“Strange Energies”

Long-time reader; first-time commenter!

I think I actually enjoyed this episode *more" than any of Rick & Morty's new season so far.. did this show steal their best writer or something? Considering I never made it to Discovery's 3rd season, this is probably my favourite Trek material currently being produced.

The prison escape opening was entertaining (including all the ship cameos), the reference to Gary Mitchell was amusing, and I like that they waited to the end to show us a snippet of the Titan, which will presumably get more screentime next week before Boimler ends up shipped back to the Cerritos (not spoilers, just fairly confident speculation that they'll restore the status quo faster than, say, DS9's occupied station arc).

Best joke was the jab at TNG's "no interpersonal conflict among the crew" rule that the writers hated so much.

It was alright.

I still hope that they start to tone down the characters a bit more, it still takes me out a bit with everyone hamming it up, but when it comes to tone I do think that that's something that this episode got a bit right, or at least with the pacing. Unlike a lot of the early episodes of Season 1 this one wasn't quite moving at a breakneck speed, it made things a lot less jarring which I definitely liked.

The opening I definitely liked for the most part, the continuity with Mariner working out her problems in the holodeck was a nice and sensible callback, and it definitely showed some self-awareness for the nepotism to follow in the episode. The special effects were top notch, and all the 'member berries with the Miranda class and the TNG-phasers shooting off was splendid, though it did end in a bit of a groaner of a line.

I think I appreciated the B-story more than the A-story, Trek has never had a good relationship with... relationships, but watching Tendi chase Rutherford around with the medical gun and space scalpal was charming, and not stating the whole subtext yet was nice as well!

A-story I was less enthusiastic about. I like the idea of second contact, I also liked them toying around with the titular "strange energies" and their history and effects, it's all stuff that definitely works great with the freedom animation gives. On the other hand, the melodrama and stuff from God-powered Ransom was a bit too much, the sidekick Lieutenant Commader fella was definitely a bit too much, and the resolution of kicking him in the nuts just didn't do it for me.

Going forward, I still think this show is definitely improving, and if it goes up in the direction of the Orville then that'd be extremely ideal, which it very well might as it has more and more time to expand on and settle it's main characters. This show is definitely at it's best when it expands on things we couldn't or didn't see in TNG/DS9, or when it tackles wacky sci-fi issues that wouldn't have been as doable in 70's Trek. I definitely remain cautiously optimistic, and of the three Trek shows out right now I appreciate this one the most, if nothing else because it gets the aesthetic and feel of Trek right.

Next week, judging from the teaser clip and such I'm guessing we'll be getting a B-story on the Titan, definitely looking forward to seeing a Captain Riker in his prime.

Gonna call 2.5/4 for this one. Nice opening, solid B-story, eh A-story.

Tedious, apart from the opening surprise holodeck sequence. I'm tired of the rebellious daughter- type A mother captain fixation already.

Too hyper-active in all regards. Although the references to earlier Trek are always welcome, it doesn't work at all well in this episode, which is just a frantic spectacle jumping from one thing to the next. The interplay between the various characters was scattergun and the pacing felt like it was stuck on 3x running speed. Too much happening too intensely. Exhausting to watch.

I grew to enjoy the first season of LD and recommended it here, but this opener is not the place for anyone to start.

Maybe later stuff on the Titan will be better. Didn't sound like Frakes' voice doing Riker, incidentally.

Barristan wrote:

"Best joke was the jab at TNG's "no interpersonal conflict among the crew" rule that the writers hated so much."

I got a chuckle out of that as well. And of course this episode is about personal conflicts among the crew...

The character stories were good choices, and at least I liked how Mariner's maturing from season 1's finale seemed to take to some degree. But like Jammer says, this episode was zanier than it needed to be to tell these stories. There was also a missing opportunity to develop the angle that Captain Freeman's husband was pushing for the same sort of nepotism that Freeman was practicing on her daughter. Maybe they'll develop that later.

