I guess they should've referenced Counselor Wrdlbrmfd from the USS Lollipop instead. No one would've wondered who that's supposed to be, everyone would've loved it.
Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x06 - "Terminal Provocations"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
- Start date
The Fletcher stuff was somewhat amusing but Badgey was just annoying. I didn’t really laugh much. I gave it a 6.
It's not like Troi is one of the bridge crew for one of the most famous ships in the galaxy, nor that she's not actual Federation royalty since the Betazoids....have royalty....of which she is a part of.
Also, the thing about the guy at the door not recognizing Picard is a joke. It's that the door guy is an ignoramus.
Also, the thing about the guy at the door not recognizing Picard is a joke. It's that the door guy is an ignoramus.
I either forgot or didn't notice - what were all these references?
I guess they should've referenced Counselor Wrdlbrmfd from the USS Lollipop instead. No one would've wondered who that's supposed to be, everyone would've loved it.
It actually would be a mildly funny subversion if they started name-dropping people that weren't yet a part of canon.
after all, the events of the existing Trek series aren't the ONLY things that have ever happened in the universe.
Though it really would be better if they didn't do any of that at all. Sadly, it's 50% of any given episode and shows no signs of slowing.
Boimler: What if we could agree that references are the BEST form of humor.
Crewman6: No, I mean the opposite of that!
This is exactly my point. Many people may know a little about famous military people from our own history, whether Washington, Grant, Pershing, Eisenhower, Patton, heck even Stormin' Norman Schwartzkopf.
But how many of the members of those figures' senior staff do we know about? How many of those people can even people with above average education actually name? Other than Alexander Hamilton, I'm guessing zero.
Archer, Kirk, Sulu, Picard, Sisko....these are names that will definitely find their place in history books. But Crusher, LaForge, Troi, Scott, McCoy, Dax? Nope.
There's plenty of canonical evidence to support the fact that supporting Trek characters, especially supporting ones, are not, in fact, treated like celebrities or royalty in universe.
No one seems to recognize or had heart of Scotty in "Relics", though Picard expresses interest in hearing his insights about the "events" of his time. Not even his actual accomplishments, just things that happened while he was alive.
Bashir doesn't recognize Data on sight in "Birthright", but has heard of him, as the only "synthetic lifeform" in Starfleet is obviously going to be something most people have at least heard of. But he's not so famous that Bashir instantly knows who he is. Guess he was never on the cover of Space Vogue.
In "Defiant", Dax and Kira aren't exactly fan girl squealing about Riker being aboard the station. Dax doesn't say, "OMG, you met Riker! WOW, he's famous!" She just smiles and says, "Oh, I met Riker once last year." Big whoop.
No one seems interested or even aware that Admiral McCoy is touring the Ent-D in "Farpoint."
Sisko and Dax DO geek out about Kirk on "Tribble-ations", but because he's the actual captain. Sisko struggles to remember who McCoy is/was. It tracks that Sisko, who clearly idolizes the old Enterprise, would be familiar with the names of Kirk's crew, but he hardly reacts to McCoy's presence with anything other than a shrug.
Other members of the crew notably mistake Kirk for someone else in the bar scene, not even knowing what he looks like.
Answer #1
I had a friend who could name every single officer at Rorke's Drift and what their personalities were like. He was a military fanboy and was part of a group of them that had similar obsessive devotions to knowing the names, backstories, and interests of people in famous conflicts.
Answer #2
I dunno, if there was a television show about them, probably a lot. HBO's Rome means that a lot of people know who Titus Pullo is even if it's a wildly inaccurate version of him and he was one of Caesar's Centurions.
But yes, the show depends on the idea that Mariner and Boimler are fanboys of the Trekverse's ships the same way that Trekkies are.
It's funny you should bring up "Relics" because one of the hugest complaints about that show is that fans believed that Scotty's treatment was unconscionable. That they should have reacted with more appropriate awe.
Re: Other Examples
Dax actually has slept with McCoy in the Academy so I can understand about her familiarity. Both Sisko and Dulmer also suggest they'd break the Temporal Prime Directive to shake Kirk's hand (and Sisko does).
