• The episode title calls back to the TOS season three episode, “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” which was the first appearance of a Medusan.
• We open with Zero’s personal log, where they record the stardate as 61881.4.
• Zero also says it’s been a week since the previous episode, which was stardate 61875.9, though how precise they’re being isn’t explicitly clear.
• Zero mentions difficulty in repairing their containment suit, which was damaged in the previous episode. This does raise the question of who created their original containment suit on Tars Lamora, as it seems as though Zero is not involved in the repair process.
• Zero mentions the Paxans as one of the species of non-corporeal beings living at the colony that contacts them. When introduced in the TNG episode, “Clues”, the Paxans were so isolationist that they we going to destroy the USS Enterprise D to conceal their existence until Captain Picard was able to convince them to merely mindwipe the entire crew, except Data who helped to facilitate the deception.
• Upon arriving on Ovidia IV, the Protogies are wearing protective visors of the sort shown in “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” to shield them from the horrifying, madness inducing appearance of any Medusans they might encounter.
• ”I’ve always had this […] yearning to experience life. To touch and feel as you do.” This yearning has been depicted as far back as the second season premiere, “Into the Breach, Part I”.
• This is the first on screen depiction of parisses squares, a sport first mentioned in “11001001”. The ion mallets the game is played with was introduced into continuity in “Real Life”.
• The game is being played with uneven teams, with the Nova Squadron cadets only having three players, and the Protogies having five. Though not explicitly stated, in “11001001” it is implied that teams have four players.
• The holographic Protogies should be careful playing the game. A parisses squares accident is what led to the death of the Doctor’s holographic daughter in “Real Life”.
