The series premiere of Star Trek: Lower Decks is coming in just a few days. We have gathered together some of the latest updates about the show to keep you going until August 6th.
New show promos
In the last few days, CBS has released a couple more video promos on Twitter, featuring a mix of previously seen footage along with some new elements.
Computer: Margaritas. Frozen. Salt. 🙌 #StarTrekLowerDecks #StarTrek https://t.co/3Ty5h8KbMc pic.twitter.com/qMDe3ycjKG
— Star Trek (@StarTrek) July 31, 2020
Explore strange new worlds in 1 week! Stream #StarTrekLowerDecks August 6, only on @CBSAllAccess. pic.twitter.com/YVShMnP7mS
— Star Trek on CBS All Access (@startrekcbs) July 30, 2020
New character promos
CBS has also released a couple of character promos for the show. So far, they have animations for two of the featured “lower deckers,” including revealing full names for Ensign D’Vana Tendi and Ensign Sam Rutherford.
The medic that's unflappable in the face of any crisis. @RealTomHankz is Ensign Tendi. #StarTrekLowerDecks pic.twitter.com/ariQsJJKRf
— Star Trek on CBS All Access (@startrekcbs) July 28, 2020
The cyborg that keeps it together when everything is falling apart. @eugcordero is Ensign Rutherford. #StarTrekLowerDecks pic.twitter.com/7tNPmIcHKa
— Star Trek on CBS All Access (@startrekcbs) July 27, 2020
T-shirt club
Titmouse, the animation company that produces Star Trek: Lower Decks, has announced a new T-shirt subscription service for the show. The $180 subscription will deliver one custom tee for each episode in the first season. You will also be able to buy individual episode tees. More information at titmousestuff.com.
Making sure Lower Decks is canon, with a little help from the Okudas
In an interview announcing the T-Shirt Club, Lower Decks showrunner Mike McMahan, Titmouse CCO Antonio Canobbio, and director Barry Kelly spoke to the official Star Trek site about their approach to making the show fit with Trek canon:
Was there pressure to be working on the first animated Star Trek series in three decades?
MM: Haha, yes. There still is! But that’s why it’s worth doing.
AC: Of course! But we had experts on this show that guided us all along the way. Mike McMahan being one of them and we even met with Michael and Denise Okuda to receive their design wisdom on our version of the LCARS!
BK: Yes. Just because it’s animated, doesn’t mean we’re not in canon. The TOS animated series is canon. We’re canon. That’s daunting in itself!
Hope for international fans
Lower Decks premieres on Thursday in the USA on CBS All Access. In Canada, it will premiere the same night on CTV Sci-Fi Channel and also be available to stream on Crave. However, there has not been any word on international distribution outside the USA and Canada. On Friday when asked about the “silence on international” distribution by a fan from the UK, Mike McMahan told him “I wouldn’t worry” along with a smiley emoji. While not offering any specifics, this gives hope that there will be some news for Trekkies around the world hoping to see Lower Decks.
I wouldn’t worry. 🙂
— Mike McMahan (@MikeMcMahanTM) July 31, 2020
All Access free month promo
CBS All Access also announced a one-month free promotion. For a limited time, try 1 month FREE!
And keep up with all the news and reviews from the new Star Trek Universe on TV at TrekMovie.com.
McMahon’s response to the overly dramatic question about an international release was encouraging. Hopefully something more specific on the subject is forthcoming.
Someone mentioned canon. Cue the whining in 3… 2…. 1….
technically the whining started with your comment ;)
Yep he started whining himself.
You started it
If you all don’t stop this bickering I will turn this website around right now
do it, hard about cap’n!
Please continue the petty bickering. I find it most intriguing.
Sob…
Would sir like some Cheese with his whine?
Not sure if this counts as a correction, but despite what StarTrek.com and other official media releases in the US are saying, BellMedia is running Lower Decks on three different premium cable channels in Canada, in addition to its OTT service crave.
While CTV Sci-fi channel will premiere the show on Thursdays at 8:00 pm Eastern starting August 6th, CTV Comedy Channel will have it Fridays and Much (music channel) will have it on Sundays.
I hadn’t expected to see listings for the other channels, but when I went to set up our PVR to record , I ended up with a plethora of options.
