Star Trek: Lower Decks goes where no Star Trek show has gone before when it comes to the central characters, as the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos are not exactly Starfleet’s best and brightest. No, in the franchise’s first animated series since the 1970s, Star Trek: Lower Deck focuses on the secondary crew on a secondary vessel, which often leads to first rate laughs and entertainment.
For those who may not be familiar with the series, fear not, as spoilers will be avoided here. What’s funny is that spoiler warnings aren’t even needed, as the show pokes fun at how insane sci-fi stories can be, going so far as having characters die and come back to life without much explanation at all in a later episode. No, nothing is serious at all when it comes to Lower Decks, yet at the same time that doesn’t mean the show has no meaning. It’s a show about the day to day life of the support crew on a not-so-important Starship, their friendships, their dreams and how both constantly blow up in their faces.
The main group consists of Ensign Beckett Mariner (voiced by Tawny Newsom,) Ensign Brad Boimler (voiced by Jack Quaid,) Ensign D’Vana Tendi (voiced by Noël Wells) and Ensign Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero,) who all have different assignments on the ship, but live in the same quarters and work the same shifts. Their adventures can be as crazy as a simple secondary contact mission on a planet going awry due to their own negligence, to simply trying to keep the Cerritos afloat with menial tasks while the main crew are out on a mission. That said, even when this is the case all hell still usually hits the fan in sci-fi fashion, and again, it’s often to their own negligence.
While there aren’t any major consequences, that doesn’t mean there isn’t consistencies from one episode to the next, as there is a story of sorts playing out over the course of the season. The main story tends to take place over the course of the first and last couple of episodes of the seasons, with the middle still playing a role in the arcs of the characters, but also often playing off as a mission of the week with sprinklings of development within.
That’s an overly complicated explanation to simply say that every episode is a lot of fun to watch, and there are only 10 episodes a season so it’s not like there’s reason to skip one anyway! The voice acting is top notch, with everyone bringing their characters to life with a crazy amount of fun energy. The voice actors both take things seriously, yet also give off this vibe when a situation is ridiculous that they know it’s just that. Mariner is the main one to do this, often at the expense of her best friend Boimler, as Mariner will call out Star Trek tropes as they’re happening because she’s experienced so many of them over the course of her young career. It happens almost every episode, and it never gets redundant or boring.
I’ll say that there are probably a lot more inside jokes that Trekkies will laugh at (or get mad at?) than I’m aware of, as I never did watch any of the older television series out there (I have watched Picard! So, bring on those Old Man Picard jokes!) They just weren’t something I was interested in back in the day, and while I do want to go back now and kickstart The Next Generation and all, they’re a heavy investment that I just don’t have the time for at the moment. That said, Lower Decks constantly mentions and plays jokes off of characters or situations from the original series, TNG, Deep Space Nine, and any of the rest that take place before the year 2380, when Lower Decks takes place.
The show was created by Mike McMahan, who worked as a writer and producer on Rick and Morty, as well as being the creator of Solar Opposites. So if you like that style of comedy, then you have a rough idea of what you’re in for when it comes to Lower Decks. What’s best about the show is just how lighthearted and fun it is, as you can just turn on an episode and enjoy yourself for the next 25-minutes without worrying about being hit with anything heavy or overly deep.
Season two amps things up after a fun first season that set the stage. Lower Decks never really had a rough patch or needed to find its footing, as it’s been solid right from episode one. This season the show only gets better, with some truly fantastic episodes. I don’t follow the Star Trek community enough to know if the show is divisive or not amongst fans or not, but as someone who knows the Star Trek basics, I strongly recommend the show on a purely entertainment level basis whether you can name a Starfleet captain beyond Kirk and Picard or not.
Blu-ray Video and Audio
The 1080p transfer is strong and sharp, really allowing the film’s often vibrant colour palette to pop the way it was meant to. The animation looks great and is full of life, as are the background at any given moment, be it on the ship or a planet the crew is visiting. As a whole the show just looks wonderful and its style fits the show’s humour perfectly.
On the audio side of things we’ve got a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack, which rocks across the board. The dialogue is nice and clear, while the show’s score shines through whenever required. The sound effects also mix in beautifully, and are a perfect representation to the sci-fi genre that fans will enjoy.
Disc One Special Features:
Audio Commentaries – We’ve got a pair of commentary tracks here, two of which see Mike McMahan and Jack Quaid talking about the episodes, with Jonathan Frakes joining for one of the tracks. These are must listens for fans, and some of the main highlights of the special features on the set!
Animatics – Here we’ve got four episodes that see the concept animation put up against the final look of the episode. As a whole they run about a minute each, so they’re quick for those interested.
Easter Eggs – For those who aren’t Trekkies, or who may just want to see if they missed anything, here we’ve got a look at the Easter eggs found within the episodes on the disc!
Disc Two Special Features:
Lower Decktionary: Season 2 – Here we’ve got the biggest feature on both discs, which comes in at almost 33-minutes total. It’s a piece that deconstructs season two as a whole, and obviously you shouldn’t watch this before finishing the season if you want to avoid spoilers. This is a great, large feature that fans of the show should really enjoy.
A Sound Foundation – Here we’ve got a 13-minute feature that focuses on the sounds of Star Trek Lower Decks, and the Star Trek universe as a whole. It’s a fun watch to get to see how this all plays into properly designing the shows.
Audio Commentaries – This time up we’ve got another pair of commentary tracks, this time we get Tawny Newsome, Paul Scheer, Garrick Bernard, Gabrielle Ruiz, Kathryn Lyn and McMahan returning. I’d love to see them on each episode, but getting four out of ten episodes covered with a variety of cast and crew is a blast!
Animatics – Once again we’ve got animatics for each of the episodes on the disc, again roughly about a minute each. It’s nice to see the early on designs and how much things progress as we hit the final product.
Easter Eggs – And here we’ve got disc two’s Easter eggs, which cover the hidden treats found within each episode for those who want to see what they may have missed during a viewing!
Paramount Pictures Presents Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season 2. Created by: Mike McMahan. Starring: Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Jerry O’Connell, Dawnn Lewis, Gillian Vigman, Paul Scheer, Nolan North, Phil LaMarr. Running time: 253 minutes. Rating: G. Blu-ray Released: July 12, 2022.
