Lower Decks 3x10 - 'The Stars at Night' ~~ { Spoilers Within }

ilovesmybrick · 27-10-2022 8:15am #1

Lower Decks 3x10 - 'The Stars at Night' ~~ { ** Spoilers Within ** } Warning: This thread will contain spoilers

ilovesmybrick · 27-10-2022 11:28am

Fantastic episode! Really enjoyed that. I was in bits when Shax finally got his moment to shine! Ransom teaching the Riker manaoevre, Command That Chair! Honestly far too many good moments to pick out of it.

End credit scene was appreciated too.

I did think that this season was overall less consistent than the previous two, but still thoroughly enjoyable. Now unfortunately back to the doldrums until season two of Strange New Worlds comes out...

Spear · 27-10-2022 1:17pm

Oh well, I was about 25% right that we'd see Badgey/Agimus/Peanut Hamper take over the ships, it was only an old revision of Badgey ultimately.

It's a good episode and ends the season on a high note. A lot of small but good moments, including callbacks to the Al Hambra and Inglewood. It shows how well they've done their own internal world building that they can rely entirely on their own mythology, such as the slightly flaky reputation of the Cali's, or the various other captain's they've encountered, with no need to rely on external saviours like the Titan, something they even explicitly call out.

There's a few moments that were a bit daft, such all the Cali's being able to turn up, or the over the top Shaxs procession to the warpcore, but they didn't spoil it overall.

And the curious stinger at the end, when T'lyn does make an appearance. I've commented on the last episode thread about how they can really be patient and sit on some threads for a long time, but that was still a nice surprise.

The season as whole felt underwhelming though. They spent season 2 building up the Pakled arc, only to sweep it away in the first episode. I was okay with that, given the episode made for a nice reversal of the corrupt institution trope. But the episodes that followed were much less ambitious in their writing. The Peanut Hamper episode was a bit more creative, but still the weakest episode. They seem to have lost the tighter control of the overall flow of the season that they had for 1 and 2. But that's Rutherford's arc concluded, Mariner's somewhat concluded, zT'lyn introduced, and no cliff hanger, so they have a clean slate for season 4.

corkie · 27-10-2022 4:38pm

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Stars_At_Night_%28episode%29

I like the Kirk reference of talking logic to the AI.

and Freeman asks Rutherford if she can say something to trap the AI in a logic spiral, but Rutherford tells her that his code is safeguarded against paradoxes.

Edit: - Post credit scene with

BADGEY

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Induced_self-destruction

Prodigy is back airing episodes.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Asylum_%28episode%29

CastorTroy · 27-10-2022 11:02pm

Is that the first episode we've heard Freeman say "Warp me"? Don't remember hearing her version of "Engage" or even "Let's Fly" before.

Who wouldn't want to eject the warp core?

As for the post credits scene

Section 31 or someone else found Badgey?

Spear · 27-10-2022 11:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119802400#Comment_119802400

She's being saying "warp me" for a while.

I'd hazard a guess the green tractor beam is Drookmani, but there's a few species like that.

AMKC · 28-10-2022 12:43am

Wow they fitted a lot into that episode. A neat torpedo the Robot ship had.

I did think they overdone the action a bit. 10 call class ships would have been plenty but 21 including the Cerrotos that's a lot of ships that just dropped what they were doing and went there. I think they should have said half are in the middle of a mission but the other half were availible and able to come would have worked better.

Shax getting to elect the Warp core lol and then at the end with Boimler lol.

Season 3 definitely the weakest of the 3 seasons so far do with season 2 the strongest I think and season 1 in the middle.

odyssey06 · 28-10-2022 8:42am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119802668#Comment_119802668

They could have had some Cali class ships there for a decommissioning ceremony... it did seem a bit much that so many were needed to overwhelm one damaged Texan class though.

Evade · 28-10-2022 2:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119803030#Comment_119803030

Without a crew you can fit a lot more in a small ship. Not having radiation limits on weapons and power cores etc could make it punch way above its weight.

OK episode for an OK season. It did get a bit Poochy at the start but did justify it a bit. Picard sponsoring the Indiana Jones corps of archaeologists makes perfect sense. I was surprised there wasn't any Will in the episode, maybe he'll be the antagonist next season. The provisional rank emblem reappears.

breezy1985 · 28-10-2022 9:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119802400#Comment_119802400

There was a whole episode in s2 where she is trying out phrases and settles on warp me.

On another note delighted we are getting T'Lyn. I always assumed she would be part of this season.

Slydice · 29-10-2022 4:43am

That was fun. Definitely got vibes of the ultimate computer and pretty sure the interface looked like it!

Vaguely remembering mention of it being a trinary .. or maybe trilinear? .. computer in the TOS episode.

Really like how Shax and starfleet careers get portray. I remember the earlier Tendi moving about episode and that was great.

