Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 Review

October 10, 2020 at 5:20pm
By Jason Stettner

This is a really great look at Star Trek, not only in terms of references but also in the style of how it presents some satire material on the series. It’s a serious show, but a comedy at its heart that has just the right balance to make it work. For fans of the previous shows you’ll enjoy the light banter about other parts of the universe, and for newcomers you might enjoy the frantic funny action.

I fall into the latter group, and actually have watched the original series now after this peaked my interest. It got me into Star Trek surprisingly, so I say it did its job of targeting a new type of audience. Anyways, this series follows some of the side characters of Starfleet.

You still get to see the top brass, but for the most part it’s driven by two lower ranked characters. This includes the heavily duty bound Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) and the wacky not caring for the rules Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome). Both characters are great, going through their own sort of journey and playing off one another perfectly.

I was initially hoping Boimler would get less of the short stick in situations, but that improves greatly as the narrative progresses throughout the season. Neat to see how they grow on one another, and understand the universe a bit better by doing so. They do have some close friends that typically act as a secondary story in episodes which includes the overly delightful D’Vana Tendi (Noel Wells) and the partially cyborg enabled Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero).

I quite liked their interactions as well, it’ll be neat to see how those characters progress in the future since things get twisted upon towards the end of this season. There are many other higher tier characters that run the ship, but they’re not necessarily the full focus here. Now with that, you do see more of them later on in the season or in various missions.

You get a very different look at Starfleet here, one that pokes fun at the society and some of the weaker points with the group’s ideology. It’s definitely still on brand, just a bit more mature and wacky in most situations. I think it hits the core concepts of Star Trek, while also doing something different which is important. It was definitely exciting to watch, and I looked forward to checking it out each week. It would have been a wild single viewing though, but I get that the releases are different for this streamed show.

I was really impressed by the animation efforts here, it looks gorgeous. There are too many stand out scenes. Whether it’s the group poking fun at the shine of the movies, or some of the more intense action moments.

It can get visceral which is great, definitely doesn’t hold back on mature elements while also not leaning entirely into those. There’s nothing too graphic, so I think it’s something most could watch. It definitely captures the look of Star Trek in a very aesthetically pleasing way. From the uniforms, to the starships and even the various alien creatures they come across.

There will be tons of references, interesting worlds and so many neat characters to see if you do dive in. Some surprise ones too. Alongside the visual elements is some great voice work from the cast, a varied and distinct group for sure.

I truly did find this largely hilarious. Some episodes brought even more laughs than others, but generally it hits the comedic beats well. I think if you’re an existing fan of previous shows, you’ll find some of the references particularly delightful. It’s just wild at times, and keeps the pacing going quick. This doesn’t leave too much room for reflection, but you can do that afterwards as it does have some good comments about just Starfleet runs things.

The Conclusion

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 is a blast, it’s hilarious while having a good balance of hitting the key points of what this franchise is all about. I think it did what it meant to, by actually getting me interested in Star Trek. That’s something important, to update the content for today and capture new viewers. With this show, it hit that mark.

I’m certainly onboard, and I really did enjoy the adventures of this crew. It’s got some great characters, and I’m very curious to see where they will take things going forward. The conclusion definitely left room for some big switch-ups within the dynamics of the group.

At the same time, they’ve shown how swiftly they can move things around in a short time span, so I’m curious to see what that means for the positioning of crew members in the next season. I’m very much looking forward to what’s next, as it’s been a grand time. A good crew, wacky fun adventures and still a balance of certain key values that are essential to what Star Trek is.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 Review at Home with Streamed Viewing

Rating Overall: 8.6