The Least Dangerous Game

 DVD, Lower Decks S3 (The Least Dangerous Game)

I've been waiting for the credit 'Special Guest Star J.G. Hertzler as Martok' ever since Trek came back in 2017! Well, perhaps since 'Picard' was announced, at least, with the possibility of 24th Century characters returning becoming not mere possibility, but a likelihood. Sadly, this wasn't the way I envisaged it: Hertzler playing a 'Ferengi knock-off' version of his best Trek character in a computer/board game. I somehow always thought he might return as Chancellor of the Klingon Empire in all the pomp and ceremony afforded to the various Klingon factions in 'DSC' Season 1, and it was mainly thanks to 'Lower Decks' itself the likelihood seemed more likely since they brought him into their very first season as the guest voice of a Drookmani Captain, one of the first 'legacy' (ugh, how I've come to dislike that term), actors to return for the new wave of the franchise. How could he not play Martok at some point, especially with 'Picard' reintroducing back Worf in Season 3... But it never happened, maybe due to cost (they could only fit in so many old characters in that season), and the vanishing potential of ongoing Trek as budgets suddenly got squeezed, effectively squeezing out all those legacy people who'd cost more than fresh new 'talent.' Add to that the fact he's not getting any younger and there doesn't seem to be anything 24th/25th Century on the horizon (even the presumed streaming film Patrick Stewart was apparently reading a script for has probably been scuppered by the universal reaction of distaste to the 'Section 31' film that killed the strand before it even had a chance), this could well be the final appearance of Martok in Trek.

If so, that's very sad, akin to Leonard Nimoy's final contribution being a slight cameo in the worst Trek film ('Into Darkness' - does it still bear that title? Do streaming films count?). It's not that he's bad, Martok is as crusty and severe as ever, but obviously there isn't the nuance Hertzler brought to the real live character, 'LD' tending towards ridiculousness and parody when it comes to Trek. I give them points for bringing him in at all, it's just a shame he was wasted as a computer game host joke. That often seems to be a failing of the series, that they place humour above sense or the fidelity of the universe they're playing in. In this case I imagine it was a fun callback to the famous interactive VHS video game, in which Robert O'Reilly played a variation on his Gowron from 'TNG,' and indeed they even make the joke about Boimler trying to get the Gowron expansion pack (although I'd have expected a deeper cut by including the actual name of the character O'Reilly played, which not having actually played the game I don't know off the top of my head, nor is it actually canon - I suppose you could say it is live action endorsed by Paramount, but the old definition of canon has already been distorted by 'LD' as this is all supposed to be part of the history despite its wackiness, so who knows!). The fact I can go on about an obscure character in a 90s computer game shows that 'LD' does inspire fun reminders of the cracks and crevices of Trek history, but it doesn't always use it to full advantage.

A case in point that stood out to me was that last scene between Ransom and Mariner when she's in his Quarters, and she moves to leave, then turns for a last word - the old joke in Trek, mainly 'TNG,' but others too, was that the doors always knew when a character had finished what they were going to say and wouldn't open until they turned back to go through, but they didn't include that amusing trope here. It makes me wonder if the rigours of bashing out an animation (or production of any kind), mean they don't always realise or remember the deep-cut humour they could be playing for. If they hadn't already made extremely obscure references throughout the series it wouldn't stand out, it's just I've noticed on occasion a glaring opportunity that would slot in perfectly, as in the scene I just described, but they haven't noticed, so you wonder if they get their knowledge more from the broader memory of the series and bits of Memory Alpha they looked up, rather than owning that personal detailed knowledge and experience of watching past Trek repeatedly that viewers who care give themselves over to. It's not a problem, just an observation that, like the occasionally sweary, gory or sexualised content, doesn't fit the tone they're trying to evoke.

The same could be said for the philosophical side - I suppose I should at least give them credit for having any of that in there since so often modern Trek is dumbed down action fare with very little of the thoughtful about it, but I was catching multiple instances of lessons that didn't quite fit, or themes I wasn't sure about. Nothing new for Trek, of course, but it was a jumble of ideas and themes, few of which ever had time to be satisfyingly explored, but then that's the nature of a fast-paced cartoon series, I suppose. An early example was the meteoric rise of Vendome the Bolian to Captain - that in itself wasn't an issue (it could even be a nudge at Pine Kirk's ridiculously sharp rise to the same position in 'Star Trek XI,' far from being the only Trekference to the Kelvin films in this episode!), but I did find it hard to believe that when he used his influence to staff the Bridge entirely with fellow Bolians that Boimler and Tendi would think it 'cool' considering 'diversity' is so often the watchword these days. It's not the first time in Trek a Starfleet ship has been crewed by one race (see the Vulcan-only Intrepid in 'TOS'), but it seemed out of kilter with the modern values Trek is so desperately trying to evoke so often, and I would've thought Starfleet of the 24th Century wouldn't go along with that, but the two most Starfleet characters in our little team are completely gung ho for it and I just thought that was very odd.

