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Adiós Cerritos
When a still unnamed new animated Trek series was announced in October 2018, I was cautiously optimistic. I could imagine that the Star Trek Universe was big enough for an animated comedy. Well, the first Lower Decks trailer from July 2020 with its focus on swearing, farts, slime, zombies and similarly lame jokes temporarily discouraged me. Still, I was never really concerned that the show could damage the continuity or harm the franchise in any way. This is in part because I underestimated Lower Decks and didn't expect it to be more than a side show, a light-hearted companion to live-action Trek. I never imagined how relevant it would become for the franchise and the fandom and how well it would stack up against the live-action series (irrespective of its canon status).
Lower Decks embraces the traditional optimism of Star Trek like no other recent series in my book. It is free from dystopian aspects as they pervade the settings, the characters and the stories of the modern live-action shows. And as much as Lower Decks loves to comment on the downsides, especially concerning the underappreciation of low-ranking personnel, the series successfully establishes Starfleet as a family. Tendi, Rutherford, Boimler and Mariner may have their disagreements, but they are in it together, and so is the bridge crew - largely without narcissistic solo efforts or hidden agendas. The feeling of camaraderie is as strong here as it hasn't been since 2005.
Character arcs are the spice of modern series of any genre, and the ones of Lower Decks are more consequentially developed and stronger in some regards than those in live-action Trek. Take Mariner's survivor guilt (as revealed in "The Inner Fight") or Rutherford's gloomy back story (that finally comes to light in "Reflections"), which for me work better than Burnham's or Tilly's developments in Discovery. And even though their faces consist of just a few lines, Boimler and Tendi feel almost as real as Stamets or Saru (no offense meant).
I have probably mentioned it in many of my reviews, but I wish to reemphasize how faithfully Lower Decks recreates the world of the 24th century (in-universe) and of the Golden Age of 90's Trek (in real life). Starships, sets and props are reproduced or newly created with loving attention to established details, although everything would be possible. In many ways, this animated series is more authentic than multi-million dollar productions that strive to "update" Star Trek to something more bombastic and sometimes hardly recognizable on the visual side.
In light of its authenticity and of its countless in-jokes it is almost ironical that Lower Decks is the one among the recent Star Trek series that explores the most strange new worlds and overall relies the least on nostalgia.
Lower Decks does have its share of stories or lines of dialogue that are seen by some as mockery of Star Trek, but I think it is in line with how fans have been talking all along. Lower Decks is made by fans (the creators leave no doubt about that), it is made for fans (casual viewers don't get half of the jokes), and it is about fans on a meta level (because Mariner, Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford are into everything Starfleet). It has its heart in the right place. Thank you very much to Mike McMahan and his team for bringing us this show!
Much of my above praise applies to Prodigy likewise, but Lower Decks has a special place in my heart - because of the characters and the kind of humor that has grown on me. I admit it took a while. Also, Lower Decks helped me through a difficult time in my life when I was recovering from a serious injury and didn't know whether I would be able to return to a normal life again.
Season 5 of Lower Decks will be the last one. I can't imagine this of all series was canceled due to low ratings, to negative feedback or to a lack of story ideas. Maybe we just have to accept that nothing is supposed to last longer than that in an ever-changing media landscape. Still, I am sad to see Lower Decks of all series go. Although I can keep telling myself that Strange New Worlds isn't bad, that Starfleet Academy will not suck and that Section 31 perhaps just isn't for me, I will miss the endearing crew of the Cerritos and I will miss the authentic Trek feel and spirit of the show.
Bernd Schneider

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17 Jun 2025
Great list. The Bird of Prey is the greatest ship design in all of Star Trek, and this is coming from someone who adores the Excelsior and refit Enterprise.
Addendum: I'm curious as to where you'd put the Husnock warship.
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16 Jun 2025
No love for the Xindi Aquatic Cruiser? That ship has such an elegant design
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15 Jun 2025
Don't know how controversial my opinion is, but I just never liked any of the cardassian ship designs (their stations are cool)
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15 Jun 2025
Have the awesome D'Deridex and the overused Klingon BoP swap places and this would be a pretty good list. Maybe ditch the Galor and add in the ENT Romulan BoP instead. Jolan tru.
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15 Jun 2025
I'm not sure if shuttles are allowed but I'd have included the Romulan one from DS9 in my list.
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15 Jun 2025
https://www.therpf.com/forums/attachments/800_or_2-jpg.1396054/
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15 Jun 2025
Now that you mention it, was actually in the (deleted) scene. So going by the silhouette the Eagle would be the same smaller but unknown ship class as the Emden and the Ahwahnee. https://movies.trekcore.com...
