Streaming service Paramount Plus releases the 32nd episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, created by Mike McMahan (Rick & Morty) and starring Tawny Newsome (Space Force), Jack Quaid (The Boys), Noel Wells (Craig Of The Creek), Eugene Cordero (Other Space), Dawnn Lewis (A Different World, Futurama), and Jerry O’Connell (Sliders). Paul F. Tompkins and Paul Scheer guest star. 
Stardate not given: Troubled by the fact that he wasn’t promoted along with his friends, Rutherford decides to make it his mission in life to get that extra pip, only to find that a new ensign in engineering is beating him to all his best moves. Boimler discovers, to his horror, that his new quarters are illuminated, brilliantly and at all times, by the blinding red glow of the warp engines, and tries to find another place to sleep. Mariner is assigned to accompany Commander Ransom and another new ensign on a mission to retrieve two humans from an alien menagerie. Determined to get demoted, Mariner is on her worst behavior. But her rank quickly becomes the least of her worries as a deadly exhibit from the menagerie breaks loose. Her trivial concerns about rank, Ransom, and everything else become secondary when the away team is faced with the unstoppable, all-consuming terror that is the Moopsy.
written by Aaron Burdette
directed by Megan Lloyd
music by Chris Westlake
Cast: Tawny Newsome (Lt. Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (Lt. Brad Boimler), Noel Wells (Lt. D’Vana Tendi), Eugene Cordero (Ensign Rutherford), Dawnn Lewis (Captain Freeman), Jerry O’Connell (Commander Ransom), Fred Tatasciore (Lt. Shaxs), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana), Carl Clemons-Hopkins (Narj), Roan K. Lai (The Moopsy), Nolan North (Livik), Chris Perfetti (Gary), Paul Scheer (Billups), Paul F. Tompkins (Vrek)
Notes: Often referred to by multiple fandoms as the Most Important Device In The Universe (formerly – and formally – known as Modern Props item #195-290-1, that ubiquitious sci-fi prop with the two tubes of rotating red neon lights is here given the in-universe name of the Tucker Tubes – presumably an invention of 22nd century Enterprise chief engineer Charles “Trip” Tucker III (may he rest in peace). Every other fandom – and many a fan – will probably stubbornly continue to call it the Most Important Device In The Universe, or MIDITU for short.
LogBook entry by Earl Green