The Cerritos has been handed a second tour of duty — this one printed on cardboard.
A product listing has appeared on the Looney Labs site for Star Trek Lower Decks Fluxx, a standalone deck that bolts the familiar Fluxx ruleset onto the anarchy and gags of the animated series. On paper, that’s a potent mix. The full contents of the box are still under wraps, but the early indications are promising.
For anyone who has never shuffled a Fluxx deck before, here’s the important detail: no other set is required to play. That makes it a perfectly good starting point for fans of the show who have never touched the game.
What the publisher is promising
A brief description went up on the manufacturer’s website:
“The funniest frontier! These are the voyages of the Starship Cerritos, its five-season mission: to inspire the fifth Star Trek themed version of Fluxx! Join Boimler, Mariner, Rutherford, and Tendi, plus of course the bridge crew and even Cetacean Ops and Peanut Hamper, as they take on Creepers like the Pakleds, Badgey, and the most fearsome Moopsy. Is your helmet big enough to win you the game?”
Crowning Moopsy the deck’s most fearsome Creeper is precisely the tone the show ran on across five seasons. And if this plays like standard Fluxx, count on rules that never sit still and cards that grow sillier the longer everyone stays at the table.
The weirdest Star Trek there’s ever been
No adaptation attached to this IP has ever gone as far out as Lower Decks — and it landed. The adult animated comedy arrived as a real breath of fresh air for longtime fans and newcomers alike.
Its 2020 debut was followed by the honorable route: five seasons delivered at a decent clip, then a tidy conclusion in 2024.
Its ending stings, no question. But the legacy it left is a sturdy one, worth revisiting whenever there’s an excuse, and burying it in the past entirely would be a waste. A card game is no substitute for a sixth season. What it is, though, is an excuse to say “Moopsy” out loud again.
The franchise is in a strange spot right now
The rest of Star Trek is heading for the exit. Strange New Worlds is currently in season four, and a fifth and final — and shorter — run is expected next year.
So far, nothing brand new has been greenlit. That leaves the franchise’s future stranded in a kind of no man’s land.
Sixty years of this
Few multimedia franchises in pop culture are bigger than Star Trek, which sprawls across films, television, books, comics, video games and much more. It was created by Gene Roddenberry, beginning with the 1960s series that starred William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.
A number of equally beloved series have arrived since, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Discovery among them.
All of which is a roundabout way of noting that this franchise has weathered far odder detours than a card game whose rules mutate every turn. Boimler would sign up immediately.