Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x01 - "Second Contact"

[wayoung]

Did anyone actually die?

I was pretty sure I saw at least one person ripped apart but it's possible I'm wrong

 

[wayoung]

I got lots to watch at the moment but this will help my Trek DTs for the next 10 weeks!

I've found the shows I normally watch around now have all been delayed - HBO alone usually has/had on Barry & Succession in the summer and neither have aired. I've been gaming mostly instead. Breath of the Wild right now.

 

[Campe]

We just finished the ESPN/Netflix docuseries The Last Dance on MJ and the Bulls from the 90s. Very well done. And we're about to finish season eight of The Office. (My wife has never seen it.) But other than that, we're struggling for shows right now. Lower Decks is a nice distraction, for me, at least. The wife isn't too much into Trek. She liked the Kelvin movies, but I tried introducing her through both TOS and Discovery. No luck.

 

[fireproof78]

There could be nothing on TV and I still wouldn't watch a show just because of the franchise it's in. Especially a comedy that doesn't make me laugh.

 

[rhllot]

More detailed analysis:
- Stardate 57436.2 - About half-way through 2380. Fits that there's only about "half a season" (10 episodes), if Season 1 covers 2380.
- Douglas Station looks alot like old Earth Spacedock... but isn't Spacedock. I wonder what the scale is, if it can be determined by the starship sizes (probably much bigger than Spacedock).
- The third chair appears to be for the CMO to have a spot on the bridge, or perhaps is an auxiliary chair (maybe that's it's use in general, and Picard favored his Counselor). Freeman might favor having T'Ana around much like Kirk and McCoy.
- I'm not sure how I feel about the "Created by..." credits in the new shows. DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise never had them, even though they perhaps should have. It just seems... I don't know.
- Couple of shuttle names include "Redwood" and "Joshua Tree" - nice theme tying in with the California aesthetic.
- Tendi is from "Outpost 79" - not sure if that's a border outpost (a la the 23 Outposts on the Romulan-Federation border or the 11 Epsilon Outposts on the Klingon-Federation border) or some other outcropping.
- I don't think "Deck 4" would be all the way down, judging from the MSD, but *shrug*.
- They seemed to have fully canonized the three divisions as "Command division", "Sciences division" and (presumably) "Operations division"
- Mariner says "we don't wash our hands" when first meeting with Tendi. Remember this when you get to the end of the episode.
- Adashake Center on Orion, reinforcing the idea of a "Planet Orion".
- Lt. Commander Stevens is the one who paged Boimler to the bridge (per the closed captions). I'm still not sure what job he has, since he's command division. Maybe second officer... but what else?



My bad. I heard "Boimler Program" not "Mariner Program" on first viewing, and just assumed she was breaking into his private holoprogram. Made him a more interesting character if there was this completely unseen side to him. Oh well.

- The timeline seems off. Stevens (per CC) called Boimler to the bridge... and then we immediately (after a commercial break) see Stevens on the away team about to beam up. Given that away team leader Ransom is on the bridge when Boimler arrives, it seems that the away team already beamed up before calling up Boimler... reversing the scenes shown in the episode.
- If Boimler graduated in '79 (one year ago... but also Data's original graduation date!), then he's probably about 23 years old and was born about 2357. A couple years younger than Jake Sisko.
- There's a sword on the Captain's display case. I wonder if that will be used in later episodes, especially with the later reference to "needing a new sword guy". I'll keep an eye on Freeman's Sword. I also thought I saw a USS Franklin model, but it's probably just another California class or the Cerritos herself.
- Ensign Barnes, the daughter of a non-recent Cyborg, works on the deflector dish, but also in main engineering. She's a Trill, but has a human name. Perhaps half-Trill? And if her "dad was a cyborg", he's either dead (RIP Barnes' Dad) or he got the cybernetics removed.
- The Zombie Apocalypse is "happening all over the ship," meaning Ransom couldn't have been the only one infected. So let's not blame it all on him, shall we?
- Billups and the Galardonian Chancellor appear to be talking about an entertainment program that's broadcast over subspace.
- Mariner using an Argo jeep seems to get universal praise. I still have qualms about its existence even 18 years after its introduction. It was somewhat understandable as a personal affectation of Picard's, but as a standard issue wheeled-conveyance... I don't know. Maybe it's meant for civilizations without blowing their mind on anti-gravity, but anti-grav shuttles should be the default.
- Mariner served on the Quito - another ship named after a city (albeit one in Ecuador), perhaps of a more important class. She was demoted and transferred to the Cerritos, probably because her mother is Captain. Although that seems to be her big secret (how can you keep that a secret?)
- Mariner fought a Yeti in a Klingon prison. Is a Yeti some alien species? Or an actual Abominable Snowman that exists in Star Trek Land and has achieved sentience (sapience).

