Phasers Set To Stun: Lower Decks S5.E6 Of Gods and Angles

0:01 Space the Final Frontier. Join us for a bold conversation our prime directive to recap our favorite Star Trek shows, both new and old, to engage and debate about all things Trek. Prepare to energize with Phasers Set to Stunt. Hello, listeners, and welcome back to a new episode of Phaser Sectis Stunt, where we continue to show our love for everything Star Trek in this ongoing series from a film by podcast which focuses on every sector of the expanding Star Trek universe by covering television, movie, animation, directors, merchandise, and much much more. Plotting our course from the final voyage of the USS Cerritos is your Core Trek crew.

1:04 I'm Wayne Whiten, I'm. David BYRNS, and I'm Sky Hoffmann. And today we're talking about the sixth episode of the fifth season of Star Trek Lower Decks, titled of Gods and Angles, written by Aaron Burnett and directed by Brandon Williams. Our buddy, Yes he is so Scott. Why don't you give us the short summary for the episode? Sure? The Critos is the diplomatic host to peace talks between two photonic species, the Orbs and the Cubes, but these talks seem to take a lot of energy in more ways than one, as the warring factions can't seem to accept one another without getting into highly charged fights. Tensions quickly escalate as two young members of the two houses, both alike Indignity, go missing and one of their quarters seems mysteriously disheveled. Heading up the investigation is Mariner and ensign Ali, who just happens to be the granddaughter of an alien who once presented itself to the people of ancient Earth as Zeus, the god sparks fly as Ali tries to help without misusing her electrically based powers while the orbs and cubes ransacked the ship in true Romeo and Juliette fashion. There's a romantic angle to the mystery, which in this case helps quell the war with new life instead of more death. That's an interesting episode that shows how much Mariner continues to grow and brings us one step closer to the serious, mysterious finale.

2:26 So, as always, folks, here's your red alert. There are spoilers ahead and you haven't seen the episode yet. Please put down your Universe pad and head to the nearest television set to catch it on the Paramount Plus then come back and rejoin us for this discussion. So what'd you guys think of this episode? The whole Orbs and Cubes saying was absolutely hysterical. Yeah, every time that stuff was popping up on screen, and then the whole battle they had on the ship and go outside of the ship would go so well done. Yeah. The first thing, the first thing it made me think of was have you ever seen the dot in the line of romance in mathematics? It's an old Chuck so legendary animated Chuck Jones did this great animated short that basically has a dot and a line that fall in love with each other, but then there's a squiggle that comes in and kind of messes up everything and whatever.

3:21 It's a it's a classic, and it's the first thing that I thought of when I started watching this episode. So I would say, you know, to our friend Brandon Williams, you did an amazing job with. This one, and I think Chuck will be around absolutely. The first thing I thought of was way back first season Next Generation. It was an episode Lonely among Us the Antikins and the Sea l As that was very, very similar storyline. You know, you get the two warring factors that are blaming each other for a mysterious murder. Yeah, that was the first thing that popped in my mind. But hey, you know, this lower dex is great for bringing out the silly things of Star Trek, and that was really a silly episode.

4:01 The whole way they did with Ins and Ali. Come on, really, you went that angle, you brought that character in. Okay, sure they're going. It's deep cuts right with the laurel headwear and shooting lightning bolts that seem to be like inflatables or like gummy bears or something like that. Like that was always, you know, the original series episode was always one of those episodes that I'd watched like, oh gosh, this is kind of silly. But I love the fact that they brought that up. I mean, they returned it to Star Trek. It seems to be like one of those things that you know, oh, we'll just ignore that it never happened. But now, did you notice the theme is popping up again about you know, to be yourself. They kept mentioning that and how that just keeps popping up over and over and over, and like every one of these episodes this season.

4:49 Yeah, well, I think this episode surprised me at first, honestly because I thought that now that we're kind of in the second half of the last season, that there would be more happening. But it just speaks to how much Lower Decks truly is a character driven series. It's not about the big cosmic happening, the big you know, big bad they have to battle, or the big mystery they have to chase down. It's more about looking at specifically Mariner and Boimler, because they're both clearly on very different paths, even though they're kind of taking a similar journey. Right.

