Lower Decks post from tumblr user lastoneout

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

First, I apologize that the username isn't something like OncelerPussy29 or something. That is abnormal for tumblr and not to be expected. I'm sharing this because it resonates with my very marrow.

The thing about Lower Decks is that it was in fact a love letter to Star Trek as a whole and it shows that in the variety of references and callbacks and tropes they used, but also, and this is crucial, it was a good show all on it's own.

Like yeah it is full of references that are clearly made out of a deep love of the source and not shallow mockery, but on top of that Lower Decks was just a good Star Trek show. It wasn't perfect, I have complaints for sure, but the characters are well written and diverse and funny, the plot is engaging and mysterious and fun, you want to see what the crew does next, you want to see the cast grow and change and improve, you care about the ship!!

You take the references OUT of Lower Decks and it STILL stands on it's own. Lower Decks, at it's best, was never about what Star Trek could do for it, but what new stuff it could bring to the table. Star Trek as a franchise is richer and more complex and beautiful because this show exists. Hell the image for an Orion on one of the wikis used to be a sexualized woman wearing almost nothing, and now it's Tendi, a character that doesn't get sexualized for an easy joke, who wears a full Starfleet uniform, who has friends and family and ambitions and quirks and everything!! That's incredible!!

I don't have the time or the energy to write a full essay on it, but when Lower Decks pulled away from direct references and cameos and reused set pieces and focused on it's own story, it's own characters, and their own unique place in Starfleet and the universe of Star Trek, is when it was at it's best. It doesn't need references to tell a good story, the characters don't have to be related to ones we've seen before or in a ship we recognize or going to planets we've seen a dozen times, they can do their own thing with the tools their medium allows for and it fucking worked so goddamn well!!

Lower Decks deserved so much better, and it should not be boiled down to a show that's just making silly references and nothing else, because it's also one of the most unique Star Trek shows we've ever seen and Star Trek NEEDS new, unique stuff, and I can only hope the possibilities Lower Decks has opened up for Star Trek as a whole get carried on to whatever comes next.