S02.E08: I, Excretus

[starri]

Quote

A consultant arrives on the USS Cerritos to run drills that require the lower deckers and bridge crew to swap duties.

 

[Chaos Theory]

Ok this episode was all kinds of fun.   I really loved Boimler and his obsession with getting a perfect score during the Borg Simulation and that being what ends up giving the crew time to scare the  consultant into fudging everyone’s score.

So many Star Trek references.  

This episode furthers my belief that if Mariner ever takes her career seriously she and Boimler would make a great Captain and First Officer.

Edited October 1, 2021 by Chaos Theory

[marinw]

I usually feel cheated by Holodeck Episodes, they are reality twice removed. But this one was great. Although would Starfleet really allow such a traumatic  Borg simulation? Loved Mariner's trip to the mirror universe, and how literal the Naked Time was.

12 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

This episode furthers my belief that if Mariner ever takes her career seriously she and Boimler would make a great Captain and First Officer.

With Tendi as Chief Medical Officer and Rutherford as Chief Engineer.

Captian Freemen is growing on me.

Edited October 1, 2021 by marinw

[starri]

This actually gave "An Embarrassment of Dooplers" a run for its money in terms of both humor and the episode's heart being in the right place.

[marinw]

Was Naked Time the most sexually explicit thing in the history of Star Trek?

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, marinw said:

Was Naked Time the most sexually explicit thing in the history of Star Trek?

TOS's The Naked Time, despite its title, did not have any nudity or sex even alluded to. The closest it got was Sulu holding Uhura and saying something like "I'll save you, fair maiden!" and Uhura responding "Sorry, neither!' (i.e. not fair (or light-skinned/blonde) and not a maiden, or a virgin); a random crew member trying to seranade  Yeoman Rand with a twist on "I'll Take You Home, Kathleen," and Nurse Chapel confessing her love for Spock.

TNG's The Naked Now has Data and Yar having sex off screen, but of course, miles away from what Lower Decks showed where there was a shipwide orgy (except for Billups)

Trek has been pretty reluctant to show anything adjacent to actual sex beyond first-base kissing, contextual clues that could be read in a different way if one wanted to, or people out-and-out saying they had sex.. 

[marinw]

4 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Trek has been pretty reluctant to show anything adjacent to actual sex beyond first-base kissing, contextual clues that could be read in a different way if one wanted to, or people out-and-out saying they had sex.. 

I was reffering to the Naked Time bit on this LD episode. They really went there!

Edited October 3, 2021 by marinw

[starri]

I will never get the image of spread-eagle Boimler out of my head.

Although I do say let Shax and T'Ana get their freak on if they want.

[Chaos Theory]

Star Trek has always been a product of its time.  As forward thinking as we like to believe it is it’s always been trapped in how the liberal minded of the time wished the future was.   TOS was still trapped in the Hays code so even a white dude kissing a black chick was scandalous.  What would *Twitter* and the *internet* have done at the time?   And TNG even being a little freer was still trapped in social norms so they stick with innuendo and yea there was that sex planet but it looked like any planet a middle class family would take their family to so it was safe for parents to watch with their kids.   Even with Riker dating that Binary chick from that non Binary planet (we will ignore the references and not explain it to the kiddies) and Beverly Crusher  having an affair with a ghost and that time Troi got pregnant and I am still not sure how .  Oh and DS9 is far too dark for kids but there was that time Jadzia kissed a girl and liked it.  

I honestly was surprised by people’s anger by what amounted to a five second junk shot behind a black bar.   I think half the hate are the people taking it way out of context and the other half are those who think Star Trek is an intellectual exercise.  Who think Trek ended with Roddenberry’s death and anything after that is not really trek.   Even DS9 is fake Trek because it didn’t fall into the hopeful world with episodic episodes and nothing ever really happens or changes.

I didn’t expect to like Lower Decks and I didn’t at first.  But it grew on me because it doesn’t take itself seriously and it’s humor is the kind of self depreciation humor without being mean.   Watching the Lower Deckers fail all the tests (that were actual episodes of Trek)  was actually funny.  Watching Boimler be the hero of the episode because he needed to get a perfect score was pure him.       

[starri]

People who don't realize that Roddenberry was a pretty kinky guy have never really paid attention to his work.

He had a failed TV pilot in the late 70s, called Spectre, that had some very blatant S&M undertones.

[tessaray]

There were all those stories floating around when TNG first started, about Roddenberry's complaints there wasn't enough f**king. I think that was Riker's sole function early on. 🙂

[marinw]

10 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

I didn’t expect to like Lower Decks and I didn’t at first.  But it grew on me because it doesn’t take itself seriously and it’s humor is the kind of self depreciation humor without being mean.

That is a great summary about how I feel about LD. Also, it is so freaking optimistic, the future is bright and exciting and peacefull-ish exploration is more interesting then war. The only other show like this I can think of is The Orville.

Edited October 5, 2021 by marinw

[Chaos Theory]

I have been rewatching this show in part because I like having my tv on while I work from home and in rewatch I realized that on the original watch everyone got so preoccupied with the in your face sexual content that they might have missed out on some more subtle points or they just got overshadowed by conversations on how sexually explicit Star Trek has always been.     
 

One big point is that Mariner’s maverick nature may serve her as an ensign but as a “Captain” it would would get her into nothing but trouble.   Even Kirk the most maverick of all the Star Trek Captains was bound to certain rules he had to obey or face the consequences.    Mariner failed every test because she didn’t want to abide by the guidelines.  It was played for laughs like everything is on the show but there was a real message there.  Yes you can make the point that the games were built to fail but that is a different discussion and one that dilutes my point but I am still making it.