Star Trek: Lower Decks is silly, ridiculous entertainment – and that’s okay

New Star Trek animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks is the epitome of a silly, vaguely dumb adult animated comedy. And that’s totally fine.

Star Treks: Lower Decks is the latest addition to the fabled Star Trek franchise, an animated series that follows the misadventures of a group of Starfleet officers known as “lower deckers” – or, to put it more simply: The folks that never get anywhere near the bridge. They’re the faceless worker bees who make up the populations of the ships that famous captains like Picard and Kirk command.

There’s a world in which someone decided to make this a serious drama, a space Grey’s Anatomy for Starfleet interns and newbies finding their feet traveling among the stars. Lower Decks is not that show. Instead, this is an irreverent cartoon aimed squarely at the Rick and Morty crowd, full of uncomfortable humor, space gore, and characters conceptualized in the broadest possible strokes. It’s not particularly challenging or deep, and it won’t spark tons of character analysis or theory pieces from critics.

Star Trek: The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine this show is not. But, you know what? That’s okay.

Lower Decks is funny, most of the time, and generally serves as a pleasant distraction from everything terrible that’s happening in the world. And honestly, that’s all it needs to do.

Part of the reason the idea of an expanded Star Trek television franchise is so appealing is that it finally allows us to see different kinds of stories in this universe. Yes, for all intents and purposes, it sounds as though Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will be a throwback to classic Trek, with episodic missions and a sunnier, more optimistic outlook that hews closer to that favored by the original series. But Star Trek: Discovery has turned itself into a time-traveling adventure in the far future, whereas Star Trek: Picard is busy wrestling with darker themes about life, death, and what it means to be human.

Those are good things, by the way.

The fact that we’re now blessed with so many Star Trek series means that CBS and Paramount can make shows with wildly different goals and tones, that tell different stories, that are even geared towards different audiences. (Though the hardcore Trekkies will watch everything anyway. I know; I live with one.) There’s space now for this franchise to try something new.

Of course, with greater variety comes an increased chance that whatever the latest Star Trek show of the moment is won’t be for you, specifically. That it won’t feel Star Trek enough for you or tell the story of Roddenberry’s universe in the way you might prefer. (A lot of people don’t like Discovery for precisely this reason.) And you know what – it might not. But now that we’re going on a half dozen separate Star Trek series of some variety, no one show has to be everything to all people. Don’t enjoy Lower Decks? That’s fine. Try Picard. Maybe Strange New Worlds will be more to your particular taste when it lands. Maybe you’ll love the next thing that this franchise hasn’t even thought of yet.

Lower Decks isn’t a great series at the moment, though there’s every possibility it will find its comedic voice as it continues and evolve into a fun series that actually has something to say. But whether or not that happens, this show still represents a step forward into a new space – and personally I’m in favor of this franchise choosing to boldly go in every sense of the word. Into new formats and genres, with new ways of telling stories. Swing for the fences, and see what happens.

New episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks stream weekly on CBS All Access. Have you given the show a try yet?