Star Trek Lower Decks Thread

[AniThyng]

Well I posted my thoughts in a couple of different places and got yelled at 'No! T'Lyn doesn't have Bendii's you fool', so obviously I'm going for three because I'm glutton for punishment. Given Mariner basically says: "You don't have a character flaw, you have bendii's syndrome like Sarek it's not your fault" they seemed to all but say T'Lyn emotion projection was more than just what happens when a vulcan gets stressed. But obvious Mariner isn't a doctor so... Maybe another episode will clarify or maybe I'm just wrong about and the project is just a wacky thing that happens in Lower Decks.


Still, it was a fun episode but I'd hoped for more interpersonal drama where T'Lyn wants to go back to vulcan fleet and her friends don't understand why she doesn't want to stay in starfleet where they are cool and accepting of her.

I'll bite - Tlyn herself very clearly articulated that she's too young to have bendiis but there are similar diseases. I mean by analogy just because Alzheimer's is the most still known neurocognitive disease doesn't mean others don't exist

[Crazedwraith]

I'll bite - Tlyn herself very clearly articulated that she's too young to have bendiis but there are similar diseases. I mean by analogy just because Alzheimer's is the most still known neurocognitive disease doesn't mean others don't exist

*shakes fist at you* Nah, I get it. Though they never come out and say what she has. Like she thinks she's too young for Bendii's but it could simply be an uncommonly early onset version or something else, that's fine. If it turns out she doesn't have anything and it's just because she's stressed and not illness triggered by stress, well I think that's silly.

I figure it's likely it won't get mentioned again anyway.

A lot of people have the theory T'Lyn's neurodivergent for a vulcan and that' s a cool concept.

[Steve]

I'm not entirely sure Ma'ah and his crew are dead, I can't help but wonder if they're being abducted as their ships are destroyed, and the Cerritos is going to end up rescuing them (or the crew anyway if the ship isn't destroyed).

[Crazedwraith]

I'm not entirely sure Ma'ah and his crew are dead, I can't help but wonder if they're being abducted as their ships are destroyed, and the Cerritos is going to end up rescuing them (or the crew anyway if the ship isn't destroyed).

Seen that theory before I think. Certainly would be nice if Ma'ah wasn't dead. (Clearly T'Lyn did better out of that episode, lol)

Do you have a theory why the ship would be abducting them?

[Crazedwraith]

Double post cos lower activity and new episode.

Ferenginar is starting the process of joining the Federation.Rom and Leeta run ringsaround an Admiral but Freeman gets the better of them. The main four get to update Starfleet's guidebooks to the planet. Boimler gets hooked on trash TV. Mariner picks fights. Tendi and Rutherford have to pretend to be a couple

Entertaining but lacking a suitable denouement to the character stuff it brings up. Mariner is self-sabotaging in a way we haven't seen for a while but nothing is resolved. Likewise Rutherford and Tendi are obviously into each other and don't even discuss it.

Still Mariner's thing is hopefully an arc they will continue to build on and we did get a did bit about one of the things she did to get demoted: crash an Oberth.

And worst of all: No reference at all to Nog. I though Rom and Leeta might drop some info about him and there'd be some kind of tribute but nothing doing.

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

This is probably the first time I didn't quite enjoy a Lower Decks episode to the point I started nitpicking on the humor in my head while watching, such as Tendi blushing in red (while it's obviously just for fun), and how a society with everyone greedy to the extreme operates normally every time cash is exchanged (again, likely just for humor).

Maybe because this time there was just too many unrelated plots (Negotiation, Mariner, Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford) going on and a lot involved just characters babbling, some action, and more babbling.

[Crazedwraith]

Well the people who guessed the ship's weren't being destroyed turned out to be on the money.

I'm kind of underwhelmed otherwise though: the plots sort of resolved themselves with the protagonists really needing to do anything. putting all the ai villains in one episode oversaturated it.

Even with Coombs voicing Agimus, just kinda of... eh.

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

4x08
My favorite part of this episode? The somehow death of the "warp engines damage subspace". The issue itself was an interesting, universe-affecting plot point, but unfortunately only used on like a couple of dialogue in later episodes.

[Evilchumlee]

4x08
My favorite part of this episode? The somehow death of the "warp engines damage subspace". The issue itself was an interesting, universe-affecting plot point, but unfortunately only used on like a couple of dialogue in later episodes.

It was a good in-universe reason to not have everyone flying around at Warp 9.9999 all the time.

It's like... other than some wear on the system, why not just maximum warp everywhere? Why would a ship ever use like, Warp 2? For anything?

I really enjoyed the Ferenginar episode, especially the dynamic with Rom... I think they nailed him. He SEEMS like an absolute moron but he's not. He knows exactly what he's doing. Just like the Klingons would never respect someone cowering before them, the Ferengi would never respect someone who couldn't make a deal. Of course if you bend over backward to give them everything they want, they'll take it... and want more... but the Ferengi, despite seemingly a one-note people really aren't. Sure they're obsessed with capitalism and profit, but sometimes it makes sense to look for the long-term profits over the short term.

