Star Trek: Lower Decks

[Drunk Monk]

S2e2: I’d have to watch this Ep like 20x to catch all the Easter eggs. The crew must deal with a deceased collector’s ship and that collection is packed with artifacts in every frame, stuff like Khan’s necklace from wrath, a salt vampire, and perhaps a giant Spock skeleton from TAS. 

There’s a Tamarian character introduced so I’m rewatching the TNG classic ep Darmok. Such a classic. Picard reciting Gilgamesh was truly epic.

Lower Decks is all about the Easter eggs. It’s like a ST trivia game. Such fun.

[Drunk Monk]

E3: Paris cameo, albeit a small one. Another Ep packed with Easter eggs, and a Disney death from last season with a hysterical reason why. 

There’s a bit about at Paris plate which reminded me of the last known DOOM night drop. ‘Twas Greg on DM, played beautifully. Some years ago, as DM slept on G’s couch, he cleverly snuck a Scotty plate into Darth, which DM didn’t not discover until he returned home. That plate earned a place of honor, displayed on DMs work file cabinet in the original KFTC war room, and kept that place with the move to the tiny office on TC’s side. When KFTC died of covid last year, DM sadly packed up his office into a half dozen of so boxes, which are now stored at his mom’s. So the plate is there. It’s a long way to Lynch lair for a return night drop volley. 

Or is it?

Back to Lower Decks, the Orion planet was cool and that opened up more of Orion culture. Paris brought in lots of good Voy Easter eggs. The cat doctor had a great scene and remains my fav character. 

Lower Decks remains on point with its ST humor. I doubt it works for non-trekkers but for trekkers, it’s hilarious.

[Drunk Monk]

E4: Mugato are endangered. Who knew?

Another solid Ep. A good one for my fav character, Dr. T’ana. Best starship doc yet.

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

E5: The Cerritos Crew has really grown on me. ST has always had a good sense of humor and to do an animated version that’s strictly humor is genius. But you gotta really know your ST. Many of the Easter eggs go flying past me at warp 9. It’s still funny tho. Dr. T’ana is closing in as my fav ST doc ever. Bones still has precedence, but the Caitian revival is awesome and I hope it transports over to the live action next.

[Drunk Monk]

E6: Great spin on the red shirt trope. Amusing Janeway reference. Again I couldn’t keep track of all the Easter eggs, especially as our lower deckers are assigned to clean up space trinkets. The dumb race was dumb. Not sure if they’re a real species or something just made up for TLD. I want the Tamarian to speak in more metaphors.

E7: This Ep went into some new ground with a renn faire culture and back story with the chief engineer, plus a good spin on the evil computer trope. Sword fights! I hope the renn fair ship returns - the concept has such meta satirical potential.

[Drunk Monk]

E8: An exam places the crew in holodeck pods to see how they perform in scenarios faced by past starships, which opens up the hatch for even more Easter eggs. Honestly, it would be a tough job to cover all the Easter eggs in any given episode because that’s the lifeblood of this show. The Naked Time orgy was particularly hilarious and I have a soft spot for Spectre of the Gun - one of the most surreal TOS eps. The Borg queen blowing on Boimler’s skin like Krieg did to Data was another good EE. 

My only complaint is again, the new alien race. With so many ST aliens, why do they need to make up new ones that are dumb? I’ll have more eggs please. Horta eggs, over easy, with a splash of chalula.

[Drunk Monk]

S2e9: One of the best eps yet. We get to see the lower decks on a Klingon ship and a Vulcan ship. Plus the first major starship battle of this show. Will a Vulcan join the crew next? Been hoping for an Edosian.

[Drunk Monk]

S2 finale: a cliffhanger. 

The Cerritos crew finally comes together only to be split apart. 

I enjoyed this season immensely. My only complaint was that it could’ve used more Dr T’ana

[Drunk Monk]

The dumb race was dumb. Not sure if they’re a real species or something just made up for TLD. 

My only complaint is again, the new alien race. With so many ST aliens, why do they need to make up new ones that are dumb? 

I recant. The Paklids were part of TNG and played a major role in DS9, which was the only series I never watched all the way through. 

The final ep featured Sonya Gomez, a bit character in two eps of TNG who was being positioned to be Geordi's gf. She appears in the first Borg ep (which I just rewatched) and the following ep (the Paklid one). Seeing the Paklid ep again jogged my memory. I didn't like them then or now. Too dumb, but that was the point. For a moment I thought there was a metaphor comment about ADHD and instant gratification, but no, they're just dumb. 

In TLD, Gomez is the captain of the Archimedes. That's an Easter egg I never would've seen without the help of Den of Geek. 

My Paramount+ subscription ends next week.

[Drunk Monk]

S3e1: Still funny. Still my fav P+ST series. 

This ep dives deep into First Contact lore, complete with a James Cromwell voice cameo. Boimler's raisin field was a funny play on Chateau Picard, and all the female grape pickers throwing themselves at him with double entendres was a superb bit of wit. 

Could've used more Dr. T'ana. 

The eps are only like 25 mins, so like She-Hulk, they are way too short. I'm going to blast through these like a barrage of photon torpedoes...

[Drunk Monk]

‘Starfleet isn’t all about being fed fruit by erotic aliens with slightly different nose ridges’ - Commnader Ransom
That totally sums up e2
Plus ST LD D&D = bat’lehs & some other Klingon word that begins with B

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E3 Cali-class ships unite! 

Wait…Mariner is lesbian too? Space is queer.

[Drunk Monk]

E4: Wacky holodeck hijinks between Dr T’ana & Shax. Something, but I can’t remember what now, got a genuine lol from me. A spa ship run by an Edosian - love how LD taps TAS because that is such an overlooked part of canon. This series remains my fav (but SNW was pretty damn good). 

Now I’m caught up on ST and subject to the weekly installments here.

[Drunk Monk]

E5 - a classic ST motif - Rutherford is split into two personalities. A tease on what his backstory might be. Mariner and Boimler man a Starfleet recruitment both, something that's been teased in the trailers. Glad we finally got there. This is the midpoint of the season...

[Drunk Monk]

E6 DS9! Guest appearances from Kira & Quark. I wasn’t that into DS9, and haven’t seen all the eps so some of the Easter eggs got by me. Mariner is hooking up with that andorian chick, and they finally kiss just before they phaser themselves (set to stun). Tendi shows her true Orion colors. Another solid ep.