Star Trek's Latest Starfleet Mission Perfectly Addresses One of the Show's Best Tropes

Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek: Lower Decks #3!

Star Trek’snew Starfleet initiative finally addresses a franchise trope, one stretching all the way back to the Original Series. For 58 years, the crews of the various Star Trek shows have traveled to “strange new worlds.” However, some of these planets look a lot like Earth in terms of customs and dress, and this gets an awesome callout in Star Trek: Lower Decks #3.

Star Trek: Lower Decks #3 is written by Ryan North and drawn by Jack Lawrence. Captain Freeman of the Cerritos is showing her senior staff a clip explaining an interstellar phenomenon they are currently investigating. The clip comically uses an emoji-like character, wearing a cowboy hat, to get the point across. The character also talks like a cowboy, with lots of “yee-haws.” When the clip finishes, a placard flashes on screen, saying it was developed by the “UFP Cowboy Planet Cultural Outreach Initiative.” A footnote explains there are many cowboy planets in the galaxy, hence the need for the outreach.

The Star Trek Galaxy Is Vast--But Contains a Lot of Earth-Like Planets, Right Down to Style of Dress

Star Trek Never Explained How This Happened--It Just Did

Throughout the course of the classic Star Trek series, Captain Kirk and the Enterprise encounter many strange planets, some of them filled with exotic and dangerous aliens. However, on several occasions, the Enterprise crew found planets that closely resembled Earth in a variety of ways, some more than they should have. For example, in the episode “Bread and Circuses,” the ship finds an Earth-like planet, full of human inhabitants, whose culture was based on ancient Rome, right down to the terminology the natives used. Both Spock and Kirk commented on the planet’s resemblance to Earth.

A Roman-themed planet was just the tip of the iceberg of Earth-like planets the Enterprise encountered. In the first season episode “Miri,” the ship finds an exact duplicate of Earth, millions of light years from the original. No explanation was given about how this came to be, but it was deeply unsettling for the crew. In “Patterns of Force,” the crew finds a planet modeled after the Third Reich, complete with the requisite imagery. By the time Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered, the hokey themed planets were retired in favor of more traditional alien worlds.

Star Trek: Lower Decks #3 mentions “cowboy planets” too, and the Enterprise encounters those as well. In the third season episode “Spectre of the Gun,” mind-controlling aliens created a scenario where the crew had to re-enact the Gunfight at the OK Corral. The aliens went all-out in recreating the American Wild West, complete with saloons and real guns. Although what Kirk and company saw was merely a simulation, and not an actual planet, it kept nicely with the themed-worlds that were popular in the Original Series.

Star Trek's History-Themed Planets Helped Save the Show

At Last, Star Trek Acknowledges These Planets

Although the Original Series skimped on explaining why planets millions of light years from Earth would closely resemble certain periods in its history, there was an obvious reason as to why: budget concerns. Depicting strange and exotic planets week after week would have drained the show’s modest budget, so the creative staff came up with a workaround: visit worlds that resemble the Roman Empire, or Nazi Germany. That way, the producers could use sets and props from existing movies and TV shows as a means of saving money. While it may have stretched credibility, it ensured Star Trek’s survival.

And now, in-universe, Star Trek acknowledges these themed planets still have a place in the franchise. The Federation recognizes these worlds, including cowboy planets, are just as vital to the galaxy as Earth, Vulcan or Andor, and has created an outreach to them. The Federation and Starfleet stress “infinite diversity in infinite combinations,” and a Cowboy Planet Outreach Initiative demonstrates this commitment. Beyond being an in-joke about the franchise’s themed worlds, it reinforces the principles that make Star Trek so great.

Star Trek: Lower Decks #3 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!