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Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5

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The fifth and final season of the American adult animated television series Star Trek: Lower Decks is set in the 24th century and follows the adventures of the low-ranking officers with menial jobs on the starship Cerritos, one of Starfleet's least important starships. The season is produced by CBS Eye Animation Productions in association with Secret Hideout, Important Science, Roddenberry Entertainment, and animation studio Titmouse, with Mike McMahan serving as showrunner and Barry J. Kelly as supervising director.

Star Trek: Lower Decks
Season 5
Promotional poster with art by Matt Ferguson, parodying a poster for the film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) by Bob Peak[1]
ShowrunnerMike McMahan
Starring
No. of episodes8
Release
Original networkParamount+
Original releaseOctober 24, 2024 (2024-10-24) –
present
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 4
List of episodes

Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, and Eugene Cordero voice the lower decks crew members of the Cerritos, with Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O'Connell, Fred Tatasciore, and Gillian Vigman providing voices for the ship's senior officers. A fifth season of Lower Decks was ordered in March 2023. Writing had begun by then and was nearly complete that October, when McMahan said it was possible that this could be the last season of the series. Voice recording was delayed by 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike and mostly took place between November 2023 and February 2024. In April, Paramount+ confirmed that the fifth season would be the last.

The season premiered on the streaming service Paramount+ on October 24, 2024, with its first two episodes. The rest of the 10-episode run is being released weekly until December 19.

