Spoilers ST Lower Decks - Starships & Technology Season 5 Discussion

[Mark_Nguyen]

Okay, here we go, final season! Spoilers for everything up to the currently-airing episode.

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From the clip, which I assume is from 5x01:

- Is Tendi's disguise a soft or hard light hologram? We basically have that tech now if the mobile emitter tech has gotten around, but it would be a little weird if the Collector guy pulled at her scarf thingy or hair and grasps nothing. She does eventually use the scarf to fight, and then discards it, so perhaps it's real, or also a projection? The ensemble is clearly projected from the pendant she tossed away, so I wonder how expensive / valuable it really is. And if it's a projection, what did the Collector guy feel when he brushed her arm? They're fully covered in pirate-grade leather after she pulls off the charm.

- That's a... Standard horga'hn? Is there something collectible about it, or is the guy just putting it out there that he's seeking jamaharon?

- Collector guy uses a 2270s / 2280s / 2340s Starfleet phaser II.

The fun starts October 24!

Mark

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

- Is Tendi's disguise a soft or hard light hologram? We basically have that tech now if the mobile emitter tech has gotten around, but it would be a little weird if the Collector guy pulled at her scarf thingy or hair and grasps nothing. She does eventually use the scarf to fight, and then discards it, so perhaps it's real, or also a projection? The ensemble is clearly projected from the pendant she tossed away, so I wonder how expensive / valuable it really is. And if it's a projection, what did the Collector guy feel when he brushed her arm? They're fully covered in pirate-grade leather after she pulls off the charm.

It's probably a duplicate of whatever the HoloDeck can do, but in Mobile Emitter form to cover the person. It needs to fool the mark. So everything has to be as real to the simulation as possible.

- That's a... Standard horga'hn? Is there something collectible about it, or is the guy just putting it out there that he's seeking jamaharon?

He's seeking Jamaharon.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Ever closer!

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- The decon chamber is on a starbase, possibly the one also seen in the trailer. It's got wooden accent panels and benches! Enterprise-D inspirations?

- Kims seem to be resting in a bunk room or corridors based on a Defiant-class sets. Of course, those same sets were also seen as a generic Section 31 mindscape on DS9, so who knows...

- What's up with some of the Kims' combadges? The FC-era greys we've seen on this show so far haven't been like that. I suspect an animation error. (EDIT: The VOY uniform in 401 also had the odd combadge coloring choice.)

Mark

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Please let Harry Kim make Captain or Admiral eventually in "Live-Action" Trek.

It's fine if you joke about his lack of ranking up in Lower Decks given it's time frame relative to Voyager's return, but I still want to see "Captain Harry Kim" or "Admiral Harry Kim"

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I'm with you. Speaking as an asian-Canadian who works as an actor and entertainer, Harry (and Garrett Wang who played him) was a great inspiration for me, as we were similar ages at the time. Harry (and Garrett Wang who played him) sure deserve the sorts of past-due gifts that this era of Trek are handing out.

Mark

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I'm with you. Speaking as an asian-Canadian who works as an actor and entertainer, Harry (and Garrett Wang who played him) was a great inspiration for me, as we were similar ages at the time. Harry (and Garrett Wang who played him) sure deserve the sorts of past-due gifts that this era of Trek are handing out.

Mark

As a Taiwanese American Trekkie, I'm happy for Garret Wang, but it still was another Asian Miscasting since we have a Taiwanese Man playing a Korean character.

But you know how it is with Caucasians and how they lump us together in one pot.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Absolutely. Mind you, I was over the moon when this era of Trek has brough us not one, but two Nguyens. Neither was particularly heroic or anything, but hey, right direction.

Mark

 

[B.J.]

As a Taiwanese American Trekkie, I'm happy for Garret Wang, but it still was another Asian Miscasting since we have a Taiwanese Man playing a Korean character.

But you know how it is with Caucasians and how they lump us together in one pot.

I prefer to look at it from the point of view that family names, area of origin, and genetic background get even more mixed up in the next few hundred years.

 

[UssGlenn]

As a Taiwanese American Trekkie, I'm happy for Garret Wang, but it still was another Asian Miscasting since we have a Taiwanese Man playing a Korean character.

But you know how it is with Caucasians and how they lump us together in one pot.

If I remember the story correctly, the producers didn't realize that Kim was specifically a Korean name and thought Wang was playing a character of Chinese descent, much to Garret Wang's surprise when he brought it up.

I prefer to look at it from the point of view that family names, area of origin, and genetic background get even more mixed up in the next few hundred years.

It's a fine line, you want to represent modern multiculturalism, but realistically that that looks completely different in the 24th century, for exactly the reasons you mentioned. Philippa Georgiou is a good example of that approach.

 

[Ithekro]

I mean they got a Brit to play a Frenchman.

 

[Deks]

Please let Harry Kim make Captain or Admiral eventually in "Live-Action" Trek.

