Star Trek: Lower Decks made Star Trek better with its own additions to the Star Trek canon. Star Trek: Lower Decks built its reputation as an animated comedy and a love letter to Star Trek fandom. The 2380s setting, nestled between Star Trek: Nemesis and Star Trek: Picard, means that Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager are all within living memory of Lieutenants Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells). The Star Trek: Lower Decks characters know all too well the same events that fans of Star Trek‘s 90s trifecta do.

Naturally, Star Trek: Lower Decks thrives on callbacks to some of the weirdest and most beloved parts of earlier Star Trek shows, but there’s no need to have an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Star Trek in order to enjoy Star Trek: Lower Decks. Instead of relying on all the Star Trek shows that preceded it, Lower Decks references itself as the seasons go on. Best of all, Star Trek: Lower Decks enriches Star Trek canon by introducing new elements that just didn’t exist before, from minutiae that “upper decks” shows might not concern themselves with, to brand-new characters and creatures we all want plush versions of.

11

Replicator Malfunctions

“Banana: hot. Banana: hot. Banana: hot.”

What is life like for a junior officer on a starship? How do they sleep, shower, and eat? Well, it turns out that the lower deckers sometimes have to deal with what happens when the USS Cerritos’ food replicators get a little … touchy. Unlike tragic transporter malfunctions, which are the basis of many an introspective morality play on Star Trek, the not-so-tragic replicator malfunctions on Star Trek: Lower Decks are a little more comedic in scope.

If there’s one true thing about advanced technology, it’s that it’s going to break at some point. Brad Boimler seems to get stuck with the worst of Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ replicator malfunctions, like a Bonsai tree for breakfast, everything tasting like black licorice, and an endless supply of steaming hot bananas. And when replicator credits are a thing, you can’t just keep asking for new stuff. You get “banana: hot,” and you deal with it.

10

Hysperia, The RenFaire Planet

“I don’t want to live in a castle with pet dragons and all the mutton I can eat.”

Star Trek: Lower Decks pays homage to the episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series where it was cheaper to utilize the readily-available sets and wardrobes of other genres with Hysperia, a planet colonized by “Ren Faire types”, in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, episode 7, “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie”. Hysperia is home to the USS Cerritos’ Chief Engineer, Lt. Commander Andy Billups (Paul Scheer), who also happens to be the son of Hysperia’s Queen Paolana (June Diane Raphael), and thus will become the planet’s king, should Billups ever lose his virginity.

There’s a fantasy overlay on nearly every aspect of Hysperian culture, like the “dragonsbreath engine” warp reactor and the mead-infused feasting, all thanks to the dragons that originally called Hysperia home. Hysperian residents live in castles, have dragons as pets, and keep the medieval party going nonstop, like the most immersive LARP you’ve ever seen.

9

Ferengi Television

“They put commercials IN the programs?”

Lt. Brad Boimler gets transfixed by Ferengi television in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 6, “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place”, on a “travel guide” assignment to Ferenginar that expands on the elements of Ferengi culture in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Aside from public libraries with Dabo tables, and the Dominion War Memorial commemorating lost profits instead of individual people, Ferengi TV really encapsulates how Ferengi capitalist ideals persist and shape the culture with bids for more latinum.

Poor Boimler can’t take his exhausted eyes away, because Ferengi TV shows are so different from the Federation’s interactive holonovels. With commercials interspersed throughout shows and product placement in each episode, Boimler’s fascinated by the overt lying and sucked in by the “schlocky, lowest-common-denominator drivel” that Brad swears he can resist, but, in the end, he just can’t beat Pog & Dar: Cop Landlords.

8

Badgey

“Hi! Can I teach you a lesson?”

Sentient holograms are nothing new in Star Trek. Sentient EVIL holograms aren’t even unexpected. But a sentient evil hologram that’s shaped like a Starfleet delta? That would be Badgey (Jack McBrayer), the training hologram designed by Ensign Samanthan Rutherford, and exactly the kind of thing you’d expect to find in Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Badgey considers Rutherford to be his father and sets out on a revenge quest inspired by parental neglect. One might think, as Rutherford does, that the way to end Badgey’s reign of terror might be through reconciliation and offering parental love, because that’s the Star Trek way, but Badgey is nothing if not contrarian. Love only causes Badgey to create Goodgey, and an appeal to reason forms Logic-y, proving that the answers aren’t always as easy as they may seem to be. Sometimes you just have to let the evil hologram ascend to godhood.

7

AGIMUS

“You dare mock AGIMUS?”

Jeffrey Combs is nothing new in Star Trek. EVIL Jeffrey Combs isn’t even unexpected. But an evil Jeffrey Combs that’s shaped like an old PC tower? That’s AGIMUS the evil sentient computer, and it’s up to Beckett Mariner and Brad Boimler to deliver AGIMUS to the Daystom Institute in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, episode 7, “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie”. It’s not easy to rebuff AGIMUS’ bids for power and trick AGIMUS, but Boimler manages to do just that.

Imprisoned in the Daystrom Institute, AGIMUS prompts a genuine change of heart in exocomp Starfleet officer Ensign Peanut Hamper (Kether Donohue), who is at the Institute following a botched redemption arc. AGIMUS sneakily implies that he’s turned his life around, because changing the light on his tower from red to blue proves AGIMUS is good now, really, honest. (AGIMUS is not good now.) After a bona fide run of evil on the planet Plymeria, AGIMUS is returned to the Daystrom Institute, begrudgingly cooperating with Starfleet.

6

The Dog, Created By Tendi

“Who has malleable protein bonds? You do, yes you do!”

