‘Lower Decks’ is an indictment of Abrams and Kurtzman-era Star Trek | Engadget

The following incorporates spoilers for season two, episode two of ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks.’

I’ve been a Star Trek fan for many of my life, and but I nonetheless chuckled at this Onion video launched after the primary J.J. Abrams installment got here out again in 2009: “Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As ‘Fun, Watchable.’” Star Trek isn’t to lots of people’s style, J.J. Abrams’ amongst them. He’s mentioned in interviews he never really liked Trek and was making an attempt to make it extra like Star Wars. (This was six years earlier than The Force Awakens got here out.) The reboot movies had been a breath of recent air after 4 years of no unique Trek content material, and so they did get some new followers into the franchise. Some of these novices would later dip their toe into the water of TV Trek and located that they did really take pleasure in it so much, regardless of its slower tempo.

However, regardless of the franchise’s robust TV observe document with reveals like TNG and DS9, the Paramount+ period has been taking its cues from the Abrams movies, which isn’t shocking with government producer Alex Kurtzman on the helm. Alongside Roberto Orci, he’s one of many two screenwriters behind 2009 Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, in addition to a J.J. Abrams collaborator on Alias and Fringe. Given the field workplace numbers of the Abramsverse movies it is sensible to place him in cost, however it nonetheless made loads of long-time Trekkies groan as we had hoped for a return to the type of reveals we grew up on.

After three seasons of heavy motion on Discovery and the jaded grimdark of season certainly one of Picard, the primary season of Lower Decks injected some levity again into the franchise, with parody that went as much as, however not fairly over the road. It couldn’t, because it was supposed to be canon. It needed to match alongside TNG, DS9 and Voyager. So it packed in loads of references to maintain the wiki addicts over on the Star Trek-centric Memory Alpha busy, whereas indulging in previous tropes like drunk Klingons, area battles and the occasional all-powerful being. It additionally took some direct swipes on the dwell motion Trek reveals, like how crew members at all times appear to die in essentially the most low-tech methods like being impaled by spears or how after all the holodeck is used for intercourse stuff.

But these references had been at all times in a extra basic sense, framed in a “wouldn’t X be ridiculous” means that solely long-term followers with deep information of the franchise would totally perceive. Until this week’s episode, that’s, the place crew members of the USS Titan particularly name out the Enterprise D and its galactic cruise ship mentality. Shakespearean performs and string quartets? Peace conferences? How totally boring in comparison with the fixed run-and-gun that the Titan appears to have been caught in since final season. They decide the worth of their work based mostly on how thrilling it’s, and suppose that William Riker should have been bored to tears being caught on that ship for seven years.

Of course, TNG followers understand it was something however boring for Riker. He’s been locked in a psychological establishment, trapped in an alternate future and even had god-like powers for an episode. And he likes performing in jazz concert events together with his trombone!

None of this slander sits proper with new crew member Brad Boimler, who transferred over from the USS Cerritos on the finish of final season. The Titan’s pursuit of the damaging Pakleds has the younger lieutenant junior grade in a continuing state of panic as he mans the flight conn place, an enormous change from quietly toiling away on the decrease decks of his previous ship. But he’s acknowledged that that is the place the alternatives for promotion are, and shortly finds himself on an undercover mission together with his fellow bridge crew. At least, it’s speculated to be undercover — the opposite Titan members shortly get them embroiled in a shootout and going through sure demise.

That’s when Boimler takes the chance to inform his crewmates how he actually feels. “I’d love to be in a string quartet. I love that when Riker was on the Enterprise he was out there jamming on the trombone and catching love disease and acting in plays and meeting his identical transporter clone Thomas. That stuff might not seem as cool as what you guys do, but it’s Starfleet, all the way.” His confession elicits comparable confessions from the opposite workforce members, earlier than they handle to discover a means out in traditional technobabble style.

For years Star Trek has at all times danced across the query of whether or not Starfleet was a navy drive. It employs naval ranks and the ships are outfitted with phasers and photon torpedoes for protection. But its said function was exploration and different actions that assist tie the huge Federation collectively. The Abrams movies spent all their time reacting to 1 disaster after one other — the crew didn’t begin an precise mission of exploration till the very finish of Beyond, and there hasn’t been one other movie since to observe up on that.

Both DS9 and Discovery engaged in wars with the Klingon Empire. On Enterprise the crew ended up looking down the Xindi with a cadre of skilled troopers on board for its third season. Even Voyager needed to cope with the fixed accusations that they had been a conquering drive as they struggled to get dwelling. Lower Decks is our first look shortly at a Starfleet devoted to exploration, with the crew of the Cerritos specializing in “second contact,” that’s, getting communication and commerce arrange with the planets that flashier ships just like the Enterprise meet of their adventures. 

So Lower Decks has at all times been a type of commentary on the better Star Trek philosophy, however it’s by no means been as blatant as Brad Boimler saying, “I didn’t join Starfleet to get in phaser fights. I signed up to explore, to be out in space making new discoveries and peaceful diplomatic solutions. That’s boldly going.”

The Onion video takes old style Trek followers to job for being gatekeepers, for wallowing and fetishizing issues that people discover boring. The new period of Trek has stretched the definition of what Star Trek might be, increasing into new genres and injecting a little bit motion to sate the appetites of recent audiences. But Lower Decks is the primary time I’ve seen pushback from throughout the franchise itself. The present is mainly saying, “Sure, Star Trek can be exciting, but there’s a reason it became popular in the first place!” Let’s hope that with future packages like Strange New Worlds, Alex Kurtzman is listening.