khaosworks

The title is named after the eponymous 1966 Laura Nyro song which was more famously covered by The 5th Dimension in 1969. It has lent its name to various other media, including a movie, an episode of Gilmore Girls, as well as an episode of Cheers. It’s sung from the point of view of a woman wanting her boyfriend to marry her. 

The Stardate is 2251.7, three months after the events of SNW: “Hegemony, Part II”. The Federation Day Centennial being 3 days away places the Earth year as 2261. Various non-canon sources give different dates for Federation Day, ranging from an unused newspaper clipping from Generations giving the date as October 11 to May 8 in Geoffrey Mandel’s Star Charts. 

The music being played as we move through a Starbase One biodome (SNW: “Strange New Worlds”) is “Hacker De Tu Piel” by Lavanda Son, a Venezuelan tropical salsa band. 

Chapel has returned from her three month fellowship and brings along with her Dr Roger Korby (her future fiancé as per TOS: “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”). Korby was played in the TOS episode by Michael Strong. In that episode, Spock referred to Korby as the Pasteur of archeological medicine, whose translation of old Orion records revolutionised immunization techniques. Of course, in the original, there is no hint that Korby and Spock had met before. In any case, if the timeline in the original still holds, Korby will disappear on Exo III within the year. Cillian O’Sullivan, who plays him in SNW, has an Irish accent which Strong did not display.

As Spock digests the information that Korby is Chapel’s date, the background music echoes the “fight music” from TOS: “Amok Time”, indicating his jealousy.

Ortegas’s personnel file seen in SNW: “Among the Lotus Eaters” seemed to mention only one sibling, Fabiola (a feminine name). Here her brother is named “Beto”, which a nickname for Spanish names that end in “-berto”.

Pike does have an impressive array of medals (Memory Alpha lists 17), and in 2256 was ranked among the most decorated captains in Starfleet (DIS: “Choose Your Pain”). Batel makes a crack about Pike’s hair products, a rather meta joke considering the Internet memes about his hair.

The closed captioning says “Tilarian Star Gems”, but it could be “Talarian”, a race first seen in TNG: “Suddenly Human”. The Talarian Republic encompasses at least two Alpha Quadrant star systems in the 24th Century.

The second act resets to the same opening narration of the first act (similar to TNG: “Cause and Effect”), but then takes it into different events - the celebration of Spock and Chapel’s wedding instead of the Federation Day Centennial. 

One of the items on the wedding checklist is for a wedding licence and Pike’s approval, giving us a clue as to the legal requirements for a wedding for Starfleet personnel. 

Kal-if-fee refers to part of the traditional Vulcan wedding ceremony (the kun-ut-kal-if-fee), specifically where the bride opts for a ritual challenge where two males fight for the right to mate with her (“Amok Time”).

Korby says he’s checked himself for phase variances to see if he’s in an alternate dimension. As we learned from TNG: “Parallels”, each parallel universe (and its inhabitants) has its own quantum signature. Spock refers to an improbability field that once made the crew sing (SNW: “Subspace Rhapsody”). 

The entity says, “Greetings and many felicitations”. In TOS: “The Squire of Gothos”, Trelane’s first message to Enterprise is “Greetings and Felicitations”. His snapping of fingers is also reminiscent of Trelane and Q. The possible relationship between Trelane and the Q has been the result of much fan speculation and made explicit in some licensed fiction (the late and much lamented Peter David’s Q-Square being the best example). 

Scotty’s claim that he’s not much of a drinker is belied by his conduct during TOS, especially when he literally drinks the alien Tomar under the table in TOS: “By Any Other Name”. 

Korby’s remark about “wishing us all into a cornfield” is a reference to the classic Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life”, where Bill Mumy (who would later star in DS9: “The Siege of AR-558”) plays a malevolent child with immense reality-altering powers who banishes people who defy him to “the cornfield”, where they are never seen again. 

Spock quotes from Pablo Naruda’s Love Sonnet XI as part of his vows (and I believe it was also quoted earlier when he was speaking with Korby). 

While no names are mentioned, I think it’s pretty clear it is Trelane (he even lets loose with a “Tally Ho!”), and his father, appropriately enough is voiced by John de Lancie, namely Q. Why Spock doesn’t remember this when “The Squire of Gothos” comes around is now an open question. Trelane also mentions an unnamed “old home world” Korby was digging around in and that he is 8,020 years old.  

