Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 revisited the humorous technology seen in Scott Bakula’s Star Trek: Enterprise era. In episode 7, titled ‘A Few Badgeys More,’ of Lower Decks season 4, the mischievous Badgey (Jack McBrayer) made a comeback, seeking revenge on his ‘father,’ Lieutenant Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and the USS Cerritos. Prior to discovering Badgey’s return, Rutherford was occupied with experiments involving the integration of an ancient and rudimentary Starfleet technology into one of the Cerritos’ shuttlecrafts: grapplers.
Star Trek: Enterprise was set in the 22nd century, a whole two centuries before the events in Star Trek: Lower Decks. Nevertheless, due to its role as the pioneering Starship Enterprise in the era of what Lt. Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) nostalgically referred to as ‘the golden age of exploration,’ Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and the crew of the NX-01 Enterprise achieved legendary status. Remarkably, Archer’s Enterprise endured perilous encounters with Suliban, Xindi, and various other hostile alien species using technology considered primitive by later Starfleet standards. The NX-01 was equipped with polarized hull plating instead of shields, phase cannons in lieu of phasers, and grapplers in the absence of a tractor beam.
In the seventh episode of season 4 of Star Trek: Lower Decks, Lt. Rutherford was involved in the installation of a grappler onto the shuttlecraft Sequoia, a project he had been collaborating on with Lt. D’Vani Tendi for a considerable duration. However, the grappler did not operate as precisely as Rutherford had anticipated. During a test, it overshot the intended target, an apple, and accidentally pinned Tendi to the wall. Subsequently, despite efforts to enhance its functionality with an A.I. upgrade called Goodgie, the grappler also ensnared Lt. Brad Boimler, affixing him to the bulkhead. Despite these mishaps, Boimler defended the utility of grapplers, asserting they were not impractical, a sentiment supported by Lt. Beckett Mariner who exclaimed that ‘grapplers are sick.’
The grapplers utilized on the NX-01 Enterprise were considered a provisional technology during an era when Starfleet had yet to develop tractor beams. In the inaugural episode of Star Trek: Enterprise titled ‘Broken Bow,’ the grapplers performed their intended function seamlessly. However, in a later episode of Enterprise season 1, these rudimentary grapplers faltered in a critical rescue mission where they were needed to extract Lt. Malcolm Reed and Ensign Travis Mayweather from an icy crevice on a comet. Nonetheless, grapplers have gained renewed significance through frequent references in subsequent series such as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds humorously reintroduced Star Trek: Enterprise’s grapplers into the spotlight. In a crossover event with Star Trek: Lower Decks, Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh surprised everyone by expressing her fondness for grapplers. This was part of Strange New Worlds’ broader tribute to Star Trek: Enterprise. Notably, a component from Captain Archer’s iconic NX-01 found its way into Captain Christopher Pike’s USS Enterprise in the 23rd century, enabling Ensigns Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner to time travel back to their correct 24th-century era.
Grapplers represent a nostalgic nod to Star Trek’s technology, akin to Doctor Octopus’ arms in the Marvel franchise. Grapplers offer a more hands-on approach compared to tractor beams. Their occasional malfunctions have not only driven plotlines in Star Trek: Enterprise but have also provided comedic elements, as seen in Star Trek: Lower Decks. Although Lieutenant Rutherford’s motivation for installing a grappler on one of the USS Cerritos’ shuttlecrafts remains unclear, with him acknowledging the shuttle’s lack of necessity for grapplers, they undeniably exude a cool factor, and Star Trek embraces this sentiment.