A 20-year-old SyFy series offers the perfect tone for future Star Trek comedy series

When Star Trek: Lower Decks launched, much of the animation and comedic tone mirrored that of Adult Swim's (Cartoon Network) Rick and Morty. The shows weren't one-for-one in how they were set up style and tone-wise, but they were close enough that you could see that Lower Decks was pulling inspiration from the more successful and well-known Adult Swim series.

The decision to embrace the contemporary show paid off to a degree for the series. Lower Decks found a fanbase and while not overly successful as a show, it did last five seasons. Now, with this series winding down, Star Trek is pivoting to another comedic series. This time headed up by the star of Lower Decks herself, Tawny Newsome. Newsome will lead the show, which will be about the staff of a vacation planet and how they deal with things.

It's a very similar plot to Lower Decks. Yet, the same style won't work. Mostly because it barely worked before for Lower Decks. Despite the show's five-season run, it never really broke out like Strange New Worlds or even Prodigy.

Fans as a whole didn't really take to it like it has other shows and while they secured enough of the fandom to last, clearly a lot of fans didn't like the approach the show took.

There's a laundry list of reasons why that could be, but the basic idea is that it felt like a Rick and Morty clone, not a comedic Star Trek show. Now, Star Trek isn't a comedic series and shouldn't be forced into being one, but if the current creative brain trust is going to continue to force the franchise into directions it doesn't entirely fit, they may as well look to see if there's a formula in place for success.

Which there is. One show has the creativity, science-infused mumbo-jumbo that Star Trek carries and the perfect tone and atmosphere as to what Star Trek fans would want from their show; the 2006 SyFy series Eureka.

The show had a successful five-season run at the height of SyFy's popularity and delivered a unique blend of humor, charm, and coziness that fans adored. it was funny, witty, thought-provoking, and filled with science; just like we hope a Star Trek science series would be. ,

The show centers around Jack Carter, an every-man US Marshall who becomes the new sheriff of a science community in Oregon called Eureka. Unlike your typical Law and Order procedures, Carter rarely arrests anyone, but instead, has to deal with out-of-control experiments on a regular basis. It's whimsical, but not in a way that's insulting to the viewer. It's funny, but not in the overdone, sarcastic, MCU-style that so many shows embrace.

It also has plenty of action and thought-provoking conversations; which are staples for modern Star Trek. It's the perfect blueprint for a new Star Trek comedy. If followed perfectly, it could end up being the kind of hit Star Trek keeps hoping these niche shows will end up becoming.