This week on Episode 528 of Priority One: We delve into the whale-filled washup of the season finale of Lower Decks, Anson Mount discusses literally sitting in the captain’s chair, and is that a star on top of the Christmas tree or a Borg baby spray-painted gold? In gaming news, we take a closer look at Star Trek Online’s Halloween event, and roll for shield strength in a new release from Star Trek Adventures! TREK IT OUT Edited by Thomas Reynolds What’s the Deal With All These Feels, McMahan? By Elio Lleo Mike McMahan, the creator of Star Trek: Lower Decks, isn’t resting on his laurels! Nope! After a (generally) well-received Season 2 of the Star Trek animated adventure, McMahan is making the rounds talking about the season–which wrapped last week on October 14th. Sam Stone of Comic Book Resource jumped right in and asked about its unusual villain: the Pakleds. McMahan’s explanation: When we were writing the first season, we were in the thick of a pretty dark time across the world–the re-rise of fascism across multiple countries, obviously a lot of politics happening in this country and, not to put too fine a point to it, things that had seemed like a joke in the first place suddenly becoming much more dangerous because we weren't vigilant about it. The Pakleds seemed like a perfect opportunity for that… [This sight gag doesn't work in a podcast app but I stand by it nonetheless–Ed.] Image: ViacomCBS, via Comic Book Resource. Really Be Careful What You Wish For, Mariner What about that incredible cliffhanger? Well according to McMahan, the goal of Season 2 was meant to show Mariner “grappling with themes of betrayal and being left.” Supposedly, Mariner’s got some past trauma that we haven’t been privy to yet. Nevertheless, McMahan explains that Mariner will start Season 3 struggling to deal with having her mother taken from her. [NOT JUST HER, MIKE–Ed.] When talking with StarTrek.com he explained, “...in the first season we were really creating a family, and in the second season we kind of tested them. And in the finale of the second season, we're dealing with the loss, the family breaking up.”  What about our other characters? Well, there seems to be something deeper going on with Rutherford. Something more than just a faulty cybernetic implant. MacMahan tells CBR.com, “... it's about Rutherford. There's stuff about Rutherford that he doesn't even realize and this is his second implant.” They go on to discuss some of the other character dynamics–like the “will they/won’t they” tension between Rutherford and Tendi–along with some takeaways McMahan learned from the first two seasons. Mainly that anyone you talk to could secretly be Jeffrey Combs. Anyone. Image: ViacomCBS, via Comic Book Resource. Center Chair, Hot Seat, Call It What You Will By Cat Hough If you have not had a chance to see the new trailer for the upcoming History Channel docu-series The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek, you should definitely trek it out. According to the press release, The Center Seat will be “the ultimate Star Trek documentary that everyone has always wanted, and now they’re getting.” Each episode of the series will focus on a different chapter in Star Trek history, starting with the inception of the original Star Trek series at Desilu. But even the trailer features some pretty saucy quotes from the cast and crew of the various shows and movies. https://youtu.be/J_IOHcPuN3Q For example, we hear more from Wil Wheaton, Denise Crosby, Kate Mulgrew and Robert Beltran about their less than ideal working circumstances and for Cirroc Lofton–we hear about his extreme dislike for having to wear the “onesie” uniform while also going through puberty. Nicolas Meyer, writer of The Undiscovered Country, speaks about how much William Shatner hated the script for the movie and the effect that had on, well, pretty much everyone else involved [yeah and you thought Final Frontier was a good idea, now sit down–Ed.] Mmm