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Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus (episode)

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(written from a production point of view)

Boimler's holodeck movie sequel tries to live up to the original.

Summary[]

Teaser[]

On the holodeck, the USS Cerritos is engaged in a massive firefight with a Romulan warbird and taking extensive damage. Lieutenant Shaxs alerts Captain Carol Freeman that they're being boarded, and Commander Jack Ransom tosses a phaser to him, taking Shaxs and Kayshon with him to fight off the Romulans.

In the science bay, the Romulans beam aboard, and threaten a scientist, who has just hidden a mysterious device in a case, to hand over the case he holds. He defiantly refuses, only to get vaporized. The Romulan officer picks up the case, and they beam out moments before Ransom's party tries to stop them.

With the asset secured, three Romulan triplets order the destruction of the Cerritos. Realizing the danger that they're in, Freeman readies herself to give the order to abandon ship, but before she can finish, Ensign Taylor alerts her to an incoming ship. A Sovereign-class starship drops out of warp; the USS Wayfarer, under the command of Bucephalus Dagger, played by Brad Boimler.

Act One[]

Boimler, who is joined by Ensigns Beckett Mariner, D'Vana Tendi, and Sam Rutherford, orders Mariner, playing Commander Rebecca Doodle, to open fire on the Romulans. The Wayfarer fires on the Romulans, forcing them to retreat. Boimler allows them to escape in the interest of protecting the Cerritos. Freeman hails them and tells them that the Melponar triplets were after a device called the Chronogami: a top secret Starfleet prototype capable of penetrating temporal barriers. Before Freeman can tell them of what she believes the Romulans will do, Boimler is asked to report to Ransom's office. Before Boimler leaves, Mariner expresses skepticism at the quality of the sequel to her story in Crisis Point: The Rise of Vindicta, but Boimler tells her it will be twice as good. Boimler tells them that the Chronogami can be used to destroy any point in history, starts the opening credits, and leaves the holodeck.

As the credits roll, Rutherford gets excited for his role of Chief Engineer Sylvo Toussant, but finds it difficult to get in character. Tendi is also excited for her role as Lieutenant Commander Meena Vesper, though Mariner is already annoyed at the setup, calling it bad fan fiction. She hopes Boimler hasn't drawn out the story too much, as she has a crew evaluation with Ransom at 1900 hours. Boimler returns to the holodeck, though his mood is very downtrodden from before. When asked what Ransom wanted, he replies he was just rearranging duty shifts.

The credits end, and they find themselves at a Starfleet temporal laboratory on Europa where the Chronogami was created. They meet Dr. Helena Gibson, a former lover of Dagger. While Mariner laughs at the estranged love interest, Boimler, whose enthusiasm is significantly dampened, tells her that the Romulans have the Chronogami, and is only interested in that. Gibson tells them of their discovery of "space-time worldlines" that prevent the beginning of existence from merging with the end, and that the Chronogami is capable of folding these lines, allowing the user to travel to different points of time in either the past or future. In the hands of the Romulans, the Chronogami could be used to attack the Federation at any point in time, even to the point of preventing its existence altogether. While they try to come up with a plan to stop then, Boimler seems distracted about how short and pointless life can be. Gibson gives him a watch that can track the Chronogami, as it has limited Chronogamic functionality, and Mariner laughs a bit at the plot device the watch represents. Tracking the Romulans to Tatasciore IX to purchase black market materials to power the Chronogami, Boimler has them plot a course, ignoring Gibson's request for a private talk. Mariner is confused that Boimler would ignore the romantic subplot, though Boimler replies that it doesn't matter anymore.

