From the title of this week’s Lower Decks, I was really afraid that it was going to be a time-travel story, and the third episode is just too soon to dip into that already-far-too-deeply-dipped Trek well.
Luckily, it was about a completely different cliché, one that benefited from the comic interpretation: that old standby of padding your estimates on how long something will take.
[Some spoilers]
It all started when Scotty made a remark in The Search for Spock about how he always pads his repair estimates in order to maintain his reputation as a miracle worker. That quickly became the book on Scotty, despite the fact that it was likely written as a joke on the engineer’s part. Nonetheless, it became an integral part of Scotty’s character going forward, including his rebuking La Forge in TNG’s “Relics” for giving an accurate repair estimate to Picard.
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What “Temporal Edict” does is take a different look at that notion, and it’s one that leans into the part of that tendency of Scotty’s (and some other engineers) that I always thought was an important component: As a general rule, engineers are being asked how long something will take by someone who knows absolutely nothing about the specifics of what they’re doing. So Scotty can tell Kirk that a task will take two hours—who is Kirk to gainsay him? What the hell does Kirk know about engineering, anyhow?
On the Cerritos, that has been ingrained into the lower-ranking folk on board as a cardinal rule, which they call “buffer time.” You overestimate the time an assignment will take, and either you finish it early and report it, and they think you’re a hero, or you finish early and don’t report it, and you get to spend the rest of the time hanging out and drinking margaritas with your friends. This is proven almost immediately, when Dr. T’Ana asks Tendi how long it will take to repair a biobed, and Tendi exaggerates and says, “five hours,” and T’Ana is thrilled that it’ll be that fast.
Unfortunately, Boimler makes the mistake of mentioning “buffer time” in front of Captain Freeman. Freeman’s already pissed off because a planned speech at a conference on Cardassia was yanked out from under her because the conference was moved to Vulcan, which the Cerritos is nowhere near, and so Freeman was sent on a less prestigious assignment after the change in venue. Now she discovers that her crew is all building in time to goof off, and—sick of her vessel’s reputation as a ship of slackers—institutes a rule that all tasks must be performed in a timely manner.
This results in utter chaos, as the entire crew is horrendously overworked under Freeman’s iron fist. Everyone has far too much to do, and they’re all behind and stressed and exhausted. The exception, amusingly, is Boimler, who thrives in this atmosphere, as he loves working hard and getting stuff done.
Unfortunately, an away mission goes awry. Ensign Bendo is so fried he packs the wrong box in the shuttlecraft, and instead of displaying an honor crystal to the Galrakians, he displays a log. The Galrakians hate wood—their entire culture is based around crystals, and they think wood is icky—and the away team is immediately attacked and taken prisoner.
This gives us another cliché, one that has run through genre television and movies for ages, from the original Trek’s “The Gamesters of Triskelion” to the Star Wars movies to Galaxy Quest to Thor: Ragnarok, to wit, the arena fight. The only way the away team can be freed is for one of them to fight Vindor, who is roughly the same size relative to the other Galrakians as the Hulk is compared to humans. (He’s also only pretending to be big and stupid and only able to say his name. He’s actually very smart, likes to read, and also has been trying and failing to get his society to do actual trials with judges and stuff instead of trials by combat.)
Mariner and Ransom argue over who gets to fight Vindor. At first it seems that Mariner is going to get to do it, as she is really lobbying hard for it, but then Commander Taggart—er, that is Commander Ransom stabs her in the foot so it’ll be him. He then rips his shirt off and goes into the arena and beats the crap out of Vindor, winning the fight in a scene that I swear was giving me Galaxy Quest vibes, but in an entirely good way.
The stuff back on the ship is less successful. Freeman’s insistence on working her crew into the ground is one thing, but her insisting that they continue to do their work even while the Galrakians are boarding the Cerritos and covering it in graffiti is carrying the joke a bit too far.
In the end, Freeman realizes the value of buffer time and makes it a shipwide rule, naming it after Boimler, which devastates the ensign, as his name is now attached to a rule that’s completely anathema to him.
Mariner hasn’t gotten any less annoying, but pairing her with Ransom instead of Boimler makes her much easier to watch. Her puncturing of the first officer’s ego is a delight, and her cynical attitude clashes entertainingly with Ransom’s gung-ho nature.
