#holy shit animated kids show ds9

[discotreque]

LwD 2.05: An Embarrassment of Dooplers

So I was a little nervous about this one! I hadn’t heard any spoiler-spoilers, but screeners have been out for weeks now, and I’d heard a bunch of individual, vague, non-spoilery hints about (1) big character moments, on the scale of a mid-season finale even though the show’s not taking a mid-season break; and (2) an ending that would make me cry.

I guess I imagined something relatively serious and dramatic, like “No Small Parts”? This show makes me cackle with laughter and giggle with nerdy glee and “d’awww!” at heartwarming friendships every week, but it’s only ever made me cry once—and then I was impressed that they were going to get there from the wacky hijinks we saw in the brief teaser.

The lack of a cold open made me apprehensive too—in my experience, that’s typically a sign that there’s so much plot in the rest of the episode that they need that extra scene—but after ~21.5 minutes of aforementioned hijinks, I was having so much fun that I’d completely forgotten about the alleged tear-jerker at the end…

…and they were not the tears I was expecting.

I didn’t think I’d be smiling and crying!!!! That was wholesome as SHIT!!!!!

I almost can’t believe they earned that—but they totally did.

After a Mariner–Tendi episode and a Boimler–Rutherford episode, we’re back to the “usual” Season 1 pairings… except the relationships between these characters have changed since Season 1. Mariner still feels thwacked in the abandonment issues by Boimler bailing for the Titan, and Rutherford’s having a tiny little existential crisis about losing an entire year of his life.

Both of which are extremely understandable and very heavy situations—and both of those situations get resolved because everyone in them is vulnerable with each other and honest about their feelings—AND that honesty and vulnerability brings both pairs of friends closer together. Are you kidding me?? I would watch SEVENTY seasons of that shit. Put it in my veins.

Onto the notes:

So basically Dooplers are Tribbles, but for cringe comedy instead of slapstick? Ohhhhh boy.

Look at Ransom the diplomat, tossing his own fork on the floor! I like that he’s actually a pretty competent Starfleet officer, despite also being a completely ridiculous person.

Wait a second, is that—OH HOLY SHIT, THE DOOPLERS ARE VOICED BY RICHARD KIND.

It makes sense that B. Boimler would find William annoying—who likes seeing their own flaws reflected back at them? And who could be a better reflection of one’s flaws than one’s literal duplicate?—but most interesting to me is that it implies on some level, Bradward knows the stick up his butt is a flaw. (Does William?)

Why does the Cerritos model have working phasers?!?!

I’m loving hot pink as the currently en-vogue colour for “dangerous sci-fi energy” in animation (cf. almost every previous episode of this show; Into the Spider-Verse; other stuff I can’t remember right now). As a former child of the 80’s, I’m living for it… but as a former teenager of the 90’s, I can’t help but wonder if it’s going to age as poorly as the harsh neon green of The Matrix, every Borg appearance on Voyager, and like 80% of the websites I made in high school…

SKANTS! SKANTS! SKANTS!

That fake-out joke with the fly-by over the Cerritos model was in the season trailer weeks ago, and I was so enthralled by that handsome lady that the sticker coming into frame still got me good 😂😂😂

BECKY Mariner????? omg yes

Some top-quality Boimler screams in this one. Poor Jack Quaid must drink gallons of throat-coat tea when he records.

One of the great things about Star Trek to me is that you never know what you’re going to get from any random episode. A murder mystery? A road trip? A spooky thriller? A cheesy romance? Broad comedy? Body horror? Didactic political screeds shrouded in tissue-thin science-fiction metaphors? Brain and brain, what is brain??? And after this many years of watching, you’d think I’d be hard to surprise. But if I ever told you I thought I’d see a Blues Brothers–style car chase through a frickin’ shopping mall on an episode of Star Trek, I would have been straight-up lying to you. I loved it, it worked for me, my jaw was on the floor and I was clapping with joy—but I’m definitely comfortable calling this one “unexpected.”

