Star Trek: Lower Decks is an American adult animated television series created by Mike McMahan for the streaming service Paramount+.
Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, and Eugene Cordero voice "lower decks" crew members of the Cerritos, with Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O'Connell, Fred Tatasciore, and Gillian Vigman also starring.
Characters seen previously in Star Trek also appear, including John de Lancie as Q, Jonathan Frakes as William Riker, and Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi.
In the next episode, Mariner attempts to convince Boimler that his new girlfriend, Barbara, is an evil alien masquerading as human to seduce and cause harm to him, but instead the two find they have much in common and become friends.
In the season finale, Boimler inadvertently reveals to the whole crew Mariner's connection to Freeman, but the mother and daughter make amends and reconnect.
Regardless of her intentions, Captain Freeman decides that she has been too lenient to her daughter and puts her on a strict probationary status under First Officer Ransom's command with full authority to have her dishonorably discharged if she ever disobeys him.
Although enduring the senior officer's eccentric priorities is frustrating through this period, Commander Ransom is eventually satisfied that Mariner has shown satisfactory performance to allow the probation to lift.
Mariner appears in a crossover with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds where she and Boimler are accidentally sent back in time and meet the crew of the USS Enterprise.
[14] Rolling Stone called Boimler "easily flustered try-hard who doesn't understand why his rigorous rule following goes ignored by Captain Carol Freeman" but likened the character nonetheless.
With the inadvertent creation of his clone, William Boimler, Brad is returned with a demotion to the Cerritos, but soon begins to distinguish himself as an officer of considerable talent and command potential.
Having been promoted to captain, William commands the Section 31 Defiant-class ship Anaximander which searches for the source of a series of mysterious interdimensional rifts in order to stop them.
William and his crew discover the source to be an interdimensional exploratory vessel commanded by Lily Sloane, but the actions of a deranged Kim variant leave the multiverse in danger of destruction.
William has the energy wave pushed to his own universe and sends a warning message to his counterpart, trusting Brad and his old friends on the Cerritos to find a solution.
[7] McMahan noted that the writers would be telling a story in the second season with the characters Beckett Mariner and D'Vana Tendi together, which was explored in the second-season episode "We'll Always Have Tom Paris".
It turns out that he was a pawn of corrupt Starfleet Admiral Les Buenamigo's scheme to advance in his own career, and Rutherford plays a role of thwarting it when the plan goes out of control.
A more serious incident occurs when she responds to a distress call without recalling an away team on extravehicular activity back on board first, leaving them stranded in space and recovered barely before their suits' life support systems were fatally depleted.
In the fourth season, Freeman participated in negotiations with Grand Nagus Rom and his wife, First Clerk Leeta, to begin the process of having the Ferengi homeworld, Ferenginar, join the United Federation of Planets.
In the talks, Freeman saw through the leaders' testing of the Federation's willingness to respect their culture and impressed them by subtly including a fine print clause in the written agreement that required the Ferengi to perform the seemingly impossible task to bring the Klingon homeworld into the UFP as well.
Jack Ransom (voiced by Jerry O'Connell) is the human first officer of the Cerritos, whom McMahan compared to Next Generation's William Riker, if he was on speed and had less shame.
[1][3] He soon recognizes Boimler's considerable talents as an officer and becomes responsible for Mariner's final probationary period with full authority to dishonorably discharge her if she fails.
While just as intellectually devoted as her comrades, T'Lyn causes friction by allowing her logical reasoning to be influenced by additional thought processes, like intuition and instinct, and being stubborn enough to resist criticism of that way of thinking.
As a result, as her previous superiors in the Vulcan fleet anticipated, T'Lyn regularly shares in the Lower Deckers' adventures where she proves to be a valued asset and a good friend.
Andy Billups (voiced by Paul Scheer) is a human lieutenant commander and the chief engineer of the Cerritos, and the direct boss of Rutherford.
[28] He was formerly the Crown Prince on the planet Hysperia, but abdicated his birthright for an engineering career in Starfleet, although his mother the Queen refuses to accept his decision and plots to force him to resign his commission and take the throne.
Rutherford reactivates Badgey in the first-season finale, "No Small Parts," realizing he is the only one who can help in his moment of need against the Pakleds to deliver a virus to their attacking ship against the Cerritos in order to destroy it.
In the third-season finale, "The Stars At Night," Rutherford discovers to his alarm that a new fleet of autonomous Starfleet ships, the Texas class, are controlled by malicious artificial intelligence largely based on the same programming as Badgey.
However, in that episode's post-credits scene, it is revealed that Badgey's code was not destroyed, as the original implant that Shaxs tore from Rutherford's head had survived among the wreckage in the Battle of Kalla's aftermath and was unwittingly salvaged by a Drookmani ship.
However, that newly gained cosmic awareness makes Badgey realize the error of his ways due to the pointlessness of his malevolent obsession and apologize for his behavior before ascending to another reality for a more constructive existence.
At the end of the series, Alonzo is rassigned to the relocated and repurposed Starbase 80 to oversee explorations of a stable inter-dimensional portal with his wife, Captain Carol Freeman.
Freeman to put them in danger, namely by sending them to the planet Brekka knowing that it was invaded by the enemy power, The Breen, in order for his new autonomous ships to intervene.