• The episode title, “Caves” is a call back to the frequency in which caves or cave like structures are featured prominently in episodes of “Star Trek”, going all the way back to the original pilot, “The Cage”. Caves have been a significant part of the following episodes:
• This episode was Ben Rodgers, who voices lieutenant Steve Stevens.
CRITICAL LIST ERROR
• In this episode, we see caves on the following planets:
• Grottonus - A grotto is a form of cave
• Kyron 4 - Unfortunately not the fourth chyron we see in the episode
• Balkus 9
• Glish
• ”Oh, awesome. I feel like since we got promoted we never get paired up any more.” Boimler and Mariner were both on travel guide duty in “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” two episodes together, but even then they approached the responsibility separately. That is the only episode we’ve seen where they’ve been on a mission together since their mutual promotion in the season premiere “Twovix”.
• ”I hate caves!” Mariner revealed in the series premiere, “Second Contact” that she was once trapped in a sentient cave. *”That’s a dark place that knows things.”
• Mariner mentions the sentient cave again at the end of this episode.
• “I feel like I’ve been in this cave a hundred times.” Throughout TNG, DS9, and VOY, the same cave set was reused frequently to depict caverns on multiple planets across the galaxy. It was not every cave, but many of them.
• “Like the time we all got stuck together after that rage virus outbreak on the ship.” Tendi is referring to the events of “Second Contact”.
• Steve Levy was introduced in “No Small Parts” where we learned he’s a conspiracy theorist.
• ”Wolf 359 was a tragedy.” In “No Small Parts” Mariner said that Levy claimed Wolf 359 was an inside job during a date they went on.
• During the flashbacks to the various caves the Lower Deckers have been trapped in, they’re all lieutenants junior grade, meaning that for all of them, the events have occurred since getting promoted in “Twovix”.
• We learn that the Vendor Prime is in the Beta Quadrant.
• In “The Survivors” Spock claimed that the Vendorian homeworld is quarantined; “Their practice of deceit as a way of life puts them off limits.”
• The Vendorians are played by:
• Noël Wells - Tendi
• Dawnn Lewis - Cap’n Freeman, and Thusa this episode
• Jerry O’Connel - Ransom, and the carnivorous moss this episode
• Fred Tatasciore - Shaxs, and Steve Levy
• ”I thought you were just a paranoid anxiety made up by people who needed an imagined enemy.” Boimler had previously encountered a Vendorian in “Envoys”.
• ”...how you guys falsified data that going warp speed damages subspace.” In “Force of Nature” Hekaran scientists demonstrated to the crew of the USS Enterprise D that traveling at warp can damage subspace.
• ”We did not, as you put it, ‘do the Klingon civil war.’” Presumably Levy’s theory refers to the conflict between those Klingons who supported Gowron’s claim to be Chancellor of the Empire, and those who supported the House of Duras, seen in “Redemption” and “Redemption II”.
• “Sure, hang out with a guy who thinks we’re in the evil mirror universe.” The mirror universe was introduced in “Mirror Mirror”, and has been featured in several episodes of DS9, ENT, and DIS.
• Rutherford informs the Lower Deckers that he and Doctor T’Ana had a ”cave baby” together. Apparently he was impregnated by contact from a dying alien that is able to reproduce parthenogenetically through touch with a host.
• Troi was non-consensually impregnated by a non-corporeal intelligence in “The Child”.
• Tom Paris and Captain Janeway had children together while they were hyper evolved salamanders in “Threshold”.
• Trip was accidentally impregnated through touch by a Xyrillian woman in “Unexpected”.
• The less said about Captain Picard and Doctor Crusher’s child, the better.
• Doctor T’Ana states that molecular fungo-sites can’t be replicated. Other things that cannot be replicated include:
• The vaccine for Anchilles fever - “Code of Honor”
• Ketracel White - “The Abandoned”
• Bio-neural gel packs - “Learning Curve”
• Borg cortical nodes - “Imperfection”
• Presumably latinum also cannot be replicated, but this is never explicitly established
• Delta Shift and the Lower Deckers’ rivalry with them were introduced in “Terminal Provocations”.
• This is the first time we’ve gotten names for Karavitus, Amadou, and Asif on screen.
• Mariner’s mission with Delta Shift used the shuttle, Kings Canyon, which is the same shuttle Boimler’s team used in “In the Cradle of Vexilon”.
• Pergium was introduced in “The Devil in the Dark”.
• Amadou explains that a nearby mineral vein is emitting chronitons, causing the aging effects. Chronitons were first mentioned in “The Next Phase” as subatomic particles with temporal properties.
• In “Timescape” Picard’s hand ages rapidly when he reaches into a temporal fragment. It is not explicitly stated there are chronitons involved, but both incidents were the result of issues with a Romulan singularity drive.
• ”We’re just going to have the doc grow you a new one.” Nog’s leg was replaced with a bio-synthetic limb after he lost it in “The Siege of AR-558”.
• Delta Shift has a chant, like the Lower Deckers’ ”Lower Decks!” chant, first seen in “Second Contact”.
• The beginning of Tendi’s flashback to the USS Cerritos’ bar is taken from “Second Contact”.
• ”I thought synthohol let you shrug off the effects of alcohol.” Data explained that was the case to Scotty in “Relics”.
• Targs are Klingon animals used as pets, food, and candles. The first one seen on screen was manifested by Worf’s mind in “Where No One Has Gone Before”.
