We love to joke about the disaster humans (and disaster Vulcans, Klingons, Bajorans, Bolians, liberated Borgs, and so on) that make up the myriad crews of Star Trek shows. Sure they’re professionals, but they’re messy and goofy too, just like us! Well, the animated Lower Decks trailer reveals what would happen if you put actual disaster people aboard a starship, and it’s pretty great.
CBS has given us our first solid look at Mike McMahan’s comedic take on the Star Trek universe with a first trailer, giving us a peek at the heroes we’ll meet aboard the USS Cerritos, a Starfleet vessel exploring the universe circa 2380.
Well, “heroes.” While there is a brave, heroic Star Trek bridge crew getting into all the sci-fi action aboard the Cerritos, and we do get to see them here, we’re really much more interested in Lower Deck’s actual stars: Ensigns Mariner (voiced by Tawny Newsome), Boimler (Jack Quaid), Tendi (Noël Wells), and Rutherford (Eugene Cordero). They’re the newly assigned officers who find themselves promptly flung into Star Trek nonsense while also being dumped in the titular lower decks of the ship.
Part of the reason for that is they’re Ensigns, of course—unless you’re Harry Kim and stranded zillions of light-years away in another quadrant, Ensigns aren’t really the people who go about saving the day on Star Trek. But also? These people are just adorably disastrous, especially Mariner and Boimler, who act exactly as we’d expect eager young hopefuls on their first assignment would, a heady mix of being complete messes and also just very happy to be aboard spaceships, playing with weird and wonderful tech, and occasionally getting to hang out with the big leagues on the bridge.
It’s not going to be for everyone—especially those who would prefer a Trek that takes itself a little more seriously—but Lower Decks looks like it takes some of that gleeful camp and silliness that’s always been part of the franchise and cranks it all the way up to eleven. It’s recognizably Trek, even if it’s boldly gone all the way into absurdity.
Star Trek: Lower Decks begins on CBS All Access August 6.
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