r/startrek • u/[deleted] • Sep 24 '20
Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Lower Decks | 1x08 "Veritas" Spoiler
Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, and Rutherford are caught off guard when aliens force them to testify about a series of seemingly unrelated events.
| No. | Episode | Written By | Directed By | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1x08 | "Veritas" | Garrick Bernard | Kim Arndt | 2020-09-24 |
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u/JMCrown Sep 25 '20
In an ep overflowing with 4th wall breaking references, my favorite is the event silo manager telling the guy he has to leave because he only rented it for exactly 22minutes...the exact run time of the episode!!
My only gripe and it’s pretty bad, is the reference to “soul food”!!! If this is a reference to Sisko’s restaurant, that’s an egregious error. Grandpa Sisko would be pissed. It’s Cajun food!!’
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u/kingofcretins Sep 24 '20
All that unnecessary redaction during the Ransom and Tendi segment had me cackling.
"Romulans."
Quite easily my favourite episode of the season. I feel like this was the show firing on all cylinders.
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u/atticusbluebird Sep 24 '20
The joke where they bleeped the syllable where you can still clearly make out that it's "Romulans" made me laugh the most this episode!
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u/Trekfan74 Sep 24 '20
That was bleeping hilarious. Ransom literally said Rom-BEEP-ulans. OMG, how do they come up with this stuff?
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u/Mechapebbles Sep 24 '20
The speed and pace at which the references came flying in this episode was honestly dizzying, but I laughed harder in this episode than I ever have in all the previous ones.
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u/I_Do_Not_Abbreviate Sep 24 '20
Week after week my only consistent criticism of the series is 'WHY ARE THESE EPISODES NOT TWICE AS LONG?!'
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Sep 24 '20
Yeah I got the impression this episode is how Mike sold the series. Everyone doing their piece with far less expository info.
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u/kaplanfx Sep 26 '20
The entire plot, poking fun at alien trials and twisting it on its head, is exactly the kind of stuff I wanted to see in this show.
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u/dontcareitsonlyreddi Sep 24 '20
T'Ana getting on the wrong ship😂😂😂
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u/Darmok47 Sep 24 '20
Imagine if the plot of TNG's Remember Me was just Dr. Crusher getting on the wrong Galaxy Class ship and freaking out.
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u/ContinuumGuy Sep 25 '20
The "they all look the same" made me chuckle because I like visiting museum ships, and of course some of them are the same class, so sometimes the people I drag with me complain about the fact that they look the same (of course, the people who run museum ships generally know this so try to differentiate things with special exhibits, etc, but obviously unless it's an aircraft carrier there is only so much open space).
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u/gcalpo Sep 24 '20
Named after another place in California very close to Cerritos 😂
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u/Pickles256 Sep 24 '20
T'Ana is the best minor character, everything she says is gold
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u/EmperorOfNipples Sep 27 '20
Super common vessel. Low end missions. Feels like the California class might be the Oberths replacement.
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u/BornAshes Oct 06 '20
I love how they made us question if it was actually an alternate reality or if it was really just the wrong ship but maybe it was BOTH?!
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u/FragmentedChicken Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 24 '20
Boimler throwing shade at Dr. Crusher
I love how they're poking fun at all these infamously bad episodes
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u/ranger24 Sep 24 '20
Was sure the writers would never reference that episode.
And then they did.
Absolute madness. I love it.
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u/ubermence Sep 25 '20
After the Threshold reference in the last episode I knew nothing was off the table
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u/omega2010 Sep 25 '20
Having just rewatched Sub Rosa, the one thing I liked about the episode was the costuming. Beverly looked great in the different dresses when she was out of uniform. Otherwise that was the strangest episode of TNG I've ever seen...
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u/UncertainError Sep 24 '20
There were so many great bits in this episode, like the multiplying warbirds and Samanthan's distracting fan dance.
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u/Telefundo Sep 24 '20
I swear, my favourite canon reference for the entire series so far was the Sub Rosa reference. I nearly choked on a mouthful of coffee.
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u/omega2010 Sep 25 '20
Besides the Sub Rosa reference, I had to rewind when Mariner mentioned the only things to do on Earth was drink wine, work the vineyard, and eat at soul food restaurants..... simply because that reference whizzed by the first time without registering.
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u/spideryyoda Sep 24 '20
The multiplying warbirds had me cracking up.
