Warning: SPOILERS For Star Trek: Lower Decks' Season 5 Finale - “The New Next Generation”
In one particular way,Star Trek: Lower Decksis more realistic thanStar Trek: The Next Generation. The adventures of the USS Cerritos just came to an end with theseries finale ofStar Trek: Lower Deckson Paramount+, as Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) and the eclectic crew of the USS Cerritos came together to save the universe from an unstable quantum fissure. After the Cerritos created a permanent portal to infiniteStar Trektimelines, Starfleet moved Starbase 80 to the wormhole’s entrance and put Captain Freeman in charge of the missions to other quantum realities.
Following Captain Freeman’s exit,Commander Jack Ransom (Jerry O’Connell)accepted a promotion to become the new Captain of the Cerritos. Several other characters have been promoted throughoutStar Trek: Lower Decks’five seasons,including all of the lower deckers. Lieutenants Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) all began the series as ensigns but ended as junior grade lieutenants.Promotions inStar Trek: Lower Deckshappen at a much more realistic rate than they ever did onStar Trek: The Next Generation.
Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Starfleet Promotions Are More Realistic Than TNG
The Crew Members Of The USS Cerritos Got Promoted More Often
Star Trek: Lower Deckstakes place from approximately 2380 to 2382, and several promotions happen on the USS Cerritos during that three-year span. Although Starfleet is not technically a military organization,its command structure is set up much like the United States Navy.Starfleet officers begin their careers as cadets at Starfleet Academy and work their way through the ranks after being assigned to a starship or space station.Starfleet Officers generally receive a promotionafter a particularly impressive achievement or successful mission.
Star Trek’s Ranks In Order: How Starfleet Officers Get Promoted
From Cadet to Admiral, the career path of a Starfleet officer has become an integral part of the stories of many of Star Trek’s best-loved characters.
While many of thecharacters onStar Trek: The Next Generationkept their ranks throughout the show’s seven seasons,Star Trek: Lower Deckspromoted their officers significantly faster. As ensigns, Boimler, Mariner, Rutherford, and Tendi were at the bottom of the command structure on the Cerritos and often received menial jobs that reflected that. As the show progressed, however,they were promoted to lieutenants, junior grade, and given more responsibility.Captain Jack Ransom’s promotion to Captain also happens faster than those onTNG;Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) never became captain of the Enterprise-D.
Why Star Trek: TNG Characters Rarely Got Promoted
The Crew Of The Enterprise-D Couldn’t Change Too Much From Episode To Episode
Star Trek: The Next Generation’sreluctance to promote its officers had more to do with the television landscape of the time than it did with any in-universe reasoning. Television of the 1980s and 1990s was mostly episodic, meaningeach episode began and ended with the characters more or less in the same place, narratively speaking.If Riker had accepted a promotion to Captain duringTNG,for example, it would have drastically changed the status quo. For this reason, the characters were rarely promoted, and even when they were, their ultimate role on the ship did not change much.
Worf (Michael Dorn) did not become a lieutenant commander untilStar Trek Generations, after which he joinedStar Trek: Deep Space Nineas the station’s strategic operations officer.
Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) was promoted the most onTNG,becoming a full lieutenant at the start of season 2 and a lieutenant commander about a year later. Still, La Forge served as Chief Engineer fromTNGseason 2 onward, and his change in rank did not seem to alter his role on the show. Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) became a full commander inTNGseason 7 andbegan wearing a Starfleet uniform.Star Trek: Lower Decksoffered a more realistic timeframe for promotions, rather than the often static command structure ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.
