Hey, so mpreg Rutherford was not on my bingo card, but I probably shouldn't be surprised given the history of this show so far.
Another instant-classic episode this week, btw.
Another instant-classic episode this week, btw.
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Star Trek: Lower Decks
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I am pained that Season 5 of this show is probably more than a year off. Just absolutely gutted. I NEED MORE NAOOOOO
Interview — STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS' Mike McMahan on Moopsy, Creating the Orion Homeworld, Tuvix, and Much More!
We sit down with STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS creator Mike McMahan to talk about Moopsy, creating the Orion homeworld, Tuvix, and much more!
blog.trekcore.com
Mariner-Jennifer watchers may want to check this out.
I just really liked the contrast between this season finale, and when Mariner got drummed off the ship. It's a great contrast of how much she's grown as a character, and thus engendered much deserved respect, admiration, and loyalty from the rest of the crew.
This season was great. My only real complaint was that Boimler often felt like a side character through most of the season. To the degree that it made me wonder if they wrote the scripts around Jack Quaid's schedule or something. But honestly that's not a big deal when he's probably had the lion's share of character development in previous seasons, and the lesser spotlight on him this season gave characters like Tendi and Rutherford and T'Lyn more screen time and opportunity to develop as well.
I hope this show goes on for another 4 seasons.
This season was great. My only real complaint was that Boimler often felt like a side character through most of the season. To the degree that it made me wonder if they wrote the scripts around Jack Quaid's schedule or something. But honestly that's not a big deal when he's probably had the lion's share of character development in previous seasons, and the lesser spotlight on him this season gave characters like Tendi and Rutherford and T'Lyn more screen time and opportunity to develop as well.
I hope this show goes on for another 4 seasons.
The show runner said Ma'ah will be in Season 5, so your wish has been granted.
Probably not made up. I know at least one of the additional Rules of Acquisition that they've used in the show was from the non-canon Rules of Acquisition books written by Ira Stephen Behr. Mike McMahan knows his Star Trek and what does and doesn't fit in-universe to a fault.
Where in the article does it say Ma'ah will be back?
Trivia nugget about the S4. finale, via blog.trekcore.com
The Steamrunner-class ship that Mariner steals from Nova Fleet is the USS Passaro (NCC-52670), named for digital artist Fabio Passaro who made a number of contributions to the Star Trek franchise — including to the line of now-defunct Eaglemoss starship models. Passaro passed away in 2022 at the age of 52, and the ship’s registry number is his birthday (May 26, 1970).
Hmm... kind of an underwhelming start to season 5.
Wasn't a big fan of Dos Cerritos... I can't quite remember much of it, days later, but I recall thinking Rutherford's decision to reprogram himself was pretty deranged in a way the show didn't seem to intend. T'Lyn got a laugh out of me though, I liked her scene with herself.
Shades of Green was better, the post-capitalist society being a fun premise that they unfortunately didn't do much with. I really wish the greg-o-nate plotline wasn't intertwined with the Orion biz, but it's still fun watching Tendi struggle with her bad-guy-tv-alien culture. It remains one of my favorite gags in this show that Tendi must endure her species being originally conceived as nothing more than "thuggish space pirates" and her every wish to the contrary being subverted, it's extremely charming.
Hoping this next one rises beyond being benignly diverting and delivers some laughs, but, nice to see LD back all the same.
Wasn't a big fan of Dos Cerritos... I can't quite remember much of it, days later, but I recall thinking Rutherford's decision to reprogram himself was pretty deranged in a way the show didn't seem to intend. T'Lyn got a laugh out of me though, I liked her scene with herself.
Shades of Green was better, the post-capitalist society being a fun premise that they unfortunately didn't do much with. I really wish the greg-o-nate plotline wasn't intertwined with the Orion biz, but it's still fun watching Tendi struggle with her bad-guy-tv-alien culture. It remains one of my favorite gags in this show that Tendi must endure her species being originally conceived as nothing more than "thuggish space pirates" and her every wish to the contrary being subverted, it's extremely charming.
