Loved the episode. My take is that we’ll get to see every classic junior management mistake from our Lower Deckers this season, fit to personality.
Boimler’s admission of discomfort sending others into danger may have been part of his motivation. The classic micromanager bad behaviour of not trusting subordinates with risks, and doing everything himself was pretty much what I’d expected of Boimler though. He had a hard time learning to trust and rely on peers, why would he be different with subordinates?
Lower Decks may become another Star Trek (after TNG) to be cited in leadership training.
Am I really the only one here getting T’Pol-Trip-like Vulcan-Human romantic tension from T’Lyn towards Boimler?
The B’lyn / T’boimler / Boilyn ship is getting a lot of chatter elsewhere.
Normally, I’m not into such speculation but with the number of failed Vulcan- Human romances in the franchise despite the success of other inter species relationships, this seems exactly the kind of thing Lower Decks would target for humorous remedy.
Besides even for an ‘out of control’ overly emotional Vulcan, T’Lyn was far too distraught and physically close to Boimler when he was being revived.
My partner and I have just binged TOS-Enterprise last year and we are starting Discovery today. I was just wondering if we can also start LD or will there still be jokes from Discovery (and the later shows) that we might miss out on? I have really bad FOMO anxiety and am worried there will be references in LD that we will miss...
If you’re saying that the 90s shows have more direct references in Lower Decks than Discovery, I can agree.
I’d add The Animated Series too though. There are many Easter eggs from TAS included.
However, the OP should be aware that Lower Decks is written to be enjoyed by those completely new to the franchise. The deep cuts are added value not a necessity. There are numerous new fans that watched Lower Decks and only later got to the other shows they reference and enjoy discovering in reverse.
Discovery in-universe becomes a secret at a level that it’s not the kind of thing the Cerritos crew would know about from reading historic resources.
Sigh. It’s astounding how frequently, for a franchise that wants to be global, we are confronted with the perspective that really, to those marketing tie-ins, only the US market counts.
Yes, there’s legal stuff to deal with. So deal I say. It feels like Paramount licensing is still existing in the 1960s.
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I’m a huge Relaunch novelverse fan. These books really kept me going in the absence of new Trek television. I’m still grieving the end of that era of publishing.
(I had never found many of the earlier tie-in books that interesting - the constraints on authors to finish the books with no lasting impact on characters or events made the books feel unimportant.)
The Relaunch Novelverse was something that authors had wanted for a long time. A real way to play in the Trek sandbox and move characters and events forward. Some of the authors seized the most from it, others seem to get stuck in documenting what they saw as history. In either case though, one can seen the influence of the Relaunch writers room thought experiments running through the new shows, to their benefit.
Recommendations? The crossover Destiny, Typhon Pact, and The Fall sequences are all solid overall. Destiny is stands out as great science fiction regardless of its tie-in fiction foundation.
The Bashir-S31/Control, Titan, Voyager Full Circle, and later TNG books are all reliably good to great reads. The DS9 books seemed to start off well and got me into the Relunch books but seemed to bog down. McCormack’s Cardassian books were all excellent. Bennett’s Temporal Investigations are fun reads for knowledgeable fans.
The Relaunch novelverse is not however upbeat and trippy. Its starting point at the end of the Dominion War shapes the backdrop. Even many of the TOS-era books that have a Relaunch basis can be fairly dark, including the much loved Vanguard Series by Mack, Ward and Dilmore.
I definitely have my favourite authors. Most of those became regulars contracted for the new books being released as tie-ins for the Secret Hideout era shows. Simon & Schuster has been managing their room of writers well.
There are however couple of Relaunch authors that I avoid even if it means skipping a key book in a series. There’s one who really knows his Trek stuff but writes exposition-heavy books that ready like background rather than stories. Fortunately, the other authors always fill in what I missed, and Memory Beta is there as a resource too.
In terms of books about the franchise, I have an original copy of the TNG Technical Manual and a few others. I recently got the TAS official guide and it’s great. However, no matter who writes them, I always consider these beta-canon.
c/DaystromInstitute is next door on the same StarTrek.website instance.
Some of this meta discussion about American exceptionalism might also fit in the c/Quark’s community - if you want to broaden to the point that the discussion is likely to run less than 50% Trek.
I have been reading and following your reviews with interest, but can’t engage much as I have found it difficult to get copies from local comic stores in a timely way. I usually have more success preordering the omnibus versions, and really welcome the reviews to help decide which ones to invest in.
