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deersalad · 7 months

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I Mean I'm Sick of Meaning, I Just Wanna Hold You

Tags: F/F, Mariner/T'Lyn, Mari'lyn, Fluff, Friendship, Star Trek, Lower Decks, Kinda Canon compliant, T4T Summary: What's a Vulcan to do with these feelings? Well T'Lyn is about to find out and Mariner is going to be very integral to this journey of self-discovery and deviation from Vulcan norms. "My objective was to be comedic and arouse you sexually, I believe I have succeeded on both counts." Mariner was trying to tamp down her laughter as T’Lyn’s monotone voice hit her like a wave breaking on rocks. She couldn't believe what she was hearing from T'Lyn, who was situated on the couch with her legs crossed in those black regulation star fleet pants - god how does she pull them off so well? But she focused her mind back on the situation at hand, T'Lyn had called her here because of a "peculiar situation" and Mariner could tell that she was acting unusual, she wasn’t meeting her eyes and kept tracing a seam in those form-fitting pants- god she needs to gets her mind of the gutter her friend could be in danger.

"Woah woah wait, is this like pon farr? God wow I've always been curious! But like not in a weird way! I just heard about when it happened to Spock and you know there's those rumors about him and Kirk and I mean back on Earth the humans who repress themselves the most tend to be the freakiest and oh my god I am going to shut up." Mariner closed her mouth and yet her eyes communicated more than enough as they quickly flashed a look from T'Lyn's eyes to her curves that were hugged by that Andorian-blue science officer shirt. She briefly thought of Jenifer but pushed that thought to the side, it wouldn't serve her here, this was an entirely different beast and she had to focus on helping her friend. Mariner mentally decided that the shirt was closer to warp core-blue anyways as T'Lyn began to speak and move imperceptibly closer to her on the couch in her room.

"Well, not exactly. As it seems you are aware, pon farr occurs roughly every 8 years for a Vulcan of sexual maturity, and the symptoms can be quite debilitating and even fatal if not handled. But it is not yet time for my next cycle and I do not feel the regular effects… instead I am experiencing something pon farr-like." T'Lyn's eyes moved the smallest degree downwards and to the right to look at Mariner, who didn't notice.

"Uh huh and you want me to take you to sick bay in case something happens or whatevs? Or like, do you want me to go on a daring adventure with you to find a hot Vulcan doctor who can diagnose you and or help you if this is pon farr?"

"Well, when I invited you here to my room I was not quite certain why I reached the conclusion that it would be most beneficial to call on your aid but now I… I believe I understand the logic I was operating on." T'Lyn again moved a quarter millimeter closer to Mariner who had a visible look of confusion. "Woah like did your Vulcan mind powers detect something special in me that you need?" Mariner said with a wry smile and small laugh before it was cut short by T'Lyn reaching her hand over and touching the very tips of her fingers for a moment. "Well, you are not wholly incorrect," she paused as a shudder passed through her from the hand to hand contact, "I do not believe this is related to my Vulcan nature but is rather a consequence or perhaps comorbidity of my heightened emotions and spontaneity.” T’Lyn placed both her hands in her lap in a futile attempt to stop her from yet again acting so impulsively.

Mariner’s look of confusion was now tinged with worry as she looked on her friend who was clearly fighting some kind of inner turmoil, “hey sorry if my joke was off-color I know this is probably stressing you out and stuff, I can grab T’ana and bring her here if you’re worried about being around the other crew,” Mariner began to stand before being interrupted suddenly.

“No.” T’Lyn still wasn’t looking at Mariner as she let out that singular word that hung in the air.

Mariner waited for a followup and when she received none she decided to venture forth, “hey girl, are you like infected by a parasite or mind virus or something, you’ve just… look I noticed you touching my hand and even I know enough about Vulcans to know that’s way out of character. Usually you’re down to go to sickbay just to see all the weird places people get stabbed so you can record it or whatever, I remember you typing up a storm on Orion whenever someone, usually me, got impaled one way or another. Sorry, god, my mind’s all over the place and wait is this like that one time with the Betazoids? Do I need to give you a pep talk?”

