The actual title of this week’s Lower Decks is rendered onscreen in the Klingon script. Unfortunately, WordPress doesn’t have that feature (and neither do most other web sites, given that all the publicity for this episode lists the transliterated title). You would be forgiven if you thought “wej Duj” translated to “lower decks,” but it in fact translates to “three ships.” Which is sort of accurate, though you could make an argument for “five ships” being more appropriate (which would make the title “Daj Duj”). But maybe the producers have the same confusion between three and five that King Arthur had…
SaS (that’s Klingon for spoilers…)
The three titular ships are the Cerritos; a Klingon ship, the Che’ta; and a Vulcan ship, the Sh’Vhal. In each case we get a look at the folks on the lower decks.
On the Cerritos, they’ve got a twelve-hour warp trip, and Freeman has decided to give folks downtime. Boimler wants to hang out with his friends, but they all have plans with “bridge buddies.” Tendi is going rock-climbing with T’Ana, Rutherford is throwing pottery with Shaxs, and Mariner is having mother-daughter bonding time with Freeman. Boimler is crestfallen, since he doesn’t have a “bridge buddy,” and his attempts to get one keep failing, whether it’s latching on to one of the others’ or finding one of his own.
That is, until he stumbles on Ransom and two other crew members (one of whom is a Benzite) who are apparently all from Hawai‘i. Boimler pretends to be from Hawai‘i as well in the hopes of finding his bridge buddy—which works right up until the ship goes to red alert and Boimler admits to not wanting to die in a Hawai‘ian shirt. However, it quickly becomes apparent that none of them are from the Pacific islands. Ransom pretended to be when he was an ensign, and it kind of stuck, and the other two officers are like Boimler: pretending to be from Hawai‘i just to suck up to the first officer.
In typical Boimler fashion, things still go poorly for him, as the other three bond over all being from moons, while Boimler is from a planet, so he’s once again left out. However, in keeping with this season’s redemption arc for Boimler, Ransom sends a young cadet who is trying to become more organized Boimler’s way. Boimler is thrilled at being a mentor. It’s actually a very touching moment, and a nice bit of character for the usually-stereotypically-macho Ransom.
Meanwhile, on the Che’ta, we meet Mach, who sleeps in a hammock in a corridor and is woken up by his three crewmates by being punched in the face. Mach is pretty much the Klingon Boimler. While his three fellows are doing things like combat practice and cleaning out the gagh containers, Mach is filling in at the helm—bridge duty! Much like Boimler, Mach is convinced that this will be a great opportunity for him, as being present on the bridge means that Captain Dorg might notice him after he kills his first officer, who has been undermining the captain.
This actually turns out to be prophetic. Dorg kills Togg, and then Mach tries to suck up, but mostly gets stuck doing menial tasks: disposing of Togg’s body, refilling the bloodwine barrel, walking Dorg’s pet targ, and so on. But Mach’s sucking up works: Dorg makes him his first officer, right when he meets with the Pakleds.
And this is the big revelation: Captain Dorg is the one who’s been giving the Pakleds their fancy weapons and usable intel. He is attempting to destabilize the quadrant and enable the Klingon Empire to return to past glories. Mach thinks this is dishonorable behavior, and so he challenges Dorg to a duel.
The lesson we learn from this is a very important one: always walk your own pets. Because they’ll be loyal to the person who walks them. When Dorg and Mach are fighting, the targ actually helps Mach out rather than the captain. This is enough to give Mach victory—and the captaincy!
And then we have the Sh’Vhal. Once again, we have four lower-decks officers. One of them, T’lyn, has improved the ship’s sensor capabilities—which she did instead of monitoring another system. T’lyn, it becomes clear, is this ship’s Mariner: she doesn’t follow the rules and does pretty much whatever she wants. In this instance, it proves useful, as she’s detected metreon radiation in a region where that shouldn’t occur. T’lyn proves to be very much guided by instinct and emotion, which distresses her crewmates as well as Captain Sokel. However, Sokel does agree to investigate the radiation.
They’re not the only ones who detect it: the Cerritos does as well, and Freeman orders a course change.
There’s a lot I love about this episode, but the thing I loved best was that when the crisis hit and Freeman calls red alert, everyone was off-duty, and there isn’t time to change into uniform. So Freeman’s on the bridge in a T-shirt, Shaxs is still wearing his pottery apron, the ops officer is wearing a pink coat and scarf, and there are people running through the corridors in period costume, bathrobes, Hawai‘ian shirts, etc. Which is not only a great visual, it just makes sense.
But that’s far from all that’s wonderful about this delightful episode. We get some forward movement in the Pakled storyline, as the source of their newfound badassery is revealed. Mariner continues to be annoyed by her mother now that their relationship is in the open, but even she admits that she’s enjoyed their bonding (despite the amount of shouting that accompanied a lot of it). Rutherford and Shaxs have become buddies after the former learned how the latter came back from the dead—and we also find out that you do not mention growing up on Bajor to Shaxs. You just don’t.
T’lyn and Mach are also interesting characters. For all that I said they were analogues for Mariner and Boimler, respectively, they’re not entirely. T’lyn, truly, is a mix of a Boimler’s eagerness and Mariner’s insubordination. In the end, Sokel transfers her to Starfleet (making me wonder if we’ll see her on Cerritos). And Mach actually succeeds where Boimler has so often failed: in the end, he’s the captain.
This sets up lots of possible plot threads, including the question of whether or not Dorg was acting on his own or if he’s part of a larger conspiracy.
And we also see more of the lower decks. During the battle among the Cerritos, the Che’ta, the Sh’Vhal, and the Pakled ship (which is just called Pakled), we look briefly in on four lower-decks Pakled crew. They are all sitting in a cargo bay; one says he’s hungry; another suggests that he eat; the first allows as how the second one is smart. That’s it, really.
But in the end, we do get a fifth ship, as over the credits, we see a Borg cube, and look in on their lower decks: it’s four drones, regenerating. Which plays over the closing credits. I have to admit, I laughed my ass off at that one.
This could easily have been a throwaway filler episode, showing the lower decks of two of Trek’s most venerable alien species in the Vulcans and Klingons. But it actually has some good character work for the Cerritos crew, and has a provocative revelation about the Pakleds. I have no idea if they’ll follow up on this in the season finale next week, but this episode continues the show’s tremendous improvement in its sophomore season.
Random thoughts
- There are two T-shirt in-jokes in this episode. The first is when Boimler tries to join Tendi and T’Ana’s rock-climbing holodeck scenario. Boimler is wearing gravity boots, à la Spock in The Final Frontier, and Boimler is also wearing a T-shirt that says, “Go climb a rock,” just like Kirk was in when he went rock climbing in that feature film. In addition, Freeman is wearing a dark T-shirt that says “RITOS,” which is a delightful parody of the Discovery T-shirts that say “DISCO” (which your humble reviewer owns one of).
