Warning: Spoilers ahead forStar Trek: Lower Decks, season 5, episode 9, “Fissure Quest.“Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5, episode 9, “Fissure Quest,” introduces a compelling new starship, and the name it bears is fascinatingly tied to its mission. The multiverse story adds some exciting last-minute additions to theStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 cast, as the animated comedy explores alternate versions of beloved characters from up and down theStar Trektimeline. Additionally, the vessel that houses them has a very fitting title.
“Fissure Quest” manages to acknowledge an impressive number ofStar TrekTV showsand movies, especially considering the show’s format and its episodes' fairly short run times. The characters from various realities are largely very similar to theirStar TrekPrime Universe counterparts, although certain figures act very differently from their more famous iterations. It’s easy to get lost in the brilliant chaos of the installment, meaning the ship of Captain William Boimler (Jack Quaid) often takes a back seat from a narrative perspective.
The Origin Of Star Trek: Lower Decks' Starship Anaximander’s Name
Captain Boimler’s ship is named after a real ancient philosopher
It’s not uncommon forStar Trekships that originated on Earth to be named after facets of real human history. For example, there have been severaliterations of the USS Enterprise inStar Trek, but the name was ultimately taken from an 18th-century seafaring vessel.“Fissure Quest” delves even further into Earth’s history to name the Anaximander, with Captain Boimler’s ship inheriting the title from a very early philosopher who, according toLinda Hall, was born around 610 BCE.
Many of his theories have since been proven to be wrong, but they were very impressive given Anaximander’s primitive resources.
Anaximander is widely credited as one of the founders of philosophy and science in the Western world. He had some very interesting views on the shape of Earth, and how various bodies in the solar system interacted with one another. Many of his theories have since been proven to be wrong, but they were very impressive given Anaximander’s primitive resources and lack of existing information. Very little of his work remains, but what has survived into the modern day is considered some of the oldest recorded ruminations on certain topics.
Why Star Trek: Lower Decks Named Captain Boimler’s Section 31 Ship “The Anaximander”
The ship’s namesake pondered on a concept relevant to Section 31’s mission
Anaximander’s pivotal role in the evolution of human understanding makes his name a prime candidatewhen it comes to names that would be perfect forStar Trekships. However, it actually goes much deeper than just how important he was in general. One of the philosopher-scientist’s most interesting theories was that the universe stems from something called “the aperion.” Today, the word roughly translates to mean something like “limitless” or “boundless.”
Star Trek Adds A Multiverse Version Of Starfleet’s Prime Directive & It’s A Big Improvement To Canon
Star Trek has visited the multiverse many times, but the franchise’s animated comedy just provided a powerful new rule tied to the trope.
The concept of an infinite universe is perfect when seeking a title for Captain Boimler’s ship.Section 31 likely named the Anaximinder primarily for its namesake’s thoughts on the aperion, asStar Trek’s multiverse is also essentially without end - as far as anyone can prove. Because the Anaximander was assigned to monitor and investigate the gateways between parallel realities,Star Trek: Lower Decks' selection of the ship’s name is incredibly well-suited.
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“Shades of Green”
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“A Farewell to Farms”
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“Of Gods and Angels”
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Star Trek: Lower Decks
Cast
The animated comedy series Star Trek: Lower Decks follows the support crew on one of Starfleet’s least significant ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, in 2380. Ensigns Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Boimler (Jack Quaid), Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and Tendi (Noël Wells) have to keep up with their duties and their social lives often. At the same time, the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.