Episodes

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Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		Title [2]Directed byWritten byOriginal release date [3]
411"Dos Cerritos"Megan LloydAaron BurdetteOctober 24, 2024 (2024-10-24)
The USS Cerritos is sucked into a parallel universe populated by alternate versions of the crew who have made slightly different life choices. The two crews work together to return the "Prime" Cerritos to its own universe. The captain of the alternate Cerritos is the harsh, disciplinarian counterpart of Lieutenant Beckett Mariner. Wanting to return to being a loose-cannon junior officer again, she kidnaps Prime Mariner and takes her place on the Prime Cerritos. Prime Mariner escapes and convinces the alternate Cerritos crew to get the attention of the Prime Cerritos, allowing the two Mariners to swap back. Meanwhile, former Cerritos crew member D'Vana Tendi leads a crew of Orion pirates to pay off a debt to her sister D'Erika, but longs to return to Starfleet. D'Erika offers to forgive the debt if D'Vana salvages a derelict Orion medical vessel, but D'Vana's crew comes into conflict with a rival clan of Blue Orions. They subdue the Blue Orions non-lethally and salvage the ship. The Blue Orions declare war on the Tendi clan, and D'Vana postpones returning to Starfleet to help her family win the war.
422"Shades of Green"Bob SuarezKeith FoglesongOctober 24, 2024 (2024-10-24)
The Pirate Queen of Orion orders the war between the Tendis and the Blue Orions to be resolved with a dangerous race through an asteroid field. D'Vana learns that D'Erika is pregnant and becomes overprotective of her sister, interfering with the race and causing them to crash. D'Erika says she hid her pregnancy so D'Vana would not feel obliged to mentor the child instead of returning to Starfleet. The sisters reconcile and finish the race in a tie; the queen decrees that both clans must forfeit their wealth. Meanwhile, the Cerritos helps the planet Targalus IX adjust to its new post-scarcity economy. Two ensigns are kidnapped by formerly wealthy Targalans who resent the loss of their status. They survive by following advice from Lieutenant Brad Boimler and are rescued by Boimler and Mariner. Lieutenant T'Lyn tries to help Lieutenant Sam Rutherford by repairing a shuttle, but he explains that he has been saving it to repair with D'Vana, so T'Lyn wrecks the shuttle again. When D'Vana returns to the Cerritos she asks for the discarded Targalan gold and jewels to be given to her family, restoring their wealth.
433"The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel"Brandon WilliamsStephanie Amante-RitterOctober 31, 2024 (2024-10-31)
The Cerritos is sent to a space hotel where Mariner, Rutherford, Tendi, and T'Lyn are tasked with capturing a nanite swarm that is consuming technology and energy. They are joined by Mariner's ex-girlfriend Jennifer Sh'reyan, who Mariner ghosted. Jennifer acts as if they are still dating and the others encourage Mariner to have a mature conversation about ending their relationship. Boimler joins Commander Jack Ransom in locating Admiral Milius, who has gone AWOL. Boimler suspects Ransom is using him as cannon fodder and briefly sides with Milius, who is resentful of Starfleet after being assigned uninteresting missions. Ransom says he chose Boimler for the mission because of his preparedness and bravery, and Boimler helps subdue Milius. Jennifer admits that she was pretending to still be dating as a way to force Mariner to talk. The two apologize and officialize their breakup. Rutherford finds a way to disable the nanites and discovers that they were controlled by a microscopic Starfleet ship from a parallel universe. Milius is happy when he is assigned to help the ship return home.
444"A Farewell To Farms"Megan LloydDiana TayNovember 7, 2024 (2024-11-07)
The Klingon officer Ma'ah is forced to return to his family farm after being stripped of his captaincy for allowing his crew to mutiny. He is visited by Boimler and Mariner, who offer to help him regain his command. However, Ma'ah is less enthusiastic, as he would be forced to serve under Bargh, the leader of the Klingon Oversight Council, who abuses his position to deny Ma'ah's appeals. With encouragement from Boimler, Ma'ah fights and kills Bargh and resolves to start his career anew with his brother Malor as his first officer. Meanwhile, the Cerritos is escorting two food critics back to the homeworld of Dr. Migleemo, the ship's psychologist. Migleemo's attempts to impress them with his cooking only receive negative criticism. Freeman, Tendi and Rutherford expose the critics as frauds who have lost their sense of taste; Migleemo offers to provide therapy, earning their respect.
455"Starbase 80?!"Bob SuarezMay DarmonNovember 14, 2024 (2024-11-14)
The Cerritos is forced to dock at Starbase 80, which has a negative reputation among Starfleet. The starbase is understaffed and supplied with obsolete equipment. Mariner, who was previously assigned to Starbase 80, believes the place to be cursed, especially when members of the Cerritos crew start acting like zombies. Ultimately, it is revealed the phenomenon was caused by an "anaphasic lifeform" the crew unknowingly picked up on a previous mission who unintentionally possessed them in a failed attempt to communicate.
466"Of Gods and Angles"Brandon WilliamsAaron BurdetteNovember 21, 2024 (2024-11-21)
The Cerritos hosts peace talks between two photonic species, the Cubes and the Orbs. Meanwhile, Mariner sees a kindred spirit in Ensign Olly, a descendant of the alien entity the ancient Greeks worshipped as Zeus, and takes her under her wing as they investigate the disappearance of the son and daughter of the leading delegates. However, Olly ends up hampering the investigation due to her anxiety about being dismissed from Starfleet, inflaming tensions between the Cubes and the Orbs, who start a war with the Cerritos caught in the middle. Olly uses the tractor beam to incapacitate them, proving her value as a Starfleet officer. It is revealed that the delegates' children are in love and have produced their own hybrid child, inspiring renewed peace talks. Meanwhile, Boimler, trying to emulate his more successful alternate-universe counterpart, attempts to befriend the cantankerous physician Dr. T'Ana.
477"Fully Dilated"Megan LloydAndrew MuethNovember 28, 2024 (2024-11-28)
Mariner, Tendi and T'Lyn go undercover to a pre-industrial planet, Dilmer III, which is subject to time dilation such that a week passes on the planet for every second on the Cerritos. Their mission is to prevent the locals from discovering Starfleet technology from yet another parallel universe, which turns out to be the head of the android Starfleet officer Data. However, Boimler and Rutherford accidentally disable the transporter, forcing the three women to spend a year on the planet during the minute it takes to repair the transporter. Believing she is competing with T'Lyn for the position of senior science officer, Tendi desperately tries to outdo T'Lyn in scientific achievement; she reactivates Data's head while T'Lyn develops innovations in local agriculture. They draw the attention of a suspicious Dilmerian named Snell, who tries to expose them as witches, but they are able to discredit him in front of his community. After they are returned to the Cerritos, before returning to his home universe, Data recommends to Captain Freeman to promote both Tendi and T'Lyn.
488"Upper Decks"Bob SuarezCullen CrawfordDecember 5, 2024 (2024-12-05)
The senior officers of the Cerritos go about a typical day. Freeman has a full schedule attending performances and rituals to support crew members. Chief engineer Billups deals with a crisis of cascading equipment failures. Ransom manages a team of squabbling ensigns wrangling a herd of Buhgoons—space creatures with cloaking capabilities—for inspection by a visiting ecologist; Ransom feigns incompetence to help the ensigns work together by redirecting their hostility towards himself instead of each other. Security chief Shaxs meditates to deal with his trauma from the Cardassian occupation of his planet Bajor, imagining himself killing a mountain of Cardassians and his own younger self. T'Ana, having been criticized for not providing enough painkillers to her patients, subjects herself to painful treatments to prove her point. When the ecologist reveals himself as the leader of a team of alien Clickets aiming to use the Buhgoons' cloaking ability to dominate the galaxy, the crew fights back; Freeman remembers that Clickets hate to be complimented and praises the attackers until they retreat. At the end of the day, Freeman's husband arrives on the Cerritos to celebrate their anniversary, having been invited by the captain's aide Stevens.
499"Fissure Quest"TBATBADecember 12, 2024 (2024-12-12)
5010"The New Next Generation"TBATBADecember 19, 2024 (2024-12-19)

