And You Thought It Would Fail: The idea of an animated Star Trek sitcom didn't sit well with all fans at first. But fan reaction has been largely positive, or at least, it's been much less divisive than Discovery and Picard. Moreover, it was the first Trek series in the new era to get a Crossover, with its characters jumping to live action on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, with "Those Old Scientists" going on to become a fan-favorite.
Ass Pull: Tendi being moved by Doctor T'Ana to Senior Science Officer training has been viewed in this manner. As much as Tendi has shown more general scientific ability, it seems odd that any ship would forcefully move a medical staff member into a demanding training role in an only vaguely related field, completely unprompted by the crewmember themselves. The real reason is most likely that the writers want to justify putting the 4 main characters on the bridge and Tendi would have almost no reason to do so with her medical job.
Awesome Art: Even people not looking forward to the show admit that the backgrounds, ship exteriors, and especially space look beautiful. The general consensus seems to be that this show actually nails the look and feel of the Trek Verse more than Discovery or Picard. Being animated gives the writers & designers a lot of opportunity to create a diverse galaxy of aliens & locations that in a live action show would require expensive makeup, CGI and one-off physical sets.
Beckett Mariner. Some see her as an interesting and flawed character who is a lot of fun to watch, others see her as insufferable and think she ends up being right too often. Season 2 tones this down, since the rookie characters around her are developing into more experienced characters who are able to get the last word themselves, and she can admit when they're right and she's wrong.
Peanut Hamper has also proven to be divisive among fans. Is she a clever subversion of the kinds of characters one normally finds in Starfleet, or a totally selfish Jerkass too unsympathetic to carry an entire episode on her own? Note that almost everyone seems to agree that she is, without a doubt, the worst. The debate instead centers on whether or not she's entertaining despite (or because of) this quality.
Boimler, and Chief Engineer Billups, and the warp core.
Rutherford and the Jeffries tubes.
Continuity Lockout: For the first three seasons, there are plenty of references to previous Star Trek media, ranging from TV to movies, that enhance the experience but aren't necessary to know in order to enjoy the show. Come the final two episodes of Season 4, the show throws in a pair of rather deep cuts to TNG in Mariner's backstory; she personally knew Sito Jaxa from the original Lower Decks crew, and her main motivation for self-sabotaging is so that she doesn't end up having to give orders that lead to a subordinate's death. She also knows Nick Locarno, a Starfleet recruit that went rogue back at the academy, who years later is now attempting to start an independent fleet of ships, and appeared in all of one episode prior to this.
In "Terminal Provocations", Badgey goes on a homicidal rampage across the holodeck, killing and brutalizing holographic Bajorans. It culminates in a tear-filled scene where he calls Rutherford 'father' and the latter Mercy Kills the A.I. with a Neck Snap.
Mariner brutally murdering the holographic Cerritos crew in "Crisis Point", which culminates in her blowing up holo-Shax with a bomb, showering her and Tendi in Ludicrous Gibs, and then encouraging the latter to wear his earring as a trophy, despite it still having a piece of his ear attached. Averted in-universe, as this is the point where Tendi decides she's had enough of the carnage and Mariner's bad attitude (not to mention borderline racism against her species)
The infamous holographic orgy in "I, Excretus" is, at first, Fan DisservicePlayed for Laughs. Then holo-Shaxs runs up to Mariner (the real Mariner taking the simulation), strikes up a Stupid Sexy Flanders pose, and shouts "It's NAKED TIME!" Mariner immediately throws herself out an airlock, begging the computer to fail her so the program will end.
Ransom: In thousands of simulations, that's literally never happened before. Let's try another one, on a ship with even more children!
Designated Monkey: Boimler has become this to many fans, not unlike Meg Griffin or, especially given the creator, Jerry Smith. He goes through by far the most and worst suffering of any of the four main ensigns, the vast majority of which is undeserved. Although unlike Meg, he at least gets more Throw the Dog a Bone moments. Boimler grows out of this in the second season - while he's still subject to quite a bit of the show's physical humor, owing in part to Jack Quaid having a fantastic scream, he gets a good deal more Character Development and seems to be growing out of the timid crouch and milquetoast ways he was known for in the first season. He gets a couple of well-deserved chances to ask What the Hell, Hero? to Mariner in Season 2.
