- Title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Those Old Scientists
- wiki: link
Given the fact that’s it the second time travel episode of the season, and the third in the show’s last eight episodes, I nearly skipped over “Those Old Scientists.” Despite not watching Star Trek: Lower Decks, I’m glad to have stuck around for this one which finds Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), and later Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), trapped in the past after traveling back in time through a portal. Nerding out over meeting their heroes, while also struggling with aspects of the past they don’t completely understand, the pair attempt to keep history on the right track while creating more than a few confusing moments for the crew of the Enterprise.
Despite the trouble his arrival causes, Boimler does end up being able to find a way to solve the situation and reset history back to its natural state prior to returning home with Mariner. There are several fun moments over the course of the episode including Boimler’s horror of a more emotionally-open Spock (Ethan Peck) leading to an awkward conversation between the ensign and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), the Enterprise crew being forced to rely on (but not learning too much from) Boimler’s future timeline, Mariner meeting her hero Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and teaching her to relax, the revelation that Boimler once dressed up as Captain Pike (Anson Mount) for Halloween, and the closing scene of the episode offering us a look at the Strange New Worlds crew animated in the style of Lower Decks.
