Star Trek animated comedy series ordered from Rick and Morty writer
The first-ever official Star Trek comedy series has been ordered.
CBS All Access has greenlit an animated series from Emmy-winner Mike McMahan, a writer on Adult Swim’s sensation Rick and MortyThe half-hour series is titled Star Trek: Lower Decks and will tackle the Federation from a comedic perspective, focusing “on the support crew serving on one of Starfleet’s least important ships.”
“Mike won our hearts with his first sentence: ‘I want to do a show about the people who put the yellow cartridge in the food replicator so a banana can come out the other end,'” said executive producer Alex Kurtzman. “[McMahan’s] cat’s name is Riker. His son’s name is Sagan. The man is committed. He’s brilliantly funny and knows every inch of every Trek episode, and that’s his secret sauce: he writes with the pure, joyful heart of a true fan. As we broaden the world of Trek to fans of all ages, we’re so excited to include Mike’s extraordinary voice.”
Added McMahan: “As a life-long Trekkie, it’s a surreal and wonderful dream come true to be a part of this new era of Star Trek. While Star Trek: Lower Decks is a half-hour, animated show at its core, it’s undeniably Trek — and I promise not to add an episode at the very end that reveals the whole thing took place in a training program.”
Fans will recognize the Lower Decks title as referencing the name of one of the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In 2011, McMahan started a Twitter account posting fake TGN plots, then scored a book deal to turn his tweets into Star Trek: The Next Generation: Warped: An Engaging Guide to the Never-Aired 8th Season.
The new project will bring to mind Fox’s The Orville, a dramedy from Family Guy‘s Seth MacFarlane which is clearly inspired by Trek.
And previously, there was a much-loved Star Trek: The Animated Series which expanded on The Original Series episodes and ran from 1973-74 (but was not a comedy).
The new show is the latest Trek project by the CBS All Access streaming service, which also has Star Trek: Discovery, which returns for its second season in January, and a new show with Patrick Stewart reprising his TNG character Jean-Luc Picard in the works.
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