Grounded

Stardate not given: With Captain Freeman’s Starfleet tribunal continuing, and everyone around her seemingly convinced of the charges that Freeman secretly destroyed Pakled Planet, Mariner is going stir crazy during shore leave on Earth. She sees it as her duty, and hers alone, to help her mother out of this tight spot…but that doesn’t mean she won’t recruit her fellow ensigns to help her steal the Cerritos and set things right. But that doesn’t mean that Boimler, Rutherford or Tendi will let her go it alone. Somewhere between those conflicting objectives… Captain Freeman will need help to come from another source.

written by Chris Kula
directed by Jason Zurek
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), James Cromwell (Dr. Zefram Cochrane), Carlos Alazraqui (Admiral Les Buenamigo), Phil Lamarr (Admiral Alonzo Freeman), Bobby Moynihan (Gavin), Kari Wahlgren (Sylvia Ront)

Notes: Bozeman, Montana is now a tourist attraction with an automated replica of Zefram Cochrane’s Phoenix taking visitors on a pre-programmed route recreating Cochrane’s first warp flight (as seen in Star Trek: First Contact), with a hologram of Cochrane as its pilot. (Jerry Goldsmith‘s theme from that movie is also heard, as is Cochrane’s preferred traveling music, Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride”.) This is the second Star Trek series in which James Cromwell has reprised the role of Cochrane from First Contact (he also appeared in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Enterprise). Captain Morgan Bateston (TNG: Cause And Effect) and Tuvok (Star Trek: Voyager) are instrumental in the mission to clear Captain Freeman’s name, though neither character has lines in this episode. Tendi and Rutherford are diving into the gumbo as Sisko’s Creole Kitchen, a restaurant seen in quite a few episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Apparently Starfleet has a long tradition of Earth-based transporter chiefs being incapacitated while unauthorized use is made of their transporters to beam aboard restricted vessels (Star Trek III: The Search For Spock). Guest star Carlos Alazraqui is the father of Star Trek: Prodigy regular Rylee Alazraqui, who provides the voice of Rok-Tahk. Strange as it may seem, Boimler’s log entries reveal that purple is not his natural hair color.