The interesting thing is that CTV’s music and comedy channels carry content from ViacomCBS’ MTV and Comedy Central. So, one has to wonder.
August 6 can’t come soon enough. Hopefully Netflix will get it for international viewers.
The canon issue needs to stop. This obsession about what is canon or not is seriously making my blood boil with anger. So what about canon, let’s be happy that we are even getting new Star Trek content at all to begin with.
Theres nothing on Netflix about it. No ads or emails or anything.
Well if they didn’t adhere to the canon of a group of shows spanning 50 years then they might as well just create a brand new show and call it The Orville or something.
I have the impression that the Orville has become that, what people expected from Discovery when it was anounced and that Lower Decks will become what people expected from the Orville when it was anounced.
That is an interesting observation and I think I agree with it. In the 2nd season The Orville has become what Discovery probably should have been. And Lower Decks is what The Orville should have been in season 2. Or at least a softer version of what The Orville should have been.
Then stop posting about it. This is your 3rd post on canon that i see here, and don’t think that Anthony isn’t seeing that.
Oddly this show looks way more in canon than Discovery did it’s first season. I guess that’s why that one is being moved a thousand years into the future.
That’s not surprising. Discovery was trying to do something new, and create a new kind of Star Trek for a new generation. Lower Decks looks more like it is going to be a love letter to TNG, playing with some of the more ridiculous tropes from that show.
Yeah but it failed for many, especially for me. In terms of its look, not the show overall. It’s obvious with SNW they will do a better job of keeping that in canon as well.
If they were trying to do something new, probably not the best idea to link it so closely to TOS. We’d already been down many of those paths before.
Exactly!
I’ve said this more times than I can remember, if they called it a reboot there wouldn’t been a lot of issues with it. The second you said it was suppose to be in the same universe as TOS then you just created a LOT of problems for yourself lol.
But I wasn’t trying to rehash this issue. I was just making the point how in the article they were trying to be very accurate to the TNG era like the LCARS for it to be considered ‘canon’ even though DIS looked nothing like TOS but it was still suppose to be canon anyway (and I never looked at it as non-canon or anything either). In the first season, they just said it was canon and that was the end of it even if some fans didn’t exactly go with it. So it was an odd thing to even bring up IMO. But I guess it was probably the DIS backlash where they didn’t want people to even question it. When you bring in the Okudas to help design your show you’re letting everyone know you mean business. ;)
“I’ve said this more times than I can remember, if they called it a reboot there wouldn’t been a lot of issues with it. The second you said it was suppose to be in the same universe as TOS then you just created a LOT of problems for yourself lol.”
On the contrary. A hard reboot would be beyond acceptability for me. Even the KT only works as a time travel-induced parallel universe. I can live with inconsistencies of epic proportions but a reboot would be the red line that would cease my fandom at once.
The only big continuity issues on DSC are the Klingon look (sorta solved) and the Spore Drive (solved by a one-liner)…
The uniforms have never been an issues since dark blue uniforms with silver elements had been on TOS from day one (The Galileo Seven, Whom Gods Destroy). And the more realistic set pieces are a matter of course.
Biggest remaining issue for me: the battle squad aboard the Enterprise introduced in the final episode. That doesn’t make sense at all but we will see how SNW will solve it…
There are a lot more issues with canon on STD than just the ones you mentioned. I’m not a slave to canon myself. If you just stick with the big stuff I’m actually pretty good with it. Further, if you come up with a compelling story then the canon issues become less of an issue. (Case in point, WoK worked great and it had some canon issues) But blatant disregard for things, that is not good at all. And STD had some real dooseys. I’ve been down that laundry list plenty of times. Not the least of which is something you opted to completely blow off but I had a hard time with. The look and feel of everything in their era. I’ve said this lots of times but seems it needs to be said again. Of course there will need to be a form of visual upgrade for modern TV. That is to be expected. But if you are going to say it’s a mere 10 years before TOS there needs to be things to remind the viewer that is where it is going to be. So things need FEEL familiar to that era. Literally NOTHING on the STD sets looked like it could flow into TOS. ENT very much looked more modern but completely felt like it could evolve into TOS in a 100 years. To make matters worse, we actually saw more or less what that era should have looked like. And there was NO connection to it. NONE. If you are going to set show in the 1920’s you can’t give everyone modern suits and smart phones. Even if you are re-imagining the look and feel… The final product has to evoke the feel you are going for. If you don’t want to do that, then it needs to be called a reboot. Something that you, and I’m sure a number of others would have a hard time with. But myself and I’m sure a lot of others would have had ZERO problem with. Especially so for me at least after seeing the alternative.
