USS Cerritos

Story: Second Contact
Written By: Mike McMahan
Series: Star Trek: Lower Decks

Year: 2020

I was initially quite interested in Lower Decks.  I have long wanted Trek to return to the realm of animation.  I love the 70s animated show.  I also loved Mike McMahan's TNG Season 8 Twitter account.  I thought it was often clever and lovingly poked fun at a show I love.  So when they announced this series...I was game!  At the very least I was down for a comedic portrayal of Trek as something of an antidote to Discovery (and later Picard) and their dour miserable storylines.  I wanted Trek to be fun again.  The trailer had me a tad more hesitant.  The comedy seemed so broad...I was not sure I wanted a Trek show that is so over the top. I like an over the top cartoon show, sure, but the trailer made me believe it was going to be an uphill battle for me to find it funny and actually living within the realm of real Star Trek. 

So here we are. The show is finally released, and begins what will now be 23 weeks of new Star Trek (Lower Decks has a 10 episode first season, followed by Disco returning the week after it ends to begin it's 13 episode third season),  so can I be won back by the CBS All Access gang?  Disco has twice won me over and then lost me as the seasons progress. Picard grabbed me at the start and quickly wore me down until I didn't really like it.  Can this new broad cartoon make me have some Star Trek fun again?

Maybe? I dunno. I didn’t hate this but I also felt it was too bonkers for me to feel like it is real Star Trek. I tried going into this more as a fun parody that pokes loving fun at Trek tropes...that could easily work, right?  Except it jammed so much zany nonsense in, and I think I didn't barely chuckle.  Perhaps it was that Ensign Mariner is over the top wacky.  Maybe it was that the other characters lacked any character traits at all.  Perhaps it was that they crammedi n not just an A and B plot structure, but felt the need to shove in a C plot as well.  I mean why not...when you've got a whole 25 minutes to play with, you have all the time in the world!  

I am not writing the show off just yet.  This is a pilot.  Pilots can be rough, but it seems like the show would work better if it played off the humor of these being the guys in the bowels of the ship while adventure is happening elsewhere.  But these characters go to the planet. They interact with the Bridge crew.  The wacky Mariner character is apparently the Captain's daughter.  I can see loads of potential humor if these characters are doing the grunt work without actually knowing what situation is happening up on the bridge...that could be a fun idea for a show that can poke fun at Trek tropes without getting so outside the box wacky that it stops feeling like it fits within the established universe.  But from this pilot?  Eh. 

Perhaps I will grow to like this as it progresses. Perhaps it will just grate on me. Right now I don’t have strong feelings about this show either way. This opening didn't bode well going forward, but that doesn't mean it can't course correct.  That said the CBS All Access track record isn't having me holding any breath. 

NEXT TIME: Shuttle Mission