Parity .. .or parody?

Of course, McMahan is referring to William Shatner’s turn in the Director’s chair in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, which received little critical acclaim. 

“Listen, we all know that you get a great Star Trek movie and then you get a less-great Star Trek movie,” McMahan jokes about the old odd/even numbered Trek movie myth. “I love ALL Star Trek movies but I had heard that they go back and forth.”

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This is the sequel to Mariner’s holo-program Crisis Point: The Rise of Vindicta from season one, episode 9 (aptly titled “Crisis Point”). Mike talks about it and the reasoning behind the sequel. 

“We wanted to make a movie that challenged the idea that there were any good or bad Star Trek movies,” McMahan says. “They’re all good Star Trek movies because you get to be in Star Trek for two hours. If you’re lucky, in a theater. That’s my opinion on it, having watched a ‘bad Star Trek movie’ like a hundred times I just don’t believe there are any bad ones. I mean, it’s better to be watching a Star Trek movie than a fucking regular one.”

As a result, Boimler’s “movie” contains multiple references to the first five original crew films, including such deep cuts as Rutherford getting excited about the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Commodore 64-style graphics used in this episode, or the top of the Regula One Space Station jammed on top of an asteroid. There are even details like the unknown laser barrier device that was seen in The Wrath of Khan and even in Airplane II – a film that also starred William Shatner. But perhaps the biggest one comes at the end of the episode, which pays a special homage to Star Trek: Generations, in which Captain Kirk sacrifices himself. The guest star at the end, with valuable advice to Boimler on how to face death is the cherry on top of the episode.