Lower Decks - Second Contact

[CharlesPhipps]

I mean, I liked Second Contact.

It's not the best but I'm here for the jokes.

[Deledrius]

So let me get this straight: I should skip to halfway through the series because - and this is key - it starts out so shit that no one would continue watching it?

Basically! They eventually do the legwork to repair the damage, but it takes until near the end of season 2 to really start to erase this foundation. If, however, you're ignorant of the first few episodes and how bizarre the characterization is here it'll all be a lot easier to enjoy earlier.

But I'm also not going to criticize anyone who thinks Lower Decks isn't their thing either.

I'm happy to see you've changed your mind on this.

[CharlesPhipps]

I'm happy to see you've changed your mind on this.

I think it's the best thing out of Star Trek period but I am also of the mind that people should also be allowed to like and dislike their own thing. They should just move on and not bother the people who are enjoying it.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I thought it was weird Chuck actually repeated that, "Don't watch this as a standalone" multiple times.

I repeat what I said to Fuzzy.

I'm sorry to Chuck, but I think that is a terrible argument. This is the pilot episode of your whole effing show. This is what should be ushering me into your world, the hook for me to get my teeth into. If I was watching this on launch the suggestion here seems to be ''struggle through the shit to get to the good stuff.''
I wonder if you would be so charitable to a show that you weren't so attached to?

I'm saying you should watch the reviews he made in the order that he says is correct. I'm not saying anything about the series itself. If he reviews them out of order, it's for a reason.

[Makeshift Python]

Clearspira doesn’t want to give the show the benefit of a doubt. He wants the worst possible impression from the show so to point at it and say “I didn’t think this show would this terrible but it is!” It’s just blatant confirmation bias.

It’s like if someone watched “The Alternative Factor” and said “this episode is proof that TOS sucks, change my mind”.

[Durandal_1707]

"The Alternative Factor" isn't so bad if you grew up with this

[Frustration]

It often takes a SF show a while to get its legs. Considering that it's much harder to establish the rules of the world in SF, compared to normal drama in which everything that happens is supposed to be just as it is in real life, a certain amount of slack has to be given to the showmakers.

There are potential comparisons in other media: Neil Gaiman's Sandman visual novels are famously okay to read beginning with any chapter but the first. The very first was written under a horror imprint and doesn't match the tone of the rest of the series; when people realized the potential of the series, they gave Gaiman more thematic freedom and he took the comics in a different direction. The result is that a reader might like or hate the first set of comics but not truly be informed as to whether they'd like the series as whole.

[cloudkitt]

Well... i'm bored. Its a lazy Saturday night and the Formula 1 is late today because its in Miami. And I thought ''lets watch this review. I don't watch New Trek so why not have my first dose of Lower Decks? That'll kill fifteen minutes. It can't be that bad, after all, plenty of people on this forum have been singing its praises for months now.''

Did you miss the part where he said "Don't watch this review first"? Because he was pretty clear about that at the beginning.

So let me get this straight: I should skip to halfway through the series because - and this is key - it starts out so shit that no one would continue watching it?
Not impressed.

Why do you keep saying something to this effect when the remark within the review is to watch his other REVIEWS of Lower Decks first? Who said anything about watching the actual show out of order?

[CharlesPhipps]

Hey, here's some links.

1. TEMPORAL EDICTS: https://youtu.be/PS55YOCinUM

2. CUPID'S ERRANT ARROW: https://youtu.be/TaknSIQFoNM

3. MOIST VESSEL: https://youtu.be/ljDbxYfCqzc

[Nikas Zekeval]

It often takes a SF show a while to get its legs. Considering that it's much harder to establish the rules of the world in SF, compared to normal drama in which everything that happens is supposed to be just as it is in real life, a certain amount of slack has to be given to the showmakers.

I have several issues with this.

One, a SF show has to get its legs because it has so much to set up. In most cases a whole world or universe to introduce the audience to. Even TNG to an extent, with the time jump. LD? It is piggybacking off Star Trek, much of the set up has not only been done, but baked into the culture at this point.

Two, speaking of legs? I think you are underestimating how toxic the method we were introduced to Mariner was to her character and the series in general. This was not only the first episode, it was the trailer picked by the creators to hook an audience. Her bullying a fellow Ensign and drunkenly waving a sword around till she nearly sliced Boimler’s leg off.

Three, that introduces a rather large plot hole into the episode. All Boimler knows of Mariner right now is she mocked him and nearly just killed him. When Captain Mom said “report to me if she breaks regulations”.

Why didn’t Boimler say, “You mean like drunk on duty, reckless endangerment of a fellow crewman, assault, and nearly manslaughter?” Boimler doesn’t know her from Adam, his impression of her is the audience’s.

Heck, why didn’t Sickbay report Boimler’s injury and Mariner’s responsibility for it?

Four, this is not a broadcast show. It is on a streaming service, that trailer and the first episode being put up for free is supposed to get people to sign up and pay money to watch. A far, far, higher bar to clear than broadcast TV.

They needed their A game for the pilot episode, enough hooks to get an audience willing to throw money at a streaming service, and make us care about the characters.

“Second Contact” failed on all counts here, and me and many other people went “Yeah, not worth my time or money.”

It is like saying “Well Enterprise or Voyager got better in their later seasons!” That misses the point, by the time they allegedly got good, too many people had already left and didn’t want to go back to catch up.