Star Trek: Lower Decks is the tenth TV series to air, and only the second animated Trek series, after The Animated Series with the original cast in 1973. Lower Decks takes place in the 24th century, about two years after the end of Star Trek: Voyager. The show focuses on the antics of the low-ranking crew on the California-class USS Cerritos, and these lower-deckers are often not privy to everything that's happening on the missions their ship embarks upon. This series is at least partially inspired by the TNG episode TNG 7x15: Lower Decks, which focused on the lives of the low-ranking crew of the USS Enterprise‑D.

Now, I have to admit that Lower Decks is not my jam. I don't dislike it, it's just not my thing – and I know that's just a “me” thing, because the show is very popular. Still, I don't think the show ever really landed on what it wanted to be: a bona fide Trek offering or an unserious Trek self-parody. And so, it tried to do both in a balance that was... unpolished. As such, I found it very difficult to rate the individual episodes in this series. With so many callbacks to previous Trek, I wondered how I might rate this show on its own merits, pretending that I had never seen any Star Trek shows before. That would, at least, eliminate the tendency to rate certain episodes higher just because they contain more fan service.

However, I quickly determined that I'd likely be unable to fully dismiss every show I've already watched, and that this show should be rated as much on its own originality as its ability to successfully incorporate references to previous shows. Overall, I don't think the show went far enough in taking advantage of its format, its ability to bring back beloved actors in voice, and its comedy genre as a vehicle to follow-up on perhaps some unintentionally-silly choices from previous Trek shows. And as for trying to be its own thing, I think Lower Decks fell a bit short there, too. They did introduce some memorable and enjoyable recurring characters like Badgey and Peanut Hamper, and they tried to add some additional new mythos to the universe in the form of the “black mountain” and the Koala entity... but then in their fifth and final season, they swept all that off the table and forgot about it, leaving those threads without a satisfying conclusion. I think the most interesting story thread was the one about Rutherford's implants, but that was wrapped up at the end of Season 3.

The show's half-hour episode runtime and short 10-episode seasons leaves this entire series with less material than a single season of its 24th-century predecessors. Considering that and its other shortcomings – while this show definitely gave me some good laughs along the way and it does have its merits – I just don't think that this series lives up to its potential.