The finest Starfleet officers of the 23nd century meet a pair of slightly less-capable crewmen from a century in their future in new images from next week’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds–Star Trek: Lower Decks crossover. Appearing for the first time in live-action, Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) meet Spock (Ethan Peck) and Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding).
Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, we have first images of the meeting between the legendary Star Trek characters Spock and Uhura, and Boimler and Mariner, who are legends in their own minds, at least. The two Star Trek series will meet in next week’s Strange New Worlds episode, “Those Old Scientists”, directed by Star Trek veteran Jonathan Frakes, in which Boimler and Mariner are flung back in time from the year 2380 to 2259. The name of the episode hearkens back to a gag in Lower Decks‘ second season, in which the venerable fan acronym TOS (for “Star Trek: The Original Series“) became the in-universe nickname “Those Old Scientists” for the 23nd-century adventures of Spock and company. The neurotic Boimler has been shown to revere Spock, so it makes sense that the two were paired up in the episode. At Newsome‘s request, Mariner was paired with Uhura for their comedy potential; as Newsome notes, “Uhura, when she’s that young, is so buttoned up and worried about following the rules correctly and where she fits versus where Mariner is, which is delightful chaos, a tornado of breaking [the rules] and asserting her own personality
Quaid and Newsome: A ‘Chaos Bomb’ In And Out Of Character
While Boimler and Mariner become a ‘chaos bomb’ on the Enterprise, the interview notes that both Quaid and Newsome were as enthusiastic as their characters were to visit the iconic set. Says Quaid, “Tawny broke a lot of buttons and knobs and little things on the ship because she just couldn’t stop touching things. I would see her just fiddling around. She’s been a Star Trek fan since she was a kid, so that was insane for her to actually be on the Enterprise.” Both actors brought the frenetic, ad-libbing energy of the Lower Decks recording booth to Strange New Worlds‘ Toronto set; says Quaid, “I was really just asking for forgiveness, not permission on that set.” They also discuss their respective wigs; it apparently took some doing to find the correct shade of purple for Boimler‘s signature coif, while Newsome was able to realize her vision for Mariner‘s full head of curls.
Strange New Worlds presents the adventures of the USS Enterprise before James T. Kirk became its captain; it is commanded by Christopher Pike, a character originally only seen in Star Trek‘s originaly-unaired pilot and “The Cage”, an episode that footage was recycled into. Its second season is currently airing, and it has been renewed for a third. Lower Decks is the first Trek series to focus on comedy; the animated series presents a different view of Starfleet, inspired by the Next Generation episode “Lower Decks”. It focuses on a group of lower-ranking crewmen aboard a ship, the USS Cerritos, that is frequently assigned unglamorous missions. Lower Decks‘ fourth season will premiere this summer; it has already been renewed for a fifth season.
Stay tuned to Collider for future updates, and check out the images below:
via Collider