Star Trek Lower Decks

[Copper Bezel]

I figured that much was coming, but I assumed they were being zapped into an alien TRON computer or something, not just being incapacitated and tractored away with some colorful debris left behind. After all, the first couple weren't even mentioned in dialogue anywhere else, so it wasn't someone else's story of what happened. Of course, everything we saw on screen did still happen, they've just cut from the big beam to the debris field half a dozen times when in reality all the important stuff happened in between those things.

Binars are fun, I like them.

I thought the episode overall was just delightful. The fact that Starfleet's reformative penal system works in the end is kind of great in its own right, and now they've reformed all of their evil AIs from previous episodes. Can't even say that Badgy going V'Ger at the end breaks the universe or whatever because it's so perfectly consistent with 80s-90s Trek. And Agimus is a treat every time just to get more of Jeffery Combs.

 

[G.B.Blackrock]

Binars are fun, I like them.

I enjoyed seeing them again, too, although I confess to pedantically asking "why are there THREE on the screen right now? Where's the odd one's partner?"

 

[Cybersnark]

When they ran to the bridge, the singleton took up position next to another. It seems likely that (older?) Binars can operate independently for brief periods.

 

[MrBlud]

Given the start of the season tying in thematically; I’m almost positive the alien abductees are in yet another menagerie.

 

[Fero McPigletron]

Given the start of the season tying in thematically; I’m almost positive the alien abductees are in yet another menagerie.

That makes sense. First ep was the Voyager becoming a museum and the second ep was an alien zoo. Maybe the attacker is selecting different races. But what was that thing during the Ferengi attack? When it was a betrayal thing?

Speaking of betrayals, I loved Agimus Jeffrey Combs inflections as he pined for Peanut Hamper but I think he's in for heartbreak. Peanut Hamper hasn't changed. She actually went to the beach planet but didn't bother to tell Agimus of her change of heart.

If it wasn't for Tendi giving away her location, she wouldn't have been found. She was actually surprised when Agimus was there. She basically ghosted him. She's still just thinking about herself. Maybe she's still emotionally immature and could be learning but, eh, she doesn't deserve Agimus' loyalty.

 

[Copper Bezel]

Well, neither of them knew that the other was secretly okay with not being evil masterminds anymore, there's almost literally a prisoner's dilemma thing happening there. So Peanut Hamper ghosted him, and then was shocked to see him, all because she expected him to react badly to that reveal.

And honestly I think it could still all go a bit sidewise by the next time we see them both, when Agimus finally gets released but it turns out Peanut Hamper is dating Kevin the Roomba now.

 

[Fero McPigletron]

Well, neither of them knew that the other was secretly okay with not being evil masterminds anymore, there's almost literally a prisoner's dilemma thing happening there. So Peanut Hamper ghosted him, and then was shocked to see him, all because she expected him to react badly to that reveal.

And honestly I think it could still all go a bit sidewise by the next time we see them both, when Agimus finally gets released but it turns out Peanut Hamper is dating Kevin the Roomba now.

Gasp! Kevin's the name of Peanut Hamper's dad! She has daddy issues! Kidding.

What I'm half half expecting is a surprise fake out at the finale, that the AI's ARE involved with the attacks. Like the writers knew we were expecting the AI's as the culprits so gave us this ep to supposedly clear them of suspicion. Maaaaybe? But I want Agimus to stay good tho. Cuz of Jeffrey Combs' voice.

The cool thing I like about Badgey's deus ex machina ending is he had to remove Logic and sort of, part of Morality to achieve Enlightenment.

Like, it's saying that religion is devoid of logic. And good and evil side of religion doesn't matter (sorta. Like your religion is actually based on your location in the world so your sense of morality is subjective). Sooorta.

 

[Copper Bezel]

Bah, curse my luck defaulting to the generic standard for the generic name.

I guess there's an interesting theory there re: Badgey's ascension. Another angle you could take is that mythical paths to enlightenment tend to require detachment from or renouncement of things that act as like, crutches for human existence. I don't take it that way, though, I don't see religion being invoked directly except the Roddenberry spiritualism of the Traveler and things that ascension in LD represents, which is itself a crystal woo appropriative reflection of some vague ideas from Buddhism. To me, it's more like Badgey had successfully removed all trace of his good intentions and logical inhibitions to allow himself to carry out his revenge, but once he had that cosmic perspective and the networked processing power to comprehend it, it just wasn't possible for him to maintain the narrow perspective he was trying to maintain for himself. And then, you know, his actual ascension is just a result of that cosmic perspective in the Trek universe just like V'ger and Wesley.

