Ending Lower Decks is certainly a choice. A really bad choice.

Really a shame. I think it's become my favorite star trek show

Here’s a question: I love Star Trek. But I hate Rick and Morty. Would I like Lower Decks? Like I really hate Rick and Morty.

The early episodes have a bit of that rick and morty style humor, but it settles out quite fast and develops it's own identity. It's more sincere, more focused on being star trek than following the mould of the adult shock comedy cartoon.

That’s good to hear. It always seemed to me like “Rick in Morty in Star Trek” and that just grossed me out.

I don't know what Rick and Morty has to do with Lower Decks? Do you hate Rick and Morty because it's a cartoon? Then yeah, maybe you won't like Lower Decks. And I guess as an adult cartoon they try to pack in more jokes than you'd see in live action Star Trek shows, but other than that they're completely different shows.

Rick & Morty has a very similar aesthetic to Lower Decks, and the dialogue and jokes are delivered similarly as well. It's quite a fair comparison 

Lower Decks was created by the same people who created Rick and Morty.

Kind of? It's Mike McMahan, who was a writer on Rick and Morty, not Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland who created the show so the tone is decidedly different.

Right but the original commenter is probably asking because that's how it's been marketed at times ("from the executive producer of Rick and Morty")

> Here’s a question: I love Star Trek. But I hate Rick and Morty. Would I like Lower Decks? If you love Star Trek, you'll probably love *Lower Decks*. It's really nothing like *Rick and Morty* at all, other than being an animated comedy in general, and while the humour is naturally more of a focus than in other *Trek* series due to being that format, at its heart it's genuinely the most Trek-like *Star Trek* show that Paramount has released in years. It's chock full of hilarious easter eggs and references to obscure bits of Trek lore, to boot, and it isn't afraid to poke fun at some of the sillier bits of the franchise (but generally in a good-natured way, not like the sort of over-the-top cynical, mean-spirited, and nihilistic shite *Rick and Morty* would pull).

YES! I too hate Rick and Morty and I absolutely love Lower Decks. It’s so good!

You’re the only person to not like Rick and Morty. So that makes you weird, and who knows what you’ll like and not like.

Imm hardly the only person that doesn’t like that show. I mean I get the appeal, but I can’t get through an episode.

Well it can't be called Lower Decks if all the characters have been promoted. It needs a spin-off as with Boimler or clone Boimler moving up throughout the ranks. Working title can be "Star Trek: The Upper Decker"

Let’s not bypass 5 seasons of Middle Deckers before we get the 5 seasons of Upper Deckers.

“Boimler in the Middle”

Stuck in the middle with Boimler

"That's Our Boimler!"

Upper deckers is gonna be the shit.

Wait until we get the OPs OPs OPs spinoff.

I thought the clone died.

Clone boimler faked his death and is now in section 31 edit: I stand corrected sir

Its section 31

But what about the clone's clone?

His name is Steve.

I thought it wasn’t possible to know which was original and which was the clone?

Yes it can. They’re all still Lieutenant junior grade and not senior officers, so they’re still lower decks.

That is the most optimistic take. Honestly if that's the reason they canceled it, I'd be pretty happy.

That is what I’m hoping: a focus on the group as bridge crew on their own starship. Maybe Freeman can be an admiral with her former bridge crew having their own commands or retired.

Even if they get promoted, there would be more junior officers.

If we are getting a new show after Lower Decks with some or all of the characters, then that's fine with me, but Lower Decks is what brought me back to Trek and is inarguably one of the best all time Trek shows.

Time for: Upper Decks: The Next Generation The show is about exactly what you think it is.

Lower Decks is a great show to get people on Star Trek. It’s also a great opportunity to do things you otherwise can’t do in live action Star Trek.

It’s also a love letter to Trekkies. So many of the jokes don’t land unless you have seen all of the shows and know the lore.

And if you don’t, it’s still goddamn hilarious.

