with Jim Moorhouse and Ken Reilly
Star Trek makes a triumphant return to the world of animation with the premiere of Lower Decks and its pilot episode, the aptly-named “Second Contact.” Combining some glorious nostalgia, deep-cut references sure to satisfy the most ardent Star Trek fan, episodic storytelling, and a plethora of humor and smarts, Lower Decks is a triumph right out of the gate.
Having had the opportunity to view the first four episodes of the season so far, we’re pleased to report “Second Contact” is not a fluke. Lower Decks succeeds as both a Star Trek show and as an animated comedy, and we’re excited to see where this show goes next.
Unlike its most recent predecessors in the Secret Hideout-era — Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard — Lower Decks does not shy away from or work to reimagine or ‘modernize’ certain elements of Star Trek’s history. Instead, it revels in what has come before.
From the cold open of “Second Contact,” complete with establishing shots of the USS Cerritos, docked at a classic movie-era Starbase, to an opening “captain’s log,” to the overall look and feel of the ship, this show oozes nostalgia for Berman-era Trek from its pores from the opening shots.
Series creator and showrunner Mike McMahan — and his team — are not just huge Star Trek fans — they are comedy pros, too. And while humor can be extremely subjective, I found the jokes worked across all four of the episodes we got the chance to preview. This is a funny show, accentuating the things we love about Star Trek — all while living up the promise of not just being a brilliant comedy as well.
“Second Contact” introduces us to our series leads – Ensigns Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells), and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero). Newsome and Quaid immediately establish themselves and jump off the screen in this episode; Newsome’s performance as Mariner in particular is dripping with a sly charisma that makes the character extremely compelling.
Lower Decks is structured like classic episodes of The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine: a strong A-story, with B and C-stories supporting the main plot. In this episode, the A-story very much focuses on Mariner and Boimler; the latter of which is given an assignment by Captain Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) to keep an eye on Mariner’s rule breaking ways.
The B-story, which sweeps up Tendi, involves a hilarious outbreak of a zombie-like rage virus aboard the USS Cerritos and gives us our first major exposure to the ship’s senior staff: first officer Commander Jack Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) and Doctor T’Ana (Gillian Vigman), the Caitian doctor who is likely to cement herself as a fan favorite.
Finally, the C-story involves Rutherford going on a date with a fellow officer, but ultimately breaking things off because his romantic partner was more interested in love instead of the fact an access hatch was in need of maintenance. Given the primary focus on Mariner and Boimler in the pilot, it may take an episode or two more for Tendi and Rutherford to fully establish their characters, but I like what I’m seeing to this point.
The Lower Decks score, composed by Trek newcomer Chris Westlake, hearkens back to the bombastic riffs of ’90s-era television adventures, a welcome throwback and instantly feels familiar and lived in. The composer, who also scored McMahan’s just-debuted Hulu series Solar Opposites, also gets a shout-out in the episode as Ensign Tendi’s boss, Nurse Westlake.
As for the show’s title sequence, it hilariously plays off the sweeping scope of the Star Trek: Voyager opening visuals, with the Cerritos haphazardly encountering a black hole, colliding with a comet, and high-tailing it away from a Romulan/Borg skirmish, among other troubles along the way — leading into the episode title, which returns to the on-screen credits for the first time since Star Trek: Enterprise.
It’s a perfect way to introduce viewers to a Trek comedy that cares about the Trek universe.
Trek Trope Tributes
- Mariner says senior officers are always “yelling about directives,” and later that “Klingons are always making oaths.”
- Ransom is bit on the planet by an insect, and as he returns to the ship says, “I’ll be fine” when he is encouraged to “get that looked at it.” Sure, Ransom. You’ll be fine.
- When Boimler is injured, Mariner dismisses it quickly by saying, “You’ll be fine. Doc will wave a light over it.”
- The rage virus cure is released through the Cerritos‘ ventilation system to cure everyone instantaneously.
- Ensign Barnes refers to the songs of The Monkees as “classical” music, just as McCoy categorized the Beastie Boys in Star Trek Beyond.
- After coming up with the cure, Captain Freeman tells Dr. T’Ana she’ll get “to publish more award-winning research,” a classic Trek poke at senior staff always talking about awards and commendations throughout Trek.
- After things have calmed down, Rutherford references the rage virus by saying to Tendi “that stuff happens all the time.”
Aliens Spotted (and Spotted Aliens)
- A Benzite, seen multiple times in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine — most prominently in the TNG episodes “Coming of Age” and “A Matter of Honor” — is present at Tendi’s arrival on the Cerritos.
- One of the crew members who boards the Cerritos with Tendi is an Andorian, marking the first appearance of the race in Lower Decks. Andorians have been frequently seen on Star Trek since Star Trek: Enterprise — appearing in Discovery and Picard as well — and it’s fair to say you’ll be seeing more of them in this series as the season progresses.
- Ensign Barnes, Rutherford’s date — and one of the helm officers aboard the Cerritos — is a Trill, the spotted-skin race made famous by Jadzia and Ezri Dax in Deep Space Nine. It is unclear if she is joined, but her father is “part cyborg.”
- One of the Cerritos’ away team members is a Bolian, the first appearance of the race in their traditional blue appearance since Ensign Chell on the USS Voyager — but we did see a holographic red Bolian in Picard this season.
