Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Lower Decks Crossover

The Lower Decks is a Star Trek animated series that focuses on the comedic antics of the low-ranking officers on an unimportant starship, the USS Cerritos.  This is Star Treks’ first animated series since the 1970s and the first one that focused on comedy.  The series takes place in the 24^th century, about 120 years after Strange New Worlds. So how do you do a crossover between an animated comedy series and a live action drama bringing cartoon characters into an episode of Strange New Worlds?  Well, you introduce a seemingly dormant portal that somehow gets activated and transports Brad Boimier (Jack Quaid) and Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) the buffoonish ensigns from the USS Cerritos back in time while the crew of the Enterprise is inspecting the portal.

Once on the Enterprise, the pair end up meeting their heroes, but forget that the history books and legends don’t always tell the full story, and with flagrant disregard for the temporal prime directive, the ensigns let slip several pieces of information about the future of the original crew of NCC-1701, the USS Enterprise.  The two also bring with them the manic energy and comedic timing that make them the stars of The Lower Decks. There is, of course, a couple of issues getting the couple back to their own time.  The first being that the element needed to reactivate the portal hasn’t been used in a very long time, making it a rare commodity and not something easily synthesized. The second issue is that the alien race known as the Orions show up and steal the portal.  So, it is up to Boimier to help the Enterprise, without giving away secrets from the future, return the portal to its original location without changing the timeline.  Can Boimier and Mariner undo all problems they have created without destroying their own future?  Watch and find out!

This was a fun episode that was well written and well directed by Next Generation alum Jonathan Frakes who competently combines the two shows into a cohesive storyline. The comedy is well done, and Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid do a fantastic job of bringing to life the characters that they voice in the animated series. The episode begins in the animated universe and even the usual Strange New Worlds opening credits were changed to an animated version.  The episode switches to live action once the bumbling ensigns go through the portal.  There is a fun ending scene where we get to see the Enterprise crew in animated form. Overall, I feel like the episode was successful in doing an enjoyable crossover episode adding levity to the dramatic series.  On a personal note, I found myself laughing at some of the jokes, but to be honest, I can only handle The Lower Decks crew and humor in small doses and after a very short period I find the characters more annoying than funny, and unfortunately that happened with this episode as well.  It is the main reason I am not a fan of that series, but if you are a fan of The Lower Decks then I can imagine that this was a highly enjoyable episode.