| Star Trek: Lower Decks | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
 Promotional poster with art by Matt Ferguson, parodying a poster for the film Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) by Bob Peak[1][2] | |
| Showrunner | Mike McMahan |
| Starring | |
| No. of episodes | 10 |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS All Access |
| Original release | August 6 – October 8, 2020 |
| Season chronology | |
The first season of the American adult animated television series Star Trek: Lower Decks is set in the 24th century and follows the adventures of the low-ranking officers with menial jobs on the starship Cerritos, one of Starfleet's least important starships. The season was produced by CBS Eye Animation Productions in association with Secret Hideout, Important Science, Roddenberry Entertainment, and animation studio Titmouse, with Mike McMahan serving as showrunner and Juno Lee as supervising director.
Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, and Eugene Cordero voice the lower decks crew members of the Cerritos, with Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O'Connell, Fred Tatasciore, and Gillian Vigman providing voices for the ship's senior officers. Lower Decks was ordered in October 2018 with McMahan on board as showrunner. The series is a comedy, but the writers did not want to stray too far from the rest of the Star Trek franchise and used similar premises to classic Star Trek: The Next Generation stories for many episodes. Titmouse began work on the animation by February 2019, and the main cast was announced that July. Production, including voice recording, shifted to taking place remotely in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season features many connections and references to past Star Trek media, including several actors returning as guest stars.
The season premiered on the streaming service CBS All Access on August 6, 2020, and ran for 10 episodes until October 10. It was initially met with mixed responses from critics for its humor and large number of Star Trek references, but reviews for the animation, Newsome's performance, and later episodes were more positive. The season received a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award nomination for its sound editing and several other awards and nominations. A second season was ordered at the same time as the first in October 2018.