They arrive at Tatasciore IX, and walk through the black market, where numerous beings are expressing various beliefs and philosophies. Boimler hears one talking of a being named Ki-ty-ha, who has the true answers for life's most important questions. While Mariner readies herself for an impending action scene, Boimler approaches the alien, curious about Ki-ty-ha. Mariner, uninterested in chatting with the generic extra holograms, tries to get Boimler's attention focused back on the main plot, however as Boimler's program is adaptive, he believes there's more meaning behind what they're saying. As they speak, Tendi detects the Chronogami, and the Romulans crash through the market on a speeder. Freeman locates some gravcycles, and they begin to pursue the Romulans. Mariner, much more interested in the ensuing chase, tries to pull Boimler away, but Boimler gives Tendi command of the Chronogami mission much to her delight, and takes Mariner with him to go find Ki-ty-ha, believing it could be the key to everything. Boimler also gets the attention of another seemingly generic hologram named Knicknac, who shares an interest in finding Ki-ty-ha. Mariner is not thrilled about a seemingly unimportant story that is irrelevant to Boimler's original plot, but Boimler believes they will discover the meaning of life, which he believes will be better than anything he wrote initially.

In pursuit of the Romulans, Tendi manages to pull ahead of them, and crash their speeder with her gravcycle, managing an incredible maneuver of jumping from her gravcycle, over the explosion, to Rutherford's gravcycle. Having survived the crash, the Romulans activate the Chronogami, and cross the threshold. While following may mean that they never return, Tendi, Rutherford, and the rest of the party follow into the threshold, pursuing the Romulans.

Act Two[]

Tendi and her party arrive at a Starfleet aquatic research center in 2341 during The Great Soolian Algae Crisis; an event in which Ambassador Koro was able to communicate with the algaeic slime mind and prevent the algae from killing a large number of people. Believing the Romulans might want to kill Koro, Tendi is about to have them split up and find the Romulans but is annoyed when Rutherford is loudly eating a sandwich and potato chips, and not taking the story seriously.

Back on Tatasciore IX, Boimler asks a man named Illustor how to find Ki-ty-ha. Illustor stalls in giving a proper answer, and while Mariner believes the holodeck is generically programming in the story, Illustor reveals a map tattooed onto his back. Grossed out by the saggy skin, Mariner gets fed up with this story, angering Boimler. He tells her that her story has no real ending, but that he went along with it regardless, believing that his story has a deeper meaning and isn't just an action-filled mess. Illustor tells Boimler that others will join their quest of finding Ki-ty-ha, and Mariner angrily tells Boimler he's ruining her franchise. Boimler refutes that Crisis Point was little more than a tantrum that allowed Mariner to murder the crew, and Mariner leaves the holodeck for Ransom's office, fed up with Boimler.

Mariner reports to Ransom for her evaluation, and Ransom tells her that she's been performing well, earning praise from her department heads and commends her. He then asks her how Boimler is doing, and she replies that he's being very annoying. Realizing that Boimler didn't tell her why Ransom summoned him, he informs her that Boimler's transporter duplicate aboard the USS Titan, William Boimler, died in his sleep from a freak neurocine gas leak in his quarters that very morning. Ransom has given Boimler bereavement leave. Though he doesn't question why Boimler wouldn't say anything about it, he's certain that as a friend, Mariner will want to support him, just as Ransom's friends onboard would do for him. Mariner, shocked by the news, immediately feels sympathy for Boimler.

Back on the holodeck, Tendi and her party are transported to Earth's late 20th century, where they see an ancestor of Ambassador Koro on display in an aquarium in Sydney, Australia. Realizing the Romulans want to take out Koro's entire family line, they're suddenly attacked by some street punks who take an interest in their technology. Shaxs fights one off, scaring the rest of them away, and Tendi has them ready to break into the aquarium to take the octopus for protection, though she's once again distracted by Rutherford, who is robbing one of the punks of his clothing to blend in better. Tendi orders him to stop messing around and is annoyed when he doesn't take her seriously.