Hoping this next one rises beyond being benignly diverting and delivers some laughs, but, nice to see LD back all the same.
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I thought it was wonderful. Loved every minute of it. Especially when they did a pretty good job of reconciling how Orions looked in The Animated Series. Simultaneously reconciling it with Enterprise's characterization of Orion society being matriarchal was a stroke of genius.
It's so good to have new Star Trek back to look forward to on a weekly basis. I really hope Sundance gets their shit together sooner rather than later and gets this show revived. It's way too good to be cancelled, and costs a fraction of their live-action shows.
It's so good to have new Star Trek back to look forward to on a weekly basis. I really hope Sundance gets their shit together sooner rather than later and gets this show revived. It's way too good to be cancelled, and costs a fraction of their live-action shows.
Woof, The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel was also... not amazing. Loved seeing Jennifer back, since Mariner's messy-ass disaster of a relationship with her is something very uniquely Lower Decks and something I love seeing in modern Trek. I think with more time, we could've gotten past the bickering, had some fun with the comedy potential of each bringing out the worst in the other, and resolved their relationship.
Also liked the micro-ship/micro-dimension idea and would've loved to see more of that, but it really really gets squeezed into the last 3 minutes of the ep. You gotta invest your finite 30 minutes on the things that could only happen in Trek! You don't need to do a sitcom-misunderstanding plot with Boimler! The one that still wouldn't have been funny in Two and a Half Men!
I'm starting to realize that their decision to keep to the olde treke tradition of the A Plot and B Plot that usually do not touch has not been for the better with LD. Disco and SNW ditched this format, I'm not sure why LD continues to carry it on. Time and time again, it leads to two storylines that do not have the space they need to build good comedy within 15 minutes. I can see a version of this ep that just did not have the Boimler/Ransom thing, focused on the Jennifer/Mariner storyline, followed the nanite mystery, maybe revealed the micro-ship thing at the 20 min mark, and still had plenty of time to fit in the the (very cute) T'Lyn fangirl subplot.
Makes me wonder if they got some directive from Paramount that animated shows need to jump between storylines and keep things shallow, so they can keep a particular demographic engaged? It just feels like misguided network stuff.
Anyways, I know LD is capable of doing one single main story - they did it in the very good A Mathematically Perfect Redemption - so it frustrates me to see them falling back into this "let's smoosh together the three half-formed ideas" routine again.
Also liked the micro-ship/micro-dimension idea and would've loved to see more of that, but it really really gets squeezed into the last 3 minutes of the ep. You gotta invest your finite 30 minutes on the things that could only happen in Trek! You don't need to do a sitcom-misunderstanding plot with Boimler! The one that still wouldn't have been funny in Two and a Half Men!
I'm starting to realize that their decision to keep to the olde treke tradition of the A Plot and B Plot that usually do not touch has not been for the better with LD. Disco and SNW ditched this format, I'm not sure why LD continues to carry it on. Time and time again, it leads to two storylines that do not have the space they need to build good comedy within 15 minutes. I can see a version of this ep that just did not have the Boimler/Ransom thing, focused on the Jennifer/Mariner storyline, followed the nanite mystery, maybe revealed the micro-ship thing at the 20 min mark, and still had plenty of time to fit in the the (very cute) T'Lyn fangirl subplot.
Makes me wonder if they got some directive from Paramount that animated shows need to jump between storylines and keep things shallow, so they can keep a particular demographic engaged? It just feels like misguided network stuff.
Anyways, I know LD is capable of doing one single main story - they did it in the very good A Mathematically Perfect Redemption - so it frustrates me to see them falling back into this "let's smoosh together the three half-formed ideas" routine again.
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A Farewell to Farms was alright, it’s nice seeing Ma’ah again.
