Original subtitles

Hi, I'm Dawnn Lewis, and I play Captain Carol Freeman of the USS Cerritos.

Hi, I'm Jack Quaid. I play Fred Tata-- Wait a minute.

I'm Fred Tatasciore, and I play Lieutenant Shaxs.

Hi, I'm Captain Carol Freeman playing Fred Tatasciore.

And this is episode 310 of Star Trek.. Lower Decks.

-Hi, guys. Let's go. -I was told there'd be no mask.

It's just the actors doing the commentary today.

This is the inmates running the prison.

-So unfortunate. -Exceptional.

This is insane.

-Look at that. -I love this episode so much.

It's such a great finale.

I actually get choked up at the end.

-Me too! -I replayed that finale so many times.

-It's so good. -Yeah.

It really is good. It's great.

I love whenever Carol is just dealing with the upper echelons of Starfleet brass.

And it's so bad. It's just like they just don't give her anything.

It never goes well.

-No. -It never goes well.

-No. -And we really...

Look at my face.

I'm giving him the animation side-eye. I love it.

-I know. You do that though. -Look at you! Look at you!

Look at that!

He's corruptible though.

-Yeah. -No spoilers.

You should never trust a man whose name translates to "good friend."

Carlos Alazraqui. Right?

Wonderful.

Is that the guy that does the voice? He's incredible.

-Yeah. Fabulous. -Yeah.

I feel like I've heard his voice in many places.

You've heard him on everything.

-He is an absolute comedic genius. -He's incredible.

He really is. I work with him a lot.

I cannot say enough good stuff about him.

I love these opening credits.

Of course, three seasons in, I still can't sing it.

I have no idea of the melody. It's like, "What? The what?" Yeah.

Okay.

Dawnn, at one point, I need to hear you operatically sing.

We'll get you the sheet music,

and we will get you to sing our theme song.

I apologize for not being ready for that request at this particular moment.

It could have been perfect.

But your character must do it.

-That would be just so fun. -That would be great.

-I think that should be heard-- -ls there any times--

-Sorry. Go ahead, Dawnn. -Go on.

No, I was gonna say,

I should do a special concert, instead of scatting,

that I do my operatic version for everybody on the spaceship, yeah.

-Yes. -I agree.

I was about to say, we have heard you scat on the show,

which was wonderful.

Right. Which is so much fun--

Singing as though I have no idea how to sing.

-It's hilarious to me. -You do.

-Yeah. -You know how to sing.

-You got it. Yeah. -Believe me, I know.

Mike!

What an opening.

There he is.

Look at him crouching over the PADD, up to no good.

He's so bad.

I love that we got our classic Star Trek admiral too.

-I love that we have one of our own. -Yes.

So, Fred, we were talking about this scene earlier.

This is where I got to do impressions of the bridge crew.

And you said that you did--

What was it? You've never heard the impression before?

No. So, basically, I know the scene.

I've had to do it many times, but I didn't get to do it with you.

So I don't know how you sounded,

and I freaking loved your impression of Shaxs,

and I love that he gets a credible impression of Lieutenant Shaxs.

I tried my best with everybody.

The Shaxs voice to me is so iconic that it was--

I mean this so flatteringly.

It was very easy to do

just because the voice is so distinct and unique and so great.

Thanks.

I had a tough time with T'Ana because...

-That's hard. -...of the particular brand of scratchiness.

-There it is! -"Baby bear. Baby bear."

-That was a big-- -Wait.

"Is that how I sound to you?"

-And he goes off crying. -"I'm a big joke to you!"

He's a very sensitive man.

-Blubbering as he leaves. It's so good. -He's so sensitive.

I love that this was our finale arc too-- me hurting your feelings.

I know. And it was a credible impression. That's what's even better.

You're like, "Oh, my gosh. Am I really just that hard core?"

-It was so funny. -"Can you not see my softer side?"

Exactly. And he constantly is trying to tell people how soft he is,

-as he kills everyone. -Yes.

He has that moment earlier this season where he's like,

"Diane, why don't you ever ask me about my feelings?"

-"Diane, I..." -"We never talked about it."

"I almost died!" Yeah. "I died, even." Yeah.

So much depth to Shaxs and to so many characters this season.

-I know. That's what I love. -That's so great to watch.

That was this season, is we opened up their characters more.

You know what I mean? We got to see a little bit more--

Like the Rutherford-- the dual Rutherfords.

-That, to me, is one of my favorites... -Such a good episode.

...just 'cause I really get a sense of him now.

-Yeah. -Absolutely.

Look at this.

"Throw me the idol."

I just rewatched that movie, and this was such a good take on it.

-What, Indiana Jones? -I love that it's a Klingon idol. Yeah.

I know. It's just great.

It's such a great homage.

So good.

-And it's so great-- -Dawnn, I--

Sorry. Dawnn, I love the episode this season, too,

where Carol needs to go to the spa because she's so stressed.

Yes.

She's more high-strung than anyone,

and the fact that she goes to DEFCON 12...

Right. That's what it took.

-Yeah. -That's what it took. Yes.

-And she just can't relax. -Can't relax. No.

You really went to DEFCON 12 in that episode too.

-It was amazing to listen to. -I went to DEFCON 12. Yeah.

So good.

That's so cool how they're able to--

That iconic shot of Starfleet headquarters from the shows and the movies,

and they have to re-create that for the animated show,

it's so wonderful.

It is amazing that, yeah, that it has become canon-- it's bible.

It's really right out of Star Trek as you know it.

Star Trek lore.

What was funny about that episode

was that I feel like I'm at DEFCON 12 every episode.

You are!

I am the captain that really needs Valium and quaaludes on a regular basis.

-Yes. -And certain Bajoran drinks. I'm serious.

Exactly. And Mike kept saying, "No, Dawnn, go further."

I'm like, "My head is about to pop off in the recording studio. Is it possible?"

Your character often really looks like

she could be on the brink of a nervous breakdown.

-Constantly. -Because of what's happening in her world.

Also with her daughter, her family life.

And so, she's got this compounded thing,

and yet, she gets cool with it.

-Yes. -She swings with it at the end.

She's always like, "Well, whatever." You know?

I think this show, more than any other Starfleet show,

really shows how difficult it is to be a captain,

and the fact that Carol sees through--

She does get stressed out,

but the fact that she perseveres and sees through it all,

it's really cool.

As high-strung as the captain is,

the thing that I get the most is people talking about

how much they love the relationship between myself and Tawny--

Myself and my daughter.

We start out at each other's throats, then we find a little love space,

and then we're right back at each other's throats.

But it's always growing. We never go back to ground zero.

-Yeah. -Right.

That reminds me of me and my relationship with my mom growing up.

There were some dicey days there growing up.

Yeah, that's realistic.

You guys are gonna grow from each other, from each experience, right?

-Yeah. -Yeah.

I love what you said about--

I love this maneuver thing. This is so good.

So good. "Command the chair."

No, but I love what you said about never going back to square one.

-"Leave me alone." -There we go.

I love what you said about that

because I love that all these characters grow

-and they don't revert. -Grow.

-They never go back in their arcs. -Yeah.

Not back to square one anyway.

-It's so great. -No.

-We're still us. -Yes, exactly.

They're still us, but they don't--

There's never an episode

where we pretend like a big character arc moment never happened, you know?

-Right. -Exactly.

Sure, we can go back to being--

Bring me back from the dead. But, yeah.

-Yeah, sure. -But other than that...

-But, honestly, that changed him too. -Yeah.

-So, yeah. -No, it was an emotional journey.

"Warp me!"

-"Warp me." So good, Dawnn. -I love this.

With a cigar.

I love his computer that's just lights.

Yeah. That's right.

Just some fun light-- We get to go back to this planet from the pilot.

I love these little guys.

I know. The best aliens, some of these.

-They're so cute. -Yeah.

I love the whole concept of this-- the ship, like, second contact race.

I thought that was so cool.

-I thought it was very, very smart. -Yeah.

Because all of a sudden--

They've been saying how unimportant second contact being,

but this episode really emphasizes exactly how important second contact is.

-That's right. Yeah. -Yeah.

And ostensibly, all contact.

Oh, man. They can just beam stuff to the planet.

-Here we go. -But it's like, "What the hell!

They've got all this automated equipment, and we've got ladders!"

-"We've got ladders!" -"We've got ladders!"

I love this whole beat, too,

with Tendi discovering the life in their dust or whatever.

-Yes. -I thought that was so Starfleet.

-Like, "Yeah, we got to stop." -It was very Starfleet.

And it really shows who she is too.

Totally.

Also, with the Aledo, what if someone was below while they were beaming in?

'Cause they still beam in, but it still drops a little bit.

That's a good point.

Why can't they just beam it to where it's on the ground?

Still drops like a good ten feet. It makes a clunk.

It does. It still drops.

Yeah.

It's like Amazon, you know?

Bam!

A dude with the delivery package.

Like, you see those videos on the Ring camera?

-People being like... -Exactly.

"This is your mom's heirloom stuff." Yeah.

And it's like, "I dare you to mark it 'fragile' or 'handle with care."'

He's like, "Yeah, right. I got your care!"

"Got you. No problem."

Right. I need to pitch an animated series

starring you as a disgruntled delivery person

-who loves to throw packages. -I would love that.

I love that. "No, it should be fine. I packed it pretty good." Yeah.

-This planet that phases in. -Hilarious. Hilarious.

There's such a history-- There's another show happening here.

-Exactly. -That's right.

A Broadway legendary show that's been around for generations.

Right.

I'd watch a full play based off of these two characters

waiting for the Starfleet to come in.

-Most definitely. -Yeah.

"Next time!"

Absolutely. "Send me a replicator."

As the planet phases away.

I want a replicator.

So crushed. Freeman was so crushed.

I know. She's crushed.

Look at the evil villain laugh.

And this is when we really start to learn, like, "Wow. Okay."

Yeah. intentional.

There's a little nefariousness that's going on here.

-We knew there was competition. -Hater.

I love all those Texas-based captain's trinkets behind him.

-I know! -The Alamo.

By the way, the detail to California and Texas is unbelievably great.

-Unbelievable. -So good.

-To be even seen more later, but yeah. -Yeah.

I want to know whose idea it was to make your hair purple.

I've been dying to ask that question.

Interestingly enough, I asked Mike about it.

I was like, "Why is Boimler's hair purple?"

And he was like, "No, that's just kind of animation code for it being dark hair."

And I was like, "Really? I don't know if that's how it's gonna be received."

-And sure enough, people are like... -No.

-..."I love his purple hair!" -Exactly.

To the point where I did this Strange New Worlds thing,

and that was a whole discussion.

They were like, "Should we make it dark, make it purple?"

I'm like, "No, it has to look purple.

At least in certain lights, we have to make sure it's purple."

It looks purple.

I love that he has purple hair. I think it's wonderful.

I think it's-- Actually, I don't even know if I can say it yet,

but in that episode of Strange New Worlds, we do tell you why it's purple.

-And it's fantastic. -You do?

I love it. So we all have to watch. We all have to watch when it drops.

I don't know when this is coming out, so I don't want to spoil it now,

but there's an answer.

Doesn't matter. We must watch.

That's a must-watch episode.

It's a must-watch. You find out so much about Boimler's hair.

I must admit, I've noticed it,

but I kind of went along the animation convention

of like, "Yeah, it's just dark hair."

-Yeah. -Yeah, this is depressing.

But I love it. It's just purple.

-I love it. -Yeah.

Look at young Buenamigo! I love it.

I know. Looking good.

This was such a good payoff to this whole arc.

-That's right. -It is. It really is.

You guys never knew.

Because Rutherford's whole--

When that was first teased at the end of, I think, it was season two,

I was so intrigued.

-I was like, "What is happening?" -I know.

What is that? Exactly.

We really had no idea. It was a real opener.

Look how desperate.

He just comes into the shot of the FaceTime, basically.

And this is such a bust.

-Yeah. -Right? Look at her.

-With a side-eye. I love it. -Side-eye.

Carol Freeman's side-eye.

This is it, guys.

This is the Law &> Order moment.

Which DEFCON are you at in this episode, Dawnn?

Right now, I am at 11, 11 .2.

-Okay. -Okay.

"Wait! That means..."

This is it.

Yeah, it's all connected to the Deep Space Nine episode.

-Exactly. -I love this.

Yeah.

And he's win-at-all-costs kind of thing.

-Win. Yes. -And it's that difference.

It really is the difference between us, you know?

Yes, exactly.

We're a family. We bound together. We're helping each other out.

-I love that! -Yes, he is!

"You are not one of those bad--"

Basically, you might as well have said, "You are not one of those badmirals."

-Right? -"badmirals."

But it's the line, isn't it? "There are two kinds of admirals."

Yeah.

-"Admirals and badmirals." -Yeah. Exactly. There's always that one.

I wonder if there's any just kind of "mediocre-mirals."

Just ones who are...

I gotta say that's a good question,

but I think it would be very hard to be mediocre and make it in Starfleet.

You know what I mean? You gotta be real--

-True. -No. You get grandfathered in.

-Okay. You think? Okay. -Yeah, I think so.

You're either an amazing admiral or you're an evil...

-Or you're just a sociopath. -...so evil.

I gotta say, I love that his motivation is basically, like,

once you become an admiral, you've hit a wall,

and I just want a way to rank up.

Exactly.

It's almost like a darker version

of what Boimler's philosophy was in the first season,

where he's, like, just ranking up at all costs.

-Right. -This is the worst version of that.

Yeah, pretty much.

I was surprised how far...

Actually, I must say, I was surprised how far it went.

-You know what I mean? -Yeah.

I would never expect our own to be such--

Even though it's happened over and over again--

-I never expect our own to be problems. -No.

Also, was that one of the first times we've ever seen a space station--

Starfleet station attacks like that?

That's pretty intense.

Maybe I'm naive, but I never understood.

Because I don't know how they do it in real life either, with boats.

When you're at war, and folks blast the heck out of your ship,

how do you fix it?

How do you keep going anywhere?

Yeah.

How do you fix the ship to not sink?

I don't know if you-- At a certain point, I think you're just kind of done, right?

Like, you're kind of screwed.

You just, "No!"

Yeah, either you have to abandon ship

or get that ship into a place where you could just sink peacefully.

But that's what I'm saying.

They're out in the middle of the ocean, yet they somehow make it to Tahiti

and can beach the boat and repair all the broken hull pieces

while they pillage the village.

-But in space-- -Again...

We're in outer space. We just got blown to smithereens.

Yeah.

Those are some overachieving pirates in what you just described.

They are.

-They're perfectionists. -Okay.

-They're just... -They were DEFCON 11 too.

-There you go. -Yeah.

Either that or just way too many movies.

They use a warp drive. That's how they got to Tahiti.

Is that how they got to Tahiti?

They used the warp drive to get the boat to Tahiti, for sure.

"I've been trying to use this phaser for a long time."

Did you just do-- Is this Pirate Shaxs?

"Ay, holodeck! The holodeck is not working!"

This is my favorite thing I've ever heard in my life. Thank you.

"Ay, the holodeck is a shame, it is!"

If Mike McMahan is listening to this,

I'm all for Pirate Shaxs making an appearance.

-Please, a spin-off. -"That's what I like to do.

I play Blackbeard."

Pirate Shaxs spin-off.

You know Diane has to be a much more badass pirate though.

Yes, that's their new crime-sex fantasy thing.

What I love about her, she's always the one who tops him.

And he's like, "I think that's a little bit harsh, don't you think?"

Yeah.

And she's the healer.

Here's the ship named after John Van Citters.

-Yes. -I love it.

That was so wonderful to see.

I love all the little cute little tidbits, all of the little inside things.

-Oh, my God. -You see? Right there.

-We had a Tatasciore IX. -Tatasciore IX.

We had the planet Tatasciore IX in the--

Made up of black market, religious freaks and art shenanigans.

I'm like, "My God, how perfect."

Did you know that that was coming?

How did you find that out, that they named a planet after you?

I did because I was in the scene when we had to say "Tatasciore IX."

"It's Tatasciore IX." And I think I actually announce it.

Saying, "That's where the black market is. That's a bunch of freaks."

It was just funny--

I'm so not only honored, but just shocked and beyond.

They said they wouldn't want to do my Italian name Tatasciore or whatever.

It just sounds too Italian.

I tried to do that, because I had a line about it,

and I tried to go, "Tatasciore IX,"

and they were like, "No, Dawnn, just say 'Tatasciore."'

Tatasciore just sounds foreign and weird enough.

And it's spelled weird. It's perfect for that.

And I just thought--

So you put a number after anything, it's gonna sound like a Star Trek planet.

-Exactly. Or quadrant. Yeah. -Right.

Quadrant, yeah.

I was just absolutely thrilled and honored.

-It's so wonderful. -It really is.

When I read that script, I was just like, "Yes."

I couldn't believe it.

-I still can't believe it. -Very cool.

'Cause we're all three Star Trek fans, right?

So it's like, "What?"

-Very cool. -I know.

Actually, speaking of Shaxs,

we have a huge Shaxs moment coming up in a second here

that's been building ever since the pilot episode.

Yes! Exactly.

-A dream come true. -And it's such a--

Here we go. Yeah. I'm like, "Hey, maybe we should listen to Shaxs."

"What?"

I love this resolution to our arc, Fred.

Yeah.

-"I kinda said." -"I kinda said."

"I mean, whatever."

"I mean, I might have spoken out of line."

It's so good.

I love it. He's like, "Really?"

Also, Dawnn, I love how mad you are at Boimler

-for standing up for him. -Yeah.

It's so good.

"Make it so."

He's crying! He's crying.

Look at his eyes!

Look at how everybody congratulates him.

Yes. I love how we're in the middle of a life-and-death ship battle,

and everyone goes out to the hallway being like, "We got to cheer him on."

This is like out of An Officer and a Gentleman.

Shaxs! Shaxs! Shaxs!

I gotta admit, I kind of choked up when I first saw this.

-I was so happy for Shaxs. -Me too!

-I was too. -It was great.

"I want to destroy the basic premise of Star Trek."

Yes!

-I love it. I absolutely love it. -And it's so epic too. Look at that.

Yeah, it's big. And it's a blast. He loves it.

-Literally. -Coming out of warp like that was so cool.

-Boom! -Yeah.

-Blam! -Took care of everything.

And scene.

-And scene. -I know. I was so happy for him.

And now we're dead in the water. Okay.

-Yeah. See, that's it. -And now we sit.

-How do we make it to Tahiti? -That's exactly what you're saying, Dawnn.

-Now we go to Tahiti. -Yeah. We kind of drift there.

Wow.

This whole sequence,

it's just so... I don't know.

I love all of our finales.

I think this is my favorite one that we've ever done.

Yeah, 'cause it is actually a nail-biter.

Guys, look at it. How do we get anywhere after this?

No. There's no way.

Seriously.

Abandon ship. Yeah.

"Belay that order."

There she is.

We are so jacked right now. We're jacked.

How do we get anywhere?

I would love your character to say that.

-"We are so jacked!" -"We are so jacked!"

-"How do we get anywhere?" -"How do we get anywhere?"

If the captain says, "How do we get anywhere,"

you know we're in trouble.

Okay. I very much choked up at this sequence as well.

-I get really happy. -Yeah.

This is beautiful. This is awesome.

It's so cool. All the ships showing up.

-Yes. -Yeah.

-All the people who stood up for you. -Yeah.

Yeah. And it's all the characters we've seen before.

"The Pacoima. Burbank."

-Also, recording this was so intense. -The names of all the ships!

I love the cities.

"The Burbank. The El Segundo."

I was in a booth.

We tried to do this in one take. We might have gotten it.

But I've never said California cities so fast.

We were kind of coming up--

Mike and Brad were shouting suggestions at me,

and I just was writing it with a pencil in the script.

And then at the end of it,

I just read it all in a list as fast as I possibly could.

I love it. It's great.

It might have even been ADR, so I might have been doing it to picture.

"Victorville, Pacoima, San Bernardino."

We were coming up with so many-- "Okay, who else should have...

What other cities should have a ship named after them?"

Absolutely.

-I think it's great. -It was so much fun.

It's so good.

-Mount Shasta is my favorite. -Yeah, Mount Shasta is great.

Mount Shasta, yeah.

-USS Mount Shasta. -Yeah.

Mount Shasta. I'd go on the El Segundo.

-Yeah. -The El Segundo, yeah.

Was there a Pacoima?

-Yeah. -There should be.

But if they weren't here, then they're total assholes.

-Victorville. -Why didn't they show up?

They should be on the Victorville.

Victorville, yeah.

If you're a California-class ship and you didn't show up to that battle,

-I don't know about you. -Yeah. That's right.

Yeah.

I'm on the Palm Springs.

-I'm on the Palm Springs. -I'm on the Palm Springs.

Indio would be one of them.

This is so great. And I love the drinks. Purple drink.

Yeah, you have a choice of purple drink, blue drink, green drink.

-Blue. -Green drink, guys.

This is so sweet.

-So sweet. -I do love this. I love their connection.

I do. Differences.

You guys have such chemistry. It's just so great.

It's amazing. I love the relationship of two--

A man and a woman who are, like--

They don't want to admit that they're best friends, but they're best friends.

Absolutely.

I've never really seen that dynamic before and it's so interesting to me.

I also love T'Ana and bizarro T'Ana in the background.

Yeah, Doctor T'Ana.

T'Ana. And she has the male mustached equivalent on the other ship.

-That's right. -Yeah.

It's so funny.

Do you and Tawny record together, Jack?

We did in the first season, but then pandemic happened.

-Oh, my God. T'Lyn. -There it is.

Now, how perfect is she?

I freaked out. I know the fans freaked out.

I'm so excited she's on the Cerritos.

-How perfect. -So cool.

She wants to be quiet.

-Yeah. -Right.

And how perfect for Tendi.

-"Study buddy!" Noël. "Study buddy!" -I know. I love her adrenaline.

-Here it is, buddy. -Here we go.

-"Come here." -Look at this animation of his gestures.

That was so amazing.

"I'm in the bear pack!"

Listen to Rutherford.

-"Aw. Bears." -"Aw! Bears!"

Eugene.

I love that Rutherford's just immediately like, "Yeah, welcome."

There's no, like-- it was nothing. He was just like, "Yeah, come on in."

No one was ever pissed at you.

-No. -That's the thing.

But I love this-- them hugging.

-Yeah. -Yes, that's right.

Their relationship is so sweet.

-This is really the key. -It really is.

Here it is.

Marilyn Manson.

Yeah, the Marilyn Manson alien that just walked past.

I love this moment.

I love that she gets him in a headlock

much like she got me in one in the first episode.

It's so good.

He's my partner! Amazing!

-This is the speech. -Look at Ransom's face.

This is the Shakespeare moment.

Yeah.

-" Cali-class." -" Cali-class."

"Cali-class!" Oh, man.

What an ending.

-Such a great ending. -I love it.

I don't have my soundboard. I can't do the applause. Sorry.

You didn't bring your soundboard?

-No! -Come on, Fred.

I'm in Denver.

Well, there is a little special treat at the end, which a lot of people...

-Yeah. -Yes.

... I remember seeing on Twitter, a lot of people didn't quite catch

'cause I think maybe Paramount+

automatically redirected you to another episode.

-Exactly, exactly. -Okay.

It's such a good little cliff-hanger.

They do, by the way.

This becomes minimized, and then whatever's next

takes over the screen and the crawl, so you don't really see it.

-Yeah, exactly. There's such a great tag. -But hopefully, they get to see it now.

I agree.

I hope we get to see it now.

I think you'll be able to see it here.

Like a lot of those great action movies

where you know better than to leave when the credits start rolling

because there's going to be some really juicy tidbits after.

-Here we go. And this. -Here we go.

I love that sun.

-It's so ominous. -"Katia System."

I really love the animation on our show.

-It's so pretty. -It's so stunning.

It is.

The depth of color and shapes is just really amazing.

The lights.

-Badgey! -There he is.

-Yes! -By the way, moment for Badgey.

Thanks for hanging out with us, everybody. This was so fun.

This was a lot of fun. Thanks for watching Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Wonderful. Take care. Live long and prosper.