Jellico: Hot damn, even their jokes are efficient. I like this crew.

For the uninitiated: "The United Federation of Hold my Beer."

Yes, that explains what Humans bring to the table: sheer, ill-informed, unbridled, un-jaded, undistilled, optimism.

It also explains why Voyager sports bio-neural components that can't handle cheese, why 1701-D is comically oversized compared to its crew compliment, why outfitting the entire Federation fleet with recycled Borg tech got the green light, and why bridge workstations have a failure mode that kills the operator with heavy-metal concert pyrotechnics the moment it's shaken too hard. Nobody told them they couldn't do that, so they did.

You forgot:

• Got Klingon married
• won survived a duel with a (very angry) Klingon
• Trounced said Klingon with scathing financial evidence, disgracing him publicly
• Saved his wife's house (whole estate with social standing intact)
• Secured wife's place on the council
• Got Klingon divorced

No idea if he got to keep those furs.

D&D Beyond

This is entirely too clever. And accurate.

On the one hand: no matter what you replicate it's ethical, nutritious, and good for you. There are literally no bad choices for your body.

On the other: you have access to a bottomless culinary database that spans innumerable diets, cultures, broad swaths of history... and you order Chef Boyardee's finest with a few saltines. I think it's time to talk to the ship's counselor, because nobody should be eating struggle meals in a post-scarcity society.

Considering what goes into the more hard-core outfits, they deserve respect for their dedication. And there are lots of outlets for that too, which is great (e.g. SCA).

However, if someone gets their tabbard in a bunch because some sci-fi cosplayers ruined their sense of immersion, at what is arguably a pay-to-enter medieval-themed shopping mall, they may deserve what they get.

A lot of the Faire folk I have met are just happy people are participating and having a good time, and if you put effort into a costume, even better.

These people are the backbone of every Faire. Huzzah!

The dog is the only one that can't actually consent to space travel, and regardless, couldn't possibly know the risks. It is innocent, and doesn't deserve a violent fate.

Everyone else knows that they signed up to live in a metal box, with an artificial biosphere, which is all that separates them from the cold void of deep space. Also, said deep space is jam-packed full of things trying to actively break that metal box, if the crew doesn't beat them to it first. And nobody knows that better than Seven.

To quote Lower Decks:

Mariner: I think it was the chef in the biolab with the sniper rifle that can shoot through walls.

Freeman: You always pick the chef.

Mariner: Yeah, because we have replicators. Why is there a chef? That's just shady.

Congrats, @Stamets.

I'm almost through my first watch of Discovery and I'm amazed at what I'm seeing. I'm happy to hear that character portrayals like this are getting the thumbs-up from the community.

I'll throw in that, as a sensitive cis-het male myself, seeing emotionally in-touch authority figures like Saru and Pike make me feel seen. Older Trek shows just didn't have that, with men oscillating between horny and angry as their entire emotional range. So it's not just Stamets' composite (and super wholesome) family. IMO, the writers are clearly trying to bring a better portrayal of humanity to the screen.

I love how much this fits her character. Leaving the collective and rehabilitating to "normal" life, emotional development was core to her character over Voyager's arc. So a late "teenage angst" arc would only make sense, even if it didn't exactly fit the age of the character.

Then again, we kinda/sorta get this in Picard, just without the goth aesthetic.

@Stamets, you'll be missed.

I don't know what condition c/Risa was in before you got here but you clearly helped build the phenomenon it is today. I know that, by your own admission, you're (re)posting largely out of a hand-built database of old Trek memes, lovingly archived from elsewhere. But I wouldn't think that a small task - it's a lot more effort than any of us shitposters ever summoned for a few laughs. So, we're all standing on your shoulders to an extent. And all of it has been the highlight of my post-Reddit online reading this year, so thanks for everything.

See you out in the Fediverse.

Data springs to his feet, ripping the programming cable from his head. Sprinting down the hallway, Geordi in tow, he ducks into the nearest holodeck.

Geordi: Data, what are you doing?

Data is tapping away at the console near the holodeck arch at superhuman speed. His hands are a blur to Geordi, as he furiously loads a huge amount of information into the holodeck computer. He suddenly halts, and looks to his friend.

Data: Computer, initiate program doom episode one, mission one. Difficulty, nightmare.

Geordi: Data, I'm not sure that's a good idea....

Data: Geordi, it is time to rip and tear. Computer, set safety protocols off.

No matter when/how this show ends, it'll be the same way, and it'll be far too soon.

Also: is Pike aware that he's functionally immortal until the clock runs out? There's ample evidence that his future is unavoidable, so he'd have to come to this conclusion by now, right?

Not just aliens. Alien, aliens.

While hardly a first for Star Trek, it's always a treat when alien-looking, and alien-acting, aliens show up.

The season had a good pace, but in my heart, I wanted more. I really feel like it would have made a fun (if not nerdy) season if we had a few more episodes decoding mysteries and getting to know this new culture and species.

Lower Decks has the Tamarian lexicon dialed in, and I'm here for it. Especially when it's explained that the universal translator can't always figure Tamarian out, suggesting that Kayshon is speaking in more simple terms half the time.

But the single greatest use of this meme has to be in "Crisis Point 2" (S3x8).

In that episode, we see Ransom, Shaxs, and Kayshon break into the science lab to get the drop on Romulan invaders. Kayshon fires the first surprise shot shouting "Temba!".

What I love about this is that "Temba, his arms wide" is a fond greeting. But in context, gives his remark more or less the same energy as "say hello to my little friend" or "surprise, motherfuckers!"

Edit:

Kayshon, shooting first, when the Romulans invaded.

I'm all for it.

Janeway: beam Ensign Smartypants back on board. I want to have a little chat about attending staff meetings in uniform.

One of the consequences of a wisely used but small budget. Simple sets and costumes, plus a LOT of creative lighting. All that's left are actors to fill that otherwise empty-feeling space on the stage.

Also, color TV was in its infancy, so networks used the medium to compete for viewer attention. It really looks like NBC made sure that every scene was as vibrant as possible. But now that I think about it, it also had to "read" well in B/W too.

Edit: @[email protected] corrected me here. TOS was indeed an expensive show, which upon rewatching (as I am today), becomes more evident the longer you look at it.

I mean, many are warp capable, so that has to count for something, right?

I just noticed what was holding the spoiler up. Klingon cruiser, indeed.

I had to look up this magnificent feat of engineering. Apparently, it was spotted at DragonCon, eons ago:

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/kt/4959539639
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/booturtle/6121100539
• https://www.wcnews.com/articles/dcon2005/daytwo.shtml (scroll down)

Yup. If you want me off the ship that badly, you're gonna have to come down here and push.