So, it might be helpful to have a running thread for each comic series rather than a separate one for each issue.
— I found the 4 x 01 Twovix the best season premiere yet.
All the premieres seem callback and Easter egg heavy. Making this one a museum (ship) mishap episode worked that into the story in a natural way and allowed some of the weirdest and trippyest things from Voyager to pike on. Bravo.
While some reviewers have expressed regrets that the original Voyager actors voices weren’t used, I’m glad that the focus stayed on the Cerritos crew, the artifacts and how Voyager remains dangerous wherever she is, even as a literal museum.
I am unhappy that the Klingon lower decker and his ship were sacrificed for the seasonal mystery big bad. It’s clear it’s really dangerous though. (Perhaps the mystery ship is collecting humanoids to take them to another era where they are extinct….?)
It’s also likely the case that I enjoyed the ride of the premiere more for knowing I had another new episode to watch immediately.
— The second episode was mostly a straightforward Lower Decks classic, but one that did its job to move the main 4 lower deckers into their new roles.
We’ll have to see how well it works on rewatch, but the moopsie scenes seem likely to be classics. After the Voyager celebration of weird in the season premiere, it was very smart for Lower Decks to underscore its ability to give us its own very original weirdness, and remind us that humanity are the most dangerous in the menagerie.
I’m glad that they make Rutherford a bit of an odd man out in the promotions. I still feel that he’s a bit of an incomplete person/character because his ambition and drive has been submerged by the implant. I really hope that the writers will keep dribbling out more about that.
Fridging another woman or other equity group representative to advance a character has become a norm in the new Trek shows. I’m glad they cut this one.
I found that the opinion-piece from Space.com didn’t distinguish classic tropes and use of legacy characters from ‘gimmicks.’
While my personal preference prior to the show’s premiere had been to hold on the introduction of so many TOS legacy characters, to allow the others and original ones to breathe, as long as having Kirk there is bringing new insights to his character (and others’), it’s all to the good. At this point, I’m eager to see more of young Scotty.
Agree totally. Which is why I have a certain exasperation for those who gave Lower Decks and Prodigy a couple of episodes and then decided it’s not for them.
OP isn’t American. It’s not a universal euphemism.
Even having lived in the US at one point it’s not an automatic connection.
Canadians (at least in my experience) use the expression ‘passed away’ if at all to avoid saying ‘died.’
But also being Canadian, I’ve given my regrets elsewhere on this thread. And I’m sorry for the unintended shock to any and all who don’t share my dialect.
I don’t think we should over-exalt 20th century science fiction literature that was fantastic at communicating concepts and ideas but made no genuine effort to do that with well developed characters.
The awe factor was great, and it did inspire, but even for avid readers, it can be a slog. If one takes the position the value of science fiction lies in engaging a broader audience than those of us who can read the math and follow the science, then it needs to be engaging enough that it attracts and holds the interest that audience.
At this point in my life, I expect both good ideas and good characterization and storytelling. Otherwise, I’d rather just read stories and models in real math. I have no criticism at all of the show’s EPs effort to make the ideas in Foundation more appealing and accessible with better storytelling.
I first read the Foundation series in my teens, after Dune and Dune Messiah, having graduated out of John Wyndham and run out of Arthur C Clark at my school and public libraries. Foundation held my attention, the ideas were cool, but I was also reading anything I could when I wasn’t doing schoolwork. I find it hard to imagine it would have held my interest in the face of the kinds of diversions kids can take with them now.
I’ve lived everywhere but Atlantic Canada actually. I also work with colleagues from coast to coast.
One hears it, (as in, ‘she moved into town once her husband had passed on’) but it’s not the kind of automatic euphemism that would make it the first interpretation. ‘She passed on that opportunity’ is really common.
They get worse as they go on, like most Weber series. A few books in and they seem to always devolve to coredumps of exposition and backstory marginally dressed up as meetings. Even the tactics and action diminishes to the point where I’ve read more compelling write ups of tabletop war games.
(And I’m someone who both war games and has read every single book in the Safehold series.)
Wish these had been available a few years back when our kids were in their peak Lego building phase.
The key question I have is about BlueBrixx distribution to places that science and tech oriented kids (and gift-giving extended family) look for toys and models. Does BlueBrixx have any distribution other than online?
While adult fans will find things online, having boxes and models physically on display somewhere that kids can see them makes a huge difference to whether a certain kind of model ever gets considered for a wish list and can even determine whether or not it gets built.