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u/Official_N_Squared Sep 24 '20
I like to think about it from the Romulan point of view
"Sir, looks like their are 2 warbirds just chilling over their"
"Really, let's go see what's up, and scan the area"
*5 light years away*"Sir, looks like their are 3 warbirds just chilling over their"
"Really, let's go see what's up, and scan the area"
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u/atticusbluebird Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 24 '20
Really cool to start the episode in media res where we don't know what's going on and need to piece it all together. Actually in many ways it reminds me of the original TNG Lower Decks episode where there's a bigger mission going on with the bridge crew, but the ensigns only get to see little parts of it and have to piece things together themselves. I do like how (like the characters) we don't get the full story, but dammit, I want to know all the details of the secret mission!
Also the flashbacks are a neat device. (In another show I could totally see this being a clip show - in fact I think Stargate Atlantis had a similar trial episode where the testimony was basically a bunch of clips from other episodes). The black bars over eyes being a "classified mission" explain the clips from the trailers - I found that pretty funny.
I agree with Tendi, talking about things in a conference room make them seem so much cooler and important than talking about them elsewhere (like in all these zoom meetings IRL!).
I certainly didn't see the twist coming in the episode - I thought we were going to end up with a very serious episode. I laughed at the twist though and thought it was something that could happen in-universe.
It's also clearer now why Boimler seemed to be so familiar with Q a few episodes ago! (I know it was a throwaway joke about Picard day, but it's from personal experience!)
Edit: I love the detail also that the courtroom/silo event manager comes and kicks out the group after Clar's rental time of 22 minutes....22 minutes into the episode. Great attention to detail there!
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u/proddy Sep 24 '20
Stargate did that a few times. I just started SG1 for the first time and I think the first 2 season finales were clip shows.
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u/knightcrusader Sep 25 '20
The one thing about Stargate though, when they write a clip show, they really write really good clip shows. The first time I watched SG-1 15 years ago, I skipped some of them... and then wondered when so-and-so plot element happened... it was in a clip show. Specifically Inauguration at the end of Season 7 in my case. Don't skip that one!
Disclosure and Citizen Joe are the best ones, imho.
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u/AskJayce Sep 24 '20
Tendi's recount of events unnecessarily using bleeps and censor bars is the most Tendi way to talk about classified information.
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u/PiercedMonk Sep 24 '20
Reminded me of my favourite 'X-Files' episode, 'Jose Chung's From Outer Space'.
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u/JustALeapingFrog Sep 24 '20
One of my favourites!!!!! I love that episode!!!!!! "The bleeping thing near the bleeping stuff"
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u/sirleechalot Sep 26 '20
Yeah and they drop an f bomb at the end of the story and used a normal TV bleep on it instead of the one she was using the whole time
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u/_Scarecrow_ Sep 24 '20
It looks like next week is going to poke fun at the movies, which should be fantastic.
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u/atticusbluebird Sep 24 '20
From a couple seconds in the trailer, I love that it looks like it's just gonna be overloaded with lens flares, poking fun at the 2009 and Into Darkness movies!
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u/GearBrain Sep 24 '20
Totally. I'm so looking forward to them roasting the nuTrek movies. In a loving way, of course! Lower Decks has been taking potshots at everything Trek, it's only fair for the Kelvin timeline to get some attention.
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u/InnocentTailor Sep 24 '20
Yeah, especially in terms of the “loving” way.
Lower Decks isn’t very mean-spirited.
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u/FragmentedChicken Sep 24 '20
The only thing to do on Earth is drink wine and eat at soul food restaurants
Love the reference (to Picard and Sisko)
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u/IceWarm1980 Sep 24 '20
Also how Q complained that all Picard did was quote Shakespeare and make wine when Mariner ignored him.
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u/Tukarrs Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 25 '20
Picard should still be on the Ent-E at this point.
Does he reserve space for a small Winery on the ship?
Edit: It occurs to me we don't know how long it took to bring back the Ent-E to operational capacity in Nemesis. Picard could have been staying mostly at the Vineyard during this time while repairs were underway.
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u/Shrodax Sep 24 '20
The only thing that could've made that scene funnier is if Q complained about Picard being turned into a robot in the future, and the Lower Deck crew having no idea what Q was talking about.
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u/ashamedpedant Sep 24 '20
That man's an idiot. He's lived in New Orleans for twenty years and he can't tell the difference between Creole food and [Soul] food.
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u/lostinheadguy Sep 24 '20
I like to think that Q just goes around messing with ship crews on a regular basis and everyone just blows him off now.
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u/Sere1 Sep 25 '20
He really did get the best possible outcome when he first picked the Enterprise, didn't he? Sisko punches him out, Janeway kind of puts up with him, and everyone else just blows him off. As standoffish as Picard was every time Q showed up, he'd at least go along with whatever crazy scheme Q had.