Once again, the jokes are a bit overdone, but I found myself enjoying this one as much as last week’s. The show is, at the very least, trending in the right direction, and I’m hoping that it settles on a consistent comic voice soon.
Random thoughts:
- So far, Lower Decks is three for three in aggressively unfunny teasers, in this case a talent show in the bar where Boimler’s bizarre if impressively coordinated combination of Irish fiddle and Irish step-dancing is interrupted by Mariner and Tendi playing thrash rock at a loud enough volume for the bass line to be heard on the bridge, and interfering with a negotiation with some Klingons. It’s possible people who are not me found it funny, but my only chuckle was watching Boimler’s playing/dancing, which was hilarious. Mariner’s interruption was just an annoyance, ditto the rest of the scene.
- I meant to mention this in the review of the first episode, but the show’s conceit that the junior officers on the Cerritos sleep in bunks in the corridor is ridiculous. These are officers. Current ensigns on submarines have better accommodations than that, and they don’t have 24th-century super-technology. The Cerritos may not have the spacious quarters that, say, the Enterprise has, but there’s no way Starfleet would pack officers like sardines in the hallway. (Amusingly, the setup is similar to the ones used by Klingon ground troops in my assorted Star Trek novels that take place on a Klingon ship, but those are grunts and, well, Klingons, who sleep on metal slabs and think comfort is for weenies. It’s absurd for Starfleet officers to have the same lack-of-comfort as Klingon soldiers.)
- The episode made me believe that a bunch of people with spears and a proclivity for graffiti could successfully board a Starfleet vessel, which puts it one up on, for example, TNG’s “Rascals,” where I didn’t believe that a bunch of Ferengi in surplus Klingon ships did likewise with energy weapons. That’s probably more a comment on “Rascals” than on “Temporal Edict,” but still…
- Best line of the episode comes (unsurprisingly) from T’Ana. After offering to get rid of Mariner’s (many) scars (which she proudly showed off to Ransom earlier), and Mariner loudly refusing, calling them her trophies, the Caitian doctor says, “Congratulations, you look like a fucking scratching post.”
- Actually, T’Ana’s “fucking” is bleeped out, which is true of all the profanity, and it’s just weird. CBS All Access hasn’t been shy about profanity anywhere else, so I’m not sure why this show is being censored. Probably the still-clinging-to-life-despite-being-thoroughly-debunked notion that animation is inherently for kids. Excuse me while I bang my head against the wall.
- Even if the rest of the episode was terrible, it would’ve been worth it for the very last line, which had me giggling, punching the air, and crying “Yes, yes, yes!” all through the credits. (No, I’m not going to tell you what it is. You have to watch it. Trust me.)
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I enjoyed this episode too. Uber Mariner taking a loss or two was actually pretty nice. As was one of her scars being from Scottsdale. Conversely even though he caused the problem I appreciate that Boimler was also the solution. Also Boimler thriving in and enjoying the high workload environment reminds me of Data having absolutely no problem functioning normally under Edward Jellico’s rapid alterations of the Enterprise’s work environment back during Chain of Command. Which I would only normally expect of a Vulcan.
I appreciate that we’re moving away from directly humiliating Boimler for trying to be a model Starfleet officer, and I find the indirect indignity to be much more effective, and avoids making Mariner look like an unsympathetic bully.
I also appreciate that Ransom actually ended up being a full badass coming off like a young Kirk and Riker. Also fascinating is that they immediately started tapping the role Riker and Ro Sexual Tension for Ransom and Mariner. The fact that it’s the Captain’s daughter will make that much more entertaining in the future.
As for the teaser, “What is the meaning of this intense Bass? Are you mocking me?” That was hilarious.
Mr. D: I’m glad you thought the bass line (uh, sorry) was hilarious. It left me completely cold. *shrug*
—Keith R.A. DeCandido, who would prefer more cowbell
For some reason it reminds me of the classic Simpson’s parody of “What have I done to deserve this treatment?”, or perhaps it’s the fact that one would think a Klingon would appreciate an intense bass line rather than be offended by it. I did feel bad for the engineer that’s about get a d’k’tahg.
