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This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains spoilers.
Star Trek has always been horny. But it took Lower Decks to make that horniness work. Need proof? Contrast two depictions of Star Trek‘s most infamous attempts at sexiness, the decontamination chamber.
Introduced in “Broken Bow,” the premiere episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, the Decontamination Chamber (aka “decon”) existed because the nascent Starfleet didn’t have the knowledge or materials to protect crewmembers from any indigenous diseases at the planet. So before leaving or returning to the NX-01, the crew would have to strip down to their skivvies and smear gel over their bodies. Producer Rick Berman designed the scenes to add “sexiness” to Star Trek. And it utterly failed.
Instead of emphasizing the story reasons for the chamber, which falls under Trek‘s values of exploration and open-mindedness, and even if the crew members were talking about something relevant to the episode’s plot or themes (which wasn’t always the case), their characters were reduced to random body parts, glistening and lubricated by gel.
The latest episode of Lower Decks brings back the decon process, as the USS Cerritos visits the out-of-date Starbase 80. But it makes the scene work on every level.
Yes, the main cast are all in their underclothes as they apply the gel. But the camera treats the exposed skin as matter-of-fact, devoid of all eroticism. Instead, the camera lets the characters interact. Mariner laments the fact that she must go to the cursed Starbase 80, Tendi tries to cheer her up by focusing on the mission, and Boimler acts like a dork.
Even the moment’s one recourse toward eroticism comes from a character, not a leering producer. Commander Ransom luxuriates in rubbing the gel along his pecks and abs, which he proudly displays for the camera. Ransom asks the audience to objectify him and maintains his agency throughout.
Ransom’s response to decon also works because Lower Decks has always been an overtly horny show. Sometimes, the over-sexuality gets played for laughs (recall Boimler going spread-eagle during the “Naked Time” homage in “I, Excretus”), but often its part of the characters’ lives. Mariner often removes her upper uniform, sometimes for better mobility and sometimes (like Ransom) she just likes the way she looks. In contrast, Tendi expresses her discomfort at revealing clothing and openly resents being objectified because it reduces her to an Orion stereotype, something she works hard to avoid.
Of course, Lower Decks isn’t altogether unique in its approach to sexuality. Pop culture may greatly overstate Kirk’s lothario status, but Riker is 100% the type of person to put on a deep-cut V-neck and go dashing from bed to bed (with, as the hit podcast The Greatest Generation reminds us, his greatest kink, enthusiastic consent). And Picard may have packed a book next to his horga’hn on the way to Risa, but he also sported a pair of tiny shorts.
It’s just that Lower Decks finally embraces a type of sexuality always present in Star Trek and makes it conform to the franchise’s values. Instead of squeezing Marina Sirtis or Jeri Ryan into an absurd catsuit or making Hoshi’s top rip off during a rescue mission, Lower Decks lets the characters express their sexuality for themselves, with their own agency and sense of exploration foregrounded.
That’s something everyone can appreciate, whether they’re reserved like Tendi or oh-so-open like Ransom.
Star Trek: Lower Decks episodes stream every Thursday on Paramount Plus.
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