Mariner returns to the holodeck, finding herself on a freighter. She's immediately captured by acolytes and thrown into the brig. Upon arriving, she finds out that Boimler has also been imprisoned with her after finding out that the tattooed map was fraudulent, causing his followers to mutiny. Boimler is distraught that his story has fallen apart in the ways it has, feeling he can't make a story good or bad. Mariner sits next to him and tells him that she knows about William and asks why he didn't say anything about it. Boimler admits he's been unable to process his death, saying that he died for no reason and that he was hoping to make his story matter in an attempt to feel like he also mattered. Believing the endeavor to be stupid, he tries to leave, but Mariner tells him that he can find meaning in his story as she did, despite the rather mundane plot. Reinvigorated, Boimler agrees to finish out the story and as they contemplate how to escape the brig, one of the walls is destroyed by Knicknac, who declares his love for Boimler as he never stopped believing in him. Mariner considers this good enough to fulfill the romantic subplot.

On the bridge of the freighter, Illustor has assumed control of the crew, though Mariner and Boimler arrive and confront him. Illustor sets the acolytes on them, and instead of a big, heroic speech as Mariner expects, Boimler physically attacks Illustor; Mariner is fine with "the Kirk thing". As they fight, Knicknac rips his clothing off, revealing multiple buff arms, and successfully fights off multiple acolytes. Boimler knocks Illustor out, and after Mariner checks up on him, Boimler realizes that folding Illustor's skin together forms the real map to Ki-ty-ha.

Act Three[]

Tendi and her party find themselves at the founding of the United Federation of Planets in 2161 and are working at disarming a bomb that has been planted, as the Romulans have seemingly given up on killing Koro. Rutherford is singing a Chu Chu song, and Tendi angrily tells him to stop messing around. As he works, one of the Romulans they've incapacitated regains consciousness and fires a disruptor at Tendi, but at the last minute, Dr. T'Ana dives in front of her and takes the hit. Rutherford successfully disarms the bomb, while Tendi kills the Romulan, and kneels at T'Ana's side, sharing a few last moments together before T'Ana disintegrates. Rutherford then immediately cracks a joke about the vaporized Romulan, further angering Tendi. Rutherford asks what the big deal is when they're just having fun, Tendi tells him that as one day, she hopes to one day really be a captain, she feels that his constant joking around is a way of showing that no one would believe in her. She expresses surprise at herself, as she had never stated that ambition out loud before. Rutherford tells her that she would be a great captain, and that she doesn't need a movie to prove that. A sentiment she appreciates. Rutherford then gets in character and asks what her orders are. Tendi activates the Chronogrami watch, rewinding time to the Romulan attack on the Cerritos.

As the Romulans board the Cerritos to steal the Chronogami, the scientist who initially refused to give them the device instead immediately hands over the case, and the Romulans beam back to their ship, avoiding capture. The Romulan officer reports the obtaining of the Chronogami to the Melponar triplets, and they order the destruction of the Cerritos once again. However, Tendi hails them and reveals that they failed at obtaining the Chronogami, and that the case they retrieved instead holds their own bomb. The Romulans only have enough time to check the case and realize the horror of their mistake when the bomb detonates and destroys the warbird, to the cheers of the Cerritos bridge crew.

Meanwhile, Boimler and Mariner have used the map to go to the third moon of Shatanari. They beam down to a rocky landscape and come upon a glowing rock cluster that forms both a hand and face. The formation introduces itself as Ki-Ty-Ha and asks them of the truth they seek. Boimler comes forward and asks what life is for. Ki-Ty-Ha tells him that "the purpose of life is… a life of purpose." Ki-Ty-Ha continues to address the inquiry by dispensing warm, vague proverbs and other similar non-sequiturs, and Mariner recognizes them as the holodeck giving Ki-Ty-Ha an inspirational quote generator. Unsatisfied, Boimler runs at Ki-Ty-Ha's mouth, and kicks the formation, breaking a hole that leads inside the being. Believing his answers lie within Ki-Ty-Ha, Boimler crawls inside, over the protests of Mariner and Ki-Ty-Ha. Ignoring the intense heat, he crawls further in and comes upon a glowing sign that reads "Ki ty Ha", but when he rubs the sign, he realizes the sign is actually a plaque that reads "Kitty Hawk", and that it's actually the Wright brothers' plane, the Wright Flyer. Frustrated at the nonsensical reveal, Boimler concludes that his movie is truly trash and lacks any deep meaning, proceeding to punch and kick the walls around him, but as he screams, he falls to the floor and blacks out.

