It's also kinda silly to imagine that over the timespan of the show tuvok and his staff couldn't develop another weapon system that functioned similarly if the actual thing was so difficult to make
And once seven joins the crew there is no excuse given that she carries millions of species' knowledge of weapons in her head
They should have just had the Doctor engineer a photonic cannon.
but how will they find the 60 laser pointers to duct tape together?
It's ok, Tom Paris used to duct tape laser pointers together on weekends at the academy.
Also, Neelix is something of an expert in duct tape, quite well known throughout the Delta Quadrant.
Voyager left DS9 with a stock of 38 laser pointers and no way to replace them when they're gone. They can just use 60 of those.
Lower Decks starts out good and then just keeps getting better. I wish I could watch it for the first time again.
Enjoy!!!
+7
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KetarCome on upstairswe're having a partyRegistered Userregular
I watched the first episode of Lower Decks about a week ago and it was a big whiff for me, not nearly funny enough for me to want to keep going with it. Is it pretty indicative of the rest of the show, or should I try to push on for another episode or two?
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That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
I watched the first episode of Lower Decks about a week ago and it was a big whiff for me, not nearly funny enough for me to want to keep going with it. Is it pretty indicative of the rest of the show, or should I try to push on for another episode or two?
I was pretty "meh" on Lower Decks until I got a few episodes in. By the end, I was hooked.
JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
People dialed into Lower Decks' vibe at different rates - for some people it was episode 2 that clicked for them, for others it was episode 4 or whatever - but I think almost everyone agrees that the season is an upward slope, with the last couple of episodes being the best.
Every episode of Lower Decks was better than the one before it, maybe with the exception of the finale (definitely top two but I think the holomovie was better).
Episode 1 didn't get me. It had a bit of LOUD IS FUNNY LOL humor that didn't do it for me, but on second watching post season it's still a good episode.
Personally, I was pretty lukewarm on Lower Decks the whole way through. There were some good gags here and there, more in the later half of the season, but I couldn't stand Boimler or Mariner's schticks. I had hoped they were going to grow or evolve, but Mariner especially only became more insufferable and proven right at every turn. Meanwhile, it seemed like they really couldn't figure out what they were doing with other character, the senior officers in particular, who swung wildly from hyper supportive and overall competent one week, to petty clueless assholes the next.
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MsAnthropyThe Lady of Pain Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the RhythmThe City of FlowersRegistered Userregular
Every episode of Lower Decks was better than the one before it, maybe with the exception of the finale (definitely top two but I think the holomovie was better).
Episode 1 didn't get me. It had a bit of LOUD IS FUNNY LOL humor that didn't do it for me, but on second watching post season it's still a good episode.
Those LOUD IS FUNNY bits have some pay-off at the end of the season though, which makes me a bit more forgiving about them in retrospect.
Personally, I was pretty lukewarm on Lower Decks the whole way through. There were some good gags here and there, more in the later half of the season, but I couldn't stand Boimler or Mariner's schticks. I had hoped they were going to grow or evolve, but Mariner especially only became more insufferable and proven right at every turn. Meanwhile, it seemed like they really couldn't figure out what they were doing with other character, the senior officers in particular, who swung wildly from hyper supportive and overall competent one week, to petty clueless assholes the next.
I'm not sure what to tell you here. There are entire episodes about their growth as characters. Quite good ones in fact.
Personally, I was pretty lukewarm on Lower Decks the whole way through. There were some good gags here and there, more in the later half of the season, but I couldn't stand Boimler or Mariner's schticks. I had hoped they were going to grow or evolve, but Mariner especially only became more insufferable and proven right at every turn. Meanwhile, it seemed like they really couldn't figure out what they were doing with other character, the senior officers in particular, who swung wildly from hyper supportive and overall competent one week, to petty clueless assholes the next.
I'm not sure what to tell you here. There are entire episodes about their growth as characters. Quite good ones in fact.
The last two episodes in particular, which makes me wonder what the second season will be like. Honestly a lot of shows would just ditch that character growth immediately, and I'll be sad if they end up doing that and just revert the characters right away. I'm assuming that Boimler will still be Boimler and Mariner will still be Mariner, but whether they successfully alter their characters to demonstrate their growth or not is an open question. The only show of this style I can think of that has ever successfully done that is probably Venture Brothers.
My prediction for Boimler: he's the star of the Cerritos because it's Starfleet's B list. Nobody particularly bad at their jobs but if you're good at your job you don't get second contact missions. However the Titan is a hero tier ship the likes of which usually gets the TV show.
