Category: Season 02

Stardate not given: The Cerritos is called into to inspect the belongings of a recently deceased member of the Collectors’ Guild to ensure that, among the things he was hoarding, he wasn’t hoarding anything dangerous. Assigned to lead the away team is new security chief Lt. Kayshon, the first Tamarian in Starfleet. Perhaps not unsurprisingly for an obsessive collector’s ship, a booby trap is eventually tripped, unleashing a weapon that turns Kayshon into a cuddly (but helpless) puppet, and locking down all the exits. Mariner and Ensign Jet Manhaver jockey for leadership of the away mission as it grows more perilous by the second. Aboard the Titan, which has been fending off constant Pakled attacks, Captain Riker sends an elite undercover team – including Boimler – to infiltrate and bring down a Pakled mining operation. Suddenly, merely “perilous” sounds really good to the Titan‘s newest officer.

written by Chris Kula
directed by Kim Arndt
music by Chris Westlake

Cast: Tawny Newsome (Ensign Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (Ensign Brad Boimler), Noel Wells (Ensign D’Vana Tendi), Eugene Cordero (Ensign Rutherford), Dawnn Lewis (Captain Freeman), Jerry O’Connell (Commander Ransom), Fred Tatasciore (Kerner Hauze), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana), Jonathan Frakes (Capt. William T. Riker), Rich Fulcher (Pakled Leader), Robert Gilbert (Titan Chief Engineer), Marcus Henderson (Jet Manhaver), Vanessa Marshall (Titan First Officer), Jessica McKenna (Barnes), Nolan North (Titan Conn Officer), Ben Rodgers (Stevens), Ryan Stanger (Titan Tactical Officer), Carl Tart (Kayshon), Paul F. Tompkins (Dr. Migleemo)

Notes: Kayshon is a Tamarian, the species introduced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Darmok (1992) which communicates only in metaphor; universal translator technology seems to have helped to bridge the communication gap…for the most part. Kivas Fajo (TNG: The Most Toys, 1990) was also a member of the Collectors’ Guild, and his attempt to abduct Data is widely known in Starfleet. Among the more visible (and sometimes inexplicable) artifacts in Kerner Hauze’s collection were:

1. The Curiosity Mars Rover
2. The remains of the Excalbian and “Abraham Lincoln” (TOS: The Savage Curtain, 1969)
3. The remains of the giant clone of Spock (TAS: The Infinite Vulcan, 1973)
4. Khan’s broken-Starfleet-emblem pendant (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, 1982)
5. Game headset (TNG: The Game, 1992)
6. What appears to be Odo’s bucket (numerous episodes of DS9, though the third season of Star Trek: Picard implied that this bucket was changeling standard issue)

Boimler, like Riker, now has an identical “transporter clone” to contend with (a la Thomas Riker from TNG: Second Chances and DS9: Defiant), prompting the original Boimler to return to the Cerritos. Vanessa Marshall is already major-sci-fi-franchise royalty, having played Hera Syndulla in all four seasons of Disney’s Star Wars: Rebels. Actual Kayshon puppets quickly became a hot ticket on Etsy following this episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Stardate not given: It’s hard to tell what Rutherford finds more unnerving – the fact that Lt. Shaxs is walking among the living once more with no explanation, or the fact that no one else seems alarmed by this. He is determined to ask Shaxs how he returned from the dead…if he can find a tactful way to bring it up in casual conversation. Boimler is excited to hear of an impending visit by Tom Paris, former helmsman of U.S.S. Voyager, primarily because it will allow him to complete his set of signed collectible plates of the Voyager crew. But even reaching the bridge in time to meet Paris turns out to be a monumental chore as Boimler finds that he hasn’t been granted access to all decks of the Cerritos since his return from the Titan. Tendi is assigned to go to Qualor II to retrieve a family heirloom Dr. T’Ana placed in storage there, and decides to bring Mariner with her. When the two can’t resist opening the box to see what the heirloom is, they accidentally break the contents, leading them on a side quest to set everything right…during which everything, naturally, goes as wrong as possible.

written by M. Willis
directed by Bob Suarez
music by Chris Westlake

Cast: Tawny Newsome (Ensign Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (Ensign Brad Boimler), Noel Wells (Ensign D’Vana Tendi), Eugene Cordero (Ensign Rutherford), Dawnn Lewis (Captain Freeman), Jerry O’Connell (Commander Ransom), Fred Tatasciore (Lt. Shaxs), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana), Robert Duncan McNeill (Lt. Tom Paris), Eric Bauza (Tellarite Bartender), Marcus Henderson (Jet Manhaver), Tom Kenny (Cody / D’Onni / Orion), Lauren Lapkus (Jennifer), Paul Scheer (Billups / Addix / Caitian Storage Unit Employee)

Notes: Qualor II was visited by the crew of the Enterprise-D in Unification I and Unification II (1991); it was kind of a seedy place then too. It’s also now home to franchised locations of Vic Fontaine’s club and Quark’s Bar, perhaps spoofing similar signts in Star Trek: Picard‘s relatively recent Stardust City Rag episode. Another seedy place we’ve seen before is the dom-jot den at the Bonestell Recreation Facility, a pivotal place in the life of the young Jean-Luc Picard (Tapestry, 1993). This is the first time Robert Duncan McNeill has reprised his role since the end of Star Trek: Voyager in 2001; in the intervening years he has become an in-demand director of such shows as Star Trek: Enterprise, Dead Like Me, Desperate Housewives, Chuck, Supernatural, The Orville, The Gifted, and Resident Alien. The meta references in this episode are almost too many to count, from the existence of collectible plates of the Voyager crew to Boimler humming Jerry Goldsmith‘s Star Trek: Voyager theme tune as he walks toward a turbolift.

LogBook entry by Earl Green