Star Trek presents the worst version of Deep Space Nine

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 5, episode 5 – “Starbase 80?!”Star Trek: Lower Decks has its own version of Deep Space Nine, and it’s the worst starbase in the United Federation of Planets – Starbase 80. In its fifth and final season on Paramount+ Star Trek: Lower Decks sees the USS Cerritos investigating rifts in space that open to alternatives Star Trek timelines. However, a malfunction in the Cerritos’ navigation processor forces Captain Carol Freeman’s (Dawnn Lewis) California-Class starship to dock at the dreaded Starbase 80 for repairs.

In Star Trek, Federation starbases are often refuges for starships and their weary Starfleet crews. Months or years deployed to the final frontier take their toll, and ships often need repairs, upgrades, and refueling, while Starfleet Officers also require shore leave. While most Federation starbases are elegant and comfortable, Deep Space Nine was an exception, as it was a converted former Cardassian mining facility orbiting Bajor.. Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and his crew have transformed DS9 into a thriving center of commerce and culture, as well as a strategic outpost guarding the Gamma Quadrant wormhole. Starbase 80, however, is another matter.

Starbase 80 is Lower Decks’ Star Trek: DS9 and it’s the worst

There’s a reason why no one wants to be transferred to Starbase 80

Starbase 80 has been teased all along Star Trek: Lower Decks as the worst Starbase in the Federation and lived up to its reputation. Starbase 80 is a grim, obsolete monstrosity hanging in the middle of nowhere, and its distance from the Federation means it is out of supplies and largely forgotten. Starbase 80 is infested with Pyrithian bats, Engineering’s gravity plates don’t work, and the Promenade is controlled by dangerous gangs of Acamarians. Star Trek: The Next Generation. Lieutenant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) has reason to believe that Starbase 80 is cursed.

Still, Starbase 80 has bright spots, starting with its cheerful diplomatic liaison, Commander Kassia Nox (Nicole Byer). Nox, who is a long-lived El Aurian like Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), sees the kindness of Starbase 80 as a place where people can find a second chance. Nox champions the virtues of Starbase 80’s food and the charm of its throwbacks to Star Trek: Enterprise22nd century and Star Trek: The Original Series ages. At the end of Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 5, the crew of the USS Cerritos – and even the Mariner – decide SB80 isn’t that bad. But they still wouldn’t want to be assigned there.

How Starbase 80 and DS9 are similar

Commander Sisko may have found Deep Space Nine similar to Starbase 80 early on

Starbase 80 gives Star Trek: Lower Decks your own version of Deep Space Nine, and Mike McMahan’s animated comedy took inspiration from Captain Sisko’s refurbished Cardassian space station. When Commander Benjamin Sisko first boarded the former Terok Nor in Star Trek: Deep Space NineIn the series premiere, “Emissary”, he found the station destroyed by the Cardassians’ departure and barely functional. Chief Miles O’Brien (Colm Meaney) and Starfleet engineers finally got DS9 up and running, and it became home to hundreds of Federation citizens, Bajorans, and a myriad of alien species and visitors.

Just like Deep Space Nine, Starbase 80 has a Promenade of retail stores, a bar like Quark’s (Armin Shimerman), restaurants serving exotic foods, its own version of Ops, which resembles the bridge of a Starship-Class starship. Constitution of the 23rd century, and SB80 is home to a motley mix of Starfleet personnel and aliens. Starbase 80 also has a Medical Director, Dr. Harrison Horseberry (Liam McIntyre), who has a British accent similar to DS9Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig). The difference between Deep Space Nine and Starbase 80 is that the Federation paid due attention to Captain Sisko’s stationwhile SB80 is considered undesirable.

The Enterprise and TOS eras of Star Trek are alive and well in Starbase 80

Starbase 80 is trapped in Starfleet’s past

Starbase 80 is a repository of Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek: The Original Series technology and paraphernalia. Star Trek: Lower Decks is set in the late 24th century era Star Trek: The Next Generation, and visiting Starbase 80 is like visiting Starfleet’s past from a century before – but it’s not a holodeck simulation. As Commander Nox confirmed, SB80 has been around for over a century and the station hasn’t been updated since the mid-2260s – Captain James T. Kirk’s (William Shatner) era. SB80 is a literal throwback to Starfleet.

Starbase 80 has malfunctioning turbolifts that use rotating handles, station personnel use wall communicators and lack Starfleet communications badges, and Engineering has an old reactor (with an adjacent hot dog stand, as the station replicators no longer work). Perhaps the funniest joke in Starbase 80 is the store that sells discarded Starfleet “uniforms of long-dead men.” Part of the store’s stock is Star Trek: The Original Series and Terms of Service movie-era uniforms, while Commander Nox and Chief Engineer Gene Jakobowski wear company blue jumpsuits. Star Trek: EnterpriseIt was from the 22nd century.

Star Trek: Lower Decks visited DS9

Mariner was once stationed at DS9

Starbase 80 is a comical space station designed to Star Trek: Lower Decksbut the animated series visited the real Deep Space Nine. Before being transferred to the USS Cerritos, Ensign Beckett Mariner was stationed on DS9 during the Dominion War. In Star Trek: Lower DeckIn Season 3 Episode 6, ‘Hear All Trust Nothing,’ the USS Cerritos did a nostalgic flyby of Deep Space Nine before docking. Captain Freeman met the station commander, Colonel Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), while the Lower Deckers visited Quark’s bar.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, Episode 6, “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” saw the USS Cerritos orbit Ferenginar so that Captain Freeman could negotiate Ferengi membership in the Federation with Grand Nagus Rom (Max Grodenchik) and Prime Minister Leeta (Chase Masterson). Star Trek: Lower Decks is the only Star Trek series on Paramount+ that has made a significant effort to bring back Star Trek: Deep Space Nine characters and update fans on what happened next DS9 it ended. Starbase 80 is a much less desirable destination than Deep Space Nine, but like many things in Star Trek: Lower DecksThere are good things to be found when you look beneath the surface.