While our kids loved to peruse catalogues to decide what projects they wanted to do next, our occasional visit to the Lego store outside Montreal or a Playmobil vendor really sparked their enthusiasm. I don’t think that it’s only the Lego branding that gets in the way of building the North American market for a competitor.
Beyond online purchases and catalogues, our kids picked up their advanced LEGO, Playmobil, SnapCircuits, Smithsonian models etc. at museums, hobby stores, a few toy stores that targeted learning toys across a broader age range and even children’s hospital gift stores. It seems like family had picked up gifts from similar places where they lived.
The company needs to get some representatives out to the toy trade shows and conventions in North America to break into the market. That’s how the models get picked up by genre sellers and distributors.
Even getting a representative seller at various Comic-Con’s and regional cons would be worth it to sell to core fans and build a base. Our kids have walked around cons with money to spend and come away with nothing but a t-shirt and pins because there really wasn’t much on offer for Star Trek suitable for their ages.
I’m in Canada, and our local hobby, game and comic stores are dependent on the distributors or the ability to order directly from the manufacturer. We usually start with them, and when we can’t order through them, go online.
Even for some of the small specialty presses producing Star Trek books, we’ve been obliged to order through Amazon because the publisher isn’t working directly with Canadian stores, even though the books should move without difficulty under the North American free trade agreement.
Final point, Canada has the most intense Trek following in the world, even more than in the United States. TNG was the top rated show during its run - of any television show, not just in its genre. So, if a company can’t sell Trek merch here, they won’t be successful.
Season-long prerelease reviews are an exception to this community’s rules about posting reviews. (The mods prefer our members to prefer to post their own episode reviews here.)...
For many of us, Lower Decks already established itself a few seasons back.
Also, I’d argue that Lower Decks success in attracting its own fans, new to Star Trek, and convincing them to tryout other shows in the franchise is the key measure of its success in broadening the base Trek audience.
Q …When the removal from Paramount+ was first announced, Prodigy was reported to be cancelled, but technically that isn’t right is it?
A. Yeah, as far as I know. There was a lot of confusion because it was kind of announced alongside a number of shows that were I believe, officially cancelled. But at the bottom of some of those articles, you saw the caveat of like, “Oh, we’re actually still producing our show and we’re shopping it around for the potential for more episodes and licensing.”
In “All Those Who Wander”, we see the Enterprise away team visit the crashed Peregrine, find frozen and/or mutilated bodies of the crew outside and inside, two survivors inside, and a log from the captain explaining that they’d picked up three castaways, one of whom (an Orion) killed himself with a plasma grenade to...
We have to accept that Gorn biology has no tolerance at all for subfreezing temperatures. The Gorn young are functioning at an instinctual level, they would learn by lethal experience. Unlike the adult Gorn in 2 x 10, they would not have the protection of environmental suits.
As I would very much love for Hemmer to be somehow still alive, having survived the fall and a period of low temperature semi-hibernation, anything that brings Starfleet back for follow up would be welcome.
I’m going with assumption that the plan to lure the more developed Gorn outside was successful, but could not address any new ‘infections’ in survivors. Hemmer repeated the plan, but as an Aenar, evolved for extreme subzero temperatures, and more physically robust than a human, there’s no reason to believe he died, no matter that he was willing to sacrifice himself for his shipmates. (I’m willing to go with his using his abilities and some kind of sharp tool to stop his fall and find a crevice to hibernate in.)
Appreciate having @ValueSubtracted post this as mod, and confirming the source as usually reliable.
It’s been trending in Trek-related communities for a day or so.
These all sound intriguing, with the usual LDS potential for integrating and sending up any number of franchise tropes.
At first I thought Twovix could involve 2 vixens (in an Orion sense) or somehow some need to do the opposite of Janeway and remerge the 2 Boimlers, especially as the shot of William Boimler is an outstanding issue from last season.
But with LDS it could be anything and that’s one of its amazing qualities.
Already have. Watched half the first season, then noped out of it.
Netflix shows get a lot of high audience ratings because they are dropped all at once or in half-season blocks. They are counting on binge watch behaviour. This can be misleading against weekly releases. Basically, it means Netflix shows will almost always dominate on a weekly count of minutes watched.
Nielsen isn’t giving total minutes watched per show per year stats, but those who buy the full data or have other metrics are looking at that instead.