Cast and characters

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Main article: List of Star Trek: Lower Decks characters

Main

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Recurring

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Notable guests

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Production

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Development and writing

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Paramount+ ordered a 10-episode fifth season of Star Trek: Lower Decks in March 2023.[8] Creator and showrunner Mike McMahan said writing had begun by then,[9] and he was writing the season finale that October.[10] McMahan said further seasons beyond the fifth were not guaranteed, particularly after Paramount+ cancelled fellow animated series Star Trek: Prodigy and confirmed the final seasons of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard.[11] Despite this, he was not writing the season finale to also serve as a series finale because he did not want to give the characters a definitive ending.[12] In April 2024, Paramount+ confirmed that the fifth season would be the last.[13]

Casting and voice recording

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The series stars a group of ensigns that serve in the lower decks of the Cerritos: Tawny Newsome as Beckett Mariner, Jack Quaid as Brad Boimler, Noël Wells as D'Vana Tendi, and Eugene Cordero as Sam Rutherford. The ship's bridge crew, who have supporting roles, include Dawnn Lewis as Captain Carol Freeman, Jerry O'Connell as first officer Commander Jack Ransom, Fred Tatasciore as security chief Lieutenant Shaxs, and Gillian Vigman as chief medical officer Dr. T'Ana.[4] In July 2023, shortly after voice recording for the season started, the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike began.[14] Though the animated series were not covered by the strike and the cast were allowed to continue recording, they chose not to out of solidarity for actors on live-action series.[15] Recording for the season resumed after the strike ended in November,[14] and Newsome had finished her work, except for some additional dialogue recording (ADR), by February 2024. She said the recording delays should not impact the overall production schedule for the season because they had been ahead of schedule when the strike began.[15]

In October 2022, McMahan said he had been looking for a way to bring some of the characters from the series Star Trek: Enterprise into Lower Decks.[16] He acknowledged that this was difficult due to Enterprise being set so much earlier in the Star Trek timeline than Lower Decks is, but he found a way to do it in the fifth season and was in early negotiations with some actors from that series to reprise their roles in the season by October 2023.[12] Also returning from previous Star Trek series is Garrett Wang as Harry Kim from Star Trek: Voyager.[7] Gabrielle Ruiz returns from previous seasons as T'Lyn.[5][6]

Animation and design

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Independent animation studio Titmouse provides the animation for the series,[17] with Barry J. Kelly serving as supervising director.[18] The animation style reflects the look of "prime time animated comedy" series such as The Simpsons, but with more detailed backgrounds and environments than is traditional for prime time animation.[19]