Jennifer the Andorian became popular in season 1, despite having no lines, due to her human-sounding name and implied rivalry with Mariner, neither of which got any explanation. She ascends toMauve Shirt status in Season 2 with a regular voice actor, a snarky personality, and a Ship Tease with Mariner after saving the latter's life in the season finale. Many fans were disappointed when Jennifer was Demoted to Extra in Season 4, and her breakup with Mariner going unaddressed.
AGIMUS, both thanks to being voiced by Trek veteran Jeffrey Combs and being a hilariously hammy spoof of the franchise's frequent use of evil AIs as villains.
Badgey, the sociopathic AI comm badge and spoof of Microsoft Clippy, is extremely popular thanks to his can-do attitude and comically violent intentions. He's so popular, that Hallmark released a Badgey Christmas ornament. The show has brought him back, and he is shaping up to be the series's version of Sideshow Bob and appear once or so a season.
T'Lyn, a Vulcan scientist first appearing in wej Duj, was intended to be a one off guest. Her character was so popular, she was transferred to the Cerritos and becomes a regular starting in Season 4.
Instantly after appearing, fans fell in love with Moopsy due to it being an incredibly adorable yet terrifying Killer Rabbit. There are already calls for a moopsy plushie.
Epileptic Trees: During Season 2, some fans became convinced that Boimler had secretly been replaced by a doppleganger in "Kayshon, His Eyes Open", pointing to his improbable and unseen escape from the Pakled mining colony, the Cerritos computer not recognizing him upon his return, and both AGIMUS and the (holographic) Borg Queen claiming he looked weirdly unhealthy for a human. As of the season finale, nothing's come of this.
With Rick and Morty and Final Space. Both of those TV shows ruthlessly mock sci-fi in general, including Star Trek. This is a parody of Star Trek made by fans who love the series. It should be noted that some Trekkies hate both of the previously mentioned series due to the callous mocking of Star Trek. Others, however, have no trouble enjoying all three shows.
Also counts with Starship Regulars, which is a Star Trek parody. Some fans accuse Lower Decks for being a clone of Starship Regulars.
Many fans refer to the four main characters as the "Warp Core Four", or WC4 for short.
Due to Dr. T'Ana's role as the ship's Chief Medical Officer, having a coarse attitude, and being a Caitian, some fans affectionately call her "Dr. Purrlaski," a play of Dr. Pulaski who appeared during the second season of TNG with a similar attitude.
"Klingon Boimler" and "Vulcan Mariner" for Ma'ah and T'Lyn, respectively. The former is a Klingon Butt-Monkey who dreams of commanding a ship one day, and the latter is a Vulcan Cultural Rebel whose habit of trusting her gut puts her at odds with the rest of her crew.
A very common fan theory is that Captain Freeman served on the Enterprise-D as an Ensign during the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and that she raised Mariner aboard the ship. This one may have been jossed by "Old Friends, New Planets", which depicts Mariner as a first-year Starfleet cadet during the events of TNG "The First Duty".
Another common fan theory is the Cerritos and other California-class vessels were created as mass-produced vessels for the Dominion War, which gives them a bad reputation among the rest of Starfleet.
Fanon Discontinuity: Due to it being an animated comedy, some Star Trek fans consider the series non-canon. It's also inherited some of the vitriol that inevitably strikes any Trek show with involvement from Alex Kurtzman (despite, by all appearances, Kurtzman allowing showrunner Mike McMahan to operate completely autonomously).
Fourth Wall Myopia: There's been a lot said about how unrealistic it is that Mariner would be allowed to serve on her own mother's ship and that such a thing would never be allowed in a real military situation... which forgets the fact that it's actually a secret arrangement until the first season finale, and is only possible because Mariner's father is an admiral who can override such regulations if he wants (Mariner was actually on his ship before he booted her to the Cerritos). This may be due to the fact that Mariner and Carol Freeman do interact as mother-and-daughter plenty in the first season when they're alone, which keeps the fact at the forefront of the audience's mind. It also does cause a lot of friction when the secret is exposed, and later discussions imply that it's still continuing under Admiral Freeman's say-so.
Growing the Beard: The show started off a little rough, especially when early information about the show suggested it was going to be Star Trek meets Rick and Morty and not much disproved that. The third episode "Temporal Edict" was evidence the show was a lot more aware of Star Trek tropes than initially considered, but the ninth episode "Crisis Point" is generally regarded as where the show went from being an Affectionate Parody of the Trek Verse to something that can hold up as its own thing. The episode is a stark deconstruction of Mariner's Military Maverick persona, which had been a point of contention with fans, while creatively using the holodeck for both a parody of Star Trek movie tropes and demonstrating some less-savory ways those role playing games could be used for. With the benefit of hindsight given the show's emphasis on Character Development, it's obvious that the characters were written as particularly insufferable from the outset by design, to make their later growth more effective, but many fans continue to regard the first few episodes as a tough watch that must be suffered through to get to the good stuff later on.
