At Star Trek Las Vegas we learned a lot more about the new visions for Star Trek and ahead of our venture towards Destination Star Trek in Birmingham, we’re taking a look at what we know so far from the Mega-Event in the US.
One of the key takeaways from the panel, and one thing that McMahon has been clear on from the first announcement of the project, is that the show may be a comedy but it will always – first and foremost – be about the Star Trek vision.
“It was really important to me that even though we are a comedy, the comedy does not come from punching down on Trek, or making fun of tropes.” He explained, “It feels like every episode is a Star Trek episode, but we are focusing on people in the ship who are funny, and you will love.”
He also mentioned that, being part of the Star Trek universe, the show will also make nods and references to the wider community of Starfleet and that the more Trek you know, the more references and callbacks you may spot.
“You can hear the love of Trek from the way Mike is talking about it.” Alex Kurtzman commented, giving McMahon his due praise, “We knew it the second he came in to pitch the show. He said: ‘You guys probably don’t want to do this, but I want to do a show about the people who bring the yellow cartridge to the replicator so a banana can come out the other side.'”
Aside from loving the pitch, Kurtzman also noted that animation was in an intriguing developmental state right now with shows such as Rick & Morty and Bojack Horseman among those that had helped craft a new wave of adult animated comedy, while other forms of animation – of which he noted Into the Spider-Verse” were introducing new technologies and ideas into their production.
In putting his show together, McMahon was eager to note that, while he had recruited some hardcore Star Trek fans into the writers room, the difficult task he faced was finding the rght balance of comedic voices.
“What I wanted to do is put together different comedic voices and people who just felt like they either loved Star Trek or they wanted to watch it all the time and learn about it as we were writing it.” McMahon told fans at Star Trek Las Vegas when introducing his writing team, “You want people who are going to write towards the voice of the show that you pitched, but you also want to have people with different comedic voices and different kind of access points.”
As for what to expect in the show, aside from the crew gaining the worst possible assignments, McMahon wouldn’t give any hints as to what stories we could expect. Other than noting that to him, “If Deep Space Nine feels like drinking a nice slow cup of coffee that is expertly made, our show feels like getting a cup of coffee thrown in your face and then you fall down stairs.” But he did note that the overall mission was to go in seeing Lower Decks as a ‘canon’ show, despite not being live action.
To back them up on ensuring they stay within that canon, and don’t veer too far into their own world, McMahon noted that author David Mack was on board as a consultant to ensure the continuity in their vision of 2380 still felt like it clicked into place with the rest of the Next Generation era. “What Mack is amazing at is taking what we are doing and really clicking it into place where you can watch a TNG episode and then bounce to ours and then to TNG and it doesn’t feel like you are making two different kinds of entities.” McMahon noted, praising Mack’s input.
There was also talk of adding cameo’s into the mix. Something the Next Generation fan in McMahon seemed excited about approaching. “I don’t want to tease anything yet, but all is I want to say is these are all of our heroes.”
“If we can figure out a way to not mess up the show and get to geek out over working with all these people we love, we would do it.” He added, “Our TNG crew is out there in 2380. That’s all I’ll say.”
Star Trek Lower Decks began recording earlier this year with character art being revealed at San Diego Comic Con. Produced by CBS Eye Animations and Secret Hideout Productions, the show will make it’s debut on CBS All Access in the United States with no partner for international distribution announced as of yet. No launch date has been released, though Alex Kurtzman has estimated that the show should launch sometime in 2021 at the earliest.
This article was first published in SFCQ2 Comms ‘Across the Universe’ edition, released in September 2019 as part of the ‘Boldly Go’ section alongside updates & insight into Picard, Discovery and a whole lot more. Find out more about Comms or Enlist Today for access!
About the author
A Fistful of Familiar Surroundings
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. President Forward During the Next Generation multiple set pieces were re-used and recycled from the set pieces built for the film franchise. From the obvious re-use of internal corridors, to smaller pieces such as Dr Crushers office being McCoy's, it's hard for a keen eye to ignore how much the productions shared between them. But as The Next Generation became the dominant forcer with ongoing production and full standing sets, eventually the turn tabled and by the final original cast instalment, it was the TNG stages that became the obvious redress solution. The most jarring of the films set re-uses was the office of the president. As Kirk and McCoy were charged with assassination, a political poop show begins and the Federation […]
Who is Jet Reno?
