The visual sequence that accompanies the opening credits for Star Trek: Lower Decks is filled with memorable scenes featuring the U.S.S. Cerritos in space. But one of the most hilarious scenes sees the Cerritos facing a high-profile battle… and promptly turning tail and flying away.
For this week’s Trek Tuesday, we’re breaking down the Lower Decks opening credit’s evolution over all five seasons of the series. Which alien ship is your favorite?
The Star Trek: Lower Decks Opening Credits Ship References
Season 1
In Lower Decks Season 1, the battle featured two kinds of alien ships. The first was the Borg Cube. Simultaneously one of the most simple and most recognizable non-Starfleet ships from the Franchise, the Borg Cube first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2’s “Q Who.”
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During the Season 1 opening credits, the Borg Cubes are battling Romulan D’deridex class ships, also known as the B-type warbird. These distinctive green ships first appeared in The Next Generation Season 1 episode “The Neutral Zone.” Large and imposing, the D’dreidex-class boasts cloaking abilities and formed the backbone of the Romulan fleet during the late 24th century.
Season 2
The Lower Decks Season 2 opening credits saw the addition of two more types of ships to the title sequence battle scene. The first were Klingon Birds-of-Prey. The Klingon Bird-of-Prey made its debut on the big screen, in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. These green ships also boast cloaking devices.
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Also joining the fracas in Season 2 is another type of ship: the Pakled Clumpship. While these ships began their lives as Mondor-types, aggressive incorporation of ship pieces stolen from other species’ ships transformed them into large, heavily fortified vessels. These could even present a significant threat to Starfleet vessels — at least those of the California class, anyway. The clumpship first appeared on Lower Decks, in the Season 1 finale, “No Small Parts.”
Season 3
Lower Decks Season 3 saw the addition of a Crystalline Entity to the opening credits — it must be Crystalline Entity season. This enormous spacefaring lifeform is more dangerous than its interesting appearance might suggest. They survive by converting organic matter into energy and consuming it, leaving planets completely devoid of natural resources in their wake.
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The first Crystalline Entity appearance was in The Next Generation Season 1’s “Datalore.” The U.S.S. Enterprise-D encountered it on Omicron Theta, the homeworld of Data (Brent Spiner). It turns out that Data’s twin brother, Lore (Spiner), had allied himself with the Crystalline Entity. That’s not cool, Lore!
Season 4
The Lower Decks Season 4 opening credits saw another addition first seen on the big screen. This was the Whale Probe from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
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In The Voyage Home, the enormous Whale Probe entered our galaxy and proceeded toward Earth. Initially, the probe seemed antagonistic, causing devices to lose power and planetary atmosphere to be ionized. However, James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and the rest of the their crew determined the probe was actually attempting to contact Earth’s humpback whales. Once the probe was able to make contact with a pair of humpbacks, it departed, restoring energy to the depowered ships as it did so.
Season 5
Lower Decks Season 5 opening credits saw the battle scene updated with three new additions. The first is the giant glowing green hand from Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2’s “Who Mourns for Adonais?”
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The second addition is a Tholian web. This first appeared in The Original Series Season 3’s “The Tholian Web.” It is an energy net formed by Tholian ships that can capture other ships within. More details about the Tholian web were revealed in Star Trek: Enterprise Season 4’s “In a Mirror, Darkly” parts one and two.
And the final addition to the Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 opening credits is V’ger. This entity was introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Initially considered an enigmatic and destructive galactic interloper, Kirk and his crew eventually determined that V’ger was an artificial lifeform that had evolved from the remains of Voyager 6, a probe launched by NASA in the 20th century.
Star Trek: Lower Decks and the other Franchise episodes and movies discussed above are currently available for streaming on Paramount+.
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