It is fine that you don’t like it. I don’t really think you will get downvoted for it. I also don’t like LD as much as other people but I think it is fine.

There are many other trek things that I don’t like as much as other people, but in the end there are different parts of ST that resonates with different people.

The thing I like about ST is how realistic somethings from back in the day are. I also like the more serious tone of things, but I think with the popularity of things like the Orville etc you can see that a big part of the fandom was looking for something more light hearted.

Just tell your co-worker that LD is just not for you. I am sure he will understand.

I love it simply because it’s a Trek show that stopped taking itself seriously. Star Trek always had an amount of stoicism about it, and LD takes it away and points out all the stupid stuff fans have just taken. And the whole thing works because it isn’t a crew at the edge of being heroes. My two cents.

My story is a bit different than others. I am not a Trekkie, and most of what I know about the franchise is from cultural osmosis and from catching the odd rerun of TNG in the 90s.

I have, however, been a junior officer in a ship, and much of Lower Deck’s content struck a chord because I’ve been there. I’ve been assigned the banal tasks, I’ve argued with other crew members on an opposite watch, and I’ve had to fight for the attention of the senior officers.

Disclaimer: I am not encouraging you to join the navy just to enjoy LD. That would be silly.

You certainly are allowed to dislike or even hate a Star Trek product. Every fan has things they like or don’t like. Heck, it’s one of the things this fandom is known for!

What I love about LD is the fact that it pokes fun at pretty much every Trek trope there is, while also being proper Trek itself. It’s a fine balance for sure.

I like LD because of its sense of humor and Trek deep cuts.

The LD characters are much more like “real” people than the other Trek series to me. By that I mean: TNG was full of people that I would admire and look up to if I were on that ship. LD has people I could see myself becoming friends with. But maybe that opinion reflects the age I was/am when watching each of them.

If you aren’t a fan of the humor, and don’t get the deep cuts, then I could see why you aren’t finding much to like about it.

The first few episodes Mariner was written as hyperactive and overbearing to the point of being off-putting.

But they responded to feedback and wrote her differently going forward and seem to have made some edits to earlier episodes.

It might be worth seeing some later episodes once it got settled in.

I think it’s the different humor and visual style case. And that’s ok. I don’t think you need to understand the many Trek injokes to like it- I know people who don’t know Trek and enjoy LD.

What I find interesting is that you feel the characters are cynical. I was quite suprised how endearingly idealistic the characters were, despite being written as flawed. They always make sure to do the right thing and they try very hard to better themselves. There’s a lot of character growth involved, which I much appreciate.

During the first two episodes, I also found the characters hyperactive. By the third one I adapted.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to like it, or pretend to like it, or justify why you don’t like it, or even tell people that you don’t like it.

Totes fine to just dislike it and move on. For me I not only love LD but it actually brought me into trek fandom through the backdoor, and I’m currently watching TNG all the way through.

But I’m not diminished in any way by you not liking it.

Now as for your coworker, I recommend hitting him with a brick being direct and saying “I don’t like it, but you’re free to give me other recommendations you think I’ll enjoy.”

Totally fair opinion. I like it because it’s the Wizard behind the Curtain scenarios.

That peace treaty and the wonderful meal prepared?

Yeah… guys on the lower decks had to make that happen. Mundane paperwork, etc.

How did this magically get resolved so quickly? Lower decks did it.

It’s the Star Trek equivalent of Super Store where you see the lofty ideals and futuristic space travel is really just every day life with people doing people things like we do today. Whether good or bad.

For me its the quickness of the dialogue. And since it is animation they are not held back by grand scale budgets for every little detail of a new planet or giant space ship battles. Again this is my take. And it took me a minute to appreciate LD.

I don’t think you’re necessarily missing anything. Lower Decks is probably my favourite Star Trek series by a decent margin, but I think that people’s varying tastes is part of the Trek experience.

Like the first Star Trek I ever watched was TNG, with a partner who hated DS9 because of how far it was from the much more utopian tone of TNG. My best friend, however, loved DS9 most of all for that exact same reason. I can’t tolerate The Original Series because of how campy and cringe it is, but I have friends who love it for that.

If you hate Lower Decks, then your perspective is one I can’t really relate to, but that just feels like regular old Trekkie solidarity to me - with a show so varied, inevitably there’s going to be diverse viewpoints. That in mind, I’m not going to try and change mind, I’m just going to highlight why I love Lower Decks.

My favourite bit about Lower Decks is that it feels like a love letter to Trek, in all its forms. There’s a lot of references I don’t get, but I don’t need to get them to feel the warm fuzzies of knowing this show was made by people who are, first and foremost, fans of Star Trek. I like utopian sci fi because the state of the real world means that I can find real hope in the fantasy because in my heart, I believe in humanity.

Alongside all of that idealistic space exploration though, Lower Decks doesn’t shy away from the more pernicious aspects of Star Trek, and Starfleet/the Federation. The humour isn’t always my taste, but I think they use it well to poke fun at Star Trek, the show, but also the world within. The sometimes critical lens that is taken is part of why it feels so much like a love letter to Trek - if you truly love something, you’ve got to take the bad with the good and not pretend that everything is perfect.

I don’t hate Star Trek: Lower Decks, but I did find it to be pretty boring. I watched the first 3 episodes on a flight last year and I almost fell asleep while watching it. The jokes just don’t land for me. I don’t know, it seems to be trying to be like Family Guy or The Orville (which I both love) but it ends up being more like “Our Cartoon President”, it is just dull, without edge. Maybe I will watch more episodes, it might get better, I don’t know. But I still haven’t seen all of DS9 and Voyager yet, so it will have to wait.

I like lower decks but have never been able to sit through a whole episode of any of the serious star treks. I think it’s kinda made for a completely different audience?

Interestingly I feel like I’ve recently arrived in some middle ground where I suspect the show is a spent force unless it changes its tone or structure somewhat. It reminds a little of bojack which IMO has a redundant season or two at the end there.

This season of LD struck me as the moment that I had nothing more to gain from the show. I greatly appreciated what it gave to the franchise for the first three seasons but don’t feel like I need too much more of that. But by the same token I feel like the show has plenty of room to grow into something else that’s either more traditional Trek or its own thing. Except with this last season it seemed like the show feels like they have to retain very much the same vibe and structure.

I’m completely with you on this, LD is clearly a hit with a lot of people and that makes me happy to see, but the show is just not for me. The characters are indeed way too hyper all the time which is tiring to watch, and I think it’s a shame because the concept and even a lot of the plots could be funny, but the characters never grow or change or become any less the absolute worst, so it’s kind of a wasted opportunity.

Anyway I’m not replying to dunk on LD. It’s a tv show and I don’t personally like it, whatever. I am replying to ask if you’ve tried The Orville.

Go with me here, because I assumed it was going to be just more of the kiddie style humour like LD. And it sort of is at first, so on my first attempt I bounced off the first episode and didn’t go back for a year. But we seem to have basically the same taste when it comes to Trek and I can honestly say The Orville turned into some of the best Trek I’ve seen. It’s got its weak points and annoying characters like anything else, but they’re a bit more like real people who change over time based on their experiences and aren’t just stuck in that typical animated show loop of being exactly the same again at the start of each new episode.

You might like it, you might not. Just a suggestion! :)