Huh, I was expecting this to be about T'lyn! no such luck on that front unfortunately. Haven't combed through the trailer in too much detail, but if this is the first time I'm hearing confirmation about them all getting promoted would that imply most of the trailer shots are from relatively early in the season?
It feels right for the gang to get promoted. If you asked me what Lower Decks is about, underneath all the nostalgia and jokes, I'd say it's about growth--Starfleet is awesome, but its legends of yesteryear don't start that way. These goofy, lower-decker ensigns may be screwups, but at the core they're Starfleet though and through. It kind of feels appropriate to move on from where the original TNG episode Lower Decks left off-- the promotion of proto-Boimler Sam Lavelle-- and explore what growth looks like beyond that.
Edited to add: I went back through the trailer and yep, no visible changes to their rank pips. Although T'lyn has a shot where she's switched over from a provisional lozenge to the standard single round ensign pip.
I’m relieved to hear that the group will be promoted. 3 years is a fairly long haul as ensigns, even on a second tier ship. The humour and credibility would begin to wear a bit thin if they at that rank throughout the show’s run. (… yes, I know about Ensign Kim and that was inexplicable - he should have been given an acting promotion to lieutenant at minimum.)
It’s interesting that TrekMovie has this article up before the news release has been posted. (I checked the Paramount+ press site and the most recent posting for Lower Decks is for the trailer release July 22nd, and these details aren’t in that one.)
Yeah, there was no reason for an Ensign to run Ops on a ship like Voyager. It would have been great writing for after Paris gets demoted, Janeway takes the pip and places it on Kim's collar.
The Paramount press site is...not as reliable as you would think. It's not uncommon for sites like Trekmovie to run episode previews that obviously came from press releases, while the actual Paramount site lags behind by a day or two.
Signed,
The guy who sometimes loses his mind trying to set up the episode discussion posts.
I've had to pirate this show because even when I paid for a subscription, none of the content ever actually played through their apps on any of my devices.
I had understood it to be more like a year. There was a significant period of several months, for example, when Boimler served on the Titan between seasons.
The first few episodes are a bit rough. They make it seem more like a Rick and Morty-type show, which isn't quite what I was after for Trek. The show does get a bit better later on, when they settle in.
I’m finding all the pilot episodes and most season premieres in the current era rough. It seems a pattern with all the shows
One definitely gets the sense that there are so many senior executives at Paramount and CBS Studios giving notes as they seek to differentiate the shows that the creators’ ideas get muddied.
As they get into the seasons and get more seasons the EPs and writers find each shows voice, I suspect that they suffer fewer notes telling them to adjust to some executive’s idea of what the show is supposed to be and who it is targeting.
The show managed to be surprisingly great. Superficially it looked like a rick and morty knockoff, but the series really has a good sense of humor while balancing the wacky off kilter fun in a way that still feels like star trek.