Last Updated on August 2, 2021
Plot: This animated comedy series follows the support crew on one of Starfleet’s least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, in 2380. Ensigns Mariner, Boimler, Rutherford, and Tendi have to keep up with their duties and their social lives, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.
Review: When J.J. Abrams rebooted STAR TREK on the big screen, it opened up the iconic science fiction series for a new generation. On the small screen, CBS All Access has been successful in its own right with a more mature series that follows the original continuity with Discovery plus Picard as well as the upcoming Strange New Worlds. But while STAR WARS has ventured into animation successfully, Lower Decks represents Trek's first foray into the format since 1973. The result is not for children but rather a fun and refreshing show that maintains the mythology and canon of the wide Star Trek universe while giving us a light-hearted glimpse into a corner of Gene Roddenberry's creation that has never been seen on screen before.
Having seen the first three episodes of Lower Decks, I can confidently say that this series does not destroy the legacy of Star Trek. When the initial trailer was released, the reception was lukewarm at best but it made me smile as it poked fun at five decades worth of canon. Seth MacFarlane's FOX/Hulu series The Orville took a similar approach in blending comedy with aspirational storytelling, but Lower Decks is much more firmly planted in the comedy side of these tales. While there are a lot of easter eggs and references packed into each half-hour that will have die-hard Trekkies occupied for a while, the overall structure of Lower Decks nicely follows the base formula the franchise has become known for.
Set aboard the U.S.S. Cerritos, Lower Decks chronicles the less prominent crewmembers of a Starfleet vessel: the ensigns. Leading this crew is Tawny Newsome (Netflix's Space Force) as Beckett Mariner, a trouble-making ensign who has been bounced from ship to ship for being insubordinate. Her main foil is Brad Boimier (The Boys' Jack Quaid), a by-the-book enlistee who idolizes the lead crew on the Bridge. They are joined by medical ensign D'Vana Tendi (Noel Wells), an Orion who is just happy to be on a ship at all. Eugene Cordero plays Sam Rutherford, an engineering ensign with a new cybernetic implant. The four embody what the lower-level officers of a Starfleet vessel are made of as they support the main mission and save the day (or cause disaster) that we never see from the top of the ship.
The rest of the crew follow Star Trek convention: the no-nonsense Captain Freeman (Dawnn Lewis), the ladies-man first officer Jack Ransom (Jerry O'Connell), the tough as nails Bajoran security chief Shaxs (Fred Tasciatore), and the ornery Caitian doctor T'Ana (Gillian Vigman). In the episodes I watched, the lower decks crew become embroiled in everything from a nightmarish viral epidemic to some trouble with Klingons. While the Bridge crew takes all of the praise, Boimier, Mariner, and their friends do the grunt work. This affords series creator Mike McMahan (Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites) the chance to dive into the day to day on a Starfleet ship including holodeck maintenance and more duties that sound boring but somehow become quite entertaining in this context.
Lower Decks works quite well as a workplace comedy but set within the confines of a Star Trek series. Both Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid have fun chemistry and poke fun at the franchise while remaining respectfully reverential to it. The entire cast is populated by talented performers who bring distinctiveness to their roles and make this show a nice addition to the Star Trek canon. In many ways, Lower Decks feels like a worthy successor to Futurama. This is a comedy for adults replete with bleeped profanity, full (obscured) nudity, and enough cartoon gore to keep things lively but it never crosses into enough inappropriate territory to feel out of place next to the other seven Trek series that have graced televisions since 1966. While it doesn't quite live up to the caliber of Discovery or Picard, Star Trek Lower Decks is still an enjoyable journey into the final frontier.
Star Trek: Lower Decks premieres on August 6th on CBS All Access.
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