As Academy reopens it's doors, we've been introduced to a whole new cast of cadets ready to take on the responsibility of being Starfleets next generation of explorers. But among the new faces are familiar ones sharing their knowledge and experience with one of their new tutors making the jump from Discovery. If you jumped straight into Academy though, you may be wondering just who is temporal mechanics class lead, and occasional sports coach, Jet Reno...? Making her first appearance in Discovery's second season opener 'Brother', Commander Jett Reno is a Starfleet engineer renowned for her razor-sharp intellect, unflappable calm under pressure, and famously dry wit. A veteran of numerous high-risk assignments, Reno has built a reputation as one of Starfleet’s most resourceful and unconventional problem-solvers.Before Discovery, Reno began her career as a starship engineer, specializing in propulsion systems, power […]
[Treknology] The Iconic Communicator
Few pieces of tech in science fiction have been as influential or recognisable as Starfleet's communicators. Essential tech for life in Starfleet, handheld communicators were originally used most commonly with landing parties to communicate with both home base and the rest of the team on the ground, or could be used on board a starship or facility while linked in to the on-board communications network. In the 22nd and 23rd centuries, the communicators were simple clamshell designs that could be flipped open to make a call home. Appearing first in the original series, the first communicators were designed by prop maker Wah Ming Chang, who developed other tools of the trade for the series, as a sleek and slimline device that looked significantly more advanced than the bulky radio's and telecoms devices of the 60's. With a flick of the […]
A Fistful of Forgotten Technology
Travelling the stars is a lot more fun when you have engineers who can turn rocks into replicators and scientists who come up with some crazy ideas on a whim and bring some brand new tech into creation to solve this weeks problem. But sometimes you have to wonder what happens to the inventions that didn't last the week.... Borg Again Once upon a time, Neelix died. Then Seven came along, casually unstuffed some Borg probes in him and suddenly he's back to life again. Mortal Coil is an episode that focuses on Neelix's belief and psychological after effects of being dead, even if just briefly, only to experience nothing but his revival. It's a common story throughout all genre's of TV. It's just this time there were nanoprobes to speed up the 'coming back to life' part. Seven's nanoprobes […]
Across The Universe This November!
As the year comes to an end, the new cycles are spinning up as Star Trek looks ahead towards new frontiers... UNDER CONSTRUCTION.... AGAIN... It's safe to say the biggest news of December had all eyes back on the film side of the Star Trek franchise again as Paramount seems to have found a new plan to revive Trek on the big screen. Which, sure, comes with a lot of scepticism. We've already had the Tarantino plan, the Kelvin revival announcement, the Hawley film that went into pre production before another announcement and probably more that we've forgotten about. But this one comes from the all new Paramount under Skydance, so lets be cautiously hopeful! According to Deadline the new pitch is coming from Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley who will write and direct a completely new take on […]
[Ships of the Line] Send ‘nubes! The Danube Class Runabout
The world of Star Trek is filled with graceful and elegant ships, huge forces of nature packed to the rafters with a bustling crew with every skill imaginable under one roof for any situation. But not all of the fleet's numbers are massive hulks ready for adventure. Sometimes you just need a little runner to get you from one place to another for missions that might last a few weeks more than a few years. Put into action in the late 2360's, the Danube Class Runabout was ideal for short term missions or teams that needed more than a cramped and empty transport shuttle to get the job done. At at least four or five times the size of a standard shuttlecraft, the Danube class was a step up from the range of short-range craft. Designed as a tightly condensed […]
Related
The New Next Generation: Lower Decks S5E10 Review
Alerted to the universe destroying rift that's been isolated to their timeline, Boimler and Mariner lead the charge in convincing Captain Freeman of the threat. To their surprise, there's no argument from her as she trusts her 'best officers' and informs command who then deliver the bad news. There's no other ship in range. It's time for Cerritos to step out of their comfort zone and save the galaxy.
Fissure Quest: Lower Decks S5E09 Review
Side stepping the Lower Deckers for the episode, Fissure Quest instead focuses on Boimlers not-so-dead-transporter duplicate William. Following faking his death in season three, Billy Boims is now captain of Section 31 ship the Anaximander. While Cerritos has been sent to close the subspace fissures expoising them to alternate realities, the Anaximander has been sent into that multiverse to find out who's causing them.
Upper Decks: Lower Decks S5E08 Review
This is an odd episode that see's a lot going on, but also feels like nothing of note really happens. It's basically a day in the life of the command crew that makes the job seem more chaotic than the low level tasks of the Lower Deckers while making fun of the idea that only the important command crew have all the fun.
Lower Decks: The Final Season Begins…
Mariner, Boimler and the lower deck crew are back this October as the Second Contact specialists take on a new mission to investigate the mundane for the Cerritos' final flight!
Starfleet Academy Welcomes It’s First Class!
The first batch of cast announcements for Academy focused on veteran actors Paul Giamatti and Holly Hunter, the latter in the role of the new Academy Commandant, but now we're getting a full look at the shows first class of cadets as the first five are ready to enlist!
Paul Giamatti joins Holly Hunter for Starfleet Academy!
Looking ahead to the next generation of Star Trek shows, Paramount and Secret Hideout have already began announcing new cast members to lead the Starfleet Academy series coming to the streaming platform in the near future. News of the show has already turned heads with notes that the new academy campus will be the largest seen on TV so far, being filmed in Pinewood';s largest stage in Canada, though in terms of what to fully expect from the young adult drama, things are largely being kept under Red Directive secrecy. However we now at least know who will be leading the new class ahead of the shows production...
