One of the best things about the references and Easter eggs in "Lower Decks" is how they lampoon the more embarrassing moments of previous series. We have multiple references to "Voyager's" infamous "Threshold;" for the Origibal Series, we have the giant Spock skeleton, Lincoln's skeleton, and a great "redshirt" joke. But the only "Enterprise" references I recall seeing are all pretty...benign? The face-puffing Denobulans, Riker playing the holobovel, and a quick jab at T'Pol's haircut. But nothing about the infamous Decontamination Chamber, the Klingon in the cornfield, or the blatant continuity errors that enraged fans back in the day. Most of all, I lament the lack of references to "A Night in Sickbay," a classic bad episode up there with "Threshold" and "Spock's Brain." No mention of how a Starfleet captain once threatened to wizz on someone's sacred trees, or rainy dog funerals turning into wet dreams. Were these referenced, and I just missed or forgot them?
Well, LD did do a kind of Porthos riff, with The Dog... But I can do without the jabs, to be honest. LD, while funny, is not a parody. It shouldn't make fun of other forms of Trek, no matter how silly they might seem. When Trek makes fun of itself...we stray dangerously close to the "Broken Bow" novelization.
Not everything needs a reference. Otherwise it will sound like Mariner at the end of the series premiere.
Mariner should talk about how cool the crew was but can't remember the pilots name. How about a Enterprise via Trekbbs reference in that case.
Given everything else they reference, it would be the 1999-2005 TrekBBS... ... shoot. All the "newbies" are safe. We're not.
Personally, LDS already stretches the knowledge credibility waay too hard (they don't know what happens on the bridge, but they know every little detail about the lives and missions of officers elsewhen in the fleet) ...dunking on a dream Archer once had is so far outside the in-universe reality box that I can't see how that could work and still maintain the stance that LDS is "canon".
My headcanon is that there has been a series of holos based on the Old Scientists, Next Generation, and Enterprise that were very popular among Starfleet personnel. So when they refer to ENT they are referring to the dramatization starring Kott Acula.
The references thus far make a little bit of sense. Mariner may have grown up on the Enterprise (her mother worked with Riker at some point) and she claims to have been stationed on Deep Space 9. Voyager is a pop culture phenomenon with Paris doing handshake tours as evidence of its immense popularity (and thus, folks like Boimler learn all sorts of odd "VOY" trivia and collect signatures). TOS is a bit of an odd duck, but both Voyager and Generations showed that it was an idealized time and Kirk in particular has a cult of personality probably influenced by him later saving Earth a couple times and "dying" in service to Starfleet. The novelverse explanation of it being its own pop culture thing in its heyday makes sense, and I've suggested before that Scotty's return may have amped up recent interest in the TOS era. Boimler and Mariner were teenagers when the 2260s became suddenly a period of interest. Enterprise has that sort of Founding Fathers, Revolutionary War connection there to these UFP citizens. Apparently, Riker has a fascination with Archer, and this may bleed over to Boimler to some extent in the future. I'm assuming the references generally originate from Mariner, and Boimler has picked them up from serving with her a couple years. Rutherford too, perhaps, although he doesn't make a lot of references, and Tendi knows the least about human culture, but is impressionable and quickly learning these things. An example of a good reference: Giant Spock. Boimler (who, by the way, knows a Phylosian) mentioned him in Season 1 as something encountered by Kirk on Phylos. Either by familiarity with Kirk's history or Phylos. And then in Season 2, we actually see the remains of Giant Spock, but Mariner doesn't appear to recognize them for what they are.
It's canon in that the events occur. But, as the creator has noted, LDS has a over the top style that is part of the show. I imagine, as others have noted, that mission logs were dramatized, just like movies are made around military operations, and special forces, and the like. I grew up learning about George Washington and the tales of him having two or three horses shot out from under him, and his coat having musket ball holes in it but him being unwounded, among other historical and legendary tales. All it takes is a person who is a voracious consumer of historical details to become familiar with mission logs and dramatic recreations. Such people make it more believable for me.
Because they were the first official representatives of Earth in space with (theoretically) a much lower technology level than the TOS Enterprise and shouldn't really have had room and resources for large pets such as a dog?
I think Riker's "It's been a long road" line was an awesome reference. It popped me, as did him playing ENT on the holodeck. Plus weren't there Trip Tucker sprinkles or something?
It's unbelievable. There's only so much hits my suspension of disbelief can take. The dog made sense for brief jaunts but not as a permanent addition and definitely NOT being taken down on a diplomatic mission. Ridiculous.
If they can go for years in space, a dog is not going to matter. Mind you, Enterprise apparently has less than a day of travel until it visits a major port city in Rigel. They are not going into deep space equivalent, they are going to Spain from England with a goal of maybe reaching Constantinople. In which they absolutely took dogs.