What episode hooked you?

I've been trying to give this show a chance; but the immaturity, disregard of traditional integrity and principles, and the flat humor... ugh. Then comes Episode 9, "Crisis Point." Finally, this is the kind of humor I've been waiting for the show to do. What took so long?

 

The very first time I saw the intro, I was hooked.

 

I am not hooked yet, but I like it. A good distraction until Discovery starts.

 

I would say that "Moist Vessel" was the first time the show seemed to me to have really hit its stride and stopped seeming like it was trying for "Rick and Morty in the Trekverse" and trying to be its own animal, and a worthy one at that.

That is considerably sooner than most Trek series have found their footing. TNG didn't really do so until halfway through S2 at best, possibly S3. DS9 arguably didn't until S4. Arguably, Voyager and Enterprise never did, but arguably it was S4 for each of those as well. And I don't know if I would say either Discovery or Picard have gotten to the point of "I can't wait to watch it" rather than "I'll watch it because it's there." Lowerr Decks has now graduated into the "can't wait to watch it" category for me.

 

Personally, I found all the live action Trek spinoffs to have strong first seasons. Why watch, waiting for it to get good, if you don't like it? What if the quality is static and doesn't pick up?

 

The first episode was what got me in. I love Mariner, think she is the most interesting type of character, and enjoyable acting to boot. I definitely identify more with Boimler in terms of the rules following and high regard for Starfleet officers, but am not blind to the fact that not all Starfleet officers on the best and brightest, as TNG would portray it.

Indeed, yes, and I haven't gone back to many Star Trek series because the first season soured me. So, I didn't keep watching it. Lower Decks, for all its oddity, at least hooked me with the characters from the word go.

 

People's mileage will vary. But for me, TNG had as Conspiracy as its only truly good episode in the first season. A lot of the rest were alright, and some were actively bad. The other shows followed suit.

To me, Trek is like pizza. When it's good, it's very, very good. And even when it's bad, it's still not all that bad.

I also have a bit of a completist streak. I have seen all official ST with the exception of one or two Short Treks at this point at least once, and I think I've seen every broadcast-era live-action episode at least twice.

Some of even the worst episodes of Trek -- TOS's Spock's Brain, TNG's Code of Honor, VOY's Threshold, ENT's A Night In Sickbay, for example -- at least have as redeeming qualities that they are so bad that you can mock them while watching. It also helped that the competition back when broadcast Trek was out wasn't as stiff. I probably wouldn't have kept up with VOY or ENT if I had the same assortment of streaming services I do now.

Finally, because I see a pattern of modern Trek usually taking a full season to find its voice and for the actors to get comfortable with their roles, I'm willing to give the show a lot more latitude than if it were its own original creation. Sometimes, that works out like with DS9. It mostly didn't with VOY and ENT IMO, but it was still not a complete waste of time.

 

When I was hooked, going only with series from the '90s on.

DS9 --> "The Search" (then it lasted for the rest of the series)
VOY --> "Scorpion" (and even then, it only lasted for a season)
ENT --> N/A
DSC --> "Context Is for Kings"
PIC --> "Remembrance"
LD --> I don't think I'm there yet, but "Veritas" and "Crisis Point" really showed me what this series can do.

So I think the Kurtzman Era has a much better track record in this regard than the Berman Era.

 

I’m not hooked. I think it’s decently entertaining. But I wouldn’t be too sad if it were cancelled.

I wish they’d make Boimler less dumb. Give him something he’s good at instead of just always making him Mariner’s foil. Even Michael Scott was good at sales.

Not all Starfleet officers are the best and brightest, but there’s a floor. They should all be at least the functionally competentest.

Just let him get the best of Mariner once, so the audience knows it’s a possibility. Let Charlie Brown successfully kick one football.

 

Temporal Edict gave Boimler the chance to kick the football and he booted it through the uprights. He was the sole person on the crew who seemed to love the fact that buffer time had been taken away, and it was the fact that he could talk sense into Captain Freeman that saved the Cerritos and allowed the crew to repel the invasion. Ironically, his kicking the football involved telling Freeman to relax the rules people strived under, but still...

And with the exception of Fletcher, it seems like all the people on the Cerritos did have the base level of competence.

 

I guess Boimler has had some successful moments talking to people about stuff. But never anything that involves technical, physical or diplomatic competence.

That’s a good point though that he has the ability to objectively view what goes on on the ship and persuasively talk about it. So maybe he should be career tracked to counselor? Or appointed as a diplomatic assistant? Instead of making his thing to be constantly emasculated.

 

The first one hooked me.

There have been a few bumps along the way, but I've been enjoying this show quite a bit from the start.

 

"Second Contact", the first episode. The cast and humor just clicked for me right away.

Discovery hasn't yet come remotely close to matching the greatness of that one episode for me.

 

What's the fun in that?

 

Although I was already impressed with Second Contact, I think it was Envoys where I was confirmed hooked on this show.

 

Unlike Spock, you're reminding me of that which I know so well.

 

the first episode i was so ready to hate it based on the garbage trailer but Second Contact blew me away on how good it was

 

1x07: "Much Ado About Boimler"

Mariner has a friend who's already a captain? That piqued my interest and made me interested in what's up with Mariner. Up until that point, Lower Decks was a good looking show with lots of fun fan service but with the 7th episode, it became about something.

 

yeah, I'm not hooked and a little disappointed as (since the creator was from that show) I don't think they take the comedy concept far enough and I was hoping for a more 'Rick and Morty' style vibe - so far it's a bit too much on the 'we're somewhat serious but occasionally go a little off the rails" side.

I will say I like these 24tjh century era characters more than any others from that era - as they're more like TOS 23rd century characters in their attitudes and reactions across the board (read, they are actual, relatable human characters, and not your usual TNG era mannequins).

Hell, hat TNG actually had characters like these 9as far as their emotional attitudes and reactions go) - I might have liked enjoyed TNG more. I watched it in it's day and got my 'Trek fix' from it; but while I can still sit-down and really enjoy and rewatch the majority of TOS episodes over and over; I can't say the same for any Berman and Braga era 24th century show aside from DS9 (and there are a lot of it's early episodes I just can't stand too); at this point and time. ENT I also still like (although there are a lot of duds too in the first two seasons; but I enjoy the 3rd season and for me the 4th Season of ENT was IMO the 3rd best season in all of the Trek franchise behind TOS S1 and now ST: D S2). YMMV.

 

Braga was not involved with DS9 at all.