“Star Trek: Lower Decks” is an American adult animated science fiction television comedy series created by Mike McMahan for the streaming service CBS All Access (later rebranded as Paramount+). The franchise’s first animated series since “Star Trek: The Animated Series” concluded in 1974, Lower Decks follows the low-ranking 24th century starship Cerritos support crew who were, per this viewing order, introduced in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S02E07 “Those Old Scientists”, with the series beginning before that adventure from the perspective of these characters. I’ll note when that crossover episode fits in here. But this is where the Lower Decks story truly begins, in the year 2380, 2 years after the end of Star Trek: Voyager and 1 year after the final Next Generation film, “Star Trek: Nemesis”.
2380:
059 LD S01E01 Second Contact
060 LD S01E02 Envoys
061 LD S01E03 Temporal Edict
062 LD S01E04 Moist Vessel
063 LD S01E05 Cupid’s Errant Arrow
064 LD S01E06 Terminal Provocations
065 LD S01E07 Much Ado About Boimler
066 LD S01E08 Veritas
067 LD S01E09 Crisis Point
Additionally, beginning with the end of Season 1, Star Trek: Lower Decks also features a social media companion series known as Star Trek: Lower Decks Logs, which consists of weekly personal logs of the crew of the USS Cerritos in short videos released to the social media website Instagram, nearly all of which tie into the previous episode of Lower Decks. The shorts often include essential information that really highlight the stories being told in the parent series. Later Trek series (“Prodigy”, “Picard” & “Discovery”) all feature a similar companion series. The Lower Decks Logs ran for 2 seasons.
068 LD S01E10 No Small Parts (Part 1)
069 LDL S01E01 Chief Medical Officer’s Log – T’Ana (Part 2)
070 LDL S01E02 Personal Log – Samanthan Rutherford (Part 3)
071 LDL S01E03 Captain’s Log – Carol Freeman (Part 4)
2381:
072 LD S02E01 Strange Energies (Part 1)
073 LDL S01E04 Personal Log – Jack Ransome (Part 2)
074 LD S02E02 Kayshon, His Eyes Open (Part 1)
075 LDL S01E05 Personal Log – Beckett Mariner (Part 2)
076 LD S02E03 We’ll Always Have Tom Paris (Part 1)
077 LDL S01E06 Personal Log – D’Vana Tendi (Part 2)
078 LD S02E04 Mugato, Gumato (Part 1)
079 LDL S01E07 Personal Log – Bradward Boimler (Part 2)
080 LD S02E05 An Embarrassment of Dooplers (Part 1)
081 LDL S01E08 Personal Log – Shaxs (Part 2)
082 LD S02E06 The Spy Humongous (Part 1)
083 LDL S01E09 Chief Medical Officer’s Log – T’Ana (Part 2)
084 LD S02E07 Where Pleasant Fountains Lie (Part 1)
085 LDL S01E10 Personal Log – Samanthan Rutherford (Part 2)
Agimus is introduced as we make our first visit to Hysperia, the homeworld of Lieutenant Commander “Andy” Billups – who gets some much needed backstory here.
086 LD S02E08 I, Excretus (Part 1)
087 LDL S01E11 Personal Log – Davana Tendi (Part 2)
088 LD S02E09 wej Duj (Part 1)
089 LDL S01E12 Captain’s Log – Carol Freeman (Part 2)
090 LD S02E10 First First Contact (Part 1)
091 LDL S01E13 Personal Log – Beckett Mariner (Part 2)
092 LDL S01E14 Personal Log – Matt (Part 3)
093 LD S03E01 Grounded (Part 4)
094 LDL S02E01 Personal Log – Bradward Boimler (Part 5)
095 LD S03E02 The Least Dangerous Game (Part 1)
096 LDL S02E02 Personal Log – Jack Ransome (Part 2)
097 LD S03E03 Mining the Mind’s Mines (Part 1)
098 LDL S02E03 Personal Log – D’Vana Tendi (Part 2)
099 LD S03E04 Room for Growth (Part 1)
100 LDL S02E04 Personal Log – Samanthan Rutherford (Part 2)
101 LD S03E05 Reflections (Part 1)
102 LDL S02E05 Personal Log – Beckett Mariner (Part 2)
103 LD S03E06 Hear All, Trust Nothing (Part 1)
104 LDL S02E06 Personal Log – D’Vana Tendi (Part 2)
105 Strange New Worlds S02E07 Those Old Scientists
This is where the SNW episode takes place from the point of view of Lower Decks. I’m counting it twice because it really does feel like a Lower Decks episode at this point. This story is later referenced in this series in the Season 4 premiere.
106 LD S03E07 A Mathematically Perfect Redemption (Part 1)
107 LDL S02E07 Captain’s Log – Carol Freeman (Part 2)
108 LD S03E08 Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus (Part 1)
109 LDL S02E08 Personal Log – Bradward Boimler (Part 2)
Section 31 is back. This would be after their appearances in Enterprise, the odd Section 31 movie, and in Deep Space Nine. Will we ever find out more about the organization?
110 LD S03E09 Trusted Sources (Part 1)
111 LDL S02E09 Personal Log – Beckett Mariner (Part 2)
112 LD S03E10 The Stars at Night (Part 1)
113 LDL S02E10 Personal Log – Shaxs (Part 2)
114 S04E01 Twovix
115 S04E02 I Have No Bones, Yet I Must Flee
116 S04E03 In the Cradle of Vexilon
117 S04E04 Something Borrowed, Something Green
118 S04E05 Empathological Fallacies
119 S04E06 Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place
120 S04E07 A Few Badgeys More
121 S04E08 Caves
122 S04E09 The Inner Fight (Part 1)
123 S04E10 Old Friends, New Planets (Part 2)
2382:
124 S05E01 Dos Cerritos
125 S05E02 Shades of Green
126 S05E03 The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel
127 S05E04 A Farewell to Farms
128 S05E05 Star Base 80?
129 S05E06 Of Gods and Angles
130 S05E07 Fully Dilated
131 S05E08 Upper Decks
132 S05E09 Fissure Quest (Part 1)
133 S05E10 The New Next Generation (Part 2) [Series Finale]
During the finale the Klingons morph between their current stage selves into versions of Klingons from the past. We know these are past Klingon variants because Relga and the crew on her ship transform into Proto-Klingons: the same type of creature into which Worf devolved in TNG S07E19 “Genesis”. But the Klingons on the IKS Krtas, as well as the ship itself, are transformed by the effects of the rift into something altogether new! When did the Klingons and their ships appear so different? Perhaps we’ll find out someday?