Why So Blu?

Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season 1 (Blu-ray Review)

CBS All Access which became Paramount+ totally went into the Star Trek business with the streaming service. Launching with Star Trek: Discovery, there are now three different series that have aired with more others on the way. Each taking place in different areas of the series timeline. A standout among them is Star Trek: Lower Decks, which is an animated series hinged at amore adult comedic tone. They’ll be bringing that series to Blu-ray on May 18th. The 2-disc set comes with a plentiful wealth of featurettes and will have a steelbook edition that you can get as well. You can pre-order the first season using the paid Amazon Associates link that follows the review if you so choose.

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Season

Series creator Mike McMahan, writer and executive producer of “Rick and Morty”, takes you where no Star Trek series has gone before – to the lower decks! Join rule-breaker Beckett Mariner, aspiring captain Brad Boimler, rookie D’Vana Tendi and part-Cyborg Sam Rutherford as they attempt to navigate the most mysterious corners of our universe with very little experience – and even less authority. Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 features nearly 2 hours of exclusive special features and includes guest appearances by Paul Scheer (“The League”), Jonathan Frakes (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”), Marina Sirtis (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) and more!

I enjoy the left turn here from the Star Trek series. When oversaturating the market with it like Paramount is doing with their streaming service, the ones that stand out are gonna be the more weirder, wild and bolder explorations. And doing not only animated, but a more adult oriented animated Star Trek series is just that. Set during the time of The Next Generation, Lower Decks is there to poke some fun, get crazy and introduce some new adventures as well.

While Lower Decks wants to be an Adult Swim type show for Star Trek, it stops short of pushing some of those limitations and boundaries of decency like those programs do. When it comes to the humor it does balance the genuinely good jokes, the fan wankery and the low hanging fruit quite well. What its strength in service is, is that the show actually still provides a heart. Its stocked with well rounded characters, terrific arcs, and rather satisfying, intriguing adventures.

One minor gripe is that I wish they had a more distinct look to the animation, making this somehow more on a brand for Star Trek, if there ever was a way. What they’ve provided isn’t bad, it just looks like a knock off of Rick & Morty or like any sort of a generic Adult Swim show. That said, it may be a matter of speed and/or budget. The creators did say they wanted a look that lets the viewer know its for adults from just seeing a frame, and they certainly accomplished that.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is a very fun, quick endeavor to run through as a season/series. The show doesn’t overstay its welcome at 25 minutes a pop. Also, the episodes really go in very different and wacky directions with each jump. Toss in some good Trek jokes and some savvy cameos and its a pretty darn good time.

Episodes

Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season 1 contains all episodes in the show’s first season.

Video

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail: Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season 1 arrives on Blu-ray with a look similar to that of Adult Swim cartoons on the formant. Its sharp, crisp and features as much detail as the animation style allows. Colors are pretty strong and the image is one that is plenty bright and vivid. I’m not sure how much better it could get than this at this time.

Depth:  While this is a bit of a 2D style of animation, there is a freeness to it and the ship sequences provide a more three dimensional look to things. Movements are smooth and have no blurring or jitter issues.

Black Levels: Blacks are dark, deep and do a good job of outlining, providing contrast and working well with shadows or darkly lit scenes. No crushing witnessed.

Color Reproduction: Colors have a nice vibrant palette. They are deep or thick and come with a breezy look. Though, primary colors do have a nice pop and there are many a space or action sequence with plenty of glow.

Flesh Tones:  N/A

Noise/Artifacts: Clean.

Audio

Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English SDH

Dynamics: Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season 1 features a rather sturdy 5.1 mix that delivers all the goods you’d expect from a live action Star Trek show. Its plenty loud and boisterous, with good range and dynamics to deliver a balanced and well thought out mix that has terrific depth and layering.

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension: Explosions, crashes, punches, roars, engines, blasts and more feel a nice rumble from the subwoofer.

Surround Sound Presentation: Good ambient sounds are produced in this well rounded arena. Little hums and such in different rooms bring a lifelike experience to viewing. Sound travel and an aware 360 degree engagement work with the speaker interplay on this mix.

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are clear and crisp.

Extras

Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season 1 is a 2-Disc set.

Disc 1

Second Contact

• Lower Decktionary: Joining Starfleet (HD, 6:21) – Alex Kurtzman and others discuss the idea of finding different versions and visions of Star Trek and discovering and creating Lower Decks.
• Full Length Animatic (HD, 22:29) 
• Deleted Animatic (HD, 1:02) 

Envoys

• Lower Decktionary: Aliens Among Us (HD, 7:31) – Creators and actors talk about really “going for it” in terms of loading up lore and such in the second episode.

Temporal Edict

• Lower Decktionary: The Animation Process (HD, 8:09) – This goes over the process, challenges and lengths of time it takes to produces an episode of the show.

Moist Vessel

• Lower Decktionary: The Main Titles (HD, 7:15) – This goes over the ideas and creation behind the opening title sequence.
• Deleted Animatics (HD, 1:18)

Cupid’s Erant Arrow

• Lower Decktionary: Art Design (HD, 4:59) – This goes over the specifics of the appearance of the show and desire to have a “prime time animated comedy look”. The creators did not want anyone to not think its a comedy just by seeing a frame.

Disc 2

Terminal Provocations

• Lower Decktionary: The Holodeck (HD, 6:31) – This talks about everyone’s love of the Holodeck and how its become expected lore in the series and how they can play around with it.

Much Ado About Boimler

• Lower Decktionary: Division 14 (HD, 4:05) – Discusses the episodes agenda of “What if we couldn’t fix the Sci Fi thing that happened to a crew member and they had to go about normal day to day life”.

Veritas

• Lower Decktionary: Deck Dynamics (HD, 5:06) – Discusses the perspective with which the show’s aim is, the crew that serves the bridge crew.

Crisis Point

• Lower Decktionary: The Music Of Lower Decks (HD, 6:19) – Subject pretty much says it all there.
• Crisis Point: The Rise Of Vindicta Trailer (HD, 1:28) 

No Small Parts

• Lower Decktionary: All In The Family (HD, 6:30) – Talks about the way the other, older series incorporated comedy and still was pretty weighty and heavy with themes. Their goal is to lead with the comedy and then add the drama, an inversion of TNG.

Faces Of The Fleet (HD, 24:43) – This one focuses on the talented, stacked cast and the characters which they portray.

Hiding In Plain Sight (HD, 7:39) – Focuses on the easter eggs hidden within the show.

Summary

Star Trek: Lower Decks is a nice well rounded bit of silliness and adventure. Stuff works, stuff doesn’t, stuff is just fine. Altogether a rather fun viewing experience. This Blu-ray release of the first season delivers expected good quality in the audio and video presentation of the show. There are rather a plentiful amount of good, quality extras to take in as well. An easy pick up for Star Trek fans.

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