S01.E04: Moist Vessel

[Chicago Redshirt]

Quote

Captain Freeman seeks the ultimate payback after Mariner blatantly disrespects her in front of the crew. A well-meaning Tendi accidentally messes up a Lieutenant's attempt at spiritual ascension and tries to make it right.

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

Overall, I liked this one. It felt like it was not trying too hard to be "Let's throw in all the Easter eggs we can" or "Hey, I used to do Rick and Morty and now I'm on Star Trek."

The main plot felt like it could have been on a live-action Star Trek show. 

I liked the Freeman-Mariner dynamic, and want more. It seems off to me that no one seems to address the elephant in the room, that they're mother and daughter. Like, her senior staff have to know, right? And presumably it would spread through the ship like wildfire. 

The Tendi subplot wasn't great, and I don't think her character is interesting enough.

In fact, what occurs to me is that the senior staff (except for the engineering guy Billups) has so far been more interesting and funnier than the Lower Decks people in general. Freeman's scatting, the notion of a Ransom guitar solo and fixation on Barcelona, pretty much everything Shaxs and T'ana do at least make me smile. 

I did like the sarcastic Vulcan salute and sense-oars bits, so good on you, Mariner.

[KimberStormer]

I have to say the Captain had a point, Mariner was indeed acting like a child with the yawning. I think it would have been a stronger episode if it was really something not her fault her mom was mad at. It would show where her attitude comes from in a way. I don't think she can be upset at suffering consequences when she's legitimately being a brat.

I do love that the punishment the captain finally came up with was that she had to spend time with the bridge crew doing bridge crew stuff and that stuff, like everything the main characters in post-TOS Trek do for fun, is incredibly lame middle-class suburban Mormon cruise ship activities. God knows how I would feel if Data's painting class or whatever was the only thing to entertain myself after work. No wonder everyone gets addicted to that very boring looking videogame that only Ashley Judd can save them from.

Tendi's story.....hmm. How many ship teases are they going to give her. Idk I wasn't a fan of the way it went, it really didn't work for me.

I still feel like the bridge crew gets too much time and I would prefer, since time is so short, just not giving us the infodump. It's not enough to lampshade that it's boring, just skip it. None of the main characters should really know what's going on, it's kind of a cop-out to have Mariner or Boimler or whoever happen to be there at the briefings every time.

I do want to say I'm glad I have this forum because Star Trek spaces online seem to be either "FUCK THIS SHOW FOR EXISTING" or "HOW DARE YOU SAY A WORD AGAINST THE PERFECT PRECIOUS SHOW".  And I don't feel either of those ways about it.

[ottoDbusdriver]

3 out of 4 episodes so far something has taken over the ship.  This is going to get old really quickly if this is going to happen nearly EVERY week.

Mariner was just disruptive and frequently disrespectful to superiors (her mother, the captain of the Merced, and the Admiral -- how is Mariner still in Starfleet ?).  And Tendi was overly annoying.

I know this is supposed to be a comedy, but I'm not laughing much.

Was the Koala supposed to mean something during what's his name's ascension ?  And isn't ascension more of a Stargate thing ?

[clyo22]

I cannot stand Mariner and it makes me sad because I want to like her. So far I too prefer the bridge crew. I don't like that there are so few non human speaking characters. It's such a shame.

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

3 out of 4 episodes so far something has taken over the ship.  This is going to get old really quickly if this is going to happen nearly EVERY week.

Mariner was just disruptive and frequently disrespectful to superiors (her mother, the captain of the Merced, and the Admiral -- how is Mariner still in Starfleet ?).  And Tendi was overly annoying.

I know this is supposed to be a comedy, but I'm not laughing much.

Was the Koala supposed to mean something during what's his name's ascension ?  And isn't ascension more of a Stargate thing ?

Something/someone taking over the ship probably happens pretty frequently in regular Trek. Arguably it makes sense that it would happen more frequently here, because we re dealing with Starfleet's second-stringers rather than the starters. (Of course, there's the flipside, that because they are not so boldly going, it should happen less frequently. As far as I understand, tere hasn't been a mission yet that wasn't in Federation space or Federation-friendly-enough space.) 

