Lower Decks: Can anyone tell me what I'm missing?

Submitted ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨MamboGator@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨startrek@startrek.website⁩

I really don’t like Lower Decks. Before you downvote, I would never tell anyone it’s bad or that they shouldn’t like it. I just really can’t figure out why most people seem to like it so much.

Similar to what I’ve heard many fans of LD say, I don’t like Discovery or Picard either but I love Strange New Worlds. That seems to be pretty common among the Lower Decks fandom. Yet no matter how many times I try to watch LD I always end up borderline hating it. I don’t even like the crossover episode with SNW.

For reference, the things I specifically dislike are: I don’t find it funny; I think that the characters are too cynical, hyperactive or doe-eyed; and I’m normally a big proponent of 2D animation but I don’t like LD’s art style either.

It’s cool that they have brought back so many characters, actors and details from the old days, but to me that’s not enough to get over the things I don’t like. I’m also not one to notice that they faithfully recreated a minor detail from the classic series without it being pointed out to me.

Is it just that my sense of humor and other tastes are too different, despite sharing a lot of other opinions with fans of LD? Or is it the deep Trek references that people love so much but often go over my head? Or is it something else entirely that I’m not getting that makes so many people love this show?

Whatever it is that’s lost on me, I’m glad so many people are getting their joy from LD. I just need to convince my coworker to stop recommending it to me. :P

(I also spent over an hour editing this before posting it to make sure it sounds as diplomatic as possible, so hopefully I don’t still manage to piss everyone off with my heresy.)

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Comments

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SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Totally fair opinion. I like it because it’s the Wizard behind the Curtain scenarios.

That peace treaty and the wonderful meal prepared?

Yeah… guys on the lower decks had to make that happen. Mundane paperwork, etc.

How did this magically get resolved so quickly? Lower decks did it.

It’s the Star Trek equivalent of Super Store where you see the lofty ideals and futuristic space travel is really just every day life with people doing people things like we do today. Whether good and bad.

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northendtrooper@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
For me its the quickness of the dialogue. And since it is animation they are notnheld back by grand scale budgets for every little detail of a new planet or giant space ship battles. Again this is my take. And it took me a minute to appreciate LD.

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- MamboGator@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Thanks! I did like how they even pointed out how fast Mariner and Boimler talk compared to the Enterprise crew in the crossover with SNW. But I definitely prefer the latter. Maybe that’s a sign I’m getting old. Can’t keep up with what the kids are saying these days.
  
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  - northendtrooper@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’m not sure it is the age or getting old, or just the type of brain. I’ve always was more attentive to people who spoke faster from keeping my mind wandering during the conversation. I was always told to slow down my speech throughout school.
    
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yildo@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
If you don't find the humour funny, it's not going to work for you. It's half humour, half love letter to trek. Star Trek meets Futurama

To some extent, the characters have to be hyper and heightened because they have to fit a Star Trek episode in under half an hour

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xantoxis@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to like it, or pretend to like it, or justify why you don’t like it, or even tell people that you don’t like it.

Totes fine to just dislike it and move on. For me I not only love LD but it actually brought me into trek fandom through the backdoor, and I’m currently watching TNG all the way through.

But I’m not diminished in any way by you not liking it.

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Prking@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
The first few episodes Mariner was written as hyperactive and overbearing to the point of being off-putting.

But they responded to feedback and wrote her differently going forward and seem to have made some edits to earlier episodes.

It might be worth seeing some later episodes once it got settled in.

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- SlikPikker@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yeah, I disliked her episode 1 abuse / harassment of Boimler enough that I stopped watching.
  
  Now it’s my favorite ongoing show.
  
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TheFlopster@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I like LD because of its sense of humor and Trek deep cuts.

The LD characters are much more like “real” people than the other Trek series to me. By that I mean: TNG was full of people that I would admire and look up to if I were on that ship. LD has people I could see myself becoming friends with. But maybe that opinion reflects the age I was/am when watching each of them.

If you aren’t a fan of the humor, and don’t get the deep cuts, then I could see why you aren’t finding much to like about it.

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- cm0002@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  The LD characters are much more like “real” people than the other Trek series to me.
  
  This is why I like it, it’s closer to how I expect “real” humans to act even 400 years in the future.
  
  The other treks are more idealized, heroized, professional.
  
