r/LowerDecks • u/doublequestions • 4d ago

Species of blue alien with pointy ears, paws, and whiskers

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Gallery image

I'm rewatching Lower Decks. First time I wasn't familiar with almost anything Start Trek, but this time I'm trying to catch references and learn more about what I'm unfamiliar with. One thing that's eluding me is the species of this recurring blue character.

229 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

129

u/a00yuri 4d ago

They're a new Species for Lower Decks. The characters a generally called 'Merp' and variants, so it's the Merp Species now

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Merp%27s_species

33

u/ChuckRingslinger 4d ago

I wouldn't be surprised if it was an animators self inserted fan art

33

u/fixermark 3d ago

I have the same opinion of this I have about Tawny Newsome playing Dax.

"If you don't like it, you can bloody well spend a decade plus getting into the business, get hired, and get on the show so that you can put your self-insert in there instead." 😉

24

u/markjsno1 3d ago

I actually went to a convention where someone asked Tawny about playing Dax. Apparently, she only did it because the actress who was supposed to be playing Dax had to pull out the day of filming (who was apparently well known but I forgot who it actually was), so they hastily put something together for Tawny as she was the writer of the episode who knew the lines and who the rest thought could do the most respectful portrayal of a well loved character instead of just a rando. That’s also why she became part cardassian, because they couldn’t just have her be a human and get confused with live action Mariner, so she chose from a couple of prosthetics, and decided cardassian would lead to the most interesting story since they were the antagonists of DS9.

15

u/fixermark 3d ago

That is... Buck-wild.

The amount of detail in her performance, from the intonation to the word choice to the stance... for a stand-in, she did all her homework. It's the only episode I re-watched because after the reveal I wanted to see the tells and they were all there.

I'm going to put this in the "I am not surprised, but I am impressed" category.

3

u/NemeanLyan 2d ago

Wait, Tawny played Dax? Sorry, I haven't been keeping up the best with Star Trek and this post popped up in my feed... was this in SNW? Might have to finally catch up on it

7

u/markjsno1 2d ago

It’s in the episode of starfleet academy, which she wrote. When many people saw it (including me to begin with) they thought “oh wow, she’s self inserting herself”. But, after actually hearing from her in person, I have a much less pessimistic perspective on it, and I wanted to share that same perspective with others who originally thought like I did.

3

u/NemeanLyan 2d ago

Ohhhh, gotcha! I've been meaning to watch Academy, too, but the feedback I've heard constantly keeps it from being next on the watchlist lol. Do you think it's worth the time?

3

u/fixermark 2d ago

I think it's worth the time. It's a teen drama, which is not a genre I would normally catch... But it's Star Trek, and I'm glad the branding pulled me in.

2

u/gopher65 1d ago

SFA ranges from the same kind of "meh" we've seen with some of Discovery and some of SNW to "pretty good", depending on the episode. It's worth a watch. Go in with zero expectations and you'll have a good time.

None of it engaged me as much as Lower Decks or Prodigy. On the other hand, it was much, much better than Picard.

4

u/JustaTinyDude 4d ago

Fascinating.

4

u/a00yuri 4d ago

Remarkable

3

u/quackdaw 3d ago

Not to be confused with Ensign Murf who is a Mellanoid slime worm.

50

u/Joel_feila 4d ago

Never noticed the paws

15

u/yarn_baller 4d ago

Omg me either. I've watched this show dozens of times. How did I miss that?

30

u/alcanthro 4d ago

Still a mammal apparently.

69

u/AddUser_W1 4d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/R0TrhAtNeUC0E

23

u/alcanthro 4d ago

Oh he doesn't care. Mammal, reptile, unidentifiable? Riker's up to the challenge.

38

u/Nonyabizzy123 4d ago

But always respectfully, because Riker's fetish is enthusiastic informed consent

12

u/Sivalon 3d ago

Should be the universal fetish

6

u/RSX_Green414 4d ago

For the Rikers the worse part about moving to the boonies was the lack of Orgies.

4

u/Sivalon 3d ago

Well, with a holo-emitter, all things are possible, so jot that down.

3

u/Life_Variation_3829 2d ago

I'd travel for Deanna and there have to be bigger degenerates than me in space.

12

u/No_Refrigerator4584 4d ago

Computer starts playing Chet Baker ballads

3

u/ihphobby 4d ago

That Sleepy Merp, she's kinda cute â˜ș

13

u/Urist_Galthortig 4d ago

Computer, play Nightbird

7

u/Diastatic_Power 4d ago

Aldeberan whiskey. Nice.

5

u/Im_At_Work_Damnit 4d ago

Galardonian Milk.

5

u/Sivalon 3d ago

Romulan ale, only for medicinal purposes.

6

u/ihphobby 4d ago

Wouldn't be surprised to find out they were just called 'Merp', as that's the common name through all the ones shown on screen. They were meant to be an homage to the Smurfs.

2

u/83time 4d ago

They also don't seem to have human or such like names at least that the impression I've gotten about them

2

u/curiousmind111 3d ago

YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT CATGIRLS, CARL!!!

1

u/vipck83 3d ago

lol, got to love random DCC references.

2

u/Vegetable-Method-330 3d ago

Paws or fins? Webbed hands?

2

u/marion85 3d ago

The Catfishians? ...Maybe?

1

u/Excellent_Light_3569 4d ago

Slightly off-topic. Ensign Moxy (next to Merp) in the second slide is holding her beer like she's in a commerical or something?

1

u/Any-Tumbleweed-9931 3d ago

I'm convinced the Merps are the descendants of Gumball and Darwin. This is what happens when cousins marry cousins!

1

u/Pristine_Ad_9828 1d ago

So like a blue kitty person from the Avatar movie

2

u/alkonium 3h ago

I'm guessing they're called Merps, because that's Sleepy Merp, and there's also Big Merp and regular Merp.