A few Netflix shows, like Stranger Things, stay on top even after the equivalent time of a weekly release, but most don’t. This means Netflix has to be dropping new content constantly and has driven the content arms-race on streamers.
However, there’s accumulating evidence that weekly drops hold subscribers better. This is why HBO Max, Disney and Paramount stick with that. When their shows can break in a weekly count against the latest Netflix drops, they’re doing incredibly well.
New Era of Star Trek - promotional trailer for new shows on Paramount+ ( youtu.be )
This was included in the Star Trek Day content, but released separately a couple of days ago....
Paramount+ Brings Star Trek: Lower Decks to New York Comic Con on October 14 ( blog.trekcore.com )
Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Lower Decks | 4x03 "In the Cradle of Vexilon”
LoglineBoimler leads his first away mission on an alien megastructure....
Star Trek: very Short Treks | "Holiday Party" ( www.youtube.com )
StarTrek.com link featuring the second chapter of “The Scheimer Barrier”.
Have watched TOS - Enterprise. Will watching Discovery-SNW increase my enjoyment of Lower Decks?
My partner and I have just binged TOS-Enterprise last year and we are starting Discovery today. I was just wondering if we can also start LD or will there still be jokes from Discovery (and the later shows) that we might miss out on? I have really bad FOMO anxiety and am worried there will be references in LD that we will miss...
Win a Free Cabin - Star Trek: The Cruise (US only) ( startrekthecruise.com )
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Star Trek: very Short Treks | Skin a Cat ( youtu.be )
Produced by: Awesome Inc...
New Comics Discussion September 6 | Star Trek Defiant #7 ( startrek.website )
Star Trek Defiant #7...
Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Lower Decks | 4x01 "Twovix" and 4x02 "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee"
"Twovix" loglineThe Cerritos ensigns must assist a caretaker on the voyage of a historically significant starship....
Very brief Lower Decks S4 premiere sneak peek from EW ( ew.com )
As previously advertised.
Star Trek Explorer mag to include original DS9 story by David Mack ( wandering.shop )
The rebranded Star Trek magazine Explorer, published by Titan, is including original fiction....
September 2023 Star Trek ebook deals - 23 novels on offer! ( www.simonandschuster.com )
In honour of Star Trek day, this month Simon & Schuster is offering 23 ebooks at discount prices....
Worf and Riker Have a Heart to Heart in Star Trek: Picard Deleted Scene ( gizmodo.com )
Space.com poses the debate-provoking question whether SNW S2 overdid the gimmicks? ( www.space.com )
Ann interesting, deliberately thought provoking 🤔 question for a lazy long weekend Sunday morning…...
Weekend Star Trek Merchandise Roundup — New Trek Movie Figures, UK Model Starships, and a 2023 Advent Calendar! ( blog.trekcore.com )
‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Season 3 Available For Free On YouTube, Prime Video And Pluto TV In USA ( trekmovie.com )
Roxann Dawson (B’Elanna) passed on directing new Star Trek but has returned to science fiction with Foundation ( www.slashfilm.com )
Interesting extract from a longer /Film interview with in-demand director Roxann Dawson....
What do you guys think of the bluebrixx licensed Star Trek sets? ( www.bluebrixx.com )
Lower Decks Season 4 - prerelease pro media reviews released - Inverse, SlashFilm and more…
Season-long prerelease reviews are an exception to this community’s rules about posting reviews. (The mods prefer our members to prefer to post their own episode reviews here.)...
Interview: Aaron Waltke On How Voyager’s Doctor Shakes Things Up In ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Season 2 ( trekmovie.com )
‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Producing Director Says Season 3 Can Start Shooting Soon After Strikes End ( trekmovie.com )
In SNW S01E09, what happened to the initial Gorn on the Peregrine?
In “All Those Who Wander”, we see the Enterprise away team visit the crashed Peregrine, find frozen and/or mutilated bodies of the crew outside and inside, two survivors inside, and a log from the captain explaining that they’d picked up three castaways, one of whom (an Orion) killed himself with a plasma grenade to...
Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode Guide - Season 4 featuring (alleged) episode titles ( www.cygnus-x1.net )
I say “alleged” because this has not been corroborated by any other sites that I’ve seen, but this site’s track record is pretty good.
Strange New Worlds continues to rank in the Nielsen US streaming top ten ( trekmovie.com )
This is good news for assuring that SNW’s 3rd season production will move ahead after the strike....