Seems to be that the current big plot has wrapped. The end credits showing a sign of what's to come?!?! 😲

flazio · 29-10-2022 6:29am

OK, you do not just drop a Jean Luc Picard mention like that without so much as, even an archive audio recording, cameo of Patrick Stewart. You could bring in an early Rafi and the three of them could skit on Charlie's Angels ("Good Morning JL")

Anyway good episode but not the greatest finalé. It's great that they aren't shying away from the fact that it's still dangerous to work for Starfleet, even if you are just working on the maintenance ships, which the Cali class are and it was great to see a federation Star Base involved in a proper attack with some pretty serious consequences.

To call the series overall "Hit and miss" seems a little too negative, it's still a great show with a good heart and great characters. Series 4 is already well under way in terms of production and I'm still going to be tuning in.

Cerritos Strong

JayRoc · 29-10-2022 9:16am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119807077#Comment_119807077

Yep it did!

JayRoc · 29-10-2022 9:27am

This season was great fun, again.

I am admittedly low-hanging fruit when it comes to nostalgia driven stuff, but I think the DS9 episode in particular was just great TV and it made the season for me.

I enjoyed the penultimate episode the least, I think; l had hoped we had put the obnoxious side of Mariner in the past and I just found her as annoying as in series 1.

Decent, high-stakes finale. A great season all told; I probably rank series 2 a little ahead of it but still very enjoyable.

eadrom · 31-10-2022 9:42pm

Really enjoyed that. An exciting Star Trek story in it's own right and at this stage I'm as happy to watch the crew of the USS Cerritos carry it out as I would be for any of the classic or newer live-action crews. That they can add humour and comedy to that without it feeling corny or interrupting the flow -- and more to point, it being funny! -- makes for a really fun watch.

The Riker-maneuver reference :D :D

Ejecting the warp-core was as cool, exciting, and momentous as it should it.

Never trust a Starfleet Admiral.

And I guess there's a new lower-decker next season! Loved Tendi's reaction to the news, and cool to see T'Lyn back.

Very strong end to the season.

Stark · 01-11-2022 11:29am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119807077#Comment_119807077

Oh there was a post credit scene? Watching on Prime so Amazon probably cut that for me (along with the dialogue anytime the Beluga whales are on screen).

Greyjoy · 01-11-2022 1:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119799892#Comment_119799892

I thought the exact same, expecting a return of Argimus/Peanut Hamper etc. I initially suspected that the episode title "The Stars at night" was a clue to a sinister secret about the ships ( "Deep in the heart of Texas") and it would be revealed that the AIs were collected for the purposes of being installed in the new Texas class (albeit with an "inhibitor chip" that would invariably malfunction).

I do think that the Texas class were written as a bit overpowered with just three of them being able to take down a Sovereign class and it taking all of the California class to overwhelm a single Texas class ship. I did like the joke of Boimler getting the bridge crew to listen to Shax - for once the security officer's suggestion wasn't ignored.

The admiral spilled his guts a little too easily when confronted by Freeman and just went straight into villain monologue. His sudden heel turn into ordering the murder of an entire Starfleet crew didn't feel earned. I did like the fact that Mariner acknowledged that her previous history had made it difficult for the crew to believe her side of the story with the journalist. It would have been very easy to write her as holding it over them and the crew being overly apologetic. But it was a nice moment of character development for her,.

Slydice · 01-11-2022 10:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119818462#Comment_119818462

Someone has it on youtube. Not sure how long it will last.

The embed thumbnail kinda spoils it so here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWGfGUWg_i8

FGR · 12-11-2022 2:07am

I enjoyed Season 3 and glad there's a Season 4 - I'm just worried that, once Lower Decks and Picard (although not great) conclude - we're back left with Prequels. Discovery is a prequel regardless of it being set in super feature which I personally deem as non Prime.

I do hope someone behind the scenes is making efforts to have S3 of Picard be like TNG/DS9/VOY and hopefully might push to get a series based in the LD/Picard era approved.

Like LD have a new crew and new ship. Would be a great day for trek imo.

pixelburp · 24-11-2022 3:49pm

Finally finished up Season 3, kinda forgot to watch the last couple o' episodes; that was a very fun episode of Star Trek, pushed through a 20 minute runtime and comedic tone. Can't say more than that really! I especially liked Tendi's little moment that crystallised the entire Starfleet ethos through action - not speechifying like some Trek shows. She finds microbial entities and the colony work shuts down while they confirm it's not sentient. Simple, good writing by action, not words.

Surprisingly flat final scene though; everyone has some drinks, goes hurray! then we fade to black. Ohhhhhhhh'kay. Also, I can't help shake the feeling they're slowly setting up Tendi and Boimler. Just little moments of camaraderie and closeness. Oh god, am I turning into a shipper? I'm turning into a shipper aren't I?