The expansion of the Star Trek brand via the CBS All Access streaming service has been pretty successful for me so far with its various projects. We learned back in 2018 that they’d given a two-season order for Star Trek: Lower Decks, an animated series that’s coming from Mike McMahan. A long-time fan of the overall property, he’s got a lot of clout to work with as he was the head writer of Rick & Morty as well as the executive producer.
The fourth season saw a September 7th, 2023 premiere with a fifth-season renewal already put in place, the focus at the moment is on the home video release for the fourth season. That’s now been set for an April 16th, 2024 release and will be priced at $25.36.
Extras include:
- Audio Commentary by Jack Quaid, Mike McMahan, and Brad Winters (Ep. 401)
- Audio Commentary by Tawny Newsome, Noël Wells, and Gabrielle Ruiz (Ep. 404)
- Audio Commentary by Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Chase Masterson, and Mike McMahan (Ep. 406)
- Audio Commentary by Dawnn Lewis, Tawny Newsome, and Mike McMahan (Ep. 409)
- Audio Commentary by Robert Duncan McNeill and Mike McMahan (Ep. 410)
- Lower Decktionary: Setting Up Season 4
- Old Friends
The main cast includes:
- Tawny Newsome as Beckett Mariner
- Jack Quaid as Brad Boimler
- Noël Wells as Tendi
- Eugene Cordero as Rutherford
- Dawnn Lewis as Carol Freeman
- Jerry O’Connell as Jack Ransom
- Fred Tatasciore as Shaxs
- Gillian Vigman as T’Ana
The first season was slotted at ten episodes with a 2020 premiere. It takes place in 2380, a year after Star Trek: Nemesis and episodes will be 30-minutes in length.
It’ll be the first animated project for the service and is the first project under the new CBS Eye Animation Productions that’s looking to get in on this market. Naturally, Roddenberry Entertainment will be involved as well as Alex Kurtzman’s shop Secret Hideout that is working the overall expansion of the franchise for Paramount.
“Mike won our hearts with his first sentence: ‘I want to do a show about the people who put the yellow cartridge in the food replicator so a banana can come out the other end.’ His cat’s name is Riker. His son’s name is Sagan. The man is committed,” Kurtzman said when the show was announced in 2018. “He’s brilliantly funny and knows every inch of every Trek episode, and that’s his secret sauce: he writes with the pure, joyful heart of a true fan. As we broaden the world of ‘Trek’ to fans of all ages, we’re so excited to include Mike’s extraordinary voice.”
Deadline also has this wonderful nugget that has me really interested with, “In 2011 McMahan started a Twitter account where he posted episode plots to a fake season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. They were such a hit that Simon & Schuster hired him to write a readers’ guide to a fictitious eighth season of TNG titled Star Trek: The Next Generation: Warped: An Engaging Guide to the Never-Aired 8th Season. ”
“As a life-long Trekkie, it’s a surreal and wonderful dream come true to be a part of this new era of Star Trek,” said McMahan. “While Star Trek: Lower Decks is a half-hour, animated show at its core, it’s undeniably Trek – and I promise not to add an episode at the very end that reveals the whole thing took place in a training program.”
Plot Concept: The series focuses on the support crew serving on one of Starfleet’s least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, in 2380. Ensigns Mariner, Boimler, Rutherford, and Tendi have to keep up with their duties and their social lives, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.
Previous Trailers:
