Quote Originally Posted by AdmiralCheez View Post
Meanwhile, with Lower Decks, you've got one of the main characters going out of her way to make the other's life miserable largely for her own amusement. He asks her to stop, and she continues. No disciplinary action is taken, and she even somehow is rewarded for it by being proven right, and not getting turned in to the Captain. That's just so contradictory to the rest of what we've seen of the Federation that it's off-putting.
When I think of a Starfleet officer repeatedly going out of their way to harangue and make another crewmember's life miserable through repeated abuse for their own amusement, Mariner will have to get in line behind McCoy and Pulaski. I don't recall Mariner repeatedly getting Boimler's name wrong then acting *amused* that the person in question might request the dignity of --Getting Their Name Right---.

When told that one of Picard's commissioned bridge officers is told by Starfleet Command they they are effectively a slave and always have been and he will immediately report to Starfleet for whatever scientific abuses we can think of, was his reaction "If any of you jackboots try it you'll be escorted off through the Photon Torpedo tubes" or was it "This disturbs me, but I at least insist on a trial before his vivisection" (Seriously, great episode and all, but the fact that the premise happened *at all* paints a pretty dark picture of Starfleet Command). And several seasons later, Picard is reluctant to make Data an acting captain because he's concerned (rightly as it turns out) that the predjudices of the ship's crew will get in the way.

We could go on from the TOS implication that Star Fleet doesn't accept women as captains, a bridge officer joining a fringe terrorist organisation, Starfleet captains setting themselves up as despots on primitive worlds. And that's just the first two shows. We haven't even gotten into Deep Space Nine or any of the stuff Janeway got up to.

The Federation ideals are noble, and it's something I love about Star Trek in all its incarnations. It's a wonderful pinnacle to strive to. But even in Trek, humanity's problems aren't solved yet and they probably never will be. Starfleet officers are shown as prejudiced, abusive, violent, and just downright asses to each other at times. What we've seen so far on Lower Decks is pretty mild in comparison to the worst we've seen on other shows. And that's the top officers on the pride of the Starfleet. I don't expect Lower Deck ensigns to never goof off or poke fun at each other

And after all that, I'll say again, that you're reading the opening teaser of the first episode and projecting it across Mariner's entire character. She doesn't spend the entire episode or the series so far picking on Boimler for fun or to harass him. On the other hand, she is actively shown so far to be interested in helping him progress in his career. She doesn't seem to hate Starfleet or its mission, or disrespect Boimler's desire to move up in rank, more that she's disillusioned with the officers she's served with.


"Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, nephew. They're a wonderful, friendly people – as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts… deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers… put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time… and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people will become as nasty and violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don't believe me? Look at those faces, look at their eyes…"