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.

The fifth/final season of Lower Decks follows the final adventures (for now?) of our lower decks crew. As the season begins, the U.S.S. Cerritos has been working hard to close rifts that keep opening up to alternate universes. As they try to contain the situation, they also investigate who or what might be causing these quantum fissures. During one of these missions, the crew find themselves aboard an alternate version of the Cerritos, where Captain “Becky” Freeman rules over her crew using fear, while “Bearded Boimler” is far more confident than the one on our Cerritos and has got the opportunity to serve as acting captain several times. This causes Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) to question the choices that they have made to cause them to end up less successful than their counterparts—Boimler even starts to become more like his bearded counterpart, using Bearded Boimler’s log from a PADD he stole from the other ship as a guide. Meanwhile, D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) is off on her own, exploring her Orion pirate side with her sister, but misses her Starfleet ship and crew. And Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) misses his best friend, with Vulcan T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) trying to step in to fill that void left by Tendi’s absence.

Like previous seasons, the fifth 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 fifth season’s episodes:

• “Dos Cerritos” – The crew gets sucked into a quantum fissure, and end up in a parallel reality where they come in contact with another Cerritos captained by “Becky” Freeman, and meet alternate versions of themselves, but there are tensions between the doubles as they try to figure out how to reopen the rift to get back home. Meanwhile D’Vana Tendi helps her sister D’Erika pillage one last ship, so that she can return to the Cerritos.
• “Shades of Green” – Mariner and Boimler must rescue their away team when they are kidnapped while helping the citizens of Targalus IX dismantle their system of capitalism. Meanwhile, the Green and Blue Orions undertake a sail ship race through the Ecellon Nebula to see which will lose everything to the Syndicate; D’Vana suspects her sister is hiding a medical condition from her; aAnd T’Lyn and Rutherford bond while repairing a shuttle.
• “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel” – The Cerritos docks at the Cosmic Dutchess, a interstellar cruise ship the size of a moon, to help capture and study the nanite cluster that has infested the resort. Meanwhile, Mariner discovers that she never actually broke up with Jennifer, who thinks they’re still together; and Boimler goes on an undercover spy mission as vacation bros with Jack Ransom and Billups, but worries that the captain is putting him in danger, using him as the canary in a coal mine.
• “A Farewell To Farms” – Boimler and Mariner visit a Klingon Warrior Pit where they meet up with Ma’ah, who was recently stripped of his captaincy for allowing his crew to mutiny. They decide to help him undergo the Ritual of J’ethurgh in order to get his ship back. Meanwhile, the crew of the Cerritos head to Praxon IV, where they offer to escort Klowahkan food critics Legnog and Gonald back to their planet. Dr Migleemo is eager to impress two of his species’ greatest scholars, attempting to cook them a meal with the help of his Starfleet friends.
• “Starbase 80?!” – The Cerritos must make an emergency stop at Starbase 80, the worst starbase in the galaxy. Mariner, who had previously been exiled at SB 80, is not eager to return. As the Cerritos crew looks for the navigation processor part they need, they learn just how out-of-date and in need of repairs the station is, and discover that the curse infecting the Starbase crew is starting to affect them as well.
• “Of Gods and Angles” – As the crew of the Cerritos try to negotiate a peace treaty between the Orbs and the Cubes, they don’t need anything messing up the tense diplomatic situation. Problematic demigod Ensign Olly is about to be transferred off the ship, but Mariner offers to help get her on the right track, as they investigate a situation that could result in a shape war. Meanwhile, Boimler continues to try to be more like the confident “Beard Boimler” from the alternate dimension, but gets himself into trouble.
• “Fully Dilated” – When Mariner, Tendi, and T’Lyn go on an undercover mission as aliens to Dilmer III to refrieve wreckage from a crashed shuttle, they discover a purple Data head. Boimler and Rutherford accidently spill a drink on the transporter control, causing the women to be stuck on the planet, where one week passes for every second on the Cerritos. Meanwhile, Tendi worries about losing a senior science officer promotion to T’Lyn and tries to out-science her, but a lurking local sees this and believes the women are witches.
• “Upper Decks” – While the lower-deckers usually see all the action, this episode looks at first officer Ransom dealing with a crew conflict by making the situation all about himself, tactical officer Mr. Shaxs confronting visions of his wartime past, chief engineer Billups dealing with a potential meltdown situation, Dr. T’ana performing surgery on herself, and Captain Freeman attending some mundane crew events. Meanwhile, Clickets infiltrate the ship.
• “Fissure Quest” – It turns out that Boimler’s clone who was on the Titan works for a secret organization that faked his death. Now he’s on a mission to find and stop whomever is trying to destroy the multiverse. He is the captain of the Anaximander, and is joined by a crew of interdimensional castaways that includes Vulcan first officer T’Pol, tactical officer Curzon Dax, Cardssian surgeon Elim Garak and his husband, an emergency medical hologram based on Doctor Julian Bashir, and many Harry Kim’s from cross the multiverse. They pick up a Captain Mariner who may have a solution to figuring out who is behind the rifts.
• “The New Next Generation” – Boimler gets a message from his clone William about a universe-destroying rift on its way to his dimension, and the Cerritos is the only ship in a position to deal with the situation. However, their mission hits a snag when they come under attack from Klingon Relga who demands they hand over Captain Ma’ah and his brother Malor, who are seeking asylum aboard the Cerritos.

