WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4.
With four seasons under its belt, it’s inevitable that fans will begin ranking Star Trek: Lower Decks seasons 1 to 4 from worst to best. The animated comedy series has quietly become one of the very best in the modern Star Trek franchise, perfectly balancing humor with pathos and big sci-fi ideas. While it’s unfair to say that there’s a “worst” season of Lower Decks, it’s certainly true that the show took a bit of time to bed in with viewers. The fast-paced dialog and gag-rate of the animated form was too much for some fans who preferred to have their Star Trek be serious.
Thankfully, Star Trek:Lower Decks stuck to its guns and has become more and more confident with time. The two-part Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 finale was as thrilling as the best Star Trek movies, and balanced deep-cut continuity references with big laughs. It was a perfect culmination of the show’s four seasons, that neatly tied into the classic Star Trek: The Next Generationepisode that first inspired it. It will be fascinating to see how the Lower Deckers fare as they further progress up the Starfleet career ladder in Lower Decks season 5.
4 Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1
Most Star Trek shows have difficulties in season 1, as they struggle to find their feet and differentiate themselves from their predecessors. Star Trek: Lower Decks season 1 does a better job than many of its more acclaimed franchise stablemates. The animated format and irreverent tone of Lower Decks was both a blessing and a curse in season 1. It swiftly allowed the show to plow its own furrow, and boldly push the boundaries of just what Star Trek could be. Unfortunately, this tone wasn’t for everyone, and it led to some fans unfairly maligning Lower Decks, drawing comparisons to brasher sci-fi comedies like Rich & Morty, on which creator Mike McMahan had previously worked.
There’s a lot of great stuff in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 1, from the appearance of Star Trek: TNG‘s Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) to the pitch-perfect parody of the Star Trek movies. None of these elements were empty fan service either, as McMahan and his writing team gave serious thought to how those moments impacted the characters. For example, the homages to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan were a creative way to explore the inner psyche of Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), and reveal the information that she was the daughter of Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) to Ensign Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid). Lower Decks season 1 is everything that makes the show so great in an embryonic form.
3 Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3 is where the show becomes incredibly confident about its place in the wider franchise. Brilliantly, Lower Decks season 3 opened with a subversive cliffhanger resolution that sees Mariner lead the Lower Decks on an unsanctioned – and completely unnecessary – mission to clear the name of Captain Freeman. With a mind-boggling list of cameos from Star Trek: Voyager‘s Lt. Tuvok (Tim Russ) to Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) in its opening episode alone, Lower Decks season 3 made a bold statement of intent. However, there’s a nagging feeling as the season goes on that it’s perhaps a bit too busy for its own good.
Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ return to Deep Space Nine is the undisputed highlight of season 3, filling viewers in on what’s happened to Quark (Armin Shimerman) and Colonel Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) since Star Trek: Deep Space Nineended. There’s an infectious feeling of Lower Decks season 3 excitedly playing around with the Star Trek toybox, but it occasionally clutches at continuity references like a kid in a candy store. Season 3 is a hugely thrilling sugar rush of Star Trek references, but it’s less nourishing than Lower Decks seasons 2 and 4.
2 Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2 built on everything that made its predecessor so great and beautifully refined it. It was a joy to see Lower Decks become more confident, focusing more on the relationships between the characters. This helped the show’s jokes to fly, as the humor often came from the characters and their relationships with each other. The more that characters like Ensigns Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) and D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) came to the fore, the more beloved they and their endearingly dorky friendship became. There’s genuine heart in Lower Decks‘ best episodes, and season 2 wears that on its sleeve.
Nowhere is this better demonstrated than with the thrilling return of the Star Trek: The Next Generation-style end of season cliffhanger intertitle. It leaves the viewer with a warm fuzzy feeling about 90s Star Trek, but the cliffhanger itself works so well because of how it affects the characters. Captain Freeman being arrested for destroying Pakled Planet is a genuinely shocking cliffhanger and it visibly and emotionally affects each member of the crew of the USS Cerritos. For that cliffhanger alone,season 2 is where Star Trek: Lower Decks truly came of age.
1 Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 is its best yet, as it’s the most confident and daring version of the animated comedy since its 2020 debut. It’s testament to showrunner Mike McMahan and his confidence in his writing team that Lower Decks could pull off something as audacious as the return of Robert Duncan McNeill’s Nick Locarno, and make it work so perfectly. Season 4 of Lower Decks had the most pronounced arc so far, from the mystery ship to the eventual reveal of Locarno’s Nova Fleet in the finale. And yet, as exciting as all that was, again, it’s the characters and the viewers’ fondness for them that make season 4 sing.
The introduction of Provisional Lieutenant T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) was a welcome shake-up for the show, as she added bags of uniquely Vulcan charm to Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4. Mariner’s reckless behavior is no longer rebellious and edgy, it’s a matter of concern for the Lower Deckers and the viewers at home. That Mariner’s existential crisis was triggered by her memories of the death of her icon Ensign Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill) is the best example yet of how Mike McMahan injects genuine meaning into what – in the wrong hands – could be empty fan service. It also beautifully brought Star Trek: Lower Decks full circle by referencing the very episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that inspired the show’s inception. With season 5 confirmed, it really feels as if the sky’s the limit for the crew of the USS Cerritos.
All episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks are streaming now on Paramount+.