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

4x09
It's good to see T'Lyn and any of the LD crew finally realizing they once fought side by side with the Pakleds.
With the current development in the whole canon a lot of names dropped in this episode is interesting.

Nick Locarno: Now THAT's an interesting development I didn't know I wanted, especially with all the is/not Tom Paris discussions popping out once in awhile.

Sito Jaxa: Beckett Mariner knows both Sito and Locarno, and therefore she likely knows Wesley Crusher. It also makes her time as an Ensign probably like 10+ years considering she decided to give up on promotion very early in her career.

Speaking of Sito, I usually cross my fingers that she somehow survived in the end of TNG 7x15 ("Lower Decks"). But it looks like hopes are low.

Beverley Crusher:
LOL Jack Crusher has just passed his toddler years this time so of course we won't have a cameo of Bev. Naughty writers.

[Crazedwraith]

They've decided to give Lower Decks a massive connection to Lower Decks.

I'm not sure how well it fits, Mariner has to be pretty old to be close to Sito at the academy. (Locarno is noticeably older than her, also maybe older than he should be). The fan theories that she'd botched it while actually in command seem a better fit for the root cause of her issues to be honest.

It makes sense that Mariner would be more willing to open up to a complete stranger like Ma'ah but it still sad it sidelines the rest of the core group and don't let them help her. I was hoping for more of a role reversal between Boimler and Mariner's bits in Twovix tbh.

Seems the supership wasn't so super after all and it was all lower deck sabotage?

No idea how they are wrapping this up next week but it should be good.

[Crazedwraith]

Yeah that was pretty fun and must have the most intense number of callbacks to the season, the show and the franchise for a while.

I like how Mariner is never even slightly tempted by Nick and he doesn't really have any good points he just appeals to people's self-interest.

Boimler as Captain is pure fanservice. Even with the senior staff on the Yacht there's still a full LT on the bridge with him when he's Capning.

It's cliché but the full crew volunteering to go after Mariner still touches the heart.

That said the other character beats… eh. T'Lyn has barely appeared since the last time she decided not to go back to Sh'Val and I didn't get the impression D'Erika did want Tendi back. Mariner declaring she's over her problems and T'Lyn saying she wants to be Science besties with Tendi it feels like they jumped to the end of a lot of things rather than building up to them.

I kinda call bullshit on the Orion having a supersized destroyer/battleship as well.

[bilateralrope]

Mariner declaring she's over her problems and T'Lyn saying she wants to be Science besties with Tendi it feels like they jumped to the end of a lot of things rather than building up to them.

I've got my doubts about how long before Mariner falls back into her prior habits.

As for T'Lyn, I can buy that she's realized that she fits in better in Starfleet than the Vulcan fleet. If she goes back, she's likely to get too creative for them and get punished again.

I kinda call bullshit on the Orion having a supersized destroyer/battleship as well.

They are a species known for piracy. They need to have something to discourage factions like the Klingons from attacking them.

[Crazedwraith]

Mariner declaring she's over her problems and T'Lyn saying she wants to be Science besties with Tendi it feels like they jumped to the end of a lot of things rather than building up to them.

I've got my doubts about how long before Mariner falls back into her prior habits.

As for T'Lyn, I can buy that she's realized that she fits in better in Starfleet than the Vulcan fleet. If she goes back, she's likely to get too creative for them and get punished again.

They have displayed this season that they understand mental health/backslide, she was doing better last season and then backslide under the trigger of promotion.

T'Lyn, she realised that at the end of her episode. So her doing it again in this episode when she's barely featured since seemed hollow but it was the specific development of accepting Tendi's friendship that seem out of nowhere, other than as a reaction to her leaving I guess.

[Evilchumlee]

I kinda call bullshit on the Orion having a supersized destroyer/battleship as well.

Always got the vibe that the Orions had, at one time, been a much larger power. The ship is just... big. There's no indication it's particularly powerful. It's just, big. Nobody in Star Trek should really have any issues building something that big.

[Batman]

Sure, all the ship ENDED UP being was awfully big, but the Cerritos crew apparently expected it to be a big deal before they found out it was a derelict.

[Adam Reynolds]

Boimler as Captain is pure fanservice. Even with the senior staff on the Yacht there's still a full LT on the bridge with him when he's Capning.

If it is the same one I noticed, the other LT is a security or operations officer, so Boimler probably was the senior officer with a command rating. The OOD role(what Boimler had here in effect) is given to junior officers when they have the right rating.

We do at one point see Shaxs take the role, so it is likely that all bridge crew officers are qualified as OOD/watch officer but lower ranked officers have to be command division to be able to do it. Star Trek is a bit odd about acting captain as a designation given to junior officers or even cadets as we see in the episode Valiant, but for all intents and purposes Boimiler was just the OOD.