That said, If they did call it a reboot and gave us the exact same show, it would have still been garbage. Not because it was a reboot. But because it was a bad story filled with bad characters.
This 100%. Well 90%. I don’t believe the show was ‘garbage’ but yes it has LOTS of issues in general. All the canon issues completely agree.
But I also know plenty of people agree with your assessment on the show in general too.
Garth Lorca, that’s fine of course if you don’t want a reboot. And I know plenty of people feels about it the way you do.
But this is the thing though, for MANY people Discovery basically is just a reboot in all but name only. ML31 made it clear the show looks nothing like TOS, NOTHING outside of a few marginal things. You can argue it KIND OF looks like TOS, but I mean just put up an image, of TOS and then DIS side by side, show it to someone who knows nothing about Star Trek, it’s no way they would even guess the shows are suppose to be in the same decade. DIS looks so far ahead of TOS it’s ridiculous.
And then when you add things like Spock having a sister, spore drives, an actual war with the Klingons (which we all know was more of a cold war in the TOS era and the major conflict between them was meant to happen after their initial first contact a century earlier but ENT retcon that too) and etc, NONE of these things are actual canon to TOS or its era. These are the kinds of things you would just do in a reboot. They would MAKE SENSE in a reboot as well. For the prime universe, not so much. But yes DIS is not the first time something in Star Trek has been retcon, but some of these are not only pretty big retcons but the basis for the show’s existence.
But I think what happened after the Kelvin movies that fans really wanted to go back to the prime universe again (I always think how funny that is because so many were convinced the prime universe was completely ‘dead’ after the first Kelvin movie along with the entire TNG era….and look where we are today ;)) but same time wanted to still just do their own thing. I think Fuller convinced himself as long as they just tell people it’s still the prime universe fans will just accept all the crazy changes and additions.
But just two years later, they throw the show a thousand years into the future to erase all the canon issues that it created. Yeah, that clearly worked out.
I just realized that Discovery started, so they say, as a new serialized Trek for a new era, but then served as a backdoor pilot for a series about Pike, Spock, Number One and the Enteprise that is purportedly more episodic.
That’s kind of funny. Talk about going back to the source.
True, but I’n still not convinced it’s going to be that episodic. Maybe it won’t be done like a ‘movie’ the way Picard and Discovery are done but it will probably follow a main story line for the season. Hopefully it will be done on how Enterprise was done in it’s fourth season and several mini-arc stories and a few complete stand alone episodes. Given it will probably only be ten episodes, it could be half and half? I’ll take that too.
Sorta true. Linking it so close to TOS pigeon holed the somewhat. There still was the opportunity to do something new and innovative. But they didn’t. What they ended up with just had the look and feel of a 100% reboot. In that sense, they DID do something new. Part of the problem was they kept denying that is what they were doing!
I should clarify that I meant that their linking closely to Spock and family, Pike, Number One, the Enterprise, etc. was already well trodden ground. The rebootish look and tone was less of a concern to me. Rather the canon connections were where they really pigeon-holed themselves, I thought.
If they wanted to play in TOS’s backyard, fine, but they really didn’t need to make it about Spock and the others.
On the other hand, we got SNW out of that. So it might’ve all been worth it. Fingers crossed.
Yes. I can go along with that, too.
Discovery should stay in the future. Lower Decks is more canon, I agree with you. The future could be fun
I think this will be maybe the closest thing to TNG we will get which is officially Star Trek.
Please stop baiting other fans about canon. We are all tired with the bickering.
True. But in my opinion moving them to the future doesn’t fix any of their canon problems. Those seem to be there to stay.
Yeah I know. You tell me this every time we have these discussions. We’ll just have to wait and see I guess. As I said I don’t care if that was the main reason (and maybe it wasn’t) but I just love the idea of doing something this radical. They haven’t done something like this since Voyager. And that wasn’t really that radical because we know Voyager would eventually make it home and of course the rest of the Federation itself was fine.
