Lower Decks Season 4 Pays Hilarious Tribute To Star Trek’s Original Pilot

There has long been some niggling debate among Trekkies as to how many episodes of the original series there actually are. “The Cage” refer to itself as an episode of “Star Trek,” and it exists in the same continuity, but it wasn’t part of the official “Star Trek” canon for decades. My heart says it should be included. 

There is also some debate as to whether or not “The Menagerie” counts as one episode or two. It originally aired as two separate episodes in two separate weeks in 1966, but the bulk of “The Menagerie” consisted of old footage from “The Cage.” If one does count “The Cage,” however, surely “The Menagerie” counts only as a single episode, then. “The Menagerie” consists of so little original footage, that some nitpickers feel that it only contains one episode’s worth of new material. If one counts them all, there are 80 episodes of “Star Trek.”

Yes, these are the kinds of debates Trekkies have when you’re busy enjoying good food, conversing, having sex, and reading long books. So “The Menagerie” carries with it a distant whiff of controversy. When Beckett Mariner uses the word “menagerie” repeatedly in “I Have No Bones,” it’s pinging Trekkies’ radars. We know, Mariner. We know what that word means.

In a cute additional gag, it’s implied that rescuing humans from alien zoos is a casual, common occurrence in “Star Trek.” Mariner seems to have done this several times in the past, and notes that it’s usually all based on a simple misunderstanding. Have you been kidnapped and placed in an artificial extraterrestrial biome for reasons of study or xenotourism? The Federation will come by to rescue you soon enough. This kind of s*** happens all the time.