Below Decks taunts Picard with Ransom’s new slogan

warning: This article contains Spoilers For the final episodes of “Star Trek: Picard” and “Star Trek: Lower Decks”.

During the finale of “Star Trek: Picard” Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) has been promoted to captain and takes command of the modern USS Enterprise-G, eager to begin a new exploration mission. As she sits in her captain’s chair for the first time, Seven prepares to issue the order to take her ship into warp. The bridge crew all bow, full of anticipation, eager to see what she has to say. All Starfleet captains seem to have a different “logo” when they command their warp drives, and Seven is about to announce her identity to the crew by choosing her own identity. However, in a very precious twist, the series fades to black before Seven can say anything.

The idea that a starship captain needs to say “go warp” is a new one put forth by fans who realized that Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), in his “Star Trek: The Next Generation” days, tended to announce the word “engage.” This was plausible, in the context of the show, as the warp drives were working. Other characters also said “engagement” when sitting in the captain’s chair, but “Star Trek: Picard” turned the word into something that belonged exclusively to Picard. “Star Trek: Picard” took a casual moment and turned it into a “thing.”

At the end of “Star Trek: Lower Decks” (Here is our review of the show’s fifth and final season overall), there’s a similar moment that hangs over the newly promoted Captain Ransom (Jerry O’Connell). He actually declared out loud that he needed a catchphrase for his warp drives. However, the writers of “Lower Decks” seem to feel that Seven’s “pick a catchphrase” moment from “Picard” was forced and a bit annoying. This much is clear, given the angry response Ransom received from Lieutenants Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Mariner (Tawny Newsom). As they point out, one can’t really “pick” a catchphrase. It would be better to let that happen organically.

Throughout “Star Trek,” other captains said more colloquial phrases to bring their ships into warp, including “hit it” and “let’s hit it.” The last of these stages It was used by Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) In the 2009 “Star Trek” movie, this was perhaps the first time that a Starfleet captain appeared to “request” his own engine request phrase. As the years passed, some Trekkies began to feel that “Engage” was Picard’s personal line, and that other Commanders wanted to give the same command in their own language. The word “Engage” was never exclusively owned by Picard, but the word became so closely associated with the character in the minds of fans that other captains were (unofficially) banned from using it.

Hence the concerted effort by the “Picard” writers to give Seven of Nine its own logo.

The problem with the scene is that it looks a bit awkward. Picard never explicitly defines “Engage.” It happened organically during his leadership. Picard never said, in any way, that “engagement” would be a vernacular that would create his identity. Once again, it happened.

As such, when Captain Ransom says he wants to use his own slang, Boimler and Mariner roll their eyes. “I think this will happen naturally over time,” Mariner says. “Yes. You don’t want it to seem forced,” Boimler adds. However, being the bold and loud personality he is, he actually chooses his own phrase. Naturally, Boimler and Mariner absolutely hate his choice.

One suspects that the writers of “Lower Decks” weren’t very impressed with the Seven of Nine scene at the end of “Picard,” or at least thought the moment was a bit corny. Leaders are formal beings who give orders and expect them to be followed. They are often unconcerned with how “cool” they look when they want to power their ship’s warp drives. One cannot choose a title for oneself, nor should one force “association” into existence. Just let it happen. Let it stem from character.

“Star Trek: Lower Decks” is now streaming in its entirety on Paramount+.