Marketing

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Newsome, Cordero, and Ruiz held a panel for the series on Star Trek: The Cruise, a multi-day ship cruise featuring cast and crew from various Star Trek projects in February 2024. They discussed the series in general and teased the fifth season during the panel.[6] Newsome, Cordero, and Lewis also teased the season during a similar panel at the ST-SF convention in San Francisco the next month.[20] Kurtzman, McMahan, Newsome, Quaid, Wells, and O'Connell promoted the season during a "Star Trek Universe" panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024. A trailer for the season was released during the event,[21] which Adam B. Vary at Variety said was "filled with a litany of jokes with very little context behind them" which aligned with previous trailers for the series.[22] Tasha Robinson at Polygon noted that the trailer is primarily a "sentimental celebration" of the previous seasons.[23]

A final trailer for the season was released in October, revealing Wang's guest role as multiple versions of Harry Kim.[7] Commentary on the trailer focused on the appearance of the Kims and other jokes.[24][25][26] Also that month, McMahan, Newsome, Quiad, Wells, and Cordero promoted the series during a "Star Trek Universe" panel at New York Comic-Con. A clip from the season was shown and a new poster, parodying one for the film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), was released.[27] Vice Press was set to release several key art posters for the season featuring art by Matt Ferguson, including the parody poster.[1] The premiere episode was screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival on October 23, followed by a discussion with McMahan, Wells, Cordero, and O'Connell.[28] As with the previous seasons, animation studio Titmouse released a shirt with a unique design on it alongside each episode. The designs were available for one week each, and fans who bought all ten received a bonus eleventh shirt. For this season, Newsome, Quaid, Wells, and Cordero each contributed a shirt design.[29][30]

Release

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The season premiered on Paramount+ in the United States and Latin America on October 24, 2024, with its first two episodes. The rest of its 10-episode run is being released weekly.[21][7] Each episode is broadcast in Canada on the CTV Sci-Fi Channel.[31]

