Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x02 - "Kayshon, His Eyes Open"

That's not how Star Trek works. Star Trek must be identical.

 

In Broken Bow, Archer describe the Klingons as such...

"( Klingons are...) An Empire of warriors with eighty poly-gutteral dialects constructed on an adaptive syntax."

 

That's Enterprise. Doesn't count...or something.

 

The best part was the fact that they critiqued new Trek so spot on. Tackled it head on. There's nothing wrong with friendly, family Trek.

 

No one ever said there was.

 

Pointing out that something's different isn't necessarily a critique.

And family-friendly is never something that Gene Roddenberry strove for. That's more of a Berma-Trek thing.

 

And even Berman Trek failed at that and frequently. I mean, come on, look at the output of Trek between 1987 and 2005.

 

Who says that there is? Sounds like a strawman.

 

I went with 9, would have liked to see more of the collection. Not sure if I like Boimler's transporter double. I think you're right he may be the "evil," one. Tendi and Rutherford taking point on escaping was good. I hope we see more of Jet, It seems they're fleshing him out more expanding on the cast. I'm also going to go with Badgey/Peanut Hamper as the ones pulling the Pakled strings. I like Kayshon, glad they didn't go overboard on the metaphor speak.

 

I'm hoping for a possibly Xander Harris split situation. They think one is evil and the other is good but it's actually just the Winner vs. Loser side.

 

Scene from a future episode:
T'Ana: "You're both incomplete. We need to combine you together to restore mental and physical integrity."

Billy Boims: "No! You'll kill me! Just like you monsters killed Tuvix!"

 

Tuvix was holding Tuvok hostage (oh and Neelix).

 

And the flower too. That flower never materialized. For the rest of the series, Tuvok and/or Neelix were part-flower. I wonder if they had dreams of pollination? Did they like to bask in the sun?

 

Enough with the Farscape references.

 

for senior staff maybe, but for lower deckers? Who knows, besides it’s the far future with thousand of species, and thousands of cultures, what some would consider taboo or inappropriate, others might not care.

 

I refuse to believe it! Giant Spock is alive to me goddamnit!

 

Well, it could be that Spock Two is dead but Spock Three (or Four or Five) is still out there.

 

Finally got the time to start catching up on Lower Decks and honestly...

I'm so freaking glad they kept the "Boimler's on the Titan" stuff as short as humanly possible.

Not only did the show suffer from having Boimler separated from the other characters (especially Mariner) but...honestly, as much as I like TNG, I wasn't a fan of the idea of having Riker and Troi show up on Lower Decks all the time. A occasional cameo alright, but not as recurring characters! Lower Decks is full of characters (both the main characters and the senior stuff) I'm more interested in than the Troi-Rikers.
And yeah, that clone Boimler is clearly evil.

I was quite intrigued by that "Mystique from the X-Men"-looking officer on the Titan, have her people ever shown up anywhere in Trek lore (or beta canon) or was her species invented for the show?

Other than that the episode was "alright (gave it a 7) the Darmok character isn't all that funny. I miss Shax :-(

 

Lots of Easter eggs. Liked the humor about micromanagement and overcompensation for accusations of micromanagement. Liked the episode so much that I immediately rewatched it with the commentary turned on. Also liked how the Titan badasses suddenly realized that they'd gotten caught up in the violence, and remembered why they'd originally joined Starfleet.

 

8 or 9 for me.

The sonic shower scene was a surprise, but in a genuinely amusing way as to where they take it. It's fantastic. Kinda cool they brought up being mindful of Boimler and his having trepidation of communal showers as well. If 90s Trek did this, they'd be less inclusive of the guy or call him some vegetable like "Rutabaga" as some derisive insult.

I half-giggled when the painting was half-reminiscent of Viggo from Ghostbusters 2. Yes, we knew he'd come to life but hilarity did ensue.

The defense systems turning victims into collectibles was ingenious. The puppet jokes that followed were very nicely timed, right down to the hand-printed sign at the end.

The quiet reference to Roombas was terrific as well, of which I don't recall the R-word being mentioned, in a scene with an obvious homage to 50 foot giant Spock that nobody was expecting. Nicely done...

Boimler not fitting into the Titan and his knowing his place was also brilliantly done. Show vs tell, of which there's a place for both, but the script nailed it perfectly. Yes, it was abrupt - how it does the reset button is a quaint parody of sci-fi doing this all the time.

The use of Riker transporter clone as denouement was even inspired.

Riker's time in the episode is thankfully short. Not overdone and letting the other characters grow as a result.

The action was decent.

As with the previous episode, the use of bleeps keeps the show balanced. Other shows that used profanity dropped the bleeps and the whole tone changed; it's a shark jump moment since after that starts plot quality tends to do so too.

The Titan shuttle pilots - yum.

Most of the easter eggs and references have also been not-obnoxious. I may never find all the references and "easter eggs", either... that's okay. The stories are strong enough and the content has been subtle enough and innovate to make them their own without the comparisons and finger-pointing as to which did it better.