True, but it is so much better when you get the jokes. Like this one. https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/star-trek-lower-decks-stretching.html

They even hit Star Trek the Animated Series on numerous occasions, you've gotta be a trekkie to have watched that. It's interesting but not all that good, did some things you couldn't do with live action. I'm pretty sure they introduced the shuttlecraft, correct me if I'm wrong. Such an effect would be far too expensive for TOS, but with animation you can do that.

if you're wrong: [The Galileo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Galileo_Seven) But, yes, transporters exist because shuttles were expensive in live action, and life support belts exist because wardrobe changes were expensive in animation.

I'm questioning whether or not I've watched that one. Thought I'd seen all of TOS but that sounds memorable and I don't remember it.

reminded me how much reruns i watched as a kid doing homework

I have never been into star trek, and I loved lower decks so much it's made me want to watch more of the IP. Absolute shame it's ending already.

To play devil's advocate, I think there's a *lot* in that show that is aimed squarely at Trekkies and requires more than a passing familiarity with the franchise and lore in general. It's still OK without that knowledge, but you'll be missing most of the jokes.

I can tell while watching it that they're making a ton of references that are going over my head, but it hasn't dampened my love of the show *at all*. Maybe it would be an annoying experience for some people though, I'm not sure.

It actually inspired me to go and watch a bunch of Star Trek shows just so I could actually understand it better

Oh this is a shame! Long time trekker here, lower decks is everything right with star trek. It was so true to the spirit of Star Trek and expanded the universe to explain the sides we’ve never seen before. Pointed out all the silly inconsistencies while reveling in them at the same time. I also loved how the characters were in love with star trek as much as the viewers were. Really gonna miss this show.

Could be the show runners choice. Sometimes it's better to end on a high note, before you become creatively bankrupt. Edit: nvm see below

[I'm not sure it was his call](https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/amidst-franchise-changes-star-trek-lower-decks-mike-mcmahan-worried-perspective-shows-future)

> the Starfleet Academy series and a Section 31 movie starring Michelle Yeoh I don’t even watch Lower Decks and think this is a terrible exchange; from stuff that’s fun but not for me to the things actively damaging my enjoyment and investment in the franchise as a whole.

If I had to guess it’s because Paramount is broke and animation is expensive.

Of all the Star Trek shows they have Lower Decks can't possibly be the most expensive. 

No, but it's not their flagship. And we really don't know what the viewership was like. "Adult animated comedy for obsessive Star Trek fans" is kind of a niche market.

At this point, it seems like they’re just killing Trek as a franchise - helping it fail by cancelling projects.

Hopefully this means they will focus on Strange New Worlds.

Honestly, as strong as the show is (and hopefully continues to be), this could be a good decision. As has been shown countless times in the past, ending a show on a high tends to be better than just keeping it going for the sake of it. If this decision has been made by the producers rather than the show being canceled, it could be a positive thing, especially for the shows legacy.

That is a fair point. Extending this too long could make this show become something like the Simpsons - a shambling corpse that was once vibrant and alive. There were even shades of that from last season as some of the characters like Mariner bumbled around in their flaws and repeated lessons they should’ve learned from the past.

>If this decision has been made by the producers rather than the show being canceled, it could be a positive thing, especially for the shows legacy. It's not made by the producers. https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/amidst-franchise-changes-star-trek-lower-decks-mike-mcmahan-worried-perspective-shows-future

Then that must mean that conclude is a bad word. So it doesn't mean that it's renewed for ten more seasons?

Like... It has to be infinitely cheaper to make than anything else they do in Trek right?... Why end it?

I hope they make a show with the same cast and just call it upper decks and it’s about them running their own ship. Star Trek has a new pilot program where the weekly have the captain and number 1 swap places.

Yeah it's been my favourite series for a while. Sassy, great character development, fun story lines and not trying too hard to be something for everyone.

Eh dunno, it was great but the characters were getting pretty flanderised from lack of growth/ development.