- Speaking of T’Ana, she has the single funniest line in a episode chock full of funny lines. When Boimler’s gravity boots fail, and he plummets groundward, Tendi says she’s glad the safety protocols are engaged—and then she looks nervously at T’Ana. “They are on, right?” T’Ana just stares at her and says, “I don’t know. Sure.” Then keeps climbing. I so love T’Ana.
- For only the second time in Trek history, Klingons are shown to have fuschia blood. They also did in The Undiscovered Country, but it’s been red every other time. Whatever.
- That’s not the only Undiscovered Country reference: Dorg at one point quotes Shakespeare (“Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!”) just as Chang did in that film.
- We get Kayshon again, and he actually speaks! He’s Boimler’s first “bridge buddy” target, but he blows it when he tries to speak Tamarian to him. Apparently, “Carno in the forest with Myra” means you’re putting on weight, which was not what Boimler meant. And Kayshon is very sensitive on the subject, as it’s hard to maintain a svelte figure when you have access to replicators…
- Mach compares Dorg’s targ to Kor’s hound in the battle of Klach D’Kel Bracht. That battle—and that Kor fought at it—was established in DS9’s “Blood Oath.” The Enterprise episode “The Augments” established that Klach D’Kel Bracht is the Klingon name for the region known as “the Briar Patch,” as seen in Insurrection.
- The targ apparently ate Togg’s leg after Dorg killed him. Dorg instructs Mach to walk him until he passes the leg, otherwise he will have gas. When Mach brings him back to Dorg, the former assures the latter that, “it was an honorable movement.”
- One of Mach’s crewmates has combat training all day. “Save me a seat at lunch—unless I die in honorable combat. Then someone else can have it.”
Keith R.A. DeCandido contributed to each of the first two volumes of The Subterranean Blue Grotto Essays on Batman ’66, published by Crazy 8 Press. For the season one book, entitled ZLONK! ZOK! ZOWIE!, he wrote about “Fine Feathered Finks”/”The Penguin’s a Jinx,” the debut of Burgess Meredith’s interpretation of the Penguin. His piece for the season two book, BIFF! BAM! EEE-YOW!, is also Penguin-related, as he writes about “Hizzoner the Penguin”/”Dizzoner the Penguin.” He plans to contribute to the season three book, which should be out next year, though he probably won’t do another Penguin episode.
We’re also wondering if and hoping that T’lyn will end up on the Cerritos. It was our first thought.
One of my favorite episodes so far.
The thought I had about the ‘RITOS’ shirt parodying the ‘DISCO’ one is that if the Enterprise had similar t-shirts, it would just have a big
‘E’
on it like Alvin and the Chipmunks. Haha. The Big E and all.
Keep up the reviews Krad!
I’ll show myself out.
I really liked this one. It was a great idea to show the lower-deckers of other fleets, and it actually portrayed them rather plausibly instead of going too heavy on caricature, so it was more about exploring M’ach and T’Lyn (to use Memory Alpha’s spellings) as characters than just cracking jokes. And it even advanced the season arc with the Pakleds, which was pretty deft. I liked T’Lyn, and I do hope we see more of her.
A couple of things bugged me, though. First was the idea that a mere 12 hours between systems was an unbearably long slog. Modern Trek has forgotten one of Roddenberry’s rules for TOS and TNG, which was not to treat deep space as a local neighborhood. Journeys between star systems should routinely take days, if not weeks.
Also, the idea that the Vulcan High Command is still a thing and operating its own ships independently of Starfleet 200 years after Enterprise is a bit iffy. Although looking it up on Alpha, I see that the High Command was referenced as existing as late as Voyager. Still, it seems odd that these Vulcans are still so unaccustomed to the emotional ways of other Federation members. Also it was odd that the Vulcan captain referred to T’Lyn’s transfer to Starfleet as “serving among humans,” when Lower Decks has been more successful than any previous Trek series at showing Starfleet as a truly multispecies organization.
The El Capitan/”Go climb a rock” reference also bothered me. I can buy the conceit that Starfleet cadets learn about past starships’ missions and geek out over the most famous or interesting ones. But this is a reference to something Kirk did on vacation. That incident shouldn’t be widely known a century later. Honestly, I’d think it was something Kirk would’ve preferred to keep out of his memoirs, since it was kind of embarrassing.
I’m losing my knack for recognizing animation voices, because I convinced myself that the Vulcan captain was Maurice LaMarche (it was Nolan North) and the Klingon captain was John DiMaggio (it was Colton Dunn). I also thought one of the Vulcans was Grey Griffin, but it was probably Kari Wahlgren, since they sound pretty similar.
So what is Klingon for “lower decks”? I couldn’t find a word for deck or level in my copy of The Klingon Dictionary, but bIng means “area below,” so maybe that would do it.
Oh, and I noticed Marc Okrand was credited as a technical consultant and dialect coach.
Christopher: The answer to your last question is in my review. *enigmatic grin*
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
I think this is easily the best episode of Lower Decks and possibly one of the ones that will be ranked with other Trek episodes’ best.
T’Lynn also hilariously reminds me of a character in my Star Trek Adventures game where the joke was when she met with other Vulcans, they acted like she was wild and insane despite only being slightly more intuitive than most Vulcans. I hope she joins the Cerritos and dates Boimler.
Because she’s the Vulcan “Mariner.”
@ChristopherLBennett
1. I assume that Boimler just has the same shirt as Kirk rather than making a direct reference there. Maybe it’s a meme from a popular bit of 23rd century media.
2. I always assumed that the various races had their own fleets in addition to Starfleet. Its why Spock’s decision to join it grated so much. Everyone is part of the Federation but they have their own things that are just SLIGHTLY more prestigious than SF.
Quoth Christopher: “Also, the idea that the Vulcan High Command is still a thing and operating its own ships independently of Starfleet 200 years after Enterprise is a bit iffy.”
It isn’t iffy at all. The creation of the FBI didn’t mean that local police forces were abolished.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@3 We also see other examples of Vulcan institutions that parallel Federation ones. In Discovery, we learn about the Vulcan Expeditionary Group, which is Vulcan’s planetary version of Starfleet (and it’s possible that the Sh’Vhal is part of the VEG, which might be under High Command.
Honestly, of all the Federation worlds, I can see Vulcan being one of the most likely to maintain its independent redundant institutions. They have a long tradition of interestellar flight, and for all the good things about Vulcans, they also, at their worst, have a xenophobic sense of their own superiority, and there were multiple Vulcan nationalist movements portrayed in Star Trek over the years.
@4/krad: Do you mean it’s the title of the review?
@5/C.T. Phipps: “I assume that Boimler just has the same shirt as Kirk rather than making a direct reference there. Maybe it’s a meme from a popular bit of 23rd century media.”
The problem is that it’s paired with the El Capitan simulation, which is unlikely to happen by coincidence. It’s a case where it’s too obvious that the creators of a television show are forcing a metatextual in-joke on the characters and situations, as opposed to creating a convincing illusion of something that could happen in-universe.
“I always assumed that the various races had their own fleets in addition to Starfleet. Its why Spock’s decision to join it grated so much.”
