- Network: CBS All Access , Paramount+
- Series Premiere Date: Aug 6, 2020
Watch Now
Where To Watch
| Buy on |
|
| Stream On |
|
| Stream On |
|
Critic Reviews
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
There’s a lot of potential there to be both curious and heartfelt, as Star Trek has always been, but push it into some new directions narratively and visually, with the animated format allowing the franchise to reach beyond what has come before. But Lower Decks, for all its raucous pleasures, doesn’t quite rise to that occasion.
-
Star Trek continues to be the big gun in CBS All Access' streaming arsenal, which has been steady if not particularly inventive. Star Trek: Lower Decks somewhat rectifies the second part of that with an irreverent, Adult Swim-type animated series that likely won't beam up many new subscribers but should mildly amuse a quadrant of the more committed ones.
-
“Lower Decks” most often exudes the energy of adoring fan fiction, relying on a viewer’s awareness of this interconnected universe for its plot details and its self-referential humor. The meta quality is intermittently witty, but the show struggles to develop an identity of its own outside of those name drops.
-
Through four episodes, “Lower Decks” feels caught in between. It’s a smooth and zippy package, but it doesn’t register very strongly as either a geekfest or a transgressive satire.
-
“Lower Decks” has its occasional chuckle-worthy moments, but too often the show opts for wild chaos as a substitute for actual comedy.
-
The entire show seems to be caught in between extremes. It’s just over the edge of being too adult for kids to watch — Mariner complains that a yeti she once met was “being a dick,” and in one episode gets a punishment detail to clean the holodeck of what’s implied to be semen — but never really delves into truly R-rated Trek content.
-
It's all packaged in bland-but-amiable fashion with colorful, detail-lite animation from Titmouse and energetic voice work across the board. It's hard to latch onto any of the characters.
-
In tossing aside the “Trek” earnestness, does somewhat torch that which makes the franchise special in the first place. Its first four episodes contain some laughs and some elegantly done character work. But if the joke of “Lower Decks” is that its characters, on a random ship doing clean-up work somewhere in the galaxy, fall short of demanding a show about their adventures, it’s not hard to agree.
-
“Lower Decks” loves the tropes a bit too much, lacking any edge or commentary that might cut into the familiarity of this project overall.
-
The problem is it’s not really interested in anything. It’s a comedy show without gags or setpieces. The voice actors – most of whom are members of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy improv family – do their best to imbue the dialogue with real comic timing.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 33 out of 91
-
Mixed: 5 out of 91
-
Negative: 53 out of 91
-
Aug 6, 2020
-
Aug 21, 2020Nothing "Star Trek" about this show except the costumes.I dont even know what I should write about this ridiculous stuff anymore, is a mess.
-
Aug 7, 2020Utter garbage. Insulting to fans of Trek, it's difficult to tell who this was created for, and why they spent the money.