It’s CAPTAIN SHELBY!!! And an ancient babydyke crush rose from the depths of my childhood subconscious… (Also I think her Number One is based on the original makeup—eventually deemed too complicated—for Saru? Now that’s a deep cut.)

In 20th-century Trek, you almost never got to see what was going on inside a starship from the outside. Even after they switched from physical models (where it was next to impossible on a single episode’s budget) to CGI (which was still in its infancy, still not exactly cheap, and still broadcast in SD anyway), it was a rare thrill to see any meaningful interior details in an exterior shot. Disco’s modern VFX have given us some tasty, tasty treats in that department, but nothing quite as sublime as all the pink Doopler light glittering through the Cerritos’s windows.

Mariner says she’ll take her contact Malvus down with her, and threatens that they’ll end up “in the same cell.” Malvus is a Mizarian, a species introduced in TNG’s “Allegiance,” in which Captain Picard is held in a mysterious prison with one. I think I see what you did there, McMahan?

Bartender… so hot… lesbian circuits… overloading…

The Tendi and Rutherford C-story was, well, a C-story within a 22-minute episode, so there wasn’t much to it, but the one scene that mattered actually mattered a lot. I’m ambivalent on whether they should end up romantically involved—I’d prefer they don’t, but they’ll be one of the cutest couples in Trek history if they do—and as long as they keep that pure, sweet friendship between them at the heart of whatever else happens, I’m on board.

Carol Freeman was already one of my favourite captains before this season, and she’s been steadily moving up the list. The quiet throughline about her ambition to be on a better ship has been fascinating so far, and it’s starting to actually make me feel a little conflicted: I’m of course rooting for Captain Freeman to recognize her worth, make Starfleet recognize her worth, and become the ass-kicking captain of a hero ship that she’s clearly ready to be—but that almost surely means she’d be kicking ass off-screen, because LwD isn’t about those kind of adventures, and I’d be devastated not to have Dawnn Lewis on the show every week. So I’m kind of on the edge of my seat about this one!

I had so many favourite jokes this week I put them in a separate list:

“Even the replicated water on the Titan tasted better” is a low-key brilliant dunk on people who can’t shut the fuck up about the cooler places they used to live.

“Ooooh, they have a Quark’s now! That used to just be an empty lot where teens would make mistakes!” ← That’s literally me every time I go back to where I grew up. I felt so Seen™ I almost hid under a blanket.

“I would never go down the stairs!” (evil grin) (goes up the stairs)

The “well, shit” expressions from Mariner and Boimler as their crashed car sank right into the water… which started to bubble innocuously… and then the bottles of Data bubble-bath popped up, paying off a joke I thought had already been paid off—that was the one that woke up my poor cat this week. Just exquisite timing.

“YOUR PAGH IS WEAK, AND IT DISGUSTS ME!” “I don’t even know what that is, but I don’t like your tone!”

“Okona’s in there? He’s not even Starfleet! This is outrageous!” made me shout “NO!” at the screen like I was scolding my cat for scratching furniture. (She did not wake up that time.)

Best background joke: the neon sign at the dive bar advertising FREE SHOTS & BEERS. (Get it? Because they’re on a Federation starbase? Where nobody uses money?)

And of course Quark merchandised DS9.

This wasn’t just a standout episode of Lower Decks, this was a brilliant episode of Star Trek, period. The Dooplers, though extremely silly, are nevertheless also a clever sci-fi metaphor for real and relatable personal/interpersonal issues, and an effective plot catalyst for meaningful character growth from all four of our ensigns and the captain.

The jokes were hilarious, the action was kinetic, the A-, B-, and C-plots linked up thematically, the visuals were consistently and thoroughly gorgeous, the character beats—between Mariner and Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford, Mariner and Capt. Freeman—were all genuine, heartfelt and wholesome, and the references to other Trek canon were both deep and deeply affectionate.

