Star Trek Lower Decks (1 Viewer)

[Josh Dial]

Yes, but a gold-ish ship isn't something we've seen a lot, if ever, in Trek. Also, the nacelles looked super cool to me when it was being commandeered.

Agreed. That sequence in season 2 is one of the coolest moments in all of Star Trek.

 

[Nelson Au]

It was nice to have new Star Trek on again. I enjoyed the season premiere and actually laughed several times.

I definitely noticed the opening titles are altered, or more like redone with added bits such as the Crystalline Entity.

I had not seen any previews or read anything about the premiere, so it was a spoiler free viewing. It was surprising they got Cromwell back to do some voice work. I didn’t mind the Bozeman tourist park nature of that site. To me it’s like a form of The Simpsons doing Star Trek.

I was surprised how quickly the storyline was resolved and felt fine about it. They can move on. all the little bits of sight gags were fun, I will have to re-watch this to see them again. The Ketracel-White Hote Sauce was a good one. And the name dropping of Captain Batesman and Tuvok was fun to connect the show even more to the TNG era.

 

[Josh Dial]

My favourite reference was the news ticker mentioning injuries when the crowd rushed the stage during a concert by country music star Sonny Clemonds. Low-mileage pit woofies?

 

[Francois Caron]

"Trust the system."

At least this confirms this is a science-FICTION show!

I found the season opener to be rather weak. Entertaining with the details, but weak on the whole. The entire fast-tracked plot resolution at the end reminded me of the Sherlock Holmes' book The Hound of the Baskervilles where everything was sped-resolved in the last chapter through the exact same type of narration. I really hate this lazy approach. Heck, even the animation was nothing more than a slideshow!

The show needs to get back on track in the next episode for me to retain my interest in it.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

For how this fits in with the other shows, I just think you have to look at it as being a different medium so there are translations happening - TOS was told in the vernacular of 60s network shows, the Berman-era shows were told in the vernacular of 80s/90s first run syndication, and the new live action shows are told in the vernacular of premium serialized streaming. They’re all part of the same whole but the language being used to express each part is different.

There’s a scene in Marvel’s WandaVision show that visually explains how I feel about this. In the “real world” segments of that series, we see a modern military force sending a drone aircraft into Wanda’s TV world which is designed to mimic the appearance of decades-old TV shows. When we see that drone in the real world, it looks like a drone. When we see it inside Wanda’s TV world, it looks like a toy plane. It’s the same thing, but inside Wanda’s world, it’s been translated into how such a device would have been seen in that different time period.

This isn’t the first time shows of different genres have shared a same continuity. The character of Lou Grant, for instance, began life as a half-hour sitcom newsroom caricature on The Mary Tyler Moore show before spinning off into the lead of a one hour drama. He’s the same character played by the same actor but things that happen in the Mary Tyler Moore show would never happen the same way in the Lou Grant show because of the differences in the mediums used for each show.

Lower Decks is told in the vernacular of the animated sitcom and so things are translated into that storytelling language. I don’t think that has to mean anything that happens on the show doesn’t count but simply that it’s being reflected in a way that maximizes the humor and ridiculousness of each situation in a way a live action telling of the same events wouldn’t.

 

[Greg.K]

The entire fast-tracked plot resolution at the end reminded me of the Sherlock Holmes' book The Hound of the Baskervilles where everything was sped-resolved in the last chapter through the exact same type of narration. I really hate this lazy approach. Heck, even the animation was nothing more than a slideshow!

It fits the idea that all of the real action is happening elsewhere and these ensigns aren't the ones out there saving the day all the time. I kind of liked it.

 

[Francois Caron]

"Feels like I'm wearing nothing at all!"

"Nothing at all!"

Stupid sexy Ransom!

Okay! We're back on track! Very entertaining episode including the return of a favourite Klingon character!

 

[Sam Favate]

Tremendously entertaining episode tonight! How did we go 50 years without some Star Trek this funny?

 

[jayembee]

Okay! We're back on track! Very entertaining episode including the return of a favourite Klingon character!

I knew I recognized that voice, but I couldn't place it until I saw Hertzler's name pop up in the credits. Good ol' Martok.

 

[DaveF]

It fits the idea that all of the real action is happening elsewhere and these ensigns aren't the ones out there saving the day all the time. I kind of liked it.

Yes, that ending was smart, intentional writing cutting to the heart of the show’s concept.

Lower Decks is the best modern Trek so far.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I liked this episode a lot more than the premiere. It was what I've wanted this show to be from the beginning: the trials and tribulations of low-ranking officers performing grunt work while growing as people.

They started developing Tendi more last season, putting her on a leadership track. And this episode, we saw both Mariner and Boimler striving to break out of their self-destructive patterns, with Mariner trying not to be so insubordinate, and Boimler not being such a weasel.