5:30 Mariner seems to have learned so much more about herself through the entire series, but specifically in that premiere episode where she ran into her universe counterpart and decided how much she wanted to kind of double down on who she really is to be the Captain that she would eventually be. Right with Boimler, we're kind of seeing the opposite effect of that. He's seeing there's a version of myself that seems like everything I ever wanted. It's so much more like the ideal me. But I can only be that by being to somebody else, and it's it's backfiring on him, fortunately in not really harmful ways, more kind of funny ways, you know, getting attacked by doctor to Anna and things like that. But the more that he kind of, you know, doesn't stay true to his own playlist or his own script, the more it kind of gets in his way. And I think we're seeing two different sides of where they ultimately need to go, because I think at the end of this series we're going to see them kind of come into their own and kind of graduate in another way. But yeah, watching that happen is is very interesting.

6:40 That's like my favorite scene in this whole episode was the boy and We're getting attacked. Yeah. I laughed so damn hard during that scene and the fact that he was just trying to connect with her by using you know, the foul and. The beeping, the beeping her Oh my gosh. I laughed so hard with during that. It was so damn good. Oh my gosh. But you know what I'm hoping is we've only got four episodes left. Yeah, so what I'm really hoping is that we're going to get a open ending to this, like we got the next Generation, remember, you know, you know, they had more going on, you know, but this series ended. So I'm hoping that's how we're gonna get this and this is how this is going to wrap up because you know, we've talked to Brandon Williams before, who directed this episode, and you know, he told us that they would love to make a movie, you know, so hopefully that is in the future that Paramount will let them do it, or at least if it doesn't go to theater, let them do something to bring it to Paramount Plus as a movie.

7:38 You know, ye'd be perfect. So I'm hoping that's what's going to happen, because with only four episodes left, that's a lot to wrap up with, you know. I mean, I know it's an animated show, but come on now, we've not really dived into this season really have we doesn't feel like it's to me anyway, No, And. This episode was a real This really was a standalone episode. You know, I didn't really see anything that advanced this, uh, you know, mysterious plots about this season long storyline here. You know, it's nice to have a standalone story, but we just don't have enough episodes. So I think again, we're going to have a lot of rush at the end of the season. I think I said that when we were talking about Discovery, the same thing happened there. Yeah, yeah, I didn't look at the schedule. Is the is the final two episodes of the same week or are they splitting them just singly? You know how they've done that before where you get episode nine and ten together.

8:29 But I didn't look at the schedule. If I'm not sure, I think they're split. I think don't don't quote me on that. I think I think it is. I remember seeing it. Yeah, I guess that's part of what surprised me. Right, It just seemed like there would be at least some kind of wink or some kind of easter egg that said, this thing is still looming, this thing is still kind of out there so much that I kind of skipped through the credits to see if there was some little last minute nod. Right, of course, maybe there is. Maybe we just didn't don't realize it. Yet exactly exactly. Well, yeah, we're like, well, duh, look right exactly. And I mean, yeah, you raise a great point about you know, if there could be something that's kind of a cinematic follow up to this where they get to do kind of an animated movie.

9:17 It would be. Great if they could do it in a series of animated movies, give them the time to really dive into it. I'm sure the fans would would love to do it. I'd be very surprised after this ends if we don't hear people clamoring for this to come back in some kind of way. Can you imagine seeing lower decks on the big screen? That would be fantastic. That that'd be fun. Yea, they would. They could do so much with such a high budget. Yeah, yeah, there's so much. They could do with that. It'd be great. Yeah, you've ever listened a pyramid because all the fans want that there. We do well and we've been enough to enough conventions to know that if you had some kind of screening at one of these it would be it would be great.

9:58 Oh, absolutely huge. Yeah. Yeah, I did like the in Scott you mentioned it when you were talking about the summary of this episode. I did like the whole Romeo and Juliet that they pretty much came around to. Doing right exactly without all the pesky suicide you know, right right right, Yeah, it made it kind of gross when they come to that realization that you know, it looks like a crime scene in the bedroom, and it turns out it was just them, you know, yeah, the doing indeed. Yeah, but I couldn't quite understand the the kind of the offspring that they had. It was almost like a cube top with kind of a round bottom or something like that. It was like a ball being shoved into a cube. I didn't know, Like, I didn't try to look too close. I was just watching it on my phone.