Coming to, Boimler finds himself in a woodland area, and sees the residence of James T. Kirk. He hears a man chuckling nearby and approaches, seeing him tending to a horse, though the man is not Kirk as he initially thought, but Captain Hikaru Sulu, who took the home off Kirk's hands. Wondering where they are, as he didn't program this area into the holoprogram, Sulu tells him they're in Idaho and asks if he'd like to feed the horse. As Boimler gives the horse a pail of feed, he talks to Sulu about his attempts to find meaning in the randomness of death. Sulu responds that he's lost many friends himself and that the randomness of death is a reflection of the unexpected joys they find in life. Boimler thanks him and as he asks Sulu numerous questions about his career in Starfleet, to which Sulu warns him that the horse is going to bite Boimler and the horse then bites his neck.

The physical sensation is actually Dr. T'Ana administering a hypospray to Boimler's neck, who is lying unconscious on a biobed in sickbay. Boimler wakes up to see Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford around him. It turns out that Boimler's encounter with Sulu was a dream after blacking out due to dehydration; T'Ana scolds him that he needs to remember to take water breaks on the holodeck. Boimler tells them that he likely shouldn't have been looking for the meaning of life and apologizes for his lackluster movie. However, everyone tells him how much they enjoyed his story, but as they talk, T'Ana yells at them to leave as Boimler's biobed is needed for Lt. Commander Steve Stevens, who is brought in on an anti-grav lift after leaning against the warp core and seriously burning himself (for the second time that day, no less). The ensigns wince at the sight as they pass by Stevens, who is screaming in agony.

In the corridor, they continue to talk about how much fun they all had, and Mariner tells Boimler that it was a good sequel to her story after all, thanking him for not ending it with a cliffhanger as she likes happy endings. Boimler agrees that cliffhangers are the worst.

Meanwhile, in another part of space, a black hull plated Defiant-class starship de-cloaks. Inside, a figure opens up the tubing of a photon torpedo, revealing the body of William Boimler. The figure gives the body a hypospray, and William is revived, seemingly as expected. The female figure welcomes him and says that Starfleet considers him dead, much to her liking. She then extends a black combadge of Section 31, inviting William to join. While he is confused by the badge, since Section 31 is meant to be secret, he quickly accepts it when the agent says she can kill him again if he prefers. He laughs maniacally as the ship goes to warp...

Memorable quotes[]

"Commander Doodle, I think it's time we introduced this warbird to the biggest kid on the block."

- Boimler as Captain Dagger


"Woo baby! That opening was awesome, Boims!"
"Yeah, but time travel? Listen, 'Captain Dagger', don't tell me we're going to have to go back and assassinate Kennedy, because that is not happening."

- Rutherford and Mariner


"Okay, Freeman just explained that the Chronogami can be used to destroy any point in history."
"What, does it make an alternate cinematic timeline that runs concurrent to our own, but with like different people playing younger versions of us?"
"Ha ha ha! Scientifically, that would be a bit of a reach."

- Boimler, Mariner, and Tendi


"Looks like they're heading to Tatasciore IX."
"A favorite of black market weapons dealers."
"They're probably trying to buy Wallerian dutronium to power the Chronogasmic matrix!"
"Yeah, Doc, you really wanna avoid that many made-up words in a row."

- Freeman (hologram), Shaxs (hologram), Helena Gibson (hologram), and Mariner


"What are you doing? The holodeck just populated that guy into the background for color."
"I sense Purplehead knows much. If one such as he is drawn to this place, so shall he who is I."
"What in the alien of the week bull*bleep*? Okay, Boims, come on. We have a movie to do, man. We don't have time to chat up the extras."