The song that closes out the celebrations is, of course, “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” by 80s pop duo Wham!. And it appears that Ortegas was more affected by her encounter with the Gorn than we thought although whether it’s PTSD (like Keyla Detmer in DIS) or something more sinister remains to be seen.

We discovered that the Gorn used light for ship-to-ship communications in SNW: “Memento Mori”, and in that episode they used it to fool one Gorn ship into firing on another. 

The first mention of wolkite, a rare mineral which apparently contains “subspace gauge bosons”. Gauge bosons are an elementary subatomic particle that acts as a messenger particle that carries forces for fermions (don’t ask me to explain further - I’m a lawyer, dammit, not a particle physicist), which apparently can be tracked with sensors. Let’s roll with it.

Inertial dampeners create subspace fields which protect crewmembers from the worst effects of acceleration and deceleration, especially when moving at faster than light speeds (VOY: “Tattoo”). This tells us that ships at warp speeds experience intertial effects, and that subspace fields affect inertial mass, both which run counter to claims that *Star Trek* warp drives run on the same principles as Alcubierre drives.

There is a slight blurring effect on the bridge as *Enterprise* moves to warp, reminiscent of the “wormhole effect” in *TMP* and when *Bounty* goes into time warp in *ST IV*. 

Chapel says that without certain shots, Batel’s tissues might turn necrotic in the statsis field. Why exactly this would be the case, if a stasis field is designed to suspend all cellular growth, is not explained - unless it only prevents growth and not decay. Epinephrine is another name for adrenaline, and can be used to prevent cardiac arrest and anaphylactic shock, among others. Batel is allergic to cryoserum and hence can’t be put into stasis. So stasis isn’t just some kind of force field but also involves cryogenic suspension as well? I have so many questions…

Joseph (M’Benga) isn’t around because he was part of the landing party kidnapped by the Gorn at the end of SNW: “Hegemony”.

April says the Federation is still recovering from the Klingon War (2256-2257), which occured in DIS Season 1, some 2-3 years prior. Chapel and M’Benga served in that war (SNW: “Under the Cloak of War”). 

As we learned in“Hegemony”, Pelia was one of Scotty’s engineering instructors at the Academy. Scotty better get used to working under time pressures, considering what he’s going to face in the years to come (at least, until he starts padding estimates).

La’an was the sole survivor, as a child, of her colony ship SS *Puget Sound* which was captured by the Gorn. The person she sees in her dream is Manu, her brother, who sacrificed himself for her during that time. He discovered the Gorn’s use of light as communication, and passed that knowledge on to La’an (“Memento Mori”). 

Scotty says “bawheid!” which is a Scottish invective meaning a stupid person (originally a person with a round face/head). *Stardiver* was Scotty’s previous assigment which was attacked by the Gorn (“Hegemony”). 

I will not, for the moment, debate the plausibility of the Gorn relying entirely on instrumentation and not visuals for their ships.

Una says that the radiation in the binary star system is so intense that they can only use impulse and shields won’t protect them. This reminds me of the conditions in the Mutara Nebula in *ST II*, where the static discharge and gas rendered visual and shields useless (*Enterprise*’s warp drive was out, anyway). 

Debulking surgery is a type of surgery used to reduce the size of cancerous tumours, commonly used in cases of ovarian cancer. 

Some Illyrians still use genetic engineering among their community, which is against Federation laws (SNW: “Ghosts of Illyria”, “Ad Astra Per Aspera”), hence the use of Una’s blood being against regulations. 

The screen at Una and Uhura’s briefing first shows the Finibus system which featured in “Memento Mori”, and then the Galdonterre system which was mentioned in DS9: “Blood Oath” as a place where the Albino hid from Kang, Kor and Koloth. Both  are in the Beta Quadrant. The larger scale map also shows systems where CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) events have occured, stellar events which trigger Gorn attacks.

X-class flares are the largest category of solar flares, which can cause radio blackouts and trigger radiation storms in the upper atmosphere. Supra-arcade downflows are sunward-traveling plasma voids seen during solar flares, which appear as voids because they are less dense than surrounding plasma. 

“A couple of litres” of Una’s blood seems like a lot - a human body typically holds about 5 litres of blood, so 2 litres is like 40% of your volume, which would send you into severe hypovolemic shock. Maybe they meant pints.

Valeo Beta V was where SNW: “Not All Those Who Wander” took place, where the USS *Peregrine* crashed after a Gorn hatchling outbreak on board. 