With Discovery, they are turning everything we know on its head.
For one day only, I am happy to be in the U.S. LOL
So interesting thing about the t-shirt subscription. If you get the sub instead of the individual shirts, you get one extra bonus shirt, which is the one seen in the header image. BUT that shirt? The art is super reminiscent of the classic TAS key art
Still stanning for TAS here.
Perhaps our kids would enjoy the T-shirts.
I’m sorry who has $180 to blow on ten t-shirts right now?? That’s like…2.5 years of CBSAA with ads. Good one Titmouse
I subscribed. You get an exclusive 11th t-shirt, and it’s free shipping each week. So you get a new exclusive Star Trek t-shirt for 16.40 delivered per week. It’s a lot to blow at once, but as someone who is in desperate need of t-shirts, I went for it lol
The red and green lights shouldn’t be on the same side of the ship. 😀
Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.
Also, I hope one of these t-shirts say “Genius at work”.
“Yes. Just because it’s animated, doesn’t mean we’re not in canon. The TOS animated series is canon. We’re canon.”
Not a good idea. First of all, TAS is NOT canon. It was decanonized when Paramount decided to do TMP.
Second, even if you regard TAS as canon, an animated comedy is a completely different beast. There has been humor on Trek before (yes, TVH, TFF and TAS are probably the “worst” offenders), but there is a hugh, lightyear-spanning difference between a healthy infusion of humor and a parody that spoofs the very universe it’s suupposed to be part of… That’s a Deadpool-ish absurdity I clearely dislike…
TAS couldn’t have been “decanonized” when they “decided to do TMP” because the concept of canon was only invented in the mid-80’s, as a way of excluding from royalties things like the works of Franz Joseph. It was never *in* canon, but nothing was. When they made the list of canon, they left TAS off it and declared it not to be. (Roddenberry wanted to leave TFF and parts of TUC off as well.) Then gradually they began “easing” it back into canon around the time of ENT (not coincidentally, when it was released on DVD), and there have been mixed messages ever since.
They’re not spoofing the universe here. Spoofing would be Galaxy Quest, or some of these fan productions being made now. There’s a big difference between humor with inside jokes and spoofing.
It is also a “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” absurdity I, for my part, highly enjoy. If it works for Shakespeare, how could it not work for Star Trek?
And this is why I have a VPN again. We may not have CBS AA over here in backward Europe. But at least our dystopia is only on yellow alert.
They’re sure keeping it down to the wire with international releases. It’s not filling me with confidence if the various parties can’t come to agreements with releases when we’re days away.
Of course back in the day it could be years before shows would get international distribution (if at all), but in today’s Social Media driven marketing train having your audience be even a couple hours out of the loop can be a nightmare.
I just hope I don’t have to wait for a physical release like I have done with Short Treks.
International release delays point to waiting to see what sort of reception the show gets. This show is a bit of a risk in style and Star Trek traditionally does better in the US than overseas so I’d imagine the more successful it is, the quicker you’ll see it appear overseas.
I’m in North America, I will watch it, but I doubt I’ll watch it when it premiers. I have a feeling this show won’t last, even if it’s good.
The original order was for two seasons. So it’s going to last at least for another year.
It has two seasons. It won’t last more than that. I’m in North America, in the United States. Watch it when it premiers but might won’t watch the whole season.
Don’t worry, international fans, it will air in Canada :)
And that is one of the very few things in Canada I’m envious of. To watch here you have to jump though a few hoops. In Canada it’s easily accessed.
As a Canadian and proud of it, I thank you ML31 for your incendiary comment.Considering the position your moron clown of a “leader” has put you in, I don’t think you’re in any position to denigrate my country. And Anthony, in case you protest my comment because it’s too political, well sorry but this kink of BS I’m not going to let pass.
And I’m fiercely proud to be American. Take that. Why is it OK for others to say “incendiary” things about the US but when someone says something going the other way, and something as non inflammatory as what I did, you have a fit over it? Please get off your high horse. The US is not the only nation that has elected “clowns” for leaders. But I don’t go around pointing it out.
