This raises a more philosophical argument as to what signifies the fall of a body like the Federation.

The Federation is a union of other bodies who through the spirit of cooperation decide to work together. If the majority of the bodies that make it up decide to pull out, does that constitute the fall of the Federation?

If one body leaves, of course it has not fallen; and if they all leave, it no longer exists at all. How many planets still need to be in a union for the Federation to successfully exist?

The fact that Vulcan/Ni’Var and Earth both pulled out and are two of the Charter members is certainly notable (though it doesn’t prove the fall of the Federation).

If it felt like the Federation had been weakened but was slowly rebuilding, I would agree with your idea that the blow to the Federation was meant to show its resilience; but the fact the Federation was not picking up steam at all (and felt much more in decline), to me indicates that the writers intended for us to interpret this as the Federation in its death throws until the Discovery showed up.

Perhaps this speaks to my own mindset as opposed to how the writers intended it, but it’s certainly how it came across to me.

As an aside, it could be interesting to explore what a Federation not primarily influenced by human/Vulcan influence could look like, as well as explore the idea of what constitutes the Federation (for example, could you have a Federation with no planetary members made entirely of individuals who have left their planet in the name of galactic brotherhood?). I am not sure the Federation is still in a place where such concepts could be explored, but it could certainly be interesting…

I’m definitely excited to see Lower Decks hopefully going out on a high note, but I’m definitely sad to see it ending.

As someone who only recently got into Star Trek specifically because of Lower Decks, I am curious what show Paramount is hoping will act as a gateway show, so to speak, for new viewers.

I don’t know if people still use live wallpapers, but I like the way mine turned out.

https://i.imgur.com/yXmjLUc.gifv

It seems like being xenophobic is a deliberate part of his character (look at how he treats Cardassians too); but I am always taken aback when he says something awful, because it feels so out of place in the optimistic future.

Plus, it seems like even the other in-universe characters are bothered by it (Keiko and Dr. Bashir have raised issues with it by the episode I am up to), so it is extra strange that he is “allowed” to just go around being casually xenophobic and hasn’t been sent to Federation sensitivity training or something.

My interpretation was that ketracel-white was both chemically addictive AND needed for the specific amino acid (or whatever it was that their body could not produce).

This, to me, meant that any Jem’Hadar that wanted to drop ketracel-white would go through withdrawal and then die painfully. For most Jem’Hadar the two different aspects would be indistinguishable from each other and viewed as one effect.

I’m not so many episodes in, so I’m not sure how strong a character she’ll be; but how could anyone not like a character played by Whoopi Goldberg?

… And it turned out Tasha really died, though the article did mention the actress returning on a few occasions. It sounded like the first season was a little rough behind the scenes, and the actress was also worried that the role would be too repetitive(?)

Ultimately, I feel kind of bad for the actress since TNG is widely revered as one of the best sci-fi series and she missed an opportunity to be a major part of it; but I can understand why she felt the need to leave. Plus this change gave Worf more time to shine, and also made room to introduce Guinan; so I really can’t be mad.

I also still find it pretty touching when the cast references Tasha and mourn her (like Data’s hologram in the episode where they legally have to prove his sentience).

I recently started TNG and saw that episode for the first time a week or two ago. When she died, I literally did not believe it right up until the end of the episode because of how anti-climactic her death was. I was absolutely sure it was going to be a fake-out.

When the episode ended, I had to look up why she was written out because I was so utterly perplexed.