It has been 55 years since Star Trek: The Original Series' (TOS) first aired on television. The franchise continues to grow its reach in television and film, delighting new generations of viewers. Paramount+ celebrated the occasion with Star Trek Day 2021. This live-streamed event was held (and taped) at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.
Wil Wheaton, aka Wesley Crusher, Star Trek: The Next Generation), and Mica Burton, daughter of LeVar Burton, hosted the event. It featured a live orchestra, back-to-back panels, and a live orchestra. These events were interspersed by "legacy moments" featuring iconic cast members such as George Takei, TOS, Cirroc Lofton, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Anthony Montgomery, Star Trek Enterprise, Star Trek Prodigy, and Garrett Wang, Star Trek Voyager.
In honor of Gene Roddenberry, the event marked the start of a month-long campaign called "Boldly Go". Worldwide fans are invited to send photos and videos of their hopes for the next 100 year. Together with campaign partners, the Roddenberry Foundation will combine submissions to create a piece artwork that will be auctioned. Proceeds will go to various charities. The artwork will be also etched onto a network satellites that are due to launch in 2022, a first-of its-kind space-based art installation.
Deadline Hollywood was told by Rod Roddenberry that Gene Roddenberry's father, Rod Roddenberry.
This campaign is all about instilling hope and giving people the opportunity to contribute to a better tomorrow. We want to thank our fans for keeping Star Trek alive and my dad's legacy alive. We want to remind ourselves of the possibility that we can all make a difference and that together we can achieve the Star Trek values of diversity, inclusion, progress, and equity. My dad would love the idea of combining fan participation and philanthropy into real-world impact.
The panels were a great opportunity to show off lots of trailers and teasers for Star Trek's growing streaming television series.
Official Trailer for Star Trek: Picard S2
Paramount+ won't release the second season of Picard until February next year, but we did get a teaser in June that gave us our first glimpse at Q (John de Lancie), a fan favorite extradimensional being who has power over time, space and the laws of Physics, as well as reality itself.
Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart), calling for Laris, Orla Brady (or Laris) was what we saw. Q then enters and comments that Picard appears "a bit older than I imagined" (as Q himself). Although the teaser was short, it was evident that Q had made some changes to the timeline. We were able to see the results of these changes. Elnor, Raffi, and Soji fled for their lives. Soji was dressed in white and looked very VIP. Rios was wearing a new Federation uniform with new insignia and Agnes Jurati was dressed in civilian attire. The most shocking thing: Seven of Nine wakes in an unknown apartment to discover her Borg implant gone.
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The trailer gives us more information than the first glimpses and helps us to get a better understanding of what's happening. Q's time-tampering mischief created an alternate reality in which Earth is basically a totalitarian nation in the 24th Century. Picard and La Sirena's crew go back in time into the 21st Century to make things right. Yes, that's Annie Wersching, the Borg Queen. You can expect humor to help lighten the drama and the high cosmic stakes. Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) drives a stolen police vehicle as if she was reenacting the famous French Connection car chase scene. It's a mix of Star Trek: The Voyage Home & Back to the Future II.
Picard's second season is set to premiere on Paramount+ on February 20, 2022. Stewart stated during his panel appearance, that the show had been renewed for a third series.
Star Trek: Prodigy trailer
Star Trek: Lower Decks is a beloved animated series. We were also big fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation. So we were excited to see the teaser for Star Trek: Prodigy. It was shown during Comic-Con@Home 2021's Star Trek Universe panel. Lower Decks' Prodigy is not the same as it, and will be targeted at a younger audience. It takes place in 2383, after the events of Star Trek: Voyager.
As the teaser revealed, Lower Decks is very different in tone and visual style. The animation will be computer-generated, and have a cinematic feel. Alex Kurtzman, producer, compared the look to Netflix’s Emmy-nominated animated science-fiction series Love, Death and Robots, and Ninjago and Trollhunters, both of which were written by Prodigy creators Kevin and Dan Hageman. The writing team also includes Rod Roddenberry.
"A motley crew of young aliens from the Delta Quadrant stumble upon the USS Protostar. They decide that it is the right vessel to transport them to the Alpha Quadrant. Kate Mulgrew will reprise her role as Captain Kathryn Janeway. Or, rather, she will be the Emergency Training Hologram of the ship, who will teach the crew how navigate the ship through all the space. Kurtzman had vowed from the beginning to bring back only "legacy characters" for specific reasons. Mulgrew's Janeway apparently met those criteria. Billy Campbell also vowed to reprise his role as Thadium Okona, the rogue freighter captain in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The cast also includes Brett Gray as Dal, a "teen maverick" who is described as a "teenager with a lot hope", Angus Imrie playing Zero, a noncorporeal, energy-based, lifeform; Ella Purnell portraying Gwyn, a Vaunt N’Akat who grew-up on a mining planet; Jason Mantzoukas portraying Jankom Pog, a Tellarite who loves to play devil's advocate; Rylee Bradley Baker as Murf who enjoys eating ship parts; John Noble, Gwyn's tyrannical, the Diviner, John Noble as Gwyn's tyrannical, the Diviner and Jimmi Simpson, Drednok who is a robotic enforcer for the Diviner.
Star Trek: Prodigy's first season premieres October 28, 2021 on Paramount+. Once all ten episodes have been aired, they will air on Nickelodeon. The second season, which was simultaneously produced with season 1, will air after the ten S1 episodes on Nickelodeon.
Star Trek: Lower Decks midseason trailer
We also received a trailer for the second season of Lower Decks. Andrew Cunningham, Ars Senior Technology reporter, reviewed S2's first half last month and said that it "still gives me pretty much what I want" from Star Trek: episodic entertainment where the very fabric/the Federation/the universe/reality we know is almost always in mortal peril. "Lower Decks doesn't ask me to feel emotions I don't feel about the one-note, tropey character I just met. It's refreshingly light and open on people with mysterious pasts and unknown allegiances."
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That's what we love about the series. It looks like we will see more of the same in season two, with the Borg cube appearing and uttering the famous "You will be assimiled" line. Paramount+ is currently airing the second season of Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Teaser
Star Trek: Discovery's second episode featured the return of iconic TOS characters, including Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mont), Number One (Rebecca Romijn), Spock (Ethan Peck). Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will see the actors reprise their roles. It was created by Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman. It's a prequel TOS in which Pike and his crew navigate USS Enterprise across the galaxy, discovering new worlds along their way.
Although we didn't receive an official teaser at Star Trek Day, this video introduces the cast. Peck plays Mount, Romijn, & Peck; Babs Olusanmokun plays La'An Noonien–Singh; Christina Chong plays La’An Noonien–Singh; Nichelle Nichol fills the shoes of Cadet Nyota Uhura. Jess Bush plays Nurse Christine Chapel. Melissa Navai is Lieutenant Erica Ortegas. Bruce Orak is an Aenar named Hemmer.
Paramount+ will broadcast Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in 2022.
We didn't receive any teasers about Discovery's fourth season, except for a short clip that was introduced by a virtual Sonequa Martin Green. However, we were given a premiere date: November 18, 2021. The S3 finale showed that planets were starting to join the Federation. Discovery was attempting to bring dilithium back from the nebula, possibly allowing travel between distant planets.
What can we expect from Season 4? The (deliberately vague description) states that the season "finds Captain Burnham, and the crew on the USS Discovery facing an unprecedented threat unlike any they have ever faced." Federation and non-Federation planets are both feeling the effects. They must face the unknown and work together for a bright future.
Family affair
Star Trek has had a loyal and passionate science fiction fandom for decades. It offers a global community that allows them to share their love and grievances as well as nerd-gas over small details. The close-knit community formed around cast members over the years is less well known. This sense of community was evident during the red carpet appearances prior to the official event. It featured cast members from TOS, The Next Generation and Enterprise.
Wheaton took a photo with Gates McFadden, his TV mom (Beverly Crusher) and gave LeVar Burton (TNG’s Geordi La Forge), a bear hug. Discovery's Wilson Cruz (aka Dr. Hugh Culber), graciously guided his nervous young co-stars Blu del Barrio and Ian Alexander (Gray) through the first red carpet experience. He also reminded the media at times of their preferred pronouns "they/them". Enterprise's Anthony Montgomery welcomed Prodigy's Hageman brother, Gray, to a warm and enthusiastic "welcome home" when they posed with cast members Baker & Gray.
We wish you many more family members.
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Jennifer Ouellette
Jennifer Ouellette
Listing image by Paramount+