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  - cogman@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    The other treks are more idealized, heroized, professional.
    
    Which is something LD likes to poke fun at.
    
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  - MamboGator@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That’s what I like about The Orville, actually. Even when the series became more serious, I still saw it as like Star Trek if all the officers were actual people.
    
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FinishingDutch@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
You certainly are allowed to dislike or even hate a Star Trek product. Every fan has things they like or don’t like. Heck, it’s one of the things this fandom is known for!

What I love about LD is the fact that it pokes fun at pretty much every Trek trope there is, while also being proper Trek itself. It’s a fine balance for sure.

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AnarchistArtificer@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I don’t think you’re necessarily missing anything. Lower Decks is probably my favourite Star Trek series by a decent margin, but I think that people’s varying tastes is part of the Trek experience.

Like the first Star Trek I ever watched was TNG, with a partner who hated DS9 because of how far it was from the much more utopian tone of TNG. My best friend, however, loved DS9 most of all for that exact same reason. I can’t tolerate The Original Series because of how campy and cringe it is, but I have friends who love it for that.

If you hate Lower Decks, then your perspective is one I can’t really relate to, but that just feels like regular old Trekkie solidarity to me - with a show so varied, inevitably there’s going to be diverse viewpoints. That in mind, I’m not going to try and change mind, I’m just going to highlight why I love Lower Decks.

My favourite bit about Lower Decks is that it feels like a love letter to Trek, in all its forms. There’s a lot of references I don’t get, but I don’t need to get them to feel the warm fuzzies of knowing this show was made by people who are, first and foremost, fans of Star Trek. I like utopian sci fi because the state of the real world means that I can find real hope in the fantasy because in my heart, I believe in humanity.

Alongside all of that idealistic space exploration though, Lower Decks doesn’t shy away from the more pernicious aspects of Star Trek, and Starfleet/the Federation. The humour isn’t always my taste, but I think they use it well to poke fun at Star Trek, the show, but also the world within. The sometimes critical lens that is taken is part of why it feels so much like a love letter to Trek - if you truly love something, you’ve got to take the bad with the good and not pretend that everything is perfect.

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FerNZA@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
It is fine that you don’t like it. I don’t really think you will get downvoted for it. I also don’t like LD as much as other people but I think it is fine.

There are many other trek things that I don’t like as much as other people, but in the end there are different parts of ST that resonates with different people.

The thing I like about ST is how realistic somethings from back in the day are. I also like the more serious tone of things, but I think with the popularity of things like the Orville etc you can see that a big part of the fandom was looking for something more light hearted.

Just tell your co-worker that LD is just not for you. I am sure he will understand.

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angrystego@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I think it’s the different humor and visual style case. And that’s ok. I don’t think you need to understand the many Trek injokes to like it- I know people who don’t know Trek and enjoy LD.

What I find interesting is that you feel the characters are cynical. I was quite suprised how endearingly idealistic the characters were, despite being written as flawed. They always make sure to do the right thing and they try very hard to better themselves. There’s a lot of character growth involved, which I much appreciate.

During the first two episodes, I also found the characters hyperactive. By the third one I adapted.

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BenVimes@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
My story is a bit different than others. I am not a Trekkie, and most of what I know about the franchise is from cultural osmosis and from catching the odd rerun of TNG in the 90s.

I have, however, been a junior officer in a ship, and much of Lower Deck’s content struck a chord because I’ve been there. I’ve been assigned the banal tasks, I’ve argued with other crew members on an opposite watch, and I’ve had to fight for the attention of the senior officers.

Disclaimer: I am not encouraging you to join the navy just to enjoy LD. That would be silly.

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c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Not liking the art style makes sense, it’s the same “kidney bean for a head” style that’s been taught at all animation schools for the last half decade now and it’s so overused that it just looks bad.

It’s the Rick and Morty style, essentially. Everyone’s copied it now.

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thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’m completely with you on this, LD is clearly a hit with a lot of people and that makes me happy to see, but the show is just not for me. The characters are indeed way too hyper all the time which is tiring to watch, and I think it’s a shame because the concept and even a lot of the plots could be funny, but the characters never grow or change or become any less the absolute worst, so it’s kind of a wasted opportunity.

Anyway I’m not replying to dunk on LD. It’s a tv show and I don’t personally like it, whatever. I am replying to ask if you’ve tried The Orville.

