Spoilers The clip from Envoys shows what is wrong with Lower Decks

[fireproof78]

Not for me. If I can't analyze a short scene in five paragraphs or more, then I haven't had my coffee yet.

I mean, I could as well but I'd rather just enjoy the scene as intended.

 

[eschaton]

I wouldn't be surprised if this was the opening of the episode. It just feels like one of those one off scenes that would be at the start of a show.

It seems like CBS likes to use the first scene of episodes as the teaser clip, for some reason.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

There's a lot of problems with this clip. It's a comic beat, possibly the cold opening of the episode (unrelated to Mariner and Boimler becoming envoys), but outside of the jokes, it doesn't really fit the Star Trek universe. This is a parody clip, and I am really hoping that the show continues to veer away from parody as McMahan insisted it would.

It takes place in a Star Trek universe, so some jokes will make use of aspects of the Star Trek Universe. That's very different from being a self-referential parody.

Of course some of the jokes will involve items familiar to Star Trek fans, but that does not always = parody.

So this entity can create items from air molecules. That's cool, but doesn't replicator do that, in effect at least? Why does Mariner use this wish-granting entity to do something the replicator can give her? The easy answer is that there's limits built in which means a tricorder is not available to be replicated. That's a worrying thought, because it means Starfleet might be undersupplying its own personnel, not providing them with the latest advances or forcing them to utilize subpar technology.

I don't think the purple stripe is part of the joke. It just indicates that is the newest tricorder to an outside observer. The entity and Mariner know the exact specifications, somehow, to this purple tricorder that advance it further than others.

Logistically, beyond the wish for a tricorder, how is this matter-replicating entity so easily captured? It can travel through bulkheads and into a person's sternum, but not through their arms while being wrestled? Mariner was familiar with it as a "trans-dimensional energy being", so maybe she's dealt with this specific species before. She was pretty adamant that it was a bad guy who zaps people (but it never zapped her), and that it could be placed safely inside a storage pod. But then she lets it go to create the tricorder and power crystal, which uses up much of its mass.

As a smaller creature, the entity attempts to kill the Captain, whereas it only wanted Mariner and Tendi to supplicate themselves. Obviously it knows alot (tricorder designs, storage pods), so it probably recognized Captain Freeman, and by killing the Captain, it wanted to take over the ship with little recourse from the crew. I don't know if it died (I would doubt it) or just entered the Captain's body and left of its own accord at some future period (or even possesses her as some plot point in the episode). We'll have to wait and see what the episode gives us..

As others have said, this seems to be overthinking it. Some styles of comedy often rely on the absurdity of situations, and I think Lower Decks will be one of those styles of comedies. Wondering seriously why or why not it is possible to replicate a tricorder in Mariner's world is kind of missing the point of this light comedy fare.

 

[Tuskin38]

It seems like CBS likes to use the first scene of episodes as the teaser clip, for some reason.

Maybe because it isn't very spoilery?

 

[Relayer1]

What was funny ?

 

[BillJ]

What was funny ?

I thought that putting an energy being, the type always threatening the crews, into a headlock was pretty funny. YMMV.

 

[Tuskin38]

What was funny ?

Humour is subjective. If you didn't find it funny, people explaining why it is funny probably won't magically make it funny for you.

 

[fireproof78]

I thought that putting an energy being, the type always threatening the crews, into a headlock was pretty funny. YMMV.

That was awesome. I loved how Mariner immediately tackled the energy being, despite its threats.

 

[Trekker4747]

There's a lot of problems with this clip. It's a comic beat, possibly the cold opening of the episode (unrelated to Mariner and Boimler becoming envoys), but outside of the jokes, it doesn't really fit the Star Trek universe. This is a parody clip, and I am really hoping that the show continues to veer away from parody as McMahan insisted it would.

So this entity can create items from air molecules. That's cool, but doesn't replicator do that, in effect at least? Why does Mariner use this wish-granting entity to do something the replicator can give her? The easy answer is that there's limits built in which means a tricorder is not available to be replicated. That's a worrying thought, because it means Starfleet might be undersupplying its own personnel, not providing them with the latest advances or forcing them to utilize subpar technology.

I don't think the purple stripe is part of the joke. It just indicates that is the newest tricorder to an outside observer. The entity and Mariner know the exact specifications, somehow, to this purple tricorder that advance it further than others.

Logistically, beyond the wish for a tricorder, how is this matter-replicating entity so easily captured? It can travel through bulkheads and into a person's sternum, but not through their arms while being wrestled? Mariner was familiar with it as a "trans-dimensional energy being", so maybe she's dealt with this specific species before. She was pretty adamant that it was a bad guy who zaps people (but it never zapped her), and that it could be placed safely inside a storage pod. But then she lets it go to create the tricorder and power crystal, which uses up much of its mass.

