Star Trek: Lower Decks (animated series)

On the plus side for him, he did seem to get all the privileges of being a senior officer including plush spacious private quarters and being invited to all the senior staff meetings.

I generally wonder what extra privileges there are at each level.

Quarters is an obvious one. Many starship classes (including the Cerrito) make Ensigns share quarters while Lieutenant and higher get private quarters with more senior ranks get the more spacious plush ones with the nice window views. Harry already had nice quarters so no advantage for him there.
Extra holodeck time?
On Voyager, more replicator rations? Though it doesn't look like Janeway went for that as it seemed the senior officers had to ration just as much as the junior officers.
Maybe a few extra shore leave days here and there.
I can't image nicer replicator menu as depicted on Lower Decks being an actual thing outside of the animated comedy setting.

Doesn't seem like Harry was losing out other than not having the collar pip.

Evade wrote: »

Starfleet is still a hierarchical meritocracy so "rank has it's privileges" is probably still a common saying in the 24th century. That or it's a little Heinleinien, "something given has no value."

I kind of like the idea that most of crew bunk this way. Makes Starfleet feel more like a space navy, which is what I always imagined it was.

I guess we got spoiled with Enterprise D. She was essentially a space cruise liner with warp nacelles

Yea this was a marked improvement with Mariner significantly toned down from previous episodes. Good A, B and C plots and actually an enjoyable episode all round.

Enjoyed the latest episode. Mariner was much more likeable this episode. I think if they keep her at this level of intensity for the remainder of the series, it should be in a good place.

I'm curious how old she is. That flashback seemed to be set not long after the events of First Contact. And it has been hinted a few times throughout the series that aside from rank, she's quite senior and was probably full Lieutenant* at some point but has been demoted for misconduct on at least one occasion.

* I'm basing that guess on her being given a promotion directly to full Lieutenant instead of Lieutenant JG in the last episode. Presuming it was an Ensign/Lt. Paris style restoration of rank as opposed to a traditional promotion.

Stark wrote: »

I'm curious how old she is. That flashback seemed to be set not long after the events of First Contact. And it has been hinted a few times throughout the series that aside from rank, she's quite senior and was probably full Lieutenant* at some point but has been demoted for misconduct on at least one occasion.

* I'm basing that guess on her being given a promotion directly to full Lieutenant instead of Lieutenant JG in the last episode. Presuming it was an Ensign/Lt. Paris style restoration of rank as opposed to a traditional promotion.

My guess is that the Late-TNG era Grey uniform lasted well beyond the Dominion War. It was a probably a few years before they started using the colourful Generations re-tool uniform you see in Lower Decks. The Dominion War ended in 2375, which is only 5 years before the events of this show.

I imagine that the current uniform in Lower Decks is pretty new and if you flashback only a year or so earlier you'd have them in the Grey uniform.

I like your theory about her rank. It did seem odd that they jumped a rank with her, but it would be interesting if that was a *restored* rank. I wonder if they'll reveal a story of her being senior staff but then something serious happened that resulted in her demotion, her indifference to command, and possibly also the reason she's been posted on her own mother's starship. (Possibly to keep an eye on her / take care of her)

I kind of base this on the flashback at DS9. She seemed far more mellow in that flashback compared to the current time. I sense a bit of character development at play....and I like it

I feared I'd end up hating Mariner, but she was pretty good in this episode. To parrot one Youtuber (who's name I've now forgotten) Mariner feels like what Micheal Burnham *should* have been. If you had her written like Mariner, I might have actually grown to like that character.