Pike’s strategy is similar to how Picard defeated the Borg in TNG: “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II”, by sending a command to put them to sleep. While it works for now, Pike’s concern about whether they’ve just kicked the can down the road foreshadows Kirk’s future encounter with the Gorn about six years later in TOS: “Arena” (which has to be quite extensively retconned given the events in SNW). 

“I’m Erica Ortegas, I fly the ship,” was the mantra that kept Ortegas focused while a memory sapping field was affecting everyone during the events of SNW: “Among the Lotus Eaters”.

Pike reluctantly starts to recites the Lord’s Prayer, saying to his father, “You win.” Pike’s father was a science teacher who also taught comparative religion, who died some time previous (SNW: “Those Old Scientists”) and with whom he had a contentious relationship.

The title refers to the transdimensional fissures that Cerritos has been dealing with in this season.

Raktajino is “Klingon Coffee”, although in truth its history is a bit more complicated. In short, raktajino is a Federation version of ra’taj (Klingon coffee with liquor) with added nutlike flavoring (making it raktaj) and cream, creating a portmanteau of “raktaj” and “cappuccino”: raktajino. A fuller explanation can be found here. As a side note, the Klingons got coffee from raiding human ships, and both developed a taste for it and started growing it themselves on Qo’noS.

Mariner and Boimler are drinking from Highwave Hotjo 14 oz. travel mugs, which were used as props on DS9. Boimler’s full beard has finally grown in, mutton chops and all.

Boimler was transporter cloned by accident in LD: “Kayshon, His Eyes Open”, with the clone taking the name William Boimler, taking Bradward’s place on the USS Titan. William was apparently killed by a neurocine gas leak in LD: “Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus”, but that was a cover for his recruitment by Section 31.

Oddly enough, Section 31 - the rogue covert intelligence organization that does (officially) unsanctioned ops in the name of preserving the Federation, first mentioned in DS9: “Inquisition - is never mentioned in the episode. However, William is wearing a Section 31 combadge (first seen in DIS: “Point of Light”).

Shax died in LD: “No Small Parts”, but reappeared with only vague allusions to dark truths about scientific depravity and the afterlife in LD: “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”.

William’s command, the Defiant-class USS Anaximander, escapes Quantum Reality 582.76-Φ. With him are alternate universe counterparts of characters we know. Anaximander (c.610 to c.546 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Thales, who subscribed to the notion the the universe arose from a boundless ultimate reality, the apeiron.

The Anaximander name was given to a Ptolemy-class transport tug (NCC-3804) in Franz Joseph’s 1975 Star Fleet Technical Manual.

In our reality, T’Pol (voiced by original actor Jolene Blalock) was Archer’s first officer on the NX-01 Enterprise, from ENT, who had a relationship with Chief Engineer Trip Tucker . Curzon was the Trill Dax host immediately before Jadzia, from DS9.

Garak (voiced by original actor Andrew Robinson) was the tailor/spy exiled to DS9, and given his thinly veiled relationship with Dr Julian Bashir (voiced by original actor Alexander Siddig), it’s appropriate his counterpart is married to an EMH based on Bashir. In the Prime universe, the Mark II EMH was supposed to be modeled on Bashir until his secret as an Augment was revealed (DS9: “Doctor Bashir, I Presume”). The EMH Bashir uses a mobile emitter like the Prime universe’s Doctor EMH (obtained in VOY: “Future’s End”).

There is a fan fiction script by Ellie K-E/@almaasi, “Little Achivements”, a dialogue between Garak and Bashir 20 years after the events of DS9, which depicts them as being married, and notable for having been performed by Robinson and Siddig. It’s sweet. You should go see.

As a side note, a team made up of alternate reality counterparts was also the basis of the 2000s Marvel comic Exiles.

Neelix was the cook/morale officer on the USS Voyager during most of her time in the Delta Quadrant. A “really big Spock”, a giant clone, was seen in TAS: “The Infinite Vulcan” and its skeleton displayed as part of a collection in LD: “Kayshon, His Eyes Open”.

William is understandably jaded by all the variations on a theme he’s seen (he does a Picard face-cover meme gesture at one point). This is a meta commentary on not just how the multiverse has been treated in Star Trek (Mirror Universe, Kelvin Timeline, et al.) but how multiverses have been treated - especially recently in the MCU - in popular culture in general.

Harry Kim (voiced by original actor Garrett Wang) was the Operations Officer on Voyager, who famously was never promoted from Ensign in its entire seven-year run. The one just beamed on board wears lieutenant’s pips, though. Harry is treated better in the beta canon, with the IDW comic and the post-“Endgame” novels promoting him to a full Lieutenant and Star Trek Online making him a Captain.

