HERE THERE BE SPOILERS

Well, I guess I should say, here there be some spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds second season’s seventh episode “Those Old Scientists” because I’m not actually going to do a plot summary of this one because, well, that’s what Memory Alpha is for. I will observe that Strange New Worlds has used its sophomore season to push the envelope in some interesting ways, and I have to say, as excited as I was for the crossover episode with Lower Decks, I really wasn’t prepared for just how well it worked.

Part of the episode’s success I think should be chalked up to Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome because they simply embody their characters. While the lighting didn’t do Boimler’s purple hair any favors, Quaid’s physicality really sold the idea that Boimler was on Pike’s Enterprise. For Mariner, Newsome’s incredible ability to nail Mariner’s peculiar speech patterns carries over to three dimensional space. It was shockingly nice to see both actors in costume on a set, rather than enjoying their animated iterations.

However, I think the episode’s real appeal is that it’s a story about fans. In some ways, it’s a love letter to the Trek fandom, and to be fair, Lower Decks really always has been just that. However, “Those Old Scientists” takes that a step farther by removing the “fan characters”—Boimler and Mariner—and directly inserting them among the luminaries that comprise their fandom. Boimler and Mariner get to experience in real life the fantasy shared by Trek cosplayers and convention attendees. CBS and Paramount therefore shrewdly chose to debut this particular episode at San Diego Comic Con, proving that they’re aware of the message the episode conveys and trying to capitalize on it.

Star Trek didn’t just give us flip phones and iPads; the franchise jumpstarted the evolution of modern fandom. Fans, largely female, gathered together to discuss the original series over coffee and Tupperware, and when the network canceled Star Trek, Bjo Trimble, who recently celebrated her birthday, and her husband spearheaded a letter writing campaign that persuaded Paramount to fund the series for its third and final season. During the dark period between the show’s 1969 cancellation and the release of Star Trek: the Motion Picture a decade later, these same fans kept their fervor alive by creating ‘zines, mimeographing art and stories to send world wide. Fans gathered together and launched the first Star Trek convention in 1972.

If these activities sound familiar, that’s because they are. The ‘zines have since gone digital and are now to be found on Archive of Our Own or Fanfic.net. Conventions have gone from tiny affairs to industry-sponsored, star-studded events, and letter writing transitioned to mailing in peanuts to change.org petitions. This is what modern fandom looks like, and fandom has become a more powerful force.

That’s the historical context underpinning “Those Old Scientists.” Heck, Strange New Worlds exists because fans lobbied for the show to get made. It would be easier to dismiss the episode as a cynical grab for fan attention, especially given Paramount’s decision with respect to Prodigy and everything going on with the SAGAFTRA strike. However, I think it’s important to remember that “Those Old Scientists” is also fundamentally about the joy that fandom brings us. Yes, fans can be a lot, as can Boimler, but there’s a moment in the episode in which Mariner and Boimler explain to Una that she’s the face of Starfleet recruitment over the tag line “Ad Astra Per Aspera.”

In the moment, Una takes that comment as a sign that eventually, Starfleet accepts her as she is, and that’s certainly true though it isn’t exactly the entire picture. This interaction serves as a reminder that these stories we tell each other matter. Trek as a franchise emphasizes doing better; the franchise’s central narrative is that humanity overcomes all of our petty squabbles to craft a utopia. We as fans watch these episodes because these stories remind us to dream that such work is possible. Trek, hopefully, inspires us to work toward a similar goal, and “Those Old Scientists” asks us as fans to remember that underneath the fun is a real message and that we, too, can work toward a better future.

Rating:

Four and a half time crystals

Stray Thoughts From the Couch:

1. Yes, “Those Old Scientists” refers to TOS, which is the abbreviation for the Original Series used in fandom.
2. The peanuts I mention above refer to the fan campaign to save Jericho back in 2007. There have been other, similar attempts. In 2000, fans sent WB execs bottles of hot sauce to save Roswell.
3. Please note, I’m not saying that the 1972 Trek Lives convention was the first science fiction/fandom convention. In the U.S., conventions actually began in 1939 with the World Science Fiction Convention. Even SDCC began as the Golden State Comic Book Convention as far back as 1970.
4. As far as the zines go, Trek fans also if not invented, at least ran with slash fiction. Whatever one’s thoughts on the genre, it’s obviously an important development in fandom history.
5. One of the biggest Trek conventions, Star Trek: Las Vegas, just wrapped, which makes the timing of this article kind of poetically perfect.
6. Bjo Trimble’s birthday was August 15, by the way.