Boldly going in the right direction

Star Trek: Lower Decks is back for Paramount Plus season two, and the animated series is as good as ever.

The “lower deck” crew of the USS Cerritos vies for the attention of their superiors again in the new season, while Boimler gets used to life aboard the bridge of the USS Titan.

Paramount shared the first five episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 Android authority ahead of the new season, which premieres on August 12th on Paramount Plus.

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One of the great joys of Star Trek: Lower Decks is the sense of humor about Star Trek as a whole. It’s a downright parody at times. But like all great parodies, it’s done by people who clearly love what they’re making fun of.

The second season of Lower Decks doesn’t make cheap recordings. It’s loving to rip something that can be really silly at times, while at the same time respecting what Star Trek essentially stands for. And what it means for people.

Fans can even reflect in moments of explicit course correction. Known for their almost absurd attention to detail, fans never miss a continuity flaw, a mistake in a spaceship’s blueprint, or an inconsistent character sheet. Lower Decks’ second season knows this, and isolates itself from criticism in often funny ways. A character with the wrong number of spikes on their collar will wipe you off, showing that it’s just a crumb and not a rank error. Or characters openly chat about never going on missions together, which robs them of important character development within the broader story.

Perhaps the best parts are the inside jokes, looking back at other treks. Captain William T. Riker plays his cheeky, exaggerated theatricality voiced by original Riker actor Jonathan Frakes. Data is a folk hero, and his brother Lore is seen as a cheap copy. Tamarians repeat famous lines from their metaphor-filled language such as “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” and “Shaka when the walls fell”. And the silliness of sonic showers is heightened when the characters try to outdo each other by increasing their shower levels well beyond comfort.

A smart update from Star Trek

It’s easy to write off Lower Decks as the silly entry-level franchise with little substance, but that would be a mistake.

Star Trek has always been political. Actress Nichelle Nichols was famously pressured by Martin Luther King Jr. to stay on the original series because he felt it was important to see black people on the series. But Star Trek has always been basically utopian. The Federation of Planets exists as a beacon of hope, justice and equality. Interpersonal conflicts are also kept in check. This was a dictum by creator Gene Roddenberry to the writers of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987. Whatever the main conflict in an episode, it couldn’t be between crew members without a science fiction explanation like alien mind control.

But there has been conflict in every iteration of Star Trek. And regardless of the creative intent, all Star Treks are also done by people who do not live in a utopian society. Sexist, racist and other coded tropes have certainly crept in. The beauty of Lower Decks lies in the fact that they recognize this inevitability, or more precisely, in their eagerness to pinpoint the impossibility of this sublime ideal.

Of course, people who coexist will eventually run into each other. How do you deal with great personalities in the workplace? What to do if colleagues don’t have a say Can you be friends with someone who wants the same promotion as you? And how do you reconcile egalitarian principles with the fundamental class differences that exist in any hierarchy?

We don’t usually see this side of Starfleet. Even fighting characters (like the hopelessly nervous Reg Barclay in TNG and Voyager) eventually find their place. The common takeaway is that anyone can thrive if properly supported.

cashbox: What’s new at Paramount Plus in August

But Lower Decks looks at the bottom of the chain of command, the folks doing the grunt, and often leaves the glory to those at the top. That’s what the show is about – it’s right in the title. The lower decks of a Starfleet ship aren’t where we spend most of our time on other Star Trek shows.

It’s a refreshingly realistic look at human relationships within the Federation, and makes for a great workplace comedy in Season 2 of Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Star Trek Lower Decks Season 2 Review: A Welcome Part of the Trek Universe

In the first episode of the second season of Star Trek: Discovery, Captain Pike announced that the crew of the USS Discovery under his command would “have some fun.” It was a confident wink to the audience. Following complaints about an overly grumpy first season, Paramount conceded and made some adjustments to the first Trek series in over a decade.

Star Trek: Lower Decks goes completely the other way. It’s the first comedy in the franchise since the original series first premiered in 1966.

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As the Star Trek universe expands with Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and the upcoming Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, an episodic Adventure-of-the-Week format that doesn’t take itself too seriously feels like a pleasant recap on treks of yore.

But by balancing that lighthearted nostalgia with a more serious exploration of the entire Star Trek premise, Lower Decks is a lot more than that. It’s not just a disposable animated sideshow. It’s an important part of Star Trek as it’s gaining a foothold in the 21st century.

The second season of Star Trek: Lower Decks continues to exceed its weight and is worth watching for new fans and hardcore Trekkies – or trekkers (please don’t yell at me!) – alike. So check it out on August 12th on Paramount Plus.