I’ve been a Star Trek fan for most of my life, and this Onion video, released after the first J.J. Abrams installment in 2009, still made me laugh: “Trekkies Call New Star Trek Film ‘Fun and Watchable.’”
A lot of people, including J.J. Abrams, dislike Star Trek. In interviews, he stated that he never liked Trek and was attempting to make it more like Star Wars. (This was six years prior to the release of The Force Awakens.) After four years of no original Trek content, the reboot films were a breath of fresh air, and they did bring some new fans into the fold.
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Some of those novices would later dip their toe into the water of TV Trek and found that they did actually enjoy it a lot, despite its slower pace.
Despite the franchise’s strong TV track record with shows like TNG and DS9, the Paramount+ era has taken cues from the Abrams films, which isn’t surprising given executive producer Alex Kurtzman’s involvement. He co-wrote 2009’s Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness with Roberto Orci, and he collaborated with J.J.
Abrams on Alias and Fringe. Given the box office success of the Abramsverse films, putting him in charge makes sense, but it still made many long-time Trekkies groan, as we had hoped for a return to the type of shows we grew up watching.
After three seasons of heavy action on Discovery and one season of jaded grimdark on Picard, the first season of Lower Decks injected some levity back into the franchise, with parody that went up to, but not quite over the line. It couldn’t because it was meant to be canon.
It had to be compatible with TNG, DS9, and Voyager. So it packed in enough references to keep the Star Trek-centric Memory Alpha wiki addicts busy, while also indulging in old tropes like drunk Klingons, arena battles, and the occasional omnipotent being.
It also poked fun at the live-action Trek shows, such as how crew members always seem to die in the most low-tech ways, such as being impaled by spears, or how, of course, the holodeck is used for sex.
However, those references were always in a broader sense, framed in a “wouldn’t X be ridiculous” way that only long-term fans with extensive knowledge of the franchise would fully comprehend. That is, until this week’s episode when crew members from the USS Titan specifically mention the Enterprise D and its galactic cruise ship mentality.
Shakespearean tragedies and string quartets? What about peace talks? How boring compared to the Titan’s constant run-and-gun that seems to have stuck with them since last season. They value their work based on how exciting it is and believe that William Riker must have been bored to tears after being stuck on that ship for seven years.
Of course, TNG fans know that Riker’s life was anything but boring. He’s been locked up in a mental institution, trapped in an alternate future, and even had god-like powers for a brief period of time. And he enjoys playing his trombone in jazz concerts!
None of this slander sits well with Brad Boimler, a new crew member who transferred over from the USS Cerritos at the end of last season. The Titan’s pursuit of the dangerous Pakleds has the young lieutenant junior grade in a constant state of panic as he mans the flight conn position, a far cry from quietly toiling away on his old ship’s lower decks.
However, he recognizes that this is where the opportunities for advancement are, and he soon finds himself on an undercover mission with his fellow bridge crew. At the very least, it’s supposed to be undercover — the other Titans quickly get them involved in a shootout and face certain death.
That’s when Boimler seizes the opportunity to express his true feelings to his crewmates. “I’d love to be a part of a string quartet. I love how Riker spent his time on the Enterprise jamming on the trombone, catching love disease, acting in plays, and meeting his identical transporter clone Thomas.
That stuff may not seem as cool as what you guys do, but it’s all Starfleet.” His confession prompts similar confessions from the other team members before they find a way out in classic technobabble fashion.
For years, Star Trek has skirted the issue of whether Starfleet was a military force. It has naval ranks, and its ships are armed with phasers and photon torpedoes for defense. However, its stated purpose was exploration and other activities that aid in the integration of the vast Federation.
The Abrams films spent their entire runtime reacting to crisis after crisis — the crew didn’t begin an actual mission of exploration until the very end of Beyond, and there hasn’t been another film since to follow up on that.
Both DS9 and Discovery were involved in conflicts with the Klingon Empire. For its third season, the Enterprise crew ended up hunting down the Xindi with a cadre of trained soldiers on board. Even as Voyager struggled to return home, they were constantly accused of being a conquering force.
Lower Decks is our first look in a long time at a Starfleet dedicated to exploration, with the crew of the Cerritos specializing in “second contact,” or establishing communication and trade with planets that flashier ships like the Enterprise encounter on their adventures.
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So Lower Decks has always been a sort of commentary on Star Trek philosophy, but it’s never been as obvious as Brad Boimler saying, “I didn’t join Starfleet to get into phaser fights.” I volunteered to go exploring, to be out in space making new discoveries, and finding peaceful diplomatic solutions. That’s a daring move.”
The Onion video criticizes old-school Trek fans for acting as gatekeepers, wallowing in, and fetishizing things that others find boring. The new era of Trek has pushed the boundaries of what Star Trek can be, branching out into new genres and injecting a little action to satisfy modern audiences’ appetites.
Lower Decks, on the other hand, is the first time I’ve seen backlash from within the franchise. The show is essentially saying, “Sure, Star Trek can be exciting, but there’s a reason it’s so popular in the first place!” Let us hope that Alex Kurtzman is listening to future programs like Strange New Worlds.