- Mariner and Knicknac


"Intruder! Capture the nonbeliever!"
"Don't touch me, your characters don't even have names!"
"You know nothing of our ways! Acolyte 2, throw her into the brig."

- Acolyte and Mariner


"I never stopped believing in you, Purplehead! I love you! I'm in love with you!"
"I'm in love with you too, buddy. Let's go."
"Okay, hey. There's your romance."

- Knicknac, Boimler, and Mariner


"Look, we don't want any… (headbutts a punk) witnesses."

- Shaxs (hologram)


"Give me that jacket!"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm robbing these street punks so we can all dress up in these old-timey outfits."
"Yeah, we don't have time for that."
"But that's like the fun part of the whole time travel thing!"
"No! Stop messing around!"
"I'm at least getting the pants." (struggles to get the pants on)
"Okay, would you please hurry up?"
"They don't fit! We need to find bigger punks!"

- Rutherford and Tendi


"No! No, no, no, no, no. Stay with me, Dr. T. You're gonna be okay."
"Don't bull*bleep* a bull*bleep*ter."
"Ooh. Smells like fried Romulan in here, huh, guys? Whoof, someone crack a window."

- Tendi, T'Ana (hologram), and Rutherford


"Uh, uh, Captain Kirk?"
"Oh my, no. It's Captain Sulu."
"Oh, my gosh! Captain Sulu! Even better! Uh, sorry about that, the-the mailbox said…"
"I took this place off Kirk's hands. He had to go and time travel, or who knows what? The man could never relax."

- Boimler and Sulu (hallucination)


"I- I didn't program any of this. I was in the holodeck trying to find meaning in the randomness of death, but I just… made a fool of myself."
"Brad, I've lost many friends. Some heroically, some tragically. The randomness of death is merely a reflection of the unexpected joys we find in life."
"So, if I spend my life worrying about a meaningless death, I'll never find joy?"
"I literally just said that."
"Sorry. Thanks, Captain Sulu. I think I can live with that."
"Happy to help a fellow Starfleet officer looking for answers."

- Boimler and Sulu (hallucination)


"So, can I ask what it was like working with Spock and Uhura? Was it weird using the crystal buttons on the Enterprise? Ooh! Did you practice daily with the sword? I'm, uh, kind of a sword guy myself, so…"
"The horsey's going to bite you now."
"What?"

- Boimler and Sulu (hallucination)


"Sulu? How'd I get off the ranch?"
"Yeah, you passed out, screaming something about the Wright brothers."
"Kid, you gotta take water breaks in there. Holodeck might be fake, but dehydration is real!"
"So, I was dreaming?"
"More like clinically dead."

- Boimler, Mariner, and T'Ana


"Welcome, William. Starfleet now considers you a dead man. Just the way we like it." (gives William a black combadge)
"…Isn't Section 31 supposed to be like a really big secret? I mean, why would we wear special combadges that advertise who we are?"
"You could still be dead."
"…No no, you know what? I like the badge." (laughs manically)

- Section 31 Agent and William Boimler

Background information[]

Title[]

  • The title was announced on 8 September 2022 by Paramount+. [1]
  • This episode did not have a standard title card that was traditionally shown at the opening of the first act. The in-universe opening sequence of the holodeck movie features its own title card that nearly matches the name of the real-world episode, using a II instead of a 2.

Production[]

  • As in "Crisis Point", the episode is presented in the wider 2.39:1 aspect ratio during the holodeck "movie" sequences, but this aspect ratio is limited to the holodeck only; when characters exit to the "real world" it switches to the series' regular 16:9 ratio. In fact, Mariner had to step over the black bar to exit the holodeck.
    • Also, as in "Crisis Point", "film grain" effect is added to the holodeck sequences and a "cue mark" can be seen in the upper right-hand corner of the frame at one point.
  • The opening credits and the font used for the location names are drawn from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
  • The planet Tatasciore IX is named after Shaxs' voice actor Fred Tatasciore.
  • During the holoprogram, the crew travel back to July 15, 1982. In the real world, this was the day before Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan premiered in the UK.

