Spoilers Lower Decks and The Novelverse

[JD]

Since we have threads for Discovery and Picard, I thought it might be a good idea to start one for Lower Decks as well. So far we know that Lower Decks will be canon, and it's set in 2380, so it's actually going to be smack dab in the middle of the Novelverse. It sounds like the show will probably focus on the characters more mundane day to day life on the ship, but there's still a pretty good chance that it could establish things about the state of the galaxy in 2380 that contradict what the novels did. There's also the chance of getting appearances by characters from the other shows that could potentially contradict where they were in the novles at the time.
I'm curious if we'll start to see characters in the Lower Decks uniforms on cover art for books set in 2380 or later now.
They also mentioned during the books panel that they are in "active discussions" about books for Lower Decks.
I have to admit, I do find the idea of full on comedy Trek books intriguing, it's not something we've gotten a lot of over the years. How Much for Just the Planet is the only novel I know of that was a full comedy, although other books, especially ones by Peter David, have had funny moments.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'd get a kick out of seeing Picard or whoever wearing the Lower Decks uniforms.

I can't wait to see a live action cosplay - there are already people in Picard uniforms at STLV.

 

[JD]

I have to admit, I actually like the Lower Decks uniforms more than the Picard ones, the Picard ones just look to much like the early DS9 - VOY ones.

 

[mattman8907]

Wonder why they went from the films ones to lower decks ones? The film ones were in service what five years at that point?

 

[JoeZhang]

Wonder why they went from the films ones to lower decks ones? The film ones were in service what five years at that point?

The film Uniforms were associated with a particularly traumatic war - the switch might have been symbolic of a post-war optimism. Switching out Uniforms is not a costly process for a post-scarcity society.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I tend to think it's different ships being assigned different uniforms rather than one uniform constantly changing. I mean, they called the Disco-TOS unis "new" in DSC S2, but the new Short Treks has them in use on the Enterprise years earlier when Spock first comes aboard. And before that, TNG and DS9 had separate costumes for DS9's first few seasons.

 

[Christopher]

Wonder why they went from the films ones to lower decks ones? The film ones were in service what five years at that point?

That's about as long as the TOS uniforms were in use before giving way to the TMP uniforms.

There's no point trying to concoct a logical in-universe reason for uniform changes. They change whenever there's a new costume designer or new producers or factors like that in the real world. It's very much in "It's just a show, I should really just relax" territory.

 

[The Wormhole]

Yeah, seeing new uniforms so soon in-universe is pretty much SOP for Starfleet. If anything, the "monster maroons" from the TOS movies sticking around for so long is the outlier.

 

[JD]

From a real word perspective, I could see them wanting to go for something a bit more colorful since it's a cartoon.

 

[SoM]

Since we have threads for Discovery and Picard, I thought it might be a good idea to start one for Lower Decks as well. So far we know that Lower Decks will be canon, and it's set in 2380, so it's actually going to be smack dab in the middle of the Novelverse. It sounds like the show will probably focus on the characters more mundane day to day life on the ship,...

Not exactly:

https://comicbook.com/startrek/2019/07/30/star-trek-lower-decks-rick-and-morty-mike-mcmahan/
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 Star Trek show where everything is happening, and stuff is really moving. That's like us from the first scene until the last scene.”​

POV and tone will be different, perhaps, but it certainly doesn't sound like they're going for the "comedy from drudgery" thing.

From a real word perspective, I could see them wanting to go for something a bit more colorful since it's a cartoon.

Well, they're something like 90% the TNG dress uniforms. More colourful than the ST:FC uniforms, but really just moving back towards something familiar.

The weird thing for me is the plain arrowhead badges. Some sort of oval backdrop was too much detail?

 

[JD]

Oh, I hadn't seen that quote yet. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that they weren't really going to be doing big sci-fi stories like that.

 

[JoeZhang]

Well, they're something like 90% the TNG dress uniforms. More colourful than the ST:FC uniforms, but really just moving back towards something familiar.

I think for the first time ever, the boots reflect the service division the individual is in? I don't think we've seen this before? (plus a white variation for medical/sciences).

 

[Avro Arrow]

I think for the first time ever, the boots reflect the service division the individual is in? I don't think we've seen this before? (plus a white variation for medical/sciences).

The metallic trim on the boots on Discovery are based on the division as well.

 

[JD]

Not exactly:

https://comicbook.com/startrek/2019/07/30/star-trek-lower-decks-rick-and-morty-mike-mcmahan/
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 Star Trek show where everything is happening, and stuff is really moving. That's like us from the first scene until the last scene.”​

POV and tone will be different, perhaps, but it certainly doesn't sound like they're going for the "comedy from drudgery" thing.


Well, they're something like 90% the TNG dress uniforms. More colourful than the ST:FC uniforms, but really just moving back towards something familiar.

The weird thing for me is the plain arrowhead badges. Some sort of oval backdrop was too much detail?

Oh, I hadn't seen that quote yet. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that they weren't really going to be doing big sci-fi stories like that.

They addressed this again at the STLV panel, and it does sound a bit closer to what I had originally heard.
[QUOTEOn top of that, we have an animated ‘Star Trek’ show that isn’t for kids. That is a comedy that’s 20-something minutes long, [and] we want to get a full dramatic ‘Star Trek’ episode happening in it, but [just] not focusing on it. What we’re focusing on are the social, emotional stories happening to the ‘Lower Decks’ crew.][/QUOTE]

 

[Therin of Andor]

I have to admit, I do find the idea of full on comedy Trek books intriguing, it's not something we've gotten a lot of over the years...

Remember, one of the creators of "Lower Decks" is already known for this:


Warped by Ian McLean, on Flickr

"Warped: An engaging guide to the never-aired 8th season of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', based on '@TNG_S8'" by Mike McMahan, illustrated by Jason Ho.

 

[JD]

Oh, yeah I know there have been those kind of silly non-fiction books, but I meant narrative novels. I guess I should have been more specific, sorry.

 

[DimesDan]

Spoiler: LDS

The Titan design we've known for 15 or so years is now officially canon

That is all.

 

[Paris]

Just saw the finale. In regards to your spoiler...So satisfying.

 

[dsigal]

And that ending! Really opens the door for some of our favorite novelverse characters to get their canon debut as well next season! At first I was worried that there would be complications with "created by" credits and royalties, but I believe authors here have said enough times that Star Trek owns everything they create and can do with it what they will. So I hope we see it happen!

 

[Enterprise1701]

About time.