Let’s celebrate how Lower Decks unapologetically brings back Star Trek’s sillier side

[u/mekilat]

Lower Decks is ending. Sometimes, it is possible for a show to be perfect, and still come to an end. That is not failure. That is life.

I think we all agree the show went so far above and beyond than expected. It has been hilarious, outrageous, while remaining deeply respectful of the lore. In doing so, it reminded me how silly and hysterical these voyages can be.

Fun isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Trek. The gap between the conclusion of Enterprise until Discovery, made it that I mostly remembered and discussed the highlights. The episodes that meant something. The Measure of a Man. Darmok. Far Beyond the Stars. For a decade and a half, moments like “There are four lights“ and Shakespearean speeches on the value of freedom were what these stories are about. I brushed aside its humor, as some extra dressing.

Star Trek is deeply silly sometimes. It can be a show where a god-like entity shows up in a mariachi band to be kind of a dick to the crew. Where Chekov will ask police officers where to find nuclear weapons (in a thick Russian accent!). There is a deadly plague of plush toys called the Tribbles. Let’s not even get into the Ferengi shenanigans.

Short Treks had some funny short stories. The Tribbles are born pregnant, and they are a menace! Una and Spock sing along! It was great, but felt like a side serving of fan service. Lower Decks blew every expectation away. Every week, year after year. We got to see Cetacean ops. The dolphins are really horny, and they have a Starfleet beach ball. There’s a Tuvix episode where they make these Dragon Ball style fusions of random characters and give them names. There’s a Tamarian, and we have no idea what he says but it sounds important. Evil robot has sex with bird people.

It’s not just a comedy. It’s a comedy for us. It is so astonishingly respectful of our fandom. To be clear, we’re a few thousand fans, the hardest of hardcore, debating things like how a phaser’s power settings work, or the diplomatic nuances of the Khitomer accords. They had no business reason to make a show for us. It could have been done for a fresh new audience, and simply use the IP as a starting point. They didn’t have to go so hard. References to a single line from a TOS episode in the 60s that was never explored again. Integrating inconsistencies across all these shows, all these decades into canon. How!?

Lower decks writers love trek so much. They breathed so much life into that world, by pointing out how ridiculous it often is, and running with it. It still managed to deliver coherent, intelligent stories worth exploring and reflecting on. Like how Starbase 80 helps us understand the daily lives of Federation civilians.

The crew is on the wildest ride in the universe. They’re having fun, they’re trying their best, and they’re boldly going somewhere sillier than before. This is the most fun I’ve had with this franchise since my childhood. Lower decks! Lower decks! Lower decks!

I’d love it if everyone could share their favorite dumb, silly, or funny moments from the show :)

[u/warp-core-breach]

What I loved the most about this this show is that it loves Star Trek. It's full of fanservice but it doesn't use it for cheap nostalgia. It actually delves into why we're nostalgic for the Star Trek of our youth. The characters are Star Trek nerds because Star Trek is aspirational. They know all about these beloved legacy characters because those characters are role-models in-universe. And then as the show goes on it becomes more and more evident that these ensigns on this kinda-crappy unglamorous little ship embody the spirit of Star Trek just as much as their heroes do.

But also, Star Trek is often very very stupid and that's part of its charm and being an animated comedy gives Lower Decks license to be as hilariously stupid as it wants. Yes I unironically like Spock's Brain and Genesis and I'm glad they managed to get in a reference to the latter before the end. My favorite quote is T'Lyn's deadpan "This crew is always weird and yelling" in Empathological Fallacies.