A Positive Look At: Star Trek Lower Decks

[Link8909]

So I’ve finally binge watched Star Trek Lower Decks, and I love this new series, absolute hilarious series and a great addition to the franchise, from start to finish I was laughing, and not just at the clear references and more subtle ones to the franchise, but the broader sense of humor that come from character, situational, and overall Sci-fi humor.

The premise of Star Trek Lower Decks and stories themselves are also great, the setting of the least important ship in the fleet and following the least important people is explored very well in the series, not just in the boarder sense of commentating on general work environments like in “Temporal Edict” with overworking people and the need for “buffer time” as one example, but in commentating on aspects of the franchise itself in a meaning-full way, like with the buffer time as mentioned which was something Scotty did regularly, but in showing the importance of the no named people that keep the ship together, and their daily lives.

And while I do enjoy both Star Trek Discovery's and Star Trek Picard's serialised story structure and those series overall, it's nice to have a more episodic series with a moral and lesson learned are the end of each one.

The characters are all very likeable as well, they care about each other and they're all funny and enjoyable to watch, all of which are archetypes of characters of past series with their own spin on them, and archetypes of fans themselves, it very much feels like what would Star Trek fans be like in the Star Trek universe itself, with these characters, the stories, and its immersed understanding of in-universe lore and the meta-ness of the franchise, Star Trek Lower Decks is a series made by fans, for fans, without cynicism or mean-spiritedness either, this is definitely made with a love of the franchise.

Coming from the same studio that produced The Venture Bros, the animation is top notch as well, the art style is very bright, colourful, and pleasing to the eye, and the characters are all very expressive and move naturally, the world feels expansive and imaginative with detailed locations and beautiful space vistas, and they take full adventive of the media with some creative characters, worlds, and situations.

And overall, Star Trek Lower Decks is just a fun series.

[Riedquat]

Every episode ends with a moral and lesson learned? Oh dear.

[Yvonmukluk]

Every episode ends with a moral and lesson learned? Oh dear.

In the same sense that TNG does. It's not like they turn to camera and say 'we learned X today!'

Given McMahan's pedigree, I'm honestly not sure why so many turned up their noses at the concept. He's the guy who created the TNG_S8 twitter account, which he then developed into a book, so it should be clear the man loves his Trek. It's worth noting he pitched the show to CBS, not the other way around. It's not 'we need a Rick & Morty, but Star Trek', it was literally they brought him in to discuss animation in Star Trek (presumably relating to Prodigy), someone asked him what his dream show would be, he basically pitched Lower Decks off the cuff and they decided that it was a good idea.

[Makeshift Python]

It’s not only my favorite series of the Kurtzman era but it’s the first one I’ve loved since DS9. I’m glad it’s been getting a much stronger rep among fans as more time passes because it absolutely deserves it. It really feels like a series that LOVES being in the Trek universe. I really look forward to S2.

[Thebestoftherest]

I like it but I wouldn't mind if they out a little more money in for the animation

[Makeshift Python]

More episodes than the first season would also be nice. Those ten went by like a breeze for me when I watched them fit the first time.

[Thebestoftherest]

I do wonder if it one of those series which is better watch with some space between episode

[Mabus]

If the series had taken place in some parallel universe that bled into ours, some of it might have worked. But since some of the main characters are unlikeable in their own way and half the time the plot gets twisted only for the main character to get the high ground, I'd say I don't think the producers and the writers had a clear idea what to do. They just took whatever they thought it was good from Rick and Morty (and one of the guys who works there) and made some screw-up comedy that's too adult for kids but way too juvenile for most adults, so in other words it mostly meant for a limited audience, which, is not something that works well in long term.

[CrypticMirror]

I couldn't make it through the first three episodes of that garbage. Mariner in particular needs to be redshirted, and the lessons seem to be loosen up and goof off. Which is completely antithetical to Trek, because the message from Trek shows [and there should be a message, and for an animated show it should be a He-Man style bit to camera] should be a variation on the theme of straighten up and fly right. We don't need to be encouraging more people to goof off and break the rules.

[Makeshift Python]

If you take all of Trek more seriously than Trek takes itself, then yeah, I can see why some would hate this.