The black and white outfit with red piping worn by one of the Kims is a Starfleet racing uniform seen in VOY: “Drive”.

Curzon was known for his close relationships with Klingons and his love of Klingon culture, explaining his skill with a bat’leth.

The uniform variations seen on the Harrys are the First Contact-era uniforms, the original Voyager uniforms and the aforementioned racing uniform. They all seem to be wearing the DS9 and VOY-era combadges. One Harry is playing the clarinet, as does his Prime counterpart.

Julian Bashir and Miles O’Brien went from being rivals to best friends on DS9, who played various sports together, darts and racquetball being most prominent.

Alt-Mariner says her Troi (presumably Deanna Troi) was transporter cloned and stranded on a planet for years, like William Riker’s transporter clone Thomas (TNG: “Second Chances”). Her Boimler wears a leather jacket all the time, perhaps like the one Prime Boimler wore in LD: “Cupid’s Errant Arrow”.

Voyager did have more than her fair share of Borg infiltrations. The aliens trying to steal organs are a reference to the Viidians (VOY: “Phage” et al.).

Two-Pip Kim complains that everyone gets promoted before ops because no one knows what they do. To be fair, Ops is a rather vague description. According to the Star Trek TNG Technical Manual, Operations Management Officers coordinate activities and mission goals between departments, prioritizing and resolving conflicting demands on ships resources. They also allocate power during crisis situations, routes information to specific departments and the ship’s computer and monitor incoming and shipboard communications.

Alt-T’Pol says she “was” married to a human for 63 years, which suggests that Alt-Trip is now dead in her reality (he would be 261 years old if still alive, which is not likely for a human, even in the 24th Century). In the Prime reality, Trip ostensibly died in 2161 (ENT: “These Are the Voyages”), and he and T’Pol never married. However, the novels retconned this death, and it is a testament to how universally hated Trip’s death was that it’s one of the few retcons about which I have never heard anyone complain about.

petaQ is a Klingon epithet which can be translated as “weirdo”.

The ship flying out of the rift reminds me of the XCV-330 Enteprise from the 22nd Century, first seen as part of the Enterprise lineage of ships in a painting in TMP. It is based on an early Matt Jeffries design concept for Enterprise from 1964. The ring structure might be a coleopteric warp drive which the XCV-330 used, also used by Vulcan starships.

biHnuch means “coward”, first appearing in TNG: “Sins of the Father” and then in LD: “The Least Dangerous Game” as part of the name of the tabletop RPG the Lower Deckers play, Bat’leths & BiHnuchs.

The appearance of the Khwopian and the bog environment tells us that they’ve landed on a version of the planet Khwopa (LD: “Much Ado About Boimler”), on which Cerritos helped repair a water filtration system.

Alt-Curzon mentioning drinking bones is a reference to moopsies, otherwise cute looking animals who do just that (LD: “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee”).

The woman in an ENT-era jumpsuit (but with a different shoulder patch) is an alternate of Lily Sloane (voiced by original actor Alfre Woodward), an associate of Zefram Cochrane in the mid-21st Century (First Contact).

Alt-Garak is not “just” a surgeon, in the same way Prime Garak is not “just” a “simple tailor”.

Alt-Lily’s ethical boundaries against contacting species who can’t cross realities on their own is similar to how Starfleet’s Prime Directive uses warp drive as a guide as to whether a civilization is ready for First Contact.

Alt-Lily’s ship is called the Beagle, probably named after Charles Darwin’s HMS Beagle, an early ship of exploration. As a Star Trek related cut, the merchant ship SS Beagle was involved in the events of TOS: “Bread and Circuses”. An even deeper cut is that A.E. Van Vogt’s 1950 SF novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle is sometimes cited as a proto-Star Trek type story.

So the final villain this season is Two-Pip Kim, which in a meta way is appropriate since last season’s big bad was Nick Locarno, who totally does not look like Harry’s best friend Tom Paris.

A “micro warp jump”, a jump over much shorter distances than usual, was the basis of the Picard Maneuver (TNG: “The Battle”).

Alt-T’Pol’s transferring Alt-Dax’s memories to herself is like the reverse of what Spock did to McCoy when he transferred his katra in ST II.

A soliton wave in a Star Trek context is a faster-than-light wave that was thought to have practical applications in warp propulsion or faster than light communications (TNG: “New Ground”), but was also potentially destructive.

The first time “To Be Continued…” was used on LD was at the end of LD: “First First Contact”.