John Parker

[review based on first four episodes] There are elements to enjoy in Lower Decks and the writers seem to possess a greater respect for the franchise than Picard or Discovery. Longtime fans will recognize many races and references in the periphery and its nice to see a contemporary Trek unafraid of the blue, red, and gold. But the humor is loud, the pacing uneven, and the characters scattered and not terribly memorable. The jokes, as such, are largely derived from shouting observations about the Trek universe (the opening episode features an overly long and noisy song about blast shields “it goes up and it goes down - blast shields!” Some episodes attempt to wedge in a genuine crisis, but the half hour runtime and total lack of seriousness make these stories fall flat. Ostensibly, this frenetic wackiness is confined to the titular lower decks, but the captain and senior crew are equally zany. On the whole, if you absolutely must find a new season of Trek to watch, then opt for Lower Decks. But otherwise, boot-up TOS, TNG, or DS9 (on Netflix, because who subscribes to CBS All Access?)