Only 15 episodes in, and this series knows exactly what it is, exactly what it wants to do, and knows that it can knock our socks off doing it. Mike McMahan has said in recent interviews that the back half of S2 (and the apparently almost-fully-written S3) is a straight line uphill in quality from here—which surprised me at first, because McMahan seems like a pretty chill dude who doesn’t normally brag about his own work like that.

But then the Prophets sent me a vision of my space dad Ben Sisko, who reminded me of the words of 1930’s baseball player Dizzy Dean:

“If you can do it, it ain’t bragging.”

[Thanks to cygnus-x1.net for the screenshots this week—I was too lazy to do my own.]

[masked-fox-creations]

Top 10 TV Show List

Tagged by @rum-and-shattered-dreams, thanks!

This is a very tough decision and I am very bad at choosing favorites, but here goes in no particular order:

Courage the Cowardly Dog really shaped me in my formative years. It’s funny, dark, macabre, and some great character/setting designs. It’s inspirational and there are plenty of moments that to this day still creep me the fuck out.

I used this gif specifically because I love both TOS and DS9. I mean all Trek has my heart, but these two especially. I’ve watched so much Trek in my life. So much. Dragged friends into the Trek hole. At its core is hope, and that speaks to me. Also cool aliens.

Alright Ed, Edd, and Eddy is really specially because I wrote my very first piece of fan fiction for it. It was self insert where I was accepted into the trio’s close friend group. Also it’s got a great, unique style to it and probably started my appreciation for the lovable asshole characters.

Rick and Morty. This show is a lot of fun, but also with surprising depth. And then a character named Mr. Poopybutthole.

It’s just a great show. Mystery, intrigue, fun characters, monsters, and Waddles. Gravity Falls is Fantastic. 

I’m so surprised and delighted to find this site has Big Wolf on Campus gifs. This show really means a lot. Not to get too heavy but it was one of my big comforts during a really bad period. Also, quite frankly it helped me realize in retrospect I’m queer as fuck and gave me an OT3 whose hill I’ll die on.

Fuck Bojack Horseman is a heavy show and I adore it. I’d say we really don’t have anything else quite like it. It’s especially unique because we get to see from all the characters’ views and feel just a bit of sympathy or empathy for each, whereas most other shows wouldn’t allow us to do that for all the characters. Also this show can go out of the box and push what an animated show can be, especially like with that underwater episode where there was no dialogue (except at the very very end).

Please give me a bluray remastered set with specials and extras please I’m begging you Disney. It made a generation of monster-philes slash scalies. 

The X-Files is another show I watched so much as a kid, then I did an in depth depression rewatch when I hit my twenties. Mulder’s obsession just clicked with me. The mysteries intrigued me, the characters compelled me, the constant danger and unanswered questions gripped me. The later seasons disappointed me. The revival interested me but ultimately while still good it lacked a little something of its original magic. I still believe in the Scully is Immortal theory (look it up, it makes sense!). Also Scully/Mulder/Skinner is an under appreciated OT3.

I used this gif because there’s none specific for Guy’s Grocery Games, and also it’s amazing holy shit look at it. Beautiful. Majestic. Anyway, I’ve heavily gotten into this show and just adore it. It’s fun, Guy Fieri is a treasure, and it has encouraged me to cook more. A very good cooking show.

Alright, that’s my 10. With no obligation I’ll be tagging: @scarscarchurro, @welcome-to-helliot, @arichu, @lynsleigh, @prince-kenni, @celestialwavelenght, @david-browie

[invisiblefoxfire]

Gotham Season 3

So I was keeping notes for the first few episodes of Gotham (which I blindly started watching at the start of season 3 with no background knowledge whatsoever of either the series or of Batman as a whole), but I stopped after episode 3 because as I got familiar with the story, characters, and setting, it was less fun to give a play-by-play of my thoughts.

I have finished season 3 now and started watching season 4. Alexander Siddig’s character Ra’s al-Ghul (aka the only reason I started watching this series in the first place) arrived in the last episode of season 3 and I just have one thing to say about him:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRLGJTNSWLRIUAHERFJAKLEASDJFADRGHAJSDFJASFDKLSHRGLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy shit he’s the fucking BEST THING EVER OH MY GOD HE’S EVERYTHING I DREAMED!