[Crazedwraith]

Boimler as Captain is pure fanservice. Even with the senior staff on the Yacht there's still a full LT on the bridge with him when he's Capning.

If it is the same one I noticed, the other LT is a security or operations officer, so Boimler probably was the senior officer with a command rating. The OOD role(what Boimler had here in effect) is given to junior officers when they have the right rating.

Not counting people of high rank that are purely background characters: There's a command division Lieutenant Commander on Cerritos, Steve Stevens (the one who's a buttmonkey and suck-up to Ransom) and I don't think he was on the captain's yacht. He's notably useless even by Lower Decks standards though.

We do at one point see Shaxs take the role, so it is likely that all bridge crew officers are qualified as OOD/watch officer but lower ranked officers have to be command division to be able to do it. Star Trek is a bit odd about acting captain as a designation given to junior officers or even cadets as we see in the episode Valiant, but for all intents and purposes Boimiler was just the OOD.

Acting Captain really should be used only in the Valiant situation. The Captain's dead/incapable of command and another officer is semi-permanent in command of the ship. As you say Boimler's basically just in command the same way any shift officer is when the captain's off-duty/on an away mission etc.

The situation with who constitutes the senior staff of Cerritos is bit ambiguous. Ransom and Shaxs are usually there but Billups and T'Ana, sometimes are there and sometimes aren't. And she doesn't seem to have a permanent head of Ops, since that's the role she slotted Mariner into to drive her off in Season1.

[Evilchumlee]

Sure, all the ship ENDED UP being was awfully big, but the Cerritos crew apparently expected it to be a big deal before they found out it was a derelict.

Fair. Cerrito's WAS expecting the Orions to have a big crazy battleship.

Even still, we really don't know much about the Orions. They've seemed to remain independent through all this time, they must be able to defend themselves. People might know you don't mess with the Orions... that's why we don't hear about them much.

Tracks with Discovery... 1,000 years later when the Federation falls apart, the Orions take control of everything.

[Crazedwraith]

Lower Decks is ending with season 5

I only hope they knew going on.

(Meanwhile SNW has been renewed for s4)

[Alferd Packer]

That's a bummer about Lower Decks; I've really enjoyed the whole run, but I think it ultimately makes sense. The main characters have become quite competent during the show's run, so the natural progression would be that they "graduate" to more senior roles, which, by definition, would mean they're no longer Lower Deckers.

[Crazedwraith]

Lower Decks is back with a fifth and final season.

Just saw the first episode. It was... fine. I felt the Alternate universe stuff could have been used more. It might be setting up some character stuff for the season.

But the idea of Mariner as captain was massively underused, apparently a small shift somewhere in the series puts Carol Freeman on Starbase 80 and Mariner in command of Cerritos as a Martinet? eh.

[NecronLord]

The series is a joy as ever, though I am mostly hoping to see the characters stop being lower deckers and get a decent send off. More than five seasons might overstay the welcome I'm beginning to think.

[Crazedwraith]

The series is a joy as ever, though I am mostly hoping to see the characters stop being lower deckers and get a decent send off. More than five seasons might overstay the welcome I'm beginning to think.

This is the last season but I don't know if they knew it was the last season in advance. Hopefully they did and gave them a good send off. OTOH, I'd love for like four specials to be made about their later careers. Star Trek: The Upper Decks miniseries.

---

Shades of green: It's again fine. Tendi's plot suffered a lot from having the same joke for a long time but the resolution that the pregnancy was only secret from her and her messing up the compromise was okay. There's kind of a retcon as the deal was presented in S4 finale it was not 'you work for us until you've paid off the dreadnought' but D'Erica seems to have gone back to her earlier in s4 characterisation where she's happy for Tendi to be Starfleet.

Boimler's plot of trying to be cool like his counterpart was kind of Eh but it does establish that ep 1 started an ongoing concern for him and Mariner about their command styles.

Rutherford and T'Lyn's C plot was probably the best for me. Predictable and brief but still very sweet and a rarer combination of characters. So neat.

The best exotic nanite hotel: I'm conflicted on this one. I wanted a Mariner/Jennifer coda and this should have ticked the box you know? Not keen on how it was delivered though. It felt like the writers were doing it out of obligation than actual interest the pairing was criminally underused in s3. I do not like here being promoted off ship and the implication she'll do better on a ship with lots of Andorians. Mixed crews/IDIC always seems the best to me.

Boimler's plot was probably the strongest, playing to his insecurities and Lower Decks strengths about the problems of being lower decks.

T'Lyn's tiny subplot about the musician was again neat.


I've praised T'Lyn here and I do like here but Jennifer's guest role made wonder how the show would have turned out if Jen had got all the focus and screen time T'Lyn did/

[bilateralrope]

With the latest episode, Section 31 finally has a plan where their goal is a good idea. Even if the secrecy is questionable and it looks like duplicate Boimler is the only surviving member of the crew they sent on it.