The Star Trek franchise is set to boldly go where no Trek series has gone before next year – the world of animated comedy, thanks to the upcoming series Star Trek: Lower Decks from Rick and Morty writer and producer Mike McMahan.
Speaking to Comic Book, McMahan has been discussing the new show, stating that while it shares a similar art style and pacing, Lower Decks will be “very dissimilar to Rick and Morty” in terms of tone and style of humour.
“I’d say that the only thing that it has a similarity to of Rick and Morty’s writing style is that the characters we’re allowed to be funny people,” said McMahan. “I love how many jokes are in Rick and Morty per minute. Some people on the Internet try to count them. We’re trying to fit a whole Star Trek episode into a 20-to-23-minute format that involves a whole macro sci-fi story and two emotional stories that we’re tracking with our leads all throughout. So we do have the accelerated pace of a Rick and Morty. I’d say that Star Trek: Lower Decks is going to feel like the one act of another show where everything is happening, and stuff is really moving. That’s like us from the first scene until the last scene. We’re kind of going to be a little bit more of like an accelerated kind of chaotic, fun version of a Star Trek show.”
SEE ALSO: First-look images from Star Trek: Lower Decks animated comedy series
McMahan also stressed that Lower Decks will honour the themes of Star Trek, rather than making fun of the franchise: ” I think once people see it, the tone will immediately so clearly be a loving part of Starfleet, and not making fun of Star Trek, but being about characters who are funny, who happen to also be in Starfleet. It’s sort of a needle thread, but it’s a really exciting thing to write. It’s really fun.”
Star Trek: Lower Decks is set to premiere on CBS All Access at some point in 2020.
