2nd episode was solid, I really like the quips in the show and even though everyone kinda is super jokey it hasn't "broken" the Trek universe I feel in any way which is sometimes the fear with comedy takes on shared univeres

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like the energy being opening scene is pushing it but still fits and was pretty fun. But my favourite stuff is just the random asides "Of course he's Ferengi, he's dong the greedy hand thing!" "Hew-Man! Hisss!" "All the children have been ejected into space!"

 

Third episode was easily the best so far, and I think the most ripe-picking at a staple of Trek in a way that reinforced the Trek ethos. They also toned Mariner way down, and Boemler a little down. And...

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ALL HAIL CHIEF MILES O'BRIEN!

 

One thing I really liked about this episode was the whole time management app plot, not only does the "buffer time" excuse work well with Scotty saying how he got his rep as a "miracle worker", but the overworked crewmembers having to devote time to the app really felt like a jab at Amazon and it's time management app for it's warehouse employees and Trek ripping something from the headlines to critique in a subplot is a pretty standard Trek play that I can't quite remember happening in Discovery or Picard. Really added to the TNG feel of the story. Boimer being the only one who loved it and ironically being remembered as a layabout in the future was a great gag. I also noticed the "far future" cutway they had a Borg looking kid in the class, either an XB or possibility of peace between the Federation and the Borg someday? Nah, probably just an XB kid.

Anyway, great Trek-verse one-liner that the Cardassian delegation "was creeping everyone out."

 

"Ugh, people use it for that?"
"Yah. It's mostly that."

 

Since we were just talking about this recently...

 

Yah the most recent episode 8 had the Q appearance. Probably my favourite episode of the series so far because it had a great plot structure where each member had their own different story and really worked with the whole "lower decks" concept with Boimer's big speech at the end. And Q's cameo was really fantastic.

best line: "Updating Klingon fonts" "What? Why would I even need that?!"

 

No joke, this is probably the best first season of a Trek show since TOS... low(ish) bar, but still cleared.

 

Fantastic Trek movie references throughout this episode

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they did the whole spacedock from TMP scene! And lens flair from the Abrams movies (and the jump to warp effect was from the Abrams flicks extreme closeup). Officers on vacation! Writing their names in the sky! Beaming rules in movies that are very fluid! There was even a cigarette burn/reel change at the side of the frame. Basically they made Lower Decks: The Movie. Pretty awesome, and Tendi getting annoyed with Orion stereotypes was really funny

 

Just watched the finale. It was actually quite excellent! The series got progressively better as it went along, culminating in this funny, dramatic, thrilling episode.

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Shaxs, noooo! It was really sad to see him die, I loved him as a character. Kudos to the show for doing a heroic self-sacrifice without the usual grandstanding and monologuing, though.

And the unexpected arrival of the Titan and with it Riker and Troi, while the TNG theme was playing, was pretty awesome.

 

yah it does seem like

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either Season 2 could bounce between Boimer on the Titan and Mariner having a new relationship with her mom on the Ceritos and we sorta get a Titan show out of it, or like a lot of comedy sitcom cliffhangers it's resolved in like the first five minutes and resets back to normal. Bouncing between two different ships could be an interesting plotline stuff, or they get assigned together, etc. etc.

Also Titan was wearing the FC uniforms so maybe like on Discovery, there's different uniforms for different types of ships. California-class Second Contact gets the Lower Decks uniforms, etc.

Anyway, the Pakleds are back as killer crazy psychos is oddly plausible. It's been 15 years and they've been like the Pakled version of the Borg just taking in chunks of technology that they could turn to be genuinely nasty. And they think every ship is the Enterprise!

Oh and interesting canon/cartoon/continuity/in-gag that when the First officer is looking at an image Kirk and Spock from TOS they are in the animation style of the 70s TV TOS Star Trek cartoon Animated series. Which is either a great in-joke or how animation versions of these characters "look like" in their respective series, artistic interpretation, etc. etc.

 

So, this was easily the best first season of any Trek series, and that episode in specific totally earned everything it did. And Tendi remains the best.

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"I'm sure he's screaming in someone's face... and ejecting a warp core." -- RIP badass Bajoran...

 

whole lot of Star Trek all Canadian Thanksgiving weekend on CTVScifi and if one has access to the channel all on Monday they're running all of Season 1 of Lower Decks (broken up by Abrams Trek and Beyond), I'm working that day but definitely keep it on all night.

 

For sure the best first season of Trek.

 

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Or Jack Quaid my not be coming back for another season due other work conflicting

 

Yeah. That was totally me. I was like

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Riker cameo! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

Just dropping in to say Lower Decks was excellent - and the finale was a triumph. Only 28 minutes, but epic nonetheless.

Just a shame we had to pirate it to watch it here in the UK. I would’ve paid, but was not given the option.

 

Have just read that the reason Lower Decks is only airing in the US is that it’s domestic release was brought forward - filling the gap that Disco 3 had vacated because of Covid. As a result, there was insufficient time to sort out overseas distribution deals.

Though Covid disruption to Disco is a reasonable reason to shift Lower Decks forward, I can’t believe they couldn’t also have moved quicker to arrange for its overseas distribution (at the very least to try and mitigate the impact of pirating). They could also ensure deals are in place well in advance. Not to cover for the impact of a global pandemic, but rather to ensure their ducks are in order. It’s been ten weeks since the show premiered, and surely much longer since the decision was made to bring it forward. If I’d known I’d only have to wait a month, for example, I might’ve held off the ol’ peg leg.

 

God what a huge cheer moment that episode had. And a great start for S2 with

Spoiler: Major season spoiler!

Boomler (hehe) on the Titan. I think the season did a good job of not letting the fanbait get away from the core story of the season (there was a minor Q cameo) but the show wears its references and love for its predecessors on its sleeve with glee. Riker mentioning the finale of Enterprise AND making a Faith of the Heart reference? I am legally obligated to love it. And the cast has had a fair amount of development as well. Rutherford had some backtracking and I wonder if they're going to play the same jokes next year with him getting adjusted to his cybernetic enhancements again (I hope not!). Tendi is my favorite character on the show and she had some great moments this season, especially calling out Mariner last episode. The show has dug surprisingly deep into Mariner herself, that Holodeck episode was surprisingly deep for her, but I hope the rest of the characters get that treatment next season. RIP Shaxs, he had such amazing combat moments there at the end, he's been held back so many times and that was his crowning achievement.

All in all best first season of Trek, absolutely.

 

So, probably not... remember, HBO MAX isn't on Roku or Amazon... Peacock (NBCU's own streaming service) took about 2.5 months to get to Roku (still not on Amazon, I think). Plenty of streaming war casualties going on...

I think you're maybe right, that at least in CBS All Access' case since their deals are CBSAA in US / Netflix everywhere else for almost all of their shows, that something could have been done... but it's also not out of the question that Netflix didn't try and hold CBSAA over a barrel...

 

It’s not, no. Streaming wars may be part of the problem. None of which is to the benefit of the viewers. As the industry fights with itself and shows are not broadcast in good time outside of their domestic markets, international viewers will just pirate shows. You’d think the rewards of working together might spur them on to work more readily together...

Alas.

 

there was an interesting tease of what S2 might be when the Captain said that they should go back and check on those "legacy planets" from TOS and (probably) TNG and see how they turn out. And the villain of the episode was definitely a pretty deep pull and changed them up a bit from their original appearance. Teaser scene did too. I'd be okay if Lower Decks S2 turns out to be TOS S4/TNG S9 by going to a bunch of one-off planets and species from those series. They did a bunch here and even Peanut Hamper the Exocomp!