In "Crisis Point", Mariner as Vindicta brutally and graphically kills the Shaxs holodeck simulation by turning him into Ludicrous Gibs, and encourages Tendi to wear his earring as a trophy. In the very next episode, "No Small Parts", the real Shaxs is killed by an explosion, and one of his earrings is kept by her mother, Captain Freeman, as a tribute to his memory.
Rutherford accidentally crashing a Gorn wedding and getting attacked seems like the rest of the goofy hijinks in "Veritas" — until La'an's Dark and Troubled Past on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds reveals just how much danger he was potentially in.
Heartwarming in Hindsight: While Boimler is transferred back to the Cerritos, Riker encourages him to enjoy his time on the ship like he did with the Enterprise-D, expressing that he missed his old ship. In Star Trek: Picard, it's revealed the old girl had been lovingly restored by Geordi, and Riker and his old crew use her to save the galaxy one last time before she's put back in the Fleet Museum for posterity.
He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: Seán Ferrick of TrekCulture has gotten some massive flak concerning Mariner's sub-plot in Season 4. His main sticking point is that Mariner continues to backslide into her self-destructive tendencies despite being told that it's actively hurting her and actively dismissed the reveals in "The Inner Fight" as pandering at best and lore-breaking at most (he seems to be of the idea that Mariner is actually younger than she actually is and he feels that connecting her to Sito Jaxa and the Dominion War is less of a major plot point and more of one of those shout-outs that just doesn't work). Many commenters have suggested that he wanted this plot point to be a one-and-done thing, that Mariner suddenly gets over this and stops backsliding when this is a massive case of Reality Is Unrealistic.
A popular fan creation was drawing people in the style of the series, including the characters of the previous series. "No Small Parts" gives us official Riker and Troi designs.
Q's appearance in the series sees him claim that he's not bugging Picard anymore because he's gotten too "boring". With Q confirmed for the second season of Star Trek: Picard, guess he didn't think Picard was so boring anymore.
Remember "Mr. Adventure" from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock? Y'know, the guy who was bitching to Uhura about being assigned to "the worst duty station in town" and called it "the hind end of space". How would he feel about being assigned to Starbase 80?
Even more hilarious is the fan theory that he is Carlton Dennis, the elderly officer who is quite happy to operate the transporter that takes people up to orbiting ships.
In "Temporal Edict" the far future shows a Borg child in a Federation class. Later in Star Trek: Picard, set twenty years later, a Borg Renegade Splinter Faction requests to join the Federation, and the Borg cease to be a threat entirely when the main Collective is wiped out.
The Lower Decks writing team seems to be hiding nods to future plot developments on the other shows:
Captain Freeman being arrested at the end of "First First Contact" foreshadows the arrest of Number One in Strange New Worlds's "A Quality of Mercy."
The Reveal of K'Ty'Ha as the Wright Flyer (with a plaque saying she first flew at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina) foreshadows The Reveal of The Gallows being the shuttlecraft Galileo in the Prodigy episode "All the World's a Stage"
The Pakleds mistake Riker's Titan for "another Enterprise". In the Star Trek: Picard finale, the Titan-A is rechristened the Enterprise-G.
Chief Engineer Andy Billups' sexual orientation hasn't been confirmed either way; Barnes says he's awkward around women, but that doesn't necessarily mean romantically. However, Rutherford really gets off on talking engineering with the hologram version of him in "Crisis Point", to the point they talk about running away together.note And since this hologram was based on the entire crew's personal logs, it's as close as one could get to talking with the real Billups. (This is both elaborated on and not really explored in Season 2, where it's revealed that Billups Can't Have Sex, Ever as a form of Loophole Abuse that allows him to keep his job. When he gives up, he's shown to be about to enter a Three-Way Sex session with a man and a woman, both of whom are Honey Traps; if the truth had not been revealed, what he would have done — or, perhaps, whom he would have done — is still up in the air.) However, it's entirely possible he's simply asexual, as he was only saved from an undesired throne because he couldn't get it up for either the woman or man, and a holographic training simulation of the crew under the effects of the inhibition-suppressing illness depicts him not participating in the resulting orgy, but still naked.
