Although there have been some comedic moments in Star Trek, there has never been an official movie or a TV series solely devoted to making people laugh. That all changed when Paramount+ greenlit Star Trek: Lower Decks. I have honestly given up on Star Trek for quite a while and I do find it really fascinating how an animated series devoted to the lower ranked crewmembers of a lowly starship would reignite my love for Star Trek.

But Star Trek: Lower Decks did and, after a brief five seasons, the show has ended. I’ve watched all five seasons so what did I think of the show? Did the show boldly go where no Star Trek series has gone before? Or does it deserve to have its warp core ejected and initiate the self-destruct sequence?

Before we do get into the review proper, I will have to say this will be a SPOILER FREE review. I know the show has ended but, as Paramount+ isn’t available worldwide (I had to find much more *ahem* dubious means to watch the series here in the Philippines), there’s bound to be more than just a few people who have not seen Star Trek: Lower Decks in its entirety. So, yeah, I’m going to keep this SPOILER FREE for them.

Star Trek: Lower Decks, focuses on the USS Cerritos. While we’re all familiar with other starships mission to explore new worlds and seek out new life and new civilizations, the USS Cerritos’ mission is a little more mundane as their general job is to initiate second contact. That means, after first contact is done, they come in to kind of follow up on what was negotiated during first contact.

That’s not the only thing that makes the show unique as, instead of focusing on the officers and the bridge crew like in other Star Trek programs, Lower Decks focuses more on the “lower deckers,” the ensigns, trainees and fresh graduates of Starfleet. The “lower deckers” we basically follow are Beckett Mariner, a rambunctious but very experienced ensign who’s more than okay to break the rules and decorum of Starfleet, and Brad Boimler, a stickler for protocol who’s only familiar with book smarts but lacks practical experience. There’s also D’vana Tendi, a newly transferred Orion ensign who is obsessed with everything Starfleet and always upbeat, and Sam Rutherford, an engineer with a cyborg implant with unwavering enthusiasm for fixing tech problems.

I will say there was some form of “culture shock” when I did start watching Lower Decks intently as, as earlier mentioned, the show is more focused on delivering laughs. It is weird to see people aboard a Starship vessel not really all prim and proper like in previous Star Trek media. But, as it does do a really fantastic job at that, it’s really easy to get into, especially if you love Star Trek.

Probably the best compliment I can give Lower Decks is, while it does poke fun at Star Trek as a whole, it feels more like playful jabs at the sometimes ridiculous nature of the lore rather than mean-spirited jokes. You can tell the writers know a lot of Star Trek lore and aren’t afraid to either reference or make fun of it… sometimes at the same time! I do know some of the jokes flew over my head as I just knew they were referencing something but I didn’t know the reference!

But while Lower Decks is generally a comedy program, there are still some serious storytelling being done here as there is a continuous story being told throughout each season. Like with any good Star Trek series, Lower Decks also makes some callbacks from previous seasons and even previous episodes from other shows and movies from the franchise. They are really woven in neatly and they don’t feel like little Easter Eggs or nostalgia bait for fans as the writers do fully utilize those little Easter Eggs and bits of nostalgia bait in the episode they’re used.

I also do love the voice cast as everyone does give each character a very distinctive personality that fits with the character. Tawny Newsome gives Beckett Mariner a real butt-kicking, devil-may-care attitude but can still bust out the dramatics when needed. Jack Quaid somewhat screechy performance nails Brad Boimler’s attitude of being a guy who’s studied real hard but gets nervous during the real situation.

I really love Noel Wells‘ take on D’Vana Tendi as it makes her really sound naive and curious feel to her. I guess Eugene Cordero‘s performance of Sam Rutherford might be the weakest of the main lower deckers. It’s not bad and definitely not his fault as you can feel Rutherford’s enthusiasm in his performance. It’s just that the character himself never really feels fully fleshed out until much later in the series. I also do have to hand it to the rest of the supporting cast as they also pull off really good performances throughout the show’s five seasons.

The more cartoony animation does really hammer home that Lower Decks doesn’t take itself too seriously. But it definitely takes some getting used to as, if you picture Star Trek, you don’t really think of animated characters with oversized heads and bulging round eyeballs, do you? Once you get used to the art style, however, you can’t really picture Lower Decks looking like anything else. In fact, I do think the simple art style does help the show a lot as it allows the viewer to focus more on the dialogue, the vocal performances, humor and the story of each episode, which are really strong.

As great as the series is overall, Lower Decks doesn’t start out strong as the first season is just “good,” as in it’s nothing incredible. Things do get better by the middle of the second season so, if you do go watch the first season and feel it’s not for you, I do suggest you stick it out until the mid-point of the second season as that’s when Lower Decks really finds its footing as to where to take the series.

Bottom-line: do I recommend you watch Star Trek: Lower Decks? Yes… but with a teeny tiny caveat. If you’re even remotely knowledgeable of the Star Trek franchise, which is probably most of you people reading this, you do owe it to yourself to find a way to see this show. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while and it’s a great but rather sarcastic love letter to Star Trek as a whole. Even if you know just a smidge of sci-fi tropes, it’s still going to be a really good show. But, if you have no clue about what a Star Trek even is or you wholeheartedly believe the earth is flat and covered by an impenetrable dome, making it impossible to ever escape the planet, which is, I’m hoping, just a few of you, skip this. You wouldn’t want the aggravation.

Have you seen Star Trek: Lower Decks in its entirety? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!