I think it's entirely possible that there's an evil AI involved with the ongoing attacks, but we were told that the Galidor pod ship had a single life form present. I guess that could be a humanoid being puppeted by an AI like Badgey with the Drookmani salvager captain or Control with Leland in Discovery, but I admit I still think our red angel could still be anyone at this point, up to and including Michael Burnham herself. However, one thing all these AIs might be laying the groundwork for is that AI characters up to this season in LD have always been of the megalomaniacal Agimus kind, which is true in most of Star Trek at large, and showing us a bunch of non-evil AIs might be a counterpoint to all the Controls and Texas Classes in the franchise before revealing yet another one. Star Trek really has that tendency to only invoke advanced artificial intelligences when it needs a villain, and Vexilon and this episode feel like a deliberate effort to counterbalance that.

 

[Dvandom]

Lower Decks needs Ensign Stabby.

---Dave

 

[Kup]

Maybe we're all missing the obvious.

The person in that ship is Future Guy, aka Bad Timeline Archer, and we're about to get an epic Scott Bakula cameo.

 

[Copper Bezel]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS

 

[MrBlud]

While I overall enjoyed this week’s episode…

Spoiler

I was REALLY put off by their making the paranoid conspiracy theorist actually be right about their paranoid conspiracy. There were numerous ways they could’ve undercut it but instead we had Boimler (correctly!) reading him the riot act for his stupidity and then oh wait turns out he was almost entirely correct. It sets a bad precedent IMO especially without it being undercut in the episode itself.

 

[Fero McPigletron]

I read news about Lower Decks not getting a season 6 renewal (cuz they got two season orders at a time but only got a single season 5 approved) and the ep felt like a soft, bittersweet series finale. Made me feel melancholic.

 

[The Predaking]

New episode tonight woot!

 

[Dvandom]

I mean, Picard is still not a hologram, Q is real, etc. Levy just happens to have been that blind pig who found a truffle...and even there it's established that he's wrong about a lot of the details.

---Dave

 

[Copper Bezel]

And at the beetle dinner, the Vendorian tells him that his insight is pleasantly peppered with nonsense (I don't remember the exact phrasing but something to that effect.) So yeah, the show's expecting us to be on board with "conspiracy theories dumb" and feeling like Boimler that the universe is pranking us with one of them being right.

I mean, Picard is still not a hologram, Q is real, etc. Levy just happens to have been that blind pig who found a truffle...and even there it's established that he's wrong about a lot of the details.

---Dave

And Wolf 359 was not in fact an inside job. Spicy.

Doesn't fix SNW Tomorrows though, JFK was still killed by the second disruptor on the grassy knoll.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

I think this is the first inclusion of a Muslim character/hijab in Startrek.

I'm glad the shows have started to show that contemporary/popular culture, sport and religion aren't dead in the future. It always felt elitist and snobby how old books, stage plays, Jazz and classical music from Earth were popularised in ST (TOS and TNG) but popular music/TV shows, etc (however impractical to actually show, for legal reasons) and religion for humans was "unknown/dead", while every alien race still upkept their own.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

And honestly I think it could still all go a bit sidewise by the next time we see them both, when Agimus finally gets released but it turns out Peanut Hamper is dating Kevin the Roomba now.

My money is her dating one of these fine, upstanding fellows.

 

[Fero McPigletron]

I think this is the first inclusion of a Muslim character/hijab in Startrek.
View attachment 17242

I'm glad the shows have started to show that contemporary/popular culture, sport and religion aren't dead in the future. It always felt elitist and snobby how old books, stage plays, Jazz and classical music from Earth were popularised in ST (TOS and TNG) but popular music/TV shoes, etc (however impractical to actually show, for legal reasons) and religion for humans was "unknown/dead", while every alien race still upkept their own.

I noticed her first in the trio of Betazoid spies ep but I'm sure she appeared before then.

But I feel like maybe it's a fashion choice over religion. Like, where do earth gods fit in the expanse of an alien universe? There are more celestial beings out there, like the space koala.

 

[Ungnome]

I think this is the first inclusion of a Muslim character/hijab in Startrek.

I'm glad the shows have started to show that contemporary/popular culture, sport and religion aren't dead in the future. It always felt elitist and snobby how old books, stage plays, Jazz and classical music from Earth were popularised in ST (TOS and TNG) but popular music/TV shoes, etc (however impractical to actually show, for legal reasons) and religion for humans was "unknown/dead", while every alien race still upkept their own.

Funny thing is, it wasn't ALL that consistent even back in the day. Sure, Sisko was considered a bit of a kook for loving the ancient sport of Baseball, but the TNG department heads regularly had poker nights and Worf played soccer as a youth.