Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 3 - “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel”
The naughtiest joke told inStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Countryis revisited byStar Trek: Lower Decks. In its final season on Paramount+,Star Trek: Lower Deckscontinues the zany voyages of the USS Cerritos.Star Trek: Lower Decks' lovable casthas already encountered their alternate universe doubles, avoided an Orion war, and solved a mystery involving nanites on an interstellar cruise ship in season 5.
InStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,Captain James T. Kirk(William Shatner) and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy were framed for the assassination of Klingon High Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) by a conspiracy. Kirk and Bones were sentenced to the Klingon prison planet Rura Penthe, where they were to be murdered. The Starfleet heroes encountered a menagerie of aliens at Rura Penthe, including a shapeshiftingChameloid named Martia (Iman).Kirk also learned something about alien anatomy that turned into a risqué jokefor Star Trek.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Tells The Same Naughty Joke As Star Trek VI
Not All Aliens Are Made The Same As Humans
InStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5, episode 3, “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel,” Lt. Brad Boimler’s hunt for AWOL Starfleet Admiral Milius (Toby Huss) involved skiing down a dangerous mountain. As Boimler plummeted, he grabbed onto the back of an alien skier, andBradward found out he was holding on to the alien’s genitals. On his X account, Jörg Hillebrand (@gaghyogi49), who was a researcher forStar Trek: Picard, pointed out Boimler’s joke is similar to Captain Kirk’s gag inStar Trek VI:
Captain Kirk got into a fightwith a massive horned alien during his imprisonment on Rura Penthe inStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Physically outmatched, Kirk kicked the alien in his knees, which immediately dropped the creature in agony. Martia explained to the confused Kirk that,“Not everybody keeps their genitals in the same place, Captain.“Star Trek: Lower Decks' Boimler offers a hilarious revisiting of this unmistakable fact. SomeStar Trekaliens' genitals are where their knees are, or on their backs.
Star Trek Is Finally Able To Create Different Kinds Of Aliens
Animation Has Freed Up Star Trek
Star Trek’s vast coterie of aliensessentially being humanoids with different kinds of bumpy foreheads became a running joke over the decades.Star Trek: The Original Serieswas limited by the makeup, technology, and budgets of the 1960s, and the franchise has continued the tradition of most aliens being some variation of humanoid. However, Star Trek on Paramount+’s cinematic visual effects, increased budgets, and theanimated seriesStar Trek: Lower DecksandStar Trek: Prodigyhave allowed for more exotic and non-human-looking aliens.
One of Lower Decks most memorable alien creations is the Moopsy.
Star Trek: Lower Decksstill features traditional aliens like Klingons, Cardassians, Ferengi, and Romulans, but they’ve also showcased more bizarre creatures like Clickets, Dooplers, Kromsapiods, and Drookmani, who aren’t necessarily human-sized or shaped bipeds. One ofLower Decksmost memorable alien creations is the Moopsy, an apparently adorable little critter that savagely and relentlessly eats the bones of other species.Who knows where any of those aliens keep their genitals?Thus far,Star Trek: Lower Decksisn’t saying.