Barbara and Mariner have a bit of this at the end of "Cupid's Errant Arrow."
Then there's the Ship Tease between Mariner and Jennifer Sh'reyan in "First First Contact", which becomes a (tragically short-lived) Relationship Upgrade in season 3.
The finale of season three shows T'Lyn joining the Cerritos and Tendi greeting her by immediately grabbing her hand, and T'Lyn doesn't attempt to pull away; due to the implications of hand-holding in Vulcan culture, along with just the love for Opposites Attract, the pairing has already gotten immense attention. The trailer for season four depicting Tendi and T'Lyn going on a big mission together definitely adds fuel to the fire.
In "Caves", Rutherford asks Boimler to take off his pants and Boimler complies without question, much to Mariner's surprise. "We're roommates," he explains without elaborating.
After "Trusted Sources", fans guessed that Admiral Buenamigo deliberately let the Cerritos fall into a Breen ambush so he could use it as a testbed for his new Texas class automated vessel. "The Stars At Night" confirmed it and then some.
Given her apparent age, known background, and familiarity with Starfleet's history, many guessed that Mariner was a veteran of the Dominion War long before it was confirmed in Season 4's "The Inner Fight".
Jerkass Woobie: Mariner is revealed to be one in Season 4. In the first three seasons, she engages in some incredibly reckless, self-destructive behavior and has pretty much ground her career to a standstill by intentionally being a maverick that nobody would take seriously. However, it's revealed that she knew the late Ensign Sito from TNG and actually befriended and admired her, but was so heartbroken when Sito died, she couldn't stomach the idea of ordering people to their deaths and vowed never to let herself be promoted, no matter how many bridges she would burn in the process. Even worse, she was forced to witness the horrors of The Dominion War and just how many of her fellow officers were sent to their deaths in a senseless slaughter. Knowing that, her behavior throughout the series shows that her self-sabotaging behavior is just her way of trying to avoid dealing with that trauma. By the time one of her commanding officers gets her to realize that her behavior makes no sense, she's on a ship with a food-obsessed Know-Nothing Know-It-All for a counselor, meaning she has no access to a therapist she can trust to take her issues seriously until she's sheltering in a cave with Ma'ah.
Love to Hate: Peanut Hamper, for some. She's an irredeemable, utterly horrible person, but her unabashed narcissism and snottiness makes her endlessly entertains to watch. Others, however, find her just too loathsome to be enjoyable.
"Is this what Star Trek has become?!"ExplanationWhen Lower Decks released its first trailer, there was a group of fans who absolutely hated the animated comedic take of it. One person tweeted the quote in question in all seriousness, leading to other fans point out that Star Trek has always had goofy moments.
"Remember when Star Trek was smart?"ExplanationThe release of "I, Excretus" really ruffled feathers over a certain subset of fans, drawing ire over the "Naked Time" scene. One person used the quote in question while posting the picture of the naked Rutherford and Boimler as proof. Similar to the first complaint, other fans quickly mocked him by pointing out how incredibly horny the franchise could be.
"We are strong!"ExplanationThe Pakleds' declaration of strength has become an oft-repeated joke among fans.
"Fighting fascism is a full-time job!"ExplanationShaxs was a member of the Bajoran resistance, and his dedication to fighting The Empire, which he vehemently expresses to Boimler in "wej Duj" with the aforementioned quote, has caught on among the activist side of the Trek fandom.
Shaxs and Ransom are giants.ExplanationIn the crossover with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the show decided to avert the Scully Box and had Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome be portrayed at their natural heights; Boimler is often portrayed as downright scrawny compared to Ransom and Shaxs, leading to speculation (fueled by Quaid and Newsome themselves) that they're over seven feet tall. (For the record, Jerry O'Connell is 6'2", only an inch taller than Quaid).
T'lyn is out of control!ExplanationT'lyn is mostly the Straight Man or Comically Serious to the antics of the rest of the Cerritos crew, but many like to act as if she is the wildest one out of the bunch because of how, for a Vulcan, she was considered an out of control wild card on the Sh'vhal during "wej Duj".
Twaining.ExplanationIn "Something Borrowed, Something Green," Boimler and Rutherford play Mark Twain in a holoprogram and this somehow resolves the argument they were having. Fans have taken this to show other Starfleet captains resolving wars by using the Twain program.
