Where Pleasant Fountains Lie

 DVD, Lower Decks S2 (Where Pleasant Fountains Lie)

It took them long enough, but they finally did it: brought back the Great Jeffrey Combs! In the first few seasons of modern Trek, from 'DSC' to early 'Picard' and 'LD' they'd refrained from jumping deeply into returning actors from old Trek. It wasn't that they never had anyone familiar (Clint Howard showed up in 'DSC' Season 1, for example), but they definitely didn't seem to have such connections in mind. Leaving aside Jean-Luc himself, we only got a smattering, though that gradually snowballed until we've had tens of old characters played (or voiced), by their original actors. Perhaps they realised the writing wasn't up to it for those schooled in Trek, and they needed to get more people more interested, or perhaps they felt a little more confident as time went on (just as 'TNG' kept away from 'TOS' for the most part in its early years), but either way the returning of characters and actors has been one of the few successful aspects of this era. And yet they still hadn't brought in Combs who was one of the most versatile greats we ever saw in Trek - beginning as a one-off alien in 'DS9,' then taking on the iconic roles of Brunt and Weyoun in the same, he went on to appear in 'Voyager' and had a recurring role as Shran in 'Enterprise' (and was talked up by Manny Coto as being planned to join the series as main cast if they'd got a Season 5), and was definitely high on my list of people they really should bring back. I'd always imagined him returning to one of his famous roles (most likely an aged Shran, but anyone would've done!), but if we only get his voice as a megalomaniacal supercomputer then that's something, at least...

He is very good here, the wheedling, the manipulating, the complimenting... it's funny, yet also somehow real, and very well written to reflect this machine that constantly manoeuvres from one strategy to the next while Mariner and Boimler are just trying to stay alive on a planet where they've crashed (especially enjoyed the moment of the crash where we see it from inside the cockpit of a shuttle with the ground racing up towards them, just as they would have filmed it in old Trek!), and the last thing they need is a voice continually preying on their situation, pleading that he can save them if they'll only... plug him in... Combs was ideally suited, his whiny, yet reasonable stream of suggestions, attempts to divide his two captors, and never missing a chance to try and lay some groundwork for escape is a highlight, but even better is the way Boimler tricks him by apparently playing into his hands and using Mariner's belief that he's lost it to save them both! A real success story and a clever twist. It's also a good-looking episode with this desert planet full of space junk that has been sucked down to the surface, but also the Medieval decor and style of the Hysperian 'fantasy' ship, Monaveen, Chief Engineer Billups' own Mother's ship. Unfortunately, that's where the similarity with the two plots ends (unless you count them both being driven by a sneaky, manipulative character that will do absolutely anything to get what they want!).

The problematic premise, which is exactly the kind of humour that prevents this series from truly blossoming like the great Treks before it, is very family unfriendly, and while it never really goes anywhere visually, the innuendo goes too far and almost ruins what was one of the better stories, bringing it down to merely enjoyable thanks to Combs. Such a shame he was 'wasted' in an otherwise troubled story when he could, and should, have been the sole focus for the crew. Still, if you ignore the exact nature of Queen Paolana's (sounds a lot like Lwaxana to me...), method of tricking her son into taking the throne as king of his people, it's still quite an innocent, fun story, and while it makes use of a recurring character to good effect, it's really about Rutherford and Tendi - while it could be said to be a tired trope by this stage that so many episodes feature Mariner with Boimler, and Rutherford with Tendi, it's actually quite a nice format, especially when you only have half the episode length of traditional Trek, and this one is particularly poignant as Tendi is told, and believes, that Rutherford died in a freak accident aboard the Monaveen. Of course we've seen that all before (I immediately think of Mayweather in 'Dead Stop,' but Garak blowing up his own shop is another instance that comes to mind), but Tendi hasn't, and we see it through her eyes.

