One of the quirkiest of the Star Trek series, Lower Decks offers animated adventures. As a twist, rather than focus on a captain and senior crew, Decks depicts the lives of lowly ensigns on Starfleet’s USS Cerritos.

This two-disc Blu-ray set includes all 10 of Season Four’s episodes. The plot synopses come straight from the package’s liner notes.

Twovix: “The Cerritos ensigns must assist a caretaker on the voyage of a historically significant starship.”

At the start of “Twovix”, we learn that Ensign Brad Boimler (voiced by Jack Quaid) will earn a promotion unless things go poorly for the day. Normally this would seem like a cue for all sorts of Boimler misdeeds and goofs.

However, “Twovix” takes a different path. Though we get plenty of comedic shenanigans, Boimler only indirectly prompts these.

Instead, we focus on the decommissioned Voyager and a plot that revisits that series. This turns into a delightful launch to Season 4.

I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee: “Lt. JG Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) tries to get demoted. Ensign Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) tries to get promoted and Boimler makes a big move.”

Mariner’s attempts to get sent back to ensign status amuse, especially when things go awry on a mission. Boimler’s adjustment to his new quarters prove hilarious as well, so this turns into another winning show.

In the Cradle of Vexilon: “Boimler leads his first away mission on an alien megastructure.”

That synopsis makes “Cradle” sound more Boimler-focused than it is, for while his segment plays an important role, it doesn’t dominate. Instead, we get a good view of the evolution of the former ensigns in this enjoyable show.

Something Borrowed, Something Green: “Lt. JG D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) is summoned back to Orion for a wedding.”

Everyone remembers the sexy Orion slave girl from TOS and “Green” allows us a frisky look at that planet, Tendi’s homeworld. The episode plays up the nature of the violent and matriarchal location in a mix of inventive ways.

Empathological Fallacies: “A trio of Betazoids cause chaos on the Cerritos.”

Actually, this proves not wholly accurate, as “Fallacies” focuses more on Vulcan Lt. JG T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz). The episode uses these situations in a positive way and given T’Lyn some solid development as well.

Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place: “The Cerritos visits the Ferengi homeworld.”

“Place” echoes “Green” in that it takes the crew to a specific location, and like Orion, this one proves one-note, as it revolves around how much the Ferengi love money. Nonetheless, it uses that scenario for lots of laughs and succeeds despite the predictable elements.

A Few Badgeys More: “Three computerized villains return to cause chaos for the Cerritos crew.”

Back in Season One, then-Ensign Rutherford created a digital assistant called “Badgey” (Jack McBrayer) that turned bad. He returns here with a bang, as does the megalomaniacal supercomputer AGIMUS (Jeffrey Combs). Both segments give the episode a zing and make it a winner.

Caves: “The Lower Deckers go on a classic cave mission.”

Lower Decks loves to poke fun at overall Trek lore, and “Caves” uses that cliché as a launching pad. It also allows the main Lower Deckers to interact closely for the first time in a while, so it delivers a good program.

The Inner Fight: “Captain Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) assigns the Lower Deckers an overly safe mission to try and keep a self-destructive Mariner out of danger.

“Fight” actually offers the first segment of a two-part season finale. I’ll save my comments for the second chapter.

Old Friends, New Planets: “Mariner faces her past.”

S4 ends with a bang via the excellent “Fight”/“Planets”. While it still comes with plenty of the usual Lower Decks humors, it packs more action than typical.

That gives the episode added spark, and it brings the season-long narrative arcs to a conclusion, all while it leaves us with a minor cliffhanger. “Planets” brings a fine season to a close on a strong note.

Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season Two appears in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 on these Blu-ray Discs. The series looked great.

At all times, the shows boasted excellent delineation. They seemed crisp and detailed, without any noticeable hints of softness.

I recognized no signs of shimmering or jagged edges, and edge haloes also failed to materialize. In addition, I found no source flaws, as the episodes looked clean and fresh.

Decks delivered a dynamic palette. The colors always came across as bright and full.

Blacks seemed deep and firm, while shadows showed nice clarity and smoothness. All in all, this was a terrific visual presentation.

In addition, I thought the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtracks of the Lower Decks episodes worked reasonably well. For the most part, the audio concentrated on general atmosphere.

Some action sequences added pizzazz to the piece and we also got nice stereo imaging for the score. Otherwise, the track gave us a good feel for the environment.

Throughout the shows, audio quality satisfied. Music was full and rich, as the score seemed well-recorded and dynamic. Effects also showed good range and delineation, and they boasted strong low-end response when necessary.

Speech appeared concise and natural, so no edginess or other issues interfered. This was all good enough for a “B”.

Five episodes boast audio commentaries. Here’s who we find:

“Twovix”: series creator/showrunner Mike McMahan, producer Brad Winters and actor Jack Quaid.

“Something Borrowed, Something Green”: actors Tawny Newsome, Noël Wells and Gabrielle Ruiz.

“Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place”: Wells, McMahan, and actors Chase Masterson and Eugene Cordero.

“The Inner Fight”: McMahan, Newsome and actor Dawnn Lewis.

“Old Friends, New Planets”: McMahan and actor Robert Duncan McNeill.

In general, the tracks look at cast/crew, production elements, and connections to other Trek projects. Though all listenable, the inevitably vary in quality.

Of the bunch, the “Place” and “Planets” tracks work best, mainly because they discuss how their live-action Trek actors returned to the franchise for this animated affair. The others have enough moments to merit a listen as well.

We get a pair of featurettes on Disc Two, and Lower Decktionary: Setting Up Season Four runs eight minutes, 33 seconds. It offers info from McMahan, Cordero, Newsome, Wells, and Quaid.

This program looks at S4’s first episode and how it frames the rest of the year. We get a brief but engaging discussion.

Old Friends goes for 28 minutes, 45 seconds. It features McMahan, McNeill and actors Shannon Fill and Wil Wheaton.

Here we cover S4’s finale, with an emphasis on the live-action Trek actors who returned. It leans fluffy but I like the Zoom chat among the three actors, as they reflect on those experiences well.

Season Four of Star Trek: Lower Decks finds a series that continues to fire on all nacelles. A delightful mix of comedy and adventure, S4 offers a fine collection of shows. The Blu-ray boast excellent picture as well as solid audio and a mix of bonus features. Bring on Season Five!