Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 3x10 - "The Stars at Night"

[ToddCam]

So how old is Rutherford supposed to be? Given the combadge on the Lt. Cdr. from the flashback, that's at least 10 years before (switched over c. Season 3 of DS9/2371). I guess Sam spent a very long time recovering from his injuries if he was a Starfleet cadet back then. It doesn't really make sense timeline-wise. Wasn't he saying he recently received the implant when the show started?

Did anyone else notice there was a post-credits scene? Has that happened before? Paramount+ did the minimizing thing and I had a hunch for some reason, and kept watching.

 

[Anduinel]

I mean, I feel like people seem to think blowing up Mars wasn't a big deal. Mars is presumably pretty heavily conlonized and its own Federation member.

But yes, this is definitely another reason not to employ AI in Starfleet. They always seem to go insane.

Not so much that Mars wasn't a big deal as the "something something conspiracy" explanation in PIC never really quite struck home for me. It was less the scope than the execution, I suppose. Meanwhile, Badgey and his base code are a clear, repeated instance of an AI that just seems to have malevolent intent baked into its DNA (so to speak), so it's a lot easier to imagine a reasonable person taking a look at that whole cluster, going, "Sooo what steps do we take to make sure this level of bs never happens again?" and matters snowballing from there.

 

[Charles Phipps]

So how old is Rutherford supposed to be? Given the combadge on the Lt. Cdr. from the flashback, that's at least 10 years before (switched over c. Season 3 of DS9/2371). I guess Sam spent a very long time recovering from his injuries if he was a Starfleet cadet back then. It doesn't really make sense timeline-wise. Wasn't he saying he recently received the implant when the show started?

Did anyone else notice there was a post-credits scene? Has that happened before? Paramount+ did the minimizing thing and I had a hunch for some reason, and kept watching.

Maybe Rutherford is a recent transfer to the Cerritos but there long enough to know people.

But uniforms shouldn't be relied on for the MANY MANY reasons they don't change all at once.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Did anyone else notice there was a post-credits scene? Has that happened before? Paramount+ did the minimizing thing and I had a hunch for some reason, and kept watching.

I had literally just finished the episode and was reading the comments in this thread during the commercials before the credits, so thanks for alerting me to the scene's existence. I had a feeling that we hadn't seen the last of ******.

 

[ToddCam]

Well, Buenamigo also went from Lt. Cdr. to admiral, which would be an absolutely ridiculous promotion if it were only a couple of years. Buenamigo also looks significantly older.

 

[thribs]

I would say that flashback was 6-8 years ago.

 

[Dac]

That was a decent episode and i'm glad they FINALLY introduced T'linn, but Trej Duj was such a great episode it really kind of cast a shadow over this season that sorta bummed me out that they never followed up on it til now and even then it won't be done until Season 4.

Overall, I freakin' loved the DS9 ep and this was a decent season, but the trend of ship x coming to the rescue is wearing a little thin now and It's not what I could call the best season of the show yet (I think 2 was really strong).

 

[Tuskin38]

According to Mike, season 3 was nearly finished when the season 2 finale aired, so they had no idea about the positive reaction to T’Lyn until it was too late. Which is why she was only thrown in at the end.

Now the question is, who took badgy? There’s a handful of species with green tractor beams.

 

[Deks]

So how old is Rutherford supposed to be? Given the combadge on the Lt. Cdr. from the flashback, that's at least 10 years before (switched over c. Season 3 of DS9/2371). I guess Sam spent a very long time recovering from his injuries if he was a Starfleet cadet back then. It doesn't really make sense timeline-wise. Wasn't he saying he recently received the implant when the show started?

Did anyone else notice there was a post-credits scene? Has that happened before? Paramount+ did the minimizing thing and I had a hunch for some reason, and kept watching.

I don't think Rutherford was in Starfleet prior to his memory being wiped (he didn't wear a uniform or anything in his flashbacks - back then he seems to have been a promising civilian engineer that Admiral Buenamigo simply used to further his own gains - and Rutherfords personality back then did NOT strike me as one who wanted to join Starfleet)... if that's the case, Rutherford probably joined Starfleet AFTER the wipe.

Taking that into account, him being older (or in his mid to late 20ies or early 30-ies for example) isn't that big of a deal.

