The Federation’s B-Team: ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Season One Recap
Star Trek: Lower Decks returns for its third season on August 25. Do you remember everything from the first season? Some of it is important!
Star Trek is not known for its quality animation – at least not prior to 2020. From 1973 to 1975, Star Trek: The Animated Series is all we have in the way of Trek toons. And Star Trek: The Animated Series is… fine. It gives us a giant clone of Spock! It features the original Enterprise captain Robert April! James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols do a billion voices! But the animation itself is not great and a bunch of the episodes are mediocre at best.
But in 2020, Star Trek: Lower Decks changes everything. After Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard give us serious, serialized stories, Lower Decks rolls in with a sense of humor and an obsession with obscure Trek references. There are two seasons of Lower Decks in the world and a third on the way. And since there are ongoing plots, we thought now is the right time for a refresher course.
Strap in, ensigns, here is a recap of Star Trek: Lower Decks season one!
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The What, Where, and When of Star Trek: Lower Decks
Star Trek: Lower Decks is a half-hour animated comedy series. It is set on the California class starship the USS Cerritos. And it’s set in the year 2380. The basic setup is this: the Cerritos is a backup starship that handles the less exciting missions. If the Enterprise handles the first contact, the Cerritos handles the second contact. Flagships handle the cowboy diplomacy and then California class ships do the paperwork.
But the big deal here is the “when”. The year 2380 puts the Cerritos crew one year out from the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. And while multiple Trek shows deal with what happens way after that movie, only Lower Decks deals with the immediate aftermath – and that’s a big deal.
What happens after Voyager gets home? What is Deep Space Nine like post-Dominion War? Is Riker the jazziest captain of all time on the Titan? These are all things that Lower Decks has the ability to answer.
However, the first season is predominantly about introducing the cast and their story. And with that in mind…
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The Main Cast of Lower Decks
There are four main characters in Star Trek: Lower Decks:
Brad Boimler is what happens if sucking up and tattling have a face. And yet, Boimler is, in many ways, our entry point into Star Trek: Lower Decks. He’s the first guy who wants to go on every mission, he extensively logs all his responsibilities for the day, and, technically speaking, he is Starfleet to the letter. Also, he has purple hair.
Beckett is Boimler’s opposite in almost every way. She is hardened, experienced, and, most importantly, she has no interest in moving up the ladder. Mariner likes to prank the senior staff, break every Starfleet regulation in the book, and then get drunk and pass out. But Mariner’s distrust of rules stems from a desire to be the best. Mariner’s big secret is that she is Cerritos Captain Carol Freeman’s daughter.
D’Vana Tendi is the newest ensign on the Cerritos. She is an Orion, which is a race of slave owners and pirates. But Tendy actually hates all those things which is why she joins Starfleet. Tendy loves science, she loves helping other outsiders feel at home, and she also loves reinventing the dog – as a treat. Tendy works in medical and reports to Dr. T’Ana.
Sam Rutherford is a cyborg with glitchy, Vulcan technology built into his brain. Like Tendy, Rutherford is optimistic, loves his job, and gets excited about helping people. Rutherford works for Lieutenant Commander Andy Billups, who is obsessed with. The cybernetic tech in Rutherford’s head sometimes makes him lose track of time and become a spontaneous badass.
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The Senior Staff
Carol Freeman is the captain of the Cerritos. She loves her daughter Beckett Mariner, but also hates how insubordinate she is. Freeman usually gets stuck with boring missions. In the first season, her best missions get canceled at the last minute and then replaced with responsibilities she has to scramble to prepare for.
Commander Jack Ransom is Freeman’s first officer. He is a mash-up of all Kirk, Riker, and Tom Paris’ worst traits. Ransom works out too much, sucks up too much, and is also a little too hot. Sometimes he is into Mariner and sometimes she is into him. But the two of them aren’t ever going to get together because that would be gross.
Lieutenant Shaxs is the Cerritos security chief. He is Bajoran which means he’s surly and angry all the time.
Doctor T’Ana is what happens if you take Leonard McCoy and make him into a cat lady. And by that, we mean she is literally a woman who is also a cat. T’Ana is also surly and angry all the time. In related news, she and Shaxs are low-key an item.
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What Happens in Season One?
The first season of Star Trek: Lower Decks is very episodic. It’s kind of hard to pin down the ongoing plots. However, there are a few which jump out.
The biggest plots surround promotion. Boimler, Tendy, and Rutherford all want to move up the ladder, but Mariner does not. Naturally, Mariner is made a lieutenant, a first officer, and even nearly leaves the Cerritos entirely. None of it sticks. Tendy and Rutherford both also nearly get transferred to a better ship but avoid it. Boimler, despite failing throughout the season, ultimately does get promoted and transferred to the USS Titan captained by William T Riker.
The other major plot involves Mariner’s relationship with her mother Captain Freeman. Mariner purposefully makes herself the villain around her mom because she doesn’t like responsibility. She also does not want anyone to know that Freeman is her mother. Unfortunately, at the end of the season, Boimler spills Mariner’s secret to the entire ship.
Tendy and Rutherford’s arcs essentially intertwine. They both spend most of the season overachieving like bandits. They both put their lives on the line. But in the end, it’s Rutherford who nearly dies. In the process, Rutherford loses all of his memories when his cybernetics are damaged, leaving Tendy responsible for helping him start all over again.
Also, Shaxs dies. It’s a bummer. Related to his sacrifice…
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The Villains
In addition to our heroes, there are a lot of antagonists, any of whom might return.
Fletcher is the worst ensign on the Cerritos. He lies, he steals, he’s lazy, and he blames other people for his mistakes. Our heroes get him fired, but he could come back at any time.
Rutherford creates a holodeck character named Badgey. Badgey is like Clippy, but Starfleet and evil. Rutherford rushes Badgey into completion accidentally making him sentient and angry. Badgey tries to kill Rutherford on multiple occasions while still viewing Rutherford as a father. Don’t be surprised if Badgey comes back.
Delta Shift are the ensigns who work while our heroes are asleep. They’re a bunch of jerks.
Peanut Hamper is the first Exocomp (which is basically a sentient machine) in Starfleet. She is a sneaky opportunist who manipulates Tendy into doing grunt work while she gets the rewards for doing the big stuff. Peanut Hamper also abandons the ship instead of saving it. Last we saw her, Peanut Hamper is drifting in the vacuum of space.
And finally, there are the Pakled. The Pakled are one-off villains on Star Trek: The Next Generation. They are idiots who steal other people’s technology. In the final episode of season one, we find out that the Pakleds have stolen everyone’s technology, are extremely powerful, and are seemingly bent on destroying the Federation.
That’s everything from Star Trek: Lower Decks season one. Next week we’ll be back talking about the Pakleds and their influence on the events of season two!
