Star Trek: Lower Decks

[Dangard Ace]

So season 1 just finished.  
 

After suffering through Star Trek Discovery (except for the episodes with Pike) and Picard not really feeling like Star Trek ST Lower Decks was different and fun.  Sure episode one felt like it was trying too hard with all the references and Mariner and Boimler being a bit Rick & Morty but they and the cast grow on you.   It started feeling like a cartoon version of The Orville, which I feel is the spiritual successor to ST after Voyager.  
 

The finale though... who the hell thought these old TNG joke aliens would be back except upgraded?!  Like damn.   But the kicker was when a Federation ship shows up and a few seconds later you’re like wait what why is that am I hearing what I think I’m hearing??  YES!! (Trying hard to be spoiler free)

 

 Suffice it to say I enjoyed the campy romp of STLD and I’m in for season 2.  

[tekering]

We've mostly been discussing Lower Decks in the Picard thread, but I think the show is worthy of its own... certainly more than Picard turned out to be.  

I do agree the characters got more likable as the series progressed.  I was disappointed how much humor got sacrificed in the finale for over-the-top action instead, however, especially after the action-packed movie parody the previous episode was.  "No Small Parts" pretty much turned into exactly what "Crisis Point" was parodying.  

Oh, but what a glorious love-letter to the Star Trek films "Crisis Point" turned out to be!  What could've been just a bunch of geeky shout-outs turned out to be a well-structured character arc for our protagonist, introduced the hilarious ship's counselor Dr. Migleemo, and featured some of the most inventive visual setpieces in Star Trek lore... without forgetting the geeky shout-outs, of course.  The in-joke reference to Xon was the deepest cut yet.  

In fact, I'd say "Crisis Point" was the best Star Trek has been since DS9 ended.

4 hours ago, Dangard Ace said:

I’m in for season 2.  

By separating the principal leads at the finale, I got the distinct impression there wouldn't be a second season...

...but I suppose it's irreverent enough that they can walk back any changes without skipping a beat.

[Dangard Ace]

Yeah I wanted to separate Lower Decks from Discovery and Picard.  The tone of those two series is completely different then what LD is going for.

The Cerritos is a brightly lit ship with plenty of soft illumination ala TOS, TNG, Voyager etc.    The full body bright colored uniforms are back which feel more warm and inviting than the monotone uniforms with color accents.  

I love the idea that these are Star Fleets 2nd contact crews(tier 2) aka not the Enterprise/Voyager/Defiant. The characters all follow the exploits of the tier 1 crews like reading the sports section but they whine and complain like normal people when they have to deal with the messes tier 1 crews leave behind.    
 

I too love the counselor.   His schtick  was funny.  Maybe as good as Sigouney Weavers job in Galaxy Quest  

Season 2 is pretty much confirmed  as Frakes and Sirtis are reportedly said to be signed on for a few episodes   
 

 

 

[Seto Kaiba]

Eh... Lower Decks does nothing for me, TBH.

It's a step in the right direction in terms of its visual aesthetic and lighter tone, but it feels like it has all the same problems plaguing the other new Star Trek shows.  Beckett Mariner is just Michael Burnham again, but this time her sociopathy and Mary Sue qualities are played for laughs instead of drama.  They stuck with the idea that the future is bigoted as all get-out, with the whole premise of the show being that Starfleet officers discriminate against and look down on their own juniors.  

The in-jokes and references are nice, but the show spends too much time trying to be Star Trek by way of Rick and Morty and ends up more as Red Dwarf by way of a bad Adam Sandler movie.  I kinda can't unsee the Red Dwarf comparison now that I've made it... Boimler basically IS Arnold Rimmer, and Beckett's basically girl Lister.  

The jokes themselves and situational humor are occasionally funny, but it feels like they too-often succumb to that Rick and Morty thing where they flog a joke to death to fill airtime.  It's entertaining enough to watch once, but I don't think I'd rewatch it at any point.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Seto Kaiba

[Dangard Ace]

10 hours ago, tekering said:

We've mostly been discussing Lower Decks in the Picard thread, but I think the show is worthy of its own... certainly more than Picard turned out to be.  

I do agree the characters got more likable as the series progressed.  I was disappointed how much humor got sacrificed in the finale for over-the-top action instead, however, especially after the action-packed movie parody the previous episode was.  "No Small Parts" pretty much turned into exactly what "Crisis Point" was parodying.  

Oh, but what a glorious love-letter to the Star Trek films "Crisis Point" turned out to be!  What could've been just a bunch of geeky shout-outs turned out to be a well-structured character arc for our protagonist, introduced the hilarious ship's counselor Dr. Migleemo, and featured some of the most inventive visual setpieces in Star Trek lore... without forgetting the geeky shout-outs, of course.  The in-joke reference to Xon was the deepest cut yet.  

