Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 3x01 - "Grounded"

[Crewman6]

There is always a straight line between the ship and the destination.

No there isn't.

 

[Tosk]

No there isn't.

Of course there is. You can always draw a straight line between two points. That line may run through another ship, or a chunk of planet, or whatever, but the line can still be drawn. (This far, and no further! )

 

[Vale]

Since always? It's not like you can emit EM radiation that turns left.

You can't just compensate for the Heisenberg uncertainty principle either, and yet...

 

[Sci]

The various Trek series and movies have never, ever, ever paid any attention to whether or not a ship is in a straight line to its transport destination (or vice versa.)

The only reasonable explanation is that, yes, transporter beams can indeed turn.

Can you think of an episode where there was ever any indication that the ship did not have a direct line of sight to the transport destination?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Exactly. You previously indicated Mariner had not ranked up, but the very fact that she's been demoted proves she had ranked up at some point, otherwise she could not have been demoted.

Also, the very fact that she has been promoted means she can not be "the longest serving Ensign" as you previously asserted. For people who are demoted, their time in rank resets the moment they are demoted. Since Mariner was last seen promoted (though temporarily) in season 1, that means her time in grade as an Ensign resets at the end of that episode when she was demoted. Meaning at the moment, she has only served as an Ensign for however much time has gone by in universe since Moist Vessel. Even if you were to count the combined amount of time she spent at the rank since she graduated and subsequent promotions and demotions, I doubt the total would even add up to five years, and is probably less than that. Which is still not Starfleet's longest serving Ensign, which is a record held by both Travis Mayweather and Hoshi Sato, who both spent ten years as Ensigns. Or if you want to focus specifically on Federation Starfleet, then Harry Kim holds that record as seven years an Ensign.

If you get demoted, your time as Ensign resets?
Is that how it works IRL?

I thought your time in rank is cumulative?

 

[matthunter]

Can you think of an episode where there was ever any indication that the ship did not have a direct line of sight to the transport destination?

Transport handoffs between pads are a thing anyway. Just forward the matter streams from station to station on the surface that DO have LoS (or near to it given transporters CAN penetrate a portion of the intervening planet given all the times folk beam in/out of underground facilities) until you arrive. No satellites needed.

 

[Weyoun 251]

Can you think of an episode where there was ever any indication that the ship did not have a direct line of sight to the transport destination?

I know it's Kelvinverse but surely the Transwarp beaming tech would qualify?

Also there is no reason that on earth site to site beaming tech couldn't work like a landline or fibre broadband? Or even like a mobile phone with v low orbit satellites which weren't affected by the swarm

 

[Mike Doyle]

Can you think of an episode where there was ever any indication that the ship did not have a direct line of sight to the transport destination?

Every time someone beamed inside?

 

[Vale]

Also there is no reason that on earth site to site beaming tech couldn't work like a landline or fibre broadband? Or even like a mobile phone with v low orbit satellites which weren't affected by the swarm

Maybe this is how the transporter portals we see at Starfleet Headquarters in Picard work... they're hardwired transporters between fixed locations.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

Am I to understand Commander Tuvok performed a mind-meld without consent? ("Under some rather invasive questioning...") Has he done this sort of thing before? I'm trying to remember.

Pakleds botched this one, for sure. Samaritan SNAFU, more like it.

 

[Slugboy]

And Tuvok showing up for a forced mindmeld repelled me, given that forced mindmelds are generally presented as rapes. Like, here's a quick short of a beloved legacy character, depicted mid-rape... ick. I'm surprised to see how many are favorably highlighting this cameo, which felt for me like a quick driveby to trash the character without even giving him a line.

Yeah, I was disturbed by that too. I'm guessing it was meant to be a kind of "homage" to Spock performing a forced mind-meld on Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (like Tuvok, Spock uses the "two-handed" meld), but as I recall, that scene generated some controversy as well (example: the movie's own director Nicholas Meyer said about the scene that "I find the mind meld is kind of like waterboarding to me and it’s uncomfortable to watch.") I can't speak for other countries' legal systems, but if mind-melding were real, I'm pretty sure that evidence gained from forced mind-melds would not be admissible in any Canadian court.

 

[Vale]

Yeah, I was disturbed by that too. I'm guessing it was meant to be a kind of "homage" to Spock performing a forced mind-meld on Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (like Tuvok, Spock uses the "two-handed" meld), but as I recall, that scene generated some controversy as well (example: the movie's own director Nicholas Meyer said about the scene that "I find the mind meld is kind of like waterboarding to me and it’s uncomfortable to watch.") I can't speak for other countries' legal systems, but if mind-melding were real, I'm pretty sure that evidence gained from forced mind-melds would not be admissible in any Canadian court.

Its casual use here may also be a reference to the idea going right back to their first appearance that the Pakleds are condescendingly considered so stupid that they're barely sentient, which is an awkward stance for the supposedly egalitarian-to-a-fault Federation to take.

EDIT: Apparently Tuvok's not melding with a Pakled, ignore everything I just said

 

[JirinPanthosa]

That was a good episode. I thought the Pakleds would have turned out to blow up their own planet, but I thought it would turn out to be an accident. I like the way it turned out all to be wasted unnecessary effort and justice actually worked. Bateman name drop was neat.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

Those Pakleds...if anyone in Starfleet was going to expose their idiocy, that person had to be Dr. Frasier Crane...

No one better...

 

[matthunter]

Those Pakleds...if anyone in Starfleet was going to expose their idiocy, that person had to be Dr. Frasier Crane...

No one better...

Shame the actor wasn't better at spotting grifting idiots.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Star Trek going back to its utopian roots, showing us an idealistic fantasy world where a black woman can get a fair trial.

 

[Tosk]

Its casual use here may also be a reference to the idea going right back to their first appearance that the Pakleds are condescendingly considered so stupid that they're barely sentient, which is an awkward stance for the supposedly egalitarian-to-a-fault Federation to take.

Tuvok is not melding with a Pakled. It appears to be a Zakdorn.

 

[The Wormhole]

If you get demoted, your time as Ensign resets?
Is that how it works IRL?

Yes. When you're demoted your time in grade resets, meaning if that particular rank has a minimum time in grade that has to be spent before being promoted, you have to spend that same amount of time starting with the moment you were demoted. Though I don't think Ensign has a minimum time in grade, I don't think that starts until Lt Commander?

Likewise, when you're demoted, you're considered to have the lowest seniority in rank, everyone else who already held that rank prior to your demotion is considered to be of higher seniority then you and therefore technically "outrank" you, at least to the extent that one can outrank someone who holds the same rank as them. Remember, most of the time demotion is a punishment. It wouldn't make sense to give demoted officers any advantages just because they previously held that rank or a higher rank.

 

[Slugboy]

Likewise, when you're demoted, you're considered to have the lowest seniority in rank, everyone else who already held that rank prior to your demotion is considered to be of higher seniority then you and therefore technically "outrank" you, at least to the extent that one can outrank someone who holds the same rank as them.

Thanks for this explanation! I always wondered why in episode 1x10 ("No Small Parts"), Mariner tells Boimler "You technically outrank me, sir" despite them both being ensigns. This remark now makes sense with the context of your explanation. (presumably one of her demotions to Ensign occurred after Boimler became an Ensign).

 

[The Wormhole]

(presumably one of her demotions to Ensign occurred after Boimler became an Ensign).

Yep, her most recent demotion at that point was earlier in the season in Moist Vessel. Granted, now Mariner would outrank Boimler, given he was demoted after he returned to the Cerritos from the Titan in season 2.