- General Order 5, from FASA: The Federation:


Seems to fit the situation, if Mariner considers herself a Federation Special Representative (and the Galardonians as protected by the Federation, if not citizens). So we may have seen a piece of FASA canonized.

- Transporter Room Eight is on Deck Eight. For a second there, I thought they actually had eight transporter rooms for some reason.
- Despite what Rutherford believes, it's probably a good thing that the hatches didn't recognize his combadge. They're dealing with infected officers, all of whom have important combadges.
- When Tendi is pumping Stevens' heart (he doesn't appear to be infected... why is anesthetic useless? why does he need his heart pumped?), we see three infected strapped together in the background. T'Ana's insistence that you could double them up was increased to three a bed now.
- Boimler has been serving on the Cerritos (with Mariner) for "a year", since his graduation probably, yet he's only been to three planets (not counting Earth and Vulcan). Doesn't seem to have been an exciting year. Also, first contact with the Galardonians (and the Quito) was more than a year ago, but they're only now getting a Second Contact? Freeman has had Mariner under her command for an entire year and only now decides to get her out?
- Barnes, the engineer from deflector control, is operating the Ops Console at the end of the episode. And in the "This Season" trailer.
- The Admiral (Admiral Mariner?) has an interesting uniform. Only one set of admiral pips (four-pip, full admiral) and some sort of shoulder epaulettes and gold piping, but otherwise a standard LD uniform. I kinda wanted to see the Picard Admiral uniform in animated style.
- They seem to be pairing up Tendi and Rutherford, and probably Boimler and Mariner. Oh well.
- Except Mariner considers Deanna Troi to have a "bangin' body". With her all-nude male holoprogram and potential attraction to Deanna Troi, maybe she keeps her options open.

you don't need to be gay to appreciate the attractiveness of a person of the same sex, I'm not gay but I think brad pitt is very attractive

 

[Precious Tritium]

Just finished rewatching the episode and honestly, I feel like the rapid fire pace of the show actually worked in it’s favour. I missed so much the first time around, so catching all of that on a second viewing was such a pleasant surprise.

I don’t tend to rewatch Trek so quickly, but the show was such a delightful breeze that I couldn’t resist giving it a second go.

 

[Saul]

I laughed once. The show has potential.

The real question is, how do we fit this into canon

 

[rhllot]

I laughed once. The show has potential.

The real question is, how do we fit this into canon

in the same way that batman has an anti shark spray

 

[BillJ]

The real question is, how do we fit this into canon

Since I don't care about canon, it isn't an issue for me.

 

[cooleddie74]

I laughed once. The show has potential.

The real question is, how do we fit this into canon

The same way we fit Slug-O-Cola, the White Rabbit and Sherwood Forest into canon.

 

[DaveyNY]

Managed to see the episode.
(just so there's no assumption of something illegal here ... my sister has All Access and lives across the street)

I must admit it did make me chuckle a few times.

Really fast paced.
I had to stop and go back a couple of times just to see if I saw what I really saw. (and heard)

Obviously, A CRAP-TON of of previous Trek Easter Eggs included throughout the episode.

Strange though how They are bleeping out the Doctor's swearing, especially with DISCOVERY & PICARD going full throttle in that regard.

Anyway, I don't think I'll be renewing my All Access for just this though.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

This is a hella fun show. I enjoyed that it didn't take itself so seriously and poked fun at canon. I immediately liked all the Lower Decks crew, especially Mariner.

Also Cat Pulaski rocks.

 

[JD]

so I saw the Pilot...

Technically I don't think this was a pilot, I believe it had already gone directly to series before they even started work on it. A pilot is not just the first episode, it's specifically the episode, usually the first, which is made to sell a show, and hopefully get it picked up to become a series. If the show is already becoming a full series before production starts, then it's not a pilot.