I started watching this series because, after binging Star Trek DS9 and loving Bashir more than anyone, I looked up the actor on IMDB and saw a photo of him in Gotham as the most extra villain of all time. I had no idea who the character was (still don't really), but I took one look and declared I MUST KNOW WHO HE IS aloud, startling the cat. I imagined what he'd be like based on that photo alone, and now I know that I was RIGHT! He's PERFECT.

Okay, let’s back up a second. Because I’ve never liked Batman. I’ve never liked the character and I’ve never liked the setting or the messages it sends, and this series has confirmed all the things I don’t like. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not here to tell people they shouldn’t enjoy Batman. I’m just saying that I, personally, don’t like him, and I have reasons for that, and I’d like to share those reasons.

First off, in Batman stories, the mentally ill are portrayed as dangerous, violent, to be feared. The mentally ill should be locked away in chains and treated like animals. They should have no human rights whatsoever.

Of course, everyone in Batman is bad. Everyone has a DARK SIDE. Fundamentally, deep down, every single person is evil. Given half a chance, they will destroy each other and themselves.

The city is evil, the people are evil, the police are useless (and probably evil as well). The city is also rife with poverty and serious unemployment. Of course people are becoming criminals - what other options do they have?

And who saves the day? The billionaire who inherited wealth on a scale unimaginable to the average human person, because we literally didn’t evolve to deal with numbers that big. He’s the hero! He saves everyone by using his vast unearned fortune to fund important infrastructure, house every homeless person, give a job to every unemployed person, and provide a universal basic income to every citizen, all of which he can easily do and still remain the wealthiest person in the city.

HAHAHAHA JUST KIDDING no he goes out into the streets and finds people breaking the law and BEATS THE SHIT OUT OF THEM. Then he goes home to his mansion and grumbles about the disgusting filthy violent poors making his city all icky. What a hero!

But of course, there's an obvious counter to my argument: in Gotham, the people really ARE evil. They're not behaving this way because they have no choice, they're doing it because they're mentally ill criminally insane!

Except all of them have backstories that involve trauma, poverty, and loss. Seems like things that could be addressed and helped. Not beaten up by a trust fund kid.

Baby Brucey was best friends with a homeless girl. She was literally homeless, living in whatever squat she could find. She would come have playdates with him at his mansion then go home to her filthy squat. What in the actual fuck though.

So anyway. I watched the whole season, and there comes a point where you just have to go "fuck it, yeah, sure, why the fuck not." You just give up any memories you have from reality in the real world and just... hold onto something and enjoy the ride. It's fucking bananas. This show is the most batshit fucking crazy thing I've ever seen, and the only way to get through it is to detach from reality entirely and just laugh at how nuts it all is.

I abhor violence. I'm extremely sensitive to violence. This show is extremely violent, and I shouldn't even be able to watch it, at least not without nightmares. And yet, it doesn't bother me. It's like watching a cartoon. It's so extreme, so far away from reality, that I don't even empathize with the characters on screen.

Once you let go and take the plunge, it becomes so astonishingly extreme that it's funny. I sat in my chair and binged this entire season in three days and I was fucking cackling the whole time. This is a series where there's a bomb about to go off and you think "hmm, I wonder how the good guys are going to stop it at the last second?" and then they DON'T, they DON'T stop it and the bomb goes off and the city descends into utter chaos and tons of people die.

There seems to be an endless supply of people in this show. No matter how many die, there are always more to take their places. And anyway, half the people who die get brought back to life again anyway.

So the thing is, it's entertaining. For the first time in my life, I get why people can be entertained by something violent. I was never able to understand before because I'm so empathetic, I couldn't bear to see suffering, even in bad people, even in fictional bad people. But these aren't people. They're cartoon characters.