- As Ensign Tendi join the Cerritos with a few other Starfleet personnel, we see what appears to be a half-Klingon Starfleet ensign joining the crew, too.
- Of course, Ensign Tendi is the first Orion regular in Star Trek history; the green-skinned race made its debut all the way back in “The Cage”, with subsequent appearances in the Original Series, Enterprise, Discovery, and the Kelvin Timeline films.
Canon Connections
Standard Starbase
Douglas Station, the starbase the USS Cerritos is docked at the opening of the episode, matches the design for Space Dock, which was first seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and used as several additional starbases in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
VISOR Vision
Two crewmen are seen wearing a Geordi LaForge-style VISOR in this episode – the first when Tendi arrives aboard the shuttle on the Cerritos, and the second as a member of the Galadonian landing party.
An Engineer and His Tools
When first introduced, Rutherford has an open toolkit filled with tools that match those seen on other 24th century Star Trek shows, including Miles O’Brien’s toolkit in Deep Space Nine.
Starfleet Luggage
Classic 24th century luggage design is still the fashion in 2380, as Tendi carries a cylindrical case that is shaped like those first seen back in “11001001” in TNG’s first season.
Cetacean Ops
Boimler mentions Cetacean Ops as one of the coolest places on the ship. Previously only mentioned in dialogue in “Yesterday’s Enterprise” and hinted at in “The Perfect Mate,” the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual and establishes Cetacean Ops as important to navigation aboard a starship, manned by dolphin crewmen.
The Coolest Places On the Ship
Mariner, Tendi, and Boimler visit the holodeck. This is the first time the holodeck has appeared in its Next Generation appearance — plain black walls with a yellow grid pattern — since the Enterprise series finale “These Are the Voyages…”
Boimler, however, loves the USS Cerritos‘ warp core, the first traditional vertical warp core, complete with pulsating thumping sound, seen since Star Trek: Nemesis.
Bar Wear & Barware
The waiters aboard the USS Cerritos are wearing the same green colored uniforms as the waiters in Ten Forward on the USS Enterprise — in addition, many of the drinking glasses are right out of Guinan’s inventory.
Pattern Enhancers
The Cerritos’ away teams beam down to the planet with the help of standard 24th century pattern enhancers, like the ones featured throughout 90s era Trek and first seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Power Play.”
Argo Buggy
On the planet’s surface, Mariner and Boimler travel around using the Argo buggy, whose first and only previous appearance was in Star Trek Nemesis.
cha’DIch, baby!
Mariner nominates herself Boimler’s new “mentor” and goes on to say she is now his cha’DIch. Picard served as Worf’s cha’DIch in a much more serious scenario where Worf was facing discommendation from the Klingon High Council. (TNG: “Sins of the Father.”)
Starfleet Bureaucracy
The Galardonian farmers that Mariner decides to help with some extra equipment because they “can’t afford to wait for Starfleet bureaucracy to notice them” are reminiscent of the forgotten Bajoran refugees Ensign Ro introduces Captain Picard to in “Ensign Ro.”
Mariner’s Shore Leave Haul
Mariner’s collection of items she gathered on Shore Leave at Douglas Station includes a Klingon bat’leth, a glavin weapon from Ligon II (“Code of Honor”) and a Saurian brandy bottle.
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Other Observations
- The California-class USS Cerritos has a number of references to its namesake including the California state flag on the wall of Captain Freeman’s ready room, and the fleet of Type 6-A shuttlecraft named after California’s parks – Redwood, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, Death Valley, and King’s Canyon. (Plus, Boimler is from Modesto, CA, as well.)
- The first-seen Sikh Starfleet officer is on duty in the shuttlebay as Tendi first arrives on board.
- Captain Freeman’s ready room contains all the accouterments one would expect from the captain’s private sanctuary, including historical items such as a sextant, a model of the ship, a service cap like the one Pike had in his quarters in “The Cage,” and an ammonite like one seen in Picard’s ready room on the Enterprise-E.
- There are references to the following Starfleet regulations: 498, 756, 25, 15, 348 and 76, as well as General Order No. 5.
- Mariner’s declaration to Boimler and her lower decks crewmates at the end of the episode includes references to Spock coming back from the dead in Star Trek III, the Genesis device and Khan from Star Trek II, whales from Star Trek IV, Sulu rocking a sword in “The Naked Time,” Kirk, Worf, Gary Mitchell, and Deanna Troi’s famous jumpsuit wardrobe.
“Second Contact” is a fun and funny beginning to the latest Star Trek series, combining humor and smarts into a self-contained episode that capably establishes the characters and their dynamics. Based on this episode, and the three that come after — “Envoys,” “Temporal Edict,” and “Moist Vessel” — prepare to be left breathless by the series as it progresses.
And because this is Star Trek — and ultimately, the characters ascend above the story — perhaps the most consequential reveal of the episode is the one at the end; Ensign Mariner is actually Captain Freeman’s daughter, who she has been trying to get reassigned because their relationship is strained.
It will be interesting to see how that dynamic develops over the remainder of Lower Decks’ first season — and something we discuss with series showrunner Mike McMahon in our new one-on-one interview with the writer, coming to TrekCore later this week.
There are nine more episodes to air this season, and the Lower Decks production team are hard at work scripting Season 2 now. We are strapped in and excited for the ride ahead: it’s warp time!
What did you think of “Second Contact”? Share your thoughts on the Star Trek: Lower Decks premiere in the comments below!