Paramount Plus has a massive catalog of Star Trek properties, but its animated series, Star Trek: Lower Decks, became a surprising challenge for creatives. In an upcoming crossover event with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, cast members of Lower Decks will be invited to the U.S.S. Enterprise. Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome reprise their roles in the animated series for the first time in live-action and come face-to-face with Ansom Mount’s legendary Captain Pike.
Lower Decks is not Paramount Plus' only Star Trek animated series, but it is one of its most outrageous. First premiering on CBS All Access, the comedy features Quaid and Newsome as lowly ensigns on the U.S.S. Cerritos. Using animation allows the series to take a tonal shift from other Star Trek properties. The low ranks of the characters and taking place on an unimportant ship allow Star Trek: Lower Decks to have raunchy scenes with a more aggressive and humorous tone.
This proved somewhat of a challenge when executive producers Akiva Goldman and Henry Alonso Myers decided to bring Ensign Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner aboard the Enterprise. “It was probably more complicated than we anticipated just in terms of tone,” Goldsman admitted to StarTrek.com. But despite the challenges, everyone came through. “The focus on it allowed us to get something pretty lovely. We were served in the best possible way by Tawny and Jack, and Jonathan Frakes, who was directing. We have funny people there.”
With Frakes in the director’s chair, everyone could rest easy. Most notable for playing Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the actor has four decades of experience. He directed Star Trek: First Contact and even reunited with the fan-favorite crew in the final season of Star Trek: Picard. The Star Trek alum assured everything would run smoothly on set and decided that leaning into the humor was best. Frakes teased the Star Trek crossover episode as a comedy, despite customary seriousness coming from Pike and Spock (Ethan Peck). Mount added to the conversation with StarTrek.com, stating that exercising his comedy skills was rare, and he was excited about the prospect.
Considering the possibilities, Frakes’ instinct is the best way to go. Attempting to tone down Boimler and Mariner would defeat the purpose of bringing on the hilarious characters. Seeing Spock thrown out of his element by raucously funny people is what fans tune in for. The biggest challenge of the episode is probably translating animated characters into people that aren’t caricatures. However, Quaid and Newsome have the luck of looking enough like their characters that aesthetics shouldn’t be too complicated. In the teaser, Quaid is shown sporting darker hair with the purple sheen of his character, while Newsome has Mariner's customary ponytail. Fans will have to wait to see how successful this endeavor is when the Lower Decks crew appears in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2.
Star Trek: Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds is currently airing on Paramount Plus
Source: StarTrek.com