We'd forgive you for forgetting, since the alien species only made one "Trek" appearance before showing up on the new episode of "Lower Decks" season 5, an

The Search for Lieutenant Jakobowski. Not unlike Spock, the chief engineer of Starbase 80 was hiding in plain sight, or, rather, Gene wasn't exactly the 'real' McCoy. There must have been more of those fireman's poles about too.

Starbase 80 is different, a space station so riven with neglect that many officers believe it's cursed. Starbase 80 has been mentioned on several previous occasions in "Star Trek: Lower Decks" — Mariner was temporarily exiled there,

"Starbase 80?!" plays a long game, taking a gag from the season premiere and turning it into a pivotal moment for our learning heroes to tackle.

We talk a lot about Star Trek beyond the scope of the series and films that the franchise makes. Though, we don't talk about it enough. Today, we're angling to make up for some of that. We've touched on toys,