The Enigmatic Depths: Decoding Star Trek's TNG Era Cave Networks

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 4, episode 8, "Caves."

Summary

"Caves" honors the renowned Planet Hell set from Star Trek: The Next Generation and delves into the Lower Deckers' previous cave expeditions.

In this episode, astonishing secrets are unveiled, such as Rutherford nurturing a "cave baby" and Mariner forming a deep connection with the Delta shift.

Star Trek has moved away from cave episodes in favor of a more cinematic approach and a reduced number of episodes. However, "Caves" serves as a nostalgic tribute to the Trek era.

In Star Trek: Lower Decks, the show pays homage to the well-known Planet Hell set from Star Trek: The Next Generation era, bringing back the excitement of cave missions. The Lower Deckers are assigned to investigate carnivorous moss in the caves beneath the planet Grottonus. Unfortunately, they become trapped without any means to contact the USS Cerritos. While strategizing their escape, Lieutenant JGs Bradward Boimler, Beckett Mariner, and Samanthan Rutherford reflect individually on their past cave missions, leading to some surprising revelations.

Star Trek: TNG’s Planet Hell & Caves Explained

Rutherford's surprising revelation involves the birth of a "cave baby" that he co-parented with Dr. T'Ana (Gillian Vigman), while Mariner unexpectedly forms a connection with the despised Delta shift. In the trademark style of Star Trek: Lower Decks, "Caves" humorously pays homage to several similar episodes from the 1990s era of the franchise. Mariner points out the remarkably frequent occurrence of cave-related missions, and Boimler agrees that all the caves look indistinguishable. This is because many of the cave episodes during the Star Trek: The Next Generation era were filmed on the same set, playfully referred to as "Planet Hell" by the production team.

Paramount Stage 16, also known as Planet Hell, earned its reputation as the official home of Star Trek's cave set during the late 1980s and 1990s. This explains why all caves depicted in the Star Trek: The Next Generation era bear such striking resemblance, regardless of the planetary location. By utilizing this budget-friendly approach, episodes set in caves provided a cost-saving solution through the utilization of an existing, fully built set. Given that each Star Trek season produced around 24 to 26 episodes per show, having the availability of primary show locations or existing sets was nothing short of a blessing.

Why Star Trek No Longer Does Episodes Set In Caves

: Planet Hell, a key element of Star Trek production in the 1990s, achieved lasting fame when it appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Parturition". In the Delta Quadrant, Voyager's team of stellar cartographers stumbled upon a new M-class planet, which they humorously named "Planet Hell" due to its hostile environment. This playful reference, likely intended by writer Tom Szollosi as an inside joke, would have been appreciated by the episode's director, Jonathan Frakes, who is well-versed in TNG caves. The recent episode "Caves" of Star Trek: Lower Decks pays homage to this iconic cave set that prominently featured in the TNG era.

In the 21st century era of Star Trek, caves are still visited, but they are no longer relied upon as a cost-saving measure. In Star Trek: Discovery season 3, Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) explored the caves that served as the home for the Trill, as part of a larger storyline. The contemporary Star Trek era is more cinematic and, importantly, has a reduced number of episodes per season. This decrease in episodes allows shows like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to allocate their budget more effectively and explore more ambitious planets. Consequently, the characters have the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time on the planet's surface, rather than being confined underground.

Practically speaking, the cave set stored at Planet Hell ceased to exist when production on Star Trek: Enterprise concluded in 2005. As a result, the trilogy of cave stories in season 4 of Star Trek: Lower Decks is a nostalgic and enjoyable homage to a previous era of Trek. While the cave episode may have become somewhat cliché in the 1990s, the Lower Deckers' challenging experience on Grottonus demonstrates that it remains a significant Star Trek tradition. Don't miss the streaming of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 on Paramount+ every Thursday.