Logline

An accident while investigating a time portal sends Ensigns Beckett Mariner and Bradward Boimler through time from the 24th century, and Captain Pike and his crew must get them back where they belong before they can alter the timeline.

Written by Kathryn Lyn & Bill Wolkoff

Directed by Jonathan Frakes

  • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Sooooo many people that never watched Lower Decks are going to be asking why there was a koala in the opening and I’m delighted by that.

  • Mezentine@startrek.website
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    1 year ago

    I cannot believe they had Boimler and Mariner move like physical cartoon characters and pulled it off that well, holy shit. We absolutely lost it when Boimler was tangled in the control panel

    • poundsignbuttstuff@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      And him doing his walk away from Una the second time. And so many of Tawnie’s mannerisms like in the shuttle where she kinda strikes a pose before getting caught. And Quaid’s mannerisms and screaming with Spock in the lab.

      Those two really worked to make realistic versions of the silliness they have in LDS and it was magnificent. I caught so much more on second watch.

  • ClarkDoom@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Boimler exclaiming “RIKER” as he hopped on the saddle had me howling. Frakes is such a sport!

    • zalack@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I saw somewhere that the actor improved that line which means he blurted it out with Riker standing right there which feels totally in line with the tone of the episode they were shooting. It’s funny to me on so many levels.

      • ClarkDoom@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That honestly makes it’s so much better. I’d love to see a behind the scenes for this episode!

        • poundsignbuttstuff@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Definitely watch the Ready Room episode. They talk about a lot of this. I remember another interview where Tawnie Newsom, I think, talks about how Frakes, Quaid, and her just kinda took over the set because they were all nerding out, being silly, and improv-ing a bunch because that’s what they do on LDS.

  • Acid@startrek.website
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    1 year ago

    This episode is one of the best episodes in the modern era of Trek, it’s lighthearted it’s funny it celebrates Trek and it’s done so tastefully that I genuinely have nothing bad to say about it. It reminds me of Trials and Tribble-ations.

    Plus that line at the end where they tell Una ad astra per aspera and that’s why boimler joined Starfleet is just the right kind of emotions.

    Honestly, they smashed it in this episode and ofc the 2d animated intro was chefs kiss.

  • Corgana@startrek.website
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    1 year ago

    Loved having a Sunday morning cartoon 🖖

    This episode was way better than it needed to be. I was genuinely moved seeing Una’s reaction to the knowledge of her being the “poster girl”, as well as the reaction of the Orion captain at the end.

    Seeing Boimler and Mariner in this context really drives home how much Lower Decks is essentially “what if Trekkies could serve in Star Fleet” and it worked so well!

    • Hogger85b@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Especially the poster girl part being how she (and her lawyer) presented her self in the trial in ep2

      • Corgana@startrek.website
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        1 year ago

        Yes exactly! To Boimler it was a major and inspiring story out of history, but to Una it was a personal moment that happened only recently. Imagine being told something you did that you thought was relatively minor (and over) would inspire generations of people in the years to come. Her reaction was perfect.

  • williams_482@startrek.website
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    1 year ago

    Poor Christine Chapel! Now she knows what the audience has always known: her relationship with Spock is ultimately doomed. Plus a delightful mix of guilt and fear that she could unwittingly cause Spock to never measure up to the vague but crucial future that Boimler mentioned to her in the turbolift, simply by trying to make the two of them happy.

    That suuuuuucks.

    • polymorphist_neuroid@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      OMG! They managed to make that scene just so hilarious and poignant at the same time. Watching her facial expressions as she realizes what Boimler is telling her made me want to just scream at him to shut the fuck up and slap the shit out of him…but he’s just being dear sweet clueless Boimey. :(

      Theme-wise, I think they’re setting up a comparison between Pike knowing his doom and Christine/Spock knowing their relationship is doomed. Knowing that, what do you do in the meantime?

      • Jestersage@startrek.website
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        1 year ago

        Predestination paradox. In fact the entire thing is likely a predestinaiton paradox. “Activated 120 years ago”, which is caused by the imager at “now”; the reason why the two can go back home is because Tendi told them about the version according to Orion and mentioned her great-grandma being the discoverer, which is what let the past Orion to recognize the truth and probably themselves assigned it to Tendi’s great-grandma?

        • polymorphist_neuroid@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          …this little bit of cooperation between the Federation and the Orions probably improves their relationship a bit, which will eventually lead to Orions joining the Federation, which is how Tendi is friends with Boimler in the first place, which is how Boimler knows that not all Orions are pirates which is why Pike tones down his hostile response which gets them to a deal with the Orions which leads to…

        • samus12345@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Tendi just said her great-grandmother was on the ship that discovered it, not that she was the discoverer.

