Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x04 - "Mugato, Gumato"

Don't forget the ambo_jitsu (sp?) from the "Icarus Factor"...

 

I rated this a 10. Had me in stitches.

They brought back the Ferengi whips. Mugato sex. The mispronunciation deep cut, which goes back to "A Private Little War" when De Kelly said Gumato in the script wrong. Hence Mugato.

I love how they're mixing up the LD crew so it's not just Mariner/Boimler doing stuff and Tendi/Rutherford doing another thang.

 

Plus Shaxs is definitely undead (for a while it looked like it could have been a Sam Rutherford's hallucination) and apparently, he likes eating... feces...

Will we ever learn how he managed to... not be dead?

 

The poop eating joke went a little too far for me. But I do like Kayhon is still aboard, and Shax and T'Ana are getting it on.

 

Probably not, as that would ruin the joke.

 

I don't think the horn/tusk is the Mugatu's genitals (or at least, not the main one), based on the positioning of the two lovers on top of the hollow log (unless that was all foreplay). Most likely, the Gumato was being imitative with its right hand, and its left hand was doing the required action for proper voyeuristic enjoyment.

Given that the Mugata later joins them, it could be that the stroking of one's horn/tusk is a sexual display of some sort, showcasing their prowess in preparation for the mating act. If the tusk/horn is made out of ivory or some sort of dentin, then there should be no physical sensation for the Mercato to retrieve pleasure from. But, it's an alien, so who knows?

 

I am probably in the minority, but I am not laughing when I watch this show. I am feeling disgust with this show. Last season, I felt more enjoyment with it. I rated this episode a 4.

 

That was an interesting Ferengi Force Field Foot Snare that caught Mariner.

 

This one gets a 9 from me.

I was laughing through a lot of it.

Loved the fact they worked in the original 'Gumato' name of the creatures from the TOS S2 "Private Little War" original story and script (which was incorrectly pronounced when filmed, but they decided to just go with the flow so in the actual episode it became a Mugato forevermore.)

- LOVED the Call back to Kirk's Bamboo canon (See TOS S1 "Arena")...er Holoprojector?

- LOVED the other big cat joke of the episode with Tendi chasing a cat who doesn't like the 'vet', even when it IS the 'vet'. Tendi also got bonus points for showing she is a hard core Orion with how far she went to get the Doctor in range.

- LOVED that Boimler and Rutherford used a holographic power point presentation to show the Ferengi a Mugato Preserve was more profitable.

- REALLY LOVED the so called Mugato biologist who in the end didn't know jack and got his head bit off. (Finally we see some "Rick and Morty" DNA in the writing here where they just go off on some tangent that ends horribly but is still funny/a bit ironic.) Also the Mugato that "likes to watch..."

- LOVED how everyone seems to know of Section 31 still (and all the other supposed 'secret operations' of the past few years - boy Starfleet Intelligence can sure keep its secrets....

So yeah, a 9.

(If they'd somehow worked in a wandering Kanutu Woman (yeah, they'd have to explain how she got there) to heal Shaxs, I would have given this one a 10.)

 

Yeah, that was a great resolution because not just it appealed to Starfleet diplomatic approach to conflict resolution but it also made perfect sense for Ferengi. They are all about profit so what better way to deal with them than to appeal to their desire for profit!

And I liked Boimler's comment about we use our brains, not our fists. It was very TNG imo, looking to outsmart your opponent rather than using brute force.

 

I gotta give Boimler & Ruthorford props for making a convincing power point presentation in short order.

 

I give the episode a 7. It wasn’t really funny but I did enjoy it. It definitely felt like more serious episode of a Star Trek show than it usually does. The funniest thing was the moron getting his head bit off. Oops! Also the gumatos mating while the other mugatu watched was pretty amusing too though it was a bit gross.

 

First ep this season I've well and truly disliked, unfortunately. Oh welL!

 

I guess the gumato stroking its horn was a symbolic gesture...the kind we do when we give someone the finger...That proves that the mugata are smarter than our great apes who are incapable of such abstraction (unless taught sign language by humans that is).

 

What?! No way!!!

Yes, I read that Jean-Luc in "Picard" fleetingly mentioned the Kzinti, but it seems CBS/Paramount/Viacom (whoever controls the IP at the moment) must have negotiated a deal with Larry Niven to actually depict them on screen again. I gather the creators for Star Trek Online (being a third party itself) could not get an additional license to use Niven's Kzin, so the developers created their own adversarial counterpart to the Caitians, the Ferassi (spelling?) "Lower Decks", being in house so to speak, likely didn't have that issue.

The "rat-cat" is a member of StarFleet?! Well, it has been around a century past the events of "The Slaver Weapon", so politics and allegiances can certainly change.

 

Yeah, Michael Chabon personally asked Larry Niven if he could mention them in the show.

 

Speaking of "A Private Little War", I wonder where these two peoples are given that both the federation and the Klingons kept giving them advice on how to improve their weapons. My guess is that they are exchanging nuclear missiles by now...

 

Loved the Powerpoint Presentation as a reverse-action climax, and trying to get T'Ana out from underneath a shuttle, lololol. Cats.

 

Something I’m confused about…

In the meeting they say that there has been a sighting of a mugato on the planet and that it’s not a native species, however when they get there there are many of them…how come? The ferengi are getting them somewhere else and only using the planet as a base or what?

 

It appeared they were conducting their own Mugato breeding program in a few scenes, and selling off the younger Mugatos; as well as 'harvesting' some Mugato horns from adult Mugatos..