Lower Decks Crossover Episode

[fireproof78]

Ok. So, how do you crossover MASH with Band of Brothers?

You make the MASH movie.

Right. And the difference between that and SNW is that in SNW, they would be.

Which means that their antics are probably not that high of level in a noncomedy framed show. They are just being retold at a higher level for comedic effect. One of my favorite authors of all time is an outdoor humorist named Patrick McManus who would tell quite the outlandish tales that obviously were real enough, and referred to real world events, yet still ridiculous for comedy. Now, comedy is highly subjective so this doesn't work for everyone, but my approach to Lower Decks is this not reality but a retelling hypercomedic version of reality, like when people tell fish stories. "It was a monster!" type stuff.

 

[HotRod]

I get that in the abstract but, in practice, how do you reconcile a presentation steeped in non-Starfleet behavior with a story ostensibly about Starfleet? I have no frame of reference for where the characters can reasonably go because the frame of reference I'm being told to apply is being wantonly ignored as sitcom tropes require.

I think you're taking this whole thing too seriously. Lower Decks is basically a workplace comedy and SNW is an adventure/drama. Mix them together and we'll get an adventure/comedy for an episode. Certain elements will be ramped up, others toned down. Will it work? We'll see. I for one can't wait. Lower Decks has been a much needed breath of fresh air for a fandom that takes itself way too seriously.

 

[The Wormhole]

I get that in the abstract but, in practice, how do you reconcile a presentation steeped in non-Starfleet behavior with a story ostensibly about Starfleet? I have no frame of reference for where the characters can reasonably go because the frame of reference I'm being told to apply is being wantonly ignored as sitcom tropes require.

In Lower Decks we're seeing a different aspect of Starfleet than we do in the other shows. Lower Decks is more about the ordinary every people of Starfleet, the ones who serve on an ordinary ship with nothing special about them at all. Or if you want to be extreme about it, Starfleet's losers, which is the running joke on the show regarding how the rest of Starfleet views the California class. The other shows all follow Starfleet's flagships or at least the newest and most advanced ships or extremely important and prestigious postings. It only makes sense the people assigned there would be of Starfleet's highest caliber personnel, as opposed to the average riff-raff that get assigned the less prestigious postings.

 

[Tuskin38]

Basically turn your brain down to 50%. Not all the way off because they do have serious storylines in the series.

 

[Dukhat]

When I first heard the rumor that there was going to be a LDS/SNW crossover episode, I immediately dismissed it as a stupid idea. But I've changed my tune. I actually think it's brilliant, and I'm looking forward to it. Specifically, what I'm looking forward to is Mariner and Boimler constantly pointing out how everything looks completely different from what they thought. Because you know they are so going there.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The characters on LD behave not like future society Starfleet officers, but like modern gen-z’ers in an office sitcom. That’s what doesn’t square with me.

Not seeing the problem. TOS was the Greatest Generation in an action adventure drama.

And I don’t expect or desire any such homogeneity, but I know when a character doesn’t feel plausible as a Starfleet officer and that’s what I see when I watch Lower Decks.

We get those all the across all series. Some, like Reg Barclay, become reoccurring.

Ok. So, how do you crossover MASH with Band of Brothers?

First get a time machine...

Right. And the difference between that and SNW is that in SNW, they would be

Have you met Starfleet justice? A stern lecture and a slap on the wrist if you're a main character.

 

[Reverend]

It's kind of hilarious seeing people protest that Lower Decks doesn't fit into the rest of Trek. I mean have you lot seen a Star Trek ever? It's ridiculous.

I mean what about the disembodied brains with a gambling addiction? A planet of stereotypical 1920's Chicago gangsters? A murder-clown that lives in a computer? An alien with literal god powers but the mentality of a bored 8 year old? That time two main characters hyper-evolve into newts and start a family that they just straight up abandon? That time multiple crew members hyper-devolve into ape-people, fish people and a spikey sasquatch and *eat* each other? That time Abraham Lincoln gets into a fight with Genghis Khan? Honey I Shrunk the Runabout? Literally everything Q does, ever? Move Along Home? Space hippies? Dr Crusher and the haunted candle? Tuvix? And of course: every damn holodeck episode ever!?

All Lower Decks does is shift the tone and embraces the weird random crap. Indeed nothing on that show is ever close to being beyond the bounds of possibility. Hell it doesn't even go beyond the bounds of what's already been shown!

 

[Doctorossi]

It's kind of hilarious seeing people protest that Lower Decks doesn't fit into the rest of Trek. I mean have you lot seen a Star Trek ever?

Yes- every single one.

All Lower Decks does is shift the tone and embraces the weird random crap. Indeed nothing on that show is ever close to being beyond the bounds of possibility. Hell it doesn't even go beyond the bounds of what's already been shown!

That has nothing to do with my objection to Lower Decks. It's not the strange encounters and events like you describe, but the behavior of the main characters that we're supposed to believe are representatives of the same organization that other Star Trek shows present.

 

[Reverend]

Yeah, like a said it shifts the tone. That's the whole point.

 

[fireproof78]

It's kind of hilarious seeing people protest that Lower Decks doesn't fit into the rest of Trek. I mean have you lot seen a Star Trek ever? It's ridiculous.

It's hilarious to me to watch the reactions. I know comedy is highly subjective but all the elements in Lower Decks, including crew behaviors, are reflective of what has happened in the past in Star Trek. It's a hyper comedic presentation, but all it is is a different tone, as you say, to past Treks. The behaviors are not outside what we haven't seen before.

 

[HotRod]

That has nothing to do with my objection to Lower Decks. It's not the strange encounters and events like you describe, but the behavior of the main characters that we're supposed to believe are representatives of the same organization that other Star Trek shows present.

 

[The Wormhole]

When I first heard the rumor that there was going to be a LDS/SNW crossover episode, I immediately dismissed it as a stupid idea. But I've changed my tune. I actually think it's brilliant, and I'm looking forward to it. Specifically, what I'm looking forward to is Mariner and Boimler constantly pointing out how everything looks completely different from what they thought. Because you know they are so going there.

They'll be meta and cater to both sides of the argument. Boimler will gasp and go on about how nothing matches the historical files, Mariner will shrug and say "who cares?"

It's not the strange encounters and events like you describe, but the behavior of the main characters that we're supposed to believe are representatives of the same organization that other Star Trek shows present.

I mean, it's not like Starfleet is a paragon of virtue anyway. Look at how many Captains and Admirals end up corrupt if not downright evil. That kind of behavior had to originate from somewhere, if that can go on in Starfleet so too can all the unprofessional shenanigans we see the Cerritos crew get up to.

 

[fireproof78]

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[Reverend]

You know what would be even less credible than what 'Lower Decks' depicts? If all of that wacky, insane nonsense ONLY happens to the specific crews we've seen and only during the specific periods of time we see them. They would be WAY more freaked out and suspicious than they are, but instead they generally take it all in stride. Which means it's all just accepted as par for the course because that's the kind of galaxy they live in.

Some weeks it's tense negotiations across the neutral zone, sometimes an ancient probe tries to upload the sum total knowledge of an extinct civilization into the main computer, causing the crew get infected by a holographic virus that makes them all act out as characters in every holo-novel in the database, until the one bridge crew member that was randomly immune can realign the trans-phasic flibittiyjibbets and reconfooble the techamotron array.

Welcome to Starfleet! You don't have to be crazy to work here, but we do have mental healthcare professionals on the bridge for a reason!

 

[Doctorossi]

Yeah, like a said it shifts the tone. That's the whole point.

And that’s also my issue. It shifts the tone to one I believe is incompatible with the rest of SNW.

 

[fireproof78]

And that’s also my issue. It shifts the tone to one I believe is incompatible with the rest of SNW.

So, who do you trust less; the writers of SNW to adjust the tone appropriately or the actors from LD to act in line with SNW's style?

 

[HotRod]

I'm basically expecting Hughie from The Boys in a Starfleet uniform. I'd be very ok with that.

 

[The Wormhole]

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Behind the scenes when that was being filmed, RDA asked General Ryan if there were any real Colonels in the USAF who acted like O'Neill. General Ryan sighed and said "there are many Colonels who act exactly like O'Neill. And many more who are even worse."

I'm basically expecting Hughie from The Boys in a Starfleet uniform.

And purple hair.

 

[Doctorossi]

So, who do you trust less; the writers of SNW to adjust the tone appropriately or the actors from LD to act in line with SNW's style?

The writer is from the LD staff.

 

[fireproof78]

The writer is from the LD staff.

So you don't think writers can change? Because part of being a writer is adapting to whatever you're working on.