Star Trek: Lower Decks S1E03 – Temporal Edict Review

Temporal Edict

TEMPORAL EDICT sees LOWER DECKS confront one of the franchise’s most absurd tendencies – its refusal to acknowledge music from any time after the early 20th century. Tendi and Mariner bring heavy metal to light entertainment as they rock out during Boimler’s staid violin recital and inadvertently cause some tensions on the bridge.

Star Trek Lower Decks Temporal Edict

The real story begins when Captain Freeman is abruptly dropped from an important treaty signing ceremony, she believes it’s because the USS Cerritos is perceived as a ship of slackers and resolves to run a tighter ship. Meanwhile, Mariner joins first officer Commander Ransom on an away mission where their similarities rub each other up the wrong way.

This is the first episode which really demonstrates the strength of the series’ format because its only through the revelation of how the crew cope with the duties using. It’s an episode which would chill Scotty the bone as Captain Freeman discovers that the crew have been passing out their work with something called ‘buffer time’ and issues the TEMPORAL EDICT of the title that will be familiar to any of the audience who have ever had to endure a time and motion study at work.

Star Trek Lower Decks Temporal Edict

Commander Ransom’s away mission goes awry in the most quintessentially STAR TREK way possible (something Mariner herself comments on) when a mistake with a ceremonial gift provokes the Gelrakians – a recent entrant to the Federation to take the away team prisoner and attack the Cerritos in response to a perceived diplomatic slight. Alongside the tongue-in-cheek sci-fi adventure, there are some really nice moments between Ransom and Mariner as the two butt heads and, in a gentle JAWS homage, compare scars.

TEMPORAL EDICT’s an action-packed episode which knowingly ticks off the classic beats of the Original Series, including the mandatory shirtless trial by combat, but it’s also the first episode of STAR TREK in an age which manages to weave a topical allegory into its storytelling, this time a satire of corporate management and timebound workflow systems. There’s some kind of irony or a self-own in this episode airing on an Amazon service, surely?

trek score 8

8/10

logo

Related posts

Life (2017) Review

Life (2017) Review


Life (2017) Review

In space, no-one can hear the audience scream in frustration If there’s one thing you can say about the movie “Life”, is that it answers the question ‘Is there life on Mars?’ fairly quickly. In fact, it answers it in the trailer so there’s little time wasted in getting to the...

WandaVision Episode 8

WandaVision Episode 8


WandaVision Episode 8

"Previously On" Review While it may have wrongfooted some viewers who were expecting the fireworks to begin – fireworks which are most definitely on their way – PREVIOUSLY ON is a surprisingly quiet episode – a quiet which Gandalf would no doubt observe as “the deep breath before the...

Hacksaw Ridge (2017) Review

Hacksaw Ridge (2017) Review


Hacksaw Ridge (2017) Review

A good man goes to war. Apparently completing the rehabilitative arc of Mel Gibson’s Hollywood career, “Hacksaw Ridge” is a powerful, if uneven, examination of the horrors of war and the demands of true moral courage. The fact it’s based on a true story just makes it all the more...

Horns (2014) Review

Horns (2014) Review


Horns (2014) Review

Although it discards most of the iconic elements, Horns is the best 'Ghost Rider' movie yet. Although it borrows heavily from classic horror imagery, “Horns” isn’t really a horror movie and despite some clever subversion of religious faith and nifty Easter Eggs where the licence plates...

After Earth (2013) Review

After Earth (2013) Review


After Earth (2013) Review

Lacking in heart, the Smiths to blame, this film gives nepotism a bad name I’ve previously suggested that 2013 was a pretty good year for sci-fi, but it wasn’t all Romulan Ale & Triffids (okay, you come up with a better sci-fi version of wine & roses). In amongst all the...

The Hustle (2019) Review

The Hustle (2019) Review


The Hustle (2019) Review

The Hustle delivers pure comedy iron pyrite. Have you seen DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS? If you have, then you’ve pretty much seen THE HUSTLE, a good-natured, luxuriously indulgent but unnecessarily faithful remake of the well-liked Steve Martin/ Michael Caine remake of 1964’s BEDTIME...

Venom (2018) Review

Venom (2018) Review


Venom (2018) Review

I guess you just can't polish a turd, no matter how windy it is… The most puzzling thing about “Venom” is that if Sony was determined to make this film, this exact story, they already had a movie they could call it a sequel to without pissing away yet another of their Marvel IPs...

Pain & Gain (2013) Review

Pain & Gain (2013) Review


Pain & Gain (2013) Review

Less painful and more gainful than Bay's Transformers movies. The last Michael Bay film I watched was 2011’s bloated, incoherent toy commercial “Transformers: Dark Of The Moon” – a film that sticks in my memory only for Bay’s ability to plumb new depths of unlikeability from perennially...