In this review of Star Trek: Lower Decks #8, Captain Freeman is still reliving her time on the Lower Decks of the U.S.S. Illinois, where the ensign was in command for a hot minute before Doctor Pulaski pulled rank during a Romulan attack.
Star Trek: Lower Decks #8
Written by: Tim Sheridan
Art and Main Cover by: Robby Cook
Page Count: 28 pages
Release Date: June 11, 2025
This review contains spoilers
Star Trek: Lower Decks #8 picks up directly after the events of last issue, as Ensign Carol Freeman gets a brief taste of command before Doctor Pulaski pulls rank on her during a Romulan attack. During the battle, most of the U.S.S. Illinois crew had run afoul of Freeman’s transporter “modifications”, and ended up being transported aboard the Romulan ship.
Pulaski orders Freeman and her fellow (inexperienced) Lower Decks team to battle stations, but they are hopelessly outgunned. The Romulan subcommander orders Pulaski to stand down, or the Illinois crew will be executed. Pulaski calls the Romulan’s bluff, claiming that she needs Starfleet’s permission to surrender the ship and ends the call, leaving Freeman and the others to figure out how to fix this mess in an hour.
Freeman and the Lower Decks team concoct a ridiculous plan to remove Pulaski’s transporter inhibitor and beam her off the bridge, but during the ruckus one of the crew accidentally stuns Pulaski with a phaser. With the deadline reached, the Romulan subcommander orders their surrender, but now acting Captain Freeman enacts an even more absurd gambit to free the crew (which somehow works), and the Illinois goes to warp.
Soon after, the captain of the U.S.S. Illinois mistakenly congratulates Pulaski on the successful rescue plan, while Freeman fully expects to be court-martialed for her blunder, but Pulaski leaves Freeman’s recklessness out of her official report, privately commending Freeman and her friends on their ingenuity and teamwork.
Star Trek: Lower Decks #8 ends back in the present day with Captain Freeman, Beckett Mariner (and Boimler) tackling the treacherous Mt. Katherine ski slope program (with a familiar visage carved into its face).
Analysis
Star Trek: Lower Decks #8 maintains the brisk, enjoyable (and chatty) fun of the previous issue, as Carol Freeman reflects on her time as part of a different starship’s lower decks crew. Freeman’s team are given names and personalities distinct from Beckett Mariner’s, and while their dynamic is fully “Lower Decks”, there really isn’t a lot of time to get to know these other characters beyond how they service the plot.
Freeman and the others’ oddball, slapstick approach to problem-solving works (in true Lower Decks fashion), because while the series might be set in the Star Trek universe (or an adjacent pocket universe), it is designed to be cartoony, and presents as a broad comedy, with a heightened sense of reality, compared to a typical Star Trek story.
In the same way that the recent Shaxs-centric specials deviate from the rest of the typically suspenseful and serious (read: dramatic) Star Trek crossovers that they tie into, Star Trek: Lower Decks exists in its own pocket universe where screwball antics and absurdist solutions are commonplace, and typically the norm.
Writer Tim Sheridan (DC animation) seamlessly expands Lower Decks canon with Freeman’s own Lower Decks experience (including self-sabotage), presenting a backstory that is populated with characters and conflicts that feel at once familiar, but still original enough from the well known Lower Decks crew from the U.S.S. Cerritos.
Doctor Pulaski was never the most likable Star Trek character, (more of a foil on TNG really), and she appeared to be much the same in this series, but with Star Trek: Lower Decks #8, Sheridan flips the script, presenting Pulaski with her own motivations for keeping Freeman out of the hot seat, (and into the captain’s chair). This behavior is well within Pulaski’s character, as someone who likes to bend the rules.
Hopefully this isn’t a one-off and Sheridan will explore more of Freeman’s Lower Decks experiences and friends, in future issues.
Artist Robby Cook continues effectively matching the animated series style, adding some nice flourishes to make the artwork distinct. A few standouts in Star Trek: Lower Decks #8 include Doctor Pulaski testing her newfound flexibility after her recent transporter trip, Mariner and Freeman’s mother-daughter bonding moment, Pulaski’s parting words to “former acting captain” Freeman, and that final page reveal.
Final Thoughts
Star Trek: Lower Decks #8 continues the series’ impressive run with solid storytelling and art, narrowing the story focus to an established character that adds more depth and dimension than was ever expected.
