Blu-ray Review: STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS SEASON 4

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Apr 04 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

The animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks boldly goes where no Star Trek show has gone before…comedy, primarily following the adventures of the underappreciated crew members who work on the lower decks of the ship, doing all the things that keep the USS Cerritos running smoothly—and maybe causing a few problems of their own along the way. As season 3 came to a close, Vulcan T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) had joined the crew and Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) had returned to Starfleet, rejoining her fellow ensigns Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) aboard the Cerritos, where her mother is captain.

This fourth season finds our favorite characters getting a bit more responsibility (though not too much) as they move from Ensign to Lieutenant Junior Grade—though not all of them are necessarily happy about their promotion. While the still-lower-deckers-in-spirit find themselves off on new exploratory, diplomatic, and rescue missions, they still also have to deal with issues that arise on the ship as well, some of which they likely caused in the first place. Lower Decks is very self-aware of the oeuvre of Star Trek, and the writers have fun with this, not only lovingly poking fun at or parodying the franchise, but also giving viewers a lot of nostalgia. While the series is animated, it feels like it is geared towards a slightly more mature audience, often utilizing a bleeped audio track, both for comedic effect, and also to show viewers that these characters don’t quite talk the same as on other Star Trek shows.

Lower Decks has always made fun references to events and characters from other Star Trek properties, but in this fourth season we get a full-on homage to some of Voyager‘s deeper cuts. Plus we see appearances from several Voyager and TNG characters, voiced by the original actors, including Chase Masterson (“Leeta”), Shannon Fill (“Sito Jaxa”), Robert Duncan McNeill (“Nick Locarno”) & Wil Wheaton (“Wesley Crusher”). There’s even a fun reference to the fact that McNeill played two different characters who looked awfully similar. In most seasons, the cold opens are one-off jokes or humorous situations, unrelated to the actual episodes. But this season they help to build an ongoing storyline that eventually plays out in season’s exciting 2-part finale. In these short scenes, we get to see what ship life is like for lower-deckers of various alien races, as disgruntled crew members plot to rise up against their captains, only to have some mysterious ship arrive and blow up their alien vessel. What is going on, who controls this ship, and what do they want?! You’ll have to check out the fourth season to find out!

Like previous seasons, the fourth season consists of ten episodes. Each episode usually follows some standalone mission, while also serving to explore character growth and push the larger narrative of the season. Here’s a rundown of the fourth season’s episodes:

“Twovix” – The Cerritos has been tasked with transporting the USS Voyager back to Starfleet for display, but the crew soon finds themselves facing several threats also faced by the crew of the Voyager—such as Billups and Doctor T’Ana getting merged in the transporter and becoming T’Illups, a Tak Takian macrovirus let loose on the ship, Holodeck villain Doctor Chaotica, a Borg nanite run amok, and more. And all this had to happen on the day Boimler was up for a promotion, if nothing went sideways.
“I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee” – As the rest of the newly-promoted lieutenants junior grade move into their new quarters, Ensign Rutherford sets out to get a promotion in a day so he can join them, but he finds himself up against talented new recruit Ensign Livik. Meanwhile, fearing that Ransom is looking for a reason to demote her, Mariner sets out to be insubordinate and earn the demotion on her own, but soon finds herself in danger in an away mission to rescue humans from an alien menagerie. Back on the ship, Boimler has issues with his new quarters.
“In the Cradle of Vexilon” – The Cerritos visits the Federation world Corazonia where Captain Freeman tries to help fix Vexilon, the planet’s environmental control computer, but in the process she ends up awakening an evil Vexilon and sending the weather into chaos. Meanwhile Rutherford, Mariner and Tendi suspect that they may have been given busywork as hazing for their new positions. And Boimler struggles on his first away mission as a commander, as he tries to do everything himself.
“Something Borrowed, Something Green” – Tendi is granted leave to visit her family on Orion for her sister’s wedding, and Mariner and T’Lyn tag along to learn more about her culture. But when D’Vana’s sister D’Erika is kidnapped, the women see a different side of Tendi, who turns out to be a trained assassin. Meanwhile, back on the Cerritos, Boimler and Rutherford start to see some cracks in their Brutherford bromance, but work out their differences playing Mark Twain on the Holodeck.
“Empathological Fallacies” – The Cerritos is providing transport to three Betazoid diplomats, but they turn the ship into one big party. Meanwhile, T’Lyn’s emotional instability seems to be amplifying the crew’s emotions. And Boimler has been putting too much pressure on himself in his new position, so Rutherford arranges for him to train with the Security Officers as a day off.
“Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” – The Cerritos travels to Ferenginar, where the Ferengi leadership wants to submit a formal application to start the process of joining the Federation. As Admiral Vassery and Captain Freeman meet with the conniving officials, the lower decks crew are given Travel Guide duty, and head down to Ferenginar to review the local businesses. Rutherford and Tendi are tasked with pretending to be a married couple, but the situation makes they feel uncomfortable, Boimler gets sucked into Ferengi TV programming and commercials and doesn’t leave his hotel room, and Mariner meets up with Quimp but gets drunk and threatens the diplomatic mission.
“A Few Badgeys More” – The Bynars are the latest race to get attacked by the mystery ship, and the Cerritos is sent to investigate the distress call. However, Badgey is back and attacks the ship looking for revenge. Meanwhile, Peanut Hamper is up for parole, and Tendi is sent to Daystrom to attend the hearing. Boimler joins her to talk with Agimus, who claims to have intel on the Bynar attack, but the robots are plotting their own evil revenge.
“Caves” – The Beta team is reunited for an away mission, researching moss in a cave. However, when tremors hit, they find themselves trapped with no communication, and under attack by carnivorous moss. They pass the time by recounting stories about past excursions to caves, such as Boimler getting stuck with conspiracy theorist Steve Levy and some Vendorians, Rutherford giving birth to a clone baby, and Mariner and the Delta shift encountering a magnetic anomaly and rapid aging.
“The Inner Fight” – Whomever has been stealing spaceships has now moved on to targeting ex-Starfleet officers. So the Cerritos sets out to rescue pilot-for-hire Nick Locarno before he gets taken, and bring him back to Earth. Meanwhile, Mariner’s cavalier and dangerous behavior has been getting worse, and so Captain Freeman asks the rest of the lower decks crew to keep her distracted on a boring, safe away mission, fixing an old weather satellite. However, they soon find themselves under attack by Klingons.
“Old Friends, New Planets” – As Mariner goes on a one-woman mission to prevent Locarno and his allies from destroying the universe, the crew of the Cerritos set out on an unsanctioned rescue mission to save Mariner, but first they need a ship that can break through Locarno’s Tynar force field, which means participating in combat with Tendi’s sister D’Erika and the Orions.

I found this fourth season to be just as entertaining as the previous ones—these ten episodes often had me laughing out loud. The episodes take viewers to new worlds, explore new alien races (we get to see what like if like on Orion and Ferenginar), and revisits several characters we met in previous seasons. The lower decks crew are so much fun, and the voice actors do an excellent job of bringing them to life and making them feel like real friends/colleagues. The dialogue is quick and witty, and there is so much going on in every scene, that the series easily lends itself to multiple viewings. Lower Decks does a great job of mixing in interesting missions, fun character dynamics, backstory and growth, plus lots of action and humor, all in just 25 minutes. Voyager fans should be especially excited for this season—I never watched that series, but after seeing some of these wacky storylines the Cerritos crew revisits, I’m interested to check it out!