T’Lyn gave a solemn shake of her head, “No, I have no reason to believe that my current status would be affecting your or anyone else’s emotional state. I can logically see why you would consider my behavior odd, the hand touch was an impulsive movement and I do apologize.” Mariner could not believe that she was still dodging around what was going on and why was she so feeling so fucking worked up? She wasn’t thinking straight, “Hey do you want me to get Boims? He knows everything about niche alien conditions, I can also grab Rutherford or Tendi, both of them are way smarter than me and frankly I still don’t see what logic brought you to asking me for help,” she let out a nervous laugh at the self-deprecation, what the fuck was this feeling? WHY WAS SHE THINKING SO MUCH ABOUT JENNIFER?

“No to both counts, I understand I am being vague and not sharing my lines of reasoning and for this I do apologize, I am just experiencing something I do not fully have the words for. I requested your help specifically and I know it was the correct decision. These past few days you have continuously been coming to mind in unrelated circumstances and thoughts, this initially troubled me as I was worried that I may have been psychically projecting onto you. But I had Dr. T’ana run a series of medical diagnostics and there were no abnormalities. Still I requested a copy of the scans she performed, particularly of my brain.” She paused as she felt her hands fighting her to reach out to Mariner, who was still standing.

“Yeah ok all that makes sense and wow you and Tendi really have got to talk about medical shit sometime, but if all the scans were normal then what’s up?” Mariner was still confused and sat on the small coffee table across from T’Lyn, falling flat on her back as her legs hung over the side. She was feeling weird whenever she looked at T’Lyn and that certainly wasn’t helping the situation.

“Well I pored over the documents and images and I could not find anything indicating illness, possession, psychic interference, strange energies, or any other possible source of imbalance. But I started to look at the areas of neural activity on the scan and the part that would be analogous to your hypothalamus was experiencing higher than usual levels of activation but not to such an extent as to alert the doctor…” T’Lyn said this in a way that made Mariner feel stupid for missing something. “And…?”

T’Lyn took a moment to respond, her hands were visibly shaking and Mariner was afraid she was about to cry, "and… well the hypothalamus is one of the oldest parts of the human brain in terms of evolutionary development and is integral to some of the most basic and instinctual parts of your psychology and biology. For us Vulcans it is much the same.” Again she paused completely, and at Mariner’s continued look of confusion and concern she decided to push onwards, “Well, its function is to maintain the homeostasis of the human body via influence of hormones and the nervous system, it regulates many drives, including sleep, hunger, thirst-”

God she was so fucking cute when she went on and on about all the things she knew but Mariner could tell she was stalling and she knew even the tiniest bit of time wasted could mean all the difference between life and death, “hey I’m sorry to interrupt but I have gotta get you moving along, I can tell you’re stalling and if you’re about to reveal to me that you’re going to explode, or liquefy, or turn into a slime in 5 hours or something then I would rather know that sooner than later, so what’s your hypowhatever got to do with this?” God she sounded like her mom, she didn’t want to be stern but she cared a lot about T’Lyn, she was a good friend and Mariner didn’t want anything to happen to her.

“That is what I was about to get to, in Vulcans our analogous section of the brain carries many of the same function but it also works to regulate pon farr, it operates much the same way as the hypothalamus regulating sexual drives but in a much more drastic manner that affects the totality of Vulcan biology. After looking at everything I determined that I seemingly experiencing an activation that is not on the scale of pon farr but is somehow related. I believe this is the reason for my strange and illogical thoughts and behavior and I feel that you may have a solution.” T’Lyn let her shoulders slouch the tiniest bit after getting all this out, as if she were relaxing after an intense exercise.

Mariner instantly shot up into a sitting position and looked at T'Lyn, “oh my god, T’Lyn, you’re not going to die, you’re just horny.” P.S.: So my partner and I watched the new episodes of season 4 and I made a one off joke that's the starting line of this fic and somehow that morphed into the both of us full on writing so here you go: All you Mari'lyn enjoyers I guess can eat up or whatever. I don't have an AO3 account but whenever I make one I'll upload this on there, this was actually a pretty fun writing exercise.