The original idea in “Journey to Babel” was that Spock joined Starfleet instead of attending the Vulcan Science Academy. It wasn’t about competing fleets, it was about Sarek believing that joining Starfleet went against Vulcan principles of nonviolence. It wasn’t until DSC: “Lethe” 50 years later that it was retconned into a choice between different space fleets.
Anyway, the confirmation that Vulcan ringships are still in use in the 24th century reinforces my suspicion that the Intrepid in “The Immunity Syndrome” was actually a Vulcan ringship rather than a Constitution-class ship as has been traditionally assumed. The only thing in the episode that suggests otherwise is a log entry where Kirk calls it the USS Intrepid. But maybe there are ringships in Starfleet as well.
Is Vulcan’s separatist movement called “Vulxit”?
@6 And really, it would be kinda creepy if Starfleet had a Federation-wide monopoly on scientific exploration.
I kinda wish that we knew more about the Vulcan Expeditionary Group. We’ve had a handful of “Starfleet Officer serves on a Klingon ship” episodes and one where Troi got Shanghai’d onto a Romulan ship. I think this was our first real glimpse at life on a Vulcan ship, and I’d love to see more.
Vagh duj is five ships
Keith, Keith, Keith… No one has yet taken you to task for your poor tlhIngan Hol ?! vagh is the word for the number five in tlhIngan Hol, and, while SaS is an actual word, no definition of it means spoilers.
Loved everything about this episode, especially that last gag, which had me rolling.
@12/nO: I doubt that Klingons would have the concept of spoilers. They are fearless! They do not cower from advance knowledge of story outcomes! A true warrior gathers all possible intelligence ahead of combat!
I expect that Klingon fiction would approach spoilers in the same brazen way that Japanese TV shows traditionally do it — if a character is going to die at the end or some big secret is revealed, they’ll put that puppy right in the episode title and announce it in the preview at the end of the previous episode, so you know it’s coming a week in advance.
I admit part of the reason why I have no problem with the Vulcans having their own fleet is it fits the popular headcanon I’ve shared with multiple other fans that Starfleet is something humans are “all in” on while other races consider more of a side project. Humans are all about the UFOP because they nuked their culture to the Stone Age and are kind of overcompensating with the peace, love, and brotherhood thing.
The Andorians and Tellarites probably have their own fleets still, though, too.
Christopher, in the autobiography of James T. Kirk book, it’s established that Star Trek V was a fan movie made by aliens on a planet where Kirk once landed. If so, then the film was probably seen by Boimler et. al. at some point…
@16
That is now the only explanation of that film that I will accept.
Fan theory: The Pakleds tested the Vaaruvian (sp?) bomb on the asteroid to do actual scientific study on it. They then got the Klingon commander to replace it and assumed he would think them too stupid to believe they knew how bombs work. This despite the fact they’re smart enough to construct spaceships from scavenged parts.
I think they conned that Klingon captain good.
After all, who is the smart man, the man arming the conquerors for free or the conquerors getting free weapons?
I wonder if Lower Decks will have a clumsy Vulcan drinking a pink milkshake.…
It’s funny you all should mention spoilers. I spoil myself all the time. In fact, I read Keith’s recap and review every Thursday morning, even though I can’t watch it until 8 hours later.
This episode was as good as I heard.
My favorite bit was the reveal that the Pakleds tested the bomb on an asteroid. LOL.
I’ve been wondering about Shaxs’s backstory forever. Did he grow up on Bajor? Did he fight in the resistance? Now we know! (and based on his reaction, we probably won’t hear much more about it)
T’Lynn talking back to her captain was sheer perfection. I agree with everyone here. It’d be great to see her on the Cerritos.
Note: comments here stated that her captain was having her “transferred to Starfleet.” When I read that here I thought “That’s not how it works. It’d be like someone in the DEA transferring an employee to the FBI.” Okay, but on watching, it happened the way I thought it should. The captain recommended that she be assigned to Starfleet.
As soon as I saw the Klingon Lower Decks, I thought of Alexander when he joined the KDF. It also made me curious as to what Worf is up to–is he still Klingon ambassador or is he back to Starfleet.
Oh, and it was very touching when Freeman and Mariner admitted that they enjoyed hanging out together.
Oh wow, this was amazing. I loved everything about this one. Once again we get some great ensemble action instead of focusing on Mariner and Boimler. (Not that I don’t like them) We get some really good stuff on other ships crews. I was just delighted with the Che’ta and everything about that arc.
And, some excellent action. This is why I love animation. It’s doesn’t cost that much more to put in a kick as space battle, unlike live action. And I admit, that since the Doopler episode I have relaxed my view on what should be happening. In that, the Doopler should have gotten smaller, or poped like soup bubbles. But by just accepting that it’s animated and they are just having fun, I enjoyed it more. And that extended to the rest of the season.
Awesome all around. Looking forward to the ending.
Mary: the movie Nemesis established that Worf is back in Starfleet.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@22/Krad
Thanks. I thought so but couldn’t quite remember.
Since no one else has mentioned it, I’ll state the obvious:
Doctor T’Ana’s climbing a mountain.
Why is she climbing a mountain?
I’ll see myself out.
Okay, this is the second LD episode that’s made me laugh out loud. The show is getting really good.
# 3 – Kirk was wearing the T-shirt when being briefed on the bridge by Admiral Bob so it’s possible that is where Boimler saw it if he’d viewed the logs.
krad: Actually, that dialogue was cut from the finished film, where it’s left ambiguous. If he was meant to be the Enterprise’s chief of security again, he was wearing the wrong uniform. (I believe it was actually you that did a decent patch for that one in the A Time to… series! But as far as on screen evidence is concerned…)
@27/cap-mjb: You’re confusing “back in Starfleet” with “back in the Enterprise crew.” The simple fact that Worf is wearing a Starfleet uniform in Nemesis is proof that he’s back in Starfleet, regardless of whether he’s on the E-E temporarily or permanently.
Shouldn’t T’Ana be climbing a _tree_ ? (And then not be able to get back down.)
@28/CLB: Well, that’s the Occam’s Razor interpretation but I think there’s some wriggle room! Kirk, Scotty and Chekov are wearing Starfleet uniforms in Generations, but no-one’s suggested that means they’re “back in Starfleet”. If the makers of Lower Decks want to decide that Worf wasn’t back in Starfleet in Nemesis and is still a Federation ambassador, then that doesn’t contradict the letter of anything in my opinion.
I really enjoyed this episode, particularly learning that Shax was part of the Bajoran resistance. FIGTHINGT FASCISM IS A FULL TIME JOB!!!
And yes, Ransom sending the cadet to learn from Boimler was sweet. T’Ana continues to be awesome. Fun fact: in my country, “cheta” means a stuck-up fancy woman (cheto would be a dude). We laughed at that ship name with my kid.
@3 – Chris: Kari Wahlgreen is credited in the episode, don’t remember as which character. I thought T’Lyn was Tawny Newsome, but no.
