Star Trek Just Topped Picard Season 3’s “Throw An Asteroid” Joke

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Finale – “Old Friends, New Planets”

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s finale just topped Star Trek: Picard season 3’s joke about a starship “throwing an asteroid.” Lower Decks‘ season 4 ender, “Old Friends, New Planets,” saw the USS Cerritos defy Starfleet’s orders to rescue Lieutenant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), who was trying to stop disgraced ex-Starfleet Cadet Nicholas Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill) from using a stolen Ferengi Genesis Device against the United Federation of Planets. Lt. D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) turned to her sister in the Orion Syndicate and made a huge personal sacrifice to save Mariner.

Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) throwing an asteroid at the Shrike, commanded by Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer), was one of the highlights of Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 4, “No Win Scenario.” After Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) realized the Ryton Nebula was a living organism about to give birth, an audacious was hatched for the USS Titan-A to escape the Nebula. The Shrike tried to stop them, but Riker remembered how Captain Vadic used her ship’s tractor beam to hurl Dr. Crusher’s starship, the SS Eleos XII, at the Titan. Turnabout was fair play as Riker used the Titan’s tractor beam to throw an asteroid at the Shrike, disabling it so the Starfleet heroes could warp out of the danger zone and back to Federation space.

How Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4’s Finale Topped Picard’s “Throw An Asteroid” Joke

Acting Captain Boimler took out the Trynar Shield.

As Acting Captain leading the cast of Star Trek: Lower Decks aboard the USS Cerritos, Lieutenant Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) rose to the occasion during Mariner’s audacious rescue. Mariner was trapped in the Detrion System behind an impenetrable Trynar Shield. Thanks to Tendi, the Cerritos crew were able to acquire a massive Orion battleship. However, D’Vana’s sister D’Erika Tendi (Ariel Winter) tricked Starfleet by giving them a derelict and non-functioning battleship. Ingeniously, Boimler commanded the Cerritos and used the California Class starship’s tractor beam to tow the Orion vessel to the Detrion System, and the Cerrios threw the battleship at the Trynar Shield.

The Cerritos throwing a battleship gambit worked. The impact of the Orion ship tore a hole in the Trynar Shield that allowed Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) to fly into the Detrion System and beam Mariner aboard her Captain’s Yacht. Locarno was destroyed by the Genesis Device’s explosion, which then formed a new Genesis Planet that Starfleet named Locarno. The audacious plan to throw a battleship at the Trynar Shield was even cooler and bolder than Riker throwing an asteroid at the Shrike, and both attacks were incredibly successful.

Lower Decks Is BEFORE Picard Season 3 So Boimler Did It Before Riker

Riker was once Boimler’s Captain on the USS Titan.

Boimler throwing a battleship in Star Trek: Lower Decks seems inspired by Riker in throwing an asteroid Star Trek: Picard, but in the Star Trek timeline, the Cerritos did it long before the Titan. Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 is set in 2381, a full 20 years before Star Trek: Picard season 3 happens in 2401. Since the Shrike and the Titan took turns hurling objects in outer space at each other, perhaps starships using their tractor beams to throw things at other vessels had become commonplace by the early 25th century.

However, Lieutenant Boimler picked up some tips as Acting Captain from Riker. Boimler served on Captain Riker’s USS Titan bridge crew at the start of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, and he took part in Riker’s “serialized,” action-packed adventures before Bradward transferred back to the Cerritos. Boimler even styled his body language as Captain after Riker. But when it’s laid out chronologically in the Star Trek timeline, Acting Captain Boimler still threw a battleship twenty years before Captain Riker threw an asteroid.

Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Picard are available to stream on Paramount+.