Reception

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Rotten Tomatoes reported 88% approval with an average rating of 8.30/10 based on 8 reviews.[32] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 84 out of 100 based on reviews from 4 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[33]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Vice Press to Release Star Trek: Lower Decks Fine Art Posters". StarTrek.com. October 21, 2024. Archived from the original on October 23, 2024. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  2. ^ Orquiola, John (October 18, 2024). "When Does Every Episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Release?". Screen Rant. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
  3. ^ "Shows A-Z - Star Trek: Lower Decks on abc". The Futon Critic. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Milligan, Mercedes (October 10, 2024). "'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Final Season Blasts Off with Official Trailer". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on October 23, 2024. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Donaldson, Mark (February 16, 2024). "Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 - Cast, Story & Everything We Know". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on February 7, 2024. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Bossig, Aaron (February 25, 2024). "'Lower Decks' Teased And Improvised, "Spock's Brain" Rebooted, And More From Star Trek: The Cruise Day 3". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on March 8, 2024. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d Vlessing, Etan (October 10, 2024). "'Voyager' Character Harry S.L. Kim Returns in 'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Final Season Trailer". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 10, 2024. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  8. ^ Otterson, Joe (March 28, 2023). "'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,' 'Lower Decks' Renewed at Paramount+, Set Summer Premieres". Variety. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  9. ^ McMahan, Mike [@MikeMcMahanTM] (March 28, 2023). "Season 4 this summer! Season 5 being written now!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023 – via Twitter.
  10. ^ Ulster, Laurie (October 16, 2023). "Mike McMahan Talks "Ultimate Star Trek" Season 4 Finale, T'Lyn, Moopsy, And 'Lower Decks' Season 5". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  11. ^ Joest, Mick (October 3, 2023). "Amidst Franchise Changes, Star Trek: Lower Decks' Mike McMahan Gave Us His Worried Perspective On The Show's Future". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  12. ^ a b Ulster, Laurie (October 20, 2023). "Interview: Mike McMahan Talks "Caves," Season 5, And Trying To Bring 'Enterprise' To 'Star Trek: Lower Decks'". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on October 20, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  13. ^ Vary, Adam B. (April 12, 2024). "'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Renewed for Season 4; 'Lower Decks' to Conclude With Season 5 (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on April 12, 2024. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  14. ^ a b Ulster, Laurie (November 18, 2023). "'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Season 5 Voice Work Resumes; Tawny Newsome Tells Us About Recording Return". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on November 18, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  15. ^ a b Pascale, Anthony (February 7, 2024). "Interview: Tawny Newsome On 'Lower Decks' Season 5 And Star Trek Love In 'Starfleet Academy' Writers Room". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2024. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  16. ^ Odman, Sydney (October 3, 2022). "'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Creator Mike McMahan on Raunchiest Scene and Navigating a Protective Fan Base". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  17. ^ "Breaking News - Paramount+ Announces Premiere Dates and Additional Seasons for "Star Trek" Universe Series". The Futon Critic. January 18, 2022. Archived from the original on June 30, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  18. ^ Pascale, Anthony (September 6, 2023). "Interview: Supervising Director Barry Kelly On Why 'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Season 4 Is 10% Funnier". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on September 12, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  19. ^ Reilly, Ken (August 15, 2020). "Interview: Mike McMahan on Star Trek: Lower Decks' Animation Design, Balancing Canon and Creativity, and "Good People Doing Good Things" in Starfleet". TrekCore.com. Archived from the original on August 20, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  20. ^ Pascale, Anthony (March 13, 2024). "'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Cast Pitches Musical Episode And Another 'Strange New Worlds' Crossover". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2024. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  21. ^ a b Grobar, Matt (July 27, 2024). "'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Final Season Gets Premiere Date, Teaser, First-Look Photos At Comic-Con". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 27, 2024. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  22. ^ Vary, Adam B. (July 27, 2024). "'Star Trek' Unveils First Looks at 'Section 31,' 'Strange New Worlds' Season 3 and 'Lower Decks' Season 5". Variety. Archived from the original on July 28, 2024. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  23. ^ Robinson, Tasha (July 27, 2024). "Star Trek: Lower Decks' SDCC teaser promises a "Klingon as hell" adventure in season 5". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 27, 2024. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  24. ^ Polo, Susana (October 10, 2024). "Star Trek: Lower Decks' final season trailer lets Harry Kim drop an f-bomb". Polygon. Archived from the original on October 23, 2024. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  25. ^ Lovett, Jamie (October 10, 2024). "Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Trailer Reveals a Voyager Favorite's Return". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2024. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  26. ^ Armstrong, Vanessa (October 10, 2024). "Final Season Trailer for Star Trek: Lower Decks Gives Us a Lotta Kims". Reactor. Archived from the original on October 23, 2024. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  27. ^ "Star Trek: Lower Decks Releases Homage Poster for Final Season Celebration". StarTrek.com. October 19, 2024. Archived from the original on October 23, 2024. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  28. ^ Feinberg, Scott (September 17, 2024). "Newport Beach Film Fest: Peter Sarsgaard Set for Film Performance of the Year Honor and Live 'Awards Chatter' Pod, Lineup Announced (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on September 17, 2024. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  29. ^ McMahan, Mike [@MikeMcMahanTM] (October 22, 2024). "We're doing Lower Decks episodic shirts one last time! This year, there are designs from the minds of the lower deckers themselves: [Tawny Newsome], [Jack Quaid], [Noël Wells] and Eugene Cordero! New designs drop weekly or you can subscribe to get the bonus shirt by Tawny..." (Tweet). Archived from the original on October 23, 2024. Retrieved October 23, 2024 – via Twitter.
  30. ^ Titmouse [@TitmouseInc] (October 21, 2024). "Lower Decks Shirt Club Subscriptions Are OFFICIALLY OPEN for pre-order! Celebrate the conclusion of the epic Lower Decks saga with eleven saucy shirts designed to preserve the spirit of the Cerritos. The subscription includes TEN tees plus one BONUS TEE (designed by the voice of Ensign Beckett Mariner, [Tawny Newsome] herself), if you sign up for Shirt Club by October 31st at 11:59 AM PST/2:59 PM EST. And get this – three additional tees have been designed by the other three main cast members. [Jack Quaid] (Boimler), Noël Wells (Tendi) and [Eugene Cordero] (Rutherford) flex their impressive design flare" (Tweet). Archived from the original on October 23, 2024. Retrieved October 23, 2024 – via Twitter.
  31. ^ Pascale, Anthony (July 3, 2023). "Star Trek Shows Exiting Crave Streaming In Canada, Will Continue Broadcasting On CTV Sci-Fi". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  32. ^ "Star Trek: Lower Decks: Season 5". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
  33. ^ "Star Trek: Lower Decks: Season 5". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
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