NEW YORK, Latest York — Star Trek has all the time involved somewhat comedy, but “Star Trek: Lower Decks” involves a of comedy.
This animated sitcom set within the “Star Trek” universe envisions life on a Federation starship from the attitude of the on a regular basis men and ladies who make it run, often with hilarious results. But finding the comedy in a serious setting reminiscent of Starfleet is usually a challenge, as we learned from the show’s creator.
Space.com sat down with “Lower Decks” creator Mike McMahan in a press roundtable at Latest York Comic Con 2023. There, we learned how he finds recent territory to explore in a 50-year old series, how he incorporates recent characters right into a well-established crew and the way he doesn’t feel married to character backstory — particularly when being flexible leads to a more entertaining world.
Related: ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ takes center stage at NYCC 2023
Mariner’s character arc
“I still feel Lower Decks,” McMahan admitted, which is probably why the characters on the show feel so authentic. “[Executive producer Alex] Kurtzman is my boss, you recognize. I’m still getting notes from the network. There are only a few times you feel Lower Decks.
“Knowing that may be a strength and a weakness. There’s people you meet and belongings you study yourself when you find yourself Lower Decks, in life, that you simply find yourself carrying greater than what you learn once you’re at the highest of your game.”
First off, McMahan was desperate to discuss Beckett Mariner, the wayward daughter of the USS Cerritos Capt. Carol Freeman. This season, Mariner has struggled to embrace her recent role as a Lieutenant (JG) as she begins to understand that the remaining of the crew has her back, and needs her to succeed. In accordance with McMahan, that is all a part of the plan.
“Mariner, I’m probably not anxious about,” he said. “I even have an extended term plan for [her], and you will see. We’ve not released the last two episodes of the season. They’re pretty Mariner-focused … I like the thought of a Starfleet officer getting kicked off of multiple ships. It’s the other of [Cmdr. William] Riker [from Star Trek: The Next Generation] turning down multiple promotions.
“What I like about Mariner is basically unlocked by [her voice actress] Tawny Newsome. I wrote Mariner before I met Tawny. I’ve adjusted [Mariner] to embody the best way Tawny loves Star Trek, the identical way I do.”
Flawed characters
Along those lines, McMahan discussed how finding comedy in Star Trek all the time comes from a spot of affection.
“It’s probably not making fun of Star Trek; it’s having fun with Star Trek,” he said. “It’s having fun with your pals who love Star Trek as much as you do. If another person made fun of it, you’d say ‘shut up!'”
Nevertheless, setting the proper tone is barely a part of the issue. Comedy in TV shows often falls back on characters who’re incompetent, self-serving or, on the very least, in way over their heads. Starfleet officers, then again, are highly expert military and scientific officers — even when the ship in query shouldn’t be the USS Enterprise.
“The one who does the bottom level job on any Federation ship needs to be the perfect of us,” said McMahan. “There isn’t any bad actor on any Starfleet ship. How do you get a comedically flawed person out of that?”
One potential option was to make characters’ flaws manifest of their off-hours. Nevertheless, McMahan’s first attempt at that went awry. In early drafts of Lower Decks, Lt. JG Sam Rutherford was a little bit of a cad, continually dating different women aboard the Cerritos and never deciding on one.
“At the top of the pilot, I used to be like, no, this feels disgusting,” McMahan recalls. “That is not very Star Trek. I don’t desire to do a dating show.”
As a substitute, he discovered that Rutherford was funnier — and more relatable — as D’Vana Tendi’s platonic best friend. They each love the Cerritos, and McMahan has found their “shipmance” much easier and more natural to put in writing.
(Nevertheless, he did enjoy writing Rutherford and Tendi’s quasi-pretend romance in “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” this season. “You wish those two to get together,” he said, but didn’t commit as to whether it could ever actually occur.)
Actually, shifting gears for characters and plotlines has already happened quite a few times. While McMahan resisted these changes at first, he’s since learned to embrace the fluid nature of character development.
“I’ll create something somewhat different from what we had before,” he said. “Nobody sits all the way down to watch a show and says, ‘How discovered is that this? I only like shows which can be totally discovered. I don’t desire to be surprised.'”
Adding recent characters
We asked McMahan what it was wish to add a brand new character into the combo. This season, Vulcan science officer T’Lyn joined the principal solid, and has meshed well with the prevailing 4 principal characters thus far. McMahan credits her success to Star Trek’s long history of interesting Vulcan characters.
“We’re just stealing from [Leonard] Nimoy,” he said. “I grew up watching The Wrath of Khan. I like Kirk and Spock. They’re the right tonal combination for comedy. They play it for comedy on a regular basis. We’re playing T’Lyn exactly like that, and treating the remaining of Lower Decks like Kirk. They’re fiery; they’re emotional; they’re strong-willed. After which T’Lyn just explicitly calls it out.”
McMahan cites T’Lyn’s inability to craft “second-level” dialogue as a recipe for comic success. He made up an example wherein a personality is sitting in one other character’s favorite chair. Whereas Brad Boimler, Mariner, Rutherford, or Tendi would say, “What are you doing?”, T’Lyn would simply say “Why are you in my chair?”
“She just explicitly says what is going on on,” said McMahan. “She finally ends up being funny, but in addition relatable. She appears like all of us in some unspecified time in the future.
“It’s an awesome comedic tool,” he concluded. “She will say 4 words, and it makes you laugh. It is a superpower that Vulcans have.”
McMahan didn’t say much concerning the remainder of Season 4, because the last two episodes apparently have some bombshell plot developments. We’ll learn what happens as they air on Oct. 26 and Nov. 2.
Until then, fans have the following standalone episode, “Caves,” to sit up for on Oct. 19. The series is offered on Paramount Plus, which is offered on most streaming devices, and costs between $5 and $12 monthly, depending in your plan.