Lower Decks concludes with season five

Spoilers To follow “Star Trek: Lower Decks.”

Well, that’s all people. Star Trek: Lower Decks has officially wrapped its fifth and final season. Sayonara, USS Cerritos It was a truly memorable five-year mission.

It hurts because it doesn’t look like “lower decks.” necessary To end here. The show has been reported to have ended due to what’s happening behind the scenes at Paramount, from downsizing due to the company’s planned merger with Skydance to Lower Decks reaching the maximum premium for Paramount+.

For this reason, the series finale “The New Next Generation” balances an open-ended ending with leaving things just enough different. Captain Freeman leaves the Cerritos, so Ransom becomes the new captain – with Boimler and Mariner second in command. Rutherford abandons his implant, while Tendi and Lynn’s friendship as senior scientific officials continues to blossom. (Another “lower decks” problem ends here – no Enough time with T’Lyn, the series’ much-welcomed straight woman, in the main cast.)

But when something you hold dear ends, you should not only mourn it, you should also celebrate it an act He comes out. “Lower Decks” had 50 episodes and never reached a downward slope. In fact, he refused to accept that it was merely a “Star Trek” parody, but instead was a loving, earnest take that felt right at home with the rest of the property’s long history. “Lower Decks” Season 5 maintained its strong streak (We at /Film ranked it among the best TV shows of 2024). Finishing here keeps Trekkies’ fond memories of “Below Decks” as fond as possible.

As “Lower Decks” ends, there’s a thought I can’t escape: It may be the best consistently produced “Star Trek” show ever. Certainly, “Deep Space Nine” was more ambitious (and had weaker episodes). There are other individual seasons of past “Star Trek” shows, which I might also classify as “lower decks” – “The Original Series” Season 1, “The Next Generation” Season 5, and so on. But working on a 26-episode-one-season model, the aging “Star Trek” series is inevitably going to have some glitches. “Lower Decks” never did, and no single season caused a downturn.

Instead of running out of steam, Season 5 brought some of the series’ best episodes. “A Farewell To Farms” featured the Klingon-focused episode of Trekkie Dreams. “Fully Dilated” had a familiar premise (Starfleet officers visiting a pre-warp planet and blending in with the locals) but it fired on all cylinders, complete with strong characterization, humor and comedy. and drama. You might almost wonder, wistfully, what the writers of Lower Decks could have done in the form of longer seasons. But again, sometimes it’s better to accept what you have.

“Lower Decks” flies by, having earned its place in “Star Trek” history, from introducing classic episodes to some. The greatest Trek characters of all time, like Beckett Mariner herself (Not to mention her unforgettable voice actor, Tawny Newsom). Not bad for a show that could have easily backfired on itself, incorrectly mixing the “Star Trek” formula with humor when, in fact, it achieved a perfect balance and never lost it.

“Star Trek: Lower Decks” is currently streaming on Paramount+.