[Lower Decks review starts at 08:47]
Anthony and Laurie start off taking a deep dive into the trailer for the upcoming Star Trek: Section 31 streaming movie. They agree it’s a better trailer and the movie looks like it has good production values and plenty of action, and they hope it can make good on promises to be “fun.”
After that, they review the penultimate episode of Lower Decks, “Fissure Quest,” the first part of the two-part season and series finale. Both love the episode were surprised just how many canon connections (and characters) were jammed into it, thankful it had a longer runtime.
The podcast wraps up with Tony’s conversation with Garrett Wang where he talks about playing various Kims on Lower Decks, along with how he feels about almost returning for Picard and more.
Links:
Watch: New Action-Packed Trailer For ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ Streaming Movie
Analysis: There Is A Lot Going On In The New ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ Trailer
Interview: ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ Cast Opens Up About Their Characters, Backstories, And More
Let us know what you think of the episode in the comments, and should you be so inclined, please review us on Apple.
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The older he gets, the more he appears to be morphing into Dr. Corey from Whom Gods Destroy.
yeah he is. is he? but time goes on does it?
I thought two pip Kim breaking was some form of inter-dimensional psychosis akin to temporal psychosis from the VOY episode Relativity. Seemed they were laying hints of this when the two Cerritos crews kept fighting with each other. Also with the Anaximander crew sniping at each other a couple of times.
Funny the perspective you have on the trailer. I think it looks cheap and generic.
It’s almost like they have a different opinion to you!
Good podcast! I hope that after next week’s finale you continue to do some pods before the Section 31 premier. Might I suggest a Lower Decks five-season overview-retrospective?
Re: the discussion about whether the episode should have featured the Prime Universe “real” versions of the characters rather than alternates, I liked how they used the alternate versions to flip the usual Boimler and Mariner dynamic. William Boimler got to be the cool, confident character while alternate Mariner was the cautious, self-doubting one.
Ok a few thoughts. First off, I’m sorry I have to disagree with you guys about the Section 31 trailer in a number of ways. For one, to me it doesn’t really look very expensive at all. Once you take away that monster night club set, everything else looks like a standard episode. The design of the space station is interesting and abstract, but all the scenes not in the nightclub (and sadly there are not that many) looks like a standard episode. Nothing really stands out at all and why this trailer doesn’t really grab you. What would you say is the big ‘money shot’, the scene where you go ‘cool’? The other stuff is a lot of outdoor desert shots and a few interior ship scenes and that’s mostly it. I just don’t see this as ‘expensive’ outside of the nightclub.
The second point, Laurie mentions this movie is supposed to be a ‘spy movie’ but that’s the other problem with it; nothing about it actually screams spy movie. It just comes off more like a team up movie where you bring a group of people to stop the big villain. That’s exactly why everyone keeps saying it feels like Suicide Squad or GOTG which neither is considered a spy genre but a team up one. Yeah I suspect we will get it in the movie itself but the trailer just doesn’t convey that at all IMO.
I have said this already but this trailer has created the least excitement for me in a Star Trek project ever. That’s not an exaggeration. But like Laurie, I will watch it but I don’t have a tinge of excitement for this thing at all and I do like spy stories. The fact it doesn’t feel like one is part of the issue.
I did laugh out loud when Anthony called her a random evil person. Emphasis on evil.
Last thing about how the Cheron alien being around, I can really care less. Maybe another Soong made a genetic clone of them. Or maybe Q zapped them back into existence so he can watch them fight each other again out of boredom. Chances are any explanation will be as bad as those but I don’t expect one. It’s probably just an Easter egg.
Sorry for the cynical post but you can probably tell just how little this movie is moving me.
It does feel like Anthony’s impression about the trailer is the opposite of most fan sentiment expressed here. I agree it doesn’t look particularly cinematic of expensive, although I’m sure the production was expensive by episodic TV standards. I will say my low expectations has freed me up to be pleasantly surprised, which is what I’m hoping for.
Yeah maybe they spent a bit more than an average episode but I still wouldn’t call it expensive looking either. The movie just looks average which most people seem to be saying.
But like you my expectations are obviously so low, if I think a scene is great I will probably love the movie lol.
My expectations were quite low for Discovery season 5 as well but I ended up liking it quite a bit, so fingers cross I guess.
Agreed about how the trailer looked. It looked like just another episode of Discovery without Michael Burnham.
Also, agreed about the “spy movie” part too. It was all action. Nothing to indicate it to be a spy movie at all.
Yep and as said it’s a big reason why so many people are disappointed in it because they expected a Section 31 story to feel more cloak and dagger and less people punching and cracking jokes. On another site, someone threw out a great observation that this trailer would feel more interesting and closer to a spy movie if it took the tone and direction of Andor and not GOTG. If people have never seen that, go watch that trailer and then watch this one again and you will see the difference clearly.
you could say that about the trailers for most bond films, which are considered spy films.
