I’ve gotta be honest, I couldn’t disagree more strongly with the underlying premise of this article that Lower Decks did not
[pay] respect to the source material without tearing it down or belittling it
I always found the humour of Lower Decks to be incredibly respectful to the source material. Like a loving wink to fans of Trek. (Very different from that other recent space comedy show which comes across as a mean-spirited parody of Trek.)
That said, the show they say Trek should replicate, Powerless, was really underrated. As a fan of DC who has been disappointed with most of DC’s live action stuff recently, Powerless was funny and clever and it did indeed poke fun in a friendly way at superhero tropes. It also happens to be possibly the last appearance of Adam West before his passing.
Anyone who tries to say Lower Decks wasn’t respectful of the heart of Trek, just was not paying attention at all.
I think a lot of people assume they know what classic trek is about without even watching it. Hence the surprise when they realize that it’s “woke”.
I agree on all counts.
Lower Decks is a five-season love letter to Trek and fandom. It sometimes even manages to hit pretty hard. And the crossover with Strange New Worlds is my favorite Trek episode ever, and I’ve been literally watching Trek since I was a baby (my mom is a big fan, and watched the original series all the time when I was a kid. It was a relief when Next Gen came out, because, yay, new Trek!). “Those Old Scientists” was a joyous celebration of Trek fandom on every level.
As for Powerless, yes, it was massively underrated. It was a tribute to superheroes and how ridiculous they are while still being loving toward them. It was a shame we didn’t get more of that series.
That particular website tends to trade in ragebait, so I can’t say I’m surprised.
Totally agree with you. One of the things that I love about LDS is that it’s not just by and for fans of the show - that’s more or less a given with any longstanding franchise - but that it’s about fans of the show.
[Spoiler tag here because I’m talking about the most recent episode and I know some people won’t be caught up yet!]
spoiler
My favourite scene in the most recent episode was Mariner geeking out over getting to hang out with Data. It worked because that’s how we’d all react if we got to hang out with Data. ‘Aw, respect. I’d go back for Geordi, too’ was a fantastic line because it was both funny and felt completely real to all the TNG fans.
Personally I loved
Spoilers LDS S05E07 Fully Dilated
Mariner’s obsession with Picard’s experience in The Inner Light.
For comedic value the way they did it was perfect, but I can’t help but wish we could have seen more of her experience during the episode.
So did Set macfarlane, it’s called “The Orville” and it’s amazing
Ah yeah, that’s the one. I forgot the name. But it’s exactly what I was talking about when I said the other space comedy felt “mean-spirited”.
