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Star Trek: Lower Decks

WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

ArugulaZ said:
I guess that's the problem... they couldn't have given us much. Deep Space Nine has very little to give at this point, due to the finality of the ending. I'd say they went there just for the sake of fan wank, but it's Lower Decks, Ensign Kim. Fan wank is part of the job.
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You remember when everyone and their mom hated the ending to ENT because the final episode was more about TNG and the franchise as a whole versus being about the actual show itself?

That's kind of how I feel about this. This is Lower Decks. The episode had moments of Quark being Quark and Kira being Kira. But the episode was firmly first and foremost still about our Lower Deckers doing Lower Decker things and focusing on their character journeys/growth. It just so happened to also take place on DS9 this week. That's how it should be. I don't blame anyone for the impulse of wanting a meaningful DS9 reunion (despite disagreeing with the notion) but this show would be a very poor venue for such a thing.

I dunno how I feel about labeling Lower Decks "fan wank" either. There is very obvious that element to the show and it's a strong one. But it's very rarely not in service to something more meaningful. And on the contrary, I think the show actually manages to harness it in ways that's productive and beneficial to the franchise and its setting as a whole. It's been really great to see the Star Trek setting from a different perspective. A perspective that acknowledges all this whacky stuff that happened in the other TV shows really did happen, and how your average joe would react to living in a world like that. It's probably done more to make the Star Trek Universe feel like a place that's lived in than any other entry to the franchise in a long time. Maybe ever.

We always hear Picard or someone else in their shows tossing out one liners being like, "Oh, I remember that other captain from my academy days!" in passing in order to give some dire scenario they walk into additional but cheap meaning. And one of the great things about Lower Decks is that it's showing junior officers networking and moving about and making those connections that later in their careers they'll be all like, "Oh yeah, Admiral Riker, I learned a lot about being an officer when I served under him on the original Titan," or, "Ah yes, Captain Tendi, you'll never believe some of the shenanigans we used to get into on the old Cerritos."
 
FelixSH

FelixSH

(He/Him)
Just watched the last two episodes, Reflections was hilarious and great. The newest one was fun too, was great to see Kira and Quark again.
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

Is this week's Lower Decks the first time in franchise history that they just skip/abbreviate the traditional intro credits for an episode?

The ending of this week's episode had me rolling.
 
Kirin

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Since some space opened in our current shows schedule, we just started back in on this, after being kind of “meh” on the first ep but seeing people here say it wasn’t very representative. And indeed we’re liking it better just a few more eps in. Got a lot to catch up on!
 
ArugulaZ

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
It sneaks up on you. Your first reaction is "It's okay, I guess. Not as bad as the critics were saying, at least." By three episodes, you're like, "Ooh, this is really starting to shape up!" After five episodes, you're a fan.
 
SpoonyBard

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Y'know when this episode featured a planet called Shatnaria and then Boimler ends up at Kirk's ranch I thought for sure we were going to be getting a sudden, surprising Star Trek cameo. And we do! But not the one you think.
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

SpoonyBard said:
Y'know when this episode featured a planet called Shatnaria and then Boimler ends up at Kirk's ranch I thought for sure we were going to be getting a sudden, surprising Star Trek cameo. And we do! But not the one you think.
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When Boimler is like, "Even better!" I died. Because it was better! And he's also the kind of personality who would have just in general appreciated Sulu's whole command style over Kirk's. I wonder if this experience will be the end of Bold Boimler.
 
Sprite

Sprite

(He/Him/His)
ArugulaZ said:
Boy, Peanut Hamper sure is a jerk. Guess she got what was coming to her, though.
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I don’t think I’ve ever been trolled so hard by a show as when I went, “Huh, I guess she’s not violating the Prime Directive” and she said the same thing five seconds later.
 
SpoonyBard

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
I also love how the most recent episode just continues to highlight how The Best Tendi is. Her reaction to Holo-T'Ana's death, the confident smirk at the end which immediately bounces into her usual wide-eyed grin. Of all the characters I think I want her reference in one of the live action shows. Just give us a throw-away line in DISCO or something about standout Orion Starfleet officers which mentions her specifically.
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

SpoonyBard said:
Of all the characters I think I want her reference in one of the live action shows. Just give us a throw-away line in DISCO or something about standout Orion Starfleet officers which mentions her specifically.
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All of the characters were intentionally designed so that they could be played in live action by their voice actors if they so choose. There's no reason why Noël Wells or anyone else couldn't show up as say, a bridge officer in some later live action post-PIC show.
 
Kirin

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Finished the first season! Man, that really picked up near the end of S1, huh? Fun stuff.
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

As a 4th Gen Californian, I loved how this season finale was about Texas once again trying to steal Californian jobs and falling on their faces. Great finale that went hard. Probably afterglow talking but it’s the best one yet. Also T’Lyn’s back squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Edit: Also there’s a short, mostly insignificant post-credits scene for this episode.
 
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jpfriction

jpfriction

A most radical pontiff
(He, Him)
I’ll second that, it was a good’un. Tied up a few things, let the cat doctor swear a couple of times, ejected a god damn warp core , Paul F Tompkins.

It’s a good show!
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

They met the same fate of all Badmirals: hoisted by their own petard. Also, I loved how obvious it was that the USS Aledo was going to break bad since they gave the ship's computer the same visual coding as M-5 from the TOS episode "The Ultimate Computer".
 
Sprite

Sprite

(He/Him/His)
Dang, that was really well paced! Got a lot done in 20 minutes. The last couple minutes was kind of funny with the rapid-fire resolutions of multiple characters. I loved that the adventure archaeologist subplot was a complete non-starter with Mariner just assuming it would go south but it never did.

Badgey as series big bad is the best thing.
 
FelixSH

FelixSH

(He/Him)
Showed a friend an episode of this show. He wasn't interested at all (doesn't like Star Trek at all, I guess), but Veritas is just such a good episode that he said he liked it. Granted, he only knows old Trek, and even that only partly, generally liking more modern, faster stuff. So it's probably not surprising that he doesn't care for stuff like TNG. And he does like cartoons that are at least vaguely similar to Lower Decks, so I was pretty sure he would like it. Still, Veritas is a great episode, is my main point (a great episode of a great show).
 
Sprite

Sprite

(He/Him/His)
Yeah, I’ve said it before, but “Veritas” is the best episode to show curious people. It works better as a pilot than the actual pilot.
 
FelixSH

FelixSH

(He/Him)
Yeah, I remembered it as your suggestion, and that it worked really well the first time. ;) It's a really great choice for that.
 
SpoonyBard

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Strong start to the season, I loved that the first episode was basically a Voyager funhouse and they didn't even need to bring in any of the main cast to pay loving homage to it. (Also it's hilarious that in the Voyager episode we have our team of Ensigns all being promoted, sans Rutherford but he still gets his later, poor Ensign Kim continuously getting shown up)
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

Season 4: Episode 3 -- I really really really like the addition of T'Lyn to the show. The whole scenario feels like, "What if Daria was added to the cast?" And I am very here for that.
 
Mr Bean

Mr Bean

Chief Detective
The first episode of season 4 is up for free on YouTube right now (in the US at least - dunno about other locales)

 
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