Star Trek: Lower Decks trailer teases the new animated sci-fi series set during the era of TNG. After Discovery and Picard reignited the Trek franchise on the small screen (not necessarily in ways old school Trek fans wanted), Lower Decks will now take the series where it’s never gone before: into the realm of animated comedy.
Created by Rick and Morty writer Mike McMahan, Lower Decks flips the Trek formula on its ear to focus not on the famous heroes of Starfleet but the unsung everyday workers who keep its many starships operating as they explore strange new worlds around the galaxy. And in a move that’s bound to make many a classic Trek fan happy, the new show is indeed set in the era of TNG, so the ships and uniforms will have a very familiar look (even if the show’s tone is wildly different than anything seen before). And, with the show being set in the times of TNG, there’s a possibility of some cameos by familiar Star Trek characters (at least, this is what McMahan indicated in a recent interview).
With Lower Decks set to arrive on CBS All Access on August 6, 2020, the streaming service has debuted a new trailer for the show previewing all its outer space hilarity. See the video along with two cool new Lower Decks posters in the space below:
The full synopsis for the show reads:
Developed by Emmy Award winner Mike McMahan ("Rick and Morty," "Solar Opposites"), "Star Trek: Lower Decks,” a new half-hour animated comedy series, focuses on the support crew serving on one of Starfleet's least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, in 2380. Ensigns Mariner, Boimler, Rutherford and Tendi have to keep up with their duties and their social lives, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.
Indeed, the tone of Lower Decks is very different from anything that’s ever been tried in the Trek universe before (outside of a few odd and normally unsuccessful comedic episodes of the live-action shows). The influence of Rick and Morty can definitely be felt in scenes teased above, which is no surprise given McMahan’s participation. The trailer also teases an appearance by classic Trek villains the Borg (because it’s apparently impossible to have a Trek show without the Borg showing up somewhere), while having lots of fun with other classic Trek staples like the holodeck.
It remains to be seen if Trek fans will embrace McMahan’s comedic and animated take on the Trek universe, but after the relatively bleak drama presented in Discovery and Picard, there’s no question the franchise could use a little levity to relieve things. Of course, there’s also such a thing as going too far into the goofy and losing the spirit of the original amid all the wacky jokes. Audiences will have to find out if McMahan and company are able to strike the right balance between classic Trek outer space adventure and Rick and Morty style outrageous comedic hijinks when Star Trek: Lower Decks arrives on CBS All Access.
Source: CBS All Access