Star Trek Lower Decks
Summary
The USS Cerritos onStar Trek : Lower Decksspends much of its clock time cleaning up mistakes made by Captain Jean - Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) onStar Trek : The Next multiplication . Captain Picard is often view as one of Starfleet ’s - andStar Trek ’s -best captain , but that does n’t mean he never made mistakes . Because of Starfleet ’s Prime Directive , which foreclose interference in other culture , Picard often had very special choice when it came to helping exotic worlds . While the initiative work party always tried to exit planet better off than when they found them , Starfleet seldom checked in on these planet after Picard left .
How Mike McMahan ’s Lower Decks went from saucy cartoon to some of the very dear Star Trek that the modern franchise has to offer .
Star Trek: Lower Decks' Mission Is To Clean Up Picard’s TNG Mistakes
InStar Trek : The Next multiplication ’s " Symbiosis , " Captain Picard do with the good of design , cutting off contact between the Ornarans and their neighboring planet Brekka . The Brekkians offer the Ornarans with a highly habit-forming drug , and the absence of this drug caused the Ornarans to go through a difficult withdrawal stop . From Picard ’s perspective , it would have been aviolation of the Prime Directiveto help the Ornarans through this withdrawal period or even inform them it was coming . Instead , Picard simply leave alone them to figure out their future for themselves . While thing worked out in the end , Picard could have helped the Ornarans avoid yr of hurt if he had made a different call .
Captain Freeman proposes an enterprisingness called Project Swing By inStar Trek : Lower deck ' " Trusted Sources , " which would have the Cerritos balk on planets that had antecedently been visited by Starfleet . When she chaffer Ornara , the masses seem to have retrieve contentment and insist they do n’t need anything from Starfleet . The Ornarans order Freeman that"Starfleet ’s done enough for Ornara,“and while they frame up this as a compliment , it could also be take as an indictment . The Cerritos then investigates Brekka , which has been invade by Breen soldiers . Despite these less - than - successful missionary post , Captain Freeman ’s Project Swing By is a good idea , as captains like Picard often seem to bequeath planets to fend for themselves after making First Contact .
Throughout bothStar Trek : The Original SeriesandThe Next coevals , Captain James T. Kirk ( William Shatner ) and Captain Picard often initiated First Contact with major planet that were never see again . This was largely due tothe more episodic nature of television in the sixties and 1980s , in which mostStar Trekepisodes collide with the reset buttonevery week . TNGbegan to change this trend by sometimes reference the events of retiring episodes , but they seldom revisited a planet from a previous story .
It was n’t until lateStar Trek : Deep Space Ninethat the dealership truly adopt more serialized storytelling .
While the idea of 2nd Contact inLower Decksmay have been believe as a joke , it ’s a smart idea for Starfleet ships to check up on previously visited planets . Captain Kirk , in exceptional , would often show up on a planet , introduce the inhabitants to all new approximation , and then go out them to their own equipment . The Prime Directive is meant to prevent this variety of hinderance , but the grade of a planet ’s history can be changed by the simple presence of a Starfleet work party . Considering it had been nearly twenty yr before anyone had check on Ornara or Brekka , perhaps Starfleet should have more 2nd Contact ships like the Cerritos ofStar Trek : Lower Decks .
Star Trek : Lower DecksandStar Trek : The Next Generationare available to stream on Paramount+ .