But everyone akready knows what they are getting when a Bond film comes out.
The only people who knows anything about Section 31 are Star Trek fans and when most of those tells you it doesn’t look look like the group it’s promoting then that’s just confusing your audience.
But maybe Laurie is right and it’s being made strictly for newbies.
But moving on to more positive news, yeah LOVED LDS this episode. You can always tell when an episode of any show excites people by the number of videos on Youtube with people raving about it in their reviews. And I haven’t been a huge lover of this season at all, but the last few have been solid and this one knocked it out of the park. I cannot wait for next week even with a bit of sadness.
I also liked the Wang interview. It really does suck he was written out of Picard and for three episodes as well. I always loved Harry as a character. There are dozens and dozens of us lol. So I have been wanting to see him again at SOME point once Voyager went off the air. It took awhile but it was fun to see him on this show. I do hope we see the original character next week. Not counting on it but fingers crossed.
And lastly since you guys asked, I want to throw my hat in the ring to ask McMahan a few questions. I will only keep it to a few (but I have a dozen ;)) and hopefully you can ask some of them.
1 Was there a plan to do a Crisis Point 3 holodeck movie? I know an out there question but I always suspected it was supposed to be a trilogy and I loved the last two. I thought since the second one came in season 3 we would get another one in season 5. Oh well.
2 Was there any talk of seeing Dr. T’Ana’s homeworld? I always thought it would be fun of what the Catian planet is like and knowing LDS, there would probably be a lot of cat elements everywhere. ;)
3 I have a feeling he won’t answer this, but what other actors did they ask to come back who just said no? Now that it’s over it would be fun to see who else was on the list but couldn’t get.
4 Ok, one more. But I suspect this one will be asked anyway, but is there ANY inkling of hope the show will go on in some form? Are there any talk anywhere there could be a return down the line like a TV movie or Christmas special. Most of us want this show to continue obviously.
That’s it. Since I was the first to ask questions I hope some of them gets used. Can’t wait for next week.
My question for Mike would have been similar to your 4th one: what percent chance does he see for LDS to continue in some form?
Loved the episode. So sad to see (this version of?!) the show is ending!
They made the relationship canon, but also not canon (because other realities) – clever, so everyone can still read the characters as they like
Burning Mike question: is our Jack Ransom the son of Rudolph Ransom of the USS Equinox or is the name just a coincidence?
I disagree with Laurie about T´Pol, she was one of the few things I liked about Enterprise. For me she symbolized the woman in the room who´s the smartest person in the room but is seldom treated as such. And just like Seven before her the character and actress rises above the tits and ass box that the studio wanted to put her in. Jolene was done dirty on the show and behind the scenes. I hope this isn´t the end of her Star Trek comeback.
Question from TrekMovie: Have you heard anything about Section 31 premiering abroad? I´m thinking specifically of Sweden where SkyShowtime has replaced Paramount+.
they never confirmed whether decker in TMP was the son of capt decker of ‘doomsday machine’.
though the novelization may have done so in print.
Interesting… That reminds me of what Nana said in her interview about the person she spoke to who loved T’Pol, it was for that same reason, being the smartest person in the room who isn’t treated as such. I didn’t connect with her that way but the way they filmed her was likely a driving factor in my thoughts about the character.
That was my reaction to her when seeing the show the first time. It wasn´t until rewatching it a few years later that I began looking at her character differently. One of the reasons I don´t like the show is how blatant it is that the powers that be wanted to use her as a sex object. But I´ve been able to seperate that with the character and actress. I´d say I like T´Pol despite the way they filmed her and that´s a testament to the actress.
I think they wrote her inconsistently too, though.
To be honest, I am fairly grateful whenever something of prominence (e.g. television/film and not merely comics or novels) and of professional quality is produced within the Star Trek franchise these days, given how barren the landscape used to be of new stories and how the average quality of those new stories is fairly high. Nothing from Star Trek 2009 or Discovery onward has ever been as problematic as some things before. For those who watch a lot of television and populate their awareness with the highlights of various series and franchises, a narratively mediocre Star Trek production is easy to condemn. But when practically the only streaming product you grant time and money to is the Star Trek franchise itself, a Section 31 movie of sort suggested by the trailers is afforded more tolerance and appreciation. Simple tastes with simple expectations.
I think it’s unfair to say that T’Pol was just eye candy. Sure, her outfit was obviously designed to attract male gaze, just like Troi’s and Seven’s outfits. But T’Pol actually reminds me a lot of Seven, in that she is the most interesting character on the show despite being made to look like she is just there for sex appeal. I loved T’Pol’s arc, going from barely tolerating humans to falling in love with one, and her conflicted loyalties between the High Command and Starfleet. And I like how she helps Archer to overcome his prejudice, as she becomes one of his most trusted advisors and friends.
jill Jacobson r i p