Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 3 - “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel"Star Trekis no stranger to evil Starfleet Admirals, butStar Trek: Lower Decksintroduces an Admiral who has a reason why he turned.Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5is the animated comedy’s final season on Paramount+ and it continues to explore new and hilarious aspects of life in Starfleet. InStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5, episode 3, “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel,“Lt. Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) hunts for Admiral Milius (Toby Huss), who went AWOLwith"vacation madness"on the interstellar cruise ship, the Cosmic Duchess.
Star Trek: Lower Deckshas had encounters with corrupt Starfleet Admirals before.Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 3’s Big Bad was Admiral Les Buenamigo (Carlos Alazraqui), who sought to replace the California Class armada, which includes the USS Cerritos, with his own Texas Class starships. The A.I.-controlled Texas Class fleet turned evil and attacked Starfleet, including Admiral Buenamigo, who was killed by his own creation. ButStarfleet never seems to learn when it comes to their own flag officers turning on the United Federation of Planets.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Gives A Reason Why An Admiral Turns Evil
Admiral Milius Has A Gripe With Starfleet
InStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5, episode 3, “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel,” Lt. Brad Boimler, Commander Jack Ransom (Jerry O’Connell), and Lt. Commander Andy Billups (Paul Scheer) locate Admiral Milius in the Temple of Dread aboard the Cosmic Duchess. Milius, an Elite Latinum member of the cruise ship, was in hiding because he was furious at Starfleet for how he was treated.Milius' reason for turning was because Starfleet routinely assigned him humiliating missionsinvolving milking space whales.
Admiral Milius' hideout wasStar Trek: Lower Decks' hilarious parody ofApocalypse Now.
Admiral Milius' grievance with Starfleet is understandable, even if he went about his protest wrongly. Starfleet repeatedly siloed Milius into the same embarrassing missions. It turns out, even inalternateStar Trekrealities, Admiral Milius is still known for milking space whales. However,Milius got a shot at redemptionafter the USS Cerritos' crew discovered the USS Endeavor, a starship from a microscopic dimension trapped in the Prime Universe. Admiral Milius returned to duty with a mission to bring the Endeavor back to its proper universe.
Star Trek Has Lots Of Evil Admirals
Badmirals Have Cropped Up All Over Star Trek
The sheer number of evil Starfleet Admirals (AKA ‘badmirals’) has plaguedStar Trekfor decades. Power corrupts, andthe power gained after achieving the flag officer rank in Starfleet seems to twist the minds and hearts of formerly exemplary Starfleet Officers.Admirals like Cartwright (Brock Peters)inStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Countryor Layton (Robert Foxworth) onStar Trek: Deep Space Nineare driven by fear of Starfleet enemies so that they form conspiracies or coups to divert power into their hands to ‘protect’ the Federation.
Star Trek: Every Evil Star Trek Admiral (& Who’s The Worst)
For a progressive, utopian institution, Starfleet has more than a few bad apples that have their own unique approach to maintaining galactic peace.
Other dastardly Starfleet Admirals who believed they act for the greater good are Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe), who was willing to steal the Briar Patch and forcibly relocate the Ba’ku inStar Trek: Insurrection,and Admiral Pressman (Terry O’Quinn), who violated a treaty with the Romulans to create a cloaking device onStar Trek: The Next Generation.Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller) tried to militarize Starfleet and start a war with the KlingonsinStar Trek Into Darkness.
Star Trek’s Best Captains Also Became Great Admirals
Admiral Picard And Admiral Janeway Are Exemplary
Thankfully,Star Trekhas many heroic Admiralswho are a counterpoint to the bad apples among the highest ranks of Starfleet. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) ascended to the Admiralty and are paragons of virtue.Star Trek: Picardseason 3promoted Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) to Admiral. InStar Trek: Discovery, Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) is a respected leader, as is Admiral Maxwell Forrest (Vaughn Armstrong) onStar Trek: Enterprise.
It’s unthinkable that Admirals like Kirk, Picard, or Janeway would turn on the Federation.
Former USS Enterprise Captain Robert April (Adrian Holmes) is a trustworthy Admiral onStar Trek: Strange New Worlds. Although Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) became an Admiral and Chief of Starfleet Operations, his heart wasn’t in it, and he preferred to beCaptain of the Enterprise. It’s unthinkable that Admirals like Kirk, Picard, or Janeway would turn on the Federation for their own ends. At least onStar Trek: Lower Decks, Admiral Milius had an understandable grievance and returned to duty in order to do some good.
