Mike McMahan Talks Yanking Mugato And What’s Next For ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’

Conservative Trekkies were outraged. Get a Life!

https://trekmovie.com/2021/09/22/interview-mike-mcmahan-talks-yanking-mugato-and-whats-next-for-star-trek-lower-decks/

The fourth episode [“Mugato, Gumato”] had a little controversy about some racy content. Do you see a limit on what you can do on Lower Decks that say you couldn’t do on Solar Opposites or Rick and Morty?

Oh my god, watch five minutes of Solar Opposites, and you’ll see there are limits in Lower Decks. You know, I’ve never seen Star Trek as celebrating puritanism. I think that Star Trek has always embraced sexuality, humanism, and all sorts of great stuff. When you’re making shows like this, you’re trying to find those limits. Even in TNG, you’ve got people tugging on Ferengi ears. There’s always been that kind of stuff.

I think the moment that everybody has been all whipped up about has a Mugato yanking on its horn, which, comedically, is funny. It was one of those moments where the artists kind of pushed for it and they made me laugh. And at the end of the day, we’re trying to make a show that’s Star Trek, but also makes you laugh. And I’ve got to be honest, for people that are pearl-clutching and freaking out because we had a suggestive moment in an adult animated show, it’s just falling on deaf ears. It still felt like Star Trek to me. And if you’re putting your six-year-old in front of Lower Decks, like, there’s been other stuff. There’s been other violence, there’s been other complex stories that you’re trusting them with. I think a Mugato yanking on its horn is not the most adult thing we’ve done.