ML31, you have every right and reason to be proud to be American. I’ve been to your country 50+ times all over the place. I have nothing against the US, it’s the leadership I have a problem with and that’s my opinion. Yours can differ I have no issue with that. But your comment that “And that is one of the very few things in Canada I’m envious of” was uncalled for and was just an a$$*ole comment made why, because you’re having a bad day? So let’s drop the innocent act, your comment was incendiary, own it. And to answer your question, “Why is it OK for others to say “incendiary” things about the US but when someone says something going the other way, and something as non inflammatory as what I did, you have a fit over it?” it’s because you just throw your comment out there with no provocation and reason. People have different opinions and I’m not validating one side over the other, your President draws criticism (whether justified or not) and people will react and comment on it, but what the hell did Canada do for you to say what you did? In other words, what the hell is your problem? It’s like you’re trying to pick a fight.
Fair enough. But then, if you crawl up my rear for that but no one else’s then that makes it seem like you are targeting me for something that a number of other people do. I disagree that my comment was an a$$*ole comment. Perhaps uncalled for but a lot of others have made uncalled for and unprovoked comments the other way that no one seems to have a problem with.
You are being very inconsistent with your anger towards what you deem to be “incendiary comments.” Quite frankly, I see a ton of them here but opt to just ignore them less it devolve into something like this. But for some reason this morning I just felt like doing what they all do and bring it up. Perhaps it’s because I had just read a couple of said types of comments and subconsciously threw it in. I wasn’t even specific about it. Just making a generalized comment.
And for the record, I enjoy Canada. I think it awesome that many seem more patriotic than Americans. Been there plenty of times myself. I have in-laws in Ottawa. A good friend married a woman from Winnipeg. Vancouver is among my favorite cities. The people I have met there have been above the board. It’s, well, other elements that have me turned off. And to be honest, similar things can be said about the States.
I understand that it could be frustrating to read disparaging comments about your country/leader, but I don’t remember seeing here any comment criticizing the US itself, only the leadership. However most of those come from Americans. Still you’re in your right to disagree and find those comments inappropriate. But honestly what is there to say about Canada? This is why I was surprised to read your comment that seemed like a jab that came from left field. Also, you know how it is, when one’s country is criticized emotions flare up.
I really don’t think you want me to go down the list of things I see that are pretty cruddy going in politically and socially in Canada. First, it’s not my country so it’s not my place to say in a public forum. And 2nd, I really don’t want to get into a political thing on a Star Trek thread. I’m surprised the comment generated what it did!
I would actually. But you’re right, this venue is not appropriate for such a discussion. Too bad, it would be very interesting to compare our respective lists. But I will say this. You’re quite correct when you say that it’s not your place to say anything in a public forum and I take your point. However, considering how what goes on in the US affects the entire world due to its influence, I feel that, our country or not, people have a right to voice their opinions. This site however is not the place for it…
As a fellow Canadian, I don’t think we should be calling other leaders out who are “clowns”. Our leader is also a clown who has broken the law, done racist things and made a fool of us on the international stage. I say that as a non-partisan. Let’s clean up our own backyard first.
Man… I was very much looking forward to this. But the more I see of the promos the less excited I get for it. I think my expectations were just set way too high. All the promos are making the comedy here to be much softer than what I was hoping for. There are still some laughs in the promos. But they are soft laughs. Nothing really super hilarious. The gut reactions I am getting are that, and I really hope I’m wrong, the producers are SUPER worried about offending long time fans. Which I think is a tremendous mistake. This is a comedy. The moment comedy writers start worrying about offending people is the moment they stop being funny. It’s not good creatively to pen yourself in like that. Part of me would love to find out what funny ideas they came up with they opted not to include in the show.
Anyway, I realize I am speaking about something I haven’t seen yet. And acknowledge that the these are just promos and teasers and the show very well could be good. I’m just going with what my instincts are telling me based on the tiny bit of data received. Hopefully I am wrong and after watching the first show I will write up about how very wrong my initial impressions were.
International distribution —- I would worry!??? I’m in Australia and I need to see Lower Decks! I am the perfect demographic for this show being a Family Guy animation fan. What would you have us do? Illegally hunt down episodes on the net? Because that is what will happen. I can never understand the mentality of not locking in international distribution beforehand these days. As it is, I had to watch all of ORVILLE courtesy of the net because it was not released here in Australia until way after the first season. You are creating an avenue for the thing you most hate … PIRACY!