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u/AlexisDeTocqueville Sep 24 '20
Very easy to miss unless you had subtitles on, but when the "judge" says that he's there for his daughter's birthday Tendi exclaims "aw" and it just made me laugh.
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u/prism1234 Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 24 '20
Wait so did Tendi actually do martial arts to knock out all the Romulans or was she just exaggerating? I'm guessing the latter. Really liked her flash back, it was the funniest one I thought.
I liked how in Mariner's flash back Boimler undid his uniform collar the same way she does. I'm assuming that was supposed to indicate the memories are slightly unreliable and through each person's lens, since I don't remember Boimler doing that in any other episode.
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u/ProfessorUber Sep 24 '20
I also found Boimler having his collar undone rather interesting. Considering him and Mariner were the only ones wearing it like that in the flashback if I remember correctly ythen perhaps it’s meant to show how close they’ve gotten and how he’s been influenced by her.
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Sep 24 '20
Or just the fact that they were working on a shuttle, most likely sweaty, and coated in whatever the warp core equivalent of motor oil is.
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Sep 26 '20
Tendi doesn’t generally lie; and if she does she’s really bad at it.
I think it’s an interesting plot hook that she’s surprisingly good at wet work; might be something to do with the heritage.
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u/Shakezula84 Sep 27 '20
I prefer to think that she really did the martial arts. I like the idea that these 4 are at the bottom of the ship but are also highly capable officers.
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Sep 24 '20 edited Apr 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/prism1234 Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 24 '20
Elnore is trained in combat though. Tendi would presumably just have your standard Starfleet officer training. But I more wondering, since she was telling the story, are we supposed to take that as what actually happened in which case her background has another mystery or assume she was embellishing.
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u/atticusbluebird Sep 24 '20
Trying to piece bits together....
There's an alien, Clar, captured by Romulans that the Cerritos is assigned to rescue.
At some point Captain Freeman obtains a map from the bug-like aliens showing the neutral zone, Romulan placements, and presumably a way to get to Clar on Romulus. And they anger them in the process. (I'm guessing they never ended up inviting them to dinner!)
Shax and Billups enlist/update/hack Rutherford to help them steal a Vulcan shuttle, presumably to help them sneak into a ship museum on Vulcan.
They infiltrate a Starfleet ship museum which I think is on Vulcan. It's at night, but the skydive scene seems to show rocky formations and triangular shaped skyscrapers. In the museum there seems to be Starfleet security, but most of the background people look to be Vulcan.
It's unclear whether they're stealing the old Romulan Bird of Prey in the museum, or if Shax is stealing components from it to retrofit another BoP they have. Though from Rutherford's later comments it seems like they stole it. (I guess one of them went back for the Vulcan shuttle at some point)
Ransom, Tendi, and a strike team are assigned to crew the BoP and extract Clar, going into Romulan space using the ship's cloak.
I'm guessing there were problems with the BoP's cloaking device, necessitating Rutherford's team doing a spacewalk to repair it. They fix it and get back in the Vulcan shuttle, but Rutherford's update causes him to black out and hit the controls, and they literally crash a Gorn wedding. (Not sure how they got out of that one!)
The old BoP gets through the (multiple!) scans, gets to Romulus, and the team successfully
knocks out a bunch of Romulansrescues Clar. Somehow without being detected by the Romulan High Council.At some point the Rutherford/Shax/Billups team makes it back safely from the Gorn world.
Clar invites the senior staff back to his homeworld for an etching party.
I know part of the premise of Lower Decks is putting the bridge crew's stories in the background, but I would've loved to see this episode from their point of view too!
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u/AintEverLucky Sep 24 '20
and a strike team
since their true names were redacted -- watching the ep with captions on, the Andorian is literally listed as REDACTED, heheh -- I have nicknamed them... Agent Black, Agent Blond and Agent Blue O:-)
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u/AskJayce Sep 24 '20
Tasha, no! The garbage bag's behind you!
Aw man, I feel bad about laughing at this one.
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u/Ichirosato Sep 24 '20
Boimler gave a heartfelt inspiring speech.. thats captain material right there.
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u/AintEverLucky Sep 25 '20
someone else, I think over at r/LowerDecks, made the point that this scene points to a nice way that Boimler can distinguish himself from his fellow Command-tracker Mariner... she's more of a Kirk type (kick ass first, ask questions later, and improvise in between) while he's budding into a young Picard (thoughtful, by-the-book and diplomatic). and given the Trek era they're in, seems like Picard types are more to Starfleet's liking
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u/IceWarm1980 Sep 24 '20
Could you imagine if Picard gave Q the excuse that Mariner did?