@14 – Chris: No, Klingons do not want to know the future, even if they gather intelligence, they want to face what comes with honor and bravery. Knowing the future is cheating.
@20 – Mary: Officers from one agency can still be assigned “on loan” to another agency, I believe.
@31/MaGnUs: “I thought T’Lyn was Tawny Newsome, but no.”
Yeah, at first I expected that the core cast would be playing all three groups of lower deckers, but they didn’t go that route.
“Knowing the future is cheating.”
It’s not cheating, it’s just understanding that you don’t have to be afraid to know how the journey will end. Fearing spoilers is a bit like fearing death. Humans don’t want to think about the endings of their own life stories, focusing on the present and avoiding knowledge of the ending as much as we can, but Klingons face the thought of their own endings without fear or hesitation. They know that, even when the end of a story is inevitable, the value of the tale comes from how boldly and fearlessly you experience it, not worrying or shying away from what’s ahead.
And there are plenty of stories where we do know the ending in advance and that’s okay. Heck, most works of fiction throughout human history, up until recent centuries, have been retellings of myths and legends and histories that were well-known to the audience. Surprise is not the exclusive purpose of fiction. Sometimes knowing the ending is the point. In a Shakespearean or Greek tragedy, you know that the ending will be unhappy, and that foreknowledge is what makes the story powerful.
My impression was that Worf was still ambassador to Kronos but was putting the uniform back on for a short time to work with the Enterprise.
Acting Tactical Officer.
I may have utterly misremembered that scene.
A member of the Vulcan Expeditionary Group must be… a Veg-er….with a soft “g”….
C.T.: That makes no sense. Ambassador is a full-time job. He would have been on inactive duty in Starfleet during his time in the Diplomatic Corps and would be in civilian clothes if he was on the Enterprise. Anyhow, there was no mention of his ambassadorial post in Nemesis at all, but it was also four years after his assignment to the Diplomatic Corps. A lot can happen in four years. But the evidence in the movie itself suggests that he’s back in Starfleet, and still on the command track (which makes sense — him being tactical officer on the Big E was nonsensical). The logical thing would be for him to be the first officer on the Enterprise, with Riker off on Titan and Data dead (and the tie-in fiction has gone with that theory, including in Una McCormack’s Picard prequel novel that has Worf taking over as captain of the Enterprise after Picard’s promotion to admiral).
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@31 MaGinUs
Yes, I believe agents. * can be “on loan” to one department from another but that’d be at the receiving agency’s request. When I first read it here, I was under the mistaken impression that the Vulcan had the authority to transfer someone to Starfleet. Starfleet has to accept the officer.
But as it aired, it works. He’s making a recommendation. All Starfleet Command has to do is look at her service record and decide if her experience transfers over to Starfleet. (which, by Starfleet standards, it would)
We should not make the assumption that things work in 400 years like they work now. Today you can’t transfer an agent, or a soldier, from one service to another. That doesn’t mean in the Federation you can’t. And since we are seeing it done here, obviously you can.
@37/costumer: No, Mary’s right. The captain did not “transfer” T’Lyn unilaterally. He only recommended her for transfer. And saying “It might work differently 400 years from now” doesn’t work, because no sane system would ever work that way, with an outsider to an organization having the power to force it to do things.
Presumably what we’re looking at is the same kind of inter-service exchange program we’ve seen on multiple occasions before, with the Benzites and the Klingons in “A Matter of Honor” and “Sins of the Father.” There’s no need to invent new assumptions when there’s already a perfectly valid precedent.
@chris
I dunno, there’s a pretty big difference between Klingons and Benzites vs. The Vulcans. The Vulcans are a member race in Federation/Starfleet so its entirely possible that there’s a option to slide officers to Starfleet duty or vice/versa.
Assuming it works more like NATO rather than an allied nation.
Who knows what kind of military treaties are involved between the Federation, it’s military, Earth, and Vulcan.
@39/C.T.: Sure, maybe such a system exists, but what the captain presumably did was simply to recommend T’Lyn for that kind of inter-service transfer, rather than unilaterally compelling it to happen. Starfleet would still have to approve the recommendation. Heck, even within Starfleet, a transfer request probably has to be approved from higher up, or agreed to by the captain of the ship being transferred to.
@33 and 35: I kind of assumed that Worf was on board for the wedding and the uniform was partly ceremonial, partly a case of him being the most qualified person on board to work tactical even though he wasn’t a member of the crew. (As in his previous two movie appearances.) He wore command track colours because that was the last position he held in Starfleet, even though he didn’t seem to be doing a command track job on the Enterprise. But yes, I accept other interpretations are valid. Whether he’d be the person most qualified to take over as first officer is another matter, although objectively I guess it’s a logical progression from his position on DS9. All speculation, anyway!
This is probably my favorite episode of Lower Decks. I know I said the same thing last week and I hope I say it again next week!
I’d say I was in hysterics for pretty much every scene on the Vulcan ship, especially the conversations about the sense-oars. I do hope we see T’lynn again, but some of the Vulcans sounded a little too robotic to me. Vulcans may be one of the hardest species for actors, since you have to be emotionless (but not truly emotionless). It may be even harder for an animated show, since you’d have to portray this purely by your voice. Everyone did a serviceable job in this episode, but they wouldn’t crack my top five for best portrayals of Vulcans.
Has anyone done the Borg Lower Decks on a ten hour loop yet? I’d love to have that as my “ambient sounds” video as I work.
Add my voice to the chorus of admiration for this episode; I’ll have more to say on Monday (I try to spend weekends away from the Internet), but to sum up I really enjoyed the chance to get a look at the Lower Decks of other starships (and was also delighted to see Our Heroes make nice with each other).
I would have liked to see the Vulcans get to do something’s besides play strawman for the latest Rebel Who Won’t Play be the Rules, but such is life.
OH, and I’m rather sorry that hungry Pakled didn’t reach behind themselves to pick out something to munch from those supply chests – it would have helped sell their attitude as sang froid, rather than indifference, and might have made for a nice visual.
Also, that ship’s targ is a GOOD HOG.
@41/cap-mjb: “Whether he’d be the person most qualified to take over as first officer is another matter, although objectively I guess it’s a logical progression from his position on DS9.”
It’s far more logical for a strategic operations officer responsible for an entire sector to make an upward (or lateral?) career move to starship first officer than for him to revert to security chief. Really, XO is the only posting that makes sense for him on the Enterprise.
@42/fry08: That’s funny, I thought they got the Vulcans just right, much better than the overemotional performances we usually get from inexperienced Vulcan actors. They weren’t robotic, just extremely calm.
@44/CLB: Oh yes, certainly. Worf seemed to be second officer on Deep Space 9 and on the command track, and had been put in command of the Defiant plenty of times, so it made zero sense for him to suddenly be security chief on the Enterprise again whilst still remaining command colours (which, going by the cut scenes, including the one where someone else was transferred over as the new first officer, was clearly the intention of the filmmakers, even though they left it all out of the theatrical print). It was like Chekov going from first officer of the Reliant to being Kirk’s navigator again. I just find the idea of “Okay, Data’s dead, who’s the next most senior TNG regular?” a bit neat, that’s all. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that he either went back to his ambassadorial post or to another ship (depending on whether you believe he was permanently back in Starfleet or not).
