Is the best Star Trek TV show ever made an animated and somewhat adult sitcom? Many folks believe that Star Trek: Lower Decks is indeed the best show in the nearly 50-year sci-fi media franchise. This week, Paramount+ added all 10 episodes of the show"s third season to watch for free for YouTube US residents to watch for a limited time.
The show, created by former Rick and Morty writer and producer Mike McMahan, centers on four junior officers on board the USS Cerritos. The series, which takes place just after the conclusion of Star Trek: Voyager, tells the tales of these crew members who don"t usually get the best assignments. It"s not only a funny show, with tons of references and Easter Eggs to previous Star Trek shows and movies, but stands up as a great Trek show on its own."
Indeed, two of the characters from Lower Decks recently made their live-action debut in an episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, in what must be the weirdest crossover in Trek history.
Paramount+ is posting all of these episodes for free to promote the fourth season of Lower Decks, which is due to premiere on the streaming service on September 7. A fifth season of the series has been ordered, but production has been put on hold for now due to both the writer"s and actor"s strikes.
Paramount+ currently has every Star Trek TV show and movie to stream . . . except for Star Trek: Prodigy. As we reported on earlier this year, the family-friendly 3D animated and Emmy-winning series was pulled from the streaming service so that Paramount could save money.
Production of an already approved second season still continues and the hope is that the rights can be sold to another streaming service. Thankfully, all 20 episodes of season 1 can be purchased digitally from stores like Amazon Prime Video. You can also get the first half of season one now on Blu-ray or DVD, and the second half is available for pre-order on disk ahead of its September 26 release date.
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