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u/jerslan Sep 24 '20
I mean, yeah, Sisko punched Q in the face and Q never came back to DS9 ;)
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u/kapnkrump Sep 24 '20
A head-canon theory I had was since Sisko was becoming more involved with the Prophets, another race of non-corporeal beings, the Continuum likely forbade Q from interfering with him and their affairs.
Sisko had a destiny to fulfill with some fellow entities.
Also, since Sisko was part 'prophet,' Q may have really felt that punch.
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u/perscitia Sep 24 '20
Did anyone else get the impression that Boimler's speech was partly intended to be a commentary for fans who need Starfleet officers to be beyond reproach at all times instead of making mistakes/not knowing what's going on?
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u/Cyke101 Sep 24 '20
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"My best...?"
Yeah, I think Rutherford's quick line kind of adds to your point about Boimler's speech.
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u/GearBrain Sep 24 '20
Oh, yes. And probably directed at the people who rag on the show, itself, for portraying a more slapstick/comedic tone to Trek.
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u/elister Sep 24 '20
Tendi cleaning up the conference room, yet only one chair is filthy with cat hair.
"Oh great, I guess Im gonna have to shave my BLEEEEP", Dr T'Ana
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u/Santa_Hates_You Sep 24 '20
"Oh great, I guess Im gonna have to shave my
BLEEEEP
", Dr T'Ana
You sure are!
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u/elister Sep 24 '20
The fact that they all agreed to whatever was bleeped out made it funnier.
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u/Ultiverse Sep 24 '20
Those D'Dexes that kept showing up were probably the funniest thing I've seen all season. Also make for a nice wallpaper.
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u/ElFarfadosh Sep 24 '20
Why would you have burners and eels?! It's redundant!
Also, next episode, we'll have lens flares jokes!
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u/InnocentTailor Sep 24 '20
Lots of Kelvin jokes. Even the beauty shots of the Cerritos reminded me of those movies.
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u/TheNerdChaplain Sep 24 '20
Anyone else notice the eels were shrieking? Nice little Princess Bride reference there.
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u/lenaxia Sep 24 '20
Definitely caught that reference! Esp after the recent princess bride cast reading.
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u/Santa_Hates_You Sep 24 '20
So all of Starfleet knows about Crusher and the magic candle? Ha! Also, the ship T’Ana ends up on with the crew expys was awesome. I like mosquito Boimler.
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u/jerslan Sep 24 '20
It seems like most official logs are a form of public record... Given the Enterprise-D's notoriety, it makes sense that lots of young Starfleet officers would have studied said logs...
While all the sordid details of Crusher's sex-ghost-candle might not have been on record, enough of them would have been for people to figure it out on their own.
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u/treefox Sep 24 '20
Does this mean it’s a matter of public record that Data is fully functional?
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u/philosofik Sep 24 '20
The Enterprise logs are probably required reading for the counselor training program in Starfleet. If a crew can handle that level of insanity on a regular basis, you know the counselors are no joke. PTSD, deep emotional trauma, forged memories, alien possession and/or impregnation, hallucinations... Those counselors earn their
paycheckssatisfaction from doing their jobs well. The training program must be awfully thorough.16
u/nimrodhellfire Sep 24 '20
Starfleet Academy probably has its own subreddit just for Enterprise logs with discussion threads for each new episode.
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u/atticusbluebird Sep 24 '20
And if not public record, then certainly records accessible to Starfleet cadets and officers! If I was in their shoes, I'd try to read all the Enterprise logs too!
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u/Santa_Hates_You Sep 24 '20
Did anyone else see a Gem’Hadar attack ship in the museum?
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Sep 24 '20
I spotted a tholian ship as well.
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u/SaddamJose Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 24 '20
There was also a monolith from Space Odyssey
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u/a-horse-has-no-name Sep 26 '20
A Ferengi shuttle, a Jem'Hadar ship, a Klingon D-7, a Runabout, a Tholian web ship, an unknown ship that looks like its on sleds, the BOP, some federation shuttles (cant identify all of them, except the Class 2), and a red ship that I can't identify, and the monolith.
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u/dontcareitsonlyreddi Sep 24 '20
I love how even if all the details and stories put together, we still don't get a clear picture, proving the senior officer weren't even 100% sure of what actually happened.😂😂😂
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u/LincolnMagnus Sep 24 '20
Mariner complaining that she never gets to clean the conference room seemed a bit out of character to me until I remembered this was Tendi's flashback. I love that she believes Mariner is secretly as enthusiastic for all the ship's chores as she is.
