Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 8 - “Upper Decks"V’Ger, the villain fromStar Trek: The Motion Picture, has received two surprising callbacks inStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5. In its fifth and final season on Paramount+,Star Trek: Lower Deckshas the USS Cerritos fixing fissures in space that lead to alternateStar Trektimelines. However,Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5, episode 8, “Upper Decks,” takes a break to focus on the Cerritos' bridge crew. Amazingly,“Upper Decks” also has two references to V’Ger45 years afterStar Trek: The Motion Picture.
V’Ger is unforgettable inStar Trek: The Motion Picture. Introduced as an impossibly vast energy cloud that destroys everything in its path on a direct course for Earth, V’Ger’s secret was unlocked by Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the USS Enterprise. V’Ger was a massive, sentient starship built from Earth’s Voyager 6 space probe, which vanished in a black hole but was rebuilt by a world of machines. V’Ger journeyed home to Earth in a search for its creator, desiring to learn the meaning of its existence.V’Ger was never seen again after it evolved into a higher life format the end of the firstStar Trekmovie.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture’s V’Ger Made 2 Lower Decks Comebacks In Season 5
Star Trek: Lower Decks Hasn’t Forgotten V’Ger
Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5, episode 8, “Upper Decks” has two callbacks to V’Ger. At the start of the episode, Lieutenant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) finds her friends, Lieutenants Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), D’Vana Tendi (Noel Wells), and T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) having a pumpkin carving party.Rutherford reveals he carved an image of V’Ger in his pumpkin,prompting Mariner to mimic V’Ger’s voice (although V’Ger never spoke inStar Trek: The Motion Picture).
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Cast Guide: Who Voices Each Character In The Final Season
Meet the Lower Deckers and bridge crew of the USS Cerritos as Star Trek: Lower Decks warps into its fifth and final season on Paramount+.
However,V’Ger has been appearing inStar Trek: Lower Decks since season 5 began.Star Trek: Lower Decks' opening credits feature a gag where the USS Cerritos encounters and runs away from various Star Trek villains. EachLower Decksseason’s titles add moreStar Trekvillainsto the scene.Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 topped it all with V’Ger becoming the last and most powerful alien entity to join the intergalactic conflagration.
Why V’Ger & Star Trek: The Motion Picture Still Captivates Audiences
Star Trek’s First Movie Still Has Power
Star Trek: The Motion Picturehas undergone a renaissance with Trekkers reassessing theoriginalStar Trekmovie, thanks, in part, to the 2022 release ofStar Trek: The Motion Picture - The Director’s Edition. With the film’s visual effects enhanced for 4K, accompanied by a limited theatrical release,Star Trek: The Motion Picturebecame even more dazzling. As such, audiences gained a greater appreciation for the heady sci-fi themes of the Starship Enterprise’s first movie adventure and its ponderous encounter with V’Ger.
V’Ger was the most astounding vision Star Trek presented to launch its enduring movie franchise.
Star Trekhas changed significantly sinceStar Trek: The Motion Picture, especially thanks toJ.J. Abrams’Star Trekmoviesleading the way for the more cinematic and serialized Star Trek on Paramount+ series.V’Ger is a symbol of a different era ofStar Trekwhere the emphasis was less on action and more on moral and philosophical questions that test the integrity of Admiral Kirk and the USS Enterprise’s crew. Of course,Star Trek: The Motion Pictureis also a special effects extravaganza, and V’Ger was the most astounding visionStar Trekpresented to launch its enduring movie franchise.
Star Trek Gives V’Ger Its Due After Khan Changed Movie Villains
Star Trek Movies Likely Won’t Have Another Villain Like V’Ger
Star Trek: The Motion Picturewas a success at the box office, but it was also wildly over budget and disappointed critics and audiences.Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khanrelied on a more traditional villain by bringing back Ricardo Montalban as Khan, the genetically engineered warlord from theStar Trek: The Original Seriesepisode “Space Seed.“Khan was everything V’Ger was not as aStar Trekantagonist, and Montalban’s electrifying, scenery-chewing performance remains the gold standard forStar Trekmovie villains.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Homealso had a V’Ger-like villain, the Probe searching for humpback whales. Perhaps not coincidentally,Star Trek IVis one of the most popular and the highest-grossing of theStar Trek: The Original Seriesmovies.
Khan’s popularity ensured that, even decades later,Star Trekmovies would continually attempt to duplicate the diabolical Khan with heavies like Kruge (Christopher Lloyd) in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, General Chang (Christopher Plummer) inStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and, amusingly, Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) again inStar Trek Into Darkness. However,V’Ger had a unique majesty and a power to capture the imagination. Gratifyingly,Star Trek: Lower Decksgives V’Ger its due.
