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Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x08 - "I, Excretus"

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That's probably a reference to mirror-Saru being a slave in DSC season 1, but what bothered me more about that holopod sim is that the Federation knows for certain that the Empire is no more from Sisko's reports, and has known for better than a decade at this point, so... why does this sim exist? What's the point in drilling junior officers in dealing with threats that simply don't exist anymore? I think Ms. Splits-into-three-parts was having some voyeuristic fun writing pointless sims that Mariner etc would've had no chance in.
Because they know from "Parallels" that there are infinite universes out there, which means more mirror ones.

And the jist of adjusting to pass for a local is very relevant to all Treks.
 
wasn't the crew's reaction to barclays's holo recreations kinda clear?
not THAT clear, given that some of them were amused. Anyway, using someone’s image on the holodeck happens plenty of times afterwards and in many of those it’s no big deal.

do you really see no difference between nudity and pornography?
This was not pornography, it was a tactical simulation.
the Federation knows for certain that the Empire is no more from Sisko's reports
no they don’t. They know it doesn’t exist in the bajor area, but it might as well still exist, greatly reduced, elsewhere, such as around earth and other core worlds.

Also, given the potentially infinite universes that exist in Star Trek, there are bound to be multiple ones where Terran empires still exist and are powerful.
 
I've been debating on what score to give this episode. On one hand, both the setup and the resolution of the episode was too...pedestrian for my taste. I don't care how "low" the totem pole the Lower Decks crew are. No one would be so incompetent to strand a work crew behind in that manner, especially when its clear that Captain Freeman purposely keeps an eye on Mariner, if nothing else but to make sure that Mariner didn't do something to give her a headache. And the resolution? It should have been a real conflict, and a successful resolution afterwards, that convinced the Drill Instructor that she, the Drill Instructor, was wrong about the Cerritos. I know that the scenes were suppose to be comedic, but there are more clever ways to pull those scenes off. Heck, just have a random "space anomaly" suddenly appear, swallow the Cerritos, and then disappear just as Mariner makes her "space is..." comment. The Drill Instructor showing up could be just an annual crew evaluation, ending with an actual rescue mission involving the Crystalline Entities. In other words, comedy is the main thing with the LD, but it still has to be grounded with soome seriousness.

On the other hand, the call backs during the evaluation, coupled with the responses to the scenarios, were funny. I was a bit bothered by the "Naked Time" scenario, but only because the emphasis was on the sex aspects of that scenario, and not the pathological aspects. Maybe, rather than having holo-Boimler "spread eagle", maybe have a moment where he could reveal his true feelings for Mariner, pro or con. After all, if real Boimler can create an accurate, interactive holo-simulation of the crew, I'm sure the Drill Instructor could. Then again, maybe each scenario is specifically tailored to the test taker, which could mean that the sex aspect of "Naked Time" was on purpose (i.e. "rigged"), given Mariner's libertine nature on sex. But, I digress.

Thus, I give this episode an 8. It was amusing because I did enjoy the "meat" more than the intro/outro. Just do better with both, and I'll rate future episodes higher.

Anyway, looking forward to the last two episodes of the season. I bet you that the Pakleds will be involved, and whether or not our Boimler is the "real" one or not, will be resolved.
 
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You can of course make work arounds, but the implication is that the Empire fell, and if there is an imperial remnant, it is very weak. The fact all humans depicted were either enslaved or in rebellion is a clear implication of the Terrans' status.

That said, I also believe that there could be other timelines with Terran Empires, as well as the fact it was just a simulation and it doesn't need to be completely based in what they know of the current state of one alternate reality. And as a scenario to explore, I can see the utility in this scenario (non-rigged). It tests your adaptability. How good you are at using your knowledge of the counterparts to give you some advantage. Tests your ability to overcome the inherent trust and comfort you have with familiar faces. Even ignoring alternate counterparts, you have mind-control, shape-shifters, etc., so it's actually a pretty common situation.
 
I've always really enjoyed Lower Decks, but I don't think there have been many moments where I've actually lol'd in the true sense, but man this episode had me in stitches. The Naked Time stuff was hilarious, I was not expecting the Boimler spread and the fact that the only logical, sane course of action was for Mariner to space herself to get away from it and still ends up being close and personal with the crew was brilliant.
 
On the issue of differing reactions from the crew in "Hollow Pursuits" vs. this episode: it could be the public nature of the simulation itself that makes the crew comfortable with it. You clearly give some sort of blanket consent to have your holoimage used in training programs when you join Starfleet (I'm sure everyone just scrolls and clicks "accept" without reading all the details). And since this resulting simulation is being shown & censored as part of an official training exercise, you aren't left wondering what anyone is really up to in there.

Meanwhile, there are much creepier implications to discovering the antisocial outcast of the crew has secretly created a hologram of you for frequent personal use.
 
It’s that rare thing. A perfect balance between having a laugh, but also telling a story and at the same time having the whole crew pull together to do it.

It felt like Star Trek but funny, which is always the target of LDS, even if it’s not accurate 100% of the time.

I like LDS a lot. I’m also aware it doesn’t always hit the mark. This though was my favourite episode of the season and most likely the whole show.

Not just good Lower Decks. That was good Star Trek and good comedy. First one this season that I want to rewatch immediately.

It’s funny, all my favourites from Season 1 were loaded toward the back as well.
 
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Someone pointed out that, whilst Boimler is indeed awesome, his success in the holosim here could be more down to the fact it was programmed based on the drill instructor's "book knowledge", which we know from S1 that Boimler excels at. Mariner, OTOH, was penalised for thinking outside the box, which SHE excels at.
 
not THAT clear, given that some of them were amused.
those who weren't currently featured, yes ;)

This was not pornography, it was a tactical simulation.
don't you mean tactile... XD

There is a HUGE difference. Let go of your pearls.

View attachment 24311
And that picture means just nudity to you, not pornographic at all? It's precisely that HUGE difference that makes... ...the difference XD

Have no pearls... it's my favorite scene of the whole show :p
 
wasn't the crew's reaction to barclays's holo recreations kinda clear?
Regardless of their personal reactions, what that episode did make clear was that there were no rules, regulations or laws against doing that sort of thing with the holodeck. Indeed, even on DS9 when Quark made the Kira hologram for Jeffrey Combs, neither Kira nor Odo pursued a legal reprimand in response to that. Indeed, if there were a law against it, you'd think Odo would jump at the chance to finally have something on Quark.
 
Who claimed it was illegal?

But as EAS pointed out, the simulations were rigged, so that could easily be the reason why they were more extreme than SF intends. It's even plausible that the public recordings didn't show everything that happened, cause the Pandronian would wanna cover her alterations.
 
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