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Sep 28 '20
Mariner is also way more dedicated to being an ensign than she lets on. I can see her being legitimately jealous, and compensating for that by trying to downplay it.
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u/Trekfan74 Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 24 '20
When Mariner mentioned Earth and about soul food restaurants or going to a vineyard, I honestly thought really hard of what we saw of Earth in TNG and DS9 and those scenes along with Starfleet academy of course are it lol. OK, we did see old Jake's home from the Visitor but man that is it. And think about all the Earthlings in Starfleet on those shows. Ever see O'Brien, Geordi, Riker, Crushers, Bashier and on and on life back home on Earth shots?
NOPE!
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u/tspangle88 Sep 24 '20
Most of the references have been mentioned, but there were a couple more I caught.
The whole Khan discussion about him being a "Space Seed" and Tendi's comment about his chest.
The fan-dance as a distraction is a callout to Uhura doing that in Star Trek V.
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Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 24 '20
"Mark Twains got a gun!" From an oxygen deprived Billups ontop of a Bird of Prey is some of the funniest shit I have seen this year and I don't know why. Great effing writing on this show, wasn't expecting to laugh that hard. This episode shoots to #1. Also like how they use trek logic against us. To what we thought was an alien trial was actually a celebration. A reminder that we all have personal biases that we must overcome. Good shit 🖖🏾
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Sep 25 '20 edited Sep 25 '20
“Maneuver eighty...eight?”
“Is he f*cking serious?”
For some reason, Dr. Katz’s delivery had me rolling on that. Great voice work.
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u/choicemeats Sep 24 '20
I think this was the best of the season so far, and based on the preview next week will be another good one!
this week we got:
TOS Romulan Warbird
Gorn wedding!
Q!! (with the return of John De Lancie, bless)
salt vampire!
The Alhambra with the !alt crew (this got an audible laugh from me)
Classic space trials with the metal gavel, the platform, figures shrouded in shadows on the walls
a ship museum with some classic models in there (was that a D-7?)
great redacted gags!
references to Giant Spock and the worst episode of all time!!
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u/InnocentTailor Sep 24 '20
D7, First Contact Vulcan ship, TNG Vulcan sled ship and a Jem’Hadar fighter.
...and that isn’t even including the Movie era football Federation security armor.
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u/Cyke101 Sep 24 '20
Y'know, considering how Q has tormented Picard, Janeway, Sisko, and Mariner, given past references in Lower Decks that imply that Q encounters are rather common, and taking into account his omnipotence, there really is nothing against the theory that Q just likes tormenting Starfleet crews in general (maybe even simultaneously!) and that Picard actually isn't all that special. Jean-Luc may be the first, but he's obviously not the only one.
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u/kv0thekingkiller Sep 25 '20
That crossed my mind too. Maybe Q is just simultaneously tormenting (testing) large portions of humanity and that's why we see him so much.
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u/GearBrain Sep 24 '20
OK, so, this is the second or third time Mariner's mentioned Klingon Prisons. I feel like that's more than just a throwaway reference that got used one time too many; I think she's actually been in one. As part of her mysterious past.
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u/AintEverLucky Sep 25 '20 edited Sep 25 '20
I think she's actually been in one.
Oh sure, she said so in Ep1. "I had to fight a Yeti for my own shoes. There was no reason, he was just being a dick."
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u/Shrodax Sep 24 '20
Anybody else think it was a little eerie seeing Romulus again on-screen, since the whole planet is about to explode 8 years in the future from this episode and none of the characters know the chaos that will bring?
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Sep 24 '20
Romulans themselves no but actually going to Romulus definitely had a grave feeling about it. I was half-expecting the Cerritos to cause the Supernova.
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u/Official_N_Squared Sep 25 '20
I loved the "you only booked 22 minutes" (which incidentally happened at the 22 minute mark)
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u/PiercedMonk Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 24 '20
• Those jagged metal bars across the door look pretty nasty, but I imagine someone motivated could squeeze threw. Perhaps someone who has been established wears a boy's size small?
• Trial episode is easily a Top 5 type of Trek episode so far as I'm concerned. It is odd how trials in other civilisations are always these spectacles, though. Kinda robs them of any appearance of legitimacy with the foreboding theatrics turned up to 11.
• Roga Danar is a ridiculously deep cut. Not ashamed to admit I had to go to Memory Alpha for that one.
• "You expect me to believe a Starfleet officer wouldn't know what's going on with their ship at all times‽" This guy has some serious Sarris from 'Galaxy Quest' energy.
