Summary
The teaser trailer forStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 was screened atSan Diego Comic-Con, and was full of Easter eggs and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it details.The fifth and final season ofStar Trek: Lower Deckswill premiere on Paramount+ with two episodes on Thursday, October 24.TheLower Decksteaser trailer paid a sly nod to this fact with both a portentous voiceover promising “one last everything” and Lieutenant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) dismissing it immediately by stating the Lower Deckers “aren’t done voyaging”.
Screen Rantwas there to see the trailer forStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5screened during a panel discussion with stars Jack Quaid, Tawny Newsome,Noël Wells and Jerry O’Connell, alongside executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Mike McMahan. An accompanying press release states that season 5 will see the USS Cerritos' Lower Deckers"deal with an Orion war, furious Klingons, diplomatic catastrophes, murder mysteries and scariest of all: their own career aspirations.“You can watch the first trailer forStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 below, which contains several Easter eggs and hidden references:
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10Lower Decks Pays Homage To Star Trek VI’s One Last Adventure Trailer
“You are invited to join them for one last everything…”
The opening of theStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 trailer depicts highlights from the past four seasons projected on to the USS Cerritos to the strains of James Horner. This is a direct lift from the teaser trailer that promotedStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Countryas “one last adventure”, which depicted images fromStar Trek: The Original Seriesand the previous five movies on the USS Enterprise-A, before it warped out of shot. Mariner’s defiance makes this a wry tribute to theStar Trek VIteaser, setting the stage for aLower Decksfinale that will balance emotion with irreverent humor.
9An Alternate Reality USS Cerritos
“I’m Captain Becky Freeman…”
Our first glimpse of the USS Cerritos in action finds them encountering a quantum fissure, which has an alternate version on the other side. This alternate reality USS Cerritos is commanded by Captain Becky Freeman. However, Mariner’s adoption of her family name isn’t the only difference on the alternate Cerritos. Boimler can be seen sporting aWill Riker beardwhile manning the helm, and Lieutenant Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) has what looks like a partial Soong-style android skull, as well as a mostly cybernetic body. Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Shaxs (Fred Tatasciore) is sporting an impressive Worf-style ponytail.
8The Cerritos is Closing Quantum Fissures
“…the third one this month!”
The quantum fissure encountered by the USS Cerritos crew is very similar to the one encountered by Lieutenant Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) inStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 7, episode 11, “Parallels”. A quantum fissure can be a keyhole through which to peer into other realities, such as the Captain Becky Freeman timeline seen in theStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 trailer. Interestingly, Mariner states that this is the third such anomaly they’ve encountered in a month. The synopsis forStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 implies that this may be the season arc:
In season five ofSTAR TREK: LOWER DECKS, the crew of theU.S.S. Cerritosis tasked with closing “space potholes” - subspace rifts which are causing chaos in the Alpha Quadrant.
7Tendi Is Aboard An Orion Pirate Ship
And it has solar sails!
At theend ofStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 4, Lieutenant D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) resigned her Starfleet commission to rejoin her Orion crime family. TheLower Decksseason 5 trailer sees Tendi and her sisterD’Erika (Ariel Winter) aboard an Orion pirate ship. A brief glimpse of the vessel’s exterior reveals that the Orions, like the ancient Bajorans, use solar sails to navigate the stars and, presumably, loot unsuspecting ships. Tendi is later seen joining an Orion landing party, about to breach the hull of their latest victims.
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6Boimler And Ransom Go To Risa?
“…a little undercover mission”
It looks likeStar Trek: Lower Deckswill be revisiting the infamouspleasure planet Risain season 5. One shot sees Commander Jack Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) tell Boimler they’re on an “undercover mission” while wearing swim shorts and his best holiday shirt; unbuttoned, naturally. Later, Boimler, Ransom, and Billups are glimpsed looking worried in a tropical river, which looks very similar to those located on Risa, last seen inStar Trek: Enterpriseseason 2, episode 7, “The Seventh”.