Boimler will basically become Barclay. He'll go from being the most competent person on a fine ship to the least competent person on the finest ship. Being a complete bootlicker got him far enough on a ship like the Cerritos but will shoot him in the dick on the Titan. He'll completely self destruct and end up back on the Cerritos, where Mariner is now the star player and probably has Shax's job.
Weyoun had no pride. Case in point: "The Founder is wise in all things!"
Honestly the entire non-Ferengi portion of the list is mixed up.
After one of his deaths, Damar says the overconfidence is the primary weakness of the Weyoun models
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
So, watching original Trek, first season was excellent, second season is so far as well. Did Scotty just call Apollo a bloodthirsty Saracen? Seems like a slightly dated expression from Mister Scott
So, watching original Trek, first season was excellent, second season is so far as well. Did Scotty just call Apollo a bloodthirsty Saracen? Seems like a slightly dated expression from Mister Scott
They just had a weird episode of Voyager on TV. The ship got taken over by aliens and they put neural transmitters in crew to make them think they are characters in holographic war simulations.
So, watching original Trek, first season was excellent, second season is so far as well. Did Scotty just call Apollo a bloodthirsty Saracen? Seems like a slightly dated expression from Mister Scott
Wait until Spock's Brain.
Spock's Brain is stupid but it's an amusing stupid
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MsAnthropyThe Lady of Pain Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the RhythmThe City of FlowersRegistered Userregular
I think I'm halfway through Lower Decks now. It's slowly getting better as a show, like in general. Less random screaming (but still more than I'd like) and a bit better pacing. It still sucks as a Trek show, as it just layers references over an unrelated cartoon. I enjoyed the last episode I watched more than the early ones, so I'll see if I can power through the last few.
I watched the Discovery season 3 finale, I thought it was alright.
All of season 3 was aggressively "alright". It had a bit more of exploring, a lot more potential, and even though it was tied to a galaxy wide issue, MOST of the pieces of it at least made some sense, at least in context. Certainly WHY they were the ones to unravel things. If this was Season 1, Discovery might be more... Trek?
I watched the Discovery season 3 finale, I thought it was alright.
All of season 3 was aggressively "alright". It had a bit more of exploring, a lot more potential, and even though it was tied to a galaxy wide issue, MOST of the pieces of it at least made some sense, at least in context. Certainly WHY they were the ones to unravel things. If this was Season 1, Discovery might be more... Trek?
It was clear from the start that the producers weren't really interested in Discovery being a prequel show. I'm not sure why they picked the just-prior-to-TOS period, besides some sort of link to the movie series. Now that Discovery is completely disconnected from the main franchise time period, it can actually breathe a bit and tell stories it seems to want to without the straight-jacket of having to shoehorn it into the timeframe of TOS. The Burn storyline was much better as a general let's solve this mystery while picking up the pieces, than the prior seasons' universe ending plot lines. If they'd just take the next step and push the season storyline a bit further into the background and focus more on the individual characters and episodes, then Discovery would graduate from "alright" to "hmm, actually kinda good".
I watched the Discovery season 3 finale, I thought it was alright.
All of season 3 was aggressively "alright". It had a bit more of exploring, a lot more potential, and even though it was tied to a galaxy wide issue, MOST of the pieces of it at least made some sense, at least in context. Certainly WHY they were the ones to unravel things. If this was Season 1, Discovery might be more... Trek?
It was clear from the start that the producers weren't really interested in Discovery being a prequel show. I'm not sure why they picked the just-prior-to-TOS period, besides some sort of link to the movie series. Now that Discovery is completely disconnected from the main franchise time period, it can actually breathe a bit and tell stories it seems to want to without the straight-jacket of having to shoehorn it into the timeframe of TOS. The Burn storyline was much better as a general let's solve this mystery while picking up the pieces, than the prior seasons' universe ending plot lines. If they'd just take the next step and push the season storyline a bit further into the background and focus more on the individual characters and episodes, then Discovery would graduate from "alright" to "hmm, actually kinda good".
I have a horrible suspicion it was entirely about name dropping Spock. That's it.
They don't have the courage to start a Star Trek completely detached from the name recognition power of established characters. Every flagship show needs to have some connection to Kirk, Spock or Picard.
It's a prequel because the series started under Bryan Fuller who had various ideas for the show, including it being an anthology series from what I remember. Then Fuller leaves but they keep some of the stuff he had prepped anyway. Because there is no real direction for the series. They had no idea wtf they were doing and no overall vision. The project was just going to happen. It had a momentum of it's own and so it just kinda rolled on, accumulating things as it went without them being planned or adhering to any sort of larger ideas.