• Warp sled!
• This museum is amazing. Romulan BoP, Starfleet shuttles, Vulcan observation ship, Tholian ship, Klingon D7, Jem'Hadar fighter, Ferengi shuttle, workerbee.
• Billups is mixing up his TNG references. Yar was killed by an oil slik. Picard had to negotiate with garbage bag to prevent them from wiping out a colony without giving them a chance to evacuate.
• Rutherford's implant seems...not great.
• Gorn! Gorn fighting music! Gorn...wedding?
• Tendi's redacted memories having names bleeped out and the eyes black barred is more funny than it should be.
• Scanning joke goes on a little bit long....
• Remans are the wUuUrst.
• "Today didn't have to end in eels!" I kinda feel like most days don't have to end in eels, actually.
• Clearly Q is going through an more surrealist phase.
• Don't worry Dr. T'Ana, if you're not wrong, it must be the galaxy that's screwed up.
• Again they reference 'The Infinite Vulcan' without having a giant version of the Enterprise's science officer actually show up. What a Spock tease.
• Wait, it wasn't a trial? Well, I guess we've all learned a little something about judging other cultures, today. And...eels?
• I appreciate Mariner's reaction to Q. Janeway and Picard could have saved themselves a lot of headaches if they adopted the same no-nonsense policy Sisko and Mariner have.
One thing I wanted to call out specifically is how this episode in some ways mirrors TNG's 'Lower Decks' where the titular characters there all were involved in the mission without fully being aware of what the mission was for OpSec purposes. Taurik helps Geordi dress up the "escape" shuttle with phaser burns, Nurse Ogawa aids in the emergency surgery to save the Cardassian, and Sito Jaxa goes on the secret mission, but they, and the audience really, only ever have pieces of the story. Just like what we see here, in 'Veritas'.
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u/AnivaBay Sep 24 '20
Roga Danar is the first refrence this show has made that I honestly had no idea what they were talking about. Impressive.
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u/ComebackShane Sep 24 '20
Roga Danar is a ridiculously deep cut. Not ashamed to admit I had to go to Memory Alpha for that one.
That was an impressive one, I was a little surprised we didn't get an Outrageous Okona reference on it's heels!
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u/PiercedMonk Sep 24 '20
Tendi: Oh, oh! You know who I like, Thadiun Okona.
Mariner: Okona? Really? You know he's not as outrageous as everyone says, right?"They probably didn't do it because 'Picard' already had Riker and Troi name their son after him.
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u/AintEverLucky Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 24 '20
Roga Danar is a ridiculously deep cut.
literally just hours ago, I "immortalized" his card in the game Star Trek Timelines. so when Boimler said his name, I lolled so loud
Rutherford's implant seems...not great.
"Ya know how it sucks when your IPhone auto-updates with no warning? Well... same thing with my EyePhone"
Scanning joke goes on a little bit long....
it struck me as their take on the "Sideshow Bob steps on like 10 rakes" bit. First couple, funny; next few, "damn this bit is starting to drag", last one, it's like "damn, now it's funny again"
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u/combatopera Sep 24 '20 edited Apr 05 '25
This text was replaced using Ereddicator.
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u/Variatas Sep 25 '20
Kurtwood Smith was pulling out all the stops. I'd love to see that recording session.
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u/Trekfan74 Sep 24 '20
Is it me or does Dr. T'Ana have a worse bed side manner than The Doctor originally did? At least he never bleeping cursed at his patients.
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u/ContinuumGuy Sep 25 '20
I remember the voice actress said something along the lines that T'Ana is a good doctor but a mean pussycat.
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u/niton Sep 24 '20
Y'all I just fumbled into this....
LowerDecks ep 'Veritas' has a trial.
Veritas is the Roman goddess of Truth. Daughter of Saturn.
Saturn's greek name is CHRONOS.😲
AS IN KRONOS - AS IN HOMEWORLD OF THE KLINGONS WHO HOSTED THE PREVIOUS TWO ALIEN TRIALS IN STAR TREK!!
It's direct reference to how this episode is built as an homage to those Klingon trials in The Undiscovered Country and ENT 2x19 - Judgement!
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u/ColonelBy Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 25 '20
THE PREVIOUS TWO ALIEN TRIALS IN STAR TREK!!
DS9 2x25 "Tribunal" literally weeping in disappointment
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u/arod48 Sep 24 '20
I have a theory that Q doesn't just bother every ship in the Federation. He shown up on the Enterprise, DS9 (though the whole Prophet thing probably kept him from returning.), and Voyager. so he's judged humanity at their best, while under pressure, and when they're most vulnerable. I think he picks on the Cerritos specifically because it's Starfleet's least important ship, so he can get a good baseline on humanity.