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14 Jun 2025
Eagle NCC-956 a smaller ship?
I was doing an image search on Operation Retrieve, and I came across a picture of one of the pages that shows the Eagle, Potemkin, and Excelsior playing their parts in the plan. The Eagle is represented by a smaller ship silhouette than the Constitution-class Potemkin, as the Excelsior is represented by a larger silhouette. I searched for the source of this image, but I'm not sure if it is a complete fan creation or a recreation of a sheaf of charts found in the production trash. Have you seen it? Have you heard about it? This would be interesting as a case of the TNG production crew using their trick to make the Fleet feel larger during the Movie era. -
14 Jun 2025
Added close-ups of the current state of the Tosk/Vulcan model.
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14 Jun 2025
Added close-ups of the Hammerhead and Talarian studio models.

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Here is a new ranking, of my 10 Favorite Alien Ship Designs.15 Jun 2025
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Strange New Worlds will end after its fifth season, consisting of only six episodes. Although I usually don't extrapolate but strictly base my assessment on canon evidence, it is just too tempting to speculate how the direct prequel to TOS will end in a few years. Also read further news and thoughts on the upcoming season 3.12 Jun 2025
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Numerous improvements and some new findings in the two old articles Observations in TNG: "The Schizoid Man" and Observations in TNG: "Loud as a Whisper".08 Jun 2025
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Everything is set at EAS for Strange New Worlds season 3, which will begin on July 17 with two episodes, "Hegemony II" and "Wedding Bell Blues". See the rest of the episode titles and some previews.07 Jun 2025
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On another technical note, the Follow-it newsletter doesn't work any longer (it is a paid plan now). If you have subscribed and you are getting annoying e-mails from them instead of the EAS feed, I am sorry there is nothing I can do. Please unsubscribe.31 May 2025
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Twitter/X has cut all ties with the outside world and doesn't allow me to auto-post EAS news any more. I won't post site updates manually over there, but I'm not planning to leave the network either. Going somewhere else is currently not very tempting and would force me to work on tedious technical issues for several days when I would much rather like to create content.31 May 2025
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Several new entries and many other improvements in another article: Observations in TNG: "Identity Crisis".31 May 2025
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Two more old articles by Jörg are up to date now. Here are Observations in TNG: "Elementary, Dear Data" and Observations in TNG: "The Outrageous Okona".29 May 2025
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The recent Red Alert! Experience at Universal Studios featured the Enterprise-D bridge from PIC season 3 as the main attraction. Here is a report by our reader Uli, with impressions and side-by side comparisons of the sets.25 May 2025
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Two more Voyager season 6 retro reviews, of "One Small Step" and "The Voyager Conspiracy".24 May 2025
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After working on it for ten years, I have reached an important milestone. All EAS articles are now free from hideous old Frontpage formatting and ready for the future. While I was going to recode it anyway, I combined the three parts of our big survey of Planets in TOS and TOS Remastered to one.18 May 2025
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Continuing the update of old articles in season 2. Here are Observations in TNG: "The Child" and Observations in TNG: "Where Silence Has Lease".17 May 2025
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Here are two more Voyager season 6 retro reviews, of "Riddles" and "Dragon's Teeth".15 May 2025
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Two more old articles have been expanded and upgraded: Observations in TNG: "Conspiracy" and Observations in TNG: "The Neutral Zone". Each of them includes about 40 new or enhanced images.12 May 2025
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There are numerous supplements and improvements in Jörg's article Observations in TNG: "Night Terrors", with some 60 new or improved images. I have also added a small "Section 31" gallery.10 May 2025
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Final update with images from the Official Starships Collection in the galleries about the Nebula Class, Abramsverse Federation Vessels and Abramsverse Alien Vessels.03 May 2025

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20 May 2025
Model by
JLStudio
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11 May 2025
The Arrow class Runabout "Spirit of Proxima" escorted by two Kestrel class fighter. (Alternate view of this image: Escorting the Arrow)
In 2379, a medium-sized dispute broke out between the Kromsapiods and the Talarians over two planets in the Goliana system. The Talarians wanted to found a new colony there, unaware that the two planets serve as traditional hunting grounds for the Kromsapiods. Starfleet agreed to serve as a neutral mediator for the two parties, but due to the repeated outbreaks of violence on both sides, they wanted to play it safe and sent a small fighter escort with the diplomatic ship.