And, gratifyingly, those developments weren't completely reset back to zero by the end of the episode.

Very entertaining episode including the return of a favourite Klingon character!

I think characters like Martok that are already quite broad and colorful translate to this show better than the more grounded ones do. It doesn't hurt that J.G. Hertzler is so damn great as that character (or, in this case, a Ferengi simulation of him).

 

[joshEH]

I think characters like Martok that are already quite broad and colorful translate to this show better than the more grounded ones do. It doesn't hurt that J.G. Hertzler is so damn great as that character (or, in this case, a Ferengi simulation of him).

When Hertzler came in for that audition for DS9: "Way of the Warrior" back in 1995, I wonder if he ever imagined he might still be playing Martok over 25 years later. Having Hertzler back as the cycloptic Klingon's always a pleasure.

I remember playing the PC game Star Trek: Armada II back in the day, where, in the Klingon campaign, you could command the flagship Negh’Var. Hertzler reprised the role of Martok -- and every time the Negh’Var cloaked, Martok would just start laughing maniacally. Always made me grin like a stupid idiot.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

There was something funny and delightful about the fact that the civilian clothes for Rutherford and Boimler captured the dorkiest aspects of the TNG late eighties/early nineties idea of what 24th century fashion would look like, while the civilian clothes for Mariner and Tendi felt somewhat chic and contemporary.

I haven't seen it yet. Did they include something like Wesley's horrible 1st season shirt with grey and multiple colored stripes?

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Yes, but a gold-ish ship isn't something we've seen a lot, if ever, in Trek. Also, the nacelles looked super cool to me when it was being commandeered.

Weren't the Cardassian ships gold?

Or were you referring to StarFleet vessels?

 

[Jason_V]

Weren't the Cardassian ships gold?

Or were you referring to StarFleet vessels?

Gold in general for everyone. I don't consider the Cardassian Galor warships gold...I think they're more brown.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

When Hertzler came in for that audition for DS9: "Way of the Warrior" back in 1995, I wonder if he ever imagined he might still be playing Martok over 25 years later. Having Hertzler back as the cycloptic Klingon's always a pleasure.

I remember playing the PC game Star Trek: Armada II back in the day, where, in the Klingon campaign, you could command the flagship Negh’Var. Hertzler reprised the role of Martok -- and every time the Negh’Var cloaked, Martok would just start laughing maniacally. Always made me grin like a stupid idiot.

You just sent me down a Hertlzer Jr. rabbithole.

from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._G._Hertzler

1) Hertzler's first involvement in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was in the series' pilot episode "Emissary" as the Vulcan captain of the Federation starship Saratoga

2) He was at the Paramount Studios auditioning for another series when DS9 casting director Ron Surma had him read for Klingon General Martok. At first, Hertzler portrayed Martok as a mild-mannered Klingon, but when he was asked to make him angrier, he picked up a chair and threw it into a wall. The chair's leg stuck briefly and he said he had also inadvertently ripped his thumbnail causing it to bleed, but it had impressed the auditors and he landed the part.[9][31]

3) Hertzler played other characters in DS9, including a changeling named Laas, in the episode "Chimera", who interacts with main character Odo. <...> In portraying Laas, Hertzler said he tried to act like William Shatner, but with a higher pitch

4) Following the end of DS9, Hertzler played a Hirogen in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Tsunkatse", which was noted for featuring pro wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. In the episode, he and The Rock are conscripted alien fighters. Hertzler said that he also got to wrestle actress Jeri Ryan who played Seven of Nine.

5) In Star Trek: Enterprise, he played a Klingon lawyer in the episode "Judgment" and a Klingon Captain in the episode "Borderland".

7) Hertzler and fellow Star Trek actor James Cromwell were among nineteen people arrested for disorderly conduct during a protest outside a Crestwood Midstream compressor station in Watkins Glen, New York, on June 6, 2016. They were involved in the "We Are Seneca Lake" civil disobedience campaign against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission green-lighting underground gas storage in Seneca Lake's salt caverns, despite public opposition.[56][57]

Hertzler and actor James Cromwell show their arrest citations at the Crestwood station protest (June 2016)

 

[Sam Favate]

I always liked Hertzler. If/when they bring the DS9 characters back, i sure hope he is among them.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I haven't seen it yet. Did they include something like Wesley's horrible 1st season shirt with grey and multiple colored stripes?

 

[jayembee]

Am I the only one here who remembers Hertzler from his playing the second (of two) alcaldes in the 1990 Zorro series with Duncan Regehr (who also played Kira's old Bajoran resistance fighter friend in a few episodes of DS9)?

 

[Jason_V]

Only took me 11 days to find this…