The funny thing about a Klingon being behind all of the Pakleds advances is that it actually explains why they went from being brainless guys laying traps for good Samaritans to murderous orcs straight from Warhammer 40K. The cultural influence he could have been providing was tremendous.
Mind you, I think they were always growing and repurposing tech.
I LOLed at the Borg Lower Decks. Then as the credits continued, my mood changed. On the assumption that these four were assimilated, well, they were once individuals as vibrant and distinct as our four on the Cerritos, and watching them just hiveminding there grew, well, almost poignant by the end. Probably just me.
Was that Stevens in the plunging-neckline dress and full elizabethan neck ruffle? Lordy.
I loved loved loved the starship version of ‘Clue’ that Marriner and her mom were playing. “You always pick the chef!” “Yah because we have replicators, WHY IS THERE A CHEF, that’s just shady.”
i can’t believe no one’s mentioned this yes, but the whole Boimler-Ransom-Hawaii storyline was a riff on Riker being from Alaska, and specifically that one scene from the original “Lower Decks” TNG episode where the ambitious ensign tries to make friends with Riker by claiming to be Canadian.
Full impulse! this ep did more in 26 minutes than most Star Trek shows did in a full length episode. It was lolworthy and also a gripping and legit entertaining story. It was a lot like the original Lower Decks episode in a bunch of ways.
So enjoyable. Please let this continue. It made me so happy. Would watch it at feature length.
The humour was toned down in that the laughs arose from the characters and their situations and not from having Boimler, for example, scream in terror for 30 seconds. I found it much more effective and the story was very well done as well. Much better in my opinion.
Further points r.e. this episode:-
– I definitely agree that it would be fun to see Captain Mach, the exile T’Lyn and their respective starships in future episodes of LOWER DECKS (Captain Mach’s pressing need to watch his back and vet the crew list very, very carefully to avoid becoming the vehicle of some First Officer’s big promotion could be an excellent running joke whenever the Klingons show up; It would be absolutely HILARIOUS to see T’Lyn accept Ensign Mariner with a casual “Humans be like that” shrug, while bickering like an old married couple with Ensign Boimler, her very own personal Kirk; It would also be rather entertaining to see an officer from the Cerritos serve a spell on the Sh’Val, though it might be especially funny if that officer were Ensign Tendi*).
*Mariner is too obvious and too blunt-force a choice; Boimler is potentially-amusing (a ship where he’s the casual voice of irreverence? Egad!); but in all honesty we’ve seen the Human/Vulcan dynamic so often it might be rather more interesting to see how a shipload of Vulcans react to an Orion … who also happens to be the most radiantly cheerful officer in Starfleet (This might be especially funny if one of the Vulcans suffers pon farr ahead of schedule, causing Tendi to worry she might be developing Orion pheromones).
@2. Kris Matthews: For my money, Enterprise should be ‘ENTER’ (while Excelsior should be ‘EX’ as a nod to the classes’ long tenure in service meaning that every Starfleet officer of a certain vintage will have spent some time on this particular model – not to mention a fine way of avoiding copyright disputes over ‘EXCEL’).
@3. ChristopherLBennett: Given that Vulcans are extremely long-lived, that the independent Vulcan star-service is obviously more likely to attract recruits who don’t want to deal with other species’ emotional baggage and the Vulcan tendency to love drastic change as much as a cat loves fireworks, it seems plausible to suggest that while these Vulcans are accustomed to the emotive tendencies of other Federation members, they still don’t have to like it.
I also tend to feel that it’s perfectly possible (in-universe) for the Doc to have taken an interest in El Capitan because it’s an especially tricky climb rather than due to any associations with James T. Kirk (that it’s an especially tricky climb relatively close to Starfleet Academy might mean that Doctor T’ana has climbed it in the real AND the digital); It’s also far from impossible that Ensign Boimler (Ship’s Nerd with a particular focus on the Command track) is the only one who actually groks the connection, hence his t-shirt.
Oh, and I dearly hope we someday meet a Caitian geologist at some point (especially if that Geologist is the one who makes “I’m a rock hound!” jokes; I quite like the notion that Caitians absolutely love dogs, some because they find canines inherently hilarious and others because the Power of Puppy Eyes apparently transcends Species).
@5. C.T. Phipps: I definitely love the idea that ‘Go climb a rock’ is a meme that keeps popping up throughout the course of Federation – if only because NCC-1701 can’t be the only fountain of catchphrases in Federation Space!
It also seems only fair to point out that other Federation species retaining their own space service would help explain the tendency for Starfleet to be Human-heavy; for a long time recruits from other Species regard it as a strange new world, while Humans see it as the Family Business from the very start.
@8. ChristopherLBennett: The idea of there having been a Vulcan-style ringship in Starfleet is an interesting one, over the implementation of which I feel a little conflict – on the one hand, IDIC at it’s finest; on the other it’s a Vulcan starship, so why no Vulcan name? (More to the point, USS Intrepid being of the same class as Enterprise helps drive home the vulnerability of even a Constitution-class starship to the perils of a wider galaxy; making the Intrepid a Constitution-class would also make it easier to spot the differences created by divergent use of the same spaces by two distinct species; and having Starfleet use almost completely uniform ship components prior to the perfection of replicator technology just makes more sense, at least on the far-flung fringes of Federation Space, since it means any given Frontier Starbase only has to stock a single line of parts, rather than use up precious storage space trying to find room for Andorian and/or Human and/or Tellarite and/or Vulcan and/or who knows what else).
… now that I type that, the sight of a Vulcan Kingship put together with Starfleet components DOES sound rather interesting!
9. jmeltzer: Only after they run out of four-letter words …
@10. 90182: As noted above, I quite agree – the only question is which officer would make the most interesting focus for this particular assignment! (-:
Oh good grief, it just struck me that the Vulcan reaction to the concept of emojis/emoticons is likely to be hilarious – “Why must you burden digital communications with … emotion?”
@14. ChristopherLBennett: I imagine the Klingon attitude to spoilers must depend on the individual Klingon in question – given their apparent predilection for risking life and limb, some might actually enjoy the thrill of the unknown … especially after a tankard or two.
@15. C.T. Phipps: I’m quite attached to the idea that the Tellarite Space Administration was and remains the most casually blue-collar of Star Services (part of my mental image that the Tellarites are the most disputative and least pretentious of the Federation’s Founding Species, admittedly grounded in the old quote that “A dog looks up to you, a cat looks down on you, a pig will treat you as an equal”), having started as something between NASA and the Honourable East India Company – that is, ‘John Company’ back in the days when the Great Moghuls could happily laugh their backsides off at these funny foreign palefaces and their rickety ships (but were generally far too much of a class act – and kept far too busy with more pressing concerns – to do so).