As a smaller creature, the entity attempts to kill the Captain, whereas it only wanted Mariner and Tendi to supplicate themselves. Obviously it knows alot (tricorder designs, storage pods), so it probably recognized Captain Freeman, and by killing the Captain, it wanted to take over the ship with little recourse from the crew. I don't know if it died (I would doubt it) or just entered the Captain's body and left of its own accord at some future period (or even possesses her as some plot point in the episode). We'll have to wait and see what the episode gives us.

So, I agree with the OP. The scene could've been better handled, without resorting to a self-referential comedy skit. The idea, already present from the first episode, that these Ensigns just shrug and eye roll when dealt with the cosmic horror of the universe, is great and the bread and butter of McMahan's vision for the show. But they might want to be a little more nuanced in how that is presented at times.

Much of this is the thoughts I kind of had. I guess the scene is sort of humorous but it's hard to both take the scene as the comedic bit it's supposed to be but take the series "seriously" on some level if we're supposed to care about aspects like the stuff with Mariner and her parents.

And I do think the scene borders on self-parody both with the energy being, the characters largely being indifferent towards it, it being so easily overpowered and then defeated.

The scene didn't entirely land for me.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

Maybe because it isn't very spoilery?

Especially if they are cold openings, and are in the same vein as the cold openings for Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The openings for BNN are stand-alone gags that very rarely (practically never?) have anything at all to do with the rest of the episode.

And while I really enjoy BNN overall, I have to say that the cold openings have had some misses with me in the past, probably because they are such a short gag that has very little opportunity for set-up beyond the known personality traits of the characters.

 

[F. King Daniel]

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See, they want to make spin on the "malevolent energy creature", but in the practice they do very little with the parody potential. Also, they make Mariner wish for... Totally generic thing, where they could make either something funny in general or some more clever ST reference. Banana - hot was amusing. This one isn´t.

I loved it, dude. Can't wait to see episode 2!

 

[Relayer1]

Humour is subjective. If you didn't find it funny, people explaining why it is funny probably won't magically make it funny for you.

Good point.

Pretty much guaranteed to suck any residual humour out of anything.

 

[fireproof78]

Much of this is the thoughts I kind of had. I guess the scene is sort of humorous but it's hard to both take the scene as the comedic bit it's supposed to be but take the series "seriously" on some level if we're supposed to care about aspects like the stuff with Mariner and her parents.

I think a series can do that very well. Both MASH and Brooklyn 99 both are excellent examples that I have watched recently.

 

[Trekker4747]

I think a series can do that very well. Both MASH and Brooklyn 99 both are excellent examples that I have watched recently.

Yes it can.

This series isn't "MASH."

 

[BillJ]

This series isn't "MASH."

I don’t want it to be MASH, someone just used it as a reference point.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

Yes it can.

This series isn't "MASH."

I mentioned in past posts/threads that I hope it will be like Bob's Burgers.

Bob's Burgers likely won't ever have a serious "A Very Special Bob's" episode (at least I hope not, because absurdity is in its DNA), but just about every episode of Bob's displays a warmth and heart that always finds its way through that absurdity.

I know it might be asking too much for Lower Decks to be able to evoke heart and warmth while being absurd the way Bob's Burgers does, but one can hope.

 

[fireproof78]

Yes it can.

This series isn't "MASH."

Yes...and?

The levels of absurdity that show did in a military setting still surprise me. My wife and I are currently rewatching it from Season 1 and the stupidity and childish nature of some of the jokes early on were the very definition of immature.

 

[Noname Given]

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See, they want to make spin on the "malevolent energy creature", but in the practice they do very little with the parody potential. Also, they make Mariner wish for... Totally generic thing, where they could make either something funny in general or some more clever ST reference. Banana - hot was amusing. This one isn´t.

Nice to know they're getting more "Rick &n Morty"-ish in this episode...LOVE IT!

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

Yes...and?

The levels of absurdity that show did in a military setting still surprise me. My wife and I are currently rewatching it from Season 1 and the stupidity and childish nature of some of the jokes early on were the very definition of immature.

MASH got more serious as the series moved on. The humor was much more juvenile in the early seasons, but even those seasons had serious moments.

 

[fireproof78]

MASH got more serious as the series moved on. The humor was much more juvenile in the early seasons, but even those seasons had serious moments.

I am quite aware. My wife and usually completely the whole series at least once a year since we got married.