I still despise the message that the Batman setting sends. I despise the message that the mentally ill are violent, dangerous, inhuman monsters. I despise the message that a billionaire isn't obligated to use their wealth for the betterment of other people. I despise the message that violence is the solution to violence, that crime is inherently a personality flaw deserving of punishment.

I can still enjoy the series, because I've managed to separate it from reality in my mind. But I don't think most fans are that aware. I think for a lot of people, this is the main representation they see of mental illness, and that informs their idea of the world. For a lot of people, they think "billionaire vigilante is good guy because he punish bad guy" and never think further than that. And I think that makes the world a worse place.

But since the series exists anyway, I might as well get some entertainment from it. And now that I have Alexander Siddig as Ra's al Ghul to enjoy, I am going to be very entertained, because he is all I dreamed. I just hope we get to see a lot of him.

[majorkirastan]

Angel, gloss, opal for the ask meme

angel: what is your dream aesthetic?

this is...hard because my aesthetic is so variable from day to day but: I love the sunrise and sunset, I love ripples on the surface of a body of water, I love clothes that show off skin (but I'd never have the confidence), I love bright neon colors but also pastels and also dark hues and really any aesthetic palette, I love pale shades of purple and pink, I love warm sweaters and hot cocoa, I love order and also chaos, I love so much and I can’t parcel it away into a single aesthetic

gloss: list ten songs you love right now

I haven’t been listening to music lately, i’m more of a podcast person, but I mostly listen to showtunes & studio ghibli music (and also music from steven universe aha).  

my favorite musicals currently are dear evan hansen and heathers and be more chill but I love a lot of musicals!!

however my favorite non-musical song at the moment is probably ‘if we live’ by disparition.  I also like eliza rickman in general?  this is completely proof of my totally variable aesthetic tastes, because these range from kids’ show music and soft pastel music to music that is weirdly ominous.  I'm well out of my mcr phase but the music is constantly suck in my head as a grim reminder of my emotion past.  help me

opal: talk about your interests and passions

I am passionate about a lot of things, as you can tell from my long responses.  I mostly love podcasts, please talk to me about podcasts, oh my god.  my favorites are wtnv (a Classic) and wtw (really calming) and also the black tapes (creepy as fuck).  I've listened to some of tanis but I kinda gave up.  I am also a fan of alice isn’t dead (gave up on that, too, though) and have just started taz (a BLESSING holy shit).  I fucking love podcasts.  

I pretty clearly love star trek, y’all know this to be true.  I love ds9 the most but the rest have a special place in my heart as well (except enterprise, which I've never gotten around to, and discovery, which I don’t have access to).  ((also nemesis never happened :/))

I watch anime and I like to think I'm out of my ~weeb phase~ but I own a yoi shirt and I fell in love with miss kobayashi’s dragon maid.  (to be fair, it has lesbians and I was charmed.  lucoa is questionable but like,,)

my current (love) interest is @aesthetic-meme-trash, aka my girlfriend, who I will not shut up about ever, but you guys don’t wanna hear that.

I love a lot of other stuff that I haven’t mentioned, too, because. love a shit-ton of stuff!! (these were all long and rambling answers, I apologize)

[aquarianlights]

For The Love Of Spock

Okay if any of you Trekkie fans out there haven’t seen For The Love Of Spock yet. . .PLEASE FUCKING DO. As a hardcore trekkie to best all trekkies, even I learned some things that I didn’t know. And that’s REALLY saying something. I’m deff not on my mom’s level of expert (my mom is the epitome of a hardcore trekkie and could destroy any fan on this planet with her knowledge without even trying), but I am pretty damn solid with my knowledge and trivia of all things Trek. BUT ANYWAYS...

Documentary is by Leonard’s son. . .and illustrates his life from childhood to death and his relationship with his father and a bit of his life. . .a lot of stuff about TOS, insight into the Spock character itself, some stuff from the new cast in the newer movies, make-up and stuff, casting, screenplay, where the Live Long and Prosper hand symbol came from (holy shit I did not know it was a real hand symbol in real life and is religious woah), stuff dealing with Paramount, stuff dealing with NBC, set, uh...lots of stuff. Like...all the things you could think of with most of it dealing with Leonard’s life and his son.

