Tag Archives: Star Trek

Star Trek: Lower Decks: Old Friends, New Planets and Season Four- TV Review

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TL;DR – A solid end to a fascinating series.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

Walking across the bridge at the Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

We have reached the end of the season for Star Trek: Lower Decks of what has been a solid season for the series. However, when you have summoned the great ‘To Be Continued …’, you must ensure you live up to that hype. In today’s review, we will first tackle the season finale and then look at the season as a whole.

So to set the scene, at the end of The Inner Fight, we discovered that the person behind all of the ship mutinies was former Starfleet Academy bad boy Nick Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill). What is worse, he has just kidnapped Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and warped her away to his lair, where his fleet is kept. He is trying to start a revolution across space with a Genesis device to back it up. Starfleet is holding back so it does not accidentally cause a war, but Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) does not have the time to wait. We will be looking at the episode and series as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: The Inner Fight – TV Review

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TL;DR – A tail of two parts, one fascinating, the other frustrating.   

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

Outpost Scientists.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

It is the penultimate of Star Trek: Lower Decks’ fifth season, and I wondered if the show could pull all those different threads together. Since the revelation at the start of the season about a mysterious ship destroying non-Federation vessels, it felt like we were barrelling towards something. Now it is time to see if that something was worth barrelling towards.

So to set the scene, we open in on Persioff IX, where a pair of Outpost Scientists are observing a local creature that spits acid and is covered in neurotoxin, and when things go wrong, Mariner (Tawny Newsome) rushes out to fix the problem herself. Her friends, Tendi (Noël Wells), Boimler (Jack Quaid), Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz), have become concerned about this risk-taking behaviour, even the command crew. When Shaxs (Fred Tatasciore) is concerned about your risk-taking behaviour, you know there is a problem. All they need to do is distract Mariner because they must pick up notorious risk taker Nick Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill) before he influences Mariner to do even more risky behaviour. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: Caves – TV Review

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TL;DR –  A charming clip of friends stuck in a cave.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

As Season Four of Star Trek Lower Decks progresses, I have been genuinely joyful about how the shake-up of promoting the team has let the show evolve its dynamic. But never one to shy away from a good reference. This week, we get not one but two deep cuts as we dive into the world of Star Trek caves.

So to set the scene, we open on the planet of Grottonus as the USS Cerritos orbits above. It has been an age since they were promoted, and for the first time, the old lower decks team of Boimler (Jack Quaid), Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Tendi (Noël Wells), and Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) have all been put on the same away mission. Mariner is ecstatic right up until she discovers that it is a “cave mission”. Everyone else loves caves, but like clockwork, there is a tremor, and the away team is trapped. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.       

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: Something Borrowed, Something Green – TV Review

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TL;DR – We delve into Orion culture one dagger to the shoulder at a time

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
USS Cerritos

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

The one thing that Star Trek: Lower Decks has worked hard at is finding that middle line between being a comedic take on the Star Trek universe and being a show that would fit in that universe. While you can see that love in every single Easter Egg [there are so many]. But they don’t always get that balance right. Today, we get a fantastic example of what an episode can be when they walk that narrow line.

So to set the scene, the Lower Decks gang is still getting used to the new world where they are Lieutenant (j.g.). It comes with perks like not living in a corridor and being able to finish all your tasks for the day, but it also comes with responsibilities. For Tendi (Noël Wells), that means going back to Orion because her sister is getting married, and Starfleet wants to make a good impression after an Irion ship mysteriously vanished. Tendi is understandably hesitant, even more so when T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) and Mariner (Tawny Newsome) tag along. But hey, it is not like her sister will get kidnapped just before the wedding? … Right? … Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee – TV Review

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TL;DR – It’s promotion time, and things are changing on the USS Cerritos  

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Romulan wreckage.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

There is only one thing better than a new episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks dropping. That is two episodes dropping at the same time. But if Twovix was the episode where our crew [mostly] got promoted. Then I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee is looking at the fallout of that decision.

