Amph "Warp Me!" - Star Trek: Lower Decks [Paramount+ Animated Series]

Anyone going to watch this show watched Rick and Morty? Cuz I think we're definitely getting Rick and Morty as the closest comparison (writer who worked on the show and all, and also the Solar opposites show which was co-created by Dan Harmon, rick and morty co-creator). Also Rick and Morty is top tier animated sci-fi comedy up there with pre-Fox cancellation Futurama. (Futurama's return was ok... it kinda dipped in the last 2 seasons but their for real series finale was great). Admittedly, animated sci-fi adult comedy is a bit of a narrow field but it has pretty high standards.

 

I thought it was pretty great

 

Yeah, I just finished watching Second Contact and it was pretty fun. It wasn’t ROFL funny, but there were some decent chuckles and definitely the potential for some good recurring gags, like Rutherford’s bionic implant constantly trying to suppress his emotions because it was programmed by a Vulcan.

 

I was a fan too, definitely on the Rick and Morty side minus the nihilism but you see a lot of it in there, the lightspeed pace and even line delivery is very close in the vibe, and there were some pretty hilarious qupis in there ("I was on a Klingon Prison Planet and fought a Yeti for my shoes! He didn't even need it, he was just being a ****!" is probably my favourite line, like ever). But there was actually, surprisingly, some character development! in a 24 minute pilot! now that's efficient! (Seriously, when do pilot episodes ever have character development - it's mostly just setting the stage -, that was a nice surprise)

Spoiler

like the dynamic between Mariner and Boimer is very R&M, she is very smart and has seen it all while Boimer is the naive one she keeps trying to talk about how the world is run. Also she's introduced as boozed up (Rick and Morty pilot episode scene 1) and the final scene has Mariner going off on a rambling rant about how many adventures they're going to have while the other person groans (Rick and Morty pilot episode final scene). Not quite bordering on copy and paste copyright infringement but the influence is definitely easy to spot.

The title sequence is actually a fun parody of Trek title sequences, the dynamic ship shots but except the ship keeps crashing into stuff or in the heroic attack of the Borg vs. Romulans the ship takes one shot and then immediately turns around and jumps away.

I like all the characters and nobody actively got on my nerves, maybe Mariner was starting to get there but she became more snarky Rick Sanchez as the episode goes on and the final reveal that she is literally the Captain's daughter (and her dad is an Admiral!) was really smart. I also liked how Boimer developed over the pilot where he won't rat her out to the Captain, especially after she says in her log how the actions of her bridge crew were what saved the day, when it was really Bomier's goo. (the goo! "He's useless! it's the goo!")

Maybe canon bending is that the lower decks crew are literally sleeping in a hallway in bunks near the communal shower but considering the naval influence on Star Trek that's not entirely implausible. Maybe that's just for the smaller Second Contact type of crews.

the First Officer being bitten by a bug that unleashes a zombie virus also seems very R&M, like the one where they were infected in the house with false memory characters who kept replicating. Even kind of the same gag in both episodes Rick/Mariner makes a quip about washing your hands to avoid infection.

I'd say also tonally this is close to Orville inasmuch that the sci-fi world and rules and stakes are treated seriously legit but its the responses of the characters that are funny. Like the two characters being excited about a system malfunction that needed analysis or the borked food replicator that kept spitting out hot bananas

The internet seems mad at it but I remain steadfastly befuddled what ticks the internet off as they were mad at Discovery and Picard too. But this is definitely more fun than expected. And, c'mon, I just love this shot



How can you hate on that, it's super fun.

 

The part in the opening credits where the Cerritos takes one hit from the battle and flies off made me fall in love with the show instantly lol

 

I wonder how long it will be before somebody mashes up the Lower Decks title sequence with the Galaxy Quest theme. I have a feeling that they’d be a surprisingly good fit.

 

The pilot was pretty bland and generic, like a later Futurama episode. The best thing is that it has by far the best opening music of new Trek. The writers clearly have knowledge of lore but most of the jokes just weren't funny. I chuckled at "banana, hot."

 

Feels like they're kneecapping themselves in modern day not providing an in for international audiences ONLY because they plan to relaunch their streamer. Give people a reason to care about that by letting them see the content.

 

it's interesting that CBSAA is thinking about expanding internationally but right now in Canada I can buy a CBSAA subscription ... without any Star Trek content. that is all bought by Bell with Discovery/Picard/Lower Decks being a pinnacle of CTV Sci-Fi channel (it's basically the Star Trek channel 5 days a week), and all of them are on the Crave streaming app (even before they hit CTV Sci-Fi). I even saw the pilot episode of Lower Decks on the Bell owned Much channel on Sunday! Twice! I think Bell is fine with coughing up the dough to keep Star Trek running on their services, (all of the non CBSAA Trek shows are on there too, but they're also on Netflix Canada and if I want to watch a random Trek episode I'd rather watch it on Netflix than Crave). So I don't know if CBSAA would try to hold onto the other Trek shows in development to get subs in Canada. Somehow I hope that Bell will keep shelling out for it and I get to watch new Lower Decks episode tomorrow.

 

We generally liked it. Honestly, the second of the main characters (the "irreverent, busted-down legacy") was our least favorite -- with the Orion ensign our favorite. On "Are yu kidding... I GOT TO HOLD A HEART IN MY HANDS!" I turned to Mavis and said "okay, so she's you..."

Needs some work, but solid premise.

 

Mariner was too high energy for me. She needs to come down a bit to avoid getting grating. The others have promise. Some of the side characters like the doctor were pretty good.

But this wasn't a show I would continue watching based on the pilot. I'll give it a few more episodes but I'm not sure I'll stick with it and may end up watching it all in one sitting down the road.

 

First episode is available on YouTube for a limited time. No region lock, yada yada.

 

It was in the middle of that transition period of specials that lead to Tennant handing the TARDIS over to Smith. SyFy (or Sci-Fi as it was called at the time) ended it's DW run with S4's official finale "Journey's End." in 2008 and didn't air the Tennant specials, going into reruns of previous eps until the BBCAmerica deal was about to start (should be noted during this time BBCA did air Torchwood, which as I've noted elsewhere was my gateway to Who). The BBCA deal started in July 2009 with a special airing of the previous Christmas Special that SyFy hadn't aired and preceded to play the remaining specials until the Ten/Eleven regeneration eps happened over Christmas/New Year's Eve of 2009/2010.

Also BBCA started airing DS9 episodes about a year ago or so, so I don't think the BBCA deal with Star Trek is up anytime soon.

 

And syndication on broadcast/cable TV is still the most lucrative for television studios.

 

And now it's unavailable? (At least in the UK)