While you might not know, but animation is not a new frontier for Star Trek. Back in the Fall of 1973, Star Trek ran on Saturday morning TV. The series reunited the core of the cast and quite a few of the original writers for 22 episodes. Unlike so many of the shows adapted for Saturday morning like Happy Days and The Brady Bunch, Star Trek had the same tone as the original series. Many fans consider the 22 episodes a 4th season of the original series. Even though it had great ratings and won the Emmy, the animated Star Trek vanished for a while since TV stations preferred to run the live action version. So you shouldn’t have been too shocked when Paramount announced it was creating another Star Trek cartoon series. What was a bit of a shock was this new Star Trek was going to be a comedy from Mike McMahan, a producer on Rick and Morty. But instead of being a sitcom featuring the voices of established characters like Robot Chicken, Star Trek: Lower Decks gives us all new members of Star Fleet who lurk in the backgrounds of the other 8 Star Trek franchises. Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season 1 contains the first 10 episodes that show what happens to USS Cerritos crew members who don’t always get killed when they beam down with the Captain.
“Second Contact” is a play on Star Trek’s “First Contact.” The USS Cerritos is considered a lesser vessel in Star Fleet. It will show up long after a major ship like the USS Enterprise makes first contact with an alien culture. The USS Cerritos does a lot of paperwork and keeps up obligations to these strange new cultures. In this episode we’re introduced to the plucky Ensign Brad Boimler. He wants to move up to be a person on the main deck with a real bedroom. Instead he sleeps on a hallway and does menial tasks. He’s excited when Captain Freeman gives him a secret assignment to report on anything done against the book by Ensign Beckett Mariner. Can he real rat out a fellow Below Decker when they go onto a nearby planet? And what does the Captain have against Mariner? Well turns out Mariner has a big past. In “Envoys,” she exposes her friendship with a Klingon general that needs escorting. During “Temporal Edict,” the Cerritos gets reassigned a goofy task after being given a serious role in a peace negotiation. This is a starship that gets very little respect.
“Most Vessel” turns the Cerritos into an interstellar tow truck. “Cupid’s Errant Arrow” is a strange triangle when Boimler’s girlfriend drops by the ship. “Terminal Provocations” has people shortcutting their work so they can go see a concert. “Much Ado About Boimler” shows why you should never test if the transporter is fixes. “Veritas” has the the Lower Deckers forced to testify in a weird alien trial against the main deckers. “Crisis Point” is Holodeck fun. “No Small Parts” explains why Mariner and the Captain clash. There’s guest voices from ST:TNG.
Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season 1 balances comedy with a true Star Trek dramatic arc over the 10 episodes. The characters are both funny and able to keep the episode going as more than a bunch of gags strung together. This is a fine edition to the franchise and seems to work well with Discovery and Picard that are currently in production.
Star Trek: Lower Decks will have its second season premiere on Paramount+ in August. They’ve also given the green light to producing a third season so it’s destined to have more episodes than the original Star Trek animated series.
The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The transfers will take you to otherworldly planets. The audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1. So you can hear the action all around the room. The episodes are subtitled.
Lower Decktionaries: Joining Star Fleet (6:21) lets creator Mike McMahan talk about making the show He talks about keeping the show from being a parody or mockery or Star Trek. He wanted to make a real Star Trek with a comedy element.
Aliens Among Us (7:31) has director Kim Arnot talk about making the episode full of various aliens in “Envoys.” The animated show tries to mingle elements from all the various Star Trek franchises. They also discuss figuring out what aliens can mingle in the same scene.
The Animation Process (8:09) walks us through the year it takes to make an episode. They were working on all 10 episode at once. They discuss how budget doesn’t matter when coming up with ideas since it’s all “paint.” They show how they break down the production.
The Main Titles (7:15) talks about how heroic Star Trek openings are. But how can this show set the tone that this is Star Trek, but there’s a comic element. They show rough examples of the animation. We also get an understanding of how the new theme song was created.
Art Design (4:59) so McMahan describes designing the characters to look like prime time animated action figures. They even have hands with four fingers and a thumb.
The Holodeck (6:31) brings back the big element from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Oddly enough it seems that most of the people writing this show were kids when ST:TNG was in reruns. Most of the writers wanted to do Holodeck episodes.
Division 14 (4:05) goes into the secret groups hidden within Star Fleet. There is a place for people who get into transporter mishaps.
Deck Dynamics (5:06) goes into the power ladder within the crew. How did the lower deck people end up doing grunt work in outer space?
The Music of Lower Decks (6:19) lets us into the space where Chris Westlake composes the music for the episodes. He has a keyboard built into a desk.
Crisis Point: The Rise of Vindicta Trailer (1:28) is a major production.
All In The Family (6:30) relates how Data tried to do comedy on ST:TNG.
Faces of the Fleet (24:43) lets us see the faces of the voices of the animated characters. McMahan also discusses the creation of the characters and what they bring to the ship.
Hiding In Plain Sight (7:39) exposes elements from previous Star Treks that were stunk into the animation.
Full Length Animatic is on Second Contact,
Deleted Animatics are on Second Contact and Moist Vessel
CBS Blu-ray & Paramount presents Star Trek: Below Decks – Season 1. Starring the voices of: Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Tatasciore & Gillian Vigman. Boxset Contents: 10 episodes on 2 Blu-ray discs. Release Date: May 18, 2021.
CBS DVD & Paramount presents Star Trek: Below Decks – Season 1. Starring the voices of: Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Tatasciore & Gillian Vigman. Boxset Contents: 10 episodes on 2 DVDs. Release Date: May 18, 2021.
