Star Trek 60th Anniversary Reflecting on the Franchise NuTrek Gets Animated

Star Trek 60th Anniversary

Reflecting on the Franchise

NuTrek Gets Animated

Star Trek: Lower Decks

In 2020 Star trek returned to animation for the first time in 46 years with Star Trek: Lower Decks.  Created by Mike McMahon and produced by CBS Eye Animation Productions and Titmouse inc. Lower Decks followed a group of junior officers on the lower decks of the USS Cerritos, one of the least important ships in Starfleet.  Starring the voices of Tawny Newsome as Ensign Beckett Mariner, Jack Quaid as Ensign Brad Boimler, Noel Wells as Ensign D'Vana Tendi, Eugene Cordero as Sam Rutherford,  Dawnn Lewis as Captain Carol Freeman, Jerry O'Connell as Commander Jack Ransom, Fred Tatasciore as Lieutenant Shaxs and Gillian Vigman as Dr. T'Ana, the series 5 seasons and 50 episodes followed the crews adventures (and misadventures) on the Cerritos, including second contact followup missions, support assignments and the day to day life of lower decks officers.  The modern animation art style and teen/young adult humor (a-la such shows as Rick and Morty) is definitely focused on a specific audience demographic.

Star Trek: Prodigy

Similarly, Star Trek Prodigy, the franchises first 3D CG animated show was created by Kevin and Dan Hageman and produced by CBS Eye Animation Studios in partnership with Nickelodeon as a show specifically focused on a younger audience (children).  Premiering in 2021 the show centers around a group of youngsters (adolescents) who escape a prion planet aboard an abandoned Starfleet ship and their adventures.  The cast includes the voices of Brett Grey (Dal R'El), Ella Purnell (Gwyndala), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Angus Imrie (Zero), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf) and Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk).  Guiding them in running the ship is a hologram of Voyager's Captain Janeway (voiced by Kate Mulgrew).   Season two features the returns of Robert Picard as the Doctor and Robert Beltran as now Captain Chakotay, making the show a sequel in some ways to Star Trek Voyager.  The show would produce a total of 39 episodes, the 19 episode first season was released on the now rebranded Paramount Plus, following which the series would be cancelled by Paramount.  Netflix would pick up the show and the already produced second season would be released on Netflix (all at once instead of weekly) on July 1 2024.

Next week: current series and the franchises' future