That the Queen would go to any lengths, even afflicting great grief on her son, shows just what a manipulative Mother she is, without the bustling charm and rudeness of Lwaxana Troi, though in the same mould. But the idea of a people that deliberately play up fantasy myths and rename standard technology to reflect that was typically daft of this series, yet I could imagine it happening in live action Trek, too. No doubt there are examples of all kinds of weird alien groups that we've seen, though nothing's springing to mind. The ship was beautiful, if a little 'Star Wars' princess (I could certainly imagine Queen Amidala travelling in it!), and it was well presented - the physical docking connection seemed like yet one more swipe at 'DSC' for its ridiculous energy field attachment corridors. There was also the expected humour, my favourite being the evil lute-playing which jams Combadges from communicating, the musician having an infernal, diabolical light in his eyes! The episode was surprisingly thin on references, which made a change, though they do have to throw in Mariner's suggestion of burying Agimus like Data's head, to which Boimler rejoins that it was actually in a cave - love the attention to specifics, and that he knows this! There's also the Daystrom Institute, which is where they're transporting Agimus (though it's questionable why a shuttle would be travelling to Earth when surely the Cerritos would be faster, but they had to set it up that way so the pair could be marooned), and Agimus claiming he's turned over a new leaf and wants to join Starfleet where he could be the next Seven of Nine!

I suppose you could say the flying drones that Agimus imagines himself creating, and was part of the artwork by the planet of people who had worshipped him, were the same design as those in 'The Arsenal of Freedom' in 'TNG,' and his "Yes, yeeesss," when watching Boimler and Mariner fight was reminiscent of Emperor Palpatine watching the battle between Luke and Vader. I also had a fleeting suggestion of the little robot that wedges itself in the doorway in 'Capricorn One' when they're trying to move him (I think it's that film, or is it 'Space Camp,' it's been a long time?), as Agimus briefly grabs the doorframe with his tubules before being pulled out, though I'm sure it wasn't intended. And it was a great gag to have him locked away in a room full of compartments occupied by similarly boxy evil computers as if it's a regular issue for Starfleet (there's one featuring the CBS Eye logo, an upside down Triforce from 'Zelda,' and best of all, in his first ever appearance in Trek, Batman himself!). For some reason, even Agimus shouting out that he's going to take over the Federation was appealing, just for hearing Combs say 'Federation'! Another good observation came when Mariner asks how Phaser Rifles are different from normal ones and Boimler says they take two hands, as when you think about it, that should be the only difference, although I've always felt they're more powerful due to having a larger capacity for power (and they look tough, too!). Not all references were jokey - Tendi worriedly suggesting there are going to be times every now and then when it seems like Rutherford's died, acted both to remind us of the last time this happened, and also to display a vulnerability in her that shows how hard she found it to accept her friend's apparent death yet again.

I did wonder how she could just wander onto the Monaveen (though I loved that she asked the computer to locate Rutherford, giving her the coordinates for where she assumes the last part of him must be, the old-fashioned way - so Trekky!), though I suppose Starfleet had been given free access. Still, you'd think the ship would have shut down in order to ensure Billups doesn't have second thoughts. My other criticism was that Rutherford moans about how he wants to tell Billups to use someone else because he's too worried about all the customs and messing up an alien ship - my issue is since when do Ensigns get to decide what they do? That sounded a bit too 'DSC' for me where ship discipline and everything else is apparently controlled by people's emotions and how willing they are to do something rather than obedience and snapping to duty. It's possible Rutherford meant he would request off the assignment and Billups could decide one way or the other and we're just hearing it from a lower decks slant of how he forms the situation to his friend. One other thing was that it seemed strange for Boimler to have his assignment changed via PADD, as usually it would be in person or at least over the comms, but of course in this case they don't want us to know Ransom reassigned him by Mariner's request as Boimler would have asked why and it would have all come out, whereas it was setup for Agimus to show what really happened and use it as fuel to aggravate. But he underestimated the quintessential Starfleet man! That's a good message, well done. But next time let's give Jeffrey Combs our full attention (and preferably in live action. And preferably bringing back one of his great previous characters. Preferably).

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