I’ve always thought that if they were put in charge of logistics back in the early days of Starfleet (per Mr Bennett’s RISE OF THE FEDERATION novels), it was because EVERY Tellarite starship worthy of the name tends to be mostly-freighter with a few optional extras (I quite like the notion that the NCC-G1465 type registry for Starfleet freighters is a format the Federation picked up from Tellarite originals – so Space Administration registries would read something like TCC-L215 – though Mr Bennett, whose novels were the inspiration for much of this rumination, will have his own ideas).
@18. C.T. Phipps: I would dearly like this to be the Truth – one doesn’t mind the idea of the Pakleds as patsies (even the smartest will sometimes find themselves being put to use by the schemes of others), but I would prefer to imagine that the species is much, much more inarticulate & idiosyncratic than it is genuinely idiotic (which is to say the species should have some idiots, some geniuses and many who fall somewhere in-between).
Pakleds should look for the easiest solution – they didn’t get pegged as an avatar of ‘Sloth’ for no reason – but can sort of approach can result in minimalist brilliance as often as it does a botch job.
@20. Mary: If Vulcans other than T’Lysa do make more non-background appearances in LOWER DECKS, I hope there will be room for a bit more nuance than “The free-thinking radical is always right, says what she feels like and screw you work dad!” (I don’t object to the notion that Free Thinking is critically important to a properly-functioning society, but I dislike the minor key inference that Vulcan civilisation is inherently inferior for preferring a methodical, group-based approach over gut instinct individualism – sometimes what you get from your gut is bile, not pure gold).
Also, poor old Shax appears to have had a pretty bad time of it, even by the standards of Occupied Bajor; I wonder what he and … would she be Captain or Admiral Kira Nerys by this point? … would find to talk about, if they were to meet off-duty?
@24. Sleepy John: Presumably because even the Mighty Shax runs out of puff at some point … (on a less saucy level, it’s quite possible that Doc T’ana just enjoys having a challenge that doesn’t answer back for once).
@25. rm: I’d say that the show’s been good for a while now, but I definitely agree that the series has taken a dramatic uptick with its second season … at least so far; hopefully they’ll be able to stick the landing and avoid any calamitous twists leading to a dramatic downturn in the back-end of the season!
29. jmeltzer: That is profiling (also amusing, but anyway); on a more serious note, given Caitian’s have opposable thumbs (and that even some Terrestrial felines can get out of a tree without assistance from the local Fire Department) it’s quite possible that they see tree-climbing as fairly small game so far as recreation goes and prefer to tackle something more challenging.
Or perhaps their feline half came from a mountain lion, rather than a housecat? (-;
32. ChristopherLBennett: Mr Bennett, your notion of the fear of Spoilers as fear of DEATH ITSELF is quite amusing (and rather profound), but as somebody who loathes Spoilers myself (I most definitely wait until after watching the latest episode to read Dahar Master krad’s latest review) one can safely say that sometimes we just like to be surprised.
Especially when it comes to stories I already know the ending to; just because you already know the destination doesn’t mean you need a whole darned route map!
@44. ChristopherLBennett: To my mind the other half of the challenge facing those who portray a Vulcan is, of course, to make it clear that while Vulcans are un-emotive they’re hardly un-emotional; One thing that wasn’t really made clear in this episode (presumably due to time constraints) is that a Vulcan forsaking logic is more like a bipolar person who’s stopped taking their medication than they are a stuffy librarian who’s finally let their hair down.
My understanding is that – presumably due to the complications involved when a species of tactile telepaths has to always deal with the emotions of others as well as themselves, possibly due to additional complications from the same mysterious biological processes that induce the pon farr as well – Vulcans either have to manage their emotions very, very carefully or undergo genetic engineering so extensive as to be life altering (per the Romulans) to defuse the serious potential for Emotional Meltdowns on an order of magnitude comparable to Chernobyl.
This is something that needs to be kept in mind when considering T’Lysa (and her reassignment) – while her Captain and (apparently former) crew are a fairly stuffy lot, Vulcans are not Human and deserve to be judged by their own standards as well as by our own (especially because those standards are a major reason Humanity got to take its own first steps into the wider galaxy with no more than a few snippy observations from the Vulcan ambassador, rather than a punishment from their Vulcan overlords).
@47. jankplus: Your observation r.e. the Borg snippet is an excellent, rather chilling insight into a bit of end credits comedy (Also, I’m reasonably sure that if that was Stevens wearing it, ’twas a gown and not a dress – especially if it were a fancy dress!).
Also, Mariner, some people like a home-cooked meal and not just takeaways! (Also, replicators DO malfunction every now and then, you know); I would dearly like to imagine that Tellarites, in particular, are such indefatigable foodies that they mostly use replicators to replicate ingredients rather than pre-made dishes and therefore keep a chef on-strength at all times.
Before you ask, their table manners are impeccable – they’re only pigheaded, not complete swine!
(I personally love the notion that a Tellarite dinner party is always three rounds of organised debate, a medley of conversation to cool down and then a respectful silence while eating; eating, after all, is a Serious Business and a dinner party should be Fun!).
@48: I noticed that!
@51/ED: “It’s also far from impossible that Ensign Boimler (Ship’s Nerd with a particular focus on the Command track) is the only one who actually groks the connection, hence his t-shirt.”
I’m just sick of the joke of the characters being fans of the same “shows” we are, and of them knowing every last detail that we’ve seen on TV. Realistically, the t-shirt is far too obscure a reference for anyone nearly a century later to be randomly familiar with. There are so many other things from Kirk’s life that are more worthy of notice, and so many other starship captains whose careers should be equally worth of notice. Boimler wouldn’t have had time to learn every tiny detail that we know from TV and movies. I’m tired of the implausibility of treating it like the characters’ knowledge of their universe is precisely contiguous with our knowledge of it as viewers. They should know countless things about their world that we don’t know because they weren’t on TV or film, and by the same token they should be unaware of many things we do know, because we viewers often see things that are too private or historically insignificant to be remembered by posterity.
Let’s see the characters geeking out over the details of the galactically famous adventures of some legendary Starfleet captain that we’ve never even heard of because they didn’t make a show about them. Let that be the joke, the fact that the characters are intimately familiar with them even though they’re totally lost on us. Or have the joke be that they remember a known event differently than we do, because parts of it were classified, or because it’s been distorted by the way historians and dramatists have interpreted it. It would be a nice change of pace at this point.
“on the other it’s a Vulcan starship, so why no Vulcan name?”
Who says Intrepid isn’t a translation of the Vulcan name? It means fearless or undaunted, so it’s an assertion of being unaffected by an emotion. Sounds pretty Vulcan to me.
“Or perhaps their feline half came from a mountain lion, rather than a housecat?”
Lieutenant M’Ress’s character design was clearly based on lions — tawny fur, a mane (albeit on a female), somewhat rounded ears (with slight points that seemed to be more fur than skin), a tufted tail. Later depictions of Caitians have been inconsistent about what feline species they’re based on.