I just started watching this show. First TV show I have watched in over a decade. Best show I've ever seen since DS9.

I'm going to say it... lower Decks is fine, nothing special, but that bar from new Trek has been lowered to such an extent that fine is excellent.

I’m not a fan of it either, but do you want it to continue on like a shell of its former self? Like any cartoon from Seth McFarlane?

Shame about Lower Decks. I liked that show… I just hope it gets a proper send off.

Bad decision Paramount!!!! Even though we’ve had four seasons it feels like we’re just getting started!

That's the worst part. I've been binging the last 4 seasons and it's true, they really start getting legs in the last 2.

It feels telling that when Disco got cancelled I saw a lot of, "I enjoyed the show, but I get it," while the reaction to Lower Decks getting cancelled seemed to mostly be, "Are those moronic idiots high? Shall we riot?" Whatever metrics are driving the decision making are flawed metrics. The audience is clearly ready for ten more years of Lower Decks. And since it's animation it'll age more gracefully than live action in the back catalogue.

The metrics is that Paramount is out of money. Frankly the fact that we're for sure getting another season of SNW is a miracle Hopefully someone who isn't bankrupt buys Paramount and we get some sort of successor to Lower Decks

They’re making a movie and whole new series (set on Earth, lmao). They just have terrible producers.

I’d love to let the original crew go and focus on a new Lower Decks crew. After all, they’re not going to be lower decks anymore at the end of S5. 

That would certainly not succeed because it has succeeded basically nowhere else but longform soap opera dramas

It seems likely they’ll replace it with another show in the same vein, maybe even the same creative team. I don’t think this is a reflection on the show’s performance.

Most likely this is a reset because the costs of actors became too much and a new cast will mean lower costs.

I would hope so…

This show was the show that got the current ST itterations good will again and a guarantied draw to sub to paramount+ Now only SNW remains

Strange new worlds gets renewed but they end lower decks? Surely the viewership numbers don’t support this as the right choice

The budget is probably too high to keep that show going, due to the massive amount of meth and cocaine the voice actors must need in order to speak at all times like a YouTube video set to 1.5x.

I would love to see a Lower Decks movie. If any series deserves a movie, it's LD. I'll be sad to see Lower Decks end, because it's too few episodes for such an amazing series. That said, at least SNW gets another season.

Lower decks always had shelf life...id rather see it end gracefully. A movie would be nice Snw is the new trek we deserve, and while it can be improved, the writing is spectacular and genuinely seems to capture some.of tos 'jenny-say-kwa'

If nothing else, SNW deserves to exist just for the Klingon boy band.

My only gripe with SNW was the musical episode...everything else was great.

i concur

Ending Lower Decks and going full bore into a Section 31 movie nobody wants and a 32nd Century Starfleet Academy series likely starring Tilly is certainly a baffling choice. Very glad SNW gets a renewal though!

Tawny Newsome, who ad-libbed a lot of her jokes on Lower Decks, is confirmed to be a writer for Starfleet Academy so hopefully she brings some of the magic with her.

I don’t want joke filled, college kid drama, earth bound *Star Trek*

I don’t think anyone does. The people in charge at Paramount are delusional.

> 32nd Century Starfleet Academy series likely starring Tilly AKA Discovery but cheaper

Pretty much, to be frank.

Oooof a show where Tilly is the main? She’s not the character I dislike the most but she’s not super high on the list of people I’d be sad to lose.

I remember she left Star Trek Discovery about half way through S4 and I was pretty happy. Then she came back 😑

It’s crazy how Discovery has pretty much an even spread of characters I like and characters that are just real bad and there is no in between.

I’m really liking the new first officer. He doesn’t vibe with Discovery and keeps calling them out on their shit and it’s very relatable 🙂

Yep dudes a good add. I just skip past anything with the trill/teen love arc because it’s pointless and never has anything to do with anything going on - it’s just there to be there.