And it’s never wrong to have more cowbell.
krad —
FWIW, David Goodman used a similar conceit on his “Autobiography of James T. Kirk,” with a newly minted Ensign Kirk forced to sleep in a hammock under a staircase on the Republic. Of course, as Dax once said, they really used to pack ’em in on those old ships.
And yes the last line of the episode was excellent. It wasn’t even funny, just indisputably true. Such factual clarity in history is worthy of great celebration.
@5,
Yeah, the show’s humor has been hit-or-miss, but that final punchline was just perfect.
Also yes to the final line.
Personally, I find the bleeping funnier than swear words in things like this, but that may be just me.
@7
I kind of suspect they bleep out swear words for comedic effect than anything else.
The bleeping actually reminds me that D*ck in a Box is a funnier music video than Dick in a Box. The bleeping does in fact enhance the effect.
Personally I thought the bunks on the corridor were kind of cool. They’re very big bunks. In fact they remind me of those capsule rooms they rent out in Japan.
Weren’t the bunks on the Leonov in the movie 2010 kind of like that?
Although Lister & Rimmer’s bunks in Red Dwarf are a more probable influence…
Lower Decks is a fun diversion. Surprised the last line got so much response. I liked the Roddenberry reference right before it even more.
I had some mixed feelings about this episode because it kind of ruined my impression that the Senior Staff were actually good at their jobs while Mariner was seeing them through her biased eyes. Instead, the Senior Staff is quite capable but Captain Freeman is the WORST CAPTAIN in Starfleet. I include Garth of Izar among that ranking too. Either she doesn’t remember her own time as an Ensign or she is such a tyrant that she runs the crew into the ground with her insane schedule.
The Starfleet crews having ample leisure time and maybe doing “buffer time” doesn’t bother me as a canon thing as the cold opening actually fits with the fact they have time to learn to play classical instruments, hold concerts, do Shakespearian plays, develop new artistic styles, and do other time-intensive hobbies. Obviously, Captain Freeman is having none of this but doesn’t know how much time any of their jobs ACTUALLY takes.
She’s precisely the kind of Pointy Haired Boss that exists in the 21st century and Earth should have evolved past. No wonder Mariner has such issues.
@krad “Current ensigns on submarines have better accommodations than that” – Junior Officers? Not by much! Enlisted have it worse. Their racks are not much better than what you find in some prisons, and on subs they often have to hot rack – ie share bunks in shifts… having been in the Navy, I have 0 issue with the depiction of their sleeping arrangements.
Are there lower-ranking crewmembers in Starfleet? The sense I get is that Starfleet kind of doesn’t have enlisted ranks anymore, because I sure can’t remember the last time I saw an enlisted ranker in a Star Trek show. (Well, I guess all the “yeomen” in TOS would qualify, but apart from that.) The Ensigns in Lower Decks are characterized as the lowest of the low.
Memory Alpha states that enlisted and lower officers up to Ensign “share quarters,” but doesn’t go into detail about how that sharing works. It seems to me that on a starship, which doesn’t have unlimited space, something like the sleeping capsules shown in Lower Decks (reminiscent of Japanese capsule hotels) would be entirely reasonable. Lower-rankers don’t really have any need for their own rooms. Someplace to sleep and store a few personal items, with an outer panel that could be polarized for privacy, should be entirely sufficient.
I thought thi episode was horrible and it is starting to turn me off from the series. The gross incompetence of the captain ( who should be stripped of rank and forced to resign ) completely destroys the setting. I find this humor works better if the lower decks characters live within a moderately believable Trek universe. But this universe may as well just be Rick and Morty.
Robotech Master: I guess you’ve never watched Deep Space Nine. Chief O’Brien was enlisted, and many of the folks in security and engineering are enlisted as well.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
I really liked this episode, first, because it went back to the first one’s formula of actually having a “regular Starfleet plot” to build the humor around. Second, it gave Boimler a win due to his own strengths and not Mariner’s tricks; even if it ends up backfiring on his reputation. Third, there were some character moments for several characters: the Captain, Boimler, Ransom, Shaxs, etc. And I love that they don’t seem to be heading in a Boimler/Mariner romance direction.