  • Prouvaire@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    The danger with these “very special fun episodes” is that they can be confined to being just that. But what elevated this episode is how it used the time travel/crossover conceit to foreshadow, progress and pay off SNW character arcs, including Chapel and Spock’s ultimately doomed relationship (something that I’ve previously said could be incredibly poignant, if handled right), Number One’s legacy, and the way Pike confronts his fate. I hope the musical episode does the same.

    • Continuumguy@startrek.website
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      1 year ago

      They also tied in to Tendi’s story on LD (her constant reminding to people that Orions have a culture far beyond pirating), even though we didn’t see her in Live Action.

      • Eva!@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Are Orions now the designated species for calling out how essentialized Star Trek aliens tend to be? Because we have D’vana Tendi, the somewhat obscure Ensign Harral from Discovery, and now the crew of the D’var. You can argue the last one’s just an extension of Tendi’s character arc, but still, that’s three series that have touched on this.

        • Mikey Mongol @lemmynsfw.com
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          1 year ago

          TBH I think TNG did this very well with the Klingons (depending on who was writing the episode, of course). Like, some Klingons were Real Klingons™ but many others only gave lip service to those ideals and were actually as sneaky and cowardly as any other race. I think a lot of Worf’s inner conflict came from realizing and processing that fact.

          • Manabi@startrek.website
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            1 year ago

            And on the extreme end of that was the Duras family being more like the stereotypical Romulan (and even allying with them against their own people) than a Real Klingon™. It was disgusting how they managed to keep their house throughout the series, even though they were everything a Klingon wasn’t supposed to be.

            • Mikey Mongol @lemmynsfw.com
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              1 year ago

              The viewer naturally sympathizes with Worf and adopts his view of Klingon culture, but remember that he was raised by humans and most of his knowledge of Klingon culture came from very early childhood and books. Imagine a human child raised by another species whose knowledge of Human culture came from fairy tales and like Arthurian stories. He’d come to earth and be outraged that everyone isn’t following some virtuous code of chivalry. A politician broke his word? DUEL TO THE DEATH! That’s Worf.

        • HardlightCereal@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          There’s also the Orion on DS9 who likes to talk big game about being a pirate, but he’s actually from Cincinnati and has never pirated anything in his life

  • NuPNuA@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    That was amazing, on par with Trials and Tribble-ations for a crossover. Loved how well they integrated Boimler and Mariner without losing any of the character as LD has presented them.

  • polymorphist_neuroid@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m still giddy about this episode. Possibly the best thing I’ve ever seen.

    One thing I noticed particularly in this episode is how respectful both SNW and LD are of canon and fandom in general - the bit about not all Orions being pirates, for example. I know it originates w/Tendi from Lower Decks, but just in the context of this episode they take the one-dimensional nature of the Orions from TOS, poke a little fun at it, but then make it about the bias that the Federation/Star Fleet has against a culture they really don’t understand. The SNW writers effortlessly take what could be considered a flaw or one-dimensional writing from TOS and actually use it to flesh out the ST universe, all while telling a great story.

  • ki77erb📷@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    So many people were ragging on this idea. I think the episode firmly shut them up. This was top notch Trek! Fantastic from start to finish. I want more! Now they’re complaining about the upcoming musical episode? Haters gonna hate I guess.

    • Hypersapien@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’m one of the people who was ragging on the idea and I was absolutely fucking right.

      And yes, I’m ragging on the idea of the musical episode, too.

      • ki77erb📷@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Well I guess not everyone is going to like every episode, or every show for that matter and that’s ok. I can’t stand Discovery. I gave up somewhere in season 2. Just couldn’t take it anymore.

        • GratefullyGodless@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Well, you lasted wit Discovery longer than I did. I saw the first episode and the butchered Klingons, and that was as far as I made it into the series.

          • polymorphist_neuroid@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I ended up being ok with the weirdly retconned Klingons - after all, Next Generation “butchered” the Klingons from TOS. The thing that kept me with Disco until season 4 was Michelle Yeoh’s character, because I fucking love her. That said, it does not really get much better than S1, and I gave up after S3.

  • Value Subtracted@startrek.websiteOPM
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    1 year ago

    My expectations for this one were high, but I’m really impressed with how well they pulled it off. Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid did a great job of dialing their performances back just enough, and the SNW cast went just a little bit broader.

  • WrittenWeird@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Best episode ever. 11/10, I’m still coming down off the high. Right up there with the LD DS9 ep and the last couple episodes of Picard. Peak modern Trek.