Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 Review
It’s amazing that “Star Trek” has so much of it that only a small percentage must be good by default. The beauty of Star Trek is the fact that so much of it must be bad, weird, or unexplainable by default.

Also Read: Star Trek: Picard Season 3 When? Release Date?

The final beauty of “Star Trek” is that both these elements are crucial to the franchise’s longevity. “Star Trek” has been around so long and has so many stories that you could easily spend a lot of your time talking about it, complaining about, and dissecting it without having to repeat yourself. Since 1966, “Star Trek” has been amazing, bad, strange, funny, moving, silly and stupid, profound, as well as obvious.

In other words, a parody/love letter like “Star Trek: Lower Decks” was inevitable because eventually, those who spent their time analyzing every detail of every show would be able to create their own “Star Trek” show. They would also realize that Star Trek deserves to be laughed at as much as it deserves.

Season 3 of Star Trek: Lower Decks sees the animated series continue the momentum it started in season 2. The jokes are funnier, the characters are always on-point, and while the storytelling is certainly silly, it’s very in line with “Star Trek” basic principles. While “Lower Decks” loves to laugh at “Star Trek”, it is even more fond of “Star Trek” itself.

Star Trek: A mundane dream come true

Season 2 ended with Captain Carol Freeman (Dawn Lewis) being tried for war crimes she didn’t commit. The new season continues where season 2 left off with the USS Cerritos’ overlooked, undervalued, and overworked ensigns trying to clear her name. However, don’t expect “Lower Decks” to be serialized. The season will soon return to one-off adventures with Beckett Mariner, Brad Boimler, Jack Quaid, D’Vana Tendi, Noel Wells, and Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), once again dealing in the often mundane but dangerous roles of lower decks crewmembers on Starfleet vessels.

The show’s structure is still beautiful. Stories about alien races and cosmic entities running wild intertwine with stories about conflicting social circles and inter-ship rivalries. There are also plots about social conflicts, inter-ship rivalries, and the controversial topic of who gets to sleep in the private rooms of a Starship and who stays in the public bunks.

In other words, “Lower Decks,” which is based around a brave bridge crew, keeps “Star Trek” alive by lifting up the unperturbed rocks to discover the small details that another series wouldn’t be able to. It is witty and funny, and the characters wouldn’t trade their position on a Starship for anything. This show is produced by people who dreamed about Star Trek their whole lives. Even the most difficult job on a starship can be a dream.

Small stories, big scope

Although “Lower Decks’” primary purpose is to tell stories about lower-ranking crew members, it also has a unique trick: great animation. The series is no different in static shots from “Ricky and Morty” and “Solar Opposites.” (The former is where Mike McMahan, creator of “Lower Decks”, began his career, while the latter is where McMahan serves as co-showrunner). The series is breathtaking to watch in motion. The grand starships are beautifully rendered, the vast expanses of space seem alive with beauty, danger and adventure, and action sequences, creatures and other effects are all realized at a scale that would exceed any budget for a live-action series like “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.”

You’d be amazed at the sloppy decisions made by a live-action Trek series if they did an episode on a mysterious alien weapon which realizes crew’s fears and desires (as seen in season 3). “Lower Decks,” a silly comedy series, can run wild on an enormous scale. The smallest “Trek”, small-scale show uses its medium to its advantage and tells small stories of great scope. There is a beautiful irony in that. Season 3’s “Lower Decks,” a new animated series, focuses more on the animation, creating huge worlds and bizarre cultures, and sometimes rebuilding beloved characters and locations out of digital paint. This is a way for “Trek”, a live-action show, to do what “Trek” cannot.

Star Trek: Off the beaten track, but still within reach

Although “Star Trek: Lower Decks” season 3, in many ways, is the same as the previous seasons, there are two episodes that show the show moving in different, but equally enjoyable directions. As teased in the trailer this season will return to “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” which is a nostalgic bomb for “Trek” fans who long for that shady locale and its deeply wounded cast. The episode doesn’t focus on guest stars, although two of the “Deep Space Nine” cast members do return to voice their characters.

Instead, it uses the station as the backdrop for a story about the core “Lower Decks” cast. While the nostalgia, the Easter eggs and the funny references are all there (the Cerritos crew loves Deep Space Nine just as much as any “Trek” fan), it never becomes the main point of the episode. (wheatonsportcenter.com) “Lower Decks” knows we want to return home to these amazing locations and their characters, but is able to incorporate them into the current show. This is a great example of the show’s strengths.

Another episode breaks the format in a big way. It focuses on a minor supporting cast member and their increasingly bizarre adventure on an alien world. It’s a huge swing that recalls “Avatar”, “Wall-E” and “Star Trek.” The story often takes comedy out of the picture to paint a touching portrait about an alien planet and its inhabitants (but don’t worry, there’s also a hair-raising gag about interspecies mating). It’s bold. It’s weird. It’s funny. It’s also serious. It wants to tell science fiction stories, damn it. It wants to be “Star Trek.”

There is a confident air about the show, which is a sign that its writers and animators realize they cannot help but be proud of their work. They’re there to make a comedy series. They’re also creating “Star Trek.” They aren’t wrong to pause and enjoy the humor of the universe they love. Paramount+ will premiere “Star Trek: Lower Decks”, season 3 on August 25, 2015. Weekly new episodes are added. This review is based upon the first eight episodes.