Paramount Home Entertainment has released this fourth season of Star Trek: Lower Decks on Blu-ray and MOD DVD. I was sent the Blu-ray for review, and the presentation looks and sounds fantastic. The animation is crisp, clean and detailed with bright, bold colors—it looks nearly flawless. The audio track provides clear dialogue and makes excellent use of the stereo and surround channels to make the crew’s adventures feel quite immersive, even if it’s just the general ambiance aboard the ship. The ten episodes are spread across 2 discs, which are placed on either side of a standard-sized Blu-ray keepcase, and covered with a glossy carboard slipcover. The inner lining of the keepcase provides details on the episodes and the discs’ contents. The release also contains some entertaining bonus material, including audio commentaries by the cast/creators on five of the episodes, and over 35 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes looking at the Voyager homage this season, and reuniting some of the TNG guest-stars for a look back at their characters. Unfortunately the live-action crossover appearance of the Lower Decks crew on Star Trek: Strange New World is not included on this set—you’ll have to pick up the Second Season release of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for that.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (4:16:58)

All 10 episodes of season 4:
Disc 1: (2:03:19) “Twovix”, “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee”, “In the Cradle of Vexilon”, “Something Borrowed, Something Green”, “Empathological Fallacies”
Disc 2 (2:13:39): “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place”, “A Few Badgeys More”, “Caves”, “The Inner Fight”, “Old Friends, New Planets”
1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, German 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English SDH, German

Extras:

Audio Commentaries
Five of the season’s episodes include fun and entertaining commentaries by the cast and producers. The participants discuss the episodes, share behind-the-scenes stories about the production, and talk about anything else that comes to mind. The commentaries can be found in the Episodes menu on the discs with the relevant episodes, and are offered with both English and German subtitles. The participants for each are listed below.
- Ep. 401 “Twovix” (25:00)
  Star Jack Quaid (“Brad Boimler”), series creator/showrunner Mike McMahan, and producer Brad Winters.
- Ep. 404 “Something Borrowed, Something Green” (25:36)
  Stars Tawny Newsome (“Beckett Mariner”), Noël Wells (“D’Vana Tendi”) & Gabrielle Ruiz (“T’Lyn”).
- Ep. 406 “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” (25:11)
  Stars Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero (“Samanthan Rutherford”) & Chase Masterson (“Leeta”), and series creator/showrunner Mike McMahan.
- Ep. 409 “The Inner Fight” (26:21)
  Stars Dawnn Lewis (“Carol Freeman”) & Tawny Newsome, and series creator/showrunner Mike McMahan.
- Ep. 410 “Old Friends, New Planets” (30:10)
  Guest star Robert Duncan McNeill (“Nick Locarno”), and series creator/showrunner Mike McMahan.
Lower Decktionary: Setting Up Season 4 (8:33)
The cast and crew discuss the fourth season, particularly celebrating the bizarre legacy of Voyager, promoting the lower deckers, and more. Includes clips from Voyager, and interviews with executive producer Mike McMahan, and stars Eugene Cordero (“Samanthan Rutherford”), Tawny Newsome (“Beckett Mariner”), Noël Wells (“D’Vana Tendi”) & Jack Quaid (“Brad Boimler”). /li>
Old Friends (28:45)
Executive producer Mike McMahan dicusses bringing back legacy characters along with the original voice actors, while the guest cast reunite, reminisce about their work on TNG, and talk about the themes of Star Trek. Includes clips from TNG and Voyager episodes, concept artwork, and interviews with actors Shannon Fill (“Sito Jaxa”), Robert Duncan McNeill (“Nick Locarno”) & Wil Wheaton (“Wesley Crusher”).

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Episodes:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Highly Recommended

In its fourth season, Star Trek: Lower Decks continues to be a hilarious and delightful series, both parodying and paying homage to the Star Trek shows of the past, while also giving viewers fun new characters and adventures. The season also does an excellent job of allowing our wacky crew members to grow a bit, putting them in a new position, and also exploring more of their backstories. The Blu-ray presentation is top notch, and includes an entertaining selection of bonus material. This release is certainly a must own for fans of the series, or of Star Trek in general.