Once again it is time for the TrekMovie tradition of taking a deep dive into the latest trailer, this time for the first good look at Star Trek: Lower Decks. This analysis is mostly based on information known about the show, along with educated guesses for some of the new elements.
The “lower deckers”
The main characters in Star Trek: Lower Decks are the four ensigns who work the “lower decks” of the USS Cerritos.
The four ensigns at the heart of Lower Decks: Tendi, Rutherford, Boimler, and Mariner
Boimler and Mariner
The trailer starts off with the two who will be most prominent, Ensign Beckett Mariner (voiced by Tawny Newsome) and Ensign Brad Boimler (voiced by Jack Quaid), showing the pair already has a bit of a bickering brother/sister dynamic going. Boimler seems to have his head in the clouds with dreams of advancement, while Mariner is just doing what she can to keep moving forward, hazing Boimler along the way.
Mariner catches Boimler doing his own “captain’s log”
Boimler shows he has a nervous nature
Mariner takes a moment to relax
Tendi and Rutherford
The trailer also shows us Ensign Tendi, a wide-eyed Orion who is assigned to the medical bay.
Tendi arrives on the USS Cerritos
The final lower decker is Ensign Rutherford (voiced by Eugene Cordero), an engineer with a cybernetic implant.
Rutherford
The bridge crew
While Lower Decks will focus on foibles of the ensigns, the show will still have traditional Star Trek plots and challenges, the focus of the senior officers of the USS Cerritos. The trailer gave us a glimpse into each of them.
Senior officers of the USS Cerritos
The captain and first officer
Based on the trailer, Captain Carol Freeman (voiced by Dawnn Lewis) appears to be a skilled, no-nonsense Starfleet leader. Based on our first impression, she seems to have a Picard and Janeway vibe.
Captain Freeman
Freeman’s first officer, Commander Jack Ransom (voiced by Jerry O’Connell). is clearly the more action-oriented of the pair, coming from the Kirk and Riker school of Starfleet leader—which of course includes losing his shirt.
Commander Ransom
Security chief and doctor
Security on the USS Cerritos is handled by Lieutenant Shaxs (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), a tough Bajoran veteran. We see him showing an interest in Ensign Rutherford, impressed with his ability to take on a number of Borg in what looks like a training exercise.
Shaxs and Rutherford
Every Star Trek show needs a doctor, and the USS Cerritos’ Chief Medical Officer is Doctor T’Ana (voiced by Gillian Vigman), who is a Caitian, like M’Ress from Star Trek: The Animated Series. However T’Ana seems to be less indoor cat and more alley cat, with a bit of Doctor Pulaski’s bedside manner.
Doctor T’Ana deals with a crisis in sickbay
The Lower Decks dynamic
Various moments in the trailer show you the core of the show: the young ensigns doing the dirty work on the ship, dealing with the clique of upper officers.
Mariner is frustrated getting the dirty jobs
Tendi being rudely dismissed by higher-ranked officer
Ransom sharing a joke with a fellow bridge officer
Exploring new life and new civilizations
The mission of the USS Cerritos is second contacts—that’s SECOND contact, after the cool ships like the USS Enterprise do the much more important FIRST contacts. This will involve the crew frequently meeting up with new alien species. We saw some of that in the trailer.
Shuttle flies over alien planet
Hostile aliens attack a Bolian crew member
Aliens face exploding moon or planet
Ransom fights some giant alien in a gladiator arena
Mariner and Boimler visit Klingon enclave (sign reads “Little Qo’noS,” thanks to reader Tuskin)
Boimler gets sucked into some giant oozing alien
Red alert!
The trailer also showed that with Star Trek, there can be all sorts of challenges and problems right back at home onboard the ship.
Boimler and Mariner examine a small alien creature
Rutherford helps Shaxs pin zombified-looking Starfleet officers into sickbay while he holds an ooze-covered Boimler
Captain Freeman closes the sickbay doors during fight against the “zombies”
Rutherford and Tendi run for their lives
Some kind of pod or canister breaks open….
…much to the chagrin of Mariner and Boimler
The USS Cerritos
In Star Trek, the ship is also an important character and the trailer gave us the closest look yet to the USS Cerritos, a California-class ship
USS Cerritos
Exterior
The ship’s main saucer is reminiscent of the TNG-era Galaxy-class USS Enterprise-D, but without the stardrive secondary hull. While this design is similar to the Nebula-class, the Cerritos’ warp nacelles are attached via elongated pylons, not unlike those of the refit of the original USS Enterprise. Its profile also bears some resemblance to the Oberth-class (the most well-known example being the USS Grissom in Star Trek III).
Rear view of the USS Cerritos
Top view of the USS Cerritos
Side view of the USS Cerritos
And in case you were wondering, the registry of the ship is NCC-75567.
Close-up shot of the registry
Interior
The Cerritos interior also seems to conform with 24th-century Federation designs like those of the USS Enterprise and USS Voyager. The trailer showed us some familiar starship locations.
The bridge
Sickbay
Shuttlebay
Holodeck
Brig
Aft observation lounge
Battle bridge?