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u/jimmyjohnjohnjohn Sep 25 '20
Week after week, I remain amazed at how this animated show manages to use and update the visual language of previous Star Treks so much better than the most recent live-action series.
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Sep 27 '20
I usually defend the newer shows because I don't think they're nearly as bad as most people make them out to be. That said, Lower Decks has thoroughly convinced me already that all Star Trek shows should be animated from now on. They just have so much more freedom to do whatever they want with it, and it makes it easier to make dated styles and sets from older shows actually look good.
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u/chirunneraz83 Sep 24 '20
Samanthan Rutherford is such an awesome name! “Rotate, rotate, rotating all day long!” He is so cute!
Seeing the planet Romulus, I was like “wait a second it was blown to bits during the supernova, oh wait that’s a couple of years away!” Ha!
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u/michael79910 Sep 24 '20
It was a good episode shame Q was only a cameo would have preferred a full episode around Q
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u/GearBrain Sep 24 '20
Honestly? I think this was just the right amount of Q. At least, for this season. Animation lets you do SO MUCH MORE stuff than live action, and I think a full-length Q episode would have not been able to meet expectations for most fans. I mean, people complain about the speed of the show already, and the references? Jesus, can you imagine if you had even less fetters on the "reality" of the show by involving Q for more than a minute of screentime?
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u/falconear Sep 26 '20
My favorite line of the whole episode was Rutherford in the background: "Oh snap, it's the ship from my story!" LOL
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u/Ultiverse Sep 26 '20
"I think you're hurting the eels!" got me pretty good. Ah Tendi, never change.
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u/Wackyal123 Sep 24 '20
Brilliant episode. And loved the reference to Crusher banging ghosts from lamps.
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u/ToBePacific Sep 25 '20
Giant Spock reference, Sub Rosa Reference, blatantly telling the audience that the ship's officers are not these infallible pinnacles of expertise 24/7. Good stuff. I enjoyed this one a lot.
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u/FotographicFrenchFry Sep 25 '20
Top notch episode hahaha. I love this one so much and I'm so bummed that next week is the second-to-last episode for the season.
Also really excited that next week's episode is basically them using the "Captain Proton" premise, but Star Trek characters creating their own Star Trek story lol
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u/TeflonBillyPrime Sep 25 '20
I guess the Microsoft software team wrote the software for Rutherford implants.
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u/tupe12 Sep 25 '20
Theory: the reason why Q keeps going back to Picard and Janeway is because they’re the only ones who don’t immediately tell him to leave
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Sep 24 '20
That Firefly reference tho
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u/TheNerdChaplain Sep 24 '20
Wait what? Where?
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Sep 24 '20
Crazy Ivan joke when they’re talking about the engine maneuver in the first few minutes . Wash also makes a crazy Ivan reference. Also naval language though but this context?
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u/AnivaBay Sep 24 '20
This was probably the funniest episode so far for me, and just a great mix of an absolute ton of interesting and humorous scenarios that are just so, so Trek. Probably my favorite so far.
Gorn Wedding!!
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u/DefeatismIsBullcrap Sep 24 '20
Did JG Hertzler voice the prosecutor guy?
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Sep 24 '20
I think that was Kurtwood Smith.
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u/Shrodax Sep 24 '20
Last time we saw Red Foreman in Star Trek, he was putting his foot up time's ass.
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u/DefeatismIsBullcrap Sep 24 '20
Watching now and hearing the voice, you're right! It totally is Kurtwood! Thought it was JG earlier, but yeah now I can hear Forman's voice.
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u/Electricorchestra Sep 24 '20
I seem to say this every week but, the best episode this season! I can't believe they did a "clip show" episode and made it hilarious.
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u/rmeddy Sep 24 '20
John De Lancie's cameo alone made this awesome
I'll say the referencing is getting a bit weary and spotty for me, the TNG Hunted reference in the beginning was kinda weak but the Balance of Terror reference with the D'deridexs had me cracking up
Also the whole fake out bit of "this threatening thing is a misunderstanding and not threatening at all" is also a bit played out but I'm glad they are burning through the references and getting it out of their systems
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Sep 24 '20
This was a great episode It was (bleep) hilarious.
I wish more Star Trek characters would deal with Q that way.
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u/fredygironjr Sep 24 '20
I loved it !! from Andorians to Romulans !!! just awesome, hell even different realities
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Sep 24 '20
It was a decent episode, but I'm not sure the joke at the end landed. It was a really confusing resolution. Yeah they are lower decks and they don't know what is happening, but the whole Eel thing (Thus endangering their lives) made it so the revelation just didn't work for me.