I got a lil’ chuckle out of the scene where the two klingons yell at each other to experience bij and Mariner’s/Boimz' Loony Tunes face down here:
I was happy to see that the B plot is almost non-existent in this one, keeping the focus mainly on Ma'ah's storyline. This might be as close as we're going to get to No B Plot for the duration of LD, and I was kind of bemused by how Migleemo's B-plot (no shade on our beloved Paul F. Tompkins) absolutely sucked shit again, as if done AT the b-plot out of annoyance at having to do one.
Love the fight scenes whenever they happen in LD, always a treat. The intro to this ep and the title fade-in got me excited that it might be this season's Mathematically Perfect Redemption, but I think the moment Boimz and Mariner bust in, that hope fades and it becomes 25 further minutes of referencing klingon trivia.
So yeah, a sort of numbly entertaining 30 minutes. Could do worse, certainly not a big memorable one though.
I got a lil’ chuckle out of the scene where the two klingons yell at each other to experience bij and Mariner’s/Boimz' Loony Tunes face down here:
I was happy to see that the B plot is almost non-existent in this one, keeping the focus mainly on Ma'ah's storyline. This might be as close as we're going to get to No B Plot for the duration of LD, and I was kind of bemused by how Migleemo's B-plot (no shade on our beloved Paul F. Tompkins) absolutely sucked shit again, as if done AT the b-plot out of annoyance at having to do one.
Love the fight scenes whenever they happen in LD, always a treat. The intro to this ep and the title fade-in got me excited that it might be this season's Mathematically Perfect Redemption, but I think the moment Boimz and Mariner bust in, that hope fades and it becomes 25 further minutes of referencing klingon trivia.
So yeah, a sort of numbly entertaining 30 minutes. Could do worse, certainly not a big memorable one though.
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jpfriction
(He, Him)
I thought that episode was top to bottom solid, myself. Boimler geeking out over the Klingons was infectious.
If we're gonna just be posting unmarked spoilers here in this thread, we should probably rename it.
Mothra, I'm not gonna say you're wrong for not liking the A/B-Plot structure of this show. But we're in the 5th and final season. It's not gonna change, this is what the show is lol.
Also if you haven't picked up on the M.O. of this show yet, the entire thing is one big love letter to the Star Treks of yore. This is how the entire Rick Berman Era operated, and setting this show one year after Star Trek Nemesis was a very conscious effort for this show to be a direct continuance of that legacy.
Mothra, I'm not gonna say you're wrong for not liking the A/B-Plot structure of this show. But we're in the 5th and final season. It's not gonna change, this is what the show is lol.
Also if you haven't picked up on the M.O. of this show yet, the entire thing is one big love letter to the Star Treks of yore. This is how the entire Rick Berman Era operated, and setting this show one year after Star Trek Nemesis was a very conscious effort for this show to be a direct continuance of that legacy.
Also, I thought literally every frame of the episode was magical. Maybe it's personal biases, or the fact that I just really needed some good, optimistic, joyful, entertainment for a few minutes after this shitty fucking week. But it was the first thing to put a smile on my face after such a dogshit Wednesday.
I thought it was also really creative and smart. From the entire episode being a Klingon version of TNG S4E02 "Family" to them taking Dr Migleemo's silly food-obsession trait and building an entire profane race around it to the show having a deep cut to TOS Khaless and fucking with canon in ways that are hilarious and also very interesting. It was just thoroughly entertaining to me.
I'm gonna be real sad when this show ends. All any of us can do is hope that David Ellison throws us a bone and forces Paramount+ to make more.
I thought it was also really creative and smart. From the entire episode being a Klingon version of TNG S4E02 "Family" to them taking Dr Migleemo's silly food-obsession trait and building an entire profane race around it to the show having a deep cut to TOS Khaless and fucking with canon in ways that are hilarious and also very interesting. It was just thoroughly entertaining to me.
I'm gonna be real sad when this show ends. All any of us can do is hope that David Ellison throws us a bone and forces Paramount+ to make more.
