Lower Decks Trailer Analysis

[daedalus5]

Trailer looks good. Set in TNG era, so lots to look forward to. I think best watched with a glass of wine....

 

[eschaton]

The thing I've probably missed the most in the streaming era is that these serialized shows don't play around with genre & subject in the way the more episodic earlier series did. Though, a modern serialized show with a short episode order can't really be expected to do that. They lack the space for it. Now, we need an entire additional series to have Trek in a different form.

I will say there seems to have been a bit of a walkback in streaming drama from "one giant episode with no concrete breaks." Off the top of my head:

• The last season of Stranger Things experimented with that one standalone about the psychic kids living in the city (even if it didn't work out that well).
• The Witcher is pretty clearly so far only a semi-serialized series (which makes sense, since the Geralt bits were adapted from short stories).
• The Amazon show Tales from the Loop was a quasi-anthology.

Certainly I feel like showrunners are getting back into the idea that episodes can be something more concrete than just a "slice of the arc." Hell, even Kurtzman Trek so far has been more often semi-serialized than fully serialized, insofar as the individual episodes are mostly "about something."

I love this write-up. The initial episodes of "Picard" struck me as soooooo different than Disco that I was stunned when all the same Disco flaws manifested at the end of "Picard's" season. Though I am decisively pro-streaming-Trek, my one true disapointment is their consistent inability to land a season arc. And once this problem manifested across three seasons of two shows, that meant it likely came from Kurtzman, so odds are good it'll be a problem with every season of Streaming Trek for the foreseeable future. I will probably have to get used to it, just like I had to get used to the sexism (and other flaws) of Berman Trek.

So, that's a reason to be properly THRILLED for Lower Decks -- it looks like it's NOT trying to do the thing the top producer is worst at! (Though I guess I can't exclude the possibility. If our four lower decks heroes are single-handedly saving all sentient life in the galaxy in episode #10, I may just flip out. )

I blame Kurtzman for the epic stakes - it's pretty clear that he's the one who's forcing them to include that in every season (Chabon openly said if it were up to him there would be a whole season of Picard and his two Romulan caretakers solving low-stakes mysteries in the local village). I think the "can't stick the landing" thing is basically because there's too many cooks in the kitchen. Well-done highly serialized dramas are basically overseen from inception by 1-2 people given near total control, or else they're based upon an existing book series or something where no serious arc work is needed. So far not a single showrunner for Kurtzman Trek has stayed on for longer than a year, which means there is no grand narrative and no one really "owns" the shows.

 

[Lord Garth]

I dunno, I think there could be a good-faith dislike of all three shows. It's easy for me to imagine someone who doesn't like adult animation and also darker/edgier serialized dramas. They're both more modern forms with some bite in their sensibility, and plenty of people's tastes just run in a different direction.

I wonder then if it's a generation gap? Even though there's not too much of an age difference between me and other posters I've disagreed with.

And as a longtime fan of adult animation myself, I know the people who HATE it are abundant (and that's fine, it's not for everyone).

I was President of the Anime Club at my college in the early-2000s (while I was also a moderator on TrekBBS), so I know that goes.

 

[flandry84]

Why not treat it as a programme made for people like Tom Paris?
An in-series in-joke?

 

[BillJ]

Why not treat it as a programme made for people like Tom Paris?
An in-series in-joke?

People would probably then treat it as a joke and not bother with it.

 

[Tuskin38]

The ship doesn't appear to have visible shuttle bays on the outside of the ship, but there is a shuttlebay on the MSD.

Edit: Although, these could be shuttlebays

 

[flandry84]

People would probably then treat it as a joke and not bother with it.

Um,it’s a comedic cartoon so...

 

[Lord Garth]

Why not treat it as a programme made for people like Tom Paris?
An in-series in-joke?

It also might make people think of "These Are the Voyages". Not what they want to go for.

 

[The Wormhole]

If she were white, what would you think?

"Well, of course the woman doesn't know how to operate a phaser. SEXIST!"
And/or
"Well, of course they have the white person screw up. Can't afford to let minorities look incompetent. WOKE AGENDA!"

 

[thribs]

I’m smelling a romance between those two characters.

 

[Jayson1]

I thought she was faking not knowing the phaser was set on kill in order to kill his white privilege or was that a bad read?


Jason

 

[thribs]

I thought she was faking not knowing the phaser was set on kill in order to kill his white privilege or was that a bad read?


Jason

I’m pretty sure the phaser would be set on stun as default. Also a phaser on kill would set the alarms off.

 

[cooleddie74]

I'm not crazy about the Cerritos but at least it looks more or less like a TNG/DS9/VOY Era Starfleet ship and everything gives me the right feel.

 

[Jayson1]

I’m pretty sure the phaser would be set on stun as default. Also a phaser on kill would set the alarms off.

Starfleet changed that rule after Star Trek 6. People got sick and tired of hearing the alarms going off every time pranksters would set it to kill and then back to stun again in the middle of night pissing off many of Captains.


Jason

 

[Lord Garth]

Starfleet changed that rule after Star Trek 6. People got sick and tired of hearing the alarms going off every time pranksters would set it to kill and then back to stun again in the middle of night pissing off many of Captains.

I think it must've been a short-lived rule. Chekov was Cheif of Security in TMP, so if the alarms going off with the phasers set to kill was a thing back then, he would've known about it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think it must've been a short-lived rule. Chekov was Cheif of Security in TMP, so if the alarms going off with the phasers set to kill was a thing back then, he would've known about it.

 

[The Wormhole]

I’m pretty sure the phaser would be set on stun as default.

If that's the case, why do they always order "set phasers to stun" and why do we always see everyone adjusting their phasers when the order is given.

Also a phaser on kill would set the alarms off.

No, only if it vaporizes something. That was why in TUC Valeris killed her co-conspirators but didn't vaporize them.

 

[thribs]

If that's the case, why do they always order "set phasers to stun" and why do we always see everyone adjusting their phasers when the order is given.

No, only if it vaporizes something. That was why in TUC Valeris killed her co-conspirators but didn't vaporize them.

They probably say that to check, and I thought she killed them by stun at close range.

 

[fireproof78]

Valeris' follow up line is not helpful though: VALERIS: At ease. As you know, Commander Chekov, no one can fire an unauthorised phaser aboard a starship

 

[Tosk]

If that's the case, why do they always order "set phasers to stun" and why do we always see everyone adjusting their phasers when the order is given.

Presumably, phasers aren't just "stun or kill", they also have an off switch.

and I thought she killed them by stun at close range.

She did. To avoid said alarm.