Airlock entrance (also note top of the head of Andorian officer)
Corridor (note the Bat’leth in the storage bin)
Schematics
We also got a look at the ship’s schematics, which have a couple of interesting details, like Argo buggies in the shuttle bay.
Schematics for the primary hull of USS Cerritos
Shuttle bay includes Argo buggies
Shuttlecraft
We also saw some of the ship’s shuttlecraft in the trailer, which looks a lot like the Type 8 shuttle used a few times on Voyager.
Mariner shows off the blast shield on shuttle Yosemite
Shuttle approaching a planet
Set 1 year after Nemesis, checks out
Boimler cites the Stardate as 57436.2, which can also be seen on Mariner’s PADD. The show is set in the year 2380, one year after Star Trek: Nemesis, which was Stardate 56844.9, so the date on the pad checks out.
PADD – Mariner’s assignments include Turbolift Lubing, Holodeck Waste Removal, and Carbon Filter Maintenance
More Treknology
The trailer also showed us the Lower Decks animated versions of some more familiar Star Trek technologies.
Type-2 phaser
Zooming in reveals that Tendi uses a tricorder
Isolinear chips
A new bit of tech was the POV from Rutherford’s cybernetics, which helped him take on all those Borg.
Rutherford’s cybernetic POV
More Uniforms and outfits
In addition to the standard Starfleet uniform seen on most officers in the trailer, there were some additional outfits if you looked closely.
Boimler in dress uniform
Mariner in EVA suit (without helmet)
Tendi in stealth outfit (as seen in “Chain of Command”) with a phaser rifle, fighting Romulans (unclear why they have black bars over their eyes)
One shot of Ensign Boimler is getting a lot of attention, not for his outfit but his lack of one. With the shot of the Romulans above and this first bit of full-frontal in Star Trek; is it possible the USS Cerritos borrowed the black bar generator from Futurama?
Self-censoring technology?
What did you notice?
Anything else from the trailer catch your eye? Let us know in the comments below.
Keep up on all the Star Trek: Lower Decks news here at TrekMovie.com.
I do have some concerns about this show. I’m worried the jokes might get too juvenile but I will watch an episode to see what Lower Decks is all about.
Really do like the Rick and Morty vibes that I’m getting. The trailer was pretty funny and I love how it makes fun of Star Trek tropes in a good way.
Thumbs up all the way.
“I do have some concerns about this show.”
“Thumbs up all the way.”
Noted.
What’s your point?
His point is that you contradict yourself.
Not really, I am concerned about the show but I also want it to be a good show. Sometimes he does it to troll me. I didn’t contradict myself. You are saying that to defend him.
I’m saying it because it’s true. Why would I write something just to defend Bryant or anyone else for that matter? That’s a juvenile comment.
Faze, I enjoy how optimistic and enthusiastic you are. You really, really, REALLY need to learn how to express yourself more effectively. You contradict yourself all the time, and it is painful to read, not because I’m distinterested in what you’re saying but because I have no idea WHAT you actually ARE saying.
Focus! You’ve got good things to say; you just need to say them clearly.
thanks, moderator
Reminds me of Cronan Thompson
Obscure reference…
Agreed completely.
Looks like fun to me!
Yeah I’m kind of excited now too Face Ninja but I agree with your concerns as well. I can understand why the trailer put many people off but for *me* its basically what I expected off the bat so was prepared I guess. I’m certainly not going to say it’s going to be my favorite show or anything but if if’s fun and still follow the Star Trek mode while being a bit silly I think I’ll be onboard for it!
I mean I suffered through the first season of Discovery, it can’t be much worse than that lol.
Episodic… aha!
The shuttle on the planet has an incorrect registry number: 77567.
This year’s hot tip for ‘What The Hell Were They Thinking?!’ award.
I still have to give that to turning Picard into an Android….but we haven’t seen this show yet. ;)
C’mon folks, we’re talking about the franchise that had one-on-one combat with a reptile and a guy crawling under a rug it’s premiere season, but still managed innovative, suspenseful character drama about the human condition.
If the “What were they thinking?” question doesn’t arise from time to time, especially in a series’ first season, they’re not taking enough risks.
Do we really want to get stuck in 90s Trek issues of sticking too close to the formula?
Looks fun, though it might be best to not analyze this too much.
Yeah don’t get carried away.
“Just repeat to yourself: ‘Its just a show, I should really just relax!'”
I will definitely have to repeat that to myself. I will give it a try simply because it’s Star Trek and then go from there
Yeah… I was wondering how they eat and breathe and other science facts.
These are Star Trek fans you’re talking about. Of course they’re (we’re) going to over-analyze it.
I think we should analyze it a bunch. The show’s creator is a big fan of TNG (and the TNG-era) and likely a lot of additional jokes will be peppered into the background and deeper analysis of things. Often times the background stuff, added by the special effects or props or set design groups of shows or the animators in the case of animation shows, is full of fun additions and jokes that the writers and creators didn’t even intend at first. Futurama was one of the best at this – and given the “Little Q’ronos” sign, this looks like this show will follow that same “course”. Wouldn’t want to miss out on all those additional jokes and references.
