Star Trek: Lower Decks is currently being developed for a second season, but the first of the sci-fi parody has already shown the wide array of genre tropes that the creative team is willing to play around with. This Star Trek animated comedy spin-off is happy to make fun of some of the franchise's common clichés.
It is well received by fans and critics alike and the quality of the show really comes down to the way in which Season 1 interacts with Star Trek past and doesn't hold back on the punchlines. It's managed to capitalize upon a number of common themes, but which tropes and archetypes does the series rely on in order to really work?
A Secret Relative To The Captain
It's pretty common for one of the characters in the crew to actually be a secret relative of the Captain. This common theme provides some narrative tension, usually with those involved trying to hide the fact to avoid others believing that nepotism has been involved.
Lower Decks puts a fun spin on the archetype with the Captain and crew member hiding the relation because they are embarrassed by one another. Mariner is actually the daughter of Captain Freeman, but her rebellious attitude has put them at odds with one another for some time.
The Rebel In The Crew
Speaking of Mariner, she actually meets another trope of the genre as well. Usually, there is a member of the crew who has a rebellious streak. They don't like following orders and that's often extremely useful, as they find ingenious solutions that others would largely overlook.
Mariner is incredibly well experienced with the fleet, so much so that she has become jaded with all of the work they do. She believes that she can make a difference doing things her way and surprisingly the Captain eventually agrees with her outlook, redeeming the relationship.
Stickler For The Rules
Where there's a Mariner there's also a Boimler. Mariner might be the rebel of the group but Boimler is very much a stickler for the rules. The character finds peace in knowing that there's an order to things and that's certainly not the first Star Trek character to feel that way.
Famously the Vulcans such as Spock also love to follow protocol. Boimler learned a few hard lessons though that the rules aren't always the best way through a dangerous situation. He might evolve through the show, but ultimately still loves to read and worship the handbook.
Cyborg That Struggles With Emotions
There's usually some kind of cybernetic character brought into a sci-fi world who struggles to interact with human emotions. In Star Trek, Data is perhaps the most famous example of this, but Lower Decks have their very own Sam Rutherford.
Sam started off life as a regular human but has since been fitted with cybernetic technology turning him into a Cyborg. He has increased intelligence and can do a number of impressive things. If his tech is playing up though then his personality can shift dramatically. It took a while for him to fully socialize again.
Strange Ship Traditions
Every ship in the fleet will have strange etiquette and traditions. Outside of Star Trek this is commonplace in alternate sci-fi adventures as well. The USS Cerritos is home to a wide range of species from a huge variety of planets. As such there are some weird things happening on board.
From a ship-wide dance to a ceremony that sees people literally become part of the universe, the series plays into some of the odd cultures from the Star Trek universe and portrays them off as even stranger. Alien life can certainly be peculiar and Lower Decks plays around with that idea.
Ship Infestation
It's pretty common to see an infestation storyline play out at some stage. Season 1 of Star Trek: Lower Decks utilized the archetype to link into the zombie genre; another familiar theme. Much like The Clone Wars had Geonosian bugs invading the minds of the crew, Lower Decks had their own parasite takeover.
With some kind of bacterial monster going through the crew of the Cerritos, each member who was touched by the disease was turned into a zombie-like creature. Of course, just like most sci-fi adventures the effects were reversed, but not before a few crucial characters experienced the transformation.
The Innocent Farming Planet
There are always different kinds of planets. Each one is usually representing its own biome and the species are war-faring, civilized, or perhaps full of criminals and bounty hunters. Occasionally though there's an innocent farming planet that has to be protected.
Lower Decks visited a few of these worlds, who had to be taken care of. Often these narrative threads will spiral into pirates and other crooks trying to take advantage of the lowly folk, with the farmers fighting back. Lower Decks twisted this storyline for their own purposes with Mariner aiding them with farming equipment rather than the usual weapons.
Evil A.I.
These futuristic ships normally have A.I. built into them and for Sam, his technology might have been a bit too well developed. Creating the artificial intelligence known as Badgey to help him train, the cyborg became a little aggressive with his new creation.
When the safety protocols were taken off, Badgey would aim to kill Rutherford and his friend D' Vana Tendi. It was a dangerous situation and one that saw the vengeful Badgey become almost unstoppable. It was yet another science fiction reminder not to always trust robotics.
Star Trek is well known for its teleportation scenes and plenty of franchises have copied the idea. But, the concept of teleportation doesn't always go smoothly. In fact, there have been some utter disasters over the years, which could have severely injured key characters.
Lower Decks of course took a more comic approach to the situation though. Playing on this archetype, Boimler actually got stuck mid teleportation and was therefore see-through and emitting a horrific sound. It eventually wore off but a large majority of the crew were subjected to the same fate.
Complicated Galactic Politics
Just like Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are complex political issues being fought over constantly throughout space. These problems are usually solved through war or intense diplomacy, but Lower Decks inverted the idea slightly.
With the crew having to make a vital decision over whether to destroy a moon or not, multiple species came forward with their view on the situation. However, it turned out that one party wanted to protect their very lucrative home, with the landmass actually not populated asides from them. Needless to say, it was destroyed quickly after this.