There's probably a limit to what they can/will do with Mariner's insubordination. She hasn't really broken any serious rules, at least while getting caught. She's just rude and gives (almost) no f--ks.  

Part of what seems to be going on is Capt. Freeman is just as passive-aggressive in her own way as Mariner is.  I think reading between the lines, if Freeman really wanted to boot Mariner out of Starfleet or order her transfered, she probably could come up with some rationale. But then she would have to a) deal with Admiral Daddy b) suffer an even more strained relationship with Mariner and c) deal with the repercussions with her senior staff and crew that she couldn't handle her own daughter/her daughter got drummed out of Starfleet. 

I also think, based on this episode, that Freeman does at the bottom of things believe in Mariner's abilities, but she just doesn't get why Mariner doesn't seem interested in following the same career trajectory that she and the admiral had. Based on skill (not to mention connections), Mariner probably should be a lt. commander by now if she went by the book.

P.S. mods, I accidentally misstated the episode title. It should be "Moist Vessel." If you could update, that would be sweet. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by Chicago Redshirt

[AnimeMania]

2 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

3 out of 4 episodes so far something has taken over the ship.  This is going to get old really quickly if this is going to happen nearly EVERY week.

As much damage as occurred when the ship transformed, you would think there would have been a hull breach somewhere. Every episode they try to crank the excitement up to 11. I would like a nice quiet story that focused on being funny.

2 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Was the Koala supposed to mean something during what's his name's ascension ?  And isn't ascension more of a Stargate thing ?

Yeah, usually it is a turtle.

I am still waiting for that energy creature that went into Captain Mama to play some role in an episode.

 

[tessaray]

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

P.S. mods, I accidentally misstated the episode title. It should be "Moist Vessel." If you could update, that would be sweet. 

Fixed.

[marinw]

I am liking the silly plots combined with the lovely visuals. And this is my favorite era  of the entire Star Trek timeline.And sooooo much plot jammed in! I can imagine Captain Freeman being assimalated by the Borg, rescued, and de-Borged before the first commercial break.

So do the rest of the crew know that Mariner is Freeman's daughter?

Mariner is a brat, yet I like her.

[starri]

22 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

3 out of 4 episodes so far something has taken over the ship.  This is going to get old really quickly if this is going to happen nearly EVERY week.

How often does that happen on non-comedic Star Trek, tho?

[Anduril]

I’ve seen this said on another forum and I have to agree but this show is more of a parody of life in starfleet set within the Star Trek universe as opposed to this show being about events “actually” taking place in the Star Trek universe. There are too many meta references that take me out of the “reality” of the show. Like when Mariner said in the third episode, “What is this, Kirk in the 2260’s?”  There are too many little quips like that. We get it, the guy who created this show is a Trek fan. 

[starri]

"WHY IS HE SMILING!?!?!?  WHAT DOES HE KNOW!?!?!"

I have no idea why that cracked me up so much.

[Chyromaniac]

I know that Mike McMahan has talked about this being a "canon" series set in the TNG era - presumably post-Nemesis.  And, from a certain perspective, these stories probably could be things that happen in legit Trek - "finding a generation vessel full of preserved crewmen that starts to transform the ship" is basically a mashup of The Neutral Zone and Masks.  Still, I don't personally expect the characters and situations on this show to operate on the same level of believability as the other shows.  If nothing else, this series is specifically written as a comedy - some elements are going to be exaggerated.  Being animated lends a degree of "heightened reality" as well.

[Anduril]

23 hours ago, Chyromaniac said:

I know that Mike McMahan has talked about this being a "canon" series set in the TNG era - presumably post-Nemesis.  And, from a certain perspective, these stories probably could be things that happen in legit Trek - "finding a generation vessel full of preserved crewmen that starts to transform the ship" is basically a mashup of The Neutral Zone and Masks.  Still, I don't personally expect the characters and situations on this show to operate on the same level of believability as the other shows.  If nothing else, this series is specifically written as a comedy - some elements are going to be exaggerated.  Being animated lends a degree of "heightened reality" as well.

I just think of it as a show that cadets watch that lampoons Starfleet life. It’s not “actually” happening after Nemesis.