Seriously, go watch when you can focus and won’t get distracted. It’s a little under 2 hours, with the last 6 or so minutes just being credits. Uhm....But yeah, nah, if you’re a hardcore trekkie like I am, for the love of god, WATCH THIS. Even if you JUST became a trekkie, watch it anyways. It’ll still do you good and you will still be super pleased.

It was also REALLY well done. . .so. . .definitely watch it if you haven’t already. I put off watching it for a long time, but now that I finally have, oh lord I am fucking dying of joy right now!

I am personally a long-time trekkie since I was raised on it and have been watching from the age of a toddler in the early 90′s (apparently as a baby, too, but I couldn’t comprehend TV in those days lol). Most kids were raised on cartoons. . .I was raised on pure Star Trek. That’s almost the only thing I was allowed to watch. . .and also the only thing I was allowed to watch. I was born in ‘92...and from ‘92 to 2010, I only watched episodes here and there. Never in order. Saw the whole series of every series except DS9 and the animated series, but never in order. So it never made total sense to me. . .

Then I got Netflix. And made it a point to start every single series from the beginning and watch them ALL beginning to end. And, ofc, watch DS9 for the first time as I had never seen it coz my mom didn’t like DS9 (as a lot of trekkies don’t). I hated the animated series. It’s the only one I do not like. And DS9 has become my all-time favourite over the years with the Dominion being my fave group, the Vorta being my favourite race, and Weyoun being my all-time favourite character...all of this being out of every single piece of Trek available in this world. I have also been keeping up with Discovery even though it’s not on Netflix. Thank god there’s pirating websites. Lol. I have also seen every single series (except animated) a minimum of 10 times all the way through from beginning to end (as I keep it on at night while trying to sleep and I keep it on when all my newer shows are waiting to be put on Netflix). DS9 is the only one I have seen over 20 times all the way through, which is why I know almost every single line and every single episode by heart. Don’t get me wrong, I hate Sisko’s actor as much as everyone else does. . .Sisko’s actor is a shitty actor. But. . .if you can just get past that fact, DS9 is REALLY great and not as bad as everyone says it is. I’m p sure Sisko’s actor is the reason a lot of hardcore trekkies don’t like DS9 since he is such a poor actor. But seriously. . .look past Sisko’s actors acting. . .and fucking REALLY watch the series. It’s fucking fantastic, okay? Seriously. Fucking great. Just try that. Plus, uh...Jeffrey Combs, okay? Lololol.

BUT EVEN AS A HARDCORE TREKKIE, I learned a lot from this documentary. And it made my heart fucking burst with joy.

Watch it, please!

[discotreque]

LwD 1.10, “No Small Parts”

Well, that was the most fun I've had watching Star Trek in literally a quarter of a century.

I had high hopes for this series. I love TAS, largely because of its wacky outsized concepts that could only have worked in animation—not that they all did work, but the potential was so apparent to me, even as a kid reading the Alan Dean Foster novelizations—and as an adult, there's something about the imagination of Lower Decks's FX setpieces that transcends even the glorious CGI bonanzas of Discovery.

Pause for a confession. I've long pushed back against criticism of serialization in new Trek. That's just how TV is now, okay? Might as well complain about it being in widescreen. But I'm backing down a little, because I've realized there is something about Star Trek that's inextricable from at least a partially-episodic format. And while Picard was telling a different kind of story, I can't deny that my favourite episodes of Disco have been the ones with a mostly self-contained A-plot. After 10 delightfully episodic instalments of LwD, its focus on long-term development of characters instead of a season-spanning puzzle-plot (okay, mostly just Mariner, but we only have 10 × 22 minutes and she is the star) has been downright refreshing.

