The title plays off Star Trek: The Next Generation, which succeeded TOS in 1987 - the last time that label was used being in PIC Season 3ās opener, āThe Next Generationā, with its finale, āThe Last Generationā, evoking that as well. Of course, by episodeās end, we see the aptness of the title as a torch is passed for a new frontier.
Relgaās lapdog is likely just a toy breed of targ. I originally thought it might be a variant of the Alfa 177 canine first seen in TOS: āThe Enemy Withinā as it appears to have the same unicorn horn but itās the wrong color and the Alfa 177 dog has antennae and no tusks.
As mentioned last episode, a soliton wave in Star Trek is a faster-than-light wave that was thought to have practical applications in warp propulsion or faster than light communications (TNG: āNew Groundā), but was also potentially destructive.
As the wave hits the ships, a Klingon is transformed into a DIS-style Klingon, specifically the alien design and white costume of LāRell in Season 1. An external shot also shows the ship (the Krtas) transformed into a DIS-style Bird of Prey before it collides with another KāVort-type and is destroyed.
Honus (last seen in LD: āCavesā) is tending bar. TāAna suggests Sexy Treasure Island to Shaxs, another in their series of erotic holoprograms (they had a black-and-white Bonnie and Clyde one in LD: āRoom for Growthā and a Robin Hood one in LD: āI Have No Bones Yet I Must Fleeā).
This unnamed cadet is a different one from the younger one we last saw in LD: āUpper Decksā. Heās also wearing glasses, which might indicate he is allergic, like Jim Kirk, to Retinax 5 (ST II).
I honestly donāt know if TāLyn and Tendi are messing with Mariner or not, but I will dutifully file away that half of all bopples are corbed, and corbopples are foundational elements of artificial gravity. Artificial gravity systems generally rely on generated graviton fields (TNG Technical Manual) and gravity plating.
A Bramble is an actual cocktail, consisting of dry gin, lemon juice, sugar syrup, crĆØme de mĆ»re, crushed ice and finished off with fresh red fruits and a slice of lemon.
In the real world, Boimler and Marinerās account would sound insane, but this is Starfleet. As Janeway said in VOY: āDeadlockā, āWeird is part of the job.ā
This is Maāahās cargo freighter (last seen in LD: āA Farewell to Farmsā), instantly recognizable with its brush devil tusks decorating the bow.
Relgaās brothers are revealed to be Bargh and Dorg, the latter being Maāahās former commander whom he killed to gain the captaincy of the IKS CheāTaā in LD: āwej Dujā and the former being the head of the Oversight Council who Maāah killed in āA Farewell to Farmsā. Both deaths were justified, though, with Dorg killed in a proper captainās challenge and Bargh in self-defense after an attempted backstab.
A Schrƶdinger possibility field is named after physicist Erwin Schrƶdingerās famous thought experiment involving a cat in a box whose state of life or death cannot be determined until the box is opened and the quantum wave function representing the cat collapses into one of the two possible outcomes.
Starfleet says Enterprise is en route. As of LDās current year of 2382, this would still be the Sovereign-class Enterprise-E, since it would participate in the Battle of the Living Construct in 2384 (PRO: āSupernovaā).
The alien researcher is an Ariolo, a centaur-like species that first appeared in ST IV and has made multiple background appearances in LD.
We see Ensign Meredith (last seen in LD: āUpper Decksā) and Ensign Olly (last seen in LD: āOf Gods and Anglesā).
ā[Mariner] is my chaāDIchās chaāDichā, says Malor. A chaāDIch is the title for a Klingonās āsecondā, which also holds implications of mentorship.
Carol Freemanās husband is Admiral Alonzo Freeman, who was on the conference call briefing Cerritos on her mission. petaQ can be translated as āweirdoā. Huātegh (untranslated) is a general invective in Klingon.
Boims using the shipās shields to nudge one BoP into another is actually a pretty cool maneuver.
The first wave turns Cerritos into a Freedom-class, a kit-bash that appeared as part of the wreckage of the Battle of Wolf 359 (TNG: āThe Best of Both Worlds, Part IIā).
Freeman brings up an interesting point about warping with one nacelle. Traditionally, two nacelles create two balanced, interacting warp fields which can be shaped to maneuver the ship. According to the TNG Tech Manual, experiments in 2269 confirmed that two was the optimum number for power generation and vehicle control. As Tendi says, one nacelle for warp is still possibleā¦but we donāt have time to nerd out about this now.
The Klingon BoP is turned into an ancient Klingon sailing barge, a mythical version of one ferrying dishonored Klingon souls to Greāthor, the Klingon equivalent of the Norse Hel (VOY: āBarge of the Deadā), as opposed to Stoāvoākor, the Klingon Valhalla.
Matt and Kimolu, the Cetacean Ops beluga whales, were last seen in LD: āStarbase 80?!ā
The next wave turns Cerritos into a Terran Empire variant of the California-class. The Terran Empire is of course from the oft-encountered Mirror Universe (TOS: āMirror Mirrorā, et al.), which we last saw in PRO: āCracked Mirrorā.