Well, Lower Decks has done several full episodes with no A Story / B Story, and those were their best episodes, so the show is certainly interested in doing it.
I'm happy to entertain the idea that that them committing to a Berman-era format is a meta joke, but man, it's a costly one if that's the case.
Sorry for not spoiler-tagging the episode, I though that only applied to things that related to the throughline story of the season, rather than the various gags.
I'm happy to entertain the idea that that them committing to a Berman-era format is a meta joke, but man, it's a costly one if that's the case.
Sorry for not spoiler-tagging the episode, I though that only applied to things that related to the throughline story of the season, rather than the various gags.
Would you enjoy a joke as much if someone else told you the punchline before you heard the joke?
I really enjoy the motif they were going for here, with these TOS film parody posters. Unfortunately, I get the sense that the cancellation was a surprise for the production staff. Specifically because the most recent one pictured there, is not the actual key art used for the final season. This is the official key art:
Which is just like, a more generic poster that feels like it was put together after news came that they were cancelling the season and they wanted a poster/key art that would better reflect that this was the end.
The guy who makes these posters also had this variant poster as well for Season 5:
Which some of y'all might recognize from back in the day:
I can definitely respect this reaction to the this episode, and I could easily see myself potentially reacting that way too... but I think it's because, at this point I am 110% into whatever the show wants to do.
Fraize (@fraize.com)
I was going through backup files and found a huge folder of incomplete and canceled Star Trek merch projects. I've been hanging on to them because -- well, one never knows, right? Here's one that won't likely ever get made, but doesn't make me love it any less. #startrek #lowerdecks
bsky.app
Heard a great interview/watchalong with Tawny Newsome (Mariner) on the Greatest Trek podcast. You can definitely tell they got the right cast and crew through great effort rather than luck, it's cool seeing how the project went from a dismissed notion of a "half-hour Star Trek comedy" to what it is now, thanks to the creators hammering on that drum.
Starbase 80?! was fairly fun, I loved Nicole Byer as Commander Nox in particular. She managed to do the "is able to technically not be panicking while constantly panicking" hat trick that never stopped being a delight. Fun seeing Stephen Root as well, always a welcome sight.
On balance, still not really getting more than a few chuckles out of the ep, but it is pleasant enough to watch. I sorta just want the show to be funnier, but, it is as it is. It feels like they're a bit scared to make the main cast do anything too crazy, so you don't get that comedic potential that comes with taking risks. As it is, everyone remains more or less perfectly professional and you're brought on a tour of the wacky goings-on of the starbase.
Bunch of stuff here that I found very funny in concept but not necessarily in execution. I love the fact that they've just lost the lower levels to the space bats, that's great. Actually watching a few scenes of Beckett and Ransom shooing away space bats though? Eh. The bit with half the station being owned by a hostile alien race due to a diplomatic bungle is also very funny in concept but sorta blah in practice.
The starbase having Enterprise and TOS-level tech was a great touch.
Starbase 80?! was fairly fun, I loved Nicole Byer as Commander Nox in particular. She managed to do the "is able to technically not be panicking while constantly panicking" hat trick that never stopped being a delight. Fun seeing Stephen Root as well, always a welcome sight.
On balance, still not really getting more than a few chuckles out of the ep, but it is pleasant enough to watch. I sorta just want the show to be funnier, but, it is as it is. It feels like they're a bit scared to make the main cast do anything too crazy, so you don't get that comedic potential that comes with taking risks. As it is, everyone remains more or less perfectly professional and you're brought on a tour of the wacky goings-on of the starbase.
Bunch of stuff here that I found very funny in concept but not necessarily in execution. I love the fact that they've just lost the lower levels to the space bats, that's great. Actually watching a few scenes of Beckett and Ransom shooing away space bats though? Eh. The bit with half the station being owned by a hostile alien race due to a diplomatic bungle is also very funny in concept but sorta blah in practice.
The starbase having Enterprise and TOS-level tech was a great touch.
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It's probably my favorite episode of this season so far.