It’s hard to believe that it’s only been just over four years since Star Trek: Lower Decks swung wildly onto our screens with a bat’leth. It captured the hearts and minds of many Trekkies while teaching the all-important lesson that Star Trek’s canon isn’t actually meant to be taken that seriously a lot of the time.
Throughout the seasons, there has been one constant, or more accurately, one aspect that definitely isn’t constant. Starting as an homage to other Trek shows from day one, the Lower Decks title sequence has continued to develop every year. With the release of Season 5, it seems it’s finally become too absurd for Memory Alpha to consider it canon.
The Music
While Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard opted for slower, more reflective themes. Lower Decks let you know from the first couple of notes that it wouldn’t be pulling any punches when it came to showing the creative team’s reverence for the Star Trek shows of yesteryear.
The show’s punchy, catchy, and triumphant theme immediately draws comparisons to Jerry Goldsmith’s iconic Star Trek: The Motion Picture theme, later used as the opening to many fans’ favourite Star Trek series, The Next Generation.
Previous Trek Title Sequences
Putting aside the music and the apparent font choice homages to The Next Generation, Lower Decks also makes a couple of visual nods to other Trek title sequences.
When the series first aired in 1995, Voyager soared majestically over an icy asteroid before moving onto a shot that’s had people questioning the scale of a planet ever since. The USS Cerritos also tries to fly above some ice but makes a Titanic miscalculation, damaging its nacelle and then falling off-screen.
In The Next Generation, Voyager, and Enterprise, the protagonist’s ship flew past the camera to warp out before the ‘created by’ credits appeared on screen ahead of the fade-out to the episode of the week. Lower Decks reignited this tradition, with warp-outs having since featured in the Prodigy and Strange New Worlds titles as well!
Imagery In Lower Decks Title
The title sequence imagery references what many would consider ‘iconic’ Trek shots. Two are more specific to episodes rather than title sequences. Lower Decks’ opening shot of the Cerritos almost getting pulled into a black hole is very reminiscent of the portrayal of a Red Giant in The Next Generation episode Evolution.
Then there is the nacelle ‘sucker’ lifeform, seen on the Cerritos as it passes across the camera from right to left. Evoking memories of the original Enterprise making the same movement throughout Star Trek‘s original series. With less attached to its nacelles, of course…
The Battle
Of course, no discussion of references within the Lower Decks titles can be complete without talking about the not-so-steadily escalating battle! What started as what many thought was a nod to the origins of The Artefact in Star Trek: Picard has since grown to quite the crazy spectacle. I am very much validating the Cerritos’ decision to turn tail and just… Get out of there as quickly as possible.
Season 1 started with the Romulans facing off against a fleet of Borg Cubes. Then, season 2 added the antagonists of season 1, The Pakleds. With their ‘clump ship’ to the battle. With a number of Klingon ships. All somewhat chaotically firing on each other, the Romulans and the Borg. The Borg ships also got a bit of a visual upgrade!
Season 3 upped the stakes, adding the Crystalline Entity from The Next Generation, with the entire scenario getting more and more out of hand. Season 4 saw the Whale Probe from The Voyage Home added. Now, season 5 seems to have gone all out! Adding the infamous green hand of Apollo from The Original Series gives the cube a squeeze while the Tholians try to contain the whole situation and then just as you think that’s everything, the V’Ger cloud from The Motion Picture fades in from the background!
Crazy Credits
While the title sequence by season 5 may seem crazy enough, the Lower Decks creative team has also mixed things up a couple of times for a specific episode.
One of these occasions was within Lower Decks. For season 3, episode A, Mathematically Perfect Redemption, focused on the wayward Ensign Peanut Hamper. We didn’t have the traditional titles. Instead being treated to a number of shots showing Peanut Hamper floating through space after her last appearance. Before being picked up and setting the events of the episode in motion.
Lower Decks also managed to leak out into Strange New Worlds. In season 2’s crossover episode, Those Old Scientists. While that episode saw Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Mariner (Tawny Newsome) make their live-action debut, the Strange New Worlds title sequence got an animated makeover. It even features everyone’s favourite nacelle hitchhiking lifeform! Coincidentally, both episodes were the 7th in their season running order.
The Final Touch
From reigniting that barely cooled-off Tuvix debate to showing a giant Spock skeleton, if there has been one consistent aspect of Lower Decks, it’s that they like a canon deep cut. While many may have been distracted by the rapidly expanding battle that we covered earlier, one last subtle addition was that of ‘warp streaks’, mirroring those seen in the logo during The Next Generation’s fifth season. Then, bizarrely, never again afterwards.
With Star Trek: Lower Decks sadly ending after this season, do you think we’ll see any more crazy credits or battle additions? Did we miss any references? Let us know in the comments on any of our socials!
More From Trek Central
📰 – Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Premiere Review
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🔍️ – Command A Starship! – Bridge Command Review
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