Star Trek: Lower Decks just pulled off something the franchise hasn’t done since 1994
Star Trek: Lower Decks just pulled off an achievement the Star Trek franchise hasn’t done in 30 years for a high honor!
Fans of Star Trek have long groused about how the show has never gotten its due from some award groups. Obviously, the Emmys had a long-standing bias against sci-fi and fantasy series, which was why, aside from some technical awards, the various Trek shows have never garnered major nominations.
The franchise is much better with the various genre awards that naturally honor one of the most influential sci-fi shows ever. That includes the Saturn Awards, with Trek shows regularly piling up awards for the various actors and some episodes.
The Hugo Awards are a different story. Established in 1953, the World Science Fiction Society’s awards for the best in sci-fi and fantasy have been among the most respected honors in all of sci-fi. Winning a Hugo is a boon to any writer, and some TV shows earn the honor as well.
Surprisingly, however, Star Trek has only earned four Hugos in its long run on the air: For “The Mengarie,” “The City on the Edge of Forever,” “The Inner Light” and the TNG finale “All Good Things," with the franchise's last win coming way back in 1994. It’s a bit unusual that no other Star Trek show has earned the honor, while it shows how esteemed the Hugos are.
Now the drought has ended as Trek can add another Hugo to the list!
At the latest ceremony on August 16, Star Trek: Lower Decks was competing for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form for the episodes "Fissure Quest” and the series finale “The New Next Generation.” Despite competition from Fallout, Agatha All Along, and Doctor Who, Lower Decks won for its finale.
That wasn’t Lower Decks’ only win as the series also claimed a victory for IDW’s interactive graphic novel Star Trek: Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way, written by Ryan North with art by Chris Fenoglio.
Series creator and showrunner Mike McMahan accepted the award and later spoke online about how much it meant to win an honor he’d grown up reading about.
"To win a Hugo, the same year as the amazing [Ryan North]- and both of us for Star Trek: Lower Decks… I literally could not be happier. It means so much to me. So thank you, Hugo voters!! An army of talented people made Lower Decks possible, and I couldn’t be prouder of what we accomplished. Thank you to everyone who has watched and shared and said kind things about the show.”
This is a great showcase for Lower Decks, which overcame a rough initial response from Trek fans. At first, the animated series had a divisive reaction due to its sardonic humor and too much satire of the mythos. As the series went on, it became more popular and was seen as truer to the spirit of Star Trek than most of the other shows.
The Hugo award only solidifies how Lower Decks deserves its accolades as a truly great Star Trek series. While fans are still saddened that the show ended after five seasons, a Hugo is a feather in the cap for the entire Trek franchise and proved Lower Decks is one of the best Trek series ever.