#lower decks #star trek #beckett mariner #t'lyn #t'lyn x mariner #mari'lyn lower decks #mari'lyn #fanfic #femslash #wlw ship #I forgot how much I love writing fanfiction and this pairing is giving me such bad brainworms #star trek fanfic #star trek: lower decks

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historyhermann · 5 months

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Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Spoiler-Filled Review

Star Trek: Lower Decks is a mature animation which combines elements of the adventure, comedy, and sci-fi genres. Series creator Mike McMahan is known as a co-creator of Solar Opposites, a producer on Rick and Morty and as a consulting producer on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. This is the ninth series in the Star Trek franchise and second Star Trek animated series after Star Trek: The Animated Series ended in 1974.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the fifty-sixth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on November 30, 2023. PCM editor Jean Henegan she said she added some content "since I'm a massive Trek nerd/fan, I added a bit of context around some of the things you pointed out...and cleaned up a couple of things that weren't quite accurate...Nice piece, overall." I have incorporated those additions here. Most of the text is the same as what I submitted on November 28th.

This animated series, which has aired for three seasons, takes a different tact than previous Star Trek series. It focuses on lower-ranked officers who engage in menial labor, known as lower deckers. Others are supporting characters. Star Trek: Lower Decks focuses on Starfleet, the military and exploration division of the United Federation of Planets, in the 24th century. It is tasked with establishing contact with races across the galaxy using a ship no one cares about: the USS Cerritos.

Four lower deckers are protagonists: Beckett Mariner, Brad Boimler, D’Vana Tendi, and Sam Rutherford. They are voiced by Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, and Eugene Cordero. Four others are recurring characters: captain of the Cerritos (Carol Freeman), first officer Jack Ransom, tactical officer Shaxs, and head medical doctor T’Ana. Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Tatasciore, and Gillian Vigman voice these characters. All are well-known voice actors.

This series stands out because of its animation style, comedy, plot, and characters. Mariner is a big part of this. Her romantic relationships became a big part of the series, especially in the third season, when she is dating Jennifer Sh'reyan (voiced by Lauren Lapkus). Like actual relationships, they don't stay together, partially because Jennifer does not stand by her. She abandons Mariner when many on the Cerritos incorrectly think she is a traitor. Mariner is bisexual or pansexual. Previously, she dated Steve Levy. She tells Tendi, in a season two episode, that she dated "bad boys, bad girls, bad gender non-binary babes, [and] ruthless alien masterminds." She dated Amina Ramsey (voiced by Toks Olagundoye) while at Starfleet Academy. McMahan stated that "every Starfleet officer is probably at the baseline bisexual" and that there was no intention for "anybody to be strictly heteronormative or straight or cis."

Unfortunately, this is rarely explored in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4. There are some romantic vibes between Mariner and T’Lyn (voiced by Gabrielle Ruiz), a fellow crewmember on the Cerritos (who also happens to be Vulcan), in the fourth episode. They care for each other (as much as a Vulcan can care, with their repressed emotions), especially after knives keep stabbing Mariner during the episode. In the episode after, T’Lyn calms down Mariner’s emotions after her fever causes everyone’s emotions on the Cerritos to go out of control. In another episode, Mariner enjoys being kissed by a guy. Otherwise, her development during the season revolves around her promotion to a higher rank and ramifications of that decision. Although she is still part of “lower decks,” she is now a junior grade lieutenant, which makes her uneasy.

