I’m late to the party.

“Twovix.” Love it. From Jack’s advice to Shax at the start through the end, I enjoy this episode. Voyager becoming a museum was a great way to cram a lot of VOY escapades into an episode. I’m going to miss Mariner’s, Boimler’s, Tendi’s, and Rutherford’s time together in their hallway bunks, but the promotions are well deserved and bound to happen. I think T’Lyn is a great addition. The ending though, oh, no. Not Ma’ah and the Che’Ta’! I’m betting their demise (seeming? seems likely?) is because of William Boimler or Badgey. Maybe both of them. Keep in mind I’m terrible at guessing.

“I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee.” Also love it. First and foremost, yes, I, a grown woman, want a Moopsy plush. Preferably one that says, “moopsy.” I was wondering if Mariner’s being promoted would go smoothly, and I was not disappointed with how it played out. For all his goofiness, I think Ransom is a great commanding officer. I’m pretty meh on the potential of Rutherford and Livik being adversaries. It seems out of character for Rutherford. But, LD continues to pleasantly surprise me, so I’m keeping an open mind. Boimler’s tribulations with his new quarters were funny, and very Boimler. With what happened to the Romulan ship at the beginning of the episode, I’m wondering if the whatever it is will take out a different ship every episode this season.

The big blob of merged people was so disturbing, glad this was in a cartoon and not live action. That would have been extra horrifying!

Where can I get Moopsy as a ringtone for my phone?

So why did Boimler’s between-the-holodecks room have the (embarrassing) events of both adjacent holodecks reverberating through it? One of the core capabilities of a holodeck is the ability to manipulate where sounds appear to be coming from, which must include the ability to dampen sounds enormously. And if that technology exists, it should likely be available for ordinary walls between quarters too.

Is this just another case of Boimler not realizing that basic niceties (like viewscreen light filters) exist? And did both Freeman and T’Ana disable the audio dampening of their own holodecks?

Some thoughts after sleeping on it…

— I found the 4 x 01 Twovix the best season premiere yet.

All the premieres seem callback and Easter egg heavy. Making this one a museum (ship) mishap episode worked that into the story in a natural way and allowed some of the weirdest and trippyest things from Voyager to pike on. Bravo.

While some reviewers have expressed regrets that the original Voyager actors voices weren’t used, I’m glad that the focus stayed on the Cerritos crew, the artifacts and how Voyager remains dangerous wherever she is, even as a literal museum.

I am unhappy that the Klingon lower decker and his ship were sacrificed for the seasonal mystery big bad. It’s clear it’s really dangerous though. (Perhaps the mystery ship is collecting humanoids to take them to another era where they are extinct….?)

It’s also likely the case that I enjoyed the ride of the premiere more for knowing I had another new episode to watch immediately.

— The second episode was mostly a straightforward Lower Decks classic, but one that did its job to move the main 4 lower deckers into their new roles.

We’ll have to see how well it works on rewatch, but the moopsie scenes seem likely to be classics. After the Voyager celebration of weird in the season premiere, it was very smart for Lower Decks to underscore its ability to give us its own very original weirdness, and remind us that humanity are the most dangerous in the menagerie.

I’m glad that they make Rutherford a bit of an odd man out in the promotions. I still feel that he’s a bit of an incomplete person/character because his ambition and drive has been submerged by the implant. I really hope that the writers will keep dribbling out more about that.