10:46 But you know, it seemed to satisfy all of them, so hey, it worked exactly exactly. Okay, So now that we've given our opinions on the episode, let's take a look at the characters themselves. Which character do you think shines the most this week? David, I am definitely gonna go with Mariner on this one. She becomes a mentor for instant Ali, and Mariner is actually really good at being a mentor for her. She really shines in this episode. You know, it's one of those situations and Mariner was actually kind of in this situation a long time ago, where you know, you could just be written off, you know, and that's exactly what was happening to Ali. She was just being moved shipped to ship to ship because no one wanted to deal with her. No one wanted to take their time with her and figure her out and work with her, and Mariner wanted to do that. And I thought she did a fantastic job in this, you know, and this is part of her growth that we're seeing. We're seeing Mariner become.

11:45 In my opinion, I think she's going to come the next captain of something else. Maybe not the Soratoas, but she is going to be a captain and there's no doubt in my mind. And she has taken that step every episode, but I think I felt this one she proved that she can work with somebody and help them succeed, and that is a huge step for Mariner. Scott, what about you? Everything Dave said that was very well said, Yeah, I double down on that and say, Mariner, you know, she's got this unconventional ensign who not a lot of people understand to the extent that she was kicked off of another ship and kind of blamed for her approach for certain things, which you know, you got to admit destructive tendencies and things like that, but it seems like nobody had really dug into what was going on with the electrical based powers that she kind of has like clear that she was, you know, hyper charging everything that she touched so much to the extent that she wanted to hide those things, right, But Mariner, yeah, has that first person perspective on that and in this case, doesn't have to realize that she can do that. She just easily falls in to that role as the mentor. And that was a great thing to see that she doesn't have any more like learning process. She's already there. So I think I wouldn't be surprised if the next few episodes maybe they rely on Mariner for that to get through

13:17 whatever they have to get through, because she's ready. And I think we're going to see some kind of graduation from Captain Freeman to something else, or maybe she's just accepting that she can be there in the chair next to Freeman. We'll have to see. Oh it's unanimous. Yeah, I agree, it's Mariner. You know, this this episode really showcased just how far her character has grown over the last five years. So, you know, I have to think about the scene at the end of the episode where she's sitting outside the brig keeping all the company, you know, dial the dial it back five years, she would have been the one in that brig. Oh yeah, absolutely. But now she's you know, emparking her knowledge, her her experience.

14:02 You know, she's finding these troubled insigns she realizes they can be taught and made into good officers, just like she was. That's a lot of character growth for an animated series, for an animated character, and a lot of character growth for Star Trek for that matter. But you know, I think, like like you said, Scott, I think that's got something very important to do with with the rest of the season, with the storyline, is her growth and how she comes out of it. I definitely got some insignt rovibes some of this episode. Really. Yeah. It puts that kind of Ensign Row personality at the forefront that it's not like, well, Ensign Row is a road to the Maquis doesn't always have to be. There's unconventional, there's different ways of approaching being again Starfleet or being on a ship for that matter.

14:51 Yeah. Okay, if you had the choice to be any character that appeared in this episode, which one would it be? And why so? I'll be in tuested to hear the different answers on this. I don't know that i'd want to be Boimler because he just gets scratched hell By. I'll go with ensign Ali because I mean, you know, shooting lightning bolts. That seems like fun. I know it's kind of a shallow answer, but and it it would be interesting to get her perspective on being under the mentorship of Mariner, right and being in that that situation where she's kind of learning and realizing that there can be leaders like this. There might be a captain that I serve under there is more like Mariner, who is more like me as a person.

15:37 I'll double down on your answer, because come on, You're related to a god, you know, and you get to run around pretty much do what you want, even though you get in trouble and you get kicked off from ship to ship, and you have these really cool powers. But come on, man, nobody wants to be Boiler. I don't want to let you boil my ass. A second, hold on, we got to hear from Wayne through Wayne what about you? Well, no, I don't want to be Boimler either, but I want to be a doctor Tianama because well, first I've always loved the doctors on the ship. But you know, she gets to cursed whenever she wants, and she gets to have a procedure named after after removing the lightning bowl from Boimler's. But you know, it's just it's seemed like, out of all the characters she she seemed to come out of it with with the best.