It's fine if you joke about his lack of ranking up in Lower Decks given it's time frame relative to Voyager's return, but I still want to see "Captain Harry Kim" or "Admiral Harry Kim"

Kim actually achieved a rank of Captain in the Endgame timeline by around or before 2400 if I'm not mistaken because he was out exploring in the Rhode Island for 4 years before the VOY reunion.
Admiral Janeway travelled 26 years into the past from 2404 (which is 26 years after 2378 - when VOY got back).

For reference, Kim was supposed to make an appearance in PIC S3 with a rank of Commander - which to me indicated he got the 'raw' end of the deal.
Thankfully, since he wasn't even mentioned in PIC S3, his rank by that time is open to interpretation and could still be said to have achieve Captain by 2400.

Dunno, in this final season of L.D. he's supposed to be a Lt., but I kinda think his time on VOY should have given him a fast track to Lt./Cmmdr. upon coming back to the Alpha Quadrant (unless that 'stain' on his record with the Varro girl from S5 didn't do more damage).

Tuvok already held a rank of Lt. when he infiltrated the Maqui (which was about a few months or a year before he was whisked away to the DQ - and Janeway promoted him to Lt./Cmmdr in early S4 - or about 3 years after being on VOY).

Dunno how long a person needs to transition from one rank to another. Paris was still on Lt. rank when we saw him in L.D. and he's been that rank since 2371 (with a year spending as an ensign - this could have 'reset' his time needed to reach the next rank, but I think SF would have likely overlooked that more or less - Janeway I think was a tad generous with ranks when she elevated Torres and Paris to Lt.'s - so they could take 'longer' to reach the next level compared to say Kim.
Chakotay's rank of Cmmdr was more or less on track anyway, so not a particular issue.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

5x01: I'm feeling happiness and sadness for his, but here we go!

- FLEET magazine suggests that the early DS9 and FC uniforms are still in use.

- Naomi Wildman is in Starfleet now? Good on her! She'll be around ten now, as she was born on Stardate 49548.7, and the following episode is on 59376.9, but she probably had another growth spurt or something. Hope she's still in touch with Iche---ohhh.

- So does this mean Wildman got some sort of dispensation to apply for the Academy early? I figured that the minimum human age was fourteen, per Wesley. But other species do grow up fast (or if you're an O'Brien), so how does this work?

- Ransom's chair has LCARS displays but he has to lift his arm to actually see them. In one case he seems to report on something happening without looking at them. Perhaps he could simply look at the BIG HINKING displays on the wall? People are rarely ever stationed there.

- It's fun how the uniforms are just slightly darker in the other universe. It parallels how the shades of TNG era uniforms are just slightly off depending on how many times they've been through the production wash.

- The old Orion ship apes the designs seen in SNW and TOS-R.

- Boimler's excited to receive the latest issue of Fleet, and yet the one he brings back is the next issue, numerically. Assuming it's a monthly periodical, it's been in print for just four years.

Mark

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

- So does this mean Wildman got some sort of dispensation to apply for the Academy early? I figured that the minimum human age was fourteen, per Wesley. But other species do grow up fast (or if you're an O'Brien), so how does this work?

Isn't Naomi Wildman (½ Human, ½ Ktarian) hybrid. So she would probably apply when she's the equivalent of 18 in her species age.
Assuming the Ktarian Planet's Yearly Cycle is a bit different than Earth's and that Ktarian's age differently than humans.

The Ktarian/Human hybrid gestation period is 18 months, so there are bound to be differences in what is her hybrid species equivalent of our human 18 y/o.

 

[Ithekro]

Considering that Naomi looked roughly like a ten year old when she was three years old....who knows.

 

[Markonian]

It would be cool to get the Orion medical frigate as a skin for the D’Var class in STO.

 

[Dukhat]

- FLEET magazine suggests that the early DS9 and FC uniforms are still in use.

At some point between 2380 and 2386 or so, there's an interim FC-style uniform between the FC one and the 2387 PIC one seen in flashbacks to the Utopia Planitia attack. We see Riker wearing it in a de-aged flashback in PIC season 3.

LDS has been inconsistent in their uniforms over the series' run. When it first started, all Starfleet officers were wearing the LDS uniform. Then it changed to only California-class personnel wearing them, while other ships' personnel wore the FC uniforms.

 

[NCC-73515]

Naomi could simply be featured as Captain's Assistant and not a real officer

 

[David cgc]

At some point between 2380 and 2386 or so, there's an interim FC-style uniform between the FC one and the 2387 PIC one seen in flashbacks to the Utopia Planitia attack. We see Riker wearing it in a de-aged flashback in PIC season 3.

LDS has been inconsistent in their uniforms over the series' run. When it first started, all Starfleet officers were wearing the LDS uniform. Then it changed to only California-class personnel wearing them, while other ships' personnel wore the FC uniforms.