So to set the scene, in Romulan space and on a Tal Shiar ship, the crew are busy cleaning up the Reman juice leftover from an interrogation when a strange ship appears and blasts it away. Back on the USS Cerritos, the crew is busy backing up their bunks because they are now all Lieutenant Junior Grades. Well, Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), and D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) all got promoted. Poor Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) got left behind, but for how long? Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: Twovix – TV Review

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TL;DR – Not all the story worked, but jumping back into this world was still a delight.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
The USS Cerritos approaches the Star Base.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

After a stellar final season of Star Trek: Picard and a stunning follow-up season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, surely there is nothing left of Star Trek in 2023 … right? Well, hold on to your horses because Lower Decks is back and committing to changing one of its core features, changing the tone of the show … okay, not that much.

So to set the scene, the USS Cerritos has been sent on its most secretive mission so far. No one knows why they have been sent to this starbase until the lights turn on and everyone witnesses the joy that is the USS Voyager [Insert theme song here]. They have to escort the now museum ship to its permanent resting place. This should be a breeze, but Jack Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) lets Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) know he is up for a promotion, just as long as he fails spectacularly. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Mapping Star Trek Series – Map-It

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TL;DR – We map every location on Earth used as a ship name in the Star Trek universe.

The fleet comes together.

Mapping Star Trek –

At the end of last season of Star Trek: Lower Decks, we were introduced to nineteen new members of the California Class. Which made me wonder where they fit on a map of California and lo our Lower Decks Map was created. However, since then, I have wondered what would happen if we expanded it globally. We have had 849 episodes of Star Trek at the time of writing, so we have charted every ship, shuttle, class and transport named after an Earth location.  

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Hegemony & Full Season 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – A tense end to a remarkable season.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

La'an looks through blood stained glass.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

Well, it has been a rollercoaster of a season, with episodes flying, time-travelling shenanigans, and cross-overs happening, but we have now come to an end for now. So in our review today, we will first look at the season finale, Hegemony, which brings up back to the Gorn question hinted about back in The Broken Circle, before looking at how the season went as a whole.

So to set the scene, the USS Cayuga, under the command of Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano), is visiting a new colony on Parnassus Beta just outside of Federation space. The colonists wonder if Federation Membership is the protection they need or the target on their backs. But the subspace communications go down out of nowhere, shuttles fall out of the sky, and a Gorn battleship appears in orbit. Admiral April (Adrian Holmes) cautions Pike (Anson Mount) that this could cause a war between The Federation and The Gorn, and he is only to engage in reconnaissance to see what happened. But that is not what Pike has planned. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Subspace Rhapsody– TV Review

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TL;DR – Look, this was just fun from start to finish.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

The USS Enterprise near the subspace fold.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

Voltaire once periportally said, ‘Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.’ And I have seen many examples when that rings true. So, you would think that suddenly dropping a musical episode would be a significant risk. But My Musical from Scrubs and Once More, With Feeling from Buffy has shown that you can shine if you put your all into it.

So to set the scene, the USS Enterprise has found a subspace fold that could be used to boost subspace communications across the sector. Many attempts have failed, and Spock (Ethan Peck) and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) are at their wit’s end when Pelia (Carol Kane) recommends trying music. It causes an effect, just not the one they were looking for when the whole crew starts singing, which is most peculiar. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Under the Cloak of War – TV Review

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TL;DR – This episode brought a smile to my face from the moment it started till the second those end credits rolled.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

USS Kelcie Mae

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

Well, this week, we get the incredible joy of having not one but two episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. However, they could not be more different as we jump from the joyful romp of Those Old Scientists to a deep exploration of grief and loss and the wounds of war are laid bare.

So to set the scene, the USS Enterprise has rendezvous with the USS Kelcie Mae to collect the Federation ambassador Dak’Rah (Robert Wisdom) from the Prospero System. An ambassador who is a Klingon who defected during the War. This is difficult for many of the crew who fought during the Federation-Klingon War, for example, Chapple (Jess Bush) and M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), who were posted on the Moon of J’gal. How do you break bread with a man soaked in the blood of innocents? Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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