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March 19, 2021 | Costello

Larchive Friday – Lower Decks Cuts Deep

Fridays, we open the Larchives, Lar’s extensive archive of art work oddities, and share a few pieces.

Last week I called Star Trek: Lower Decks “a fan-servicey cartoon with unapologetic Rick and Morty influences of much higher quality than expected for such a contrived premise.”

With Lar offering custom Star Trek Lower Decks avatars this month in exchange for donations, I thought I’d unpack what I said.

May be an illustration of standing and text that says "STAR TREK LOWER DECKS AVATARS! FROM NOW UNTIL MARCH 3IST 20ခ1 DONATE $40 MS SOCIETY I'LL you CARICATURE AVATAR THE STYLE OF STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS! 1) TOHTP://TI/VRL.COM/MSCURE3O1 DONATE! $40 OR MORE FOR AN AVATAR WANT GROUP FAMILY COUP EASY! DONATE $40 PER FACE! EMAIL YOUR DONATION CONFIRMATION AR@LARTIST. WITH ACURRENT SELFIE(S). TELL YOUR UNIFORM COLOUR AND/OR YOU'D O BE AN 4) WILL EMAIL you HIGH RES JPE6 TO PRINT AND LOW JPE6 FOR SOCIAL MEDIA, ALL AVATARS WILL DELIVERED ON OR BEFORE APRIL 5TH, 20ခ1"

Fan Servicey

Lower Deck’s original trailer mixed Star Trek visuals and fast-paced, low brow comedy. It sprinkled enough heart throughout to make the main characters sympathetic. Was CBS just mixing the familiarity of an old brand with a modern sense of humour?

They were not. I can safely say that, as a Star Trek fan, I feel I get more out of any given episode than a viewer just watching for the lolz. There were back-to-back Roga Danar and Exocomp references, both of whose cards featured heavily in my high school Star Trek: TNG CCG (back when we called them collectible card games and not trading card games) decks. I enjoyed the series up till then, but that moment made it feel like Star Trek Lower Decks was for me.

Exclusively. I don’t know why the rest of you watch it, the creators literally seem to set “make Costello happy” as their only goal.

Rick and Morty Influence

Rick and Morty launched as an experimental sci-fi comedy cartoon for adults unlike anything else on TV, but it’s become the template for the genre. So much so, Rick and Morty co-creator, Josh Roiland, copied his own co-formula for Solar Opposites.

Fortunately, Star Trek Lower Decks neither denies the similarities or lampshades them during episodes. It’s what a lot of cartoons look and sound like now. It works as long as the writing and animation remains quality. Star Trek Lower Decks delivered consistent quality throughout the first season.

Go Below

Now it’s your chance to join the Lower Decks.

If you would you like Lar to illustrate a custom avatar inspired by Star Trek: Lower Decks, here’s what you need to do:

  1. Go to https://tinyurl.com/mscure2021
  2. Donate $40 or more for an avatar, plus $40 for every extra face.
  3. Email your donation confirmation to [email protected] along with a current selfie and any requests.
    Include instructions, like uniform color or alien species.
  4. Lar will email you a high res JPEG to print and a low res jpeg for social media.

Expect to receive your custom avatar on or before April 5th, 2021.