Why Is Modern Star Trek So Nostalgic For Grapplers?

This piece contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Star Trek: Lower Decks."

At the beginning of the latest episode of "Star Trek: Lower Decks," called "A Few Badgeys More," Lieutenants Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), Boimler (Jack Quaid), Tendi (Noël Wells), and Mariner (Tawny Newsome) are tinkering with the Sequoia, the disused shuttlecraft they hang out next to and occasionally tinker with in their spare time. This week, Rutherford is trying to install a high-powered grappling hook on the shuttle's front bumper. He aims to grab an apple out of Boimler's sweaty palm. Sadly, as it is homemade, the grappler is not entirely accurate and pins Tendi to the wall instead. Just as Rutherford begins to question the need for a grappler at all, Mariner and Boimler run to its defense, saying that grapplers are cool. 

This opening scene is bookended at the end of "Badgeys" when, after the adventure is over, Rutherford takes another pass at the grappler. As one might predict, the results aren't as precise as one might hope. 

Many viewers, of course, may be asking why characters on a "Star Trek" show set in the 24th century are mucking about with grapplers at all. It was established long ago that starships are all equipped with energy-based tractor beams in the future. The U.S.S. Enterprise encountered one as early as the original series' 1996 episode "The Corbomite Maneuver," and they would be in heavy use ever since. 

Grapplers weren't introduced into canonical Trek lore until the debut of "Star Trek: Enterprise" in 2001, and that show is set a century prior to the original series. Grapplers are an ancient technology, then, used prior to the invention of tractor beams. There's no reason for the "Lower Decks" characters to use them.

Except that they're cool.

Clearly, someone on the "Lower Decks" writing staff likes grapplers. Either they are big fans of "Enterprise" and were feeling nostalgic, or they find grapplers to be kind of absurd in a sci-fi context and force the "Lower Decks" character to be enthusiastic about them as an ironic joke. Regardless, they seem like one of the least practical technologies that a starship might possess. Given the way physics works, a grappler would make a mess of things. With one starship physically tethered to another, it would make for an impractical towing system. A grappler would either tear a piece off of the ship being towed, or the ship would be whipped around by the cable. Also, if the Enterprise stopped suddenly, and its towed ship was not operational, the towed ship wouldn't be able brake at the same time. The Enterprise would merrily fling it out into space. 

It seems that a grappler is only useable on ships that have operational engines, and that can slow down or speed up at the Enterprise's exact rate. And if they can do that, why would a grappler be needed at all? Just let the ship fly. 

But then ... grapplers are still cool. I would imagine there is a weirdly satisfying, incredibly tactile pleasure to be had when launching a grappler. A tractor beam is more powerful and practical, yes, but using one seems similar to flipping a light switch. There's no kerchunk, there's no p'shew, there's no fz-zz-zz-zz-zzCLANK! A grappler, being a physical object, requires actual steady coordination, an actual firing mechanism, and rewards you with a gratifying rush when the hook itself latches roughly onto its towing object.

Lieutenants Rutherford, Boimler, Tendi, and Mariner's obsession with grapplers is understandable in "Lower Decks," and is not without precedent. Sure, "Star Trek" has access to miracle technologies that eliminate want and carry sentient lifeforms at a thousand times the speed of light, but characters have acknowledged that some technologies simply provide a better tactile experience. On the original "Star Trek," Sulu (George Takei) reveals in the 1966 episode "Shore Leave" that he knows all about ancient, bullet-firing handguns, even though phasers are more common now. Throughout most "Star Trek" shows, characters are often seen reading old-fashioned paper books, despite the ubiquity of ultra-advanced tablets that likely have every book known to humankind embedded in them. 

Indeed, on "Star Trek: Voyager," Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) constantly blathers about his favorite 20th-century technologies, including a truck from 1937 (which he's able to fix by hand), and a cathode ray tube TV which he keeps in his quarters. Paris also prefers starship controls with knobs and switches and dials. "I'm tired of tapping panels," he says. 

Luckily, Trek has long been fair with its use of technology. Although Federation starships come equipped with standard high-tech equipment, there is still going to be room in Trek's egalitarian future for people to collect and employ centuries-old technology that they find pleasing and effective. Are grapplers practical? Definitely not. Should the U.S.S. Cerritos be equipped with them? Oh heck no. But should Rutherford and company spend hours and hours perfecting the firing mechanism on one? Of course, they should. 

Because grapplers are cool.