Star Trek: Lower Decks (animated series)

Stark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120885420#Comment_120885420

The record for longest running is still held by Discovery, no? 4th season aired last year and 5th season in the works.

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120885714#Comment_120885714

Yes, but since Discovery ends on the 5th, it's trivial for Lower Decks to go past that point.

Stark

Mention of promotions in the trailer. I really hope Boimler gets what he deserves and it isn't stolen away from him by a plot device.

Evade

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120886653#Comment_120886653

Or maliciously because someone else is perfectly happy being an ensign for decades

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120884800#Comment_120884800

Crossover episode drops tonight.

What crossover episode the SNW one?

Edit: I just looked. Feckers it is out. What was the rush?

Evade

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120887334#Comment_120887334

The screened it at Comic Con so may as well release it to get ahead of the hundreds of phone recorded versions. A surprisingly modern move.

ilovesmybrick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120886653#Comment_120886653

Actually I think that could be a somewhat funny running joke if Boimler constantly gets promoted and demoted throughout, somewhat of a reverse Harry Kim!

Rawr

Soooooooo….I guess……Lower Decks is canon now?

(Wouldn’t mind it if so….)

pixelburp

Wasn't it always though? I never got a sense it was existing in its own universe.

Had wondered how the Cerritos got on during the events of Picard season 3's finale.

Stark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120887988#Comment_120887988

Always has been

Rawr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120888041#Comment_120888041

I see… : D

pixelburp

Be warned: for those like myself who have a very shallow reservoir of tolerance for

Spoiler Warning

Musicals

Episode 9 will be of that format. I'll see how much they commit to it before I decide whether to skip it.

eadrom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120888353#Comment_120888353

Wrong show thread ;-), but there’s a trailer floating around for that and wow… looks like they fully commit! Like full musical dance numbers going on. No idea why from the trailer.

Looks and sounds like a crazy idea but so does a lower decks crossover episode. Can’t wait to see it.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120888460#Comment_120888460

Whoops! Who'd have thought it: too many Star Trek threads to keep track of 😆

breezy1985

First 8 episode titles are out.

Some are a little spoilerey.

https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/eps-LD4.php

Stark

Well I'm intrigued by episode one. Quite a lot to make fun of there I'm sure.

Frank Grimes

Last place I would have expected to see a nod to Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.

pixelburp

"Parth Ferengi's Heart Place"

Well holy shít. As if I didn't already love this show.

If there isn't a Matt Berry reference to Clem Fandango I'll be very upset, may even be tears

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121036314#Comment_121036314

Hopefully it points to a Matt Berry voiced Ferengi.

Clem Fandango has already been in Star Trek so maybe the actor could also make a cameo (not sure this show ever references Disco though)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121036602#Comment_121036602

Oh I'm hoping that Matt Berry Ferengi references K'lm Son of Dango nearly destroying the Klingon empire

AMKC

The latest trailer just came out,

https://youtu.be/Bx9QfFGsCfw?si=l_8WXPzrrj3WDUtB

Looks fun.

Can't wait.

ItHurtsWhenIP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121052875#Comment_121052875

I'm actually after re-watching seasons 1 through 3. Quite a bit of that trailer seems to be from those. The new bits look gooooood though. 🤞

The reason for the re-watch was because when they first aired I usually watched them after a few beers at the weekend and didn't give them any heed. I treated them like South Park or Family Guy. Watch once, laugh at whatever I found funny and move on with life. During the recent SNW crossover episode there was the Space Koala in the credits and I was like "Where the hell did that come from?". So I said I'd watch them all sober and really watch them.

So Season one was OK. Fairly funny, but Mariner was very annoying and took some getting used to.

Season two was hilarious and Mariner had mellowed sufficiently so she was less annoying.

Season three was again very funny, and they seemed to have hit their stride now and all the characters were well developed. There was a real heart to this season.

So now I come to my ultimate question ... Is this Trek?

Yes the characters are all extremely ... animated ... but it is a sci-fi comedy.

I'm an old timer, that grew up on TOS and loved Roddenberry's idealistic vision for the future. This was always being portrayed by the crew of the Federation Flagship, or other very significant situations (DS9 and VOY). But realistically there are always others behind these prominent people, who support them and do all the menial stuff, like second contact.