Next week is undoubtedly a Boimler episode. It looks like he'll want to transfer back to the Cerritos, but I guess we'll see.

With you on the middle-of-the-road rating, Jammer. I found myself onboard with the madcap escalation of Ransom's powers and the subsequent resolution - it felt suitably ridiculous for this show and yet perfectly in keeping with the Trek tropes it's playing with - but the Tendi/Rutherford subplot got tiring fast, which is a shame as it started out very promisingly.

Overall though this felt far less forced than the opening half of season 1 did, which I think is a combination of my own growing familiarity with the characters and the show's still-developing rhythms, as well as the writers learning they can throttle back a little bit and let things breathe occasionally. Hopefully they can continue the positive trajectory that season 1 finished on, where the worst we'll get is a "meh" rather than a "that was not funny at all".

Honestly, didn't any of you sit around with your friends in the 90s making stupid immature jokes about things you couldn't take seriously about Star Trek because you loved it so much. And now there's a whole show that is that thing and it's extremely funny.
(If you want Star Trek to be what it was in the 60s and 90s, why don't you just watch reruns of Star Trek from that era?)

@PM

I was pleasantly surprised by the first season of LD, and I actually consider LD to be the only NuTrek worth watching. I do understand your point, and I really am genuinely happy that you're so enthusiastic about LD; I have always liked that each individual Trek series has its own subset of fans.

I genuinely want the second season of LD to be good.

"Too hyper-active in all regards. Although the references to earlier Trek are always welcome, it doesn't work at all well in this episode, which is just a frantic spectacle jumping from one thing to the next. The interplay between the various characters was scattergun and the pacing felt like it was stuck on 3x running speed. Too much happening too intensely. Exhausting to watch."

100% agree. It also doesn't even tend to affect the plot very much. Like other Star Treks, the actual plot is about dialogue between the characters and that is what moves things along. So all the madcap spectacles just feel like filler. And there is definitely an element whereby the action packed scenes are so intense that even very major events are devalued. A whole solar system going supernova seems less meaningful than a shot of Picard looking very concerned.

I'm not sure you get this Jammer. It's supposed to be madcap and zany! It's meant for a younger audience (and it's preciously the reason I love it as an adult.) It's different that regular Trek and refreshing as a result.

@Tomalak

"It also doesn't even tend to affect the plot very much. Like other Star Treks, the actual plot is about dialogue between the characters and that is what moves things along. So all the madcap spectacles just feel like filler."

It's a pity, because LD is clearly trying its hardest to be a character-based show in the best tradition of Trek: no one can fault LD for having heart. The problem, as you point out, is simply one of balance and the inevitable jarring between this character interaction aspect, the madcap zaniness because cartoon, and the constant fourth wall breaking. LD is trying to have its cake and eat it, and getting said cake everywhere.

The character development in LD is well-intentioned. I don't care much for the flippant nepotism between Freeman and Mariner here, and Mariner is so glib and arrogant about that in this episode as to be unlikeable once again (perhaps that's the point?), but I can see the writers are aiming for an arc in which Freeman and Mariner realise something about themselves both individually and about the mother-daughter bond more generally. (And of course I expect they will portray this infinitely better than how Burnham and her mother were depicted in DIS.)

I much preferred Strange Energies to Second Contact. It took three or four episodes to warm up during the first season, but I just had a better vibe with this one.

I may have only laughed a few times during this episode, but I felt more of an emotional connection to the characters, like the second half of season one.

Did Riker's enthusiastic face right at the end have anyone else howling with laughter?

@Andrew Taylor-Cairns

"I much preferred Strange Energies to Second Contact. It took three or four episodes to warm up during the first season, but I just had a better vibe with this one."

Definitely agree here!! I thought the same while watching this episode.

While I didn't enjoy the "mother-daughter" theme here, I'm glad they are past that and we can move on. That said, they needed to address it after the season 1 closer.

