Star Trek: Lower Decks: The New Next Generation
December 19, 2024 9:42 PM - Season 5, Episode 10 - Subscribe

Don't cry because it's over, smile because [redacted] saved the universe. Well, maybe cry a little if you feel like it. We've earned it.

Memory Alpha is still wondering what a bramble is:

- Yeah, you know, you can go read a bunch of stuff at Memory Alpha, they already have plenty and will have plenty more.

Poster's Log:

I don't have a lot to say about the episode itself, but I do want to say that I think that Lower Decks may be the most consistently good Trek series to date. It started strong and left us wanting more, and in the end, what more can you ask?
posted by Halloween Jack (20 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Oops, can use a [series finale] thing above the "more inside" line. Mods, please and thank you; everyone else, sorry, it's been a long day.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:43 PM on December 19 [1 favorite]


I’m definitely crying. Such a great episode and a nice way to send off the crew.
posted by billsaysthis at 9:44 PM on December 19 [3 favorites]


I'm going to start this in a few minutes but I went on Wikipedia today because I couldn't remember when new episodes came out, saw this was the final one in the epsiode list, and got a bit verklempt. I thought there was one more for some reason. Too soon.
posted by figurant at 10:51 PM on December 19 [2 favorites]


It was perfect! I'm gonna miss that crew!
posted by Space Kitty at 11:51 PM on December 19 [2 favorites]


There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment near the start where the crew of the Klingon ship hit by the rift are transformed into the controversial Klingon redesign from Season One of ST:Discovery. If you take that at face value, it implies that Discovery is set in an alternate quantum reality, and thus so is Strange New Worlds.

This of course would explain any continuity issues with SNW, including the internal and external redesign of the Enterprise. Perhaps the temporal conflicts that we are told affected the timeline such as to push Khan's birth and the Eugenics Wars back several decades created a separate quantum reality.

It is safe to say that I am probably over-thinking this.
posted by Major Clanger at 3:30 AM on December 20 [12 favorites]


man, I’m gonna miss this show, but I hope the Tawny Newsome thing winds up coming to fruition

Such a perfect ending, ending in such a perfect ending. Science besties! Vulcan salute friendship high-five! Engage the core! aaaaahhhhh
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:14 AM on December 20 [2 favorites]


NGL, I got a little teary at the end, but overall I thought last week's episode was better. The shout-outs to all the various starship designs was neat, and the "Science Besties" moment was epic. Of all of the shows of the Kurtzman Era, this one had the most heart and felt the most like Star Trek. Gonna miss it a lot.
posted by briank at 5:35 AM on December 20 [5 favorites]


I loved this, great end for the series.

I'm not too sad it's over though: it had a solid 5 seasons, and I don't want to watch it fade out into Simpson-ish repetition. Along with Strange New Worlds it brought some of the joy back to Star Trek.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 6:12 AM on December 20 [2 favorites]


What is the Tawny Newsome thing?
posted by sixswitch at 6:12 AM on December 20


What is the Tawny Newsome thing?

Here's an interview where Tawny goes into what she's working on, but in short, it's a live action work place comedy set on a resort planet (not Risa) outside of the Federation. She hasn't shared a lot more details than that because it seems like they're still working things out.

I felt this was a fitting send off that mixed the things that made Lower Decks fun (the silliness of the changes occurring) with excitement and even continuing to move the characters forward. The show always captured the spirit of Star Trek, the optimism for the future, a determination that things can be accomplished by science and human(oid) will. It was always a love letter to the franchise that sparked joy in 22 minute installments. I'm going to miss it, but like TheophileEscargot said, I'm also okay with it ending here and now.

Granted, now I've got to buy up the blurays.
posted by Atreides at 6:33 AM on December 20 [4 favorites]


Yay! We did it, everyone!

This episode was entirely "how much fanservice can we pack in before it's time to switch the lights off", but they made it work. Everyone got their competence porn moment (even Starbase 80!), they pulled off some incomprehensible Kirk bullshit, and Captain Jack got everyone high tonight. There wasn't much of a plot in there, but there didn't need to be.

