I just started this show. I haven’t really liked any Star Trek show since STNG, so I kept putting this one off. Mostly because Picard hasn’t been well received
I am halfway through season one. I am not sure what to say about this show. I don’t love it. Parts have a lot of promise and parts are just so clumsy. It has a serial story, but it is clear that whoever is writing it is still thinking episodically. Things are really sped up and the writers have an obsession with illustrating backstory in the worse way. So many scenes with laborious dialogue.
The show is also a lot more realistic view of the federation than previous Trek products I have seen.
Overall there is enough goodness to keep me watching and again, I don’t love it.
Does it make fun of it? DS9 is probably one of my most favorite series - incredibly serious and high stakes premise, yet it also had comedy aspects. (Hooman Root Beer comes to mind).
Lower Decks treats DS9 incredibly well, even recreating the original slow pass around the station with the original theme (I got a bit choked up). The characters were excited to meet Kira, Odo, and Quark - and those original voice actors came back to reprise their roles, giving a legit update to how things are going now that time has passed since “What You Leave Behind”.
They do call backs to each prior season, not just as off the cuff jokes, but actually to do fan service right - exploring the original references and adding layers. TNG’s Pakleds are a great example - they were a one-off for Picard to deal with before moving on, but in LD they’ve made almost 10 episodes, and they’ve actually been shown to be more than just stupid aliens (because really, how could a race of utter idiots make it to space?).
I can’t really comment on this as I didn’t watch DS9 (not my cup of tea). I mainly just like TOS, TNG, and the first ten movies.