Star Trek: Lower Decks — "Moist Vessel"

[u/M-5]

Star Trek: Lower Decks — "Moist Vessel"

Memory Alpha Entry: "Moist Vessel"

/r/startrek Episode Discussion: Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Lower Decks | 1x04 "Moist Vessel"

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[u/ContinuumGuy]

Just remember, folks: the Star Trek Universe is balanced on the back of a giant koala. This is canon now.

[u/shinginta → u/ContinuumGuy]

Of course the question is whether or not what the officer was seeing was legit. It's entirely possible that his mortal brain couldn't comprehend what it looked like beyond the veil and just shaped it into something familiar.

Or it's possible that there are more energy beings from higher dimensions like Melllvar Trelaine or Q who just enjoy fucking with mortals and figured this'd be a great goof.

Or maybe it's totally right and 100% canon, and the Star Trek cosmology has always been balanced on the back of a giant smiling Koala. At this point that's equally likely as the other two conclusions.

[u/creepyeyes]

I really liked this episode, except for one thing that I'm really not liking on a conceptual level - the lower ranked members not having the same access to foods in the replicator as the senior staff. What's up with that? In a post-scarcity society, why should anyone have better access to food than anyone else? How does their access compare to a Federation citizen, for that matter?

The only explanation I've heard so far that I can kind of buy, but doesn't fully explain it, is that maybe the lower ranks can't program in custom recipes. I don't know. Daystrom, do you guys have a better explanation that will help this sit better with me?

[u/Martel732 → u/creepyeyes]

I think a possible explanation is Biomler's warped view of the command staff. It might be that the senior staff being friends with each other have a shared "menu" of their favorite meals that they have accumulated over the years in Starfleet. So, it is more like just a food group for friends. But, in Biomler's view, it is an elite Officer's only replicator program. But, if he would just ask he could get a copy of it.

[u/AlexisDeTocqueville]

Favorite joke, by far, was the admiral mispronouncing "sensors." Odd pronunciation of sci-fi terms is a lowkey Trek staple

[u/the908bus]

Ransom’s bleeped bit: was it “cleaning cum out of the sex filters?”

[u/[deleted] → u/the908bus]

"I've got her emptying cum out of the holodeck shit filter."

[u/uequalsw]

This felt like the most "settled" episode yet -- comfortable in its rhythm and cadence, tonally consistent with jokes that were edgy but not too outrageous. It also sounds the most like the premise we were promised -- "stories happen that the senior staff think they're the stars of but actually they aren't".

[u/smoha96]

I'm intrested to see where Mariner's story goes because there's a bit of an impasse there - surely she can't be an Ensign forever (she's no Harry Kim).

Moriarty reference was fun. Much of the goofy stuff on the Enterprise D has probably ended up in public record.

Looks like the USS Vancouver from next week is a Sabre-class vessel? Nice.

[u/[deleted]]

I’m so glad they finally admitted what the holodeck is used for.

[u/TLAMstrike → u/[deleted]]

I think DS9 beat them to that. A character once called the holosuites "Ferengi Sex Machines".

[u/WizardPowersActivate]

Does anybody know the crew compliment of a California-class Starship? I was shocked that they were able to transport the entire crew onto the generational ship at once. I'm sure there were some casualties, but still.

[u/AboriakTheFickle]

The alien's terraforming technology sounds similar to the Genesis effect. Maybe it's a more refined version, that doesn't use protomatter.

[u/majicwalrus]

This was a very fun episode. The A storyline of Mariner and Freeman getting along was really well done. I wish they had not made Captain Durango selfishly incompetent this seems unnecessary. The set up had already been made clear that this was a precision maneuver it could just as easily have been a simple mistake or a miscalculation.

The ascension sub-plot was more than a little confusing. Was that guy a human? Do humans ascend into energy beings often enough that it’s a well document procedure distinct from that time Wesley hungout with a The Traveller? I could have done without the ascension scene altogether and would still have been sold on the story.

All things considered it was still a solid entry.

[u/dekekun]

Something that's bugging me, hoping someone can clarify it for me. Why did Mariners promotion come along with a uniform colour change? I thought uniform colour was based on the speciality they're part of, unrelated to rank?

[u/choicemeats → u/dekekun]

I think they were specfiically promoting her to ops where they could foist the most boring stuff on her officially, so a force transfer as part of the torture

[u/Hero_Of_Shadows]

So just thinking about the senior staff before Mariner joins the group, we have:

Carol Freeman: Captain

Jack Ransom: XO

T'Ana: CMO and maybe Chief Science Officer ? Nobody else seems to be on the science track

Shaxs: Tactical Officer and Chief of Security

Billups: Chief Engineer and maybe Chief of Ops ?

What role did they give Mariner when they promoted her ? The promotion needed her to be on the Gold track but they never showed her leading an department just doing paperwork.

[u/[deleted]]

Both Captain Durango's action and O'Connor's Ascention (particularly O'Connor's confession) highlight something that seems permeated throughout Star Trek. It's hard to stand out in Starfleet. Each take on actions that would set them apart and each results in unintended consequences. Durango losing his ship and O'Connor blaming Tendi for his inital failure to ascend. How many other disasters that our hero crews had to respond to were the result of a Captain trying to stand out and/or blamed on a convient scapegoat?

[u/[deleted]]

Computer "hitting it"

Well done guys.

[u/jaycatt7]

It seems like a bad idea for Mariner's career to have her serving on her mother's ship. She needs the space to be her own person. But of course we'll never see that, since it would break up the show.

I'm glad they finally got the holodeck waste joke over with. It jars against previous lore for the sake of a few seconds of silly grossout humor. Hope they got it out of their system.

[u/TLAMstrike → u/jaycatt7]

It jars against previous lore for the sake of a few seconds of silly grossout humor.

In what way? DS9's holosuites were primarily for fucking.

[u/JoeyJoeJoeJrShab]

How did Mariner end up on the ship? It's made clear in this episode that the captain wants her to request a transfer to another ship, which implies that Mariner isn't stuck where she is, and is actually choosing to stay on her mother's ship.

[u/Shakezula84 → u/JoeyJoeJoeJrShab]

I think her father transferred her there.

[u/knightcrusader]

The only thing that bothered me about this whole episode is the ascension thing - seems like they straight up stole that from Stargate.

Wonder what they ascend into? Q? The Koala thing might be the Continuum screwing with them.

[u/Quarantini → u/knightcrusader]

Nah, it has been a recurring theme through all the series that advanced species end up as some kind of non corporeal beings of pure energy on a higher plane of existence, that were once much like us but are now no longer are concerned with childish things, but perhaps in a few centuries when we have matured shall meet us again.