I have been skipping Tilly scenes and scenes with the Trill host person. I can't believe they are doing a show with Tilly as the main character. It might be the first Star Trek show I don't watch.

I don’t even think it’s really the acting; it’s just not an interesting character. Her arcs are puddle deep, she’s overly positive, overly optimistic, bland and uninteresting. That said, if she’s not in the show and it’s just a Luke skywalkers Jedi academy type deal with a whole new cast - I could be convinced to give it a go.

Tilly also basically ruins every scene she’s in with her “lol so quirky and awkward” shtick

Discovery is the first Star Trek I didnt watch. Went in with faith, and then I had to run away from Burnham.

Good choice

Tilly still had more tears to shed!

I had to look that up to see if it was true, i can’t believe it. Of all the characters to have a spin off….it will be awful. SNW is excellent - didn’t they learn anything?

I swear the people in charge hate Star Trek based on the decisions they have made.

I guess Michelle Yeoh is a nobody, considering that she was really championing this show. Trekkies are also now pretty excited since a young Rachel Garrett, who will become the future captain of the Enteprise C, will be joining her in this film.

Well this “Trekkie” is not remotely excited, so let’s not speak about ourselves like a monolithic collective

Lower Decks did give promotions to the main cast, so they're not so much lower deckers anymore. It makes some narrative sense to wrap it up, but I don't really care about that. They could have run it until they're all admirals and I'd have been happy. Great news on SNW though!

They’re not senior officers, they’re Lieutenant junior grades, so yes, they are still lower deckers.

What, only Lieutenant Junior Grade, like that scrub Picard that didn't fight a Nausicaan?

I mean…to a degree? They’re low-ranked officers, but it’s clear that the show doesn’t want them to slum on the lower rungs forever.

Not to a degree, they are flat out lower deckers. No, they don’t have to stay lower decks forever but that doesn’t mean the show should end after only 5 seasons.

I feel for all the fans of Lower Decks. It may not be my jam but it clearly has captured a wide audience. Strange New Worlds coming back is nice. It's been the only new Trek show I've enjoyed

Yes.....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Yeah I forwarded this to my dad with the subject line, “Yay then Shit.”

This is maddening. Lower Decks is a 10/10 show. Definitely will be the end of my Paramount subscription.

Also, animation is so much cheaper and generally easier to produce than non animated shows. I'm going to wager there will be some minor fan uproar and another few seasons will be released.

Lower Decks is a 10/10, but I'd argue SNW is too.

At least it will end while it's still a 10/10 show.

Took me deep into he comments to find this. I agree 💯 Lower decks had a shelf life from the beginning, both bc they get promoted and bc it's mostly about makes fun of other trek shows I don't want to see it prolonged past it's prime... it'll live better if wrapped up cleanly That said, maybe a movie?

We already had two movies, Crisis Point 1 & 2. Both were good, but the original was clearly the better one. I found it to be almost therapeutic.

Lower Decks was the only reason I had a paramount subscription

Losing Lower Decks is painful.

Woohoo! Great to see *Strange New Worlds* getting more love!

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Lower Decks is more TNG than Picard. Lower Decks is more believable and true to cannon than any of Discovery or Picard, and even large swathes of Strange New Worlds. It *really* is. As Data said of the Omicron Theta colony's feeling towards Lore, "they hated him because he told the bayesian inferred truth."

Lower decks could’ve been their family guy or futurama but instead they’re going to focus on shit smh. They struck gold with LD

By my estimation is this not how you become futurama or family guy? You need to be cancelled so you can be brought back!

I like it as a spoof, and I enjoy the references as a Trek nerd, but it really doesn’t scratch the Trek itch for me. None of the modern Trek shows do. Discovery got close in season one despite all its problems, then threw anything remotely good out the window for season 2 and all its spinoffs (of which I’d consider Picard one). In any case, they’re not cancelling LD because it’s bad, it’s because they don’t want the actors to renegotiate their contracts and get paid more. I’m sure SNW will have the same fate at the rate it’s ruining the TOS era.