Really loved the Chief O’Brien reference at the end (although, why weren’t his sleeves rolled up) and the “great bird of the galaxy” joke. Vindor is a sweet summer child we should all cherish, by the way. I cheered when it is revealed that Ransom obviously knows Kirk-fu.
Oh, and in Boimler’s defense, he’s not the first one to mention “buffer time” in front of the Captain.
@krad: I agree that it’s a bit too much to have the ensigns sleeping in a corridor (although it doesn’t bother me), when the same scenes/jokes could be done by having the four center characters share one cabin with two bunkbeds.
The problem with Freeman seems to be her tendency to take every little thing as a personal affront. Ransom, I can tolerate despite his laddishness because he knows you can’t be a clown if you gotta run the circus. (Also, he should have quoted the Sniper and said “Professionals have standards” at some point.) Freeman’s paranoia is working against her because she went through her entire career never understanding what buffer time is. I can’t imagine what it was like growing up with that level of huffy, angry and crazy as a mother. All I know is that it turned Mariner into a goof-off who’s gonna get someone sent home in a photon torpedo casing.
I wonder if Freeman has always been like this or if she’s developed issues because her career didn’t take her where she wanted to go? She’s captain of a second rank ship. On the other hand she’s a captain who can yell at an admiral without repercussions
I view Lower Decks through a not quite literal lens because, well, it’s a cartoon and comedy, so while I have no doubt events similar to this happened in Trek–I view it “GASP” as perhaps maybe just a comedic exaggeration. Yes, I’m a Trekkie arguing not to take something completely seriously.
But one way to interpret Captain Freeman’s “New Essentialist”-esque attitudes about the Federation that makes sense might be the fact that she came up as a Captain during the Dominion War. Her very harsh military discipline, efficiency, and hardassery could be a reflection of knowing when that was the only thing standing between the Federation and annihilation.
It’s just that attitude has no place in Starfleet now and it’s driving her batty.
Which….oh dear, just makes me realize I’m describing her as Krall/Balthazar Edison now. I kind of shot my argument in the foot there.
Of course we shouldn’t take everything literally. Other Star Trek shows exaggerate things for dramatic purposes; Lower Decks (LOW?) exaggerates things for comedic purposes.
I wasn’t going to watch this episode nor the series in general after I had given up after watching last week’s episode. My plan was to just come to read these reviews so I could find out about what I wasn’t missing. But then Krad declared the last line of the show was worth it and so I reluctantly watched the whole thing. Once again, I didn’t find the show entertaining or at all funny (and kept checking how much time was left on it) but I will concede that that last line (and the one before it with the bird) were at least cute. I really should have skipped ahead to those final few seconds.
Kinda surprises me that, so far, no one has commented on the fight scene between Ransom and Vindor really shining a light on the Starfleet Swinging Double Punch that everyone uses. It looks like a top rope axe handle in professional wrestling, and it always sticks out to me in any choreographed Star Trek fight that doesn’t involve Michelle Yeoh. It does what this show has done a bunch already, as well as The Orville and Galaxy Quest, which is lean hard into a trope and turn it into a joke.
Also, I have to agree that the bleeped-out f*ck is much better for a comedy show. Hearing the word uncensored is more shocking, but the bleep turns the word into a joke. As much of a better effort compared to last week as last week was to the week before.
Miles and the Great Bird – D’aw!
Still not quite sure what to make of the series quite yet, but seems to me that it’s starting to find its groove. Much of the over the top nature that bothered me in the pilot had settled down to my satisfaction. I’ve always tended to be something of a Boimler and have dealt with my share of Mariners, I can relate to his frustration. Didn’t mind the opening bit, though if anything a little predictable, and agreed on the ending, I was expecting some short of shout out to Trek lore as it began, and really paid off. As for the bunking situation, been a few years since I’ve seen it, but I seem to recall a brief scene or two depicting such lower deck quarter arrangements in Star Trek VI…
There is a shot or two of an enlisted bunk room. Of course with Lower Decks being set, like, a century later, there’s plenty of time for them to have changed how they implement those bunks.
@26: There is also a lower deck bunk room scene in ”Flashback” on Voyager with Tuvok and Valtane on the Excelsior.
