Star Trek: Lower Decks

[Anthony W]

By now I take it you have all seen the trailer to the new animated Trek series Lower Decks. You folks remember when Seth MacFarlane was making The Orville and everyone sneered at it and said it would be Family Guy in space? Well, The Orville turned out to be a great dramedy while still honoring Trek because MacFarlane is a huge Trekkie.

If you are looking for a "Family Guy In Space" then Lower Decks looks to be the show you want. Nothing wrong with that, check out my avatar. I just find it amusing that MacFarlane originally pitched CBS to do Star Trek but was turned down. I wonder if the folks in charge of Trek at CBS is looking at what Kurtzman has wrought and what MacFarlane has been able to do without the Trek brand and then seeing this attempt at a Trek cartoon and remembering MacFarlane's work in animation. Combine that with a peek at Metacritic and maybe CBS is starting to think that maybe they bet on the wrong horse? Discovery gets 72 from the critics and a 3.9 from users. The Orville gets 36 from critics but an 8.7 from users. Picard gets a 76 from critics and a 4.2 from users.

[Immortal Weapon]

I'm not a fan of Trek but the trailer made me cringe. It was terrible cross of Rick and Morty and Final Space.

[Anthony W]

I'm not a fan of Trek but the trailer made me cringe. It was terrible cross of Rick and Morty and Final Space.

Everyone keeps tossing around Rick and Morty, but I am not seeing it. The "blast shields up, blast shields down" gag is something I can easily imagine Peter Griffin doing. This show's style is reminiscent of the time (Yes I know, it sounds like I'm setting up a Family Guy style cutaway) of the time Family Guy spoofed Star Wars. Except you could feel the love of Star Wars coming out of that. I feel nothing coming out of this. It's like a spoof of Star Trek by people who aren't really into Star Trek.

It hurts to say that because Mike McMahan is a big Trek fan, but Kurtszmann is involved so it could be fruit from a poisoned tree situation.

[Cyke]

I liked it but I really don't mind that it looks like Rick and Morty. Mike McMahan worked on the former and is the show runner here, and to me its near-analogous to Futurama looking like the Simpsons though Groening had a smaller role (unlike Roiland and Harmon, who have nothing to do with this show).

With that said, Star Trek's been deconstructed before for really heavy drama and harder sci fi (DS9 moreso than any show before or since). I'm down for another deconstruction, but from a source of humor. Especially to counterbalance the dour Discovery and uneven Picard.

[WebLurker]

I'm not impressed by the trailer, but I think we should keep an open mind about the show; wouldn't be the first time that the trailer didn't do the project justice.

[Personamanx]

I was reasonably entertained. The design style isn't particularly inspired, but a workplace comedy on a spaceship is a decent enough concept. Albeit not the most original. But I like that Star Trek is willing to have a sense of humor about itself.

[Anthony W]

I'm not impressed by the trailer, but I think we should keep an open mind about the show; wouldn't be the first time that the trailer didn't do the project justice.

Well if it's anything like Picard the first three to four episodes will be watchable, that way you won't be able to just walk away when it falls off a cliff.

[AnakinFlair]

By now I take it you have all seen the trailer to the new animated Trek series Lower Decks. You folks remember when Seth MacFarlane was making The Orville and everyone sneered at it and said it would be Family Guy in space? Well, The Orville turned out to be a great dramedy while still honoring Trek because MacFarlane is a huge Trekkie.

If you are looking for a "Family Guy In Space" then Lower Decks looks to be the show you want. Nothing wrong with that, check out my avatar. I just find it amusing that MacFarlane originally pitched CBS to do Star Trek but was turned down. I wonder if the folks in charge of Trek at CBS is looking at what Kurtzman has wrought and what MacFarlane has been able to do without the Trek brand and then seeing this attempt at a Trek cartoon and remembering MacFarlane's work in animation. Combine that with a peek at Metacritic and maybe CBS is starting to think that maybe they bet on the wrong horse? Discovery gets 72 from the critics and a 3.9 from users. The Orville gets 36 from critics but an 8.7 from users. Picard gets a 76 from critics and a 4.2 from users.

I was just watching 'Cause and Effect' from season 5 of TNG, and the blu-ray set has a commentary track with Seth McFarland. And when you hear him talk about the show, you can feel his love of it coming through.

This series, though- this is pretty much everything I hate. Maybe it will do well, and I hope it finds its audience, but it's not for me.