Star Trek’s first foray into animated comedy is expected to arrive on CBS All Access sometime this year. Now one of the stars of Star Trek: Lower Decks is talking a little about what we can expect, and the show’s creator has provided an update on progress and a hint at guest casting.
The voice behind Ensign Boimler talks Lower Decks humor
Actor Jack Quaid is one of the lead voice actors for Lower Decks, playing the role of Ensign Boimler. While speaking to Gold Derby promoting the Amazon superhero show The Boys, Quaid also talked a little about the new Star Trek show, including characterizing who the show was for:
The show is super funny but it is definitely still “Star Trek.” If you are a huge “Star Trek” nerd…you’re gonna get a lot of the references and a lot of the deep cut jokes, but I think even if you’re new to it, I think it’s something really cool to introduce you to the “Star Trek” universe as well…It’s a super funny show, it is a comedy, it’s animated but it is definitely still “Star Trek,” which is awesome.
Recently when describing Quaid’s Lower Decks character, creator Mike McMahan said Boimler is “an amazing Starfleet crew member, but he’s so by-the-book and so burdened by following the rules that he can’t follow his gut.” According to McMahan, this allows for “comedic friction” with the other lead character, Ensign Mariner (voiced by Tawny Newsome), adding, “Our leads are foils for each other, but they’re very much ingrained in Star Trek.”
Quaid also told Gold Derby he has been studying Star Trek: The Next Generation:
Me speaking personally, I didn’t know a ton about it when I got cast. I had seen the J.J. Abrams movies but now I’m into it. I’m watching “Next Generation” now in quarantine ‘cause I realized I have to do my research on this, this is like a world, and I’m loving it. I always considered myself a huge “Star Wars” fan and now Star Trek’s coming up. They’re about equal now.
Lower Decks has a close association with The Next Generation: The show is set the TNG era, shortly after the film Star Trek: Nemesis. Mike McMahan is a huge TNG fan. Before he began writing for the hit animated sci-fi comedy Rick and Morty, McMahan was creating Star Trek comedy on his parody Twitter account @tng_s8, which led to his book Warped: An Engaging Guide to the Never-Aired 8th Season.
No’l Wells as Ensign Tendi; Eugene Cordero as Ensign Rutherford; Tawny Newsome as Ensign Mariner; Jack Quaid as Ensign Boimler
Working on season 2 with Paul F. Tompkins landing a part on Twitter
The interview with Jack Quaid didn’t have any new information on the release of Lower Decks, but the actor told Gold Derby, “I’ve recorded most of my stuff for it.” In May, Mike McMahan stated that progress on Lower Decks has not been negatively impacted by the coronavirus lockdown thanks to remote working, and he expects the first season to arrive on CBS All Access this year, as planned.
When the show was first revealed, CBS announced they ordered two seasons of the animated comedy. A new update came on Twitter inside a thread started by Tawny Newsome, where a fan asked if her podcasting friend Paul F. Tompkins (who voices Mr. Peanubutter on BoJack Horseman) might show up to play an alien. Tompkins jumped into the thread to make it clear he was all for the idea. This resulted in McMahan telling Tompkins to expect a call from Lower Decks casting. The executive producer also revealed that the team was currently working on season two.
Haha well consider yourself an alien! I’ll have our casting folks resch out for the season 2 eps we’re working on right now. Thanks, @andyfark!
— Mike McMahan (@MikeMcMahanTM) June 7, 2020
Keep up on all the Star Trek: Lower Decks news here at TrekMovie.com.
When is season one coming out?
Star Trek: Lower Decks looks so exciting. It is an animated comedy but is still Star Trek in every way.
I’m a Star Wars fan too but Star Wars is not great as of late. Disney has messed up Star Wars so much to a degree especially with the sequel trilogy in mind.
The Force Awakens was basically A New Hope remake. The Last Jedi was overrated. The Rise of Skywalker ended the trilogy in a weird way.
Rogue One is by far the best Disney Star Wars movie. The Mandalorian is really good on Disney+.
I have a good feeling about this. Animation is not a bad idea in Star Trek at all.
Wish wasn’t a comedy, but an actual Trek series similar to ST:TAS / Clone Wars where they can have never before seen sets (gas giants, underwater, real “alien” aliens without the expense) and take some real risks let alone by TPTB. Plus you can have the movie era, etc, whatever you want.
What the world did not need, more TNG blandness and soap opera.