Yeah I think we’re going to get TONS of fun background references like the Simpsons. Look at all the stuff that we have in the trailer. It’s going to be a looooot of fun to catch obscure references from TNG to VOY and probably a lot of TOS as well.
Hopefully that won’t be more entertaining than the show though. ;)
“Looks fun, though it might be best to not analyze this too much.”
You must be new around here?
I am in!
FYI, you may want to change POLaski to PULaski before the nitpickers arrive.
Too late!
I’ll tell you what I noticed. A beautiful lack of lens flare in the space shots!
At last I can see space again without having to wear sunglasses 😎
Was just about to say something to that effect. To me, the space shots shown here are much better than DSC or PIC. And it’s a cartoon.
it is a cartoon a little hard to do lense flares with 2d animation
Lighting seems pretty dynamic from what I’ve seen. Seems like they could have it if they wanted.
Either way its not there and I’m thankful for it.
The original messaging from the principals was that Lower Decks was suitable from 8 to 88.
If so, that black rectangle generator had best not be just for the trailer.
So far, it has my spouse laughing out loud, and one of the kids intrigued (if admitting that Mariner’s “it was on stun” while checking and adjusting the phaser would be totally them).
Looks like we’ll try watching this one as a family.
The show is aiming for a TV-14 rating according to a more recent interview.
I don’t ever remember them saying ‘8 to 88’.
It was in the earliest announcements. Kurtzman positioned the Nickelodeon show as being targeted at kids, but said Lower Decks was for all ages.
Now, that may have changed as the show was in development.
If so, TPTB need to be clear on this. They also need to make sure at least one of the new shows in the menu is rated 8+, not including the Nickelodeon one.
I should watch Star Trek with my mom… and dad! Thank you for the idea. I don’t watch it with my parents as often like I should do. My brother doesn’t know Star Trek. He watches other stuff.
Who knows Ninja.
Perhaps if your brother sees you and your parents enjoying something together, he may wish to join in.
Keeping kids form seeing nudity is stupid. It’s the human body. There is nothing wrong with kids seeing it. We’re not born with clothes on, for crying out loud, and we’re the only animals who wear them. People are so uptight.
Rios, kids have to learn to self regulate and respect the norms of the society they live in.
A primary grader taking off his or her clothes in a school/work setting would be a major flap, and up until recently likely would have earned a suspension in our jurisdiction.
Kids are wired to learn by unconscious imitation, and it takes some development to get to the point where they can resist it.
So, my basic rule as a parent has been not to model behaviours that would get my kids in deep trouble (even though that meant cleaning up my language).
Also, in the specific case of nudity, keeping clothes on with adults is a general safety thing. Predators are out there, and parents have to trust our kids with others. The don’t take your clothes off except with a parent, physician or known caregiver rule is unfortunately something most parents have to go over with their kids at a really young age.
I agree. I think it should all be about how the situation is handled, what events are being portrayed. Same with violence. Violence in a sport or physical training situation is fine, violence to glorify violence is not. Nudity for “mankind’s natural state” is fine, but nudity for other situations (like sexual violence or degradation) purposes is not. (Note these evaluations are for a four quadrants-type show; if you have a piece of art that is specifically designed to address aspects of violence or nudity, other conditions should prevail).
Rick & Morty has shown an occasional penis so it may not get censored here. But don’t worry too much. They won’t linger on the genitalia, probably.
We’ll see how our kids who are moving into their teens react to it.
Most likely they’ll find it awkward and cringy to have that kind of nudity, but may still find the show appealing overall.
But if they were 10 and under, it would likely be a hard no.
the nick trek series was completly different show it is about some young kids who find a derlict starfleet ship and go on adventures and was only going to be on nick
while lower decks was the teen young adult cartoon series for cbs all access
I’ve got that Michelle, but when the two were announced the Nickelodeon show was described as targeted for kids, while Lower Decks got pitched as “for all ages from 8 to 88.”
I found it odd at the time given McMahan’s other products, so it stuck in my mind.
Now, the Lower Decks concept may have moved up to a 13 or 14+ target market rather than a mass market PG 8+, but they need to be clear.
Given that the strategy is to offer products for different audience niches, the communications and global marketing folks need to target the promotion accurately. So far, I haven’t been seeing that.
That’s my point.
(BTW TOS and the 90s series are mostly rated 8+. In Canada, where ratings are updated, a few episodes from each series have been reassessed as 14+. Discovery S1 managed to get 18+ on a couple of episodes and a warning from the regulator. Our kids have seen the 14+ ones with a parent, but won’t be seeing the 18+ ones.)
The Klingon writing on the sign means Small or Little Qo’noS. So I’m guessing it’s a Klingon neighbourhood similar to a Chinatown or Little Italy.
Can you speak Klingon? Or you used a translator.
I translated it for him ;)
:o
While yes you did respond to me on TrekBBS, someone else responded to me first on reddit haha… I don’t remember who and I feel bad for not crediting them.