The main theme we get from Vendome is that he 'always said yes to new opportunities,' causing Boimler to reevaluate how he approaches his career in which he feels his more cautious approach hasn't paid off. I think this is probably a good theme for the episode and births the new 'Bold Boimler' concept who will take on anything and stop cowering (even if he's still mainly congratulated for his scream by an impressed Shaxs during their 'Springball' match), but then you see how that attitude of always saying yes can backfire. I suppose it's not a bad cautionary tale about having a sense of proportion (or moderation, as Tendi says at the end when Boimler doesn't seem to have taken the right learning away from his lesson!), neither being too forward, nor cowardly. I quite like the idea, but the execution wasn't quite there, just as Martok wasn't quite there, even though he was. It is fun to see the episodic journey Boimler goes on when one thing leads to another - he seizes the chance to join the Springball game, which in turn leads to Shaxs' Bajoran dirge choir, then model for a life drawing class, although there's no connection between those events and K'ranch's hunt so again it suggests the writing isn't up to scratch where things fall out organically, although that is really just nitpicking as the point was to set him up for a fall when he's had all these positive experiences of getting involved and then gets in hot water.

There are a few thing to say about those other events, however, the first being: Springball is now a team game? We see several players and it's quite a small court so as much as I loved seeing all that again after the famous creation of it for a duel between Bashir and O'Brien in 'DS9' (Season 2's 'Rivals'), I felt they didn't get their facts straight: though this looks like the court, outfits and racquet from that episode, what they were playing was Racquetball, something similar, but different! Springball came later, Kira seen playing it in Season 4. It could be that these things were done deliberately to have fun with people like me who are going to notice the subtle differences, but it does smack a little bit of unpreparedness, like they simply looked up a definition hurriedly and equated it with the 'Rivals' story because that was the most memorable. Whether it was done on purpose or by mistake it doesn't engender confidence in the writers! The other thing was more of a technical detail - in an age where they have Holodecks and could create any kind of model for life drawing why would they need a real person? In this case we can probably put it down to artistic temperament of not wanting the equivalent of Synthehol, but a living, breathing person to draw the life from, rather than an inanimate facsimile, however lifelike the computer can make it. It just stood out to me as a strange choice and they could have highlighted the reason for having a live model to stop people like me questioning whether it was shortsightedness that they had ever even thought about the implications.

It was certainly enjoyable to have the infamous 'natives' cultures who go around with their orange tans and few clothes, running everywhere and kissing hello, described by Ransom as 'wellness-based cultures' rather than immoral, unbalanced gratuitousness. It's obviously directly Trekferencing the 'TNG' episode 'Justice' where the aliens looked just like the Dulainians (a Trekference to the Delaney sisters on 'Voyager'?), and Wesley was sentenced to death for walking on the flowers (or entering an arbitrarily decided 'punishment zone,' just like Rutherford and Billups are charged with entering an area without the right outfits!). It's a good theme of alien cultures not always being something Starfleet should treat with veneration, even if they have to take them seriously, because they aren't all based in sense or healthy practices. And it's funny to equate such behaviour with the much more sane-sounding wellness culture, proving how much words can influence how we think, and ultimately, act. The height of that ridiculousness is when a distracted Ransom is no help in their predicament, merely advising them with managerial talk, such as having to respect their culture, rather than paying attention to the fact his men's lives are in danger. There's very much a sense of Ransom being incredibly self-involved, full of preening vanity (which we already knew, of course), and is really a terrible example of a Starfleet officer!

That's really a bit of a problem if we're to take the series seriously, but the whole thing is meant to be a bit subversive and so it pans out: the very vanity that seems to prevent him helping his men is shown not to be in vain after all as he whips off his shirt at the end, just as they're about to be sacrificed to a sentient volcano on the orders of a psychic baby and an evil computer, and instantly gains the respect of this race who deem physical development as the pinnacle of their culture. It all makes for a good joke, but rather undermines the reality and sense of Trek, and that is a bit of a problem. I like that they show the silliness of just accepting a culture regardless, but any themes in the episode just get undercut by The Joke they're telling. It reminds me that as much as I like this series it can never quite reach the heights of old Trek because although it is the closest in aesthetics and style, its goal is to be funny. I miss serious Trek, and I don't mean in simple terms that Trek was never funny, but it's about taking things seriously and that's not what this does (or most modern Trek, unless it takes things too seriously, like early, po-faced 'DSC').