I think a better series would be to take the ST: Federation proposal and modify it where the crew isn’t even Starfleet. Have it where the Federation is all golumns and the organics are kind of seen as luddites where exploration is frowned upon as “contaminating the universe” (kind of Matrix, they want you in the holodeck). Have some frontier types have a derelict ship they rename the “Enterprise”. Maybe even the ENT-A or ENT-B they update and head out.
I like that it’s a comedy. In fact, setting it in the TNG era lends itself to even more comedic elements. So I’m looking forward to this one more than any other SH show.
I’m warming to this. I was dead set against it when I heard the premise, but I’m starting to see it.
At this point I’ll take any Star Trek that isn’t dark, depressive crap. But if the ONLY form of that’s an animated comedy, that’s still really sad.
I’m really hoping that as the market overall turns from the dominance of post 9/11 grimdark, Trek EPs won’t feel so much pressure to show a harsh darkness to get to the light.
Star Trek has, as an aspirational and optimistic series, been very off-trend since 2001. With COVID-19 and the push-back on police violence and systemic racism, I am looking forward to a change in direction. Star Trek is well positioned for where the market is likely going and TPTB are well aware and promoting this. Whether or not the writers can let go of the “grim is cool” schtik is yet to be seen.
I wish they would at least give us a trailer already. I wonder what is the hold up with that? If they are already working on season two and they keep saying this will come out this year, then clearly they can show some of it at this point. It’s very odd.
But generally very excited for it. Love it takes place post Nemesis and they keep saying it will still feel like Star Trek even being an animated comedy so really looking forward to it. :)
Yes, I want a trailer too, but given the way animation works, the cuts to make a trailer might be the last thing produced.
EDIT Sorry wrong post
Why wasm”t this guy a trekkie already? With his parents you would expect Robert Picardo is his godfather or something.
why?
Watch “Innerspace”. If someone has his origin story in a Joe Dante scifi comedy, I would assume he has Star Trek in his DNA.
Looking forward to it! I’m glad it’s on CBSAA. More justification for my subscription, LOL. Trek comedy though, I can’t wait. I loved the Short Trek “The Trouble with Edward” so much … hope they are doing this sort of thing.
My guess is it won’t be anything like that short. If it was, I would hate it. EDWARD was just plain awful. Nothing amusing in it… Just… An embarrassment, really.
I’m hoping it will be more along the lines of Rick & Morty.
I’m really looking forward to this as well.
Just like…please don’t suck. Please don’t be stupid, like so much CBS Trek. Please don’t be Orville but lamer. Please don’t abandon the comedic elements in season 2. Please don’t be a Rick & Morty clone [which it obviously couldn’t be]. Please don’t be like Solar Opposites, which is a R&M clone but less funny. Please just be actually clever and funny. Seriously, just do that, and you will clear the bar.
Is solar out yet?
I’m curious to see where the international rights go for this one. If the rumours about Netflix and Amazon bear any truth, and seeing E4 in the UK move Discovery S1 from an 8pm/9pm slot through to a 10/11pm slot mid season, to the finale airing at a staggering 2am!! It suggests they weren’t happy with their Trek rights purchase either. E4 would be perfect for this kind of show, but I really have no idea. Maybe Sky tv in the UK?
I still haven’t see Short Treks season 2 due to Netflix holding back on them. Yes they are available by other…means…online. But damn. What a mess. I actually signed up to Netflix in the UK for Discovery and was gobsmacked that Amazon got the Picard rights. Seeing that all classic Trek including TAS is on Netflix in the UK, I thought it was the natural home for any new Trek streaming going forward. How naive was I…
NXPorthos, I suspect that the move to a 10/11 pm slot had to do with the midseason episodes that were rated 18+ in Canada. I don’t think you can make the inference you are making about popularity based on that.
BellMedia ended up with a reprimand for those episodes because, even on premium cable, 18+ shows are not supposed to be shown in Canada before 10pm. BellMedia was told by the regulator to move Discovery to a later slot in future. They declined to do so, but I note that Discovery season 2 did not have any scenes that crossed the line into adult ratings. (I wonder though if BellMedia will get another reprimand for Picard episode 5 Sawdust City Rag. The eyeball scene my bump it to 18+ here on review by the regulator.)
I’m not sure why E4 believed that UK authorities would have a different reaction than Canadian when the UK has historically censored TNG and other series that Canada has let pass. Frankly, I think the EPs or the CBS executives in the US are being naive if they think that on one hand they can take advantage of the streaming content freedoms in making the new shows, but then sell the shows successfully for broadcast television or cable outside the United States.
