S01.E02: Envoys

[tessaray]

Air date: August 13, 2020

Quote

Boimler is plagued with self-doubt while Mariner proves herself to be the more naturally talented of the two; Rutherford quits his job in engineering and explores other departments on the U.S.S. Cerritos.

 

 

[KimberStormer]

Is this just one thread for the whole show then?

I have to say it's going to get real old real fast if the whole show is "Boimler is useless and Mariner is the best at everything."  The "twist" with the Ferengi was completely obvious here.  I just can't get behind Boimler, it's 2020, we don't need a useless uptight white guy lead anymore.  Especially one who turns total jerk when he thinks he's finally been slightly less useless.

I also still don't like Rutherford; neither completely changing his career for Tendi nor ignoring her and her interests while he worked was a healthy reaction to this scheduling conflict!  Doing things separately-but-together that way is nice in a long-term relationship, but for someone you're still getting to know?  It's weird.

What I do like is how positive everyone was when Rutherford moved around to different departments!  That's the Starfleet I like!  And I'm glad to see that there was no ship-wide emergency or saving the universe going on, just two low-key plots at the right scale for the characters.

[Chicago Redshirt]

I thought this second episode was a little better than the first. There were a few likeable, standout moments for me (BLAST SHIELD!, Mariner's razzing of the Klingon general, Mariner claiming to be a Starfleet dog wanting to lick the Klingon's boots and "woof", the alien who tried to seduce Boimler, Rutherford's bedside manner, the obvious-Ferengi-is-obvious bit). 

In fairness, the show gets a lot of inherent goodwill by just playing on Star Trek nostalgia and trivia,. The references to Risa and Jamaharon, for example. Or gagh and bloodwine. 

It's best to not think too much about how the pieces fit together. Last episode, Mariner couldn't pronounce "bat'leth" but somehow knew what a cha'dich is, and now we find out that she's got a blood bond with a Klingon general. 

I agree that the show should branch out and have Boimler get some actual Ws and Mariner take some actual Ls in situations where being by-the-book and following protocol pays off. The show also needs to mix things up and have Boimler/Rutherford and Boimler/Tendi plots, Mariner/Rutherford and Mariner/Tendi plots, as well as all three or four in the same plot line.

One of the things I'd also like to see is the direct supervisors. We have seen the senior staff, but no one who our heroes directly report to. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

Two episodes in and I'm finding it all a very ...... annoying.

And too much reliance on references to much better Star Trek shows. 

[dwmarch]

3 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

In fairness, the show gets a lot of inherent goodwill by just playing on Star Trek nostalgia and trivia,. The references to Risa and Jamaharon, for example. Or gagh and bloodwine.

The thing I saw that I thought was a particularly deep dive into Star Trek lore was a hand weapon held by one of the Andorians. It was first seen in Enterprise, in the episode where Archer and Shran had to battle it out and Archer ended up cutting one of Shran's antennae off.

I am not a fan of animated shows in general but I think this one is fun. I haven't seen anything so far that offends my inner Star Trek purist although I am pretty sure that particular shuttle crashed and exploded in an alternate universe back in 2009...

[vibeology]

13 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Last episode, Mariner couldn't pronounce "bat'leth" but somehow knew what a cha'dich is, and now we find out that she's got a blood bond with a Klingon general. 

She was drunk when she struggled with bat'leth? I can explain that away.

I'm still very much enjoying this show. I don't mind that they repeated their pairings in this episode because it's only the second one and they clearly want to establish personalities and relationships. I also didn't mind the obvious Ferengi stuff. Mariner has a big heart and wanted to give her crying friend a win. 

What I really loved was Rutherford getting a chance to explore different career paths and how supportive the crew and senior staff were. Everyone is there because they want to be there so it's nice to know that you have the freedom to find the right path. I do hope that "science" means more than medical at some point though. Those are very different skill sets.

The other thing I do want at some point in this first batch of episodes is seeing Mariner and her mom interact. I want to get to the heart of Mariner's career issues and they are very clearly tied to her relationship with her parents.