Don’t forget the uniforms in Prodigy. Not just the semi-LDS ones, but also the Protostar’s specialty uniforms. Starfleet in the ‘80s isn’t hurting for alternate outfits. Which is less clean on a Fact Files graphic, but does make uniform continuity errors less… possible.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

5x02

- Apparently the Cerritos' mission this week was to gather all the Targalan gold and crap and toss it into the matter recombinator. Does this turn it all into generic... stuff, that can then be resequenced into other stuff?

- If T'Lyn is looking to complete senior science officer training, shouldn't she be looking to... A senior science officer? Tendi was getting mentored by Doc T'ana. T'Lyn later admits that she really was just trying to do something nice for Rutherford, but this didn't raise a red flag that it wasn't standard training?

- We've long accepted that the shuttle is a kind of make-work project for the LDS gang, and they basically got it working at the end of season one. Perhaps they DO finish it every once in a while, an then disassemble it to start over again? Like a Cerritos model or the VW bug that Engineering universities pull apart and reassemble every term?

- Have sarium krellide been replaced as a power source when we weren't looking? Sternbach et. al. wrote often as it was the default "battery material" for phasers, etc. The old shuttle T'Lyn is fixing apparently can't be treated like it's got S-K cells.

- T'Lyn uses a welding mask but Rutherford does not. But why? They have five eyelids between them..!

- I'm convinced that Trek solar sail ships, Orion, Oree-on, Bajoran, BAY-jora or otherwise, have much more to them than simply using photons as a propusive device. Maybe the sails power some ion drive, like ours do? There are various glowey blue bits on the family ship here that can be antigrav too.

- In repairing the Sequoia, T'Lyn basically turned it into a version of the standard Cerritos shuttle. This included replacing the nacelles and struts with units resembling the standard, and streamlining the whole hull (though it does not seem to be a re-use of the standard shuttle model).

- I wonder if/when we see the re-disassembled Sequoia again, it'll be in the version it is currently in, or the version that's been sitting at the back of the gang's maintenance bay for the past four seasons.

Mark

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

- Apparently the Cerritos' mission this week was to gather all the Targalan gold and crap and toss it into the matter recombinator. Does this turn it all into generic... stuff, that can then be resequenced into other stuff?

That's what I'm assuming it is, split all the constituent elements into individual raw stock and sort / seperate it at the atomic level.

- If T'Lyn is looking to complete senior science officer training, shouldn't she be looking to... A senior science officer? Tendi was getting mentored by Doc T'ana. T'Lyn later admits that she really was just trying to do something nice for Rutherford, but this didn't raise a red flag that it wasn't standard training?

Who's the Senior Science Officer on the USS Cerritos?

- We've long accepted that the shuttle is a kind of make-work project for the LDS gang, and they basically got it working at the end of season one. Perhaps they DO finish it every once in a while, an then disassemble it to start over again? Like a Cerritos model or the VW bug that Engineering universities pull apart and reassemble every term?

Or maybe their customizing it like a tricked out shuttle since it's a fixed damaged shuttle? Maybe they got special permission to customize it due to it's historically significant value to them as a crew.

- Have sarium krellide been replaced as a power source when we weren't looking? Sternbach et. al. wrote often as it was the default "battery material" for phasers, etc. The old shuttle T'Lyn is fixing apparently can't be treated like it's got S-K cells.

This is Post Voyager's Return, remember the CEM (Condensed Energy Matrix) they scanned in Warhead? That stuff was super energy dense, yet was able to power the Flying Torpedo with AI/Weapons/Shield/Warp Drive, all in a battery format. Imagine how much energy you must be able to store to cover 80 ly w/ Shielding / Weapons / etc before blowing up.

And Voyager's crew must've scanned the entire device when it disassembled it, most likely figuring out how to make the CEM batteries.
The alien salvagers stated that the CEM batteries could power a fleet of StarShips.

- T'Lyn uses a welding mask but Rutherford does not. But why? They have five eyelids between them..!

Ruthorford can close his natural eye and let his Implant eye filter out the extreme light?

- I'm convinced that Trek solar sail ships, Orion, Oree-on, Bajoran, BAY-jora or otherwise, have much more to them than simply using photons as a propusive device. Maybe the sails power some ion drive, like ours do? There are various glowey blue bits on the family ship here that can be antigrav too.

Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a Sail-Powered ship to have a Ion drive?
If it's a Solar Sail, couldn't they just use some form of advanced Laser or Light emitter to help push the vessel along the way on top of whatever the local star was emitting?

- In repairing the Sequoia, T'Lyn basically turned it into a version of the standard Cerritos shuttle. This included replacing the nacelles and struts with units resembling the standard, and streamlining the whole hull (though it does not seem to be a re-use of the standard shuttle model).

I'm sure she is following StarFleet regulations.

- I wonder if/when we see the re-disassembled Sequoia again, it'll be in the version it is currently in, or the version that's been sitting at the back of the gang's maintenance bay for the past four seasons.

I'm hoping it's a new custom Hot-Rod version =D