In fact, I'd say "Crisis Point" was the best Star Trek has been since DS9 ended.

By separating the principal leads at the finale, I got the distinct impression there wouldn't be a second season...

...but I suppose it's irreverent enough that they can walk back any changes without skipping a beat.

who’s  Xon ?

Just rewatched Crisis Point.  You’re right.  That’s was a great episode.   From the movie credits to the change in pacing from comedy to movie mode, how the characters actually experienced growth.   
 

Subtle thing I noticed this time around.  The shows got clean sharp lines up until the “movie” starts.  Then I thought my tv was screwy until I realized they added “film grain” effect at that point.  The softness of the shots; the dirty scratches, spots and hair. 

[Dobber]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Eh... Lower Decks does nothing for me, TBH.

It's a step in the right direction in terms of its visual aesthetic and lighter tone, but it feels like it has all the same problems plaguing the other new Star Trek shows.  Beckett Mariner is just Michael Burnham again, but this time her sociopathy and Mary Sue qualities are played for laughs instead of drama.  They stuck with the idea that the future is bigoted as all get-out, with the whole premise of the show being that Starfleet officers discriminate against and look down on their own juniors.  

The in-jokes and references are nice, but the show spends too much time trying to be Star Trek by way of Rick and Morty and ends up more as Red Dwarf by way of a bad Adam Sandler movie.  I kinda can't unsee the Red Dwarf comparison now that I've made it... Boimler basically IS Arnold Rimmer, and Beckett's basically girl Lister.  

The jokes themselves and situational humor are occasionally funny, but it feels like they too-often succumb to that Rick and Morty thing where they flog a joke to death to fill airtime.  It's entertaining enough to watch once, but I don't think I'd rewatch it at any point.

I kind of felt the same way after watching the first episode....but I agree with what others said that the characters do seem to grow and get better. I do agree with the misconceptions the show did make, particularly in the first episode, when they played it like the senior officers were entitiled up class types and the lower deckers are the poor and down trodden instead of just junior officers having to learn and earn their way up the ranks. Rank and chain of command is not the same as society classes. That being said, the show really did get a lot better and very quickly, IMO. Mainer is a bit confusing though. She did get more likable but her motivation and reasoning is really odd and a bit confusing/off putting.

Chris

edit: was watching episode 9 “Crisis Point” and it really kind of calls her out for her crazy BS.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Dobber

[Dobber]

5 minutes ago, Dangard Ace said:

who’s  Xon ?

Just rewatched Crisis Point.  You’re right.  That’s was a great episode.   From the movie credits to the change in pacing from comedy to movie mode, how the characters actually experienced growth.   
 

Subtle thing I noticed this time around.  The shows got clean sharp lines up until the “movie” starts.  Then I thought my tv was screwy until I realized they added “film grain” effect at that point.  The softness of the shots; the dirty scratches, spots and hair. 

I was literally watching this episode as I was typing. The overly dramatic Cerritos flyby sequence had me rolling and the overdone Warp effects and explosion effects  
 

Chris

[Dangard Ace]

3 hours ago, Dobber said:

I was literally watching this episode as I was typing. The overly dramatic Cerritos flyby sequence had me rolling and the overdone Warp effects and explosion effects  
 

Chris

 

[TehPW]

It's the second week of October.... Someone explain how a show that has been only on for a couple months is already "Season One Done" or has the definition of a TV season actually following planetary seasons???

[Mog]

37 minutes ago, Dangard Ace said:

 

A billion slow panning shots of the ship at every single conceivable angle AND lense flare?! 

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, TehPW said:

It's the second week of October.... Someone explain how a show that has been only on for a couple months is already "Season One Done" or has the definition of a TV season actually following planetary seasons???

As I understand it, a "season" in television serials never had any real connection to the length of a calendar season and still doesn't.

The length of the average TV "season" has been shrinking for a while now due to the pressure of so many competing networks, "premium" channels, and streaming services driving the cost of production sky high as studios push for higher quality content to attract and retain viewers.  The length of the average season has basically been cut in half, and instead of your average studio funding the first half of a show's first season to see how it goes and then funding the second half if it takes off has kind of given way to just throwing twice the cash at half as many episodes to bump the visual quality up.  So seasons are 10-13 episodes now instead of 26-39.

[Dobber]

2 hours ago, Dangard Ace said:

 

YES!

In case any one doesn’t know this is a Holodeck program that a couple characters are interacting with, to prepare for a performance review. It is designed to be “Cinematic” to be more entertaining and “awesome” LOL

Chris

[Dynaman]

I've seen "seasons" of as little as 6 episodes but I forget what show that was.  Basically a season is whatever a network decides to fund at one time.  If you add in a pre-planned hiatus then anything goes.  I still remember the olden days when the holidays meant reruns for most scripted shows till sometime in January but now that the "season" is so short it means some other show comes on.

