One Strange New Worlds/Lower Decks Joke Directly References A Common Fan Complaint

This joke goes beyond pointing out a simple tonal difference: it also pokes fun at the early days of “Star Trek: Lower Deck,” when fans and critics alike blasted the show for being frenetic and obnoxious compared to the many hour-long drama versions of the beloved series. You don’t have to look far to find reviews of the first season of “Lower Decks” that call it out for being too loud and fast. The Guardian’s Noah Gittell called it “a little too breezy for its own good,” while Polygon’s Samantha Nelson criticized the way the characters were “constantly spewing rapid-fire dialogue” in hopes that some of the quips will land. The Playlist’s Brian Tallerico wrote that the show “[seems] to mistake hyperactivity for ingenuity,” while Roger Ebert’s Roxana Hadadi said the series burned through enough storylines to fill several episodes in one.

Many fans have come around to “Star Trek: Lower Decks” in the years since it first aired, but back in 2020, it was hard to ignore the fact that a Trek show made in the spirit of shows like “Family Guy” and “Rick & Morty” (“Lower Decks” is created by Mike McMahan, who worked on the latter) didn’t feel much like the Trek we knew and loved at all. Three seasons in, the peppiness of the series mostly seems like a feature rather than a bug, but it’s still a shock for those who haven’t encountered it firsthand – like Spock, Pike, and the rest of the Enterprise crew. “These Old Scientists” has fun with this idea, but turns it on its head in an endearing way, noting that it’s the regular live-action Trek crews who seem like weirdos to Boimler and Mariner, not the other way around.

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