USA TODAY International Edition
‘ Star Trek: Lower Decks’ boldly goes into comedy
Remember the Vulcan salute from the original “Star Trek” series? The holodeck from “Star Trek: The Next Generation?” Captain Janeway from “Star Trek: Voyager?”
The Starfleet officers at the center of CBS All Access‘ “Star Trek: Lower Decks” do. Ditto the writers who shape the main characters, four young ensigns usually assigned mundane tasks far from the prestigious bridge, in the legendary sci- fi franchise’s second animated series and first comedy ( streaming weekly starting today).
“Secretly, every character on ‘ Lower Decks’ is a Trekkie,” creator Mike McMahan (“Rick and Morty,” “Solar Opposites”) says. “They’re all fans of ‘ Star Trek,’ which is why they’re so excited to be there” in post-“Star Trek: Nemesis” 2380, a time frame after all the “Trek” series except “Star Trek: Picard.” “And the group of comedy writers who also happen to be ‘ Star Trek’ fans is pretty broad.”
McMahan’s favorite “Trek” series – and a big influence on the 10- episode “Lower Decks” – is “Next Generation.” He’s a fan of android Data, engineer Geordi La Forge and their relationship.
“A lot of Data and Geordi lived in the ( secondary) stories of ‘ TNG,’ which is why I think of ‘ Lower Decks’ as a big ( secondary) story“with the accompanying heavy emphasis on character and personality, he says.
“Lower Decks,” already renewed for Season 2, follows the USS Cerritos, a starship that makes unsexy “second contact” with alien species, and its ensign quartet: talented but rebellious Beckett Mariner ( voiced by Tawny Newsome); ambitious but insecure Brad Boimler ( Jack Quaid); figuratively and literally green Orion Tendi ( Noël Wells); and Rutherford ( Eugene Cordero), an engineer whose cyborg implant has a mind of its own.
“Someone described ( Mariner and Boimler) as the odd couple of Starfleet. There’s very much a push and pull of rigidity vs. breaking rules,” says Newsome (“Space Force”), who grew up watching “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and “Voyager” with her parents.
Mariner, who values Starfleet’s peaceful, exploratory spirit but bridles at its bureaucracy, displays “toughness, married with a little bit of swagger and out- and- out bravado,” she says. “That lends itself really well to comedy.”
Ah, comedy, a final format frontier for the venerable brand.
“There’s so many references to existing Starfleet things. … worlds, characters, species, items, terminology, that’s all fair game for us as long as it makes sense,” says McMahan, who promises guest appearances by previous “Trek” cast members. “Instead of just having some random alien, let’s use an alien that has a whole backstory, a species you understand.”
Tendi is a very different Orion, “not controlling men with pheromones and doing belly dances,” as Orion slave girls did in earlier “Trek” productions, McMahan says. And the ship’s chief medical officer, Dr. T’Ana, is a feline Caitian, “not purring and sexual,” like
M’Ress in the first animated series, but “more like Bones,” the gruff Dr. Leonard McCoy.
McMahan isn’t worried that viewers will see “Lower Decks” as parody. The people behind the show are true fans, and “Trek” has often embraced humor, from Tribbles to “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” which is “flat out a comedy,” he says.
While pushing the franchise into new areas, “Lower Decks” is respectful of “Trek” canon. McMahan dropped the idea of having T’Pol from “Star Trek: Enterprise” appear, because “Vulcans just don’t live long enough. The timing didn’t work out.”
McMahan and Newsome say the diverse voice cast and characters reflect long- standing “Trek” philosophy.
“‘ Star Trek’ has always been known as this thing that is the aspirational future of humanity,” McMahan says. With a broader casting net, “you get a more vibrant, interesting group of people that don’t all sound the same, which reflects humanity in general.”
With the show, which features a Black female captain, “diversity is just expected and is never really commented upon, which is a signal of true 24th- century values,” Newsome says.
Past “Trek” shows haven’t entirely lived up to that principle, she says, noting strong female characters in the ’ 90s series who nevertheless were shown “gossiping about boys.” And those shows were improvements on the depictions of women in the ’ 60s series.