So here we are, at the end of the most consistent and well-executed Season 1 of a Star Trek series since, arguably, Those Old Scientists. And sure, if they'd had to produce another... yikes, 42 episodes? Then sure, they probably would have dropped a clunker or two—but they didn't, and winning on a technicality is still winning. I'm practically vibrating with excitement for Disco to come back next week, but damn, I'm going to miss this little show while it's on hiatus.

Spoilers below:

Something I've been keeping track of finally paid off this week! (Which never happens to me, lol.) The destruction of the USS Solvang marked the first present-day death(s) of any Starfleet officer on Lower Decks, the only other on-screen killing at all being a flashback in "Cupid's Errant Arrow". Which makes sense, being (a) a comedy, and (b) about typically "expendable" characters: it hasn't been afraid to flirt with a little darkness here and there, but killing people off at Star Trek's usual pace wouldn't just be wrong for the tone, it would be downright bizarre.

But... people die on Star Trek. That's one of the core themes of the show, really: space is full of knowledge and beauty, but also danger and terror, and believing that the former is worth the risk of the latter is (according to Trek) one of humanity's most noble traits. I'm the least bloodthirsty TV watcher I know, but the longer we went with a body count of nil—ships completely evacuated before they were destroyed, main characters hilariously maimed without permanent consequences, etc.—well, I didn't mind per se, but the absence of truly deadly stakes was definitely getting conspicuous.

Turns out they were saving it up for maximum impact. And holy fuck, I've never felt such a pit in my stomach watching a ship get destroyed that wasn't named Enterprise. It felt grim and brutal and somehow both much too quick and dreadfully inevitable—and yeah, it looked extremely fucking cool—and I'd like every other Star Trek property for the rest of time to take notes under a large bold heading labeled RESTRAINT.

Comedy doesn't need to do this, but my favourite comedy does, and in a way that few other art forms can even approach: lower my emotional defences by making me laugh, endear character(s) to me with goofy-but-relatable antics—then BAM, sucker-punch me in the motherfucking feels. M*A*S*H is probably the classic example on TV, Futurama was notorious for it, and even Archer has pulled it off a few times; it's also a staple of some of my favourite standup. I wasn't sure if Lower Decks was going to go there in Season 1—and wasn't sure if they'd earn it—but I knew if they did, that they'd nail it, and damn. Feels good to be right.

Last batch of notes for the season!!! I rambled enough already, so let's do it liveblog-style:

I fucking KNEW they were going to use "archive" visuals from TAS at some point, I KNEW IT :D

"THOSE OLD SCIENTISTS" ahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I like chill and confident Boimler a lot? You can really see—

oh bRADWARD NOOOOO

That opening shot of the Solvang tracking down to the red giant was extremely Discovery-esque... minus the motion sickness, that is

A lady captain AND a lady first officer? That's—oh hey, it's Captain Dayton's brand-new ship. Hahaha, that means they're totally fucked, right?.

Yep! They sure a—umm, wh—shit, okay, but—oh no—no, you can't—wait DON'T

...fuck

FUCK.

Narrator: "And then Amy needed a five-hour break."

[live-action Star Trek showrunner voice] "Gee, Mike! Why does CBS let you have two cold opens?"

Okay, yes, the bit with Rutherford cycling through all the different attitudes in his implant was transparently an excuse for Eugene Cardero to vamp while waiting for something to do in the story, but as far as I'm concerned they can contrive a reason for him to do a bunch of different silly Rutherfords in a row any time they damn well want, because that was classic!!!

EXOCOMP EXOCOMP EXOCOMP EXOCOMP

AND THE EXOCOMP IS PAINTED LIKE THE EXOCOMP IS WEARING A LITTLE EXOCOMP-SIZED STARFLEET UNIFORM

EXOCOMP!!!!!

The slow burn and now the payoff of the Mariner-is-Freeman's-secret-daughter plot has been executed so well. I'm beyond impressed with this writer's room, y'all—they are threading a hell of a needle here

"Wolf 359 was an inside job" would have been a spit-take if I'd had anything in my mouth

...how many memos do you think Starfleet Command has had to issue asking people to stop calling the USS Sacramento "the Sac"?

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW THEY'VE DECORATED THE SHUTTLECRAFT SEQUOIA THOUGH

Is, uh, is it weird if I'm starting to ship Tendi and Peanut Hamper a little? It is weird, isn't it. I knew it was weird...

Coital barbs??? I take back everything I said about wanting to know more about Shaxs/T'Ana.

The "good officer" version of Mariner is... kind of hot, tbh! But Tawny Newsome has done such a great job of building this character all season that her voice getting uncharacteristically clipped and martial and "sir! yes, sir!" is also deeply, deeply weird

Ah, so this is literally exactly like when TNG (and DS9) would bring in, and then blow up, a never-before-seen Galaxy-class ship, just to underscore that we're facing a real threat this week, baby. And hey, it fucking worked—my heart was in my throat, omg, for the reveal of the—

PAKLEDS?????????

The fucking PAKLEDS have been gluing weapons to their ships for the last 15 years. GREAT.

(We interrupt the SHIP BEING SLICED INTO SCRAP for an interesting bit of world-building: on Earth, the traditional First Contact Day meal is salmon!)

"I need a dangerous, half-baked solution that breaks Starfleet codes and totally pisses me off! That's an order." I'm starting to think Captain Freeman might actually be overqualified for the Cerritos, y'all—she's REALLY awesome

OH SHIT IT'S BADGEY, this is a TERRIBLE IDEA

"How much contraband have you hidden on my ship?" "I don't know! A lot!"

Awwww, Boims!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHA, FUCK THIS, PEANUT HAMPER OUT

BADGEY NOOOOO

AUGHHHHH WHAT THE CHRIST DID HE JUST—BUT—RUTHERFORD'S IMPLANT????

RUTHERFORD!!!!!!!!!!

SHAXS!!!!!!

F U C K ! ! ! ! !

ahaIOPugdfhagntpgjrq90e5mgu90qe5;oigoqgw4ouegrw5SP;IAEHURVa IT’S THE TITAN???????????

IT'S CAPTAIN WILLIAM T. RIKER ON THE MOTHERFUCKING TITAN??????????

i'm screaming I'M SCREAMINGGGGGG​TGGGTGQER;​LBHAOIBVNV;​OAPBIJNVagr;h;​oagruipuwtnaetbaetgq35ghqet

I'M SO GLAD THIS WASN'T SPOILED FOR ME WTF

I AM WEEPING LIKE A CHILD

...

(Just a brief 20-minute pause this time)

And oh wow, seeing Will and Deanna hits different after Picard too, in a few different ways, which I may even get into later now that my heartrate is back to normal, lmao

Oh, I am always here for some jokes at the expense of the Sovereign class. The Enterprise-E sucked. They should have built a new bigger model of the D and new Galaxy-class interiors for the TNG movies, and I will die on that hill

OKAY, FINE, YOU GOT ME, RUTHERFORD × TENDI WOULD BE ADORABLE AND THIS IS ACTUALLY A PRETTY GOOD SETUP FOR IT

Awwww, Shaxs though :( Congrats on the single most badass death in Star Trek history, dude. The Prophets would—well, the actual Prophets would probably be slightly confused about most of it, but Kira Nerys would be proud of you and I feel like that probably counts for more. RIP, Papa Bear

I am here all damn DAY for the Mariner–Riker parallels, ahahahahaha

Pausing it to record my prediction that Boimler's commitment to not caring about rank anymore is going to last 3... 2...

Yep.

Bradward, how DARE YOU.

"Those guys had a long road, getting from there to here." OH FOR THE LOVE OF—

What a brilliant way to resolve and renew the various character arcs and relationships moving into Season 2! The writers could easily have brought everything back to status quo—chaotic Mariner fighting with her mom and being a bad influence on Boimler, etc.—and done another 10 just like these, but I suspect that wouldn't have been ambitious enough for these writers. What a blast. I cannot wait for more.

Thanks for following along, friends! Stay tuned for my (similarly patchy and amateur) coverage of Discovery, starting next week!