Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 4 - “A Farewell To Farms”
Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 sees the USS Cerritos facing a major multiverse problem that could have far-reaching consequences.Star Trekbecame a Multiverse when the iconicStar Trek: The Original Seriesseason 2 episode, “Mirror, Mirror"introduced the Mirror Universe. SeveralStar Trekshows have revisited the Mirror Universe, but thefranchise has also offered glimpses into other alternate realities. In 2009, J.J. Abrams’Star Trekreboot introduced the Kelvin timeline, with alternate versions of Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his USS Enterprise crew.
FromStar Trek: Strange New WorldstoStar Trek: Prodigy,modernTrekhas continued to explore the multiverse in several unique and fun ways.Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5is taking on the multiverse as part of its final season-long arc on Paramount+. InStar Trek:Lower Decksseason 5, episode 1, “Dos Cerritos,“the USS Cerritos was sucked into a quantum fissure and encountered an alternate reality version of the California Class starship.The crews of the two Cerritos worked together to get the Prime Universe’s starship back home, but the dimensional rift itself appears to be part of a much larger problem.
Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Final Story Is A Multiverse Problem
Lt. Mariner Discovered That Someone Is Ripping Holes In Subspace
When the USS Cerritos encountered the parallel universe in theStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 premiere, Lt. Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) remarks that it is the third quantum fissure they have encountered that month.Lt. T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz)notes thatthese interdimensional rifts"have been appearing with statistically abnormal regularity.“InStar Trek:Lower Decksseason 5, episode 4, “A Farewell to Farms,” Mariner and Lt. Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) travel to Klingon space to investigate another dimensional hole. Upon scanning the rift, Mariner realizes that these"space-time potholes"are not naturally occurring.
Star Trek Just Introduced The Franchise’s REAL Mirror Universe
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 begins with the USS Cerritos entering a parallel reality that’s more of a mirror than the Mirror Universe.
Someone (or something) is creating these interdimensional portals, although the hows and whys of it all remain unknown.It would likely require a great deal of power to open this many rifts in subspace,and each one increases the danger of something from a parallel universe finding its way intoStar Trek’s Prime timeline. This has the potential to cause even more complications and chaos than it already has, which will presumably lead to an action-packedStar Trek: Lower Decksfinale that will answer any lingering questions.
Why Star Trek Is Making The Multiverse More Important
Modern Star Trek Has Embraced The Multiverse
With a franchise as far-reaching asStar Trek,creating multiverse stories makes perfect sense. Much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are simply too many characters, stories, and timelines for everything inStar Trekto coexist in one universe in a way that makes sense.Crafting a multiverse allowsStar Trekto play around more with its characters and storylineswithout having to strictly adhere to established canon all the time. This also gives theStar Trekfranchise the opportunity to cast new actorsand introduce new versions of old characters.
InStar Trek: Picardseason 2, the Borg entered the Prime universe through a multiversal portal, and the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) hinted she could sense things across universes.
Star Trek: Prodigyfocused on the multiverse most directly,reintroducing Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton)as an interdimensional Traveler who has visited many different universes. Because Wes grew up in the Prime Universe (and his mom still lives there), he broke the Travelers' rules to save it, even when it seemed impossible. These shoutouts to the multiverse open the door for more kinds ofStar Trekstories in the future, but it remains to be seen howStar Trek: Lower Deck’smultiverse story will play out.