In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 1, episode 7, “Much Ado About Boimler”, Ensign D’Vana Tendi makes a dog … from scratch. It’s not a far stretch for Tendi to build a dog out of inert carbon as a science project, hand-editing the genome sequences into a creature that seems to resemble an Earth dog, but Orion doesn’t have dogs, leading to Tendi misunderstanding the true capabilities of actual Earth dogs. Thus, The Dog (Jennifer Hale) is capable of shape-shifting into a spider-dog with glowing eyes that can scale walls, turning herself inside-out with eyeball bats, and spitting lightning. Tendi loves The Dog with her whole heart, and who can blame her? These are awesome features, not bugs.

In the end, The Dog is taken to The Farm, a recovery center for victims of transporter accidents, itself an excellent addition that Star Trek: Lower Decks made to Star Trek canon. Before The Dog can be committed to a road of recovery or be destroyed, The Dog floats away from Tendi into the far-reaching sky with a fond farewell, revealing that The Dog has always been capable of speech, much to Tendi’s surprise.

5

Moopsy

“The moopsy drinks your bones!”

With just a single appearance to its name, the Moopsy is deceptively cute, but terrifyingly deadly. In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 2, “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee,” a visit to Narj’s Miraculous Menagerarium showcases multiple Star Trek alien animals from shows past, as well as Moopsy, a brand-new, adorable little critter that resembles a cross between a baby seal and an axlotl. Like Star Trek‘s answer to Pokémon, Moopsy speaks its own name, and toddles around gleefully like a jellybean with feet.

Moopsy seems harmless, but the truth behind Moopsy’s wide-eyed visage and eponymous call is that Moopsy is actually the menagerie’s most vicious captive. When the Moopsy escapes, everyone is in mortal peril, potentially subject to the Moopsy’s hidden array of sharp teeth, used to drink the bones of its victims, “like a kid going to town on a Capri Sun,” according to Star Trek: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan. Fortunately, Lt. Beckett Mariner’s quick thinking keeps Mariner, Commander Jack Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) and (new guy) from becoming osteo-milkshakes for Moopsy.

4

The Smiling Koala

“Why is it smiling? What does it know?”

Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ weird koala is a beatific entity encountered by those who, however briefly, ascend to a higher plane of existence or come face-to-face with their own mortality. As Tendi’s potential friend Lieutenant O’Connor (Haley Joel Osment) completes a previously botched ascension, O’Connor comments on the existence of a smiling koala. The cosmic koala seems at first to be a one-off joke, but repeats throughout Star Trek: Lower Decks, and appears to those who achieve a state of consciousness between planes of reality, including characters who die and come back to life. Indeed, the koala may be the arbiter of life and death itself in Star Trek … but who knows for sure?

3

Orion Culture

“Some Orions haven’t been pirates for over FIVE years!”

Star Trek: Lower Decks seeks to balance out the sexist tropes from Star Trek: The Original Series and the attempts to flip the narrative about Orion women in Star Trek: Enterprise by featuring Star Trek‘s first Orion main character: Science Officer in training Lt. D’Vana Tendi. Tendi showcases Orion culture from her own perspective, calling out Beckett Mariner for subscribing to harmful stereotypes, while also illustrating the true things that perpetuate the ideas of Orions being pirates and assassins.

In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 4, “Something Borrowed, Something Green”, Star Trek‘s first visit to the Orion homeworld offers glimpses into the aspects of Orion culture that explain persistent stereotypes and why Tendi is sensitive to them. Danger and deception are a matter of course for Orions, with aspects of piracy playing a part in everything from Orion wedding traditions to competitive games. The Orion culture seen in Star Trek: Lower Decks is surprisingly nuanced, and actually manages to reconcile seemingly conflicting ideas from earlier Star Trek shows.

2

Starfleet’s California Class Starships

“I guess those Cali-class ships can hold their own longer than people think.”

Named after cities in California, the USS Cerritos and its fellow California class starships are Starfleet’s support vessels, designed to go where someone has already gone before. The Cerritos in particular is tasked with second contact missions, following up with alien societies after more famous ships like the USS Enterprise have already moved on to seek out the next new civilization. Other Cali-class starships may provide medical support or transportation for important Starfleet personnel.

In that regard, the California class is considered the lower decks of Starfleet ships. They’re an older starship model that doesn’t have all the brand-new features that more glamorous ships do, and they need a little bit more regular maintenance, but the California class ships are perfectly capable of getting the job done.

1

The USS Cerritos Crew

“Lower Decks! Lower Decks! Lower Decks!”

By far, the best additions that Star Trek: Lower Decks makes to Star Trek canon are its characters. Star Trek: Lower Decks would be nothing without the depth and realism of the character-driven stories that lay at the heart of every single episode. Each of Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ main characters has their own fatal flaw, ther own way of getting in their own way, so to speak, that proves relatable to those of us who are ambitious perfectionists, subject to self-sabotage, hiding who we are, unsure how to use our talents, or trying to find our place — no matter how old we are. At the end of the day, Star Trek: Lower Decks is about the Warp Core Five’s friendships making them stronger, better people.

By offering in-depth looks at the lives of junior officers, Star Trek: Lower Decks shows the depth of life aboard a Starfleet ship from the ground up. These are the parts of Starfleet that the upper-decker heroes of other Star Trek shows aren’t privy to, or left behind long ago. These are the messy, broken pieces that inevitably exist in Star Trek, not just on the ships, not just on the worlds the USS Cerritos checks up on, but within the characters themselves. Star Trek: Lower Decks makes Star Trek better because it shows us characters that are real and relatable, with problems we can identify with, and additions that keep enriching Star Trek canon.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is streaming on Paramount+.