I watched the Discovery season 3 finale, I thought it was alright.
All of season 3 was aggressively "alright". It had a bit more of exploring, a lot more potential, and even though it was tied to a galaxy wide issue, MOST of the pieces of it at least made some sense, at least in context. Certainly WHY they were the ones to unravel things. If this was Season 1, Discovery might be more... Trek?
It was clear from the start that the producers weren't really interested in Discovery being a prequel show. I'm not sure why they picked the just-prior-to-TOS period, besides some sort of link to the movie series. Now that Discovery is completely disconnected from the main franchise time period, it can actually breathe a bit and tell stories it seems to want to without the straight-jacket of having to shoehorn it into the timeframe of TOS. The Burn storyline was much better as a general let's solve this mystery while picking up the pieces, than the prior seasons' universe ending plot lines. If they'd just take the next step and push the season storyline a bit further into the background and focus more on the individual characters and episodes, then Discovery would graduate from "alright" to "hmm, actually kinda good".
I have a horrible suspicion it was entirely about name dropping Spock. That's it.
They don't have the courage to start a Star Trek completely detached from the name recognition power of established characters. Every flagship show needs to have some connection to Kirk, Spock or Picard.
What's more annoying is how they did it. I mean, Lower Decks did it too, it attached itself to Riker and Troi and the Titan. But it did so naturally. Riker is possibly the most famous captain of the most famous ship in Starfleet at this point, so of course other characters know of him and dream of serving under him, and given a big enough emergency he might show up to save the day. The most far-fetched idea is that Mariner and Riker know each other, and even that fits with their rebel rule-bending personnae.
Meanwhile, Discovery shoved in Burnham as Spock's never-even-hinted-at-before younger sister, completely rewriting Spock's family backstory in the process. Because that worked out so well the first time they did that.
Mariner was a previously created character from Mike McMahan's TNG s8 twitter and accompanying episode guide book TNG Warped. She was on the enterprise the first time she was an ensign, ostensibly from late season 7 until Generations, she's kind of a reusable redshirt in the episode guides.
It's not canon, but she references a few events from it, like the sentient cave (one of the episode guides is about a living mountain that traps several redshirts in a cave) so I'm assuming McMahan treats it as such.
Now, Michael Burnham? She's Simba's son Kion. My kids love this shit, so I'm subjected to it a lot, but Disney created a straight-to-TV sequel to Lion King that completely fucks up Lion King 2 by giving Kiara a little brother who should have *profound* implications on the existing sequels.
It's a prequel because the series started under Bryan Fuller who had various ideas for the show, including it being an anthology series from what I remember. Then Fuller leaves but they keep some of the stuff he had prepped anyway. Because there is no real direction for the series. They had no idea wtf they were doing and no overall vision. The project was just going to happen. It had a momentum of it's own and so it just kinda rolled on, accumulating things as it went without them being planned or adhering to any sort of larger ideas.
Did they want to do an anthology because they had interesting ideas and a vision that used that concept or because it allowed them to indulge the modern Trek writers room lazy obsession with retreading old ground? Fuller having an idea that started off in the TOS area and leaving it half baked doesn't eliminate the possibility that it was still about "hey look! It's Spock!". I don't know, I just don't really give them the benefit of the doubt anymore given their track record.
It's a prequel because the series started under Bryan Fuller who had various ideas for the show, including it being an anthology series from what I remember. Then Fuller leaves but they keep some of the stuff he had prepped anyway. Because there is no real direction for the series. They had no idea wtf they were doing and no overall vision. The project was just going to happen. It had a momentum of it's own and so it just kinda rolled on, accumulating things as it went without them being planned or adhering to any sort of larger ideas.
Did they want to do an anthology because they had interesting ideas and a vision that used that concept or because it allowed them to indulge the modern Trek writers room lazy obsession with retreading old ground? Fuller having an idea that started off in the TOS area and leaving it half baked doesn't eliminate the possibility that it was still about "hey look! It's Spock!". I don't know, I just don't really give them the benefit of the doubt anymore given their track record.
You should give Fuller the benefit of the doubt. His original idea, according to wiki anyway, was:
an anthology series, with each season being a standalone, serialized story set in a different era. This would begin with a prequel to The Original Series, followed by stories set during The Original Series, during Star Trek: The Next Generation, and then "beyond to a time in Trek that's never been seen before"
They went "ok, well, let's just start with the first one then" and then after he left the project they just kept on doing that.
They seem to be using the last one too. If you squint real hard, with Pike, Number One, Spock and the Enterprise, they've TECHNICALLY achieved number 2 also... TECHNICALLY.
Posts
"so you're saying the Breen destroyed this Borg cube?"
"no I said Brie."
Voyager left DS9 with a stock of 38 laser pointers and no way to replace them when they're gone. They can just use 60 of those.
Enjoy!!!
I was pretty "meh" on Lower Decks until I got a few episodes in. By the end, I was hooked.
Episode 1 didn't get me. It had a bit of LOUD IS FUNNY LOL humor that didn't do it for me, but on second watching post season it's still a good episode.
I did not expect them to nail it so well in the first season
Those LOUD IS FUNNY bits have some pay-off at the end of the season though, which makes me a bit more forgiving about them in retrospect.
"The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I’d beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it." -- Jack Kirby
I'm not sure what to tell you here. There are entire episodes about their growth as characters. Quite good ones in fact.
The last two episodes in particular, which makes me wonder what the second season will be like. Honestly a lot of shows would just ditch that character growth immediately, and I'll be sad if they end up doing that and just revert the characters right away. I'm assuming that Boimler will still be Boimler and Mariner will still be Mariner, but whether they successfully alter their characters to demonstrate their growth or not is an open question. The only show of this style I can think of that has ever successfully done that is probably Venture Brothers.
Boimler will basically become Barclay. He'll go from being the most competent person on a fine ship to the least competent person on the finest ship. Being a complete bootlicker got him far enough on a ship like the Cerritos but will shoot him in the dick on the Titan. He'll completely self destruct and end up back on the Cerritos, where Mariner is now the star player and probably has Shax's job.
Confidence, not pride. Being functionally immortal under the grace of your gods is a major confidence booster, but also a pride diminisher.
Wait until Spock's Brain.
Kirk and Shatner are a great example of a character who would probably hate the actor who played him.
"The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I’d beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it." -- Jack Kirby
All of season 3 was aggressively "alright". It had a bit more of exploring, a lot more potential, and even though it was tied to a galaxy wide issue, MOST of the pieces of it at least made some sense, at least in context. Certainly WHY they were the ones to unravel things. If this was Season 1, Discovery might be more... Trek?
It was clear from the start that the producers weren't really interested in Discovery being a prequel show. I'm not sure why they picked the just-prior-to-TOS period, besides some sort of link to the movie series. Now that Discovery is completely disconnected from the main franchise time period, it can actually breathe a bit and tell stories it seems to want to without the straight-jacket of having to shoehorn it into the timeframe of TOS. The Burn storyline was much better as a general let's solve this mystery while picking up the pieces, than the prior seasons' universe ending plot lines. If they'd just take the next step and push the season storyline a bit further into the background and focus more on the individual characters and episodes, then Discovery would graduate from "alright" to "hmm, actually kinda good".
I have a horrible suspicion it was entirely about name dropping Spock. That's it.
They don't have the courage to start a Star Trek completely detached from the name recognition power of established characters. Every flagship show needs to have some connection to Kirk, Spock or Picard.
What's more annoying is how they did it. I mean, Lower Decks did it too, it attached itself to Riker and Troi and the Titan. But it did so naturally. Riker is possibly the most famous captain of the most famous ship in Starfleet at this point, so of course other characters know of him and dream of serving under him, and given a big enough emergency he might show up to save the day. The most far-fetched idea is that Mariner and Riker know each other, and even that fits with their rebel rule-bending personnae.
Meanwhile, Discovery shoved in Burnham as Spock's never-even-hinted-at-before younger sister, completely rewriting Spock's family backstory in the process. Because that worked out so well the first time they did that.
It's not canon, but she references a few events from it, like the sentient cave (one of the episode guides is about a living mountain that traps several redshirts in a cave) so I'm assuming McMahan treats it as such.
Did they want to do an anthology because they had interesting ideas and a vision that used that concept or because it allowed them to indulge the modern Trek writers room lazy obsession with retreading old ground? Fuller having an idea that started off in the TOS area and leaving it half baked doesn't eliminate the possibility that it was still about "hey look! It's Spock!". I don't know, I just don't really give them the benefit of the doubt anymore given their track record.
You should give Fuller the benefit of the doubt. His original idea, according to wiki anyway, was: They went "ok, well, let's just start with the first one then" and then after he left the project they just kept on doing that.