5Mariner Plays The Ressikan Flute?
She’s no Jean-Luc Picard…
Another brief moment from the trailer sees Mariner jamming with a musical instrument, to the distaste of her fellow Lower Deckers. On closer inspection, it bears a striking similarity to the Ressikan flute owned by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) inStar Trek: The Next Generation. Because there’s a voiceover of Mariner promising us this is “the start” and not “the end”,you can’t hear if this definitely is a Ressikan flute. However, it definitely looks a lot like Captain Picard’s instrument of choice.
Musician Brice Martin provided the sound of the Ressikan flute inStar Trek: The Next Generation, and not Patrick Stewart.
4Is Lower Decks Introducing A New Andorian Subspecies?
Mariner, T’Lyn and Tendi get new orange antennae.
TheStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 trailer also depicts Mariner, Tendi and T’Lyn get genetically altered to pass for orange-skinned aliens with antennae. Whether these aliens are an offshoot of the Andorians is unclear. However,Star Trek: Enterprisepreviously introducedthe Aenar, a subspecies of Andorian that lived in the frozen northern wastes of the planet. The Aenar recently had a resurgence courtesy ofStar Trek: Strange New Worlds' Hemmer(Bruce Horak). If these orange-skinned aliens are another subspecies of Andorian, then they’re clearly pre-warp, explaining why Tendi, Mariner, and T’Lyn receive their alterations.
3Klingon “Boob Window”
Mariner upsets a Klingon female.
Mariner’s Klingon best friend Ma’ah (Jon Curry) is back inStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5. Judging by the trailer, Boimler and Mariner are on Qo’noS to partake in several Klingon rituals, presumably as part of Ma’ah’s stag night, as perStar Trek: Deep Space Nineseason 6, episode 7, “You are Cordially Invited”. If that’s the case, then Ma’ah’s future wife does not approve of him fraternizing with humans like Mariner. Ever the diplomat, Mariner asks her what crawled up her “boob window” and died, thus canonizing this fan description ofStar Trek’s female Klingon costumes.
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2Boimler Goes Skiing
Let’s hope there’s no leftover Quazulu VIII virus.
Boimler is seen plummeting down a ski-run, out of control, at one point in theStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 trailer. It’s unclear if this is on an alien planet or in the USS Cerritos' holodeck, but both can be fraught with danger. InStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 1, episode 14, “Angel One”, a holodeck skiing trip to Denubian alps ended in disaster when the youngsters were exposed to the Quazulu VIII virus and spread it to the crew of the USS Enterprise-D. If Boimler is skiing in the holodeck, then let’s hope he’s picked somewhere like the Swiss alps instead, to avoid another Quazulu outbreak.
1The Enterprise NX-01’s Decontamination Chamber
Will Boimler finally get to play with the grapplers?
Initially, the scene of Commander Jack Ransom lathering himself up in theStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 trailer seems like nothing new. However, on closer inspection, it looks like Ransom and the Cerritos crew are in a 22nd century decontamination chamber.Bright blue chambers like this were installed on the Enterprise NX-01 and other early Starfleet vessels, but haven’t been seen in their 23rd or 24th century equivalents. WithLower Decksseason 5 investigating temporal anomalies, is it possible that the crew have found themselves aboard the Enterprise NX-01, where they’re forced to decontaminate?
…if Boimler and Mariner’s previous visits to the USS Enterprise, Deep Space Nine, and the USS Voyager are anything to go by, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) won’t know what hit him…
Mike McMahan previouslypromisedEnterprise"would get some love"inStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5, and it looks like he’s kept his word. Quite how the Cerritos crew find themselves inside a 22nd century decontamination chamber remains to be seen. However, if Boimler and Mariner’s previous visits to the USS Enterprise, Deep Space Nine, and the USS Voyager are anything to go by, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) won’t know what hit him whenStar Trek: Lower Decksreturns for its fifth and final season in October.