Ensign Olly, being a descendant of Zeus (or the alien the Ancient Greeks called Zeus as per TOS: āWho Mourns for Adonais?ā), has lightning powers which I hope she finally sees actually are useful.
The proto-Klingons Relga and her crew are turned into resemble to a large degree the same form Worf devolved into in TNG: āGenesisā when affected by Barclayās Protomorphosis Syndrome.
The next wave turns Cerritos into a Sovereign-class, like Enterprise-E, including of course the bridge design (First Contact), then an Oberth-class (ST III), Galaxy-class (TNG), Miranda-class (ST II), and back to California-class.
The engineer to observe Rutherfordās speed is his nemesis/rival Livik, last seen in LD: āStarbase 80?!ā
Cerritos splitting into two quantum possibilities is similar to what happened to Voyager in VOY: āDeadlockā, where a subspace divergent field duplicated the ship and personnel.
Next to Maāah on his new bridge are Malor, together with the pet targ that Maāah inherited from Dorg (LD: āwej Dujā), and KāEllara, his would be paramour from LD: āA Farewell to Farmsā (voiced by Mary Chieffo in that episode).
Starbase 80ās systems, as stated in the titular episode, hadnāt been updated since the 2260s, which makes it ideal for guarding the newly created quantum portal, much like DS9 guarded the Bajoran wormhole or Juratiās Borg fleet guards the mysterious fissure of PIC Season 2. Kassia was also last seen in that episode. We see that Anximander and her crew (LD: āFissure Questā) made it.
I wonāt bother identifying all the personnel shown in the final montage, just point out a few notable things.
Olly is showing off her Kamehameha move in her bunk. One of the players in the poker game is wearing a Zebulon Sisters Chu Chu Dance shirt. The Sisters performed on Cerritos in LD: āTerminal Provocationsā but were later banned from performing on active duty starships by Admiral Jellico (LD: āGroundedā).
In engineering, Livek and Meredith are working on what seems to be an even more improved version of the Billups Tubes from LD: āI Have No Bones and I Must Fleeā. The Billups Tubes were an āimprovedā version of the Tucker Tubes (Modern Props 195-290-1, also known as āThe Most Important Device in the Universeā, a common sci-fi prop seen in many movies and shows).
In case anyone doesnāt know, that isnāt Badgey, but Goodgey, his good twin (LD: āA Few Badgeys Moreā), who remained on Cerritos when Badgey ascended. Speaking of which, the person being ejected from the portal in Sickbay is OāConnor, who we last saw ascending to a higher plane in LD: āMoist Vesselā. Guess it didnāt take.
āTwainingā is a form of dispute resolution that involves dressing up like Mark Twain in a riverboat holoprogram, last seen in LD: āOld Friends, New Planetsā. We see another one of Castroās salons (LD: āHear All, Trust Nothingā) but this time theyāre lighting a plasma candle - one of which housed the infamous anaphasic āghostā of TNG: āSub Rosaā. Which also makes their cheering a bit suspect.
Shaxs always wants to detonate the warp core, but Freeman only allowed it in LD: āThe Stars At Nightā, which brought him to tears.
The idea of captains formally having their individual go-to-warp catchphrases didnāt really become a thing until SNW: āThe Broken Circleā when Spock was encouraged to have one and he came up with, āI would like the ship to go now.ā Prior to that, each captain just had their own go-to order. For example, Picard had a few but it was usually, āEngage.ā Pikeās is, āHit it.ā Burnhamās is, āLetās fly.ā Freemanās is, āWarp me,ā and Dalās (from PRO) is āGo fast.ā Ransomās is āEngage the core,ā a very dad joke given his exercise obsession.
And so, farewell Lower Decks, for now. Itās been a gas.
Is it fair to assume that, by showing the Klingon turning Disco, that the implication is that Discovery exists in a reality almost identical to the Prime Timeline, but with differently evolved Klingons?
If so, it begs a question. Is there a Mirror Universe for every reality? Or do they all share one?
Not any more than itās fair to assume that, by showing the Barge of the Dead, or the Miranda-class, or the Oberth-class, or the Galaxy-class, or the proto-Klingons, that VOY: āBarge of the Deadā, ST II, ST III, TNG or TNG: āGenesisā took place in a reality with different class ships or people.
The Mirror Universe question is a separate one, to which there really is no good answer because weāve only seen crossovers from the Prime Universe to its Mirror Universe counterpart. A bigger question is whether or not the Mirror Universe we saw in PRO: āBroken Mirrorā is the same Mirror Universe we see in DS9 because there the Terran Empire seems to exist again.
A decent point, but each of those ships were from realities where the Cerritos is that class. Just as there are Klingons who never left Quoānos or never evolved past proto-Klingons and those crews and ships were affected by the reality waves to reveal them.
I think there is a reality within which the Klingons evolved slightly differently and developed a slightly different culture, but remain close enough that we donāt see major changes to the events of the Prime timeline.
One thing that suggests Broken Mirrorās mirror universe is the prime one is the uniforms borrow a lot of conventions from the IDW TNG Mirror comics, which sorts out a way the empire resurges.