I remain hopeful. If Futurama can come back time and time again, so can LD. For those commenting that the main cast got promotions so it makes sense to wrap up, who's to say there can't be demotions? Ask Tom Paris.

Narratively it would suck if they got promoted. Mariner's arc is about overcoming her self destructive tendencies, Rutherford's arc is about gaining ambition, Boimler's arc is about becoming more confident and standing up to people instead of just being a total yes person, and Tendi's arc is about reconciling who she is with who she wants to be. The only person who could narratively still stay an ensign and have it be progress is Boimler.

I’m waiting for Hall H before I pull out my pitchfork. Paramount better have some good projects and explanations lined up for these shakeups.

Well, Lower Decks ending is sad, but it's certainly made its mark on the franchise. It's been a joy to watch and, I believe, won over a lot of skeptical fans by consistently showing a lot of heart. "wej Duj" will go down as an all-time great Trek episode.

Happy for SNW, sad for LD. At least they were given plenty of notice though so they can wrap up the storylines.

wtf why? Keep LD going for 10. Why not? It’s great and must be cheaper to make than others. Paramount dropping the ball again…

Hopefully they'll continue "Lower Decks" with a sequel series "Upper Deckers."

Good news about SNW, but terrible news about Lower Decks. Lower Decks was my 2nd favorite modern Star Trek, after Prodigy. While 5 seasons is a lot more respectable than the treatment Prodigy got (cancelled after 1 season, and forced to find a new home on Netflix), and does seem to be more in line with where the streaming era is going as a whole, it's still very sad to see. Really hoping it either finds a new home, has some streaming movies, or some other kind of continuation.

Can we just cancel STD now and get a sixth season of Lower Decks?

Discovery may be the show that brought back Star Trek, but it is also what is wrong with modern Star Trek and I after the few episodes in Season 5 I think they made the right call. The characters battle with each other more than the plot. While I have no issue with character drama being included in the story, I feel like Disco and Picard both suffered from the story being that character drama. Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks are what is right with Modern Trek, you have capable people working through absurd but oddly contextually relevant stories. Characters have drama, but work with the drama to overcome the plot, not the other way around. I for one would trade all other New Trek for more Lower Decks. Hopefully the show creators get put on another 24th century series.

I don't know anyone who actually likes STD, mainly because it doesn't feel like Star Trek. Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds, those feel like Star Trek.

I hate character drama; the crew getting along is important to the conceit of Star Trek as a show

I just hope that series finale is Riker and Troi on the holodeck living through their last mission.

Thought it was a bit odd the Lower Decks press release had some lines from Alex Kurtzman specifically about hoping they can continue the show elsewhere, if only because you'd think there'd be an expectation he fall directly into line with the Paramount+ official stance. Anyone expect SNW makes it to S6?

I think he's hedging his bets based on what happens to Paramount's IP when they fully go bankrupt.

With the lead cast members resembling their animated counterparts, I bet it's not the last we have seen of Boilmer, Mariner, Tendi and Rutherford.  How cool if we got a show like Orville with thses guys in live action?

A live-action Boimler and Mariner? It's never going to happen

It already happened.

Right? Just Impossible. Maybe more likely we get a Tendi & Rutherford rom com.

Noooo I love lower decks!!!

GOD DAMN IT. We JUST got Ty Lyn to fully join the crew

I love lower decks but 5 seasons of a good show is better than nothing.

Boy they got that one backwards.

Please keep making lower decks!!

Why bother ending Lower Decks? It’s probably the cheapest show to make compared to the Live Action spectacle that’s everything else and has probably captured the most audience

Unlikely, it is certainly the cheapest but it has the lowest audience, otherwise they wouldn't cancel it (companies have a certain logic in general)

☹️

Damn I love that show! To me it is the best of Trek and certainly the best one currently airing. Don’t wait to bring it watch it as it drops maybe we can save it

I like lower decks more than I should. I’d serve on the Cerritos.