There are ideas in here: Tendi's line about when you get rid of the plan you allow room for good things is, on the face of it, good advice, except it's very much not the Starfleet way. Their backups have backups, they plan for every eventuality, they learn from mistakes, but it's not about casting themselves to the solar winds and just doing whatever comes into your head on instinct. It needs to be backed up by rigorous training and, yes, clear planning. Then you have artificial Martok's pronouncement to never back down which Boimler uses to change his course of action and become the hunter (I assume all these references are meant to evoke 'The Hunted' episode of 'TNG'), when he's been chased round the ship by the Kromsapiod. That was all rather silly, especially that he can be speared by this guy, even though the eventual joke that his species practice 'catch and release' of their prey. I found it all rather heavy-handed, too much running around screaming, which they seem to think is inherently funny. Martok's advice should have been better tied into the idea of moderation, that no one course of action suits all situations, that sometimes you need to stand, and others retreat, but maybe I'm asking too much from a twenty-five minute cartoon that it develop and explore ideas as Trek used to.

It's also that the characters don't always come across as they should - for example, Ransom is trying to impress something upon Mariner, but is it for his sake or is it for her good? And you'd think Rutherford and Billups would have been milked for all they were worth on the character trait of Engineers typically only caring about their engines or about fixing things rather than the joy they seem to greet the prospect of rest and relaxation. They certainly aren't anything like Scotty, whose only form of appreciated time off was to get up to date with reading technical journals. I can see they were trying to set up different pairings, something I liked, and to have Ransom 'teach a lesson' to Mariner, but it came at the expense of how you'd expect, in this case, Engineers to behave. Saying that, Mariner's story had the most amusement, particularly the moment she decides to go rogue and rescue her crewmates, with the orbital skydive an obvious joke at the expense of 'Star Trek XI' (though I'd have preferred they referenced the 'Generations'/'Voyager' silver squares suits), especially funny when she has to abort halfway down so as to climb back up before Ransom realises she's gone, only for her to do it again with permission (falling asleep during the second jump due to fatigue! Could that be another nudge at the film, suggesting all action all the time can send you to sleep, or am I just reading too much into it!). The fact a volcano and primitive culture is involved also suggests 'Into Darkness,' although you can also see parallels with Vaal from 'The Apple' on 'TOS,' and probably plenty of other such races we've seen over the years.

It took me out of it a bit when they used Fred Tatasciore as the voice of Morgo the volcano, but he sounded exactly like Shaxs - at least make the voice different if you're going to reuse a member of the voice cast! I suppose the moment you think Ransom's going to talk the natives round to releasing his men only for him to take off his shirt and get their attention that way was fairly funny and fit with the character, but it also highlights how great it was that despite Kirk being a tough guy (who also often lost his shirt), he tended to use intelligence to solve problems, and although done in a humorous way it shows that vacuous preening and body image is more important than understanding and applying the mind. Of course that summation could be considered taking the episode too seriously and I suppose that's the disconnect with Trek right there. Although I did like his statement that his command decisions have nothing to do with Mariner's sensitivities when she accuses him of doing the mission that way rather than using everyone in their best positions, it turned out that's exactly what he was doing. The orbital lifts looked good, reminiscent of those from 'Rise' in 'Voyager' (though that was a much more serious story - a murder investigation in close quarters), as does the ship, as ever, but I came away a little unsatisfied with the sum of the episode's parts.

A couple of other little nitpicks: at one point someone loses their character in the game and Martok decrees he'll live out the rest of his life as a dentist and it struck me would they even exist in the 24th Century when presumably you would never have plaque or tooth decay? And even more, would a Klingon know what they were? Of course, I was forgetting the game was created by Ferengi and they're very much into their teeth (Nog even had a tooth sharpener on DS9), so while Klingons would probably see dentistry as entirely irrelevant, Ferengi would be into every aspect of tooth care, I'm sure. But what about suicide? There's a joke about a character in the game having his arm ripped off and beaten to death with it, considered a dishonourable death since technically they died at their own hand (groan), but aren't Klingons quite pro-suicide? Maybe not, Worf had to have someone kill him in 'Ethics,' and the same for his brother Kurn in 'Sons of Mogh,' so I suppose they do treat suicide with the same, or even more contempt than humans would, it just stuck out to me again - once more, any inaccuracies with actual Klingon belief can be put down to this being a Ferengi production, a convenient out. At least we know from the episode that Martok is still Chancellor, I just wish J.G. (not Junior Grade by a long shot!), could come back in live action, or even as his proper character in animation, but that looks increasingly impossible. At least this series is still of a higher caliber than almost all the other modern Treks, even if it doesn't always succeed.

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