Boimler and Rutherford get closer, especially after the fourth episode. They even solve a disagreement by dressing up as Mark Twain and talking on a simulated steamboat. Both struggle with their promotions, although in different ways than Mariner. For instance, Boimler gets his first mission as commander and attempts to do everything himself. With some prodding from T’Lyn, he ends up sacrificing himself to save everyone and is later brought back to life. Rutherford also tries to find his place on the ship following his promotion. The closeness between Boimler and Rutherford has led some to ship them together. After all, in the eighth episode, Boimler doesn’t mind taking off his pants when Rutherford asks. Presently, there are less than 20 fics shipping them. Comparably, there’s over 120 fics for the Marinler ship (Mariner and Boimler). The latter has a small chance of canonization as compared to the Rutherford/Boimler ship.

Otherwise, there are wild plotlines, whether about Betazoid “diplomats” (actually undercover intelligence officers) with a hidden agenda who almost bring the Cerritos into the neutral zone where Romulans await battle, a fake marriage between Tendi and Rutherford, or megalomaniacal A.I. – known as Badgey – trying to get revenge. In the case of the latter, the A.I. comes out of the Daystrom Institute on Earth, returning following its initial appearance in season two. In the time between the seasons, it was imprisoned in a penitentiary holding other A.I. of a similar nature. His plans are foiled when he realizes that ultimate power is too much. The plans of two A.I., Peanut Hamper and Aegus, also fail after they realize that killing others isn’t worth it. Both commit to reforming their selves, so they aren’t evil anymore.

The depiction of A.I. in Star Trek: Lower Decks is somewhat similar to the rogue A.I. in Futurama's Season 8 Part One, or near-planet-destroyer Light Hope in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. It differs from the mixed representation in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and Cleopatra in Space, or more positive depictions in My Dad the Bounty Hunter, Kizuna no Allele, and Supa Team 4. This matters considering social media rumblings that some actors will not vote for the recent contract between SAG-AFTRA and the Hollywood studios due to reportedly subpar A.I. provisions [Note: The previous line was removed from the PCM version.]

Throuhgout the season, there are also scenes with spoken poetry, a bar fight (started by Mariner, naturally), and an instance of Boimler getting addicted to a Ferengi television series. There’s even a funny episode where everyone recounts their experiences about being stuck in a cave with different Starfleet officers. However, it’s the journey that Mariner takes over the course of the season that truly hits home as the season comes to a close. Following her promotion Mariner struggles to be a leader, desperate to keep bucking command. How can you be rebellious against the command structure when you are part of it? She asks herself this question, trying to determine what her purpose within Starfleet is. It isn’t until the close of the season that she truly understands who she is and why she is so hesitant to take on more responsibility.

In that episode, Captain Freeman is worried about Mariner. She’s unsure why Mariner is taking risks and trying to get herself killed. She orders Mariner’s friends to distract her. This backfires. Mariner, along with T’Lyn, Tendi, and Boimler, all teleport to a planet surface before their ship is destroyed. When they admit they are worried about her, and reveal the Captain’s order, she is unhappy. She agrees to stay with them until she slips out during the night. In the process, she bonds with a Klingon, who tells her what no one has stated directly: she’s at war with herself.

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This is only part of Mariner’s attempted self-examination. It is akin to Yor Forger asking herself why she is an assassin in episode 33 of Spy x Family, lingering doubts of Teru Momijiyama / Shy in Shy about her reasons for being a hero, or Sora Harewata-ru / Cure Sky wondering why she hesitates to fight the Undergu empire in episode 42 of Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure. Mariner reveals she is partially in Starfleet to honor Sito, a friend from her time at Starfleet Academy who died a senseless death several years earlier, which makes her continue to question Starfleet’s mission. She admits that while she doesn’t hate Starfleet, she tried to get out of a promotion. She believes Starfleet should solve the puzzles of life, not start wars (which could violate the Prime Directive). As she tells the Klingon, she doesn’t want to send her friends off to die. She wants to be an ensign and nothing more.