“sometimes we just like to be surprised.“
Of course, but the thing that tends to be forgotten these days is that not every story is based on surprise. It hurts the story to know in advance who Luke’s father is or what Rosebud is or who committed the locked-room murder, yes, but there are plenty of other kinds of story that aren’t dependent on mystery or shock value alone, so not every story requires being afraid of advance knowledge — and indeed, some stories benefit from or require advance knowledge, for instance Sunset Boulevard telling you right from the start that the narrator is dead. So it’s an overreaction to assume that advance knowledge must be avoided in every conceivable case. And I think that Klingons see humans’ fear of death in the same way, as an excessive preoccupation with the avoidance of something that they consider inevitable and accept without distress.
“a Vulcan forsaking logic is more like a bipolar person who’s stopped taking their medication”
It’s totally misreading T’Lyn to say she’s forsaken logic. On the contrary, as she said, she finds it logical to take the input of her emotions and intuition into account rather than arbitrarily discounting a potential source of information. She sought to integrate emotion with logic, as Spock did post-TMP (“Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end”).
Not even two seasons complete, and McMahan and company are already confident enough to do an out-of-the-box anthology style episode. It goes to show just how much the show’s grown in quality this past season. Having the chance to witness what happens in the Lower Decks of other ships and races is a delight.
Of course, we’ve seen the underbelly of Klingon ships before, in episodes like TNG’s A Matter of Honor, or DS9’s Soldiers of the Empire, Sons and Daughters and Once More unto the Breach. But only Sons and Daughters really spent time with the low level folks through Alexander (and not that well). By crafting Klingon/Vulcan equivalents to Boimler and Mariner, the show gets to stretch its legs and try something new.
On the other hand, we hadn’t seen a lot of the inner workings of Vulcan ships before. This was a welcome story. I hope we get to see more of T’Lyn in the near future. Her being posted on Discovery would inject some variety, and a possible interesting source of t ension with Mariner.
The Boimler thread is a classic case of wanting to fit in. Not particularly fresh, but still effective.
As for the Pakleds, I think we’re more or less done with them. But the notion that there are Klingons forcing war between other races is an interesting one. Very dishonorable, and yet it fits the current post-Nemesis state of Klingon Society. Section 31 knew the Empire would be in shambles following the Dominion War. With Martok in charge, promoting peaceful relations, It makes sense for the more extreme fringes of Klingon Society to put the others at odds while they rebuild their forces.
I hope we get more end credits like this one with the Borg. One of the more economical uses of repeated animation I’ve seen (I’m assuming it’s repeated).
@Christopher
Frankly, I don’t think that is going to happen, Christopher. Also, speaking as someone who writes comedy for a living, that is a joke that would fall completely flat. Talking about the adventures of Dave Izar, Captain of the Superlative is something that the audience will flat out get no humor out of. It may not be believable that Star Trek’s most famous captains and adventures are the ones we’ve watched over the past 50 years but it is explictly the premise they’re going with. Boimler and Mariner are all massive-massive Trekkies.
And it seems best to just assume that whatever format they learned these things about are as close to the television shows as possible.
Great summary! I wanted to ask, that part where Boimler says that if Ransom finds out he’s not Hawaiian he’ll “send him to a penal colony where he’ll have to mate with the enemy to form a new civilization”— what is that a reference to? It feels specific but I can’t place it. Figured someone here would know
In regards to too many characters being TOS fans, we’ve seen this through all of Trek. The difference is that this time it’s a bit more obvious. The TOS crew and their adventures have always been held up as almost mythical. All the characters from the proper series have heard of them and what they did. No surprise there.
As far as the Intrepid being a ringship, why would they translate the name? Are only English or Earth names acceptable to Starfleet? There’s the “Homo-sapiens only club” rearing it’s head again.
@55/C.T. Phipps: “but it is explictly the premise they’re going with.”
And that’s the problem. They’ve already run that premise into the ground. I’m not a fan of comedy that relies purely on reference to things the audience will recognize. That’s one of the laziest, most superficial forms of humor, so it’s not enough to sustain my interest by itself. Okay, you get the reference, we get the reference. We’ve established that. What else you got?
@56/Nicholas: “Great summary! I wanted to ask, that part where Boimler says that if Ransom finds out he’s not Hawaiian he’ll “send him to a penal colony where he’ll have to mate with the enemy to form a new civilization”— what is that a reference to? It feels specific but I can’t place it. Figured someone here would know”
Sounds kinda like TNG: “Birthright.” Or heck, maybe it’s just the kind of reference to something unseen that I’m looking for.
@53. ChristopherLBennett:-
– While I definitely agree that we could do with references to famous Starfleet captains, crews & ships other than those of USS Enterprise in her varying incarnations (I personally favour picking out names previously established in passing, like Captain Rixx of Bolarus from TNG: Conspiracy or Commodore Stone of TOS: Court Martial* if only because this makes jokes revolving around the characters knowing more about their adventures than we do more Fair Play – these characters do exist, we just haven’t been following their adventures).
I’d also like to point out that, people being people, it’s often the small, human details that are remembered when more important data is forgotten (or distorted): after all, how many people know George Washington had false teeth but have no earthly idea he campaigned in Central America on His Majesty’s Service during King George’s War? (and actually lost his well-beloved elder brother as result).
*ESPECIALLY the latter; if there’s ever a LOWER DECKS episode set during the Original Series era I vote for it being a ‘twofer’ as a sort of 2260s DEEP SPACE NINE because Commodore Stone looks like an Absolute Boss (I’ve seen it suggested on Memory Beta that his first name might be ‘David’ ‘Aaron’ or ‘Robert’ but simply cannot accept such nonsense when the man has been dubbed L.T. STONE – I mean seriously, ‘L.T. Stone’, how can you do beat that for a name that commands attention?).
– I must admit that Intrepid suggests, at least in my imagination, a positive passion for adventure that seems out of keeping with the Vulcan philosophy of controlled emotion; I’d have suggested Fearless or Inquiry (possibly even Rational Enquiry) as more ‘in character’ (although the mental image of a swashbuckling Vulcan is a rather amusing one; oooh, perhaps one played by Mr Basil Rathbone?).
– It seems reasonable to assume that Caitians are at least as diverse (in terms of physical variation) as Felis catus, so Lieutenant M’Ress being a lioness while Doc T’Ana definitely channels a grumpy house-cat seems quite plausible (one of my pet peeves is the suggestion that any variation from a species’ ‘typical’ appearance – c.f. Old Trill Vs New Trill or ‘Ro Laren’ Bajoran Vs ‘Kira Nerys’ – ought to be dismissed from canon; surely other species will be at least as diverse as our own in terms of physical features?).
I should also admit for the record that my remark about the Doc being a ‘mountain lion’ was a rather dreadful pun, rather than a serious observation.
