One Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Moment Continues A Running Joke That's Lasted 60 Years

On the latest episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," called "Human Best Friend," the crew of the USS Enterprise takes a long-needed vacation on a planet called Seznar Grand. Seznar is a popular vacation destination because the atmosphere has a euphoric, intoxicating effect on anyone who breathes it. As soon as you land on the planet, you are three sheets to the wind. Seznar is also a tech-free zone, so no screens, scanners, or other high-tech "Star Trek" widgets are allowed. You are meant to enjoy the planet's music, hotels, debauchery, and bars. Yes, even on a world where just breathing makes you drunk, there is more alcohol to be had. (I suppose it could be synthehol, but where's the fun in that?)

Indeed, there is a scene wherein Scotty (Martin Quinn) and Ortegas (Melissa Navia), looking for Captain Pike (Anson Mount), run into Dr. M'Benga (Baba Olusanmokun) behind the bar. He doesn't work there, but, being smashed, fancies himself a bartender. Dr. M'Benga tries to clumsily fling bottles around like Tom Cruise in "Cocktail," but misses them all, shattering exotic spirits all over the floor. He manages to mix a drink and serve it to Scotty. Scotty asks what it is. All Dr. M'Benga can say is that "it's green." 

This, of course, will make any Trekkie's eyes light up. On two separate occasions on "Star Trek," a character has been asked what a specific alcoholic beverage is, and the response was a quizzical, unhelpful, "It is green." Indeed, the first time the phrase appeared, it was spoken by Scotty (James Doohan) on the original "Star Trek." Seeing as "Strange New Worlds" takes place before "Star Trek," we could be witnessing the moment that Scotty first developed a taste for nondescript green booze.

In the "Star Trek" episode "By Any Other Name" (a fun "Star Trek" Shakespeare reference), the crew of the Enterprise beams down to a mysterious planet and are greeted by a few members of the vicious and powerful Kelvan Empire. The Kelvans have come from the Andromeda galaxy, seeking planets to conquer. Their ship was damaged on the way over, however, so they hijack the Enterprise for the return trip. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) eventually learns that the Kelvans only look like humans for the sake of convenience. In actuality, they are massive, Lovecraftian squid monsters. 

Of course, when they are in the bodies of humans, the Kelvans are prone to human impulses and biological needs. As such, Kirk — as a means of wresting the Enterprise back from them — manipulates one of the Kelvans into falling in love, and the other into becoming jealous, emotions they don't usually deal with. Elsewhere, Scotty has cocktails with a Kelvan in his quarters, hoping to incapacitate him with liquor. As it so happens, though, the Kelvan he drinks with, Tomar (Robert Fortier), has quite a high alcohol tolerance. Scotty, unlike many Starfleet officers, keeps actual alcohol in his quarters, and tears through his private stash, trying to get Tomar drunk. He eventually reaches the back of his liquor cabinet and pulls out a bottle of something green. 

Tomar would like to try it, and asks Scotty what it is. Scotty looks at it, takes a sniff, and only comes back with "it's green." Trekkies have been theorizing what it might be for years, but there is no actual consensus. It could be anything from absinthe to spiked Ecto-Cooler.

Scotty also encounters a mysterious green booze much later in his career in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Relics" (which we once called one of the show's best episodes). In that episode, Scotty (Doohan) escaped a fatal cataclysm by beaming himself into a transporter buffer and remaining there for 75 years. He was rematerialized in the 24th century, and found that most of the people he once knew were dead. On the Enterprise-D, he seeks to drown his sorrows in booze, and is frustrated to learn that non-intoxicating synthehol is a pervasive standard. Luckily, Data (Brent Spiner) recalls that the ship's bartender keeps a stash of the real stuff below the bar, and serves Scotty a glass. 

As Data pours a drink, Scotty asks what it is. Data looks, smells, and, once again, comes to the conclusion that "it is green." Later in the episode, Scotty is seen cradling the bottle under his arm as he depressively wanders the hallways of the Enterprise-D, hoping to visit a holographic recreation of the Enterprise he remembers. He is interrupted by Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), who, out of solidarity, takes a swig. Picard, however, can identify the green drink in question as Aldebaran whiskey. Aldebaran whiskey, however, is different from the booze seen in "By Any Other Name," as the bottles are very different and the colors don't match. One might wonder what kind of mash bill whiskey must have to be neon green, but then, we modern humans don't know much about Aldebaran agriculture or their distilling processes. 

So when Scotty takes a drink from Dr. M'Benga in "Strange New Worlds" with the descriptor that "it's green," it's the "Star Trek" writers making a 60-year-old in-joke for fans. Given that "By Any Other Name" is a largely well-liked episode, I imagine a lot of fans will get it.