RITOS.ExplanationAfter the "DISCO" shirts from Star Trek: Discovery became popular, Lower Decks featured Captain Freeman wearing a "RITOS" shirt. The parody shirt has become popular in its own right, even getting worn by Jack Quaid in his appearance on The Ready Room for the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "Those Old Scientists."
Moe: D'Vana Tendi is perhaps the most adorable and lovable Star Trek alien, ever!
Narm: Andy standing up to his mother who constantly tries to sway him into giving up his job at Starfleet and taking over her throne? A triumphant moment of Calling the Old Woman Out! Proudly announcing that he'll remain a virgin for the rest of his life when doing so? Sounds more like something one would hear someone say in some conservative Christian PSA insisting that Sex Is Evil... unless you see it as a proud statement of asexuality.
Popular with Furries: Just like Lieutenant M'Ress before her, Dr. T'Ana quickly got the attention and adoration of most furry fans. Interestingly enough, there's even a subset of fans who ship the latter with the former.
Season two tones down Mariner and Boimler's Bully and Wimp Pairing, with the former showing more emotional depth and insecurity, and the latter gaining more confidence and proving to be a Hidden Badass after his experience serving under Riker on the Titan. Their friendship comes across as a lot more authentic as a result, and many viewers regard the season as a Growing the Beard milestone. Season 3 even furthers Boimler's growth by showing him as even more confident and bold.
On Star Trek: Picard, fans took umbrage with how The Federation was so willing to turn its back on Romulus after a terrorist attack by synthetic beings destroyed the shipyards at Mars where the evacuation fleet was being built (and which said synths were building), leading them to call off their efforts and ban all synthetic lifeforms as a result. As many, including Picard himself, saw this as a betrayal of the organization's ideals, Lower Decks and later Star Trek: Prodigy had several incidents occur to imply why they adopted this attitude: incidents with Badgey, AGIMUS, Ensign Peanut Hamper, and the Texas class, combined with the latter's "Living Construct" incident, soured their taste in synthetic lifeforms and led them to implement the ban after the attack proved to be the final straw.
Picard likewise faced flak from fans for refusing to show how The Dominion War had affected Starfleet and influenced their more isolationist attitude that led them to abandoned their evacuation efforts of Romulus (in part because the higher-ups ordered them not to out of fear of Continuity Lockout). Mariner's entire character, in part, is based around her being traumatized from having to fight in that very war—worse, while she was still reeling from Sito Jaxa's death—and how badly it affected her to the point she self-sabotages herself because she's terrified of having to send people to their deaths.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: During the first season, Mariner was a Base-Breaking Character for being a reckless Military Maverick, with some finding her deeply unlikable and viewing her as rarely being called out on her behavior. The second half of Season 1 won over fans by deconstructing her flaws and pointing out her behavior was self-destructive, and later seasons both toned down the worst of her personality — particularly her treatment of Boimler — and made it more clear the show wasn't endorsing her behavior.
The Scrappy: Even in a comedy-focused show like Lower Decks, Dr. Migleemo stands out as the most incompetent and unlikable member of the crew, having a massive ego despite not knowing the first thing about therapy, science officer training, or keeping his goddamn beak shut to prevent a diplomatic incident. His incompetence has actively harmed Mariner, who is gradually learning not to self-sabotage but can't work through the root cause because she doesn't have access to a therapist she trusts to take her Sito and Dominion War-related PTSD seriously, resulting in her lapsing back into it. Even on a ship as full of fuck-ups as the Cerritos, it's a miracle that he hasn't been fired yet. His absolute nadir is when he manages to screw up Tendi's plan in the Season 4 finale, which results in her having to make a deal that forces her to leave the Cerritos.
Tainted by the Preview: To put it mildly, some fans were not thrilled about a serious sci-fi franchise getting the "Rick and Morty" treatment. CBS was forced to shut off the comments and like/dislike function on the official trailer within twelve hours of uploading.
Trans Audience Interpretation: Some fans have interpreted D'vana Tendi as being transfemme, due to the fact that she claims that not all Orion women produce pheromones and seems uncomfortable elaborating on the subject; a character in "Something Borrowed, Something Green" actually states that Tendi can't produce pheromones, only adding to this.
