Review: “Basements 4×01 – Tuvix”

Season 4 of Lower Decks is about to begin and we take a look at the first episode in our spoiler review!

Lower Decks Season 3 still provided good entertainment, but it ultimately showed more of the same. Above all, “crazy AI” has been used somewhat hyperbolically. So the hopes are that in Season 4 we can finally achieve new milestones.

There are two episodes available at the beginning of the season on Paramount+, the first titled “Tuvix,” which is what we are watching here. In the original English, the episode is called “Twovix”, a continuation of the Voyager episode of the same name. In German, of course, this reference is completely missing, as the episode is simply called the same as its Voyager counterpart, which is simply wrong.

By the way, the episode is listed by Paramount with its original title, only the subtitle reveals the German name. So choose what you prefer…

Pure nostalgia

Let’s jump right into the highlight of the episode, which was initially introduced with the Voyager theme. The Cerritos family visits Janeway’s ship, which will be converted into a museum ship after her epic voyage. We know from “Picard Season 3” that this works in the end, because Voyager was part of the ships that were on that particular space dock…

Accordingly, there are plenty of Easter eggs from the series that can be seen in the inner workings of Voyager, right down to the lizard creatures that Tom and Katherine are transformed into. As always, there is too much to list here. But in the entire basements, everything is filmed in a somewhat exaggerated way.

References to previous episodes are also incorporated very well into the same. A macro virus (from the episode of the same name) has been released, and there are still Borg nanites floating around, one thing leads to another and chaos is perfect.

In typical Lower Decks fashion, you then have to run and fight or try to take control of the situation. I have to give credit to the fact that they included things like the Chaotica, which comes in classic black and white. In addition, they also thought of explaining that holographic monitoring devices were now installed throughout the ship.

Then there is the solution with Neelix cheese. This article may not be to everyone’s sense of humor, but it works well in this context, and is therefore compelling. By the way, Mariner and Boimler also briefly mentioned their trip to Pike (Season 2 of Strange New Worlds). It’s nice that they finally thought about building the series in a cohesive way.

Beam of confusion on board

Unfortunately, the second level of action is not to my liking, even though that is the gist of it, judging by the episode title.

Because T’Ana and Billups merge to form Tillups, just like Tuvok and Neelix did before. What starts out very interesting, even though it’s already been there before, ends up being something very good for me.

First and foremost, the ’90s complaint has finally been clarified: Janeway coldly killed Tuvex, but now we’re in the Alpha Quadrant, so we don’t do that! Indeed an interesting hypothesis that would have been worth exploring in more detail even at the time.

Unfortunately nothing comes of this either. Yes, it’s Lower Decks, which were never really deep moral discussions but rather for fun, but it’s still a shame that the topic was ignored for the second time. But as I said, it should be acknowledged that the topic has at least been addressed.

Tillups then incorporates the other crew members, which I would actually classify as criminal and not funny, even if the motives are understandable. However, when I think of “Star Trek – The Movie,” such a fusion of modes of transportation is something special and sometimes painful. Technically, the crew members are “killed”. Yes, in the first season, you actually had a planet where all the transportation accidents were brought, but that’s a whole different level — and in my opinion, that’s not something you just do, whether it’s a humor factor or not.

Then the whole thing culminates in a merciless savagery, which actually, again, in reference to the “movie”, should have died immediately and of course the crew members along with it. That put a bit of a damper on the episode, especially because I also had to think about what it would look like in live action, and the answer to that was “ridiculous.”

They’re clearly overdoing it here…

It is promoted

But it’s good that at least T’Lyn fits in well here and also gets some nice scenes that suit her character. Above all, Vulcan’s logic regarding other workers works excellently.

What happens next for her remains exciting, too, because she’ll finally be joining the party. Because our heroes, with the exception of Rutherford, are promoted. This has been somewhat delayed, and it remains to be seen how this will play out in the future. But I really like the fact that the status quo has changed. Four or more years of mere ensign would also be boring…