[marinw]

I really enjoyed this one, partly because it had so many of my favorite TNG/DS9/Voyager tropes.

"SMORSBORG!" That may be low-hanging fruit, but I found that halarious. My bar is set low these days.

I find the animation of the ship, spacescapes and planets quite lovely.

Edited August 15, 2020 by marinw

[starri]

21 hours ago, vibeology said:

What I really loved was Rutherford getting a chance to explore different career paths and how supportive the crew and senior staff were. Everyone is there because they want to be there so it's nice to know that you have the freedom to find the right path.

That was easily my favorite part of the episode.  I like that they're switching it up so that the A-plot is the silly one and the B-plot is the one with the emotional stakes.  Last week, it was Tendi's sheer joy at being assigned to the Cerritos.

[marinw]

I like how Security is its' own subcuture within the larger crew. That would make sence.

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 8/14/2020 at 9:58 AM, vibeology said:

What I really loved was Rutherford getting a chance to explore different career paths and how supportive the crew and senior staff were. Everyone is there because they want to be there so it's nice to know that you have the freedom to find the right path. I do hope that "science" means more than medical at some point though. Those are very different skill sets.

I liked the Rutherford plot a lot, except for the way that it got put in motion. 

Tendi wants him to hang out with her and watch a pulsar. It would have made sense for him to a. take a personal day b. switch shifts with someone in engineering to so he could watch the pulsar with Tendi, an apparently easy ask because his department head and his crewmates all seem to love him. or c. take a break during his shift to watch the pulsar or d. apologize for the conflict but offer to make it up to Tendi. 

Instead, he opts to switch departments away from a job he loves. 

It would have been better for them to do basically the same bits but explain it as a cross-training exercise.

[cbosdell]

So far I'm enjoying this more than Discovery or Picard.  It's clear the creator/writers love Star Trek and it doesn't take itself too seriously.  I can't wait for some characters we know to appear in cameos.  Maybe Captain Riker on the Titan saves the day or Lt. Kim is temporarily assigned to the ship for some mundane reason.

Edited August 16, 2020 by cbosdell

[tessaray]

On 8/13/2020 at 5:52 PM, KimberStormer said:

Is this just one thread for the whole show then?

There is a request in to make this a full forum. Once that happens we can create episode threads and move posts as needed.  

[ketose]

You know how some (pre-COVID) restaurants started migrating from a "salad bar" to a low-end buffet? This is how I'm looking at new Trek. Paramount had a lot of money tied up in Star Trek because of merchandise alone. Back in the 90's, they expanded to TV and had 2 simultaneous Star Trek shows on from 1993 until 1999. Eventually, the writing got stale (some of the writers were on their second decade writing for various iterations of revival series) and fatigue set in.

Instead of 2, we now have 3 series in contiguous production. Picard has just finished up with little to no interest. Lower Decks and Discovery were already in the can before COVID, but didn't have international distribution because Netflix and Amazon both apparently passed. The last animated Star Trek was like a 1/2 hour version of the original. This series is a ship filled with terrible officers, crew members at Barclay levels of maladjustment and a lead who is basically a Dirty Harry clone.

[tessaray]

Haha. Barclay was one of my favorite Trek characters. Human failings make for good tv.

I hope Lower Decks finds its way. It's kind of sad that The Orville is still the best Trek series in ages. 

 

[AnimeMania]

I don't know much about Star Trek but this show seems to have said turn the action up to 11 since everything is animated so anything can happen. Because of this there is little, to no plot occurring. All flash, no substance. All jokes, nothing serious.

[marinw]

On 8/8/2020 at 11:21 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

With Daddy as an admiral and Mommy a captain, I bet there is a lot of pressure to be in the family business

I wonder how Captian Mom feels about Commanding "one of the least importnat ships in Starfleet".

Edited August 21, 2020 by marinw

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 8/19/2020 at 7:34 AM, marinw said:

I wonder how Captian Mon feels about Commanding "one of the least importnat ships in Starfleet".

I think that within the universe no one bills the Cerritos that way, but I think it's fair to assume she probably has some level of inferiority complex about it, given that hubby is an admiral.