Anyway. Good show. Nice ep.
posted by phooky at 6:56 AM on December 20 [1 favorite]


I’m with Briank. I thought last week’s episode was stronger-I think they tried to cram too much into this one. But, I still enjoyed it. I liked the payoff with Starbase 80, and the ending set up possibilities for future specials or whatever with these characters, so I’ll take it.
posted by wittgenstein at 7:41 AM on December 20 [2 favorites]


Ransom couldn't have come up with a more perfect make-ship-go-now than "engage the core". Absolutely terrible, on brand, 5 stars.
posted by coriolisdave at 7:19 PM on December 20 [17 favorites]


According to Jesse Gender, who talked with some people on the show, they were working on this episode when they learned that they weren't getting renewed. That would explain why this episode felt rushed while the last one didn't despite having more fan moments packed in.

I guess 'leaving us wanting more' is a good place to end on, but I really want more. They had two shows' worth of direction ahead of them, with Capt. Ransom promising to be a Kirk-style captain and Freeman setting up a DS-9 style station.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:48 PM on December 20 [3 favorites]


Not a perfect send-off, but definitely a fun send-off. SCIENCE-BESTIES!
posted by rmd1023 at 5:57 AM on December 21 [1 favorite]


The utterly gleeful lampshading of "Engage The Core!" in its final (?) breath sums up the chaotic love of Lower Decks for the rest of the Star Trek universe.
posted by ewan at 6:54 AM on December 21 [3 favorites]


OK, I would like at least 5 more LD seasons, a feature film or two, and a Starbase 80 spinoff. Please and thank you.

Just take all the money that has been going towards making grimdark Trek for the past decade, and send it directly to the Lower Decks creative team.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 8:19 AM on December 21 [6 favorites]


They had two shows' worth of direction ahead of them, with Capt. Ransom promising to be a Kirk-style captain and Freeman setting up a DS-9 style station.

Yeah, I don't really expect it, but I'd be BEYOND THRILLED if they announced that, yes, Lower Decks has come to an end...because obviously those characters couldn't remain junior officers forever. So next season will bring two new shows: Star Trek: Starbase 80 and Star Trek: Cerritos.
posted by The Tensor at 1:31 PM on December 21 [8 favorites]


The alchemy of this show was how everyone in the cast was a broad joke -- Mariner is a chaos muppet ... Boimler is a career-minded embryo ... Ransom is a guy who's in love with his mirror ... Dr. Ta'anna has wicked rage issues and the bedside manner of a chi-targ... Shaxx is a hardass haunted veteran who loves big explosions ... while also being 100% Starfleet. The show veers between jokey stuff and Star Trek competence porn with great finesse.

Ransom in particular could have been the Michael Scott of the Star Trek universe. "Engage the core" is the perfect exit for the series.
posted by Sauce Trough at 10:58 AM on December 26


I think that Lower Decks may be the most consistently good Trek series to date. It started strong and left us wanting more, and in the end, what more can you ask?

An intriguing proposition!

TOS: Started promising if not strong, got intermittently great, and started to fade a bit in the final season, which is especially regrettable as it had so few.
TNG: Absolutely did not start strong, got intermittently great, and started to fade a bit in the final season, but even with 7 seasons still "left us wanting more" if you use the first couple TNG films' box-office as a rubric.
VOY: Started strong, then immediately faceplanted, such that by the end we were left wanting less somehow.
ENT: Started wobbly, got worse, then started to get quite good, but only arguably good enough to leave us wanting more.
DISCO: Started wobbly, stayed wobbly throughout, but had enough heart to leave us wanting at least a little more.
PIC: Started wobbly, got worse, then got worse still, managing to wear out its welcome in only three (short) seasons.

But!:
DS9: Started…strong in certain ways, then got great and pretty much stayed there, with a tiny (for the franchise) proportion of duds along the way—leading up to easily the hardest-hitting finale Trek has had.

I'm inclined to grade DS9 on a bit of a curve w/r/t LDS because DS9 didn't depend upon its commentary on the franchise itself as much as LDS did; it was less meta (though not none meta), which to me feels like it should at least somewhat impact this type of comparison. (Kind of in the same way that somebody new to Trek shouldn't start with DS9.)

OTOH, LDS had even fewer duds! So I guess I'll call it a tie in the "most consistently good" department.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 1:38 PM on January 2


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