Original-Cin Q&A: As Star Trek Lower Decks Lands for Good, Cast Members Recall Best Moments
By John Kirk
Star Trek: Lower Decks is the animated story of the support crew of the USS Cerritos, a California-class vessel assigned to dreariest of Starfleet duties: making second contact. That means running supply missions, maintenance on backwater sensor posts in the forgotten regions of Federation territory and other menial tasks. Created by former Rick & Morty writer Mike McMahan, this animated series saw humour manifest as the real final frontier that no Trek show had ever really explored.
Season Five marks the end of an originally comical run of Star Trek and it’s sad to say goodbye to the show that took a less than reverential attitude to Trek. Of course, while not for all fans, Lower Decks brought a fresh perspective to Trek that reinforces the Star Trek ideal of infinite diversity in infinite combinations (IDIC). Whatever its legacy may be, Original-Cin had a chance to reach out to the principal cast members of the show to get them to share some of their best memories.
Read our review of Lower Decks Season 5
Favourite Character Growth Moments
We asked the cast to talk about what they thought was their characters’ best moments of growth from Season One to Five.
Tawny Newsome (Beckett Mariner): “I’m going to go with Episode 409 when we learn about Mariner’s time at the academy with Nick Locarno and her connection to Seto Jaxa. It was just such an intelligent way to tie it back to the impetus for this whole thing, which was also the episode in TNG which was Mike McMahans’ favourite episode. It was a very artful thing that told us something deeper about this character, but it also tied Lower Decks into larger canon. Pretty smart for a little 22-minute cartoon, I have to say.”
Eugene Cordero (Sam Rutherford): “Rutherford had a big growth moment in the “Reflections” episode (Episode 305) where he met his red Rutherford, the younger version. In there, he learns more about himself and about why it’s great he is the way that he is. Why positivity and friendships make him such a great engineer and a great human. That was a huge moment for him and it’s always nice to play the evil version of yourself!”
Jack Quaid (Brad Boimler): “Boimler has an episode in Season 3 where he gets his own version of the Crisis point movie (Episode 302 – “Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus”) and he has to deal with the death of his clone and comes face to face with his own mortality. It was a very deep storyline for a character who screams all the time. I really enjoyed that and I think Boimler learned some very important lessons.”
Noël Wells (D’Vana Tendi): “Tendi … I feel like she had a lot of growth; testing how her leadership skills actually pan out in reality. So: last season (Season 4). She had a lot of ideas of what was right and wrong. She’s going to make things different and better, but it doesn’t turn out the way she had thought. She had plans but she keeps going. She’s like ‘crap – I didn’t get that one right’ but she continues her mission of like injecting reality with we’re not going to do things the same way? So, I liked that. The terms of her testing reality for what she wants to create.”
Favourite Character Cameos
One of Lower Decks’ schticks is the appearances of former Trek actors throughout the seasons. It’s had an impressive list of guest actors that boasted original talents like Kether Donohue, Colton Dunn and even Haley Joel Osment. But when an actor reprises a role from a former incarnation of Trek like Marina Sirtis, Wil Wheaton, or even Alice Krige, then fan minds are blown.
Tawny: “Armin Shimerman as Quark and Nana Visitor as Major Kira!”
Eugene: “I love that Garrett (Wang) is in this season. The way’s he used is so awesome. It’s in the trailer so I’m not giving anything away!”
Jack: “Boimler gets to meet a version of Sulu (George Takei) in the holodeck and that was a very cool moment where he got to learn even more about life.”
Noël: “Oh no, this season is my favourite cameo appearances, so I don’t want to spoil it!”
Jack: “Oh, and one more! We have to give a shout-out to Frakes! He was always our favorite cameo, but his version of Riker in Lower Decks is the best!”
Lower Decks’ Contribution to the Star Trek Franchise
At the end of it all, we asked the cast what they thought that Lower Decks had given to the Star Trek franchise.
Tawny: “It made extreme weirdness OK and in-canon. Trek has always been the weirdest franchise. They are the strangest fans but I love them.”
Jack: “I just love that it’s brought animation back to the Star Trek franchise. It’s not the first animated show obviously, but I’ve always been such a big fan of animation and I just love that it’s getting its due. You have a moment where Tawny and I as animated characters got to cross over to a live-action Trek show was awesome.”
Noel: “I feel like it’s brought a love letter into the franchise that in a way we can actively love it in a bigger, warmer way.”
Eugene: “And we’re all in canon! All our silly stuff!”
Star Trek has a tradition of contributing to pop culture. Transporters, holograms, theoretical space travel – all of these are familiar to even the least aware of science fiction entertainment. This is the legacy that the various manifestations of Trek have left over the five decades of its existence. Lower Decks, however, gave fans a unique gift. Not only were fans able to be entertained by their favourite fandom, but they were also given permission to have fun with it.
Tawny left this final thought:
“It has blown open the doors for a lighter tone of Star Trek. Not that Trek wasn’t funny before, but the silly moments were isolated or stood in contrast. This has given a stamp of approval to a broader tone, a more tongue-in-cheek tone that still very earnest. It’s given us a whole new avenue to play in.”
Fun and play. It won’t be just the cast who will remember that, it’ll be the fans as well.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season Five streams two episodes on Paramount Plus and on CTV’s Sci-Fi Channel October 24.