[Sildani]

The mini-series has become the series. 

[Dobber]

Loved the work place workshop spoof.

[CoryHolmes]

I'm late to the party, I have some YouTube clips under my belt and now I'm up to Episode 3 and I just can't stand Mariner.  In small doses her irreverence is hilarious, but I just hate how she gets away with everything.

[Dobber]

She’s called out for her crap in a few episodes particularly in episode 9. 
 

Chris

[CoryHolmes]

16 hours ago, Dobber said:

She’s called out for her crap in a few episodes particularly in episode 9. 
 

Chris

Good, 'cuz as of Episode 4 she's reminding me of my brother's abusive ex-wife, and that's not a good thing 

[sh9000]

 

[pengbuzz]

They really need to euthanize this abomination. Seriously.

[technoblue]

So I watched all of season one on UK Netflix. The whole idea of taking a pinch of Rick and Morty and a pinch of Star Trek and then mixing it into a blender didn't gel for me as a concept, but then the show got easier to watch after the third episode. I mean, everything is so extreme. Each character has an extreme personality. The starship is a ridiculous super-deformed caricature of other more familiar ships. This show even introduces its own extreme class system for the individual members of Starfleet.

I do like that Beckett Mariner is not written as an animated Michael Burnham clone. Beckett's actions do have consequences, even though she's become apt at avoiding them by sticking with the lower deck crew. I thought the show did a good job of illustrating how Mariner's irreverence has quite the negative effect on those around her, especially in the later episode where she had to face her duplicate--the version of herself who actually did care.

Anyway, I'm going to give season two a go. I'm curious to see how well Boimler does out on his own too.

[Einherjar]

Found out that people out there are abbreviating this series as LDS. 

[pengbuzz]

5 hours ago, Einherjar said:

Found out that people out there are abbreviating this series as LDS. 

It fits.

[Dobber]

9 hours ago, technoblue said:

So I watched all of season one on UK Netflix. The whole idea of taking a pinch of Rick and Morty and a pinch of Star Trek and then mixing it into a blender didn't gel for me as a concept, but then the show got easier to watch after the third episode. I mean, everything is so extreme. Each character has an extreme personality. The starship is a ridiculous super-deformed caricature of other more familiar ships. This show even introduces its own extreme class system for the individual members of Starfleet.

I do like that Beckett Mariner is not written as an animated Michael Burnham clone. Beckett's actions do have consequences, even though she's become apt at avoiding them by sticking with the lower deck crew. I thought the show did a good job of illustrating how Mariner's irreverence has quite the negative effect on those around her, especially in the later episode where she had to face her duplicate--the version of herself who actually did care.

Anyway, I'm going to give season two a go. I'm curious to see how well Boimler does out on his own too.

This is the only new Trek show I’ll keep watching. I’m glad I gave it another chance as it got better pretty quickly... around ep 2 or 3 for me. By the end of the season the first few episodes where more enjoyable  too.

Chris

[mechaninac]

It's the only new crop "Trek" show, although being a tongue-in-cheek cartoon built on mocking Trek tropes, that feels even remotely like actual Star Trek.

[Seto Kaiba]

While Lower Decks is absolutely the least repugnant of new Trek's offerings by a considerable margin, it's still pretty weak tea.  Not enough to justify shelling out for Paramount+.  I'd consider torrenting it, but it's not even really tempting enough to guarantee I'll do even that much.

[mechaninac]

Least repugnant is an apt description of it, and absolutely NOT worth the price of admission given that it still suffers from all the tiresome BS that passes for entertainment over the past 10 years or so, but there is no need to throw good money after bad or even torrent the dammed thing; it is available in near real time as the episodes are released, and archived thereafter right here.  All SW animations can be found there too.

Edited April 9, 2021 by mechaninac

[sh9000]

 

[Atheonyirh]

The show is perfectly fine and clearly loves its history given all the highly specific, frequently deep and esoteric references it makes. Maybe it helps if you don't take Trek too seriously and consider it some sort of sacred cow you're not allowed to make fun of? Can't wait for season 2 of this, honestly.

[Dobber]

Same…Lower Decks really grew on me and showed a lot of love for Trek after the first episode or 2. Best new Trek in a long while. I’ll gladly include it in MY official Trek timeline.
 

Chris

[Dangard Ace]

Woohoo!  The metaphor Aliens are back!

[technoblue]

Indeed. The comedy works and this show also has a heart. It’s unique but, like I wrote in my post up thread, it was easy to warm up to everyone in the first season. The deep cuts and fan service references were just icing.  

[jealous37]

I loved the first season.  I've rewatched it so many times. I can't wait for the second season.

[Dobber]

I’m going to miss the Security Chief. 
 

Chris

[sh9000]