People don't necessarily join SF at the age of 18 for example. They might decide to join much later in life.

But even if he was in Starfleet earlier, given his memory wipe and all, it stands to reason that Buenamigo may have kept him from advancing in ranks... but a more sensible hypothesis is that Rutherford simply went to the Academy at some point after the wipe... or right after the wipe... so even if that was a decade ago, he would have been at the Academy for 4 years, then another 6 years as an ensign.
Its also possible he wasn't that concerned with advancement through ranks, or that advancing through ranks as an engineer might be somewhat slower.

 

[gweeps]

T'Lyn's back! Woo hoo!

Good to see the Rutherford mystery was finally solved.

I kinda thought Mariner wouldn't stay away too long.

This show is the most fun current Star Trek.

 

[Imaus]

WHY 4 Epaulettes?

You only have 2 Shoulders!

What are you, a 24th century Michael Jackson impersonator?

-_-

And another insane Admiral hoisted on his own pitard.
Or in Admiral Buenamigo's case, Phasered by his own creation.

I'm glad Shax got to finally detonate the Warp Core like he's always wanted!

Admiral Picard must be pretty loaded to be funding all this adventurous Interstellar Archaeology.

And you don't let one person write the AI, especially without oversight from a larger group of programmers.

Especially written by a EMO ANGSTY Rebellious Teenager who has anger issues.

This was just cream to the cake of his evil ambition. At this point I knewwww he was taking the piss, pfft.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

For those who care, here's the list of Cali-class ships that showed up:
USS Alhambra
USS Anaheim
USS Burbank
USS Carlsbad
USS Cerritos
USS Culver City
USS Eureka
USS Fresno
USS Inglewood
USS Merced
USS Mount Shasta
USS Oakland
USS Pacific Palisades
USS Redding
USS Riverside
USS Sacramento
USS San Clemente
USS San Diego
USS San Jose
USS Santa Monica
USS Sherman Oaks
USS Vacaville
USS Vallejo
USS West Covina

 

[Tosk]

Weird to see people walking in the tram tube. And phasers at warp? I always forget if we've seen that before. I feel like it was "an error" when it happened in Into Darkness? Some good Horner-esque scoring in the climax. Good episode, good finale.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Shaxs finally got to live the dream. It was worth it just for that. "I can haz?"

A bad Admiral? C'mon, that's so TNG.

The entire class showing up was just about awesome.

A definite 10.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

Spoiler: Oh this is *not* good...

 

[Mike McDevitt]

Rutherford’s age has not been stated on screen. According to T’ana’s dialogue in “Reflections”- “his memory and personality are from a decade ago” “almost like a backup overwrote his brain”. His flashback self wears a cadet uniform similar to Cadet Nog’s. Rutherford tells Tendi it happened “back when I was a first year”. According to TNG’s “Coming of Age” the Academy age requirement is 16, vaguely implying that Rutherford isn’t less than 26.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

Ah. What could possibly go wrong, my good friend?




Humble Pie Alamo...

 

[ExtremeSail]

This was just excellent, I'm sad to see season 3 end but excited for season 4!

 

[eschaton]

That was predictable, but very effective.

Lower Decks tends to end seasons with bigger-scale, more high-octane action outings, and it certainly did not disappoint here. The tone was largely serious, even dark (far more death here than ever seen in the series before), which very much worked to its benefit. What surprised me regarding this episode was how emotionally poignant the episode's final act was. The assembly of a flotilla of Cali-class ships was the perfect reinforcement of a core theme of the show...the magic of friendship. Mariner's return, even Shax's ejection of the warp core, which was somehow both funny and bittersweet. I legit got weepy eyed at the end of the episode, which means mission accomplished.

At the same time, so many references to plot arc elements going back to the beginning of the series, from the aforementioned ejection of the warp core, to Badgey, to Rutherford's implant, to all of the different Cali-class crews we got to see, to finally getting T'Lyn back on the show. Mariner's character arc has in a certain sense concluded. Honestly I kind of feel like this episode was written as a finale to the entire series before they knew they would get a season 4, because it serves as a perfectly acceptable summation of the ethos of the entire series.

 

[Tuskin38]

The USS Van Citters is probably named after
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/John_Van_Citters

So many new names for the Cali class list