Did she do it all in one frantic, manic monologue that had nothing to do with the actual scene, characters or story?

NO.

Or did she do it in context, as it came up organically and as it was tied directly into the events she was experiencing.

Sheesh.

It made perfect sense for the scene, after Boimler covered for her, she decided she was going to be his mentor, so that was her trying to share all of her knowledge of Starfleet and what they deal with.

I really enjoyed the first episode, most of the jokes worked for me and I liked the characters.
They did a really good job of working in the jokes, without totally breaking the fourth wall, which was the biggest thing I wasn't sure about.
Mariner and Tendi are my favorite characters so far, I just love how excited they both are about what they're doing.
The last couple scenes with Rutherford and Tendi almost felt like they might be setting them up to become couple.
I loved all of the different aliens we saw throughout the episode, along with the regulars we had Rutherford's Trill date, a Benzite coming off the shuttle with Tendi, and an rage virus infected Andorian.
I was wondering why Capt. Freeman was so interested in Mariner, so the big reveal that end that she's her daughter worked pretty well for me.
I gave it an 8.

 

[SeamusShameless]

I thought the show was pretty good. My only real gripe is the bleeps. If you're going to say shit and fuck, just say shit and fuck.

 

[Campe]

I actually loved the bleeps. Shows the in-between of Berman-era Trek and its PG and PC-ness and CBSAA Trek.

 

[Orphalesion]

Ransom explicitly ate flesh, we even see him bite into one guy's neck. Presumably, the Rage Virus required saliva mixing into the bloodstream. If Ransom or whoever bit into the jugular, or another major vein or artery, then the person might bleed out before they could get fully infected.

The guy Ransom bit into the neck turned into a zombie and got up again right away (he's the guy Rutherford and his date watched transform) and after cleanup it was probably a matter of, as Mariner put it, "shining a light" over his injury.

And Tendi pointed out Ransom "only ate a little flesh". So we have no evidence of causalities.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

As I am keeping my opinions about this show to myself, I would like to point out that we have more evidence than the Argo vehicle that the Federation has vehicles which are not hovering or using anti-gravity. In "The Identity Crisis", there is a mention to vehicle tracks.

The hallway-living quarters are on deck 9, along with a squash court and several rooms mentioned in the tour.

 

[Crewman6]

It made perfect sense for the scene, after Boimler covered for her, she decided she was going to be his mentor, so that was her trying to share all of her knowledge of Starfleet and what they deal with.

Very thin justification for such a bad, annoying and obviously fan serivcey joke.

"What they deal with" is not listing a bunch of prominent Starfleet characters. The opportunity for a real joke was there, but then went with that instead.

 

[SolarisOne]

I thought the show was pretty good. My only real gripe is the bleeps. If you're going to say shit and fuck, just say shit and fuck.

I'm pretty sure that was part of the joke. TeamFourStar did the same thing with their DBZ Abridged parody, even though they--like CBSAA--are not beholden to the FCC's broadcast rules, to great effect.

 

[yenny]

Technically I don't think this was a pilot, I believe it had already gone directly to series before they even started work on it. A pilot is not just the first episode, it's specifically the episode, usually the first, which is made to sell a show, and hopefully get it picked up to become a series. If the show is already becoming a full series before production starts, then it's not a pilot.


It made perfect sense for the scene, after Boimler covered for her, she decided she was going to be his mentor, so that was her trying to share all of her knowledge of Starfleet and what they deal with.

I really enjoyed the first episode, most of the jokes worked for me and I liked the characters.
They did a really good job of working in the jokes, without totally breaking the fourth wall, which was the biggest thing I wasn't sure about.
Mariner and Tendi are my favorite characters so far, I just love how excited they both are about what they're doing.
The last couple scenes with Rutherford and Tendi almost felt like they might be setting them up to become couple.
I loved all of the different aliens we saw throughout the episode, along with the regulars we had Rutherford's Trill date, a Benzite coming off the shuttle with Tendi, and an rage virus infected Andorian.
I was wondering why Capt. Freeman was so interested in Mariner, so the big reveal that end that she's her daughter worked pretty well for me.
I gave it an 8.

I caught that to, that Mariner is Captain Freeman daughter.