Fix: Irreverent Comedy, Clever Spin on Classic Trek, “Real” People in Outlandish Situations, The Downstairs of Upstairs/Downstairs
Platform: Paramount+
Paramount+ Summary:
Behind every great captain is a crew keeping the ship from falling to pieces. These are the hilarious stories of the U.S.S. Cerritos.
FYA Summary:
In most of the Star Trek franchise, the shows and movies revolve around the bridge crew—the captain, commanders, and other higher-ups—but there are loads of other people on starships that offer support, make the repairs, generally keep everything running smoothly or responding to their bosses needs. (They’re also frequently the nameless individuals who end up dead or gruesomely injured during battles …)
In Star Trek: Lower Decks, the first Star Trek animated series since, well, Star Trek: The Animated Series, the focus is on those nameless individuals—only this time, they have names. And lives. And a whole lot of wacky stories to tell.
Familiar Voices:
Jack Quaid as Ensign Bradward “Brad” Boimler
Boimler is a neurotic overachiever who wants nothing more than to impress the bridge crew of the Cerritos and eventually become one of them. Although I assume that Quaid is nothing like him, he embodies this kind of character perfectly. (Including the crossover episode with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in which he literally does so while playing the flesh-and-blood character.) While not annoying, his voice contains the right amount of youth and nervousness to make for a believable people-pleasing nerd.
Eugene Cordero as Ensign Samanthan Rutherford
Thanks to his roles in The Good Place and Loki, Cordero has become one of my favorite secondary character actors. Lower Decks sees him take more of a leading role as one of the four main characters, but Rutherford is just as delightfully quirky as Pillboi. He’s a genius who works better with technology than people, and who loves the Cerritos, for all her quirks, more than anything. He’s still a lovely dude, though, and is a complete cinnamon roll.
Jerry O’Connell as Commander Jack Ransom
The funniest thing about O’Connell voicing Ransom is that his wife, Rebecca Romjin, also plays the second in command in Strange New Worlds. The funniest thing about Ransom is that he comes across as a total meathead buffoon, more worried about his physical physique than making the smart choice. Through the show’s five seasons, though, it becomes clear that Ransom’s using his handsomeness and people’s assumptions to his advantage.
Plus a variety of other well and semi-well-known actors and guest stars throughout the show’s run.
Couch-Sharing Capability: No Bosses Allowed
Gather up your favorite coworkers to binge while you commiserate about how aptly this show about people who live on a spaceship in the future matches your daily lives. (As a manager, I’m totally cool with this idea. I’m barely above a Lower Deck-er myself.)
Recommended Level of Inebriation:
One of the main characters’ favorite things to do is go to the Cerritos’s bar to wind down after a long day or strenuous mission. They have a variety of things to drink while there, so it’s really up to you to decide what you’d like to pair with the show.
Use of Your Streaming Subscription:
I didn’t give this show a fair chance when it first came out; I struggled with the connection to Rick and Morty, a show I have a love/hate relationship with. (The series creator wrote a bunch of Rick and Morty episodes.) I also bristled at the idea of a comedic Star Trek. While there have been plenty of humorous episodes throughout the franchise, it’s mainly a serious show with serious people dealing with serious things. Thank goodness I got over my prejudices and gave it a shot—it’s a truly fantastic show that captures the feeling of Star Trek while showcasing people who are usually overlooked or written off without a thought—people who deserve to be both seen and heard. Some over-the-top aspects had me cringing a bit, but it’s a show with a lot of heart, and it’s clear that everyone involved worked really hard to create a Star Trek series that was both new and fit right in with the rest of the franchise.
