The support crew serving on one of Starfleet's least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, have to keep up with their duties, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.
The show's at its strongest when it sticks most closely to its premise: background Trek characters going about their days, intersecting with the glamorous bridge crew only glancingly, if at all.
The first episode of Lower Decks isn't perfect... But, because "Second Contact" has narrowed the focus of Star Trek, it's actually made the stories less about those space zombies and more about the characters.
Lower Decks is amusing but slight, and needs a clearer course forward to demonstrate whether the angle it brings to Star Trek has singularity or longevity.
Although Star Trek: Lower Decks isn't about to break any new ground in ethical and philosophical discourse, it has a good time and presents a fresh take on the world of Trek.
Lower Decks finds a lot about the long-running sci-fi franchise worthy of lampooning, but mostly it's a fun, imaginative and clever look at this beloved universe from a very different perspective.
It's a smooth and zippy package, but it doesn't register very strongly as either a geekfest or a transgressive satire. Which is another way of saying it's not all that funny. Wherever it's going, it's not doing it very boldly.
When I watch Star Trek I always hope for awe... Lower Decks is a lot of things: fun, raucous, adult in language but not in emotional landscape. But it's also too cool to aim for awe.
As a result, the show fails to distinguish itself, even as it is well-animated and performed... In most cases, that's fine. But there are moments when Lower Decks, entirely in passing, makes jokes that suggest an altogether more interesting show.
Maybe it could serve that purpose for the children that parents are hoping will follow the philosophies of Roddenberry, but kids may wonder why mom and dad ever liked "Star Trek" in the first place.
There's a lived-in feeling to the comedy too, like it emerges organically from actual storytelling that continues the particular '90s-style exploration of the galaxy we saw on "Next Gen" and "Deep Space Nine."
