In the 24th century, the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos is investigating a series of stone portals, said to have been discovered by Orion scientists 120 years before. While poking around at it, Ensigns Boimler, Mariner, Tendi (Noël Wells), and Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) accidentally activate the portal and Boimler is thrown back in time to the "Strange New Worlds" era. There is little explanation as to why Boimler arrived at that exact moment, or why the Enterprise was investigating the same portal in their own time, but it matters not. Let's just get these characters together.
It has been written about in the pages of /Film in the past that "Star Trek" characters tend to become celebrities, and younger characters have to study the exploits of the older ones. This means that Boilmer is intimately familiar with Pike and the rest of the Enterprise crew, and instantly begins geeking out.
Boimler, a nervous and only relatively competent officer spends the bulk of his time on the Enterprise ooh-ing and aah-ing at the people around him, admiring their old-fashioned tech, and trying really, really hard not to reveal their futures. This is all very sweet. "Those Old Scientists" essentially lets Boimler play the comedic sidekick to a crew of increasingly annoyed straight men, while the "Strange New Worlds" cast rolls their eyes and debates what to do with him. The comedy will only increase when Mariner is thrown into the live-action world as well.
Smiling Spock
Quaid seems to emulate his animated counterpart's physical exaggerations, and he's excellent. Newsome, meanwhile, relies on her own in-room comedic language. They're both very funny, however, handily and upstage the main cast. Indeed, the "Strange New Worlds" actors almost appear at a loss; this is a different kind of episode than they've ever done and they seem content to let their guest stars hog the spotlight for a short while. Only Anson Mount has a moment when he gets to assert his authority and take control of a scene.
The only "Strange New Worlds" wrinkle worth addressing — and it's a big one — is Spock's new "emotional experiments." At the end of "Charades," Spock announced that he was developing feelings for Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) and that he wanted to continue feeling those emotions. He essentially wanted to give up living like a Vulcan. In "Lost in Translation," this was reiterated and Spock began to wonder if he should report his relationship with Nurse Chapel to the Captain (fraternization, you see). Spock is engaged, but now appears to be having a legitimate affair.
With it came a willingness to smile, laugh, make jokes, and express joy openly. When Boimler meets Spock, the half-Vulcan cracks wise and grins wide. This is utterly unsettling for Boimler, as he knew Spock to be historically stern. Spock easily surmises from Boimler's reactions that his emotional experiments will fail, and history will remember him to be emotionless. Whether or not this out-of-character, jokey, laughing Spock will persist remains to be seen, but it seems like a pretty significant character development to be treated as a gag in a lightweight crossover episode.
Join Starfleet today
The "Strange New Worlds" characters also seem to take their impeding fame in stride. Boimler may blurt out "You're a war hero!" to Lieutenant Ortegas (Melissa Navia), but her only response is to smirk in pride. The Enterprise crew seems to accept their celebrity as inevitable. It's only Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), an ensign, who seems a little overwhelmed by what the galaxy expects of her, and Commander Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) who suspects her fate may be grisly. She is elated to learn, however, that her likeness will be used as a Starfleet recruitment tool in the future.
The title "Those Old Scientists" is a gag unto itself. See if you can spot it. If you can't, it's explained in the episode.
Overall, it's a whimsical puffball of an episode, more "Lower Decks" than "Strange New Worlds." It should be noted that "Lower Decks" is, of course, a comedy show, while "Strange New Worlds" is light and brisk and feels like a comedy much of the time anyway, so there is no terrible tonal clash. The chatty, brisk pace of "Lower Decks" half-hour episodes is gone here — "Worlds" runs 48 to 64 minutes — but Boimler and Mariner remain completely in character, and that's the important thing. Eventually, everyone will return to their timeline, fans will get some jokes, and the status quo can return. Nothing hefty, serious, or massively important to canon.
The lightness is appreciated, and fans can treat "Those Old Scientists" as an intermission before the series can begin again.