Lower Decks season 2

[Ryujin]

The basic idea of covering such characters has been knocking around since the original "Lower Decks," episode of ST: TNG in 1994.

The pitch for the show came from Mike McMahan - whom folks might know as a former producer and head writer for Rick and Morty - he got an Emmy for "Pickle Rick" for those who are familiar. This was not a guy who needed The Orville to give him ideas for comedy Star Trek.

No, but there's a matter of knowing when the time is right and, to be honest, I'm a little surprised that time wasn't 1999 (The year that "Galaxy Quest" was released).

 

[Umbran]

No, but there's a matter of knowing when the time is right and, to be honest, I'm a little surprised that time wasn't 1999 (The year that "Galaxy Quest" was released).

So, back in 1999, everything was still broadcast, and 20+ episode seasons were still the norm. DS9 had just ended, and I while I was watching it I don't think Voyager made folks feel that having a horde of Trek series was a great idea.

Lower Decks started moving in 2018 - the only Trek around was Discovery, which was a huge hit for CBS All Access. However, Discovery was a short season, and I think it looked like a collection of a few short-season shows might allow CBS to have more frequent new Trek to drive new subscriptions and retention - there was a while they were advertising 23 weeks with a new episode every week.

So, I think it came around because the business changed to allow it to exist.

 

[Dire Bare]

The season finale. Wow.

It's an animated comedy satire of Trek . . . but it was action-packed, tense, with high-stakes! It was classic Trek, plus Cetacean Ops!!!

 

[Ryujin]

The season finale. Wow.

It's an animated comedy satire of Trek . . . but it was action-packed, tense, with high-stakes! It was classic Trek, plus Cetacean Ops!!!

I wonder how many people have actually looked at the old deck plans

 

[Umbran]

I wonder how many people have actually looked at the old deck plans

 

[billd91]

I'd say that someone obviously saw "The Orville" and realized the bet that they were missing.

They don’t seem to claim any influence, however, the timing is reasonable for the Lower Decks creators to see Orville and realize the market is primed for Star Trek comedy.

 

[Umbran]

They don’t seem to claim any influence, however, the timing is reasonable for the Lower Decks creators to see Orville and realize the market is primed for Star Trek comedy.

Except... I don't think the market is actually primed for Trek (or general sci-fi) comedy. I say this as a fan of both shows - they were both very risky moves, and were more likely to flop than succeed for being comedy.