Star Trek: Lower Decks Review - 6 Ups And 0 Downs
"It's a season premiere, Jim. But not as we know it"
When introducing a new show, it's often tempting to open with something that references the wait 'finally' being over. However, despite living in such austere times, our cup runneth so over with new Trek series that this is not only the second new series this year but also won't even be the last.
Yep, Picard premiered in January, and 2020 is an endless, infinite hellscape from which none of us will ever escape. Sorry.
Still though, three new shows in a calendar year is at least one reason to keep living, and Lower Decks arrived this week as the first animated series of Star Trek since, well, Star Trek: The Animated Series. Sweeping in during a golden age of absurd, grown-up animated comedies, the expectation levels were about as high as the potential pitfalls.
In short, this is a show that is going to be judged entirely on two things. 1) Is it Star Trek? and 2) Is it funny? Failure to hit both notes consistently had the potential to drive an even bigger wedge into an already fractured fanbase, but if it could pull it off then it might just be the best thing to happen to the franchise since The Next Generation itself.
Only time will tell but, in the here and now, let's look at all the great and good from episode 1, Second Contact.