Rendered in 3ds Max 10
No Post Work
Arrow Class Runabout Designed by Malcolm Lu (Galen) and Andrew Gillespie (Kaden)
Kestrel class Fighter model parts (Typ 2 Shuttlecraft & Peregrine fighter) by David Metlesits
Similar Star Trek artworks:
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06 May 2025
Someone once asked me to make a display looking like someone from TNG or beyond was researching older starship designs. This is what I came up with
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This was done for a good friend StarfleetShipyards . He suggested I do something in the TAS Klingon Uniform style for the Dahar Masters, and also in hair styles that reflected by Worf's hair styles throughout his tenure in Trek.18 Nov 2021

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17 Jun 2025
#StarTrekTNG's "The Nth Degree" gives us this great shot of the large animated sickbay monitor. The part of the display that features the "medical insurance coverage available" injoke is just out of frame, so here's a second screenshot from "Future Imperfect", showing that barely seen joke. :-)
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17 Jun 2025
#StarTrekTNG's "The Child" is the only episode in which we get this beautiful wide bridge shot, filmed from right inside the main viewscreen, through the ready room doors, showing the (immobile) stars seen through the ready room window. Makes you understand how this all fits together.😊
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17 Jun 2025
You can tell that the footage was not filmed for #StarTrekTOS' "Space Seed"➡️ as Sulu (in the footage filmed with "Arena"⬅️) is replaced by Spinelli in the new footage ↗️. Harrison now wears a red uniform ↘️, sits at Environmental and the overhead displays are the newly updated, dark versions. 3/3
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17 Jun 2025
Here's the previously unseen footage of Kirk and Spock from #StarTrekTOS' "Space Seed"⬇️, filmed during the production of "Arena"⬆️. The camera setup is identical but instead of DePaul, Hadley is at the helm and Harrison (blue) has taken over from him at the Engineering Sub-Systems station. 2/3
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17 Jun 2025
It seems that during the production of "Arena", it was decided to film some additional bridge/viewscreen stock footage shots of Kirk and Spock (only seen in "Space Seed") Kirk (first seen in "This Side of Paradise") and Spock (debuting as late as season 3) for re-use in later episodes . 🧵 1/3
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16 Jun 2025
Interestingly, the bridge viewscreen footage seen in #StarTrekTOS' "Arena" (3rd row) is not re-used in "Return to Tomorrow". The footage of Kirk stepping forward, seen in the latter episode (1st+2nd row) comes before the "Arena" footage, hasn't been seen before and debits here. 4/4
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16 Jun 2025
Close examination of the footage in the #StarTrekTOS season 2 episode "Return to Tomorrow" (outer rim) and the season 1 footage from "Arena" (inner rectangle) reveals that more of the original footage is seen in the season 2 episode, as the footage in "Arena" is cropped on all sides. 3/4
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16 Jun 2025
As the camera switches from stock footage from season 1's "Arena"⬆️ to a reverse angle shot, using footage newly filmed for season 2's "Return to Tomorrow"⬇️, Lt. Hadley suddenly has moved to the navigation station (where Lt. DePaul was in "Arena"). Sulu is at the helm in both shots. 2/4
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16 Jun 2025
Bridge footage (focusing on the main viewscreen) originally filmed for #StarTrekTOS' season 1's "Arena"⬇️ also appears in season 2's "Return to Tomorrow"⬆️. Lt. Hadley can be seen at the Engineering Sub-Systems station to the left of the main viewscreen in this season 1 footage. 🧵 1/4
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15 Jun 2025
I love that Captain Pike has an old-fashioned television in his mountain hut in the #StarTrekSNW pilot episode "Strange New Worlds"⬆️ This clearly is a reference to the large TV in his quarters on the USS Enterprise in #StarTrekTOS "The Cage"⬇️! Same base wood color even! 😊

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New Ranking: 10 Favorite Alien Ship Designs - Here is a new ranking, of my 10 Favorite Alien Ship Designs. The ten best Alien ship designs according to yours truly15 Jun 2025
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SNW to End After Season 5 - Strange New Worlds will end after its fifth season, consisting of only six episodes. Although I usually don't extrapolate but strictly base my assessment on canon evidence, it is just too tempting to speculate how the direct prequel to TOS will end in a few years. Also read further news and thoughts on the upcoming season 3. The latest news and comments on ongoing Star Trek productions12 Jun 2025
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This trailer is pleasant watching. It is fun, without it appearing as campy as in the teaser released in April, which focused too much on the weird aspects of the season. I like how the new trailer emphasizes friendship and draws an optimistic picture of the future. There are still many basic elements of the series that I disapprove of, such as the total reboot of the Gorn and of some characters, and other deliberate continuity errors. There are some story stunts I will likely hate, such as the cringey "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans". But overall, SNW may be as close as possible to the Star Trek I love as a contemporary live-action series can be. One series. Infinite Adventures.The new season of Star Trek: Strange New worlds premieres July 17 with two episodes. New episodes will be available to stream...08 Jun 2025
