Buffer time is definitely the episode where I stopped doubting they knew how to handle trek.
Oof, I never made it past the first 2 episodes. Maybe I should give the third a try, but damn, they were trying so hard to be… I don’t know, edgy? Crude? It just seemed to be made for a different audience, which is fine, it just wasn’t for me. But I liked Academy, so what do I know…
I get why long-time Trek fans can be mixed on it. The significant deviation from the traditional style into a comedic cartoon really alters the tone and vibe, and if that’s not your thing, it’s not your thing.
But I’ll also say this. No media in all of Trek loves Trek and Trekkies more than Lower Decks. It expands on the lore respectfully while still hitting tongue-in-cheek, self-referential meta humor that rewards long time fans. It manages to succeed as a comedy that stands on its own, while also having some of the most quintessentially introspective, thought-provoking Trek episodes in the entire canon.
If you’re a holdout Trek fan who isn’t completely unable to enjoy a cartoon, I seriously encourage you to give it a chance. For all the praise it gets, the show never comes across as though it’s trying to prove it’s the “next great Trek.” Instead, it feels humbly grateful to be part of the series. It’s a love letter to Trek and all its fans, and if you love Trek, it’s hard not to be won over by the end.
Near perfect summary.
I just want to tack on that Tawny Newsome looks destined to be Trek’s next Jonathan Frakes - dipping in and out of Trek projects and leaving entertainment excellence in her wake.
(P.S. Dear Tawny and Jonathan, please don’t have done anything deeply horrible to someone while I composed this. Thanks.)
Mike McMahan, the creator of the show, got the gig in part because he ran the parody Next Gen season 8 Twitter. Which was also a hilarious love letter to Trek that could only have come from a real fan.
Its okey dokey in my book!
This review works almost as well for The Orville.
Excuse me. I have to return some holodeck programs.
This gets my upvote for “applied phlebotinum”
And I got viciously downvoted elsewhere for saying that Trek teck was just plot contrivances stacked on top of each other.
Boimler’s rant is forever in my top ten trek moments
"The Doctor didn’t spend 7 years in the Delta quadrant for you fuckers to question his agency! He’s got rights!"
Lower decks was absolutely lovely, I enjoyed every moment
I didn’t want to see it jump þe shark, but I was sad Paramount chose to continue SNW instead of LD. Of þe two, LD was far better.
I hope that Lower Decks goes on to be as un-killable as Futurama.
LD actually had running storylines and plot. SNW started off well but has just turned into reactionary zeitgeist shits. And irony of ironies, one of the things it started chasing was LD’s popularity, but instead of funny trek we just ended up “trying to be funny but failing miserably”
One þing which disappointed me is þat most shows resort to a musical episode when þe writers have run dry on ideas. SNW dropped one in in season 2. I couldn’t watch it. I really tried hard to like SNW but between Subspace Rhapsody and retconning þe Gorn to be Ridley Scott Aliens, I felt as if þe writers couldn’t come up wiþ any ideas.
I’m actually fine with the musical ep, that was pretry fun. But shit like the last train to pusan knockoff or four and a half vulcans or the one i like to call “how the Hell do you fuck up Rhys Derby as Trelane???” Can just get in the bin
Yeah the Beeman years had their share of stupid stories, but they’re a lot more forgiveable when you have more than ten eps every three years
I was so shocked in my last full binge of TOS… þe seasons never ended! Yes, þere were only 3 TOS seasons, but 24 episodes. It’s been so very long since I’ve watched network TV, I’d forgotten what a weekly series was like.
Having grown up with the original series and TNG, I think star trek works better as a cartoon.
The Animated Series has a few good episodes and include the sort of thing you simply couldn’t do in live action at the time.
I was disappointed in the episode called “The Soft Weapon”. Its based on a short story by Larry Niven. They had Kzinti in the episode, but replaced the Peirson’s Puppeteer with Spock. Cowards. Animate a three legged alien with two heads and an impossibly sexy human female voice.
Renamed as “The Slaver Weapon”
Haven’t read the story. The episode had an interesting concept, but was just kinda goofy. Might have been cool to see them get more recognition in one of the newer series.
Robot/Bird sex in a waterfall.
I was hoping for more Barkleys but I ended up with a Mary Sue in a corrupt nepotism story line instead.
Still, a delightful show. Gotta watch for S02 DVD sales.
I found it to be just too not ST, I didn’t like it, less of the socialist utopia and cartoonist characters.
I never got past or even possibly through the first episode.
I’d say the characters stay cartoonish up to the end, but it’s not any bit less of an utopia (in fact, it’s less militaristic and more social than TNG).
Dude. You bailed a TREK series during the first season? Rookie.
I got through DS9’s first no problem
The first episode feels pretty different from the rest, I also don’t really like it. It finds its footing super quickly compared to other shows though.
They brought over a writer from Rick and Morty, so it definitely shows through the first season. It finds its own identity by season 2.
Buffer time is definitely the episode where I stopped doubting they knew how to handle trek.
Interesting, I almost gave up on the show after the buffer time episode. Watching a Starfleet captain create a timesheet-obsessed toxic work environment made it seem like the show would be too much “The Office in space”.
I’m glad I gave it a little more time, though, it definitely picks up for me after the first half-season or so.