Making me hungry. Maybe I can pickup some ingredients.
looks fun… im not even looking at comments… i mean really what’s the point? (im assuming this… it looks stupid, silly, too silly, what were they thinking, not silly enough, it’s not star trek, it’s disrespectful, bad writing, bad animation, too much for kids, not enough for kids, i’m not watching it, i’m watching one to check it out but that’s probably it… etc) but this is exactly what i hoped for when you bridge rick and morty with trek… can’t wait
so you assume something and pretend to be better than that…
by dping that you miss that most of the comments are positive.
sometimes its good not to be a pretender…. just takę it easy…
@jako you must be reading a different comments section, because I’d guesstimate that the negative comments outnumber the positive (or even neutral) comments at least 2-to-1.
Scott, how is that different from the distribution of postings for any new show?
Add in the seemingly strong American bias against animation for adult audiences, and a 50/50 ratio would be unexpectedly positive.
Saucer section looks more like it is from the Ambassador Class vs Galaxy Class…
I might watch this show with my parents. My mom and dad are not Star Trek fans but they are aware of it. Could be family friendly enough. Introducing them to the final frontier.
Looks fun and enjoyable.
The ship, already, has grown on me. I love the analysis TM! So much beautiful Treknology and uniforms, it makes my geek heart giddy. It honestly feels like we’re living in an alternate universe, where we have a reality TV show president, amid a global mass extinction, with a deadly airborne virus, and Star Trek is a funny cartoon. What’s next this year, are we gonna make first contact? I hope the aliens at least let us live long enough to know whether Lower Decks is a hit or more Kurtzman trash.
Does Dr. T’Ana not have a tail? I haven’t seen one in any of the imagery of her so far.
There are tailless cats on Earth. Maybe there are tailless Caitians.
Weren’t those breeds man-made?
Manx cats are a lethal genetic anomaly that survived on the Isle of Man due to isolation. Developed by chance, but maintained as a breed.
One copy of the variant gene leads to tail-less cats, double leads to death in utero. The human intervention is to keep breeding tailed Manx cats to tail-less ones to keep the breed alive.
Certainly, in an advanced society, people who carry a potentially lethal gene can take that into account in family planning. Why not the Caitians, even if it is the same genetic variant as in cats?
I actually did not know. My knowledge on feline histories is quite limited. The question was legitimate. Not rhetorical.
These California-class ships don’t appear to have a shuttlecraft large enough to transport those Argo buggies…
You could always beam one down with a cargo transporter.
So the uniform change of Starfleet from those First Contact era grey uniforms to these newer ones happened in that 1 year gap between the end of Nemesis and this show. I loved those First Contact uniforms, I wonder why they needed to change it again?
For me those where always meant to be war uniforms only. I like them too, but i guess for a cartoon show it makes sense to have them more colorful. Maybe they even exist parallel, or those second mission ships never changed to the war uniforms. Who knows, its allright.
FIRST CONTACT is before the Dominion war. DS9 also switched in the 5th season – half a season before the war.
It’s the same Uniforms that that were presented in Star Trek Picard for the time inbetween thoes events, and the destruction of Mars. Even the Picard comic book run had Picard attempting to save the Romulains wearing these uniforms.
I get that, it just seems like a very quick turnaround to have all the fleet change the uniforms in a year. But I guess replicating them doesn’t take too much time.
This looks really promising. It’s clear the show’s creators have taken great care in crafting a faithful continuation of TNG. I’m excited to check this out.
That is clear?! I’m saying this with UTMOST optimism but I doubt we will ever see a “faithful continuation” of TNG. Not after “Picard” destr…. “deconstructed” the whole era ;)
The saucer apparently has about 10 decks. The OPS and CONN stations are the same as on the D, they go to Little Kronos, a starbase and a Klingon BoP appear at the end. The MSMD also suggests that a turbolift goes down the struts to engineering (no warp core in the saucer).
Thanks!
I thought I got a couple more decks when the smaller top decks of the saucer (bridge presumably) are included.
I’ve always assumed that main engineering and the warp core are down in the small suspended secondary hull with the deflector.
The cross-section diagram is a bit of a puzzler in terms of the location of the turbolifts. I’m wondering how habitrail (modular) or not McMahan and his designers are imagining the Cerritos to be.
I just assumed it was at the tail end of the dish.
it has 14 decks when you count them on all the msd shots which start at the bow and move to the stern of the ship the warp core is in the saucer it can be seen in the msd it is in between the shuttlebay and the main computer core
These writers….Holodecks don’t need waste removal. If you are of the spongebob generation this show should be right up your alley – loads of noise and flashing lights with nothing behind it.
These commenters.
Havent seen a single episode but already pretending to know what writing is.
Cant you at least wait till episode 1 is over before you start to embarrass yourself?
Dayton, you have no idea what you’re talking about
Holodecks may not produce waste, but the officers using them might. If someone where to throw up in a holodeck that would still need to get cleaned up.
Isn’t that what transporters are for?
I’d hate to have to clean up in Quark’s hollow-suites.
I’m personally curious about the history of the USS Cerritos. At one point in the trailer, Boimler makes a comment to the effect that the ship is falling apart. I wonder if that is a plot-driven situation or a commentary on the normal state of the ship?
The design of the California class is interesting in that while it has design aspects reminiscent of the Sovereign class, the nacelle profile reminds me of some of the Excelsior class variants from the Battle of Wolf 359. This has really gotten me wondering, is the Cerritos a relatively new ship of a presumably post-Dominion War design or is it a older workhorse that was pulled out of mothballs and refit with the latest tech, like the Miranda variants we would often see in TNG?
FWIW, I find the idea of a post-DW ship that is already falling apart to be intriguing. Imagine a lowest-bidder Starfleet construction contract going to, say, a Ferengi shipyard.
I really want to see the dedication plaque!
it is concidered the most unimportant ship in the fleet
it’s mission was second contact so basicly cake runs
“The ship is falling apart” — since all of the clips are taken out of context (as one does with a trailer), we don’t know yet. It might be the habitual state of the Cerritos, because it’s old, or low-priority for spare parts, or because the setting is post-Dominion War; or a transient situation, because *plot*; or hyperbole, because the quality of maintenance doesn’t match Rutherford’s exacting standards (either he’s a naturally a perfectionist or, as a fresh Academy graduate, still a stickler for the regs).
(Vis-a-vis perfectionist engineers: There was a scene in TNG in which La Forge was believed to be dead, and his former CO related to Picard the time a fresh-minted La Forge stayed up all night tuning a shuttlecraft because of an off-hand comment by said CO.)
Ah, gotta love my fellow Trekkies….Discovery and Picard are too grim dark, give us something lighter and more optimistic, the critics bleat. Then when a deliberate comedy rears its head–is this Trek’s take on The Orville?–the first concern is that this show is going to be too puerile and ridiculous in its satire, proving, once again, there is a sub-set of Trek fandom that cannot and will not be satisfied. As someone who is old enough to have watched every Star Trek shows during their initial original broadcasts dating back to the 1960’s I can say this is not a new phenomenon.
On the issue of Lower Decks being so absurd as to dis-respect the Trek franchise, in published interviews the show runners have actually addressed this, stating that while the crew is a bit goofy, they are still competent professionals, so the USS Cerritos won’t be a ship full of inept stumble bums Dunning-Kruger-ing their way through the universe.
Hey, if The Orville can get away with pee jokes in space, I think Lower Decks will survive sewage jokes about the holo deck.
(As an aside, as someone who adores The Orville, I found its pilot episode to be a bit overwrought, tossing out jokes a million times a scene, rat-a-tat, hoping to land a big joke amidst all the spray-and-pray machine gun fire, ala The Naked Gun or Airplane films. I found myself thinking that if the pilot was a representative sample of what The Orville would be each week, I feared it would get very tedious very quickly. Fortunately in the subsequent episodes the writers found the proper comedy–to-drama ratio quite quickly.)
A lot of the staff of Lower Decks had previously worked heavily on Rick and Morty, a show I was unfamiliar with. I just binge watched R & M on Hulu, and was consistently impressed by it. The staff were not just comedy nerds but sci fi nerds as well, so most of the stories were surprisingly intelligent. I think Lower Decks is probably in very good hands.
Yes, you ARE right about some Trekkies being too critical towards new incarnations of Trek. I like DSC and PIC for what they are but I’m not too enthusiastic about those spikes or violence and splatter we’ve seen so far. But yes, I DO prefer 90s Trek a lot over that new stuff.
As for LD… The problem is that it’s something I have never been able to relate to. I’ve never watched stuff like Futurama or Rick & Morty. I tried to give R&M a chance after LD had been announced but I gave up after three episodes.
It’s just not for me. Whether it’s the over-the-top comedy or the animation style, I can’t say. I simply cannot take something seriously that doesn’t want to be taken seriously. And if I can’t take it seriously, I simply cannot dig it, be a fan it or endorse it. If humor ceases to be an ingredient among many but becomes the dominating force that drives a product, I’m normally out… I guess I simply take the genre and this franchise far, far too seriously…
Plus, this show doesn’t make sense from a metalevel POV. Parody is supposed to take an outside perspective on a serious original product. Spaceballs mirrors Star Wars, Scary Movie takes a hit at Scream. Parody has never been an official part of the world it tries to mock.
This here must be the first time ever, a franchise does it’s own in-world, canonical parody and it simply doesn’t make any sense to me. Maybe I’m not flexible enough… I’m still trying to work it ot and wrap my head around it… It’ll take time…
“ Fortunately in the subsequent episodes the writers found the proper comedy–to-drama ratio quite quickly.)”
I disagree. I didn’t think the pilot spewed forth gags at a tremendous rate. There were shows that did that WAY more. But subsequent episodes did NOT find the right ratio. I think they needed to tilt that show a little more to the comedy. The first season felt like it was about 33% comedy and 67% drama. I think it needed to be more 60-40 in favor of the comedy. The next season it went to about 5% comedy. A tremendous mistake, IMHO.
I was hoping to see a live action Trek comedy and it seemed that Seth M could have been the right person to head such a show. But lean it way into the comedy. But given the direction Orville went it seems like he wanted to do something serious more.