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Update: Observations in TNG: "The Schizoid Man" and "Loud as a Whisper" - Numerous improvements and some new findings in the two old articles Observations in TNG: "The Schizoid Man" and Observations in TNG: "Loud as a Whisper". Observations about sets, props and visual effects in TNG: "The Schizoid Man"08 Jun 2025
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SNW Season 3 Reviews Coming - Everything is set at EAS for Strange New Worlds season 3, which will begin on July 17 with two episodes, "Hegemony II" and "Wedding Bell Blues". See the rest of the episode titles and some previews. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 episode guide and reviews07 Jun 2025
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I saw him at conventions twice. Such a fine man. On his birthday, we remember the great René Auberjonois, who was Odo for all 7 seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and directed eight episodes of the show, guest starred on Enterprise, and played Colonel West in an eventually deleted scene from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. He is very missed.01 Jun 2025
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Termination of Follow-it Newsletter - On another technical note, the Follow-it newsletter doesn't work any longer (it is a paid plan now). If you have subscribed and you are getting annoying e-mails from them instead of the EAS feed, I am sorry there is nothing I can do. Please unsubscribe. Subscription options to Ex Astris Scientia news31 May 2025
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No Site Updates on Twitter/X - Twitter/X has cut all ties with the outside world and doesn't allow me to auto-post EAS news any more. I won't post site updates manually over there, but I'm not planning to leave the network either. Going somewhere else is currently not very tempting and would force me to work on tedious technical issues for several days when I would much rather like to create content. Subscription options to Ex Astris Scientia news31 May 2025
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Update: Observations in TNG: "Identity Crisis" - Several new entries and many other improvements in another article: Observations in TNG: "Identity Crisis". Observations about sets, props and visual effects in TNG: "Identity Crisis"31 May 2025
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Update: Observations in TNG: "Elementary, Dear Data" and "The Outrageous Okona" - Two more old articles by Jörg are up to date now. Here are Observations in TNG: "Elementary, Dear Data" and Observations in TNG: "The Outrageous Okona". Observations about sets, props and visual effects in TNG: "Elementary, Dear Data"29 May 2025
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New Report: Red Alert! Experience - The recent Red Alert! Experience at Universal Studios featured the Enterprise-D bridge from PIC season 3 as the main attraction. Here is a report by our reader Uli, with impressions and side-by side comparisons of the sets. Report on the Red Alert! Experience at Universal Studios in 202525 May 2025
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Updated Reviews: VOY: "One Small Step" and "The Voyager Conspiracy" - Two more Voyager season 6 retro reviews, of "One Small Step" and "The Voyager Conspiracy". Star Trek Voyager (VOY) season 6 episode guide and reviews24 May 2025
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Site Maintenance: Bad Old Code Eliminated - After working on it for ten years, I have reached an important milestone. All EAS articles are now free from hideous old Frontpage formatting and ready for the future. While I was going to recode it anyway, I combined the three parts of our big survey of Planets in TOS and TOS Remastered to one. General NotesTalos IVPlanet 1EarthGuardian PlanetPlanet 2Planet 3Sigma DraconisExcalbiaAsteroidNew in TOS-ROther Celestial Objects18 May 2025
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Update: Observations in TNG: "The Child" and in TNG: "Where Silence Has Lease" - Continuing the update of old articles in season 2. Here are Observations in TNG: "The Child" and Observations in TNG: "Where Silence Has Lease". Observations about sets, props and visual effects in TNG: "The Child"17 May 2025
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Updated Reviews: VOY: "Riddles" and "Dragon's Teeth" - Here are two more Voyager season 6 retro reviews, of "Riddles" and "Dragon's Teeth". Star Trek Voyager (VOY) season 6 episode guide and reviews15 May 2025
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Update: Observations in "Conspiracy" and in "The Neutral Zone" - Two more old articles have been expanded and upgraded: Observations in TNG: "Conspiracy" and Observations in TNG: "The Neutral Zone". Each of them includes about 40 new or enhanced images. Observations about sets, props and visual effects in TNG: "Conspiracy"12 May 2025
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Update: Observations in TNG: "Night Terrors" - There are several supplements and improvements in Jörg's article Observations in TNG: "Night Terrors", with some 60 new or improved images. I have also added a small Section 31 gallery section. Observations about sets, props and visual effects in TNG: "Night Terrors"10 May 2025
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More Starship Images: Nebula and Abramsverse - Final update with images from the Official Starships Collection in the galleries about the Nebula Class, Abramsverse Federation Vessels and Abramsverse Alien Vessels. Gallery of Starfleet's Nebula class with its variations03 May 2025
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