Ma’ah (voiced by Jon Curry), the Klingon, suggests that she honor her friend, slay her enemies, and study to be better. In response, she hugs him, rather than fighting him, and says they should work together. The episode hints at her future leadership, possibly in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5. She rallies everyone together in a rousing speech. Unfortunately, she is kidnapped by “Nicholas” Nick Locarno (who, like Sito, previously appeared in live action in Star Trek: The Next Generation and were once again portrayed – in voice over – by their live action actors Robert Duncan McNeil – who also starred on Star Trek: Voyager – and Shannon Fill), who beams her up into a mysterious ship – a ship that has been “destroying” various species’ ships throughout the season. Thanks to her efforts, Boimler, T’Lyn, and Tendi, along with new allies, destroy a Klingon warbird. They are disappointed that Mariner isn’t aboard.

The Season 4 finale ends with a bang, as it turns out that ships “destroyed” across the galaxy have joined the renegade Nova Fleet/Squadron. It resembles the rag-tag rebel fleet in Star Wars Rebels. There’s a major difference: Nick is willing to engage in terrorism, i.e., threat or use of violence to cause panic or intimidate, especially as a method to affect political conduct, as defined in the Third Pocket Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary. Mariner easily stops this. She calls out Nick as selfish and brainless, then steals a genesis device, which can destroy planets.

Captain Freeman shows her dedication to her daughter, and to the well-being of her crew. She goes to extreme lengths to rescue Mariner. After a failed contest on her homeworld of Orion, Tendi agrees to work for her pirate sister, D’Erika (voiced by Ariel Winter), so they can get a battleship. They use the decrepit warship to smash through the barrier. It creates a hole big enough for the captain’s yacht to enter. In the process, they save Mariner. Nick is left on her ship after he tries to kill her and activates the genesis device. In a moment of clever dark humor, Nick is destroyed by the device since he can’t pay the money needed to deactivate it (since it is a Ferengi model, of course).

The episode ends with Captain Freeman not court-martialed, T’Lyn refusing to return to her previous ship, and the four protagonists come together for a party in the mess hall. While they party for a short bit, this soon ends, as Tendi feels obligated to fulfill her end of the bargain she made with D’Erika: she must return to a life of piracy alongside D’Erika. Although this depresses Rutherford, neither he, Boimler nor Mariner, stop her from leaving. Tendi prepares herself for what comes next. Undoubtedly, her story will be expanded in Star Trek: Lower Decks fifth season, which was in production as of March.

As noted earlier, queer representation was lacking in this season, as opposed to previous ones. In the past, I’ve written that the ship engineer, Andy Billups (voiced by Paul Scheer), was possibly asexual. A recent post on treksphere makes the same claims. It argues that Tendi is aromantic, Billups is an asexual icon, and points to possible asexual vibes from Spock, Data, and Odo in the Star Trek franchise – although all three characters have relationships with women at various points in their stories. Such claims are only headcanons, similar to those who believed that Page in Tron: Uprising was asexual. There are no asexual characters in the Star Trek universe, to my knowledge. As such, having a canon asexual character in Star Trek: Lower Decks, outward in their identity like Todd Chavez in Bojack Horseman, would be great.

Asexual representation in animation, and in popular culture, is slim. While Alastor in Hazbin Hotel, Lilith Clawthorne in The Owl House, Peridot in Steven Universe, or Perry the Platypus in Phineas and Ferb, are asexual, they were confirmed off-screen. The same is the case for Spongebob Squarepants and Percival "Percy" King in Epithet Erased. Some have stated that Seiji Maki in Bloom Into You and Shōko Tanimoto in The Case Files of Jeweler Richard are asexual. In a previous review, I noted this was the case for Hime Shiraki in Yuri is My Job!. I've seen social media chatter about the manga which comes to a similar conclusion.

Hopefully, Star Trek: Lower Decks fifth season expands on Mariner‘s personal relationships and her identity, and that of the other protagonists. Undoubtedly, it will retain its mature comedy and quirkiness. All the while the characters will be thrown into conflict-prone situations, a breeding ground for trauma. This is not unique. There are multiple series airing this fall featuring characters in tense and stressful situations, sometimes involving murder of human beings. This includes certain The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess and Spy x Family episodes.

