As a younger fan, for the longest time, I avoided Lower Decks as I’m not usually into the adult animation comedy genre. I first watched it late last year and have rewatched the whole thing 3 or 4 times total since (though I often start around “Terminal Provocations” as I don’t enjoy earlier episodes as much.).

Me and my siblings would often watch whatever Trek my mom was watching before eventually doing our own watch throughs.

Glad to have you mention that here.

So many fans of the older shows assume that Lower Decks isn’t accessible to new viewers who don’t get the references, but it’s quite the opposite. Gen Z and younger viewers are into animated comedies and it’s a successful entry point. And with the number of middle schoolers who got into manga and anime during the pandemic, the portion of the audience that prefers animation as a medium is only going to grow.

Our teens were fans of the Voyager when they were in middle school, and sampled the rest of the classic shows. Despite that they seem to be split on the animated vs live action new shows, and none of them would watch Picard.

It’s a real shame that there won’t be any new animated Star Trek after this season of Lower Decks.