The first episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks is on YouTube
By Alex Simmons
The Star Trek: Lower Decks pilot is available to stream for free
CBS has released the first episode of the animated comedy series Star Trek: Lower Decks to YouTube “for a limited time only.”
“Second Contact” premiered on CBS All Access Aug. 6. Lower Decks‘ first season is being released weekly on Thursdays to the streaming platform.
Lower Decks follows the shenanigans of a group of low ranking officers on the USS Cerritos, a Starfleet ship dedicated to Second Contact. First Contact is a high stakes diplomatic process where two species from different planets (and different values and cultures) meet for the first time. Second Contact involves more of the logistic and administrative aspects of bringing a spacefaring species into the Federation.
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The show is created by Rick and Morty writer Mike McMahan. Lower Decks is the second animated series from the venerable science fiction franchise and its first comedy.
Star Trek depicts a future hundreds of years from now where humanity overcomes racism, poverty and capitalism to explore the cosmos as part of the United Federation of Planets, an organization of hundreds of interstellar species dedicated to cosmic exploration and cooperation.
This is not the first time CBS has released the pilot of a Star Trek series for free on YouTube. CBS gave a free look at the two-part pilot of Star Trek: Discovery (“The Vulcan Hello” and “The Battle of the Binary Stars”) when the series premiered in 2017. CBS also gave audiences a look at the pilot episode of Star Trek: Picard (“Remembrance”) last year. In both instances, the episodes were only available for a week or so.
Rules are cited, a red-shirt gets killed, and an alien virus runs wild
The episode introduces the series’s main cast and has all the hallmarks of a good episode of Star Trek. Rules are cited and flouted, a red-shirt gets killed and a zombie disease nearly takes out the whole ship. Check it out for yourself below.
Lower Decks is created by Mike McMahan cast includes “Ensign Beckett Mariner,” voiced by Tawny Newsome, “Ensign Brad Boimler,” voiced by Jack Quaid, “Ensign Tendi,” voiced by Noël Wells and “Ensign Rutherford,” voiced by Eugene Cordero. the USS Ceritos’s senior crew includes “Captain Carol Freeman,” voiced by Dawnn Lewis, “Commander Jack Ransom,” voiced by Jerry O’Connell, “Lieutenant Shaxs,” voiced by Fred Tatasciore and “Doctor T’Ana,” voiced by Gillian Vigman.
Does the first episode being available for free make you want to give it a try? Share your thoughts below.
Star Trek: Lower Decks airs on Thursdays on CBS All Access.