Cast and characters[]

Continuity[]

Links and references[]

Starring[]

Crisis Point II Paradoxus poster

Poster for the episode

Special guest stars[]

Guest cast[]

Characters with unidentified voice performers

Background characters[]

References[]

1903; 1982; 20th century; 2161; 2341; act; acting captain; acting class; action; adaptive program; adventure; afterlife; algae; alien; Alpha VII; ambassador; ancestor; Ancient Egypt; aquarium; arch; art form; assassinate; Australia; auteur; backstory; Bajoran; bartender; bereavement leave; Betazed; Bingston, Winger; black market; bomb; boom box; bridge crew; Caitian; Cajun; California-class; cap; captain (rank); captain (title); Cerritos, USS; chase sequence; chief engineer; chips; chrono; Chronogami; Chronogami Project; Chronogami tracking device; Chronogasmic matrix; "Chu Chu"; cliffhanger; clinically dead; cloaking device; combadge; commander; Constitution-class; contractually obligate; coward; Crisis Point II: Paradoxus; Crisis Point: The Rise of Vindicta; crew evaluation; crocodile; crystal buttons; cup; Dagger, Bucephalus; Defiant-class (unnamed); dehydration; department head; disruptor; doctor; Doodle, Rebecca; Earth; earworm; ensign; Enterprise, USS; Europa; evasive maneuvers; family line; fan fiction; farmer; Federation; Federation Founding Ceremony; "fire at will"; first officer; Galaxy-class; Golden Gate Bridge; graphics; gravcycle (aka hovercycle); graviton; Great Soolian Algae Crisis, The; heaven; horsey; hot sauce; hot tub; hypospray; Idaho; Itamish I; jacket; Japanese; July; Jupiter; Karzil; Kelva; Kennedy, John F.; KIA; Kirk, James T.; Kitty Hawk; knapsack; knife; koala; Kzinti; Lianne; lieutenant; lieutenant commander; lieutenant junior grade; love; Luna; MacGuffin; mailbox; map; marriage; Mercury; Migleemo; Minooki; neurocine gas; Nexus; North Carolina; nurse; octopus; office; origami; origamic threshfold; Orion; pants; piggyback; pips; plot; porcupine-like creature; Prophets; prototype; punk; "Purplehead"; raktajino; raisin; rat-like creature; recipe; reveal; Risa; romance; Romulan; Romulan disruptor rifle; Romulan hovertank; Romulan uniform; safe house; sandwich; science center; scientist; seasick; Section 31; sequel; Shatanari; sister; Sovereign-class; space freighter; space-time worldlines (aka worldline); Spock; squid; Starfleet; Starfleet Aquatic Research Center; Starfleet Headquarters; Starfleet Temporal Laboratory; Starfleet Temporal Laboratory uniform; Starfleet uniform (2370s-early 2380s); Starfleet uniform (early 2380s); Starfleet uniform (late 2270s-2350s); Starfleet uniform, fictional; street; street punk; stuff; subplot; Sydney; Sydney Harbour Bridge; Sydney Opera House; Tamarian; Tatasciore IX; tattoo; tea; Tellarite deadlifts; Temba; temporal barrier; Thalos V; theoretical; therapy; thing; Titan, USS; top secret; trust; Toussant, Sylvo; transporter clone; triplet; Uhura, Nyota; US Mail; Valdore-type (unnamed); van; Vesper, Meena; villain; Vindicta; Vindictaverse; Volis' species; Vulcan; Wallerian Dutronium; warbird; warp core; watch; water; Wayfarer, USS; whale; weapon dealer; week; welcoming party; Wright brothers (Wright, Orville; Wright, Wilbur); Wright Flyer

Meta references[]

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External links[]

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