Star Trek: Lower Decks (animated series)

With the generally positive feedback on this finally had a go with the first episode.

Knowing Mariner calms down later helped swallow the hyperactivity cos ye gods it was a bit much at times. Take a breath goddamnit. The tonal whiplash could be a bit much too as the sugar-rush comedy jarred with the very clear TNG era styling.

But the rest of the episode was enjoyable, can't deny. The gags weren't particularly gut busting but got a few smiles from me. Which for a comedy pilot is good going in my experience.

So yeah, I'll keep going.

I didn't find Mariner unlikeable, just ludicruously breathless. She spoke like a YouTube star for adolescents. In actual fact, her character seemed quite interesting: there were clear hints towards all that outsized perfomative "no fúcks given" being a thin emotional shield. Given her parents' statsuses I'm guessing she ballsed up a career and is now trying deseprately to "own" her failure like a badge of honour. Thus projecting insecurity onto Boimler, a colleague openly enthusiastic about the very career path she (apparently) sabotaged. She can't let someone else enjoy what she lost.

It's just the delivery was like being hit with a blow-dryer of dialogue. The above is just me spitballing of course, so who knows how it tracks against later actual episodes.

Typing it out though, it's funny how the above reads 10x more interesting as characterisation than we get in Discovery - but that's one of the key advantages of Comedy IMO. The genre often gleefully mines from a point of insecurity; laughs got from peoples' foibles or hang-ups while at the same time affording genuine growth when the laughs are paused. It's not without reason the best sitcoms and comedies are the ones that also had the best or more insightful character developments. To me, comedy is the ultimate fiction because it can reveal a lot through ostensibly superficial laughs at characters' expense. Laughing in the face of adversity.

Dramatic fiction doesn't have that crutch to fall on, and can only go at one relative speed. Serioues faces only please. So it's way too easy to slip into melodrama 'cos the tonal range afforded to the writers is much smaller. And when the writers aren't particularly fantastic either, Discovery yields these Big Emotional Moments that have no context, or the catharctic release of a well-timed fart