– I don’t mind watching trailers for films, tv shows or computer games (so I can’t claim to be entirely adverse to a preview of forthcoming attractions), but to my mind a ‘Spoiler’ isn’t just about knowing in advance where the story is going, it’s a revelation that fundamentally alters the experience of watching or reading or playing through a story for the first time (in a way that robs one of the … of the freshness of a new experience, if you will).
I’m not explaining this very well; personal experience is and personal preferences are, after all, subjective; still, I prefer to avoid Spoilers before seeing/reading/playing something for the first time – if only because this allows me to make up my own mind about something, rather than merely mirror another fan’s observations & opinions.
– I have no quibbles concerning your observations about T’Lyn; I’m trying to suggest that there’s more to her story than “Cool rebel refuses to play by the rules” by pointing out that there’s a REASON those rules are in place – since not every Vulcan can be a Spock or even a T’Lysa.
Something STAR TREK has never really explored – much to the disadvantage of Vulcans – is what the species looks like when they’ve either completely rejected the teachings of Sarek or never bothered to pick them up in the first place; it’s been hinted that this would be a Very Bad Thing Indeed, but we’ve never really SEEN it, which means that Vulcan Logic sometimes seems to be regarded as a pussyfooting affectation, rather than consistently respected as a worthwhile mental discipline.
Hmmm … I wonder if the LOWER DECKS crew would be up for a little Alternate Universe action?
@54. Eduardo S H Jencarelli: I tell you this, if LOWER DECKS ever gets into the post-Hobus/post-Mars era the Klingons are going to be all over the Alpha & Beta Quadrants; Martok or no Martok, the Klingon Empire will scent blood in the water with one of their two great rivals mostly gone as a Major Player – especially with the Federation more focussed on matters internal than external.
@55. C.T. Phipps: I tend to agree that alluding to other Great Heroes of the Federation wouldn’t really work as a joke, but I do think that the LOWER DECKS team could do themselves & the franchise some good by coupling the odd new name with the likes of Kirk, Picard & Janeway – for while the crews we’ve followed in Prime Time are THE Greatest Heroes, they most certainly need not be the only heroes (and not even the only Great Heroes).
If nothing else, this means they have more toys to play with in their sandbox.
@56. Nicholas McMaster & @58. ChristopherLBennett: This remark vaguely reminds me of an element from Mr William Shatner’s STAR TREK novels, in one of which Captain Kirk takes up with a young lady who hails from a mixed Romulan/Klingon settlement established as part of contingency planning for some enormous War of the Great Powers – although that might be a tad obscure, even for nerds as diligent as the ones working LOWER DECKS.
Please don’t ask me to quote chapter & verse; it’s been years (and possibly a decade) since I read that particular novel! (-;
@59/ED: Yes, obviously the makers of TOS intended Intrepid to be a reference to the Earth ships of that name. The idea that it was a Vulcan ringship is, of course, a retcon after the fact. I’m just saying it’s conceivable if you’re willing to be flexible and use a bit of imagination. It would make sense that a ship with an all-Vulcan crew was actually a Vulcan ship, and now we have canonical proof that there are still Vulcan ships in service in the 23rd and 24th centuries. Nitpicking the exact meaning of the word “intrepid” seems trivial in comparison. Maybe it’s just an imperfect translation.
“Something STAR TREK has never really explored – much to the disadvantage of Vulcans – is what the species looks like when they’ve either completely rejected the teachings of Sarek or never bothered to pick them up in the first place”
We know exactly what that looks like. They’re called Romulans. Trek has an unfortunate tendency to confuse species and nationality, which leads us to forget that Romulans are Vulcan by species. They’re Vulcans who left their planet before Surak’s teachings took hold.
Also, Enterprise: “Fusion” showed us the V’tosh katur, a faction of Vulcans who chose to renounce Surak’s teachings. So yes, we have indeed seen that explored as well.
“post-Hobus”
There is no such thing as “Hobus.” The non-canonical IDW comics coined that name for the star they presumed had gone supernova, and Star Trek Online borrowed that name, but Picard has now clarified that it was Romulus and Remus’s own primary star that went supernova, relegating “Hobus” to the same discard bin as “Penda” for Uhura’s first name and “Kazh” for the Klingon homeworld.
@60 – If it’s an imperfect translation why not use the actual Vulcan name?
Every name that Roddenberry proposed in TMOST was Earth based and the majority were American. If I recall, someone did write a memo suggesting a Vulcan name for one of the ships but that might have been D. C. Fontana.
@1:
We’re also wondering if and hoping that T’lyn will end up on the Cerritos. It was our first thought.
Mike McMahan has addressed that. They’re working on a follow-up story for T’Lynn for Season Three, but they don’t have any plans at the moment for her to join the Cerritos — at least not at this time (and he’s clearly trying to avoid too many spoilers for pre-production).
I’m afraid ghuS choQpu’ is gibberish. The closest it comes to “lower decks” is something like “the [sentient, language-using] decks lower [a spear] to attack“.
As for what the actual translation would be, my Klingon is pretty rusty, but the best I can come up with is choQmey ‘eS “low decks“. Klingon doesn’t generally form comparative adjectives like “lower” (you can say things like “X is lower than Y” but that’s a relatively wordy construction and if there’s a legit way of using it to modify a noun phrase, I don’t know it).
Marc Orkand was a consultant on this episode so I assume it came from him. Also, if you enter ghuS choQpu’ in the Bing Translator (which does Klingon) it translates as lower deck.
@64:
As far as I know, ghuS choQpu’ isn’t from the episode, but from krad. The Bing translator is notorious for producing garbage Klingon.
There are two, no, three problems with it: 1) -pu’ is the wrong plural suffix for an inanimate noun like choQ. 2) The word order is wrong; a Klingon verb of quality acting as an attributive adjective comes after the noun it modifies. 3) ghuS is the wrong word entirely; it doesn’t mean “lower” in that sense at all.
I *loved* the scene of everyone running around in their off-duty clothes! One of the things that always annoyed me on Voyager was that (with a couple exceptions) everyone was always in uniform unless it was a specific plot point/reason for them not to be. I think I remember like, one time when Kim had to wake Chakotay up and Robert Beltran was just wearing the undershirt, but it didn’t happen often. Starfleet personnel live on these ships! They shouldn’t always be showing up to the bridge in full uniform with their hair done and a clean shave! So I got a kick out of everyone showing up as is to the bridge.
For what it is worth, I assumed that the “go climb a rock” shirts were likely just sold at Future!El Capitan, and Boimler picked one up in the Holo!gift shop.
Shax, you are awesome!
And now it would appear that somebody Paramount Plus has a sense of humor.
Yeah, I fucked up the Klingon. This is what happens when you write on tight deadlines………
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@35 Didn’t a new first officer join the Enterprise at the end of Nemesis? I seem to remember he was played by Steven Culp
LongTimeSTFan: That was a deleted scene with Steven Culp as the new first officer of the Big E, and I was always grateful that it was deleted because it was an unutterably stupid scene, which we can all feel free to ignore.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido