Rebuilding Rob

Star Trek: Lower Decks wrapped up its fifth and final season a few weeks back. I figured it was well pass time to write her a few of the series. 

When Star Trek: Lower Decks began on Paramount+, I was a bit skeptical. This was the first time Star Trek has attempted an animated series since the short-lived Star Trek, which is also now referred to a Star Trek: The animated series.

Star Trek: Lower Decks follows the adventures of the USS Cerritos, a ship from Starfleet’s previously unseen California class. Ships of this particular line get the less glamorous assignments. If the Enterprise makes first contact with a new world, ships like the Cerritos will make “second contact” and perform similar follow-up assignments. Just as the shower gets its name from Star Trek: The Next Generation epsisode, LD focuses on the lives of four (eventually 5) Starfleet junior officers. And unlike other Star Trek series, the Cerritos Senior staff, while seen, definitely play supporting roles to the “lower Deckers”.

Created by Rick & Morty writer / show runner Mike McMahan, Lower Decks was billed as a comedy. In the beginning , the show felt like Rock & Morty doing Star Trek. Hell, the characters even look like they stem out of a Rick & Morty. The sentiments were echoed in this great Den of Geek article from 3 years ago. The first few episodes were a little too wacky for me, but I decided to keep watching.

Like many Star Trek fans, I found myself wondering if LD was part of the overall Star Trek continuity. Trekkies got a resounding answer with the second season episode “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”. As the title suggests, the episode features the return of Tom Paris – as voiced by Star Trek: Voyager Robert Duncan McNeil.

For the first time, Star Trek fans had definitive answer as to whether or not lower decks took place in Star Trek Canon. Sure, hard-core Star Trek nerds like myself could look at the “start dates” on the captains logs and figure out that this was just a few years after the end of Voyager, but this was the first time that we got a “whatever happened to” story about a character from one of the main shows

While, LD was interweaving itself into the overall Star Trek chronology, it was establishing itself as a love letter to the entire Star Trek franchise. The series is loaded with callbacks and Easter eggs to things that happen on TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager and enterprise. Most of all, the four main characters, particularly Brad Boimler is a Star Trek fan himself. The guy simply loves being a Starfleet officer. Even the other main characters will joke about the fact that Boimler is a Starfleet nerd.

But perhaps the greatest example of lower decks being acknowledged by the overall Star Trek franchise was the Star Trek strange new worlds “those old scientists“. In the episode, LD’s Boimler and Mariner appear in live action, played by the same voice actors who portray them on lower decks (Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome, respectively). If you are a longtime fan of the franchise, you must see this episode. It is, in my opinion, the funnest episode of the entire franchise since Deep Space 9’s “Trials and Tribbleations“.

It is unfortunate that the business model that streaming shows are following means significantly a few episodes per season. Lower decks featured 10 episodes each season, as opposed to TNG’s 25 to 27. Granted, animation is a time-consuming process. In addition, Shorter season saves us from filler storylines such as “Boimler attempts to litter- train his cat. Hilarity and hijinks ensue.”

On second thought, that actually sounds like a pretty solid premise for an episode of Lower Decks. Oh well, if there’s any television franchise that has proven, it can make a comeback, or several, it’s Star Trek. I doubt we’ve seen the last of the crew of the USS Cerritos.

FINAL TAKE: Highly recommended to Star Trek fans. Star Trek: Lower Decks is a fun-filled, tongue-in- cheek, yet reverential love letter to the Star Trek franchise. Through five seasons, the show left its indelible mark upon the franchise; and reminded us not to take this stuff too seriously If you were a fan of any of the previous Star Trek shows, you owe it to yourself to check out this series. It’s not impossible for new fans to make this or entry point into the franchise, but the back knowledge certainly helps.

For what it’s worth, Kid 2, who had previously seen episodes of TOS, TNG and DS9 says that Lower Decks made him bigger Star Trek fan.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is currently streaming on Paramount+

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The article “Rob Reviews: Star Trek: Lower Decks” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob