Lower Decks focuses on four ensigns serving on a “not very important ship” in Starfleet. Every Star Trek is about a family, and this is as well. It’s set in 2380, after Nemesis, on a ship called the USS Cerritos, a California class ship. Showrunner Mike McMahan says the holodeck breaks down all the time. The 10-episode first season arrives in 2020.
The bridge crew on Lower Decks thinks the show is about them, but it’s not:
Pictured (l-r): Fred Tatasciore as Lieutenant Shaxs; Dawnn Lewis as Captain Freeman; Jerry O’Connell as Commander Ransom; Gillian Vigman as Dr. T’ana; of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS. ©2019 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The real stars of the show:
Pictured: No’l Wells as Ensign Tendi; Eugene Cordero as Ensign Rutherford; Tawny Newsome as Ensign Mariner; Jack Quaid as Ensign Boimler of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS. ©2019 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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- Pictured: Tawny Newsome as Ensign Mariner of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS. ©2019 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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- Pictured: Eugene Cordero as Ensign Rutherford of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS. ©2019 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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- Pictured: No’l Wells as Ensign Tendi of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS. ©2019 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Voice Cast
Tawny Newsome plays Ensign Mariner.
Noel Wells plays Ensign Tendi, who’s a huge Starfleet fan. It’s her first day on a ship, and she works in the medical bay.
Eugene Cordero plays Ensign Rutherford, who just got a new cyborg implant and is getting used to it. He’s an engineer, but unlike Geordi, he doesn’t not solve the problems in the end.
Jack Quaid plays Ensign Brad Boimler. Variety has a bit more about the character:
As previously announced, the series will focus on the support crew serving on one of Starfleet’s least important ships. Quaid will voice the character of Ensign Brad Boimler. Described as a total stickler, Boimler does everything by the book. While great at sci-fi stuff, he’s completely bound to the rules. He doesn’t know how to follow his gut, and if he wants to be a captain some day he’s going to have to learn how to improvise.
Star Trek: Lower Decks will be released in 2020.
So they are officially leaving the First Contact uniforms and returning to more traditional styling in uniforms. Hmmm, I actually liked those First Contact uniforms.
These are neat however. I like the use of TWOK-style flaps with the TNG colors and design.
In all likelihood this is because of 2 things: 1, colorful seems to be the preferred type of palette in this sort of animation for a variety of aesthetic and practical reasons, and 2, because this is what the uniforms on Picard seem to look like. Or it could be 3 – this ship is so unimportant they don’t get the regular uniform updates so the uniforms, like the ship itself, are old. The flap-front color designs were used for the TNG dress unis, don’t forget…
Most likely you are correct. And before anyone complains, let’s remember the only reason the uniforms were they were in 1966 is because they wanted to show off the capability of color TV, and had a deal with RCA to develop shows that would do just that.
I think they probably want to use the bright colours because that’s what a lot of people will remember, especially more casual viewers of TNG. They seem to be using them for Picard as well.
And 4 – these colorful uniform-style shirts combined with black shoulder bits are quite fashionable these days. Many sports equipment and casual wear brands use patterns similar to the TNG and/or DS9 uniforms. You can get hundreds of fake “uniforms” sold as sports jerseys or regular sweaters.
Maybe Starfleet wanted to show that the Dominion War is really over and lighten up at least uniform wise. BTW I am ABSOLUTELY thrilled about the news there will be some kind of Star Trek: Picard Prequel… I am so excited to find out how they will tie in all the styles that came before – maybe they will have Updated First Contact Uniforms or even a Real Life Version of this TNG remix STLD (Lower Decks ;) uniform?….
They remind me of the concept uniforms for the TNG Crew in Generations.
Me, too. I love the combined elements of the post-2278 and post-2363 uniforms.
If they can go from colorful in TOS in 2269 to all grey in TMP in 2271 , they can go from dark in Nemesis in 2379 to vibrant and colorful in LD in 2280. :D
Honestly, I am not surprised at all that they use a lot of color in a light-hearted animated comedy. My bet was, that the show would be set in the 23rd century and they’d return to the classic TOS look, but this works for me, too. I am still not fully sold on the idea of a Rick and Mord-esque comedy in the Trek Universe, but of you do it, then this style is definitely the way to go.
Yes 24th century!
Yes, so excited its another post-Nemesis show! Pretty cool.
This crew of misfits are quite cute. I just hope the show is gentle and whimsical (like a grown up Gravity Falls?) rather than the sarcastic mean-spirited style that’s popular in “adult” animation.
I thought the original concept was adult animation– there’s a more kid friendly adventure show being planned for Nickelodeon.
My recollection was that while this one isn’t targeted at kids, it will be a show that the family, from middle grade up, could enjoy. That is, not adult content per se.
Sounds like it’s targeting a PG8+ rating rather than Discovery’s 14+.
So, we’ve got a Bajoran security chief, a Caitian doctor, and an Orion ensign. This should be cool.
This is everything I wanted when I was 16.
Cute! But the big question is…. is is CANON XD … interesting that they put it like this: “The bridge crew on Lower Decks thinks the show is about them, but it’s not” – could imply that the characters are part of an in-universe-documentary by the Federation News Networt – a framing device like in “The Office” could actually work here I think.
PS Is it normal I already have a crush on Ensign Tendi oO
I would imagine that it is more figurative. The bridge crew thinks they are the ones who really matter, but they’re not.
Commander Ransom … Maybe a relative of the late Captain Rudy Ransom of the USS Equinox? Would this show go there?
I would love it if they did that! Maybe drop in a reference about how Capt. Ransom was using the nucleogenic lifeforms to power the USS Equinox and tie it into the tardigrades from Star Trek: Discovery? Maybe Capt. Ransom was using the creatures in order to harness the power of the mycelial network to get the Equinox back to the Alpha Quadrant?
I already love it. 😃
Very cute. I love the animation style.
I like the animation style too!
And I agree it’s cute.
The California Class starship USS Cerritos? I wonder if this means some of the people working on the show are residents of the city of Cerritos in California, or are graduates from Cerritos Community College. Seems like a rather specific reference…
Where did you get this information? It wasn’t in the above article…
This type of animation looks so dull, but I guess it was to be expected coming from the makers of Rick & Morty. I guess I’m just not a big fan of any animated comedy. I never got into The Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama or Rick & Morty.
Hopefully the teen show on Nickelodeon will look more ambitious…
This sorta reminds me of the book “Redshirts” by John Scalzi, though I imagine far less meta.
It looks very much TNG, not just uniform but also the backgrounds they’ve drawn. I like that.
Really love this show is set in the 24th century! And I also realized one of the characters is a Bajoran. This will only be the second full time Bajoran character on a show since Kira, crazy. Really looking forward to this now. :)
Oh man. I was hoping the animation style would be higher quality than that.
Spoiled by the Star Wars and Tron Legacy designs I guess.
I know since this is animated and more of a comedy but I do wonder if they are going to reference all the bigger 24th century alpha quadrant events that has happened in the universe around that time? Like remnants of the Dominion war, what happened to the Borg after Voyager helped destroy them, where relations with the Romulans stand, uh, post Nemesis, etc.
Yes obviously I know Picard is going to really cover some of this stuff but that show is still 20 years after a lot of this has happened where as Lower Decks will be happening within a year or two of these big events, so there will probably at least be references to some of it, although more light-hearted I guess.
And boy this would be a great time/opportunity to bring in other TNG era characters. I can see many cameos happening from TNG to VOY, especially since it will be just voice work (and hence pay them less ;)). I’m really looking forward to this show now! Its going to add to Trek canon in a really unique and most likely fun way!
If Q were to show up somewhere, this would be the place given DeLance’s age would not be a problem and he was very much a comedic character to begin with.
OMG, I didn’t even think of Q showing up in this but you’re right! That would be so cool and fun to see animated Q show up. Of course after seeing what they did to Spiner in the Picard trailer they can just de-age Delance as well, especially if he’s only going to show up for an episode or two.
While a comedy show feels like the perfect fit for Q to show up, I wonder if they are going to pull that trigger. Bring in the existing characters from the more dramatic shows to their comedy side show? Some might think that a risk. But I sure wouldn’t mind!
Looks like one question has been answered. Seems very much like it takes place in the TNG time frame. As I thought from day one. Anyone think T’ana is Kazinti or whatever Lt. M’ress is?
Also… Still waiting on word for approximately when episodes will start to stream…
Yes they confirmed it takes place a year after Nemesis. We know it will be in 2020 but my guess is it won’t be until summer the earliest.
I’m now more excited about this. Love the uniforms, and the look of the animation. I didn’t want them to try to replicate the 70’s look from TAS, but I love the nod to TAS by including a Caitian crew member (Dr. T’ana). And it’s kind of cool that Jack Quaid who plays Ensign Brad Boimler is the son of Meg Ryan and Randy Quaid.
There was no way in hell they were going to go for the filmation animation style.