They Copied It, So It Sucks!: It's an understatement to say that plenty of fans were pissed that Star Trek would have an officially produced adult animated comedy series similar in style to Rick and Morty, Starship Regulars and Futurama. The fact that the show's art style is almost identical to that of Final Space doesn't help, although some like that it has a similar style.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: One of the bigger disappointments of Season 3 was the lack of focus on the Relationship Upgrade between Mariner and Jennifer. Despite early interviews after Season 2 suggesting we'd see such things, we only see this happen in "Mining the Mind's Mines" and "Hear All, Trust Nothing" before it suffers an abrupt Ship Sinking in "Trusted Sources". According to Mike McMahan, the pairing proved to be more popular with fans than expected, despite his view that Jennifer "liked Mariner for the wrong reasons" and was enabling her self-destructive impulses; he expressed regret at not giving the end of their relationship more attention and promised to address it properly in Season 5.
Contrary to some fan theories that it was connected to the mystery ship, season 4 marks the first time that a cameo guest at the opening sequence' battle scene, the probe from The Voyage Home, doesn't appear in any of the episodes.
Ugly Cute: The Pakleds are a bunch of big burly warriors but kind of adorable in a puggish sort of way. Their queen, revealed in "The Spy Humungous" is doubly so despite and because she's a Brawn Hilda version of a Princess Classic.
Season 4's trailers revealed that a few Trek veterans are coming back — Grand Nagus Rom and his wife Leeta, both of whom haven't been seen since Deep Space Nine ended, and one of the missions the Cerritos will go on is taking a ship to the Fleet Museum: the original U.S.S. Voyager!
Lower Decks has opening credits that add new ships and entities to the fight with the Borg cube every season; pretty much nobody expected the The Whale Probe to be added in Season 4.
Who's the mastermind behind Season 4's plot? Nick Locarno. Yes, that Nick Locarno, aka the prototype for Tom Paris. The same Nick Locarno that was replaced with Tom Paris in Star Trek: Voyager due to a mixture of rights problems and the writers, and Robert Duncan McNeill himself, considering him too much of an asshole to credibly redeem. Even amongst hardcore Trek fans, no one saw that character ever returning.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Ah, another show that falls victim to the Animation Age Ghetto, possibly helped along by it piggy backing off of a franchise that was generally family-friendly. Oddly enough, all swearing is bleeped out despite the other CBS All Access Trek shows having no issue with it.
Brad Boimler suffers mistreatment and abuse far greater than any of his actions warrant, the brunt of it coming from Mariner. He's brought to tears in the second episode and gets dumped by his girlfriend in the fifth. As Boimler undergoes Character Development at the end of season 1 and into season 2, he's starting to develop more confidence and skill and become more of a badass himself.
Tendi also qualifies: while not subject to the same torrent of abuse as Boimler, she has a Dark and Troubled Past, struggles to overcome stigma against Orions, and has major self-esteem issues stemming from a combination of imposter syndrome and a compulsive need to be liked by everyone.
Woobie Species: The Pakleds are a race of Jerkass Woobies if you think about it. Yes, they're impulsive, aggressive brutes who will happily kill anyone in the way of their advancement, and show no remorse in doing so. But they're also a race so profoundly unintelligent and Laughably Evil that most of their successes rely on their enemies grasping the Idiot Ball for dear life, and for all their grand designs they're just useful pawns for the real enemies of the Federation to manipulate. And as of the end of season 2, they've lost their homeworld and much of their population to a Veruvian bomb, with the implication that either their benefactors decided they'd outlived their usefulness, or the Pakleds blew it up themselves because they didn't know how to handle the bomb safely. Overall, while they may be bad guys, you can't help but feel sorry for them regardless.
Subverted when it turns out the Pakleds blew up their own planet in the hopes the Federation would move them to a new one with more resources. In other words, they deliberately invoked this trope!
Woolseyism: A rather odd one in the Latin American Spanish dub: All the characters holding the rank of Ensign has their rank translated as Alferez, instead of Subteniente, compared with other dubs from the Star Trek franchise. The odd part came with the fact that the Latin American dub, just like other dubs from the franchise, was done in Mexico, but the rank Alferez isn't used in Mexican military parlance, as you can see here, but its normally used in either Spaniard and South American armed forces exclusively.note In fact, besides Mexico, the only Spanish-speaking countries who doesn't use the rank "Alferez" on any of their military branches are the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Paraguay and El Salvador. This is very likely done out of respect for other Latin American viewers outside Mexico which probably would not get the nuance of the Mexican rank Subteniente, but for Mexican viewers, that would sound weird for them.