Anyway, I think those wall capsule bunks actually look pretty comfortable, with plenty of room to sleep in. Indeed, they’d probably be considerably more luxurious than the stacks of bunks shared in a single room from Star Trek VI, because I would bet that they’re fully individually temperature adjustable, the glass can be polarized to block out the light and for privacy, and—most importantly—they’d be soundproof.
I can’t stress enough just how important that last point is. If you’ve ever bunked in a shared bunkroom situation, such as in a medical study dormitory, you’d know that someone always snores. Always. I think an individual, isolated wall capsule bunk like that would be an awesome way to sleep.
One thing that bothered me was Freeman’s almost childish tantrum in reaction to the Cardassian/Vulcan reassignment. Yes, I know this is supposed to be a lighter take on Trek, but that kind of rubbed me the wrong way, and previously there was a finer line of the humor relating to her. Maybe I’m overreacting, but especially in this day and age, seems to me that Trek’s first regular black female captain deserves portrayal with some more dignity…
@29, the bunks certainly look roomy! They seen to have the headroom to sit up straight, and are both long and deep with what looks like ample storage and full information hook ups.
It occurs to me that if the Cerritos saw action during the Dominion War, it may have been intended (or retrofit) to serve as a troop transport; those bunks may have been meant to carry Starfleet marines, or possibly even wounded evacuees (I’ve noticed the sickbay seems surprisingly roomy).
31/Capt_Paul77: I think most of the characters on this series don’t act particularly dignified. It’s an animated screwball “comedy” after all. So I don’t think any special consideration is given the captain because of her race and gender. If this show were billed as a more typical cerebral live action series, that would be something else entirely and then yes, we would hope for this captain to be portrayed as behaving in a more dignified manner.
@31: I was gonna say that same thing. I would like the first Black female Starfleet Captain we spend a lot of time with to be…at least competent. Having the Captain throw a tantrum in front of the crew (just one example) doesn’t work in any iteration of Trek, comedic or otherwise.
If the lower-ranking senior officers were struggling to find their grooves, “comedically”, and the Captain was the calm voice of reason (as any Starfleet Captain is supposed to be), but we occasionally see the Captain cut loose in private moments not in front of the crew, or if Freeman was privately insecure but maintaining a brave front for the crew, I could live with that. Here, the Senior Staff are largely competent while the Captain publicly spirals until she’s pulled back. It really does make Freeman look like the worst Captain in Starfleet.
I mean, The Orville is made by Seth MacFarlane– Seth MacFarlane– and not even his Ed Mercer spirals to this degree.
I could live with all this nonsense if there was something the showwas trying to say.
@35/DanteHopkins: I think the Cerritos captain acting not all that competent, much as the other officers of her ship whether senior officers or lower decks, is all by design and supposed to be a part of the comedy leanings of this series. I mean, if the Enterprise of any particular Star Trek era is supposed to be manned by the best and the brightest, then the Cerritos apparently isn’t, being billed as an unimportant ship in Starfleet with the less sexy missions. It’s just unfortunate that the first regular black female captain on Star Trek just happens to coincide with this series. I still have hope though that Michael Burnham will at some point be elevated to captain and join her rightful place among the other illustrious and dignified captains of Star Trek.
@35 – DanteHopkins: Puh-leeze! Mercer is horribly unprofessional, and the show isn’t even supposed to be a full-on comedy, just TNG with more laughs. And I like The Orville, don’t get me wrong… but Mercer is very much an idiot sometimes.
People you are taking this show way too seriously!
Of course they are. To fans, Star Trek is serious business. And there are so many older fans of long standing who want Star Trek to be exactly what it was when they were younger, that every new show comes in for its share of controversy. It’s kind of reassuring that Lower Decks is getting the same level of (non-)acceptance. Means it’s just as much a “real” Star Trek show as any of the others.
It’s too bad that not everyone finds the show amusing. I personally think it’s hilarious and well-written, but tastes vary.
i think the reason for the bleeping of profanity is more that the bleep is considered as making the scene funnier than letting the profanity play uncensored.
The Venture Bros played on this by having the bleeps left in the episodes released on DVD but with the option to play them uncensored.