Go with me here, because I assumed it was going to be just more of the kiddie style humour like LD. And it sort of is at first, so on my first attempt I bounced off the first episode and didn’t go back for a year. But we seem to have basically the same taste when it comes to Trek and I can honestly say The Orville turned into some of the best Trek I’ve seen. It’s got its weak points and annoying characters like anything else, but they’re a bit more like real people who change over time based on their experiences and aren’t just stuck in that typical animated show loop of being exactly the same again at the start of each new episode.

You might like it, you might not. Just a suggestion! :)

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- MamboGator@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I love The Orville. Before Strange New Worlds, I considered it the only good nu-Trek out there.
  
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  - wjrii@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I like The Orville. I've watched the entire run of the show. Much like you with LD though, I don't quite get how people love The Orville. It strikes me as leftover TNG episodes with a Find and Replace, followed by a liberal coat of Seth MacFarlane's very particular set of Gen X influences. The morality is often pretty clumsy and I can almost imagine Seth and the writers being frustrated by the ambiguity that a good Trek episode can leave you with. Then, the way it had to start with a more Galaxy quest vibe to get a show order from Fox, followed by Seth wanting it to be more serious but also still be a Seth show, it's kind of all over the place. I also find some of the acting performances to be amateurish to the point of distraction.
    
    And for all that, I still like it. It scratched an itch and has a lot of heart. On the whole, it's more than the sum of its parts, but for me it still has a ceiling. I like it about as much as I like Discovery, which I have also watched in its entirety though only once. The two shows' issues are very different though, with the exception of tonal whiplash.
    
    I have come around on LD. I think it is a similar love letter to to Gen2 Star Trek but handles the balance of trek-to-humor better, and for all their cartoon antics, I've found the characters more compelling than The Orville's.
    
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  - thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Oh well, no further recommendations from me. But hello Trek-preferences twin, I guess :D
    
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ieightpi@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Everyone is entitled to their opinions if they like the show or not. I know you opening up and I don’t want to com off mean in any way. I think its pretty awesome you feel comfortable come out with opinion.

But objectively, the characters are far from cynical. You might look into reevaluating what you consider to be cynical in life. Maybe you used just used the wrong word to describe what you meant.

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- MamboGator@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Cynical is probably the wrong word for what I was thinking of. I’m mostly referring to Mariner and her “too cool for school” attitude and teasing Boimler. She comes across as too negative to me.
  
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  - ieightpi@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I can see where your coming from.
    
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  - jmdatcs@lemmy.tf ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’m not trying to tell you “keep at it, it gets better”, because it doesn’t. It starts out awesome and stays that way, in my opinion.
    
    But if you had watched more you’d see Mariner’s persona is a front. She might be the most Starfleet motherfucker in the show.
    
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briongloid@aussie.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’ve only seen the cross-over episode on SNW, It’s very much not my sense of humour but I’m happy for there to be more types of shows for more people, so long as I get my TNG style shows.

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Blackout@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
It's just a star trek thing. I've lost count at the number of TNG, DS9, Voyager episodes I find dull and boring. There is hardly a concensus among fans on the series or movies that are good, don't expect to love all the new stuff either.

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TetraVega@lemmings.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I get where you’re coming from. Definitely different, but I’m have an affliction that I like everything Trek. Heck, my least favorite is Discovery, but I still like Discovery. For LD, yeah there are some episodes I don’t think seem very Trekkish somehow, but I think the series overall is good. It’s like Trek and Rick and Morty had a baby, so maybe you don’t like Rick and Morty either

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OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’m with you, OP. I tried to watch LD but found the hyperactive characters and cynicism were just too much.

I’m glad it has a following, but I do kinda wish people would shut up about it on occasion. All of the trek fan sites are overwhelmingly about LD anymore, like it’s the only trek show out there.

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- TheSambassador@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Do you have an example of cynicism in the show? I guess the Ceritos being a lower class ship gives some of the characters a bit of a chip on their shoulder and they talk a lot of crap about command, but the characters themselves still have a pretty positive outlook overall.
  
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- kick_out_the_jams@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Out of all the new trek it's the only one that feels like star trek to me and not more like bad star trek fan fiction.
  
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Kolanaki@yiffit.net ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I like it cuz it funny.

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