Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks #1
A beloved storyline was brought to its most terrifying extreme in Star Trek: Lower Decks #1. The tie-in to the hit animated series reinvents one of Star Trek: The Next Generation's classic episodes and shows how horrific it actually is.
Star Trek: Lower Decks is an animated comedy that lovingly pokes fun at the grand history of Star Trek. The series follows the exploits of the USS Cerritos and its stalwart crew. However, rather than the bridge crew getting the majority of attention, the limelight is instead given to the ensigns and their day-to-day operations. From references to notable Star Trek plot lines or tropes to fan-favorite characters showing up to join the main crew, Lower Decks gets a lot of mileage out of building on the sci-fi franchise's past. Literally anything from Star Trek's past can come up for the Cerritos' crew, often with dramatic and unexpected twists.
Case in point, one classic plot from Star Trek: The Next Generation got an update that realized the original episode's frightening potential. In Star Trek: Lower Decks #1 by Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio, it’s another average day in space for the underlings of the USS Cerritos. The infamous holodeck of Star Trek is being used by Ensigns Mariner, Tendi, Boimler in a scenario of Boimler’s choosing. Not digging Boimler's choice of a Dixon Hill scenario, Mariner runs the Sherlock Holmes program from the Next Generation episode "Elementary, Dear Data" that created a sentient version of Professor James Moriarty. Mariner shrugs off the potential danger, noting that safeguards have been installed since that incident and conjures up Dracula to prove her point. However, a surge of energy causes history to repeat itself and endow the famed vampire with sentience.
No doubt, this is a more perilous situation than the one featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Of course, even without a blood-sucking ghoul, the idea of a malicious fictional character gaining sentience is still quite alarming. After all, the original episode created James Moriarty, an evil genius who nearly managed to outwit the brightest minds of the Enterprise. But as the ensigns show, the misadventure with Moriarty could have gotten a lot worse.
Aside from creating a devious character like Moriarty, the other struggle the Enterprise crew faced was respecting his right to existence as a sentient being. Even though he had ill intentions, Starfleet has regulations that forbid his immediate termination. Star Trek: Lower Decks takes that troubling concept one step further by replacing Moriarty in this scenario with Dracula. The real question is how far does the holographic Dracula’s vampirism go? Does he actually require blood for sustenance, or just thinks he does? And what about his vampirism, could that honestly spread were he to bite someone? Star Trek: Lower Decks takes what Next Generation started and truly explores how a debate on sentience can have a classic horror tale fit naturally into it.