Riker loves Captain Archer so much he watched a 4 season holodeck re-enactment of their adventures with Troi. You bet he knows who Trip Tucker is.
Generations also opens up with the Captain of the Enterprise geeking out over Kirk and unwittingly insulting him. "I was such a huge fan since grade school!"
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The Zefram Cochrane reference was when Spock was trying to figure out which Kirk was the real Kirk: Garth of Izar's copy or the actual James T. Kirk? Spock asks which maneuver they'd used to defeat a Romulan ship near Tau Ceti. The answer: the Cochrane deceleration maneuver, a classic battle maneuver taught at the Academy.
Different people will know different amounts, and react differently to celebrity.
To talk about real world examples, some people might barely be able to tell you who the last few vice presidents were since 2000, while others probably tell you not just who every White House chief of staff but key Cabinet members for the last 20 years and some of their distinguishing features. There are definitely Civil War buffs, World War II buffs etc. who have memorized all sorts of details about famous generals from those various wars at the same time there are people who only know General Lee from the Dukes of Hazard, if that.
We know that people in the ST time frame are better educated than the average person today is, so the fact that lots of people today don't know the staffs of generals isn't exactly relevant. Further, we aren't talking just regular people when we are talking about those depicted in Trek. We are talking career Starfleet officers who took at least a course in Starfleet history and who have a presumed interest in other people who have been or are in Starfleet. it makes sense (to me, anyways) that Starfleet people will generally know a good deal about famous Starfleet people, past and present AND the prominent members of their crews.
I tend to disagree with your characterizations of the meetings of various Trek people. For instance, Data is the second-ranking officer on the ship and is escorting McCoy, so I would hardly consider that no one caring. That people were not paying Scotty a lot of attention wasn't an indication that they hadn't heard of him or were not possibly familiar with some of his quirks.
But the bottom line is this is moving goalposts. The original issue was if it was realistic that Mariner would know about Troi enough to know that Troi had multiple outfits. It was not whether or not she would have treated Troi like royalty. Doesn't seem like much of a stretch to me that someone raised in Starfleet, who graduated Starfleet Academy, and is reasonably smart would plausibly know the name of and some trivia about one of the top seven officers on the galaxy-saving flagship of the Federation. Now if it were a deeper random cut, like the science officer Picard dated for a half-second or former Chief Engineer Argyle or something, that would be a much harder sell. Or if some character like Fletcher, who is generally depicted as an idiot, could spout off facts beyond the obvious, I wouldn't buy it.
The weirdest thing about Badgie's homicidal rampage is that it's entirely accurate to the series. VOY's "Revulsion" makes it clear that the safeties really are the only thing preventing the holograms from murdering us all.
McBrayer might just be the most inspired casting in the history of the franchise.
Like it there's absolutely no one else who it could have been.
Like it there's absolutely no one else who it could have been.
The crowd CBS is going after don't care about the events that haven't happened. Especially in an animated comedy.
I think it's more, "Could this show not be a referential comedy and just be a serious animated series?"
Which isn't happening.
I definitely don't want that to happen. Most fun I've had with Trek in, probably, decades.
My wife picked up his voice immediately.
Me too. It's surprising how much this show has exposed a large swath of the fandom as being almost fun-averse. Some folks would rather hear perpetual philosophical bloviations than just enjoy themselves. There is, of course, a time and place for everything, but comedy is this show's format. They want shows about high-minded naval-gazing, they can watch Discovery for Burman's monologues, or all of the Berman-era reruns. There is literally something for everyone now. Inclusiveness, y'know?
So did my daughter - she loves Wreck-it-Ralph (Felix).
Its kind of hilarious how this show has broken the Youtube reviewer block. Many who LOATHED the other Kurtzman series are now fighting over Lower Decks.
Some love it and its nice to see some conflict there among the haters.
Some love it and its nice to see some conflict there among the haters.
Indeed. Perhaps they can all wail on each other over the head with the titanium rods that have been firmly lodged in their collective rectums for the past 20-some years.
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