I found this fifth season to be just as entertaining as the previous seasons—these ten episodes often had me laughing out loud. The episodes take viewers to new worlds, explore new alien races, and revisits several characters we met in previous seasons. Brent Spiner even makes a guest appearance as Data. This season we get to see the lower decks crew evolve even more as they discover what kind of crew members they ultimately want to be. There is a hilarious ongoing storyline of Boimler slowing changing into his bearded counterpart, and we see the physical facial hair aspect of this evolve in each episode. But there is also an internal struggle for the character as he learns to be more confident in himself while spending so much time emulating his counterpart. Meanwhile, Mariner, Tendi and Rutherford also go on similar journeys of self-discovery this season. 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. In addition to the mission of the week, each episode also furthers the season-long arc of these fissures and who/what is causing them, as well as the personal struggles the characters are going through.

This final season ultimately builds to what feels both like a solid series conclusion for these characters, but also the start of something new. I would love to see these lower deckers return in some way in the future—I really enjoyed the animation style of this series and found the writing to be very witty and clever. Lower Decks will likely be my all-time favorite of the various Star Trek franchises. It has all of the action, excitement and interesting and thought-provoking stories Star Trek is known for, but with a constant dose of humor that just makes it so much fun to watch.

CBS/Paramount Home Entertainment has released this final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks on Blu-ray and DVD. I was sent the Blu-ray version for review. 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. Whether it’s an action-packed race to stop the rift, or just the general ambiance aboard the Cerritos or Klingon Bird of Prey, the audio sounds amazing. The season’s ten episodes are spread across 2 discs, which are placed in standard Blu-ray keepcase, and covered with a glossy carboard slipcover. The release includes audio commentaries by the cast/creators on five of the episodes, plus a 25-minutes featurette looking at the season with the cast/creators. This season is definitely worth picking up for fans of the series. And if you don’t already own all the seasons on disc, there is a beautiful SteelBook Complete Series release as well!

What’s Included:

Episodes: (4:26:15)

• All 10 episodes of season 5:
  Disc 1 (2:09:40): “Dos Cerritos”, “Shades of Green”, “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel”, “A Farewell To Farms”, “‘Starbase 80?!'”
  Disc 2 (2:16:35): “Of Gods and Angles”, “Fully Dilated”, “Upper Decks”, “Fissure Quest”, “The New Next Generation”
• 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
  • Episode 501 “Dos Cerritos” (27:19)
    Actors Tawny Newsome (“Beckett Mariner”), Noël Wells (“D’Vana Tendi”) and series creator Mike McMahan
  • Episode 503 “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel” (25:44) – Actor Jack Quaid (“Boimler”), supervising director Barry J. Kelly and series creator Mike McMahan
  • Episode 507 “Fully Dilated” (25:41)
    Actors Brent Spiner (“Data”) & Noël Wells, and series creator Mike McMahan
  • Episode 508 “Upper Decks” (24:25)
    Actor Fred Tatasciore (“Lieutenant Shaxs”), producers Brad Winters & Megan Treviño, and series creator Mike McMahan
  • Episode 510 “The New Next Generation” (33:51)
    Actors Tawny Newsome, Noël Wells, Jack Quaid & Eugene Cordero (“Sam Rutherford”), and series creator Mike McMahan
• Lower Decktionary: Season 5 (25:24)
  The cast and crew discuss the storylines of the fifth season, the different version of the characters, their characters’ journeys this season, the guest stars, the platonic character relationships, the ending, and more. Includes clips from across the Star Trek franchise, and interviews with executive producer Mike McMahan, and stars Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Eugene Cordero & Noël Wells.

Final Thoughts:

In its final 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 series also does an excellent job of allowing our these crew members to grow and evolve, and leaves them in a place that feels both like a conclusion of the series, but also leaving things over for more adventures in the future. 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. For those who don’t already own the series on disc, there is also a Complete Series box set release.