At Little Kronos I noticed a TMP San Francisco shuttle towards the right. At least it wasn’t a DSC shuttle. :-)
It looks like the saucer may have been attached backwards.
We can see from the view out the observation lounge that it faces the rear.
But that view runs counter to my upside down hypothesis, assuming that artificial gravity runs in the same direction throughout the ship.
“The show is set in the year 2380, one year after Star Trek: Nemesis, which was Stardate 56844.9, so the date on the pad checks out.”
Why aren’t they wearing the gray Nemesis uniforms, then?
Starfleet changes their uniforms all the time. Clearly they ditched the grey shortly after Nemesis.
they changed them those grey onew were dominion war unifiorms and so with the war over they returned to the colorfull uniforms for exploration and then again would change the uniforms and type two phasers back to pistol form and phaser rifles to smaller ones that could be wielded in one hand and tricorders by 2285 and then change the uniforms and tricorders to more of a holographic style one agian sometime between 2391-2399
At the risk of belittling the comments on the uniforms… At this point I feel it silly to care much about them. The show is a comedy. Does it really matter that much? They look close enough to the TNG era. They aren’t out of place.
Besides the fact that I’m so totally not into animated comedy, my main issue with this show is its very nature, its position within Trek canon that bothers me.
So yeah, it’s an animated comedy. There have been serious animated contributions to major franchises (TAS, Clone Wars, Rebels) and there have been many, many parodies of major franchises – animated or live-action.
Galaxy Quest or The Orville work because they mirror some familiar cult elements of Star Trek but from an outside POV. They pay hommage to Trek, they make fun about it or even reflect the most noble, notable qualities of what Trek was once supposed to be. But they AREN’T Star Trek. They’re an addendum, a footnote not officially endorsed by the franchise owners. These movies and shows are their own thing, heavily relying on Trek tropes and easter eggs.
Lower Decks however – correct me if I’m mistaken – is the first time ever, a major franchise establishes its own, in-world, canonical parody. And that gives me a headache. Maybe I should just keep an open mind and applaud them for this pioneer work of art, but it bothers me.
I feel uneasy about the idea although it could be easily part of the IDIC approach. But then, my mind needs order, I need to mentally shelve it, put it into the right mental drawer. Its hybrid nature defies such cohesion. Its very nature is illogical. LD disturbs me like that Admonition that befell the Zhad Vash.
And yet, I’m grateful for it because my mind is not supposed to rest at ease…
PS: I stand corrected. Deadpool is supposedly the first in-world parody of a major franchise. But that doesn’t make it any easier. I lack the abilitiy of emotionally breaking the fourth wall when it comes to coherence and canonicity. I guess it’s just in my nature.
What about Sherlock Holmes? I would say he predates Deadpool a little. And the first
in universe parody was from Doyle himself.
Actually, I would argue that Lower Decks is not a completely new concept – although it certainly is in the minority. The two examples I would give would be the Back to the Future animated series, and animated content that has been created for the WWE Network (wrestling). Admittedly, both of those franchises have comedy as one of the pillars of the franchise, but I think in both cases, the animated spin-offs were a lot more like spoofs than a direct continuation of the original product. That said, I can also say that I’m not sure that either franchise was successful with the concept, but it was clear that they were trying to reach a different, possibly younger audience, then the main franchise.
And, that said, I think that’s what the whole point of the new Star Trek animation is all about – creating a new audience. Several people in this comment thread mentioned possibly being able to get their families or family members to watch episodes of Lower Decks versus having them watch actual Star Trek. Why? Because they think this might be something more approachable to them. And if they can understand the links between this and the main series, they may just give Star Trek proper a try.
At the end of the day, we’re in a whole new world of franchise expansion than we’ve never seen before due to the growth of streaming services like CBS All Access. Although I don’t think this concept is completely unprecedented, I also can’t hold anything against the current ST powers that be for trying something new that could possibly act as a trailblazer for more franchises to come. And, truth be told, if any franchise could pull something like this off, I think it’s Star Trek. Humor has been an important part of almost all of the series until we got to DIS and PIC. Even then, PIC tried to pick up a little of that humor in “Stardust City Rag”, and I think a little more of that energy could have really helped elevate PIC to the next level. I’m definitely in a wait-and-see mode on Lower Decks, but for now, I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt.
“Lower Decks however – correct me if I’m mistaken – is the first time ever, a major franchise establishes its own, in-world, canonical parody.” At least better than a Star Trek series which was meant to be serious but then turned out to be a parody…
I have a cool idea for a running gag that could end all episodes:
The captain orders the ship to go to warp.
During the last scene, we see the ship going to warp – while we hear Ensign Marina’s voice slowly fading away as the ship disappears: “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we… ?…”
Seriously how old is she? 5 years?
Just a nod to the Simpsons and they are not 5 years old…
But imagine how boring it must be on a star ship when they go to warp on their next mission and they have to wait so long until they arrive. Usually they arrive in less than 45 minutes… ;-) Or even in a few seconds like in Star Trek 2009…
Love seeing all the LCARS interfaces
I am already shipping Ransom and Boimler. Sorry ; )
Wow, thanks TM! There are so many easter eggs and call backs I never caught until now. This is actually what excites me about this show (me and the other six people lol) and that is it looks like it will be about EXPLORATION again!! Their entire mission is about second contact so we are going to be going to tons of strange new worlds looks like!! So that’s going to be fun and honesty what I really missed from DIS and PIC.