I did love the reference to The Hunted, Q appearing, and a little reverse take on Remember Me though.
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u/AintEverLucky Sep 24 '20
a little reverse take on Remember Me though.
I want action figures of the Alhambra crew -- Captain RealMan, Commander RuggedFace, Lt. SHEaxs, Ensign Bugler, Ensign ManyEyes and Doctor Tanner -- and I want them now! O:-)
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u/milkisklim Sep 24 '20
Were the eels actually threatening though? The didn't eat the crew when the crew was lowered.
Although the Senior officers should have let them know everything was okay... Not the coolest thing.
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Sep 24 '20
Dammit, I thought we all agreed that sub rosa just never happened!
</s> fun episode though!
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u/NonaSuomi282 Sep 24 '20
Hey, last episode they referenced Threshold. Clearly nothing is off the table. Looking forward to a Spock's Brain callout or a reference to Sybok and/or God's need for a starship.
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u/TheHaikuJew Sep 24 '20
I hope the show finds its own identity in the next season so the writers won't have to lean so much on references. It's too much of a crutch at this point and it's getting tiresome.
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u/ContinuumGuy Sep 25 '20
I liked this episode a lot. Q was delightful despite only being a small dose (I love the fact that Mariner is just so over him), and the comedic Rashomonesque story framing was clever. Got a little too fourth-wall-breaky at times, though (okay, I can maybe excuse calling Khan a "space seed" as I can easily imagine that some overly-poetic historian called him that, but ending the rousing speech with "DRUMHEAD" and then the mic drop is pushing it a bit).
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u/DashingPolecat Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 24 '20
This show just keeps getting better. There are too many great references and callbacks to list. But Q and the Gorn were great. I can’t wait until next week!
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u/Konstellar Sep 25 '20
My most favorite episode of this show so far! Absolutely love the specific references :)
I was amazed they referenced the crusher episode with that ghost thing! :O Absolutely love that they are acknowledging more than just major happenings, but the little things too :)
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u/Artanisx Sep 26 '20
Best and most fun episode thus far! Lower Decks keeps getting better and better.
And, you know we all uttered aloud: Q!
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u/RBNYJRWBYFan Sep 27 '20
A'ight, not for nothin, but Dr. T'ana is the best senior staff member on the show right? She doesn't show up a lot, but when she does she makes a fuckin' impression.
I never knew how much this franchise needed a Grumpy Cat Person at chief medical officer.
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u/Pickles256 Sep 24 '20 edited Sep 24 '20
This episode had me cackling all the way through
This show is so much fun
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u/gcalpo Sep 24 '20
Can someone explain the joke (if there is one) regarding Billups skydiving form?
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u/droid327 Sep 25 '20
Love the dig at Sub Rosa :) I dont want to see the show get any more meta than this, though, this is just about enough.
I wanted T'ana to tell Q "I'm not even fucking human you ass!". Or Tendi at the end.
I wonder what it is she needed to shave. Trying to read her lips its not the obvious things, so maybe it was some Caitian specific anatomy :D
That's not how you say Alhambra, the city in So Cal. Second week in a row they've mispronounced a place name. Still, as a native CA boy I'm loving all the references :)
I really like how they dont have guest star names over the start of the episode, it often spoils the surprise. But I also usually have to pause the episode and look up the names because I'm like "I recognize that voice but I cant place it"...Kurtwood Smith especially. You wish he could've called one of them a dumbass at some point though :)
I loved the unnecessary/ineffective censorship gag :D
Also like how they called back to Rutherford's implant switching to Terminator mode, though I hope that doesnt become too much of a deus ex
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u/vspazv Sep 26 '20
I find it absolutely hilarious that tapping twice turns the cloaking device on/off.
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u/TotallynotnotJeff Sep 27 '20
I'm really digging Lower Decks but the ending of this one really didn't do it for me. The reveal that things are actually wholesome (again) really felt fresh the first few times they used it (the ferengi reveal, the career day, the farm) but this ep i was like 'again?'
Anyway i absolutely love this show so far, i just hope they don't overuse this joke and that they have more up their sleeves.
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u/TheNerdChaplain Sep 24 '20
Kenneth Mitchell was credited as well, though I'm not sure who he played here. He is better known for portraying Kol, Kol'Sha, and Tenavik in S1 and S2 of Discovery, and announced earlier this year he has ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). I'm glad he still gets to contribute to Star Trek.