Since its conclusion in December of 2024, I have found myself thinking about Star Trek: Lower Decks and then remembering, Oh, wait…It’s over now. I still can’t quite believe it. After all, despite being an animated sitcom, it was consistently truer to the look and feel of the TNG/DS9/Voyager era of Star Trek than any of the live-action productions of the past 8 years.
Unfortunately, Lower Decks is over. While that means we may never get more of our Lower Deckers in the same form again, it also means we can now look back upon the series as a whole. With that—and a few months’ distance from the series finale—I’m finally ready to try ranking the seasons of Lower Decks, starting from the worst (or at least the one I consider the weakest).
5. Season 1
In the grand Star Trek tradition, Season 1 of Star Trek: Lower Decks is probably its weakest. There are a lot of elements in this season where the writers are clearly trying to sort out exactly what an animated Star Trek sitcom would be like. The result is that it doesn’t always gel into something entertaining.
As a fan of animation and a fan of Star Trek, I admit that I found this search for identity initially off-putting. I am not a fan of Rick and Morty, and the tendency for Lower Decks Season 1 to emulate some of the violent, gross-out-style gags from that series honestly pushed me away from Lower Decks at first.
Despite this, Season 1 did not completely turn me off, and I kept watching. A lot of this was because this season has the “soul” of Star Trek on some level. Yes, it has countless references that tickled my Trek-saturated brain, but it also fundamentally feels like Star Trek. Plus, Mariner, Boimler, and the rest of the characters are likable and fun to watch, which is vital.
Season 1 of Star Trek: Lower Decks is far from a travesty. In fact, it is probably one of the stronger first seasons of any Star Trek show. It isn’t perfect, which is why it’s on the bottom of the list, but it’s a good start. It also instantly found the balance of episodic storytelling and season-long arcs that makes every season of Lower Decks enjoyable to watch.