While the "god-like" powers were overdone, there were snippets during the show that cracked me up. Ransom's disciples lifting weights, the bolder... it wasn't too bad. It did seem to drag on.

Mariner's holodeck stuff was pretty cool. I liked this line from Boimler: "they keep showing me lights!" ... lol

Tendi zapping Rutherford was pretty funny. I like everything these two are in, and while a little over the top for Tendi - I can see her seriously worrying about losing Rutherford as a friend.

Mariner resolving this whole Gary Mitchell thing by repeatedly kicking Ransom in the nuts was not required IMO and a little tasteless. I would expect that on The Orville, not here.

Off to the Titan next week... I can't wait. We need to get Boimler back onboard the Cerritos.

Not horrible, but not up the level the last season ended with.

I'll go 2.5 stars.

Welcome aboard Barristan!!

2.5 for me. The Ransom stuff was amusing and I really liked the B story.

It wasn't the worse possible start to season 2 so I'm still game for more.

If I could have 5 minutes to sit down with the creators/writers of Lower Decks I'd ask them one simple question:

"Why do you believe that this show can't have any quiet moments? Previous Treks had them. Thoughtful discussions between crew members which didn't proceed at warp speed. Holodeck scenes which weren't hectic battles but which were still amusing. Poker games or ten-forward scenes with a relaxed pace rather than ramping the tension up to 100."

Spot on review.
(Got a ‘the the’ to edit Jammer)

Nice review Jammer.

Lower Decks is excruciatingly unfunny (tries too hard all the time), headache inducing in its overbearing chattiness (every talks all the time, way too quickly), too nerdy for its own good even by Trek standards, and really isn't written all too well.

A gigantic failure that should be given the boot, and yet here we are, renewed for Season 3.

Eh. I'd go 2 and a half, easy. It was good for a larf. :)

And to me, that's really the thing about LD; it's not really *that* interested in telling stories. You can tell that it's just riffing on Trek Lore to get a giggle out of you. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The whole subplot of Dr. T'Ana's solution to Ransom's "Godification" being to drop a boulder on him (like Gary Mitchell in "Where No Man Has Gone Before") is sort of the prime example here.

But that's the thing; you're watching a cartoon. It's just supposed to be funny; character building is fine as a bit of dessert for it, but it's not intended to be the centerpiece. This is all strictly for the lolz.

My dad's a huge Trekkie and was the tender young age of 13 when Star Trek first aired on TV. He thinks it's hilarious, and I'm starting to come around to it, too.

The problem, I think, is that Trek has given us some of the most potent dramatic presentations that Television has ever beamed into our homes (sorry). To come down from that, once the ideas have really been repeated ad nauseum (which they have, honestly), is a bit of a pill to swallow, but I'll take it over the same uber-dramatic plots being rehashed again and again with Michael Burnham tying it all together with a "We R Stawrflurt" speech at the end. Not forever, but I will take it.

Lower Decks is in that comfy "just ok" zone, so far. It does make me giggle. Should I expect more from a cartoon? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Time will tell, I suppose.

Huh, that's funny, I seem to have the opposite opinion of most everybody. I hated almost all of season 1 except the last episode, and I liked this one much better. Wasn't impressed with the opening scene until it turned out to be a holoprogram with an understandable purpose (which is more than I could say for the previous one). Wasn't thrilled to see the Gary Mitchell remake pop up, but actually it got funnier as they went where only animation could go. When the giant head was chasing the ship (and lurking outside the window while Tendi was sulking), I actually giggled for the first time in this whole series. I don't know how Ransom recovered from being boulder-smashed, but I don't especially care - didn't want to lose another character so soon.

I didn't like the Tendi-Rutherford plot, which was a rerun of the Mariner-Boimler plot from last season. No excuse for that, and it wasn't funny either time. But overall, Giant Head Ransom Eating the Cerritos made the whole thing worthwhile for me.