And I also love that we are getting past species to be part of the crew we never got in other shows like an Orion and an Andorian. And really cool they are bringing the Catians back! Since I never watched TAS, I never really seen one before and I like this one from the trailer.
But honestly I just love being back in proper 24th century again. The show looks like its doing a great job of bringing back that iconography like the Lcars, holodecks, phasers, tricorders and on and on. This is definitely going to be a big treat for hardcore Star Trek fans.
So I’m really looking forward to it! I think its going to be a lot of fun but yes it could come off a little too childish too. I’m crossing my fingers it won’t.
And I just realized that Jerry O’Connell who is married to Rebecca Romijn are not only part of Star Trek now but also both play First Officers. What are the odds? ;)
Great to see your enthusiasm Tiger2!
I’m looking forward to seeing more planets too.
It’s just nice we may have a show about actual exploration again even if you still don’t like the actual tone of the show. But yeah I been missing that aspect of Trek since Enterprise ended so I’m hoping if nothing else we get a lot of strange new world stories again.And it will be fun to even just visit other known planets like maybe Vulcan, Bajor, Kronos, etc which oddly we didn’t get in Picard at all (but did some of that on DIS).
If we have to wait to just get a show that does exploration again like people are assuming Strange New Worlds will be that’s probably still at least two years away at this point.
Have to disagree Tiger2, my estimate is a year to premiere for SNW.
The way things are in Ontario, production could start soon if the writing has been underway – we know preproduction had already started in the winter.
Much of the province outside Toronto is moving to “stage 3” reopening. Even at stage 2 in Toronto, some production is permitted, and stage 3 will hopefully be reached soon.
If SNW goes into production in early fall, and if CBS has post done in Canada where some social-distanced in office work is possible, mid 2021 is totally realistic.
The question is whether the talent is willing to come and stay in Canada for a season of shooting without their families.
There is a two week quarantine on arrival from the United States that is continuing to be extended. So, back and forth trips won’t be possible. At this point, there is no discussion of industry workers being permitted to bring immediate family.
In Anson Mount’s case, his wife may be a citizen or permanent resident given that they met in Calgary when he worked on Hell on Wheels, but they have a farm to care for.
Maybe man, but I would still be shocked if the show manage to come out next year considering everything.
But I don’t LITERALLY mean two years from now, I just meant we probably won’t see it until 2022 but sure that could be early 2022.
I don’t know why you think the show would go into production that soon though? Early fall is literally two months away now. There is still no guarantee Picard would shoot that soon and they been writing for that show since March IIRC. With SNW, we’ve heard literally NOTHING in terms of how far they are in pre-production. Have they even started writing for it yet? We’ve heard nothing for it.
And just remember this, they said they started writing for Section 31 OVER a year ago now and we still have no clue when that show is coming out. I partly think that’s due to SNW getting the priority but again who knows?
For all we know Section 31 could still be the next show that goes into production, we’re all just guessing it may not happen now. But since it’s still on the docket and they started writing the show over a year ago, it’s still possible.
And just thinking about the shows we know WILL be shown next year, at least Picard, Lower Decks since we already know they are working on season 2 now, that could leave room for one other show. It could be SNW or it could be Discovery season 4 (assuming it gets renewed) or yes Section 31.
It’s just a lot of balls being juggled right now and the coronavirus slowing everything down. I mean they can’t get Discovery on the air still and that was shot months ago already. And if they do end up moving that to early 2021 then every thing else gets moved down too.
So yeah I’m not holding my breath for SNW to be out anytime next year. Of course I would LOVE to be proven wrong. But in this case I’m preparing for the worst.
But maybe they will give us some idea about all of this at Comic Con. I hope so obviously.
We have a bit more information about timelines for SNW from the Toronto side Tiger2.
When the series buy was announced in May, the head of the props team tweeted about finally being able to share what they were working on.
This lines up with Ontario guild sheets that list people working on Wind Cleaver aka S31 in January and February followed by SNW from March on.
Whatever happened to push Wind Cleaver back, hasn’t changed. The only new thing is a steady rumour that Discovery season 4 preproduction is starting soon.
More than that, the Covid situation in Ontario, while still not the best in Canada is very different than California. In a province of 15 million, we’ve had less than 200 new cases a day for a couple of weeks.
Outdoor location shooting is happening outside the Toronto already. Major producers like Guillermo del Toro are talking about how they are working out protocols to resume work on their films.
In British Columbia, which flattened the curve earlier there are projects that have resumed and completed production.
Yes but I don’t know any of that translates to the show premiering next year? We haven’t heard a single peep that production or writing has even begun. Look, I hear you but you know me by now, I just don’t jump the gun to these things until there is some real word. Could it come by next year, sure. But I’m guessing with so much going on and CBS trying to decide how to juggle all these shows in the middle of pandemic I don’t think anything is a guarantee until the show is shot and wrapped.
