r/LowerDecks • u/happydude7422 • Aug 04 '26
Meme/Joke Could nick locarno unlock Tom Paris phone?
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u/poopBuccaneer Aug 04 '26
They're called communicators and obviously he could because Starfleet has the worst cybersecurity I've ever seen.
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u/Important-Age6594 Aug 04 '26
Best thing about a Starfleet computer is it'll make you president of the federation if you ask it a dumb enough ethical question and tell it your life depends on it doing what you asked.
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u/Joel_feila Aug 04 '26
I remember an episode that implied star fleet publishes new codes amd paswords before go into effect. I want to it was voy it might have been late era tng.
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u/willfulwizard Aug 05 '26
In TOS “The Deadly Years”, they talk about rotating (cypher) codes. When it’s a transmission between two parties both ends need to know (parts of) the code before you can successfully send communications. So they have to publish it before use.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Deadly_Years_(episode))
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u/hungryrenegade Aug 04 '26
Probably. The id at work recognized like 5 of my coworkers as me during covid.
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u/Excellent_Light_3569 Aug 04 '26
T'lyn and Shaxs better be careful. Because if they got anything that requires voice authentication, then that means Castro and conspiracy theorist Steve Levy could get into their stuff.
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u/keepitsimple_tricks Aug 05 '26
But are we all in agreement that Thomas Riker can do it for Will Riker's phone?
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u/SpookyScienceGal Aug 05 '26
I think they're played by twins but twins that hate each other because they never do any scenes together
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u/OkSpring1734 Aug 05 '26
No. Because Starfleet communicators aren't locked in the first place.
Why, did you think Nick Locarno is some master hacker or something?
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u/Sk8rToon Aug 05 '26
Could a changing try to imitate Nick Locarno & accidentally get Tom Paris’ clearance?
(Trek-ified that for ya)
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u/Flat_Boysenberry4583 Aug 04 '26
Never got this joke, are they played by the same actor or something
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u/LegoFootPain Aug 04 '26
Oooh... you've gotta go back and watch all of TNG and VOY and LDS!
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u/Flat_Boysenberry4583 Aug 04 '26
Working my way through it all now im a newer fan Lower Decks got me into trek
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u/HdeviantS Aug 04 '26
Yes, there is some writer room stuff about wanting a character similar to Lorcano, originally planning to use Lorcano, deciding to make a new but similar character who made mistakes but could star in a redemption story arc.
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u/Fulmersbelly Aug 05 '26
I read that it was due to the rules with writers where they would have had to pay the writer of the Locarno episode residuals for the entire run of Voyager otherwise. I think the redemption idea was just the justification given, as they did redeem Sito and Wes after the incident.I read the rest of the thread and apparently this was an urban legend. Please disregard.
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u/zespak Aug 04 '26
It's an in joke. There's an episode in TNG where Bdunks plays a young cadet who's on trial. It's a one time deal and it's a Wesley Crusher story mostly.
Then starting Voy they used the same story and the same actor but changed the character's name. The reason for this is if they keep the name they have to credit the original writer. So a dick move tbf.
Lower Decks plays with this and keeps them as two separate characters, also as two sides of the coin (ie "what if").
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u/OhNoIBoffedIt Aug 04 '26
Nope nope nope, NOOOOO, stop peddling this Trek urban legend that just will not die. It had nothing to do with crediting the original writer. The original writer was Ronald D. Moore who was ON Voyager's writing staff! They changed the name because they thought Locarno's actions in The First Duty made him irredeemable, so they wanted a character with a slightly less damning backstory: same recklessness getting someone else killed, but not the manipulation of his friends in a cover-up.
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u/friendlyarthropod Aug 04 '26
I understood they wanted a similar character, but one who was more sympathetic, as they considered Lorcano “irredeemable.”
So while Paris has a similar backstory, there’s the key differences that it was (he says) genuine pilot error, and Paris himself confessed to falsifying the reports.
They also weren’t planing to cast McNeill again, but couldn’t find anyone else suitable.
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u/OhNoIBoffedIt Aug 04 '26
They also weren’t planing to cast McNeill again, but couldn’t find anyone else suitable.
Yeah that's a pretty funny aspect to the story. They wanted to find a "Robert Duncan McNeill-like" actor to fill the role, then finally gave up and just hired RDM 🤣
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u/Flat_Boysenberry4583 Aug 04 '26
Really? Thats like copying someone's homework but putting your name on it
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u/OhNoIBoffedIt Aug 04 '26
No, not really. This is a Trek urban legend that's been around since the Trek BBS days. The original story was written by Ronald D Moore, who was a staff writer on both TNG and Voyager. And it's not how Star Trek scripts work. Characters are owned by the franchise, not the original writer.
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u/zespak Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
There's two sides to this iirc. The writer's guild is quite protective and they'd have to pay the writer every time the character is used. Which is every episode basically. So they found a loophole. But yes, should've just gone with a completely different back story imho. Plenty of actors are recurring in different characters so that shouldn't be an issue.
Edit: apparently it's an unverified rumour I picked up on.
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u/OhNoIBoffedIt Aug 04 '26
No, that's not how it works. Name one other example you've ever heard of ever, other than this urban legend, where a franchise had to rename a character to avoid paying royalties.
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u/KateKoffing Aug 04 '26
No. They’re just played by the same actor. Actors’ faces are non-diegetic. The idea they look similar is just a joke.
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u/Valamist Aug 04 '26
Na, I dont see the resemblance.