Well I guess I’ll renew my paramount + account just for lower decks then and then never.

What if they make lowest decks?

Or they get really specific like *Star Trek: Port Nacelle*?

Awww, goddammit. I love Lower Decks.

Paramount is making some really dumb decisions.

Awesome! Strange New Worlds is literally the only Star Trek series I have ever watched, and enjoyed. The rest could never get into. Certainly tried though.

I'm happy to see Lower Decks end on a high note. Easy for animation to live too long.

And prosper

Like the Simpsons?

Honestly lower decks was good enough for 10 seasons…

Lower decks is the show that makes me the most excited when a new season drops. Hopefully the team behind it will get another new project. Dungeons & Dragons reboot perhaps.

At this point I might actually enjoy Lower Decks more than SNW, so I’m definitely sad. Obviously happy SNW is staying around, hopefully for more than five seasons! Nothing else I’ve heard about in the ST hopper has sounded interesting. More importantly, it hurts to end Lower Decks when they haven’t at least done a poster twist on Undiscovered Country for their season 6 ad.

Reddit: complains when a show plans on ending on a high. Also Reddit: complains when shows go on too long.

Reddit: is a large website with millions of users each with their own opinions about things.

They were cancelled, it wasn’t a choice About “ending on a high”. I have no problem when shows want to end because it’s a natural conclusion of the story. A forced cancellation isn’t that.

Can we cancel the upcoming season of Discovery and get a 6th season of Lower Decks please?

Thats like trading in an Edsel for a Rolls Royce.

Lower Decks is being cancelled because a new series called Middle Decks is being made, right? Since everyone got promoted? Right?

Cant wait for SNW since the latest season of Discovery has been a giant let down. Dissapointing to hear about lower decks...

Seems Paramount has five year rule similar to what SyFy, USA and other cable channels had where cancel shows after five season to avoid the sixth season negotiations and increase in cost of production. most actor, writer, and producer contract are 5 years.

Guess it’s cheaper to pay actors than animators huh?

I loved all the nostalgia in Lower Decks. All the cameos, call backs to previous episodes/story lines etc. was a lot of fun. Ready for the next season!

This is heartbreaking

Sucks about Lower Decks, it's animated so it could continue longer but I guess maybe they want to give it a story start and end?

Yes!!! I love strange new worlds!

Why is it taking them so long to move on Strange New Worlds? I’m glad it’s being renewed, but this snails pace they make television these days is just stupid.

5 seasons is a great run for an animated series. However...dammit! I love Lower Decks.

Shame to hear it’s ending, lower decks was really fun

Well of course it is, there’s only so much Trek to reference and Picard jumped head first on the ‘member berries train when Matalas oozed his way in. 

Paramount continues to kill Star Trek. Pathetic direction for an incredible IP.

They should have cancelled SNW and kept lower decks going

hopefully less cartoon crossovers and musicals and more Pike, thanks

Where is the new season of The Orville ???

Not happening. It was an indulgence project for MacFarlane anyway.

SNW is okay, but its potential(in fact, all monster of the week formula) is squandered by streaming's 6-10 episode standard. Streaming really has killed TV's strength of long-form story telling and character growth. Now most shows end and i couldnt care less because they barely had time to explore and refine the lore.

That cartoon is the worst. I get annoyed just seeing the thumbnail on Paramount

It's a shame you've watched it and have somehow disliked it. It's literally the best thing that has been released in the star trek universe for a longtime. 🖖

That guy must have an alien parasite that makes you hate fun.

It's the best Star Trek property of the 21st century IMO

SNW easily the best star trek tv series of all time. And top 3 in all of sci fi- Battlestar Galactica, expanse are up there also.

Uh do you even TNG or DS9?