Sorry, But Modern Star Trek’s True Kirk & Spock Replacement Is Jack Quaid’s Boimler & Tawny Newsome’s Mariner

While I may not have predicted it when Star Trek: Lower Decks first released, Lieutenants Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) forged a friendship on the same level as Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Mister Spock (Leonard Nimoy) from Star Trek: The Original Series. Out of all the Star Trek shows on Paramount+, Boimler and Mariner have the best pure friendship among two peers. Throughout Star Trek: Lower Decks' five seasons, Boimler and Mariner grow both as friends and as individuals, all the while progressing from Ensigns to Lieutenants junior grade.

Obviously, there are other great friendships among the Star Trek shows on Paramount+. Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) have a beautiful friendship in Star Trek: Discovery, but they don't reach the same heights as Captain Kirk and Spock. On Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) are close friends, but their relationship is far from platonic. So, when looking for a true successor to Captain Kirk and Spock's friendship in modern Star Trek, the greatest pair of besties are Beckett Mariner and Brad Boimler.

Why Jack Quaid’s Boimler & Tawny Newsome’s Mariner Are Modern Star Trek’s New Kirk & Spock

Opposites Attract & Make For A Great Friendship

What makes Lieutenants Boimler and Mariner's friendship in Star Trek: Lower Decks so fantastic are the ways in which the two of them prompt each other to grow over time. At the start of Lower Decks, Ensign Mariner was the hyper-aggressive one and Ensign Boimler was the insecure one. But Ensigns Mariner and Boimler both matured: she faced her inner trauma and tempered herself, and he became a leader and trusted himself more.

That reciprocal growth was exactly what both Mariner and Boimer needed to become junior grade Lieutenants in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4. On the whole, there are a lot of parallels between that reciprocal friendship and the friendship between Captain Kirk and Spock in Star Trek: The Original Series.

In Star Trek: The Original Series, Captain Kirk is brash and outgoing, whereas Spock is more reserved and logical. The two of them balance each other out, and, ultimately, the missions of the USS Enterprise would not have been as successful as it was without their teamwork. Captain Kirk and Spock have the same opposites attract friendship that Ensigns Mariner and Boimler would model nearly 60 years later, and that is why the young, animated, Starfleet officers are the successors to Star Trek's most iconic friendship in the streaming era.

How Mariner & Boimler Changed In Star Trek: Lower Decks

They Both Became Braver, More Confident, And Better Officers

In the pilot episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, "Second Contact," Ensign Mariner's devil-may-care attitude leads her to flaunt Starfleet regulations in order to do what she thinks is right, regardless of the rules. Ensign Boimler, on the other hand, is unable to stand up for himself even when being used as an alien's chew toy.

As Star Trek: Lower Decks progresses, Boimler prompts Mariner to reflect on why she acts the way she does and to face her trauma. This turns Lt. Mariner into the type of Starfleet officer who can, by the end of the series, be a co-First Officer of the USS Cerritos. Mariner, on the other hand, inspires Boimler. By Star Trek: Lower Decks' season 4 finale, "Old Friends, New Planets," Lt. Boimer was standing up for Lt. Mariner himself. Lt. Boimer was a co-First Officer as well when Lower Decks ended.

An important turning point for Mariner and Boimler was Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2's crossover episode, "Those Old Scientists.". Ensign Boimler works with Lt. Spock and learns that being a better Starfleet Officer requires confidence in his work and seriousness about his job that, up until this point, he had lacked. Ensign Mariner works with Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and learns just how important it is to balance hard work with the adventurous spirit she loves so much.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Made Mariner & Boimler The Equals Kirk & Spock Never Were

They Start As Co-Ensigns And End As Co-First Officers

By the end of Star Trek: Lower Decks, Lieutenants Boimler and Mariner stand together as equals in a way Kirk and Spock don't. In Star Trek: The Original Series, Captain Kirk is always the leader with Spock happily by his side. Even in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, when Kirk and Spock are both ranked as Captains, Spock gladly yields to Kirk as the leader of the Starship Enterprise and their friendship.

Mariner and Boimler are true equals in Star Trek: Lower Decks in a way Captains Kirk and Spock are not. Mariner may have styled herself as Boimler's cha'Dich at first, but Beckett and Bradward stand on equal footing as Co-First Officers when the USS Cerritos warped away atr the end of Lower Decks season 5. I have to admit that Star Trek: Lower Decks may have created the greatest friendship in modern Star Trek.