The Great Bird of the Galaxy may not have been happy to have a show focus on these people, particularly for comedic value, but I think it is realistic for this to exist in Roddenberry's universe. So yes. To me it is Trek.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121054347#Comment_121054347

It's a parody of Star Trek. I think the show is absolutely brilliant, and effortless to watch. It's too zany though for me to consider it as existing alongside canon shows. However it is still more Star Trek than rubbish like Discovery could ever hope to be, and is written so so well by people who obviously have a love for Trek too.

flazio

Well what is "Trek"? Ask 50 fans get 50 different answers. Comedies have heart and characters people care about. Think Friends, Scrubs, Brooklyn 99, Fraiser.

Star Trek has always had that element of cheeky fun, Kirk and McCoy ribbing Spock at the end of an episode, that knowing "we'll never speak of this again" look between characters. Different episodes of different shows will land differently among different fans. Lower Decks gives us characters we like and enjoy. Little knowing references. The title sequence shows you if it gets too real the Cerritos is getting out of there at warp factor yeet.

Whether it's Trek or not, it's a fun show, Like The Orville once was, and I'll continue to enjoy it.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121054821#Comment_121054821

Comedies have heart and characters people care about. Think Friends, Scrubs, Brooklyn 99, Fraiser.

How there you mention such rubbish overrated shows here. Heart lol. They have about as much heart as a lump of ice.

The last 3 you mention have been totally forgotting about thankfully and the same with that first rubbish show you mention too.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121054960#Comment_121054960

I don't know much about Brooklyn 99 but the other 3 are still huge. Friends and Scrubs are even still picking up new fans. Frasier is the only one I like but no denying the rest are not massive.

And seriously learn to fuking quote. You have been asked to do this before and it makes reading your posts an absolute shtshow.

ilovesmybrick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121055179#Comment_121055179

And Frasier is literally getting a new spin off next month, not exactly forgotten about! Brooklyn 99 is fun, and managed to avoid dropping in quality too much over the years. Early seasons of Scrubs are still decent enough and I was a big fan back in the day, but I will say after rewatching it over Covid the last few seasons began to really drop off in quality.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121054821#Comment_121054821

To define Star Trek isn't an easy thing, short of broad statements like "a show that sets out to explore the human condition." I don't think any true definition of what Trek is, would preclude Lower Decks from being considered as part of it. That said, tonally, it's very clearly a parody of the shows that have come before it. That's fine, in fact, it's better than fine....the show literally walks all over modern "true" Star Trek to be fair. Again though, I don't see a universe where any of the antics of the main cast tally with what has been established by other shows. I'm fine with that though too!

pixelburp

Is Lower Decks Trek?

Of course it is.

And just a broad point I consistently see better character writing in ostensible comedies that so-called dramatic fiction. Comedy writing seems to force to consider the folly and subtleties of being human, dramatic fiction too often susceptible to Big Emotional Moments and drama.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121056911#Comment_121056911

It's as Trek as the original Animated Series, just a lot, LOT, better. God that was an absolute slog to get through.

Comedy certainly has a place in Trek, I think all of the different shows embraced it in some shape or form.

breezy1985

It's as Trek as TNG is. The same TNG that people said "is it Trek ?"

With the exception of the BermanTrek run all Trek has been very different. Even TOS and the original series movies are nothing alike. I think its pointless to watch one type of Trek and worry if it matches up to another canonwise (as in I don't watch TNG and worry if crew are sleeping in corridors)

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121057888#Comment_121057888

This is the first official 'parody' of Star Trek though, so it's naturally going to stand out in that sense, and draw fire from certain types.

a_squirrelman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121054960#Comment_121054960

🤔 Everyone likes different things, all those shows have huge followings.

Evade

While not agreeing with AMKC some series with huge audiences are terrible

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121067694#Comment_121067694

Friends is a really weird watch in retrospect, even beyond the Ross-Rachel pop culture obsession. And very very pre 9/11 in that late 90s pocket of American culture.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121067694#Comment_121067694

I would say most series with a huge audience.

It's why I always got a giggle from the "no one is watching it" comments regarding poor shows.

Rawr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121057888#Comment_121057888

+1

Certainly there's a lot ways to look at Trek. But for myself it's always enough for something to under the Star Trek brand to be counted as "Trek" in my head...the only other factor I consider is: is this show any good?

