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{{trope}}
An episode focused primarily on otherwise minor characters, using their point of view to give an outsider's perspective on the central plot or characters. Not coincidentally, the principal actors are needed a lot less for this sort of episode than in a typical episode. '''Lower Deck Episodes''' usually arise when the crew is behind on their film schedules and have to shoot two episodes at the same time. The main character/s are seldom [[Absentee Actor|entirely absent]], since they have to get their [[Mandatory Line]] in somewhere.
Named for "[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Lower_Decks Lower Decks]", episode #167 of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', an episode that is notable for both revisiting the life of a minor character from an earlier episode and [[A Death in the Limelight|killing off that same character]] before we actually ''see'' the changes previous events have wrought.
See [[A Day in the Limelight]] for a secondary character given the spotlight and [[Villain Episode]] for villains. See [[Breakout Mook Character]] for full spinoffs for mooks. Compare [[Elsewhere Fic]]. May overlap with [[The Greatest Story Never Told]]. An entire series of Lower Deck Episodes (within a larger [[The Verse|'verse]]) is an [[Innocent Bystander Series]].
Not to be confused with the animated series ''[[Star Trek: Lower Decks]]'', where ironically, the Lower Deck crew are the stars.
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* When ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' does these with recurring minor characters, the fact is usually stated enthusiastically by said characters. Sometimes with the main characters complaining that they've been pushed to the sidelines. Of course, this is a given since the series has [[No Fourth Wall]].
* The entire concept behind the OVA ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam|Gundam 08th MS Team]]''.
** Slightly averted by the fact that the titular 08th MS Team are in possession of the very powerful RX-79[G] units, a limited production mobile suit based on usage of the spare parts of the RX-78 program. They are harder to maintain than the mass production RG-79 GM, but that is easily outweighed by them being second only to the RX-78-2 itself in the Federation arsenal.
* ''[[
* Most of ''[[Pluto]]'' by Naoki Urasawa is told from the perspective of Gesicht, a one-shot character from the original [[Astro Boy (manga)|Astro Boy]] series.
* The ''[[One Piece]]'' anime has two episodes of "filler" based on the cover story arc of Koby and Helmeppo training to become great marines. Since this is canon (and plays important to the story later) it's hardly considered filler, and was a nice break from the previous chaos.
** The manga does this frequently, with little side-stories that play out on the title pages, telling us of the exploits of seemingly minor characters from previous storylines. Sometimes these are just for fun, but sometimes they can turn out to be surprisingly important to the main story.
* Now that the action of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' takes place primarily in the Magical World, an occasional chapter looks back at the characters left behind in Japan and the UK. For like two pages each time, at least.
* The episode of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' that focuses on Mustang's team.
* ''[[Batman Gotham Knight]]'' is an anime movie designed to bridge the gap between the films ''[[Batman Begins]]'' and ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', made up of a series of vignettes by different animators. One of the vignettes shows a group of kids discussing/arguing about what they saw when they witnessed Batman fighting someone.
* Episode 18 of ''[[Rental Magica]]'' featured mainly Daphne and Sekiren, [[Synchronous Episodes|showing what they were up to when Itsuki and Adilicia dealt with a demon problem the episode before]].
* ''[[Persona 4: The Animation]]'' has episode 13, which gets Nanako's perspective on Yu's summer vacation.
* Chapter 480 of [[Bleach]] which largely focuses on [[Butt Monkey|Ryuunosuke Yuki]] and [[Tsundere|Shino]], Afro-San's replacements.
* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' utilized this for the second season during ''The Black Rose Saga''. Each of the Black Rose duelists were minor characters (save for Wakaba, who's a supporting character, and Kanae, who debuted in the arc) with ties to the Student Council members. The episodes were dedicated to watching them sink lower and lower into despair related to the Student Council, until they were easy prey for Souji Mikage.
== Comic Books ==
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* ''[[Wicked (novel)|Wicked]]'' is this to ''[[The Wizard of Oz]]'', and is also a [[Villain Episode]], at least the novel.
* The ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] manga stories ''Ravenpaw's Path'' and ''Tigerstar and Sasha'' are this, focusing on minor characters amidst the clan wars.
* ''[[Hench]]'' is a superhero-universe story told from the viewpoint of a professional henchwoman.
== Live-Action TV ==
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* A sequence of ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'' episodes centers on Carl and the Aqua Teens' landlord Markula. The Aqua Teens themselves are absent, having been cocooned by military spiders in the Mojave Desert.
* The episode "The Big Scoop" in ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'', third season, was Chester and AJ's version of what happened in "A Wish Too Far." When they notice Timmy's sudden popularity, at the same time required to write for the school newspaper, they investigate to find out how he got popular. [[Flashback with the Other Darrin|The voices were redubbed]] due to different voice actors for Chester and AJ, and the animation was also changed, possibly to match the pace of the dubbed version.
* The framing device for the ''[[Recess]]'' direct-to-video special,
* ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes]]'' has an episode, "To Steal an Ant-Man," which consists almost entirely of [[Immortal Iron Fist|Iron Fist]] and [[Luke Cage, Hero for Hire|Luke Cage]] (who had never appeared in the cartoon before this point) fighting criminals. None of the Avengers appear except for [[The Wasp]], who only does so during the first three minutes, and ex-Avenger [[Ant-Man|Hank Pym]], who had enlisted the two Heroes For Hire to hunt the man who stole his former crimefighting equipment. Hank gets some additional [[Character Development]] in this episode, giving it some connection to one of the show's main plots.
* The ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' episode "Girls Night Out" is sort of a cross between this and a [[Crossover]], focusing entirely on Batgirl and Supergirl due to their veteran counterparts both being out of town.
* ''[[Samurai Jack]]''
** The episode "Birth of Evil" is one of the oddest examples of this Trope, in that it's one of the most critically acclaimed episodes of the series, [[Oscar Bait| won an Emmy and a few minor Awards]], yet it had almost no Jack, the story focusing on the origins of Aku and his father's original battle with the villain, which had previously only been mentioned in the pilot episode. Jack appears for only about a minute in the final scene, after he is born.
** "The Scotsman Saves Jack" could be considered this, because while Jack does have an important role, he is at most the deuteragonist here to the Scotsman, who is the true protagonist of the episode.
* The ''[[Rick and Morty]]'' episode "Rise Of The Numbericons The Movie" in season 7. The only member of the regular cast who appears is Morty, and he is, at most, a secondary role. The story focuses mostly on the alien prince Water-T, who first appeared in "Get Schwifty", where his people's war against the Numbericons was first mentioned.
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[[Category:Character-Centered Episode]]
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