Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x02 - "Envoys"

An 8.

I just liked this one a lot. Two B-Stories EXCEPT these 24th century characters are actual/relatable human beings and not Gene Roddenberry/Rick Berman emotionally well adjusted mannequins.

had they had actual relatable human characters like these in TNG proper, I probably would have enjoyed that series a lot more. Yeah, they go a bit overboard here and there (IMO to good and comedic effect for the most part); but at the core they are human beings who look out, and care about each other, but definitely ain't 'perfect, or perfectly well adjusted (and that goes for the Bridge crew characters too.)

Again, just a simple, and sometimes funny episode set deeply in the Star trek Universe.

 

I mean I would gladly talk about things I liked if I liked this show. Even if I didn't like the show, I'd give it credit if it did even one thing well.

Sure, I talk about "Things I like" all the time, but in a "lower decks" forum, I talk about "lower decks." Which is, at present, not a thing I like.

 

So, not quite as good as last week's episode (which I gave a 10). So this week is an 8 for me.

Still loving it, just not as sharp as last time. Still love practically everything about this show. It's great having a Trek show to look forward to again every week, if nothing else, for the sheer promise of an open, episodic world to explore.

I like Picard and Discovery well enough, but their serialized, darker stories and occasional failures to execute their vision (again probably a serialization issue with the writers and the production process) made it less "fun" (?) looking forward to new episodes than it should have been. So, hooray for LDS! (and hooray for more hope in the future in SNW!)

i sorta had that impression about the senior officers too, but I think it was just from that moment used in the trailer where the deck officer (?) welcoming Tendi to the ship tells her "move along lower decks". In the trailer it felt like an insult and I didn't like the tone. In the episode itself it comes off as more like "move along we have lots a people to onboard" and the "lower deck" part was more like just an acknowledgement of her station. I think the trailer played that up on purpose to highlight "these guys are not your standard bridge crew level" and it came across as mean, but the characters are clearly TNG-era good characters. The only other time it cropped up was when the senior officers ignored the contributions of the lower deckers in ending the Rage Virus. But that was a minor, minor slight at most - given the lower deckers didn't actually do anything except accidentally and unknowingly bring the raw material for the cure onboard with them. It wasn't even like Mariner or Boimler even thought of the potential of a cure from the goo.

Blame "Discovery" - Enterprise and DS9 had a logical consistency - 31 was a secret organization until Bashir revealed them to a vast swath of Starfleet command and apparently regular officers too. Discovery screwed with it for the "cool factor", but didn't pull it off.

I just want to know what the Janeway Protocol is. I wonder if they are going to keep it as a running joke, or let us in on it at some point.

Lavelle gets promoted in the original "Lower Decks" episode, so it is canon you can be promoted and still be lower decks.

It's not LDS that screwed up. It's DIS. Bashir outed them in DS9, and LDS is totally consistent with that.

We get it. You hate Mariner and nothing she ever does is correct in your eyes. I think we can move on from that, probably don't need to get your next week's searing take on how crappy she is and how she treats everyone else like crap. Got it covered.

Also, why do you call Boimler "Boimer" a couple of times, then revert back to calling him "Purple Hair"? Both make it seem like you are purposely trying to be insulting to the character, the show, and fans who like it. It's getting tiring already.

That energy entity died attacking the Captain after having nearly exhausted itself making the tricorder. It is likely never coming back. Think of it as a cold open.

One of my favorite things about DS9 is its depiction of the idea that it is "easy to be a saint in paradise". In the Federation proper and in TNG, it was "easy" for the characters to stick to their ideals and always live up to them. In DS9 that is harder to do, and it is on purpose. Within the setting of the show the characters have a harder time because they are on the frontier and they don't have all the might of the Federation (physically, legally, and morally) to fix every situation as the Federation would normally do it. But they still try. Also, within the approach to the show itself, the writers and producers wanted it to be more realistic; they didn't think the idealized characters from TNG were as realistic or fun to play as they wanted in their show and that that "saint in paradise" stuff was too easy. They created a show to test Star Trek ideals in tougher situations, to show that the characters - even when pressed hard - might bend or break a little, but would still work toward those ideals and, in the vast majority of cases, succeed in upholding them. But the few times they failed, it made their successes all the more significant and the impact of the stories greater.

Yeah, I too love the "perfect" Picard of TNG for being the best of what humanity should/could be, but I also love the Sisko of DS9 who struggles every day to be that best self and bring his ideals to "the frontier" (as Bashir called it at one time).

 

She should totally call him Boimsy Boy at some point XD

 

We don't know what happened regarding Lavelle. He was promoted only in the very last scene of the ep, and he was off duty. All we know is that he got promoted, and thus no longer had to share a room with Taurik.

 

I was trying to be a little funny. I guess I should have remembered on the internet to include obvious indications of the intent of the words - like an emoji.

I was just trying to say that one of the main story threads of the original Lower Decks episode was one of the lower deckers getting promoted, so, within "lower decks", promotion could certainly be on the table. I didn't mean that we know absolutely that within Starfleet officers are still considered "lower deckers" at the LT JG level. And you are right, getting a promotion to serve on the bridge might make Lavelle no longer "technically" lower decks. But in the spirit of the lower decks/junior officers I think he would still very much qualify to stay in the group, as would Rutherford.

 

I truly love that the series is still Star Trek and depicts a positive future. It’s just funny — and that’s all that really sets it apart from the other shows. The USS Cerritos looks like a kitbashed model that we’d see on TNG; it doesn’t look like a joke because it’s a comedy.

The show is stupidly respectful of the franchise. I’ve ended both episodes with a big smile on my face. It’s a really fun show and turned out to be way better than I expected. And lastly; I never realized just how much I missed self-contained episodes.

 

The episode was fun but not as good as last week.

I thought the B plot with Rutherford was great.

leaving the General just passed out “on the porch” while they got away was great.

 

The other thing is, with both her parents being career Starfleet and, as mentioned, her spending most of her life on ships and starbases (plus I'd bet she was absolutely the kind of kid who got into everything) I imagine some of Mariner's "I have seen things!" experiences came from before she was ever even in Starfleet.

 

I like this. It's cute, fun, and it has some great Trek feels. I love all the little Easter eggs. There was a creature from TAS in the Andorian bar for Gods sake...!

I think the Rutherford plot was again my favorite, and I like how they kind of lampooned TNG-era Klingons as being stereotyped drunken Vikings.

7/10

 

I don't think Kirk heard the "Moons of Nibia" speech from Khan. Mariner somehow dreamt it anyway.

 

Seems like a waste of energy to me, why talk about or watch something you hate?

I hate Nemesis, so I don't watch it or respond to threads talking about.

 

If it wasn’t for the mum reveal you would think Beckett was a Q with all the deep references she knows.

 

Because the show's brand new. I didn't know I was going to hate it, but it's now in the zeitgeist and I'm going to share my opinion about it in a discussion group that was created specifically for doing so.

I'm not spending any time in the VOY or Nemesis forums myself and I left the Picard forum a day or two after the last episode aired and won't be going back there, either.

How much of the show I end up watching or how long I remain in the forums remains to be seen. But since the show is current and I did see the episode, I'm going to discuss it.

 

I am a simple person, I love Andorians and I saw many of them that makes me love the episode :P

 

remember linus the saurian

 

It's great that they have white eyebrows again

 

Oh, no, no, no. If you think Mariner is a Mary Sue, you badly misunderstand the meaning of the term 'Mary Sue'.