Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 7 - "Those Old Scientists"
Summary
- Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 7 features a crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks, with animated characters Boimler and Mariner jumping to live-action.
- Ensign Boimler (Jack Quaid) is a Star Trek fan who geeks out over famous Trek characters and hopes to become a captain one day.
- Ensign Mariner (Tawny Newsome) defies orders and ignores protocol, but ultimately tries to do the right thing and deeply cares about her friends.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' crossover episode featured Star Trek: Lower Decks guest stars Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome. Their animated characters, Ensigns Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner, jumped to live-action in Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 7, "Those Old Scientists." While Strange New Worlds takes place before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series in the Trek timeline's 23rd century, Lower Decks takes place just after the events of Star Trek Nemesis in the late 24th century.
In trange New Worlds' crossover with Lower Decks, Ensigns Boimler and Mariner inadvertently travel through a time portal and end up on Captain Christopher Pike's (Anson Mount) USS Enterprise about 120 years in the past. Though they try to avoid altering the timeline as much as possible, Boimler in particular cannot contain his excitement over meeting his heroes. Just as they do on Lower Decks, Boimler and Mariner get into their fair share of hijinks, much to the exasperation of Captain Pike and his crew. On Strange New Worlds, Boimler and Mariner are brought to life by the same actors who voice their characters on Lower Decks, Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome.
Jack Quaid’s Brad Boimler In Star Trek: Lower Decks Explained
In Star Trek: Lower Decks, Ensign Brad Boimler serves on the USS Cerritos under the command of Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis). He looks up to many of the classic Star Trek captains, including Captain Pike, and he aspires to climb the ranks and become a captain one day. In many ways, Boimler serves as a stand-in for Star Trek fans, as he geeks out over famous Trek characters and collects memorabilia, including a Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) commemorative plate. Despite his anxiety and excessive enthusiasm, Boimler is extremely intelligent and has the potential to become a great Starship captain. He also briefly served on the USS Titan under the command of Captain William Riker (Jonathan Frakes).
Jack Quaid is the son of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid. He made his acting debut with a minor role as Marvel in The Hunger Games in 2012, and Jack would reprise the role for the sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in 2013. Though he was a main cast member in the HBO miniseries Vinyl in 2016, he has become best known for playing Hughie Campbell in The Boys. Based on the Garth Ennis comic book series of the same name, The Boys follows Hughie and Billy Butcher (played by fellow actor Karl Urban) as they and their team fight to take down corrupt superheroes. Quaid also appeared in Scream (2022) and currently voices Clark Kent aka Superman on My Adventures with Superman on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.
Tawny Newsome’s Beckett Mariner In Star Trek: Lower Decks Explained
Ensign Beckett Mariner serves on the USS Cerritos under the command of her mother, Captain Freeman. Mariner was at the top of her class at Starfleet Academy, but her tendencies to defy orders and ignore protocol have prevented her from being promoted. She initially claimed she preferred to remain an Ensign to avoid the responsibilities and stress of being in a higher position, but later decides to focus more on advancing in the ranks. Before her position on the Cerritos, Mariner served on several different starships and space stations, including Deep Space Nine. Despite her disregard for the rules, Mariner generally tries to do the right thing, and she cares deeply about her friends, especially her best friend, Ensign Boimler.
Musician and comedian Tawny Newsome appeared in small roles in episodes of several popular television shows before starring as Nina in The Comedy Get Down in 2017. She starred as Chelsea Leight-Leigh on the Pluto TV comedy Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ and had a recurring role on IFC's Brockmire. While voicing Beckett Mariner on Lower Decks, Newsome also starred as Captain Angela Ali in Netflix's Space Force from 2020-2022. Newsome co-hosts the official Star Trek Podcast, The Pod Directive, with comedian and voice actor Paul F. Tompkins, and she will be one of the writers on the series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.