16:29 That's true. It is the valid point, Wayne good choice. Speaking of speaking of Boimler, I know that his his arc is kind of a mini arc underneath this one. But it's occurring to me that the pad that he's reading, the pad that he's following, is it likely that that timeline parallels this one so closely that he doesn't see the difference between the two other than him. It couldn't be. Yeah, it could. Be because he's assuming that if I just get in that book club, if I just get in with doctor Tana, that's one of the only differences between me and Riker Boemler or you know whatever. I wonder if that's going to come back up later in the season.

17:16 I think will. Yeah, very well good. And now let's dive deep into the episode and see if we can't pull out any of those Easter eggs. You know, there are always lots of Easter eggs in lower decks, but not too many in this episode. I will admit that that I could find that we haven't already mentioned. Did you guys find any come. On that ridiculous chair that was in Worth Quarters? That thing is so silly, but yeah. They found something to do with it. Finally, Yeah, and. Of course Q being mentioned again. Yeah, I'm sure more Wayne Scott, what about you? You might have found something I didn't see. There was one that I that I noticed, Rutherford. We got a real Ronald B. Moore here, like referencing a joke, So I know that that was a visuals visual effect supervisor for a few series Voyager Enterprise TNG. And I think he was also the holiday character in the Outrageous o'conna that's correct.

18:22 Yeah, yeah, that Joe. Piscopo played and tried to teach data comedy, which was interesting, which I. Mean, up till now, I didn't even know that character had a name, but it said that on the pad during that episode it's mentioned, so I mean I learned something about that. I you know, I had no idea he's. Not just mister comic but don't forget Dixon Hill was miss mentioned in this episode. Yeah, ye, And then let me add that Worf's chair wasn't the only thing that we saw her trying to stack. There was a there was a Dabo wheel that was included in there. There was a romulin cloaking device. And there was a bunch of those weird tubular pillows that you always saw in the next generation on their beds.

19:14 Weird. Oh I didn't notice one. It's kind of a tiny one, but you don't see it that often. There was a medical officer wearing a Jordy advisor. Yeah, oh yeah, that's right. I forgot there was. We rarely have ever seen anybody else using that tech. Right, it's odd because I mean, Jordi doesn't wear anymore because they've they've kind of advanced past that. So you know, maybe she's next with the surgery. You or me? In the timeline? Is this something where it they hadn't quite gotten to that point yet. This is supposed to be post. Voyager, right, Yeah, it's five years after Voyager and one year before Prodigy if I.

19:56 Remember, right, m okay, and then where in the movies does this fall? Oh jeez, I don't think it's a see Voyager would have been like right before, so it's probably about three or four years after Nemesis. Oh wow, okay, interesting, So the technology was there. Yeah, yeah, the tech is there, It just has to happen, okay. Interesting, or maybe she just likes the style. Who knows, you know, you never know, it could be. Did you see there was some action figures too that were behind boy Yeah, oh yeah, that's right. Yeah, it looked like there's maybe a kirk Mago. Yeah, it looked like. There's a data from holding one of the phase or the phase of rifles from like Nemesis and Insurrection.

20:37 Yeah, yep. I'd be interested to know if those are easter eggs that Brandon specifically put in or if that was somebody else's request. Yeah. Another thing I noticed is, you know, Allie was using that like tractor beam thing. It's very similar to what Western Crush he used, and I think it was the second episode of Next Generation and Naked Now, but the actual but it didn't look quite look like the one Wesley used. But the actual one that looked just like Wesley used is in the episode it's setting on Rutherford's side. When you saw those action figures. If you looked on the other side of the screen, you saw it setting on the shelf on Rutherford side of the quarters.

21:18 I love it. Just stuff and all that stuff in the episode. Oh yeah, and that's it for this episode of Phasers Set to Stunts Look at Lower Decks, Season five, Episode six. We'd like to open a channel to our listeners and hear just what you thought about the most recent episode and the season in general. Who knows you might even get mentioned on a future show. And of course you can always email us at a Film by Podcast at gmail dot com, find us online at a film by podcast dot com, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and if you're looking for more exclusive content, you can always join our Patreon and find out what incredible gems are hidden within. Again, thank you Scott and David for joining me and the listeners for another fascinating episode.

22:05 Thanks everyone, Thanks Wade. All right, next episode, we take a look at episode seven, which is titled fully Dilated. I have no idea what's interesting. There's only four more episodes left and we look forward to warping back to the serritas again to discuss them on Phasers Set to stun