Look at Discovery? They keep saying that is suppose to come out this year and yet they still haven’t announced a date yet for a show that’s been off over a year now. Maybe we will get that at comic con though. But yeah I’m not holding my breath for much to happen on most of these shows in the near future until they actually announce when things will really get moving again.
The thing is, SNW couldn’t have been greenlighted without polished scripts for the 2 episode pilot plus an outline for season one (even if episodic).
Same for the clearance to start preproduction with the Toronto guilds. Clearly, the Enterprise needs more than a bridge set, but those crafts should be able to start work.
So, they should have enough to start filming the first block in September providing the talent is willing to come and stay. Perhaps their is a Canadian director who could be the supervising director in Toronto, or there is someone who commit to being there for the full run.
While we’ve been hearing a lot from Avika Goldsman about writing season 2 of Picard, that doesn’t mean that the writers room for SNW isn’t set up. They likely have the ideas for a few episodes already and may have those being drafted concurrently with Picard season 2.
More, since it’s an episodic series, they may have already asked a few writers to submit speculative stories or scripts. Or, it could be that the showrunners and writers for S31 are pitching in on SNW in the interim.
Oh what the yell I’m giving this a go(I wasn’t going to but the trailer persuaded me.)
I’m interested in hearing what the live action actors in previous Trek series think about this animated series. I’m sure they will not say anything that will put them in the dog house with the powers that be, but I hope we can get some sense of how they feel, even if the reaction is “anonymous”. A lot of work has gone into crafting respect for live action Trek.
So, will contempory Trek be for US-audiences only? I’m wondering if TrekNews could get some insight from the producers about international distribution. Correct me if I’m wrong but Short Treks Season 2 is still only available in the english language. Is this really an obvious sign of what state current Star Trek is in, or is there some puzzle piece missing?
I suspect there’s a few puzzle pieces, and it’s no reflection at all of a negative state for the Trek franchise.
1). International distribution of comedy is trickier, and this may be something that ViacomCBS wants to save for its own platform. Also, while Amazon Prime is a good fit for the live-action series, this kind of comedy hasn’t been its niche.
2). Netflix and Short Treks is a saga. The shorts were originally billed as Discovery short treks, but Netflix doesn’t really go in for shorts unless bundled in anthologies. So, Netflix just treated season 1 as trailers. CBS has clearly listed the Shorts as a separate show now, but Netflix doesn’t seem to want to buy.
I don’t think either of these reflects negatively on Kurtzman or Trek more broadly. Both are innovations that are stretching the franchise and formats.
Innovation and creativity requires some risk taking. TPTB are also looking for international distribution in a rapidly evolving market. Better to have the content being made, and then sorting out sales outside North America than waiting until its all locked down and taking no risks.
(Pretty much every off-beat Canadian show that’s doing well internationally had to break ground this way – but they’re still great shows from Schitt’s Creek and Kim’s Convenience to Working Moms and Letterkenny. They are also very profitable in the end.)
Thanks for the insight, especially regarding Short Treks.
As for Netflix and Amazon, I’m not that optimistic, and that’s why: If you want to distribute Star Trek, wouldn’t you want the monopol for that? No competition? The fact that Netflix passed on Picard is imho hardly a good sign.
As for Lower Treks, we can only speculate, though – and that’s why I sure would like to get an official statement of sorts. Because – if you’d ask me – If they want to get ANY money out of it from the international market they have to hurry up real fast. Right now it looks like it will be out on CBS AA before anything international is announced. And if/when that happens, guess what comes next? Most people remotely interested in this will check this out with “other means”. And then the chance anyone is buying it will become quite slim, at least for the pricetag that is undoubtedly attached to it. I have a feeling it will appear in some oddball TV-slot no one cares about on regular television in a year or so.
ViacomCBS has its own streamer in Australia and a broadcast channel in the UK.
If they don’t get the deal they want with someone else, they might put it on their own platforms where they can and sell it directly on YouTube in other markets.
I had speculated that the promotional poster (https://trekmovie.com/2020/07/01/breaking-star-trek-lower-decks-gets-release-date-on-cbs-all-access-uss-cerritos-revealed/) did not depict the ship in all its detail, and had been fed through an “artistic” filter. Indeed, we now can see additional hull-features that one would expect of this era of shipbuilding — but in the wrong places.
Still AWOL:
Additionally:
In the Sickbay-zombie scene, I’m wondering about the wide straps. I thought biobed restraint-fields were a thing?
I’m actually curious to see when some 3D-fan-models of this appear on the net, making it look like a live-action Star Trek-ship. Would be fun to see.
In the poster, the kit-bash California class Cerritos is upside down.
Invert the picture and the composition with the planet matches a TMP poster.
The inversion will put everything where it needs to be.
Check it out.
Saw the trailer. Every “joke” fell flat. To say it has juvenile humor is an understatement. But, I’m sure the “I’ll watch anything with a Star Trek label on it” crowd will love it!
The only thing I wanted to see in that closeup of the ship map was the VW beetle and the hamster in the wheel. Would have loved to see that here, too.
I’m still campaigning for the Habitrail.