All that said, I agree the 2:00 am slot for a finale is bizarre, but perhaps the 10:00 pm slot had already diminished the audience.
I hadn’t considered that but it’s so obvious now you mention it. Bear in mind E4 chose a Sunday night to broadcast it as well, once you’re into the 10pm hour (and beyond) there’s a good chance your viewership isn’t going to be there. But, as you say, given the flux in age ratings across the first season, they had no choice to bump it around the schedule. Perhaps it was in light of what happened with BellMedia in Canada that prevented such a thing in the UK.
This makes me wonder if Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks will have standardised runtimes for broadcast tv. At the same time, if plans for CBS All Access to target international markets becomes a reality, perhaps this strange splitting of the Trek product internationally will just become a weird blip in history. I would actually prefer to just suscribe to a UK All Access for all my Trek needs, it would make things alot easier.
I’m the same, haven’t seen the second season of Short Treks yet. Hell, the way they hid away the first season of them under the trailers section was ridiculous too. I can’t imagine Short Treks really did numbers in the UK that way. It makes me think Netflix never really cared about Short Treks, and have no intention of bringing S2 over here.
Especially with Amazon outbidding them for Picard, we may end up seeing a wholesale move to Amazon when Netflix’s deal for all the older Trek runs out. Or maybe CBS will try and bring All Access to Europe, as Disney as done with their streaming service, and they won’t renew any streaming contract with any other company at all.
One plus side is that Amazon offers a higher bit-rate than Netflix, so the image looks clearer in fast action scenes and stuff.
I actually recently rented a film on Amazon that had very strong film grain, which on Netflix resulted in a shimmering mosaic of macroblocks in the background constantly, and it looked terrible. With Amazon the film grain looked pretty normal. It’s obviously still a lower bit-rate than a Blu-ray, but it doesn’t turn random noise into a mess at least.
I know of people who enjoyed Discovery on Netflix but had no idea about the first season of Short Treks. Why it couldn’t have got its own show tab on there is beyond me. I’ve checked back there a few times over the months in hope of S2 appearing. It could be that they don’t ever appear on Netflix, especially with the DVD/Blu-ray releasing next month.
As I said above I would prefer a UK All Access. Going forward with the numerous new Trek shows in the works, it would be nice to have it all in one service.
I have a feeling if Amazon ever got the TNG remasters they would look alot better than they do on Netflix right now. There’s definitely something to be said for their streaming quality. So not a bad thing if they took over the contract. Currently it’s just such a mess and who knows where the heck Lower Decks is going to land. Because, well, I really want to watch it. It looks alot of fun.
On the Netflix Windows app there isn’t even a way to access trailers so you have no chance to see the Short Treks. If I remember correctly Netflix released the first bunch of Short Treks more or less at the same time Discovery season 2 started. Maybe they’ll do it again with the newer Short Treks when Discovery season 3 is finally finished.
Amazon isn’t an alternative for me because Amazon doesn’t support surround sound of any of the devices I have. While the Netflix app also has limitations at least I get FHD and surround sound.
Now you mention it, I think I had a similar problem last year when I wanted to rewatch one of them on my android tablet. Yeah that sounds about right – as a kind of build up to the season 2 premiere. Fingers crossed they do it again. I really don’t feel like shelling out a tenner to get them on DVD at this point when they should just be there as default. On the plus side it will feel like bonus content for S3 EP1 but seeing they were originally made as stop gaps for the All Access auidence, its still a shame.
I’m similarly anxious about where Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds will land! It’s all such a hodgepodge. Here’s hoping they don’t go with a third UK option like NowTV – that would be awful!
Hopefully not! It wouldn’t surprise me at this point though!
I think I once read that the Netflix deal for Discovery includes some kind of first-look option for any Discovery-related spinoff. That would mean there is a high chance Strange New Worlds may end up on Netflix – unless they don’t want it. I might misremember it, though. Since Picard was not directly related to Discovery CBS was free to shop it around and apparently got a better deal from Amazon.
Holy Pamoly… This is the guy from The Boys.
nice! I loved the boys.
Also I saw Tahny Newsome in Space Force and she is very good!
Love to have both of them in Star Trek!
Jack Quaid, wait, Meg and Dennis’ boy?? I saw him when he was, like, a baby when I was doing a junket for Flesh and Bone. OMG so old.
Up untill now I have been constantly looking forward even excited then very disapointed with all the new Star Trek shows so far. Now I just dont care!
.
For whatever reason, I’m reminded of something the condor said to the praying mantis…