Star Trek: Lower Decks – A new half hour animated comedy series from CBS All Access

Earlier today CBS All access announced a two-season order for Star Trek: Lower Decks from Mike McMahan, best known for his work on Rick and Morty.

As a long time proponent of Star Trek comedy I was thrilled when my inbox lit up this afternoon with the press release from CBS announcing Star Trek: The Lower Decks, a half hour series that’s already received a two season order from CBS All Access.

The series will focus on, as the name suggests, the lower ranked crew, support staff really, aboard an unimportant Starfleet vessel, a perfect setting for comedy gold! While my earlier article Tales from the Starfleet Archives featured a similarly unimportant setting an earlier draft of that story did in fact take place abroad a starship so I can already see this series being right up my alley.

The series looks to be setting up nicely right from the first sentence of the  original pitch.

"“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,” said executive producer Alex Kurtzman."

Rick and Morty are of course known for their edgy comedy, pushing the envelope in a way few animated series have before them, but with an interesting versatility I can’t recall seeing in any series before. It has dealt with issues from straight up science fiction alternate realities, to suicide, and sexual assault, each in their unique style which has allowed them to delve into social issues in a way that is not dissimilar to Star Trek.

Assuming this same versatility translates in some way to the writers room on Star Trek: Lower Decks we should be in for something special. And CBS’ announcement today revealed that a two season order has already been placed for the new series.

Star Trek: Lower Decks isn’t exactly Mike McMahan’s first Star Trek…

You’d be forgiven for not knowing Mike McMahan’s earlier work as a writer for Star Trek, as he has technically never written or even written for a single episode of any series, but through the use of his Twitter account (@TNG_S8)he did write an entire fictional season 8 for Star Trek: The Next Generation and was later recruited by publisher Simon & Schuster to write a book entitled ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation: Warped‘ which serves as a companion guide to the 8th season that never happened.

He is also the writer of the upcoming Star Trek: Short Treks episode featuring Harry Mudd.

Both the book and the tweets are a hilarious read, and whether its your cup of tea, or not one thing will become obvious, Mike McMahan knows and loves Star Trek.

No word yet on a release date, but with the stated goal of having something Star Trek airing on CBS All-Access year around things are certainly shaping up nicely.  We’ll keep you posted as new details emerge.