Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, Episode 7 – “A Few Badgeys More”
One of Star Trek‘s longest-running jokes about the Starship Enterprise returns in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 7, “A Few Badgeys More”. After Starfleet Command receives a partial distress signal from a Bynar ship, Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) and the crew of the USS Cerritos are called upon to investigate the ship’s mysterious disappearance, which resembles the disappearances of other starships across the quadrant. Optimistically, Lieutenant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) opines that Starfleet must be seeing the value in the California-class Cerritos to trust them with the mission.
Mariner’s theory makes sense, given events in Star Trek: Lower Decks’ previous seasons. The California class is designed as a workhorse vessel that provides support to more prestigious starships, but the Cerritos has proven itself worthy of taking on more than just boldly going where others have already been. In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3 finale, the Cerritos bested Admiral Buenamigos’ (Carlos Alazraqui) automated Texas-class USS Aledo, and Lower Decks season 2 saw the Cerritos battle the Pakleds alongside Captain William Riker’s (Jonathan Frakes) USS Titan. The real reason is much simpler than that: they’re the closest ship to Bynar space.
Lower Decks Brings Back One Of Star Trek’s Oldest Enterprise Jokes
Star Trek: Lower Decks brings back the tried and true Enterprise trope of being the closest ship to unfolding events. No matter which of the many Starships Enterprise it is, it always seems to be the starship best suited for Starfleet’s mission at that time due to its proximity to said mission. Other starships don’t usually have the speed or resources that the prestigious, top-of-the-line Enterprise does, but those capabilities are rarely cited as the actual reasons they’re called to duty; more often than not, the Enterprise is just the closest, no matter where they happen to be.
The reasoning breaks down even more when the Enterprise is near Earth’s solar system. There are important Federation locations on Earth, like Starfleet Headquarters, the Federation capital, and three shipyards, so the Sol system should be positively swarming with worthy vessels. The Enterprise hasn’t even completed its refit in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but is somehow the only ship that can intercept an anomaly that’s three days from Earth. It happens again in Star Trek Generations when the similarly unprepared USS Enterprise-B is the only ship in range of a distress call. Surely there are other starships nearby, so where are they?
Why “Being The Closest Ship” Makes Sense In Star Trek
When the action is happening further away from Earth, it’s far more likely that the Enterprise or Cerritos really will be the one closest to the mission. Space is big, after all, and things are always happening that require Starfleet’s attention, from political skirmishes to spatial anomalies to distress calls. An incident could develop anywhere, so Starfleet’s ships are scattered throughout Federation space to ensure at least one starship will be in reasonable range to render aid, investigate, or otherwise act. The Bynar disappearance is low-priority enough that the Cerritos is capable of handling it without calling in a more prestigious starship, especially when they’re already in the area.
While “being the closest ship” is an oft-repeated trope, it’s also a quick way to simply get on with the plot. Reasons that any given starship is dispatched aren’t always needed. It may be the case when a ship has unique capabilities like the USS Defiant’s cloaking device, but most of the time the only reason that Starfleet sends the Enterprise (or the Cerritos, in the case of Star Trek: Lower Decks) to investigate is that it’s the ship the show is about. That doesn’t work in-universe, so it makes perfect sense to fall back on the old trope of “being the closest ship.”
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.