For example, I do consider Discovery to be "Trek". It just happens to be very bad Trek that I don't want to watch anymore, but that doesn't rob the title of Trek from it. Lower Decks is "Trek", with the added bonus of being very good Trek that I enjoy. It's all about the enjoyment...or lack thereof.

ilovesmybrick

Yeah, agree with @Rawr, it's all Trek. Some better than others. Never particularly warmed to TAS, even as a kid, and I don't see myself rewatching Discovery again, but then again these things change. Wasn't a particular fan of Voyager or Enterprise but got into them around 2007 or so again when they popped up on Vimeo (think it was Vimeo). Enterprise I definitely warmed up to more as the years went on. Not sure that will happen with Disco though.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121073239#Comment_121073239

I still Enterprise mostly sucks but I did warm to some of the characters. Voyager I like less and less as time goes on and only rewatch the hand full of good episodes which funny enough really are some of Star Treks best.

ilovesmybrick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121073551#Comment_121073551

Can't say I disagree too much. Hated the temporal cold war stuff in Enterprise and the whole Xindi design and CGI, but there are some great episodes in the four seasons and I would like to think that if it had the extra 60+ episodes Voyager had there would have been some pretty good stuff in there. Probably more than Voyager. Problem with Voyager is once they got into the flow of it all the really good stuff focuses on the Doctor and Seven so you rewatch their stuff a lot, the Paris and Torres did not work at all, Kim and Tuvok weren't really interesting enough to do much with, Chakotay was there..But most of the best stuff is coming around season 4/5, how much of 1-3 are really that memorable. Kazon were garbage like!

Not saying Enterprise did much better that way, but I think they had kind of got to the stage that they realised Phlox and Trip were solid enough to focus on and the characters were interesting enough to be able to carry episodes by themselves. I think that they had built up some really interesting antagonists/allies with the Andorians/Vulcans/Klingons, you were getting a sense of how it worked with the chronology, and they were launching new ships and starting to expand properly. There was a lot of potential for a very fun season or two.

And I really love the potential redesign they had for Season 5 of the Enterprise, so that also may also colour my thinking!

I'm rewatching season3 at the moment.

Similitude, Twilight, Impulse are fantastic.

E2 is coming, also brilliant.

Crew is creaking, tempers flaring, ship damaged. I'm loving it in a binge/streaming world. I hated it when airing weekly

Evade

I really liked the transporter battle in E2 as an idea.

Oh Stratagem is up next. Brilliant episode

as an aside: I think Terry Matalas came up with the idea for Vulcan zombies (Impulse) and Stratagem

corkie

Just in case people are not looking at the star trek forum, 2 episodes today.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058312630/lower-decks-4x01-twovix-spoilers-within

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058312638/lower-decks-4x02-i-have-no-bones-yet-i-must-flee-spoilers-within

Bobtheman

This is just fantastic. I'm on season 2 episode 8 ecretus

I actually think it's the best trek out there. Risqué opinion?!

Rawr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058336057/lowe-decks-a-love-story

You’re not alone in that. I feel it outshines all of the current live action Trek offerings and manages to provide something new while making it feel like it belongs to the TNG era shows that we remember from before (they even use the TNG font on the title cards). Even the weakest Lower Decks episode is leagues ahead of the likes of Discovery in terms of making enjoyable Trek.

Also add the uncanny ability to make episodic Trek yet still manage a season-long character arc with a season-end payoff that works?!

I’ve only seen that on Lower Decks, and maybe Picard S3. With perhaps Strange New Worlds it is possibly the only competently made Trek out there. When Discovery finally leaves us, and the possible stink of whatever Section 31 becomes is aired out of the room, my hope is that the likes of Lower Decks will serve as an example of how to make a good Trek show, and for that example to be followed.

Bobtheman

The cartoon gives it a lot of freedom. It also manages to be authentic in the sense of showing star fleet incompetence. You'd expect that in any large military organisation.

I love the cuteness too. The borg babies carried by Bulmer in excretus

Rawr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121764187#Comment_121764187

I’m a massive sucker for Tendi myself. A very addictive & fun character, but I also love the juxsposition of TOS’ Orion Slave Girl, with this show’s Orion Starfleet Officer. It’s a kind of progressive message that’s subtile and wins you over on it’s own merits & charm compared to smacking you over the head with it’s own sense of importance. Also she’s just fun! I like her.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121764187#Comment_121764187

Definitely in terms of the comedy and hijinks being a cartoon helps but it also has the best developed characters in any new Trek show. Picard chopped and changed too much and SNW is doing a good job of it but still not quite at that level. Discovery has Saru and a load of characters who went backwards with every season.