Otherwise, people anonymously described their conditions at Titmouse in a largely-circulated spreadsheet about animation studios. In the spreadsheet, which has 11 entries for the aforementioned animation studio, people praise Titmouse for good pay, flexible and healthy working hours, opportunities for rapid advancement, and good management. Others criticize Titmouse for disorganization, overwork, low pay, and say it is only good for those entering the industry. Clearly, it’s a mixed bag. There are different experiences, depending on each production, if I’m understanding these entries correctly.

In my previous review of Star Trek: Lower Decks, I noted that LGBTQ+ representation is at the heart of the show. I pointed to myriad examples of such representation (and in the franchise), and note that many fan fictions for Mariner are skewed toward men. As such, I still see the interactions between Mariner and Boimler as platonic rather than romantic. I understand how people see them as the latter, shipping them as Marinler, but I see them as good friends, rather than good lovers.

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In the past, this series had some of best queer representation in mature animation. Other examples include RWBY, Disenchantment, Final Space, Bojack Horseman, and Harley Quinn. In season 4 of Star Trek: Lower Decks, this was less emphasized. Even so, the series is still moving in an inclusive direction. It isn't like Star Wars: The Bad Batch. That series had "four White men and one person of color, in the main cast," as I wrote in January.

This direction is clear from the cast and crew. Tawny Newsome and Dawnn Lewis, who voice Mariner and Captain Freeman, are both Black women, like their characters. Noël Wells (voice of Tendi) is of Tunisian and Mexican descent. Eugene Cordero (voice of Rutherford) is of Filipino descent. Gabrielle Ruiz is of Mexican descent. Carlos Alazraqui is Latine. Black men such as Marcus Henderson, Phil LaMarr, and Carl Tart also voice characters. There are some White male voice actors, such as Jack Quaid, Jack McBrayer, Jerry O'Connell, Fred Tatasciore, Paul Scheer, and Paul F. Tompkins. White women like Gillian Vigman, Lauren Lapkus, Georgia King, and Jessica McKenna voice characters too. Although, they are not the majority of the main cast, they comprise much of the recurring cast.

Many of these names were familiar. For one, Newsome voiced Jessica Williams in Craig of the Creek, Quaid voiced Clark Kent / Superman in My Adventures with Superman, and Cordero voiced Jamie in Steven Universe. Lewis voiced LaBarbara Conrad in Futurama, Professor Klabrax V in Cleopatra in Space, The Chief/Tamara Fraser in Carmen Sandiego, and Fannie Granger in Spirit Riding Free. LaMarr is best known for voicing Hermes Conrad in Futurama, Virgil Hawkins / Static in Static Shock, and John Stewart / Green Lantern in Justice League, along with Sky Gunderson in Disenchantment.

Alazraquiprominently voiced Puff in The Proud Family (in the reboot/revival) and Skylar in Elena of Avalor. Winter voiced Princess Sofia Cordova for the entire Sofia the First series, in the Elena of Avalor series finale, and in Elena and the Secret of Avalor, a backdoor pilot for Elena of Avalor. Wells, O'Connell, Tataiscore, Scheer, McKenna, McBrayer, Lapkus, Tart, and Tompkins, had assorted voice roles, as well. However, this isn't counting anyone in the guest cast.

In terms of the show's music, the opening and closing themes were good, and it fits with the action. I don't recall any tracks there were necessarily memorable (apart from the opening and closing tracks). So, I'm downgrading the music score for this review. Even so, Chris Westlake did an excellent job as the series composer. The music echoes Star Trek scores in other parts of the franchise. Those who directed, wrote, storyboarded, and animated each episode, including some well-known names like Jamie Loftus, McMahan, and Grace Parra Janney, deserve plaudits for their hard work as well.

I look forward to the fifth season of Star Trek: Lower Decks. I hope that the personal identities of the main cast are explored more in the next season. I'm optimistic that Paramount executives realize the series' value. It would be devastating to have the series cancelled unceremoniously like Star Trek: Prodigy. Netflix recently nabbed that series as part of the streaming wars.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is currently streaming on Paramount+ or for purchase on PrimeVideo.

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