Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x01 - "Second Contact"

It's always my answer in Final Jeopardy. Well, technically it's "What is nuke them from orbit."

 

Well, dystopian means bad and a cartoon can't be bad...

 

I used nukes from orbit to get rid of the weeds in my garden last week. There's nothing of the house or the garden, but that does include the weeds.

 

Trek BBS's KRAD said that it was "60% of a good episode."

https://www.tor.com/2020/08/06/about-60-of-a-good-episode-star-trek-lower-deckss-second-contact/

 

Not a bad % for a Trek episode.

 

Its the only way to be sure.

 

So what's your opinion on Subs versus Dubs?

 

Subs all the way. Period.

 

Geekvolution did not agree.

 

I remember in voyager there was an engineering guy that every time that Belanna gave him more work, he just didn't do it and kept doing his own things that interested him, which is a cosmological theory, according to what they say in that episode, many crew members don't spend the first year on a ship .

 

They're overrated as a marine transport system.

 

I gave it a seven. I laughed at some parts and know not to take it seriously. Admittedly I had low expectations so was presently surprised.

 

there are still people complaining about a supposed SJW agenda at star trek shows! it is not supposed star trek was always liberal! star wars was conservative.

 

O_o

Star Wars was originally written with the Empire being modeled after the Americans and the Rebels after the Vietcong in Vietnam. Yes, it used visual references to Nazi Germany but I would hardly call it conservative.
And there will always be people complaining about agendas in shows. That's not going anywhere.

 

I think the first episode was a good start. I enjoyed it. The characters are fun, there are some adventures with aliens and everything, the art style is nice, etc.

 

As a lifelong Trekkie, I have always found that the characters did not really act like real people (to an extent this is in all fiction, especially performed), even if I didn't realize it at the time. I mean, the way they handle the trauma that would affect people for the rest of their lives is so absurd. I have PTSD from my mom's death, which was not violent, and these people have to deal with random friends/colleagues dying on a weekly basis because a console exploded (and will kill dozens more)! If you look at these characters, and again, this is an issue in all performed fiction, they rarely ever actually laugh. Remember how it was a big deal when Data guffawed? Can anyone remember the sounds of other characters from TNG laughing? I can remember Geordi's chuckle and plenty of smirks. To varying degrees on the various shows, these human beings are unbearably stoic and yes, lack joy.

 

Actually, yes. Which is odd because that is not a Trek that I really engaged with the characters much.

 

Picard laughs at the antics of Irish Stereotypes in "Up the Long Ladder" (the stolid and rigid Season 1 Picard even!)
Riker laughs at the idea of Picard getting married to/being pursued by Lwaxanna Troi in "Manhunt"
Worf laughs at the idea of hooking up with a human woman in "Yesterday's Enterprise."
Troi laughs at Data's "beard" in "The Schizoid Man."
Crusher laughs while walking with Picard and their thinking about Riker together in "Attached"
Geordi laughs or chuckles pretty frequently.

Are they laughing all of the time? No, but they are adults in a quasi-military organization and when we're dealing with them they're usually in pretty serious situations where laughter isn't called for, they show plenty of ranges of human emotions, and reactions even if they're not rolling on the floor gasping for air because Data told a joke.

Oh! Almost the entire bridge crew smiles or laughs at Data's "Goodbye Data!" line at the end of "The Outrageous Okana."

There's times of laughter and joy:

Riker at first when looking over the hotel set-up in "The Royale" or playing around on Risa with the the alien woman in "The Game", or in Disaster suggesting the O'Brien's name their kid after him if it's a boy, he even kind of laughs at his lower decks doppelganger's attempts at getting to know him in "The Lower Decks."

Picard's (a season one Picard) exclamations about the Dixon Hill holodeck program in "The Big Goodbye," or his joy at getting to see the Promellian Battle Cruiser in "The Booby Trap," or his praise of Data's performance in Henry V in the holodeck program in "The Defector," or praising Data's insubordination turning out beneficial results in "Redemption II."

Crusher's "squeeing" at over winning the hand in "Cause and Effect."

Troi whenever chocolate is involved.

These characters have their ranges and show them, they're not roller-coaster rides of extremes but maybe that makes things a bit more realistic? Barring having some kind of mental health issues one probably isn't going to be rolling in laughter one moment but then a ball of emotion and rage the next.

The ranges and emotions are there, and to me they feel closer to being like people than from what I saw in Discovery and even in Picard.

 

It is interesting that you have such a different perception. I look back on the whole series and see a bunch of bland people (and I am a fan of TNG).

I appreciate the reminders of the individual moments. However, with the amount of itemization you have here, it points the issue out even more to me. I laugh dozens of times a day, and I suffer from depression and have PTSD. I get your reasoning about the military, but that seems to be more of a stereotype of militaries than actual militaries. Also, gallows humor is a thing. And having no issues with trauma most of the time is extremely unrealistic. I mean, Troi, Riker, and Crusher were, in the show's own words, rape victims, and they seem mostly to be unfazed. All the characters (except Data, I guess) should have mental health issues. I mean, think about what they go through all the time. Maybe Deanna Troi (and her staff?) is just the perfect therapist. Also, drugs.