9 Ups & 1 Down From Star Trek: Lower Decks 5.5 — Starbase 80?!

It's hard to believe any human being in the 24th century would still believe in curses, but that didn't stop Ned Quint with that damned Howard sex candle. Anaphasics aside for a moment, Mariner had good reason to feel that things were a little jinxed this episode, confronted as she was with a return to the galaxy's most infamous starbase.

If not a candle, the episode hangs a lantern on it from the very beginning — this is going to be "Old Mariner" versus the new. The latter has just been enjoying the "granular science" down on Piskes IX (compare to the [hog]fishiness of last week). The former, haunted by her old (brief) haunt, makes only a partial comeback in her malediction prediction. It's a win for science and for Mariner.

Moreover, if we do believe that the misfortunes of the Star Trek movies are odd-numbered, then of course there was going to be a curse! Lower Decks has pastiched the posters